Merry Christmas!!! A day late granted, but really who's going to have time to blog on Christmas.
This year was awesome!! and jam packed with loads of family togetherness. As far as juggling families the first Christmas, Gav and I rocked it. And managed to do it not just one day, but three. We're awesome.
Friday:
It was my dad's family's party, where we managed to make out like bandits with the bingo prizes. (see previous post)
Saturday:
I had to work, which kinda sucked but since Gav still needed to do some shopping its was ok. He picked me up after work and we went out to meet his family, cousins and all, at Chin-Wah; a yummy chinese place in Sandy. We had to wait a while to get seated but there was like 25 or so of us so it was kinda to be expected. FYI the walnut shrimp, Fantastic. After dinner we went back to his parents house, no cousins this time, for a small gift exchange. His family everyone draws a name and gets a gift for that person. This year, since we're going to Boston next summer we were told to do inexpensive, preferably home made gifts. I drew his dad this year, and after racking my brain for a long while I had a stroke of brilliance and made him a putting green. His sister Lisa had my name and gave me a home made heat rice bag and two matching hand warmers. I've used them pretty much constantly, they make life so wonderful. Gav got a case of Frosties sodas and we had great fun taste testing them! Orange soda is the best one in case you were wondering.
Sunday:
CHRISTMAS!!!!!! I don't know why but neither of us slept well, and by not well I mean we were both awake around 2:30 in the am and couldn't go back to sleep. Gav finally fell back asleep around 3:40. I, however, was awake until about 5 and then got up and got ready just after 6. Hurray for holidays on no sleep. Before we left for his sister's house Gav and I opened our presents to each other. I totally won the present lottery. As a combined Christmas and birthday I got a spa day, which I'm so excited to use!!! He got a new hat and a super warm jacket that I might have to "borrow" on occasion.
The rest of the morning went by quick. We had breakfast at Emily's house. And got some great entertainment watching her and Maddie try to kill themselves on Austin's new motorized scooter and watching Greg try to figure out how to use The Force (also Austin's). After that we went over to Lexi's and went to church with her and Curtis. Things calmed down after that because we just went back to his parents house and helped get lunch ready. Around 2:30 most everyone had gotten there and so we had a yummy lunch, Gav and I unfortunately had to pace ourselves because we were going to dinner at my families at 4. After everyone else got there we sat down to do presents, I wasn't really expecting that part so it was a double surprise when I got handed mine. Gav got a new driver and a box of D2 golf balls and I got a bunch of books and a very cute pair of boots. I'm very proud of the boots because Gav and his dad picked them out by themselves with the only female input coming from the shop girl, I was impressed. Then we, together, got a movie gift card from his aunt and a bag of goodies that included a chocolate cookbook that has some seriously yummy looking recipes in them. And then all the adults got different Red Sox shirts to wear on our trip.
After that we drove over to my sisters house to have dinner with my family. Again, way yummy but we couldn't eat as much as we might have like. Dinner was followed by another round of presents. There's so many people in our family that we do gifts by the individual family, instead of people. This year we had my sister Brit, and by luck of the draw she had us. It made it very simple. We got them a board game, a couple movies and a bag of treats. Their gift to us has made it so we have no excuse to be unsociable. We got a bowlful of homemade caramel corn in a super cute bowl that my niece, Shannon, painted by herself. Oh, FYI, most of our gift Shannon came up with, and rocked it. We also got a fondue pot, a gift certificate to our fav pizza place, season 4 of the Big Bang theory, and a game called Banangrams. I'm sure I'm forgetting something but I'll add it in when my brain is functioning better. From my parents we got Dominoes and Utah Pass of All Passes. My dad gave all the guys one of his favorite books and the girls got their traditional figurine, except this year it was a dragon instead of a fairy. After presents games got broken out and the night ended with an impromptu dance party in the living room.
Christmas is by far the best time of the year for a lot of reasons, but family is by far number 1.
