Conference Weekend + Catch Up

Our Annual trip to the State Fair was lots of fun. We had more family join us this year so that made it extra fun. William loves seeing his Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and of course his Meemaw and Pop pop. He loved Viv's stroller with her toys hanging on the side. Here he is following Aunt Shanelle around the fair. The entire group went down the Big Yellow Slide as well. William went down about 4 times! 

September 12 is our Anniversary! This is our 5th year of marriage. To celebrate Scott took me around to a few places that mean a lot to both of us. First stop was dinner at Tucanos. We actually met at the Tucanos in Provo. But we ate at the Gateway instead. It was delicious. Next we went to Temple Square. We walked around the temple where we were sealed a couple years after we were married.

Then we went for a stroll to a gelateria. I love gelato- ever since I went to Italy in 2003 I have loved it! We got gelato pretty much every day when Scott and I went to New York. And last but not least, we went to the University of Utah hospital where William was born. Scott took me to the gift center and got me a Willow Tree statue as a gift. I had such a great night with my man. Love you Honey. Thanks for being the best husband, friend and father these last 5 years. I look forward to the next 5!

William loves his cousins. A couple weeks ago Viv and her parents brought their motorhome over and William was in heaven! He never wanted to leave. He and Viv loved playing in the sink too.

He also loves his cousin Ky. We haven't seen her in a long time, so he was thrilled to see her this weekend. We didn't do much but we got lunch and played around for a few. 

We also had cousins from Idaho in town this weekend! We did lots of fun things with them. We checked out Scheels and the kids rode the Ferris Wheel, we watched them feed the fish, we just wandered around the played. Then we went out to dinner. 

We also visited the local Pumpkin Patch. William mostly just played with his Crocodile and helped Jenna push the wheel barrow. He didn't even want a pumpkin. But it was fun! 

On Sunday we had a big, fancy breakfast and watched Conference. How cute are these girls? Sitting front and center to listen! We also ate dinner together at my Brother-in-law's house. Scott is popular with the babies!! We were so happy to see family and spend so much time with them. We are blessed to have such a great family. Love you all!

May 15, 2012

I feel like all I have blogged about in the past year is my Nana. It has almost consumed me- to be honest. I feel like writing about it releases some of my intense feelings, even though I am not so eloquent about it. Yesterday was the anniversary of her death. I remember May 15 of last year as if it was just yesterday. The images and feelings are still so crisp in my mind and heart. I can't believe she has been gone for a year all ready. In a way it makes me realize how fast time goes and that it really won't be that long until I get to see her again. (As sad as that may sound to some of you... it is a happy thought for me) Not that I want to leave and miss out on everything that I have here, I just want to see her again. 

To remember her, William and I went out and bought her some flowers and visited her grave. I am sure she is shocked at how much William has grown and changed. He was just a baby when she died. It makes me sad to think that William will not have her in his life. She was the best grandmother. She practically raised me and my siblings and cousins. We grew up next door to her. She was more than a grandmother... she was a second mother. William probably doesn't even remember her (which breaks my heart even more), but somehow he always can point her out in pictures and say "Nana!" which makes me smile.

We brought that metal bird to Nana on her birthday (in November). I have mentioned how much she loved birds- and so do I- and I wanted something to remind me that Nana is always with me. So I bought two birds and left one with her...

And one with me... Which may again, sound silly to some people, and maybe it is. But I love the reminder that it is and the comfort that it brings. 

I am sure that even though I have a severe ache in my gut and hole in my heart... that it is nothing compared to what my Papa has gone through. He is the sweetest man, the best Papa. William absolutely adores him and EVERY morning wants to go to "Papa's Barn". William shares a strong bond with my Papa the way I do with my Nana. They both LOVE CARS. Seriously- William is obsessed. So he is lucky to have the Papa that he does. Papa collects and restores old Ford's. On Sunday (Mother's Day) Papa took me, Scott, William and Bree on a ride in his 1932 (or 34....) Ford. William just kept saying "Wow!" over and over. He just loves it. It makes me happy that William is close to Papa. I love these two.

Nana, I still miss you with all my heart. I think about you EVERY day. I love you more than ever. 

Best Husband Ever

We did a lot of celebrating this year for our Anniversary. Scott is constantly spoiling me and doing EVERYTHING that I want to do. Our Anniversary was in the middle of the week this year- so that night we went out to dinner while the Dubs was playing at the park with his "Aunt Dee" and Gammy. It was a great night out, and we got to enjoy adult food aka Indian Food.

That weekend however, Scott took me for a fun night away! We stayed at the Anniversary Inn in Salt Lake. They have the cutest rooms and they are all themed. I LOVE this style of old houses:

We went out to dinner at Gourmandise (a super cute cafe in downtown) and then we went back to the room that supplied us dessert and yummy drinks. Then Scott whips out this blue box that every woman WISHES to see...

I knew immediately what it was because I wanted this when I went to Vegas with the girls in my family- but I didn't buy it. I told him all about it though and boy does he listen! I am seriously so spoiled you guys. I LOVE birds. My Nana also loved birds. We shared this love and I adore birds even more now that she is gone. William even loves birds and points them out in the sky whenever he sees them. (WithOUT my prompting) So when I saw this silver necklace at Tiffany's I fell in love. I have the BEST husband. He is so sweet and thoughtful. Thank you love!!

Lately...

