Thanksgiving 2011

Originally we weren't going to go anywhere for Thanksgiving because traveling with 2 newborns did not sound like fun. But trying to take care of 2 newborns alone became too much for us to handle and we needed some help so we decided to make the drive to CA for Thanksgiving. It was the first time my family met the boys as well.

We had a great weekend full of help, good food and wonderful family.

 

 

 

st george

We went to St George over Memorial Day weekend and it was so fun. The weather was amazing and we had such a great time with our friends. We went boating on Friday and Saturday. I forgot how great it is to be out on the water. The rest of the time we hung out by the pool, ate good food and enjoyed good company.

Bella

Eric surfing and wakeboarding

JD and Tanner

Eric and Laura

family

one of the days we went bowling with the whole fam. it was fun. good times.

 our self-timer family photo from 2010 



the best gift

a little sampling of our christmas fun. it was very nice to be together and see everyone.

our homemade gift exchange is the best. everyone's gifts were very creative this year: pillow, memory book, fabric dry erase board, etched glass, christmas stocking, scarf, moccasins, cake balls and granola. but i think the gift i received was the greatest.

my brother, aaron, is an amazing pianist. not only can he just sit down and play anything you put in front of him... he can sit down and create amazing pieces from scratch. he composes beautiful music. it's an incredible gift... and he gave it to me. he made a CD of him playing some beautiful piano music. also included on the CD are a couple original pieces that he composed, they are amazing. like i said, the greatest gift.

12 thoughts before christmas

oh hello, here i am again.

we're busy and there's lots going on but just not anything that exciting to post on the blog. E has told me a couple times that i need to post something, but i've got nothing.

i would like to post some pictures of the house but i haven't taken any pictures of it yet. plus the kitchen hasn't got repainted and maybe it wont for a while. there are other rooms worth photographing but they're just not put together yet, like i want them to be.

i love having the rusty dog around. he is so funny. my favorite is how excited he gets when i get home from work and his little tail is wagging so fast that it makes his whole body move.

we didn't decorate for christmas and we didn't get a tree. so sad.

i'm really diggin this this this and this

we are going to CA for christmas. i am very excited to see my entire family. haven't seen them all together in a long time.

my favorite part about christmas with my fam... the homemade gifts. it is so much fun and i am very much looking forward to it.

i spoke in church last week. glad that's over with.

i love my job and my co workers, they are the best. like a second family, they are.

from one of my favorite books: "Mostly tonight I feel sort of lost and alone, like now I am up on a windy hill and looking toward a new direction where the wind never blew before. I am afraid to leave all that I know, nothing familiar will be nearby to keep me going. I will have to stand on the hill alone."

i got new contacts a couple weeks ago and now i can see. i also got a prescription for some glasses. i am deciding between these or these. thoughts?

a whole bunch

it was so nice to have five days off. i loved it and i spent most of it doing nothing which means i didn't complete nearly as much on my to do list as i should have.

but we did finish painting the master bathroom. we also hung the mirror and light.

we went to costco and target on black friday. but didn't buy anything... except for a costco dog.

we rented the new donkey kong and golden eye for the wii and tried them out. they were relatively enjoyable but not worth spending 50 bucks on each game to buy them.

i cooked my first turkey, along with some mashed potatoes/gravy, corn and rolls with honey butter. we ate our turkey dinner sitting on the couch and watching a movie.

we went for an ice cream run the evening of thanksgiving day. i kept telling E nothing was open but we found a CVS open and bought a carton of vanilla ice cream.

it was kind of lonely but a little alone time is always good.

we were thrilled with the utes win.

i am loving my new calling... YW secretary. great people and great girls. reminds me of redlands and the great leaders and girls i served with there.

i took rusty on a walk or run almost every single day. he loved it and i loved it.

and one last picture of the dog. here he is after the stitches were removed.

another one so soon...

here's the rusty dog when the drain was still in

here he is with the stitches, but the stitches come out today! 

we aren't going anywhere for thanksgiving. i will miss that family time but it will be nice not having to travel. i think this is the first time E and i have been alone on thanksgiving.

can't decide what i'm going to do. i think i'm going to get a turkey from sprouts and then just make some sides... like mashed potatoes and gravy, mmm.

i am determined to get some things done over my five days off. like re paint the master bathroom, finish unpacking/finding a place for everything, make some homemade christmas gifts and practice some photography.

family

Our time in Utah over Christmas was spent with the Kimble family and it was wonderful. We had a fabulous time and everyone was there, together. We did a lot of hanging out, talking, eating food and playing the wii. But that's what the Holidays are for, right. We also had some family pictures taken while we were all together, here's a peek at some of the pictures the photographer took of the grandkids.
We also got to spend some time with our other "family" Andrew, Loni and Bella. We had some great discussions, predictions for the upcoming year, late nights, root beer freezes, shopping, good food and of course a lot of holding and staring at Bella.

rambling through the avenues of time

Well, life has been busy. I can't believe Christmas is this week. We didn't decorate or get a tree, so sad. But things have just been really crazy for us lately. I am excited to have some time off work and we are flying to Salt Lake on Thursday. We are super excited to see family and friends and spend some time in Utah.

Eric and I aren't getting anything for each other this year. Everything we've bought to fix this house are our gifts to each other. But it's been kind of nice not having to figure out what to buy for Eric. He's kind of hard to shop for. It's also nice to just enjoy this time of year without having to run around spending money.

Eric is done with school for this semester, yeah! And now he's trying to finish all the work on the master bathroom before we leave on Thursday. So far he has tiled the shower floor and taken out the vanity & toilet. He painted the walls & ceiling this morning. Tomorrow he'll put in the new floor and put the vanity & toilet back in their places. Then when we get back from Utah we are going to paint the entire inside of the house. All walls, ceilings, trim and doors. It needs paint badly, and It's all getting painted white. It's going to be a lot of work but I am looking forward to it. Some of the best memories I have with Eric are when we work on big crazy projects together.

I've been sewing every spare second I get and I am so close to being done with the projects that have to be finished before we leave for Utah. I am happy with how they've turned out. I hope the recipients of these gifts like them too. I will post pictures of the completed projects after the people have received them. I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise.

I hope 2010 brings us a baby. Although life is filled with ups and downs and is not always how I imagined it or wish it to be like, I love it. I love this life that I have been given and am grateful for it.

Oh and I got myself some bangs. I love them. But I think they make me look even younger. Which I guess isn't bad because I'll be 25 in 2 months (what!?) and I don't mind looking like I'm 20.

thanksgiving weekend: ventura

We took the train to Ventura on Saturday. We got a great workout riding all sorts of bikes along the boardwalk and it was a beautiful day. I love these pictures, so there are a lot.