Daisypath Anniversary tickers
Monday, December 26, 2011
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Let the Family-ing begin
Last night was my dad's family Christmas party. This party is always pretty exciting and something I look forward to every year. This year it was especially nice because my aunt and uncle who moved to Missouri two years ago were there and a couple other cousins whom I haven't seen in years were there too. There's always good food (and wassail, the best hot drink ever!!) and a lot of laughs. Because there are well over 30 adults (not to mention their kids) we don't give gifts, instead we bingo for them. Every one brings 2 small gifts and sets them out on a long table. My dad is our traditional bingo caller, complete with a plethora of really bad puns, but apparently the years of calling have taken their toll and so, since I can easily be louder than anyone else, I started calling half way through; but not before snagging myself a few good prizes. Between the two of us, Gav and I made out like bandits.
Since only the adults get to play bingo Santa brings little gifts for all the kids. Usually my brother in law, Stew, is Santa but this year his work party was the same night so this year, after much pleading, cajoling and ordering from my aunt Cindi, my dad got to play the big guy in red. The only trouble was that once he put on his glasses he had a hard time keeping the beard on and it had to be tightened several times. All in a great and successful family party.
Since only the adults get to play bingo Santa brings little gifts for all the kids. Usually my brother in law, Stew, is Santa but this year his work party was the same night so this year, after much pleading, cajoling and ordering from my aunt Cindi, my dad got to play the big guy in red. The only trouble was that once he put on his glasses he had a hard time keeping the beard on and it had to be tightened several times. All in a great and successful family party.
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Adding a little spirit to the holiday season
Last night I went to a live nativity with my family. It was fun, FREEZING, but fun. Everyone was way into it. They even passed out dates and pita(unlevened) bread to everyone as we waited in line, and hot chocolate once we got inside.
Shephards with their flock, their sheep are behind them a little higher up.
Obiviously the baby Jesus
The Camel; a big hit
They were passing out hot chocolate and bagels
The chicken lady, another big hit
Shephards with their flock, their sheep are behind them a little higher up.
Obiviously the baby Jesus
The Camel; a big hit
They were passing out hot chocolate and bagels
The chicken lady, another big hitWednesday, December 7, 2011
The Festival of Trees
This last Saturday Gav was working late so I went to the festival of trees with my mom (My mom is the holiday decorating equivalent to Yoda). I haven't been to the festival since I was really little so it was fun to go and see all the awesome trees (and get a little inspiration for next year!). We didn't realize you could take pictures until half way through because you used to not be able to but once we realized you could we snapped a few.
Denver Broncos Tree: This one was for my nephew, Braeden, who is a huge Broncos fan
Girlie Tree: This explosion of pink, blue and green reminded us of three of my nieces.
Denver Broncos Tree: This one was for my nephew, Braeden, who is a huge Broncos fan
Girlie Tree: This explosion of pink, blue and green reminded us of three of my nieces. Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Christmas tree fiasco
Actually getting a Christmas tree up and running has been quite a challenge. Gavin found an old tree in the shed out back a couple months ago and we originally just thought we'd use that one since trees are soooo expensive ($300 for a fake tree, really!?). Our hang up came from 2 places, 1) we really didn't know what kind of shape it was in and 2) we'd have to spend probably 40 dollars on lights for it. So when my sister told me about the Joann's black Friday weekend sale where they had nice, pre-lit trees for $40 dollars I figured it was worth a look. But, in accordance with Murphy's law, when we got to the store they were out of those particular trees and only had the expensive ones left. The trip wasn't a total bust though, I got some cute fleece for blankets for like 80% off.
On the way home I decided to pop into The Home Depot, since I had to drive right past it, and price lights hoping that the shed tree was in good shape. As luck would have it, they had all of their pre-lit trees on sale too and I found one for $65. I was massively excited. The nest day, Sunday, my mom came over to help me decorate because she's the decorating guru. We spent probably 3 hours getting everything up and it looked amazing!! The disaster struck half way through dinner when the lights on the top of the tree inexplicably went out. Now the truly odd thing, and irritating beyond reason, was that it wasn't the whole top section of the tree (our tree came in thirds). It was just the top half of the top section. Before you ask, none of the lights were burnt out, I checked them all individually!! So begrudgingly, the next day I had to remove all of the ornaments and take the tree back to exchange it for a new one!
The new one is now up, though not decorated yet. I've been leaving it lit when I'm home to make sure that I don't have to repeat the whole process. So far its stayed lit so I'll probably decorate it tomorrow. It's made for a rather memoral first Christmas I'd say.
On the way home I decided to pop into The Home Depot, since I had to drive right past it, and price lights hoping that the shed tree was in good shape. As luck would have it, they had all of their pre-lit trees on sale too and I found one for $65. I was massively excited. The nest day, Sunday, my mom came over to help me decorate because she's the decorating guru. We spent probably 3 hours getting everything up and it looked amazing!! The disaster struck half way through dinner when the lights on the top of the tree inexplicably went out. Now the truly odd thing, and irritating beyond reason, was that it wasn't the whole top section of the tree (our tree came in thirds). It was just the top half of the top section. Before you ask, none of the lights were burnt out, I checked them all individually!! So begrudgingly, the next day I had to remove all of the ornaments and take the tree back to exchange it for a new one!
The new one is now up, though not decorated yet. I've been leaving it lit when I'm home to make sure that I don't have to repeat the whole process. So far its stayed lit so I'll probably decorate it tomorrow. It's made for a rather memoral first Christmas I'd say.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Thanksgiving!
This year Thanksgiving was a new and great experience filled with a lot of firsts. Gavin had to work for most of the day thursday, luckily he works down the street (literally) from my sister's house, which was where my family was having dinner so he made it to dinner with plenty of time to spare. Or rather, with plenty of time to finish his homework and get it submitted before dinner started.
Actually getting dinner ready Thanksgiving day was odd, and I couldn't put my finger on why that was. It took about twenty minutes for me to realize why it felt so different, then I finally figured it out. The crazy frantic stress at trying to get everything finished wasn't there! With me married now and brother and sister in law's kids old enough now to not require every shred of their attention, dinner responsibilities were able to be divided out more evenly so all the pressure that usually falls on my mom and sisters wasn't there. It was nice. I was responsible for the pretzel salad this year, which I have greatly enjoyed eating many times but never actually made before. The first attempt went alright, my oven freaked out and didn't heat to the right temp. so the crust was a bit under cooked but pan number two turned out fabulously.
I love Thanksgiving with my family, its a day that no matter how frantic (not so much this year) and frazzled we get with each other (there's 19 of us, it happens) the day always ends with laughter and good feelings. This year the main after dinner entertainment was my dad doing card tricks for Adam, my aunts boyfriend, and attempting valiantly to stump my brilliant 11 year old niece (he succeeded only once. My dad is forever the showman and we all were laughing at Adam's reactions. I got to assist in the game of Black Magic. Its simple magic trick which left everyone a little stumped and us feeling a little smug about it.
After dinner and clean up Gav and I ran home quickly to pack a bag and head up to Bear Lake where his family was spending the holiday. We got there about 1 in the morning, but felt ok about it when his sister Maddie got back from visiting friends shortly after us, so we weren't the last ones in. We could only stay one day because I unfortunately needed to be to work saturday morning. But the day we spent was nice. It was a little bit of culture shock for me to be completely honest. I have never really been in an enviroment where everything revolved around either the kids or a football game. My family isn't really interested in sports so we rarely even turn the TV on when we're all together and all the kids entertain themselves elsewhere leaving the adults to do the same. So it was a little bit of a brain adjustment. Gavin was lucky I joined them in the hot tube because it was FREEZING outside and I wasn't sure the walk to the pool house was worth it. I went eventually but did something kind of stupid, I let myself get dehydrated (which for me happens very quickly in water) and didn't drink anything but soda the rest of the day. Combine that with little sleep, eating more than I am used to and a two hour drive, I was feeling mildly ill by the time we got home that night and couldn't bring myself to do much besides lay on the couch and pound out a water bottle. After I polished off the water I was feeling better though.
Things I'm grateful for this year:
*Being married to a wonder man whom I love profusely
*Literally doubling the size of my family and all the new experiences that brings
*Illness that can be cured with a full bottle of water
*Being employed and able to pay the bills
*The generosity of family and friends
Firsts:
*First time ever going to Bear Lake
*First time making Pretzel Salad (or any part of Thanksgiving dinner)
Actually getting dinner ready Thanksgiving day was odd, and I couldn't put my finger on why that was. It took about twenty minutes for me to realize why it felt so different, then I finally figured it out. The crazy frantic stress at trying to get everything finished wasn't there! With me married now and brother and sister in law's kids old enough now to not require every shred of their attention, dinner responsibilities were able to be divided out more evenly so all the pressure that usually falls on my mom and sisters wasn't there. It was nice. I was responsible for the pretzel salad this year, which I have greatly enjoyed eating many times but never actually made before. The first attempt went alright, my oven freaked out and didn't heat to the right temp. so the crust was a bit under cooked but pan number two turned out fabulously.
I love Thanksgiving with my family, its a day that no matter how frantic (not so much this year) and frazzled we get with each other (there's 19 of us, it happens) the day always ends with laughter and good feelings. This year the main after dinner entertainment was my dad doing card tricks for Adam, my aunts boyfriend, and attempting valiantly to stump my brilliant 11 year old niece (he succeeded only once. My dad is forever the showman and we all were laughing at Adam's reactions. I got to assist in the game of Black Magic. Its simple magic trick which left everyone a little stumped and us feeling a little smug about it.
After dinner and clean up Gav and I ran home quickly to pack a bag and head up to Bear Lake where his family was spending the holiday. We got there about 1 in the morning, but felt ok about it when his sister Maddie got back from visiting friends shortly after us, so we weren't the last ones in. We could only stay one day because I unfortunately needed to be to work saturday morning. But the day we spent was nice. It was a little bit of culture shock for me to be completely honest. I have never really been in an enviroment where everything revolved around either the kids or a football game. My family isn't really interested in sports so we rarely even turn the TV on when we're all together and all the kids entertain themselves elsewhere leaving the adults to do the same. So it was a little bit of a brain adjustment. Gavin was lucky I joined them in the hot tube because it was FREEZING outside and I wasn't sure the walk to the pool house was worth it. I went eventually but did something kind of stupid, I let myself get dehydrated (which for me happens very quickly in water) and didn't drink anything but soda the rest of the day. Combine that with little sleep, eating more than I am used to and a two hour drive, I was feeling mildly ill by the time we got home that night and couldn't bring myself to do much besides lay on the couch and pound out a water bottle. After I polished off the water I was feeling better though.
Things I'm grateful for this year:
*Being married to a wonder man whom I love profusely
*Literally doubling the size of my family and all the new experiences that brings
*Illness that can be cured with a full bottle of water
*Being employed and able to pay the bills
*The generosity of family and friends
Firsts:
*First time ever going to Bear Lake
*First time making Pretzel Salad (or any part of Thanksgiving dinner)
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Halloween!!
We hope everyone had a great Halloween! We were lucky enough to have a whole weekend of it. We had a family Party on Saturday and then Trick or Treating on Monday! Gavin unfortunately had to work Monday night but, unbeknownst to me, it was a mandatory dress up and he wore my highschool Pep Club uniform (it was very brave of him considering he was wearing a Highland uniform smack dab in the middle of East territory). I didn't find out until I stopped by on my way home from Kim's house. It was Awesome!!
At the Aviary the last two weekends we've done Halloween Hoot and there have been some really cute and clever costumes. Two of my favorites were a little boy who was Clark Kent and a mom who had dressed as Harry Potter and then put her baby in a snowy owl costume.
At the Aviary the last two weekends we've done Halloween Hoot and there have been some really cute and clever costumes. Two of my favorites were a little boy who was Clark Kent and a mom who had dressed as Harry Potter and then put her baby in a snowy owl costume.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Wedding Picts
So we got our wedding pictures back from our photographer on Saturday!!! There's over 300 of them but I thought I'd share a few. Note to Parents, we're going to be getting you discs with the pictures of your families on them.
New Beginnings
A new month has brought both Gav and I the blessing of new jobs!!
I started last week at Tracy Aviary, well techincally I guess I restarted since I worked there during the summer two years ago, and I taught my first class for the Entheos Expeditionary Learning Program!! It was way fun and the kids were all so excited to smear makeup all over their faces.
Gav got himself a new job today! Which will be so nice because he truly hated his soon to be previous job at Valley Fair. He was hired by Harmon's to work in their new Emigration Market store on 1300 S and 1700 E. There are a few reasons this is AWESOME:
1. Its not his last job!!!
2. Emigration is probably our favorite grocery store, its just got the best atmosphere ever
3. He'll be working in the Deli, and since all their breads are baked fresh every day there's bound to be
fresh bread coming home some nights
4. Its full time with benefits after 90 days
5. Discount on groceries baby (I'm not sure if this one is true yet but a girl can dream right?)
I started last week at Tracy Aviary, well techincally I guess I restarted since I worked there during the summer two years ago, and I taught my first class for the Entheos Expeditionary Learning Program!! It was way fun and the kids were all so excited to smear makeup all over their faces.
Gav got himself a new job today! Which will be so nice because he truly hated his soon to be previous job at Valley Fair. He was hired by Harmon's to work in their new Emigration Market store on 1300 S and 1700 E. There are a few reasons this is AWESOME:
1. Its not his last job!!!
2. Emigration is probably our favorite grocery store, its just got the best atmosphere ever
3. He'll be working in the Deli, and since all their breads are baked fresh every day there's bound to be
fresh bread coming home some nights
4. Its full time with benefits after 90 days
5. Discount on groceries baby (I'm not sure if this one is true yet but a girl can dream right?)
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Coincidences
So I was driving with my dad the other day and I was laughing about the fact that, as the title of this blog implies, it was rather inevitable that Gav and I would have met eventually. Ovr the last year we've had the humorous opportunity to discover that if you looked up the term 6 degrees of seperation you would find a picture of the two of us. Be it friends of friends, parents of friends, Halloween parties, or randomly connected relatives it is impossible that the two of us wouldn't have been thrown together sooner or later (thankfully sooner).
As we were laughing about that my dad turned to me and asked, "You know what your grandfather would say right?" I didn't and so he proceeded to enlighten me. My grandfather was a great man, the kind of man who worked hard and fully believed that luck was real and there are no such things as coincidences. He would have said that for two people to just randomly be connected to the point of ridiculousness wasn't random. He would have said those two people chose each other before this life and so every effort was made to make sure they had the opportunity to find each other. I don't know how much believe that we chose each other, but if we did how awesome would that be! It would definitely explain why so many things that are supposed to be "awkward" or whatever come so naturally to us.
As we were laughing about that my dad turned to me and asked, "You know what your grandfather would say right?" I didn't and so he proceeded to enlighten me. My grandfather was a great man, the kind of man who worked hard and fully believed that luck was real and there are no such things as coincidences. He would have said that for two people to just randomly be connected to the point of ridiculousness wasn't random. He would have said those two people chose each other before this life and so every effort was made to make sure they had the opportunity to find each other. I don't know how much believe that we chose each other, but if we did how awesome would that be! It would definitely explain why so many things that are supposed to be "awkward" or whatever come so naturally to us.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Settling in
Welcome to the first post of mine and Gav's blog. We've been married for 11 days now...wow that's kinda weird to think about...married, who'd a thunk it.
In those 11 days we've managed to get a fair amount done in the moving in department. We now officially own furniture together, we bought a nice little entertainment center from Ikea yesterday and spent the afternoon putting it together. And, knowing I was content with the little tv I had previously kept in my bedroom, he was in fear for his life just a bit when he brought home a brand new 40 incher I didn't know he had purchased! Luckily, for him, I don't mind as long as he doesn't divulge to me how much he spent on it.
Our little apartment is coming along nicely. We still have quite a few things to cross off the list but it's getting there. Hopefully by the end of the week we'll have a stove and microwave!!
In those 11 days we've managed to get a fair amount done in the moving in department. We now officially own furniture together, we bought a nice little entertainment center from Ikea yesterday and spent the afternoon putting it together. And, knowing I was content with the little tv I had previously kept in my bedroom, he was in fear for his life just a bit when he brought home a brand new 40 incher I didn't know he had purchased! Luckily, for him, I don't mind as long as he doesn't divulge to me how much he spent on it.
Our little apartment is coming along nicely. We still have quite a few things to cross off the list but it's getting there. Hopefully by the end of the week we'll have a stove and microwave!!
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