We have been keeping busy lately with lots of family stuff (we now have 2 new nieces and I will mix their names up ALL the time: little Ava and little Aeda. They are such beautiful girls!) lots of random activities and lots of celebrating. 

Scott loves his Mustangs. Last year we went to a Mustang Car Show in Park City and had so much fun that we went again this year. Not the most flattering picture, but here I am with little Will. He looks so happy for how hot and miserable we were :) But all the cars were really neat and we were lucky to see Bri and her boyfriend Kaden too!!

There is a new LDS temple in Brigham City- which is a little over an hour away from us- so we went up to the Open House. It is such a GORGEOUS temple. I absolutely loved the colors and all the artwork. I can't believe how much thought and work goes into these temples. They are seriously breathtaking. I love the peace and beauty that the temple brings. William liked roaming around the grounds too.

I like how William is waving in this picture... you can barely see his little arm!

As for celebrating... we just celebrated our Wedding Anniversary! I can't believe it has been 4 years. I remember dating felt like an ETERNITY and we only dated for 2 years. Our marriage has flown by! I love my man SO much. He is the best!! Happy Anniversary love!! 

I found this picture of us when we were dating... I can't get over how thin and young we look!! Oh man... gotta love it. 

Anniversary & AuTuMn

This past week was our 3 year anniversary! I can not believe how different our lives are just from 3 years ago. We LOOK so different (ha ha), we have a baby, we have done so many things: bought a home, Scott has finished his Masters, I started school... man, I just can't believe it. I LOVE our life tho and I wouldn't trade it for anything. To celebrate we went out to dinner and got massages. We also exchanged a couple small gifts. I have the best husband ever and I am so blessed in my life. Happy 3 Years love!

All of you know by now that I LOVE to decorate my home... I am constantly switching out my decor and I am so excited for this upcoming season. Fall is my favorite and this year I decided to decorate with pumpkins and owls- my new obsession. So of course, here are the before and afters...


All my owls!!!


My mother-in-law is the sweetest and found me this Owl plug in at Bath and Body Works.... ah! I love it!!
And in our bedroom I decorate the wall with different art... here is winter, spring and summer...


And here is fall- more owls!


My sister and I are in a crafty mood so we are going to make some pillows. I am going to make an owl pillow to match the wall art and I am making a coupe bird pillows to match my summer and spring decor. I am so excited! We bought the fabric- so I will start working on them asap and post when I am done! Can you tell I am really excited for fall? ;)

Yay for LoVe!

I feel like I never have the time to blog anymore! We have been super busy, but enjoying life and having good times. Back at the beginning of February we went to Joy Luck with Scott's fam for Chinese New Year! We have done this every year for the last few years and it is a blast. We eat a great dinner and get to watch the dragon (that is really a lion) dance around the restaurant and "eat" the money that all the kids love to feed it. Every year one of our nieces is young enough to be terrified of the dancing dragon- this year it was poor Lex. I didn't get any good photos of her cause she was just screaming and crying the whole night. Poor thing!! The other girls all had a blast feeding the dragon and hanging out with their cousin Aria. We haven't seen her in months and I can't believe how much she has grown! What a cute girl!!!

Valentine's weekend was so much fun. February is the month of our 1 year anniversary of being sealed! So we combined the holidays and had one fabulous evening together.

Neither one of us felt like fighting the crowds to go to a nice restaurant...and to be honest, Scott and I are pretty good cooks and decided we could cook dinner together and make an awesome dinner and enjoy the evening at home. And it was the BEST. Honestly!! Scott grilled us up some fillet Mignon and I made us steamed asparagus with hollandaise, garlic mashed potatoes and bread pudding with chocolate sauce for dessert. It was the best dinner ever and it was easy to make and best of all- we didn't have to fight any crowds! I loved spending the night at home with my man. He is seriously the BEST husband. I don't know what I would do without him.

The cooks!!!

Our awesome set up and delicious dinner- plus dessert!

I hope everyone enjoyed Valentine's Day and did something romantic and fun!

Celebrations!!

We have been doing lots of celebrating the past couple of weeks. This month was our sister-in-law Angie's Birthday (Happy Birthday Ang!) as well as our niece Autumn's birthday. We had an awesome BBQ in their backyard to celebrate and Ang made this fantastic barbie cake! Professional!!! Autumn loved it. She is such a cute girl and I can't believe how fast she is growing up. She turned 6 and I am blown away by that. I have known Autumn since she was just a few months old. Happy Birthday my cute girl!

We also celebrated another wedding anniversary... my grandparents 50th!! How cool is that? To celebrate my Nana wanted to go to La Caille. We rented a room that had a great view and beautiful decor. The grounds there are really neat and we had the chance to get family photos done. We also set up some fun tables for Nana and Papa. We had some of their wedding photos, family photos and a little book for everyone to write them a note. My Aunt made a slide show as well and man was it adorable!!! I think Nana and Papa had a good time- I know we did! Happy Anniversary Nana and Papa. They are so sweet and good to us. We are blessed to have such an amazing family!

The couple of the hour!

2 Years

September is our wedding anniversary month! This year makes year 2. I can't believe how fast time flies. It feels like we were just married a few months ago. This year we didn't do gifts since we had just spent a week in California and Disneyland. But Scott did take me out to a really fancy dinner at our favorite restaurant- Ruth's Chris.

This place is amazing! Scott told them it was our anniversary and they really went all out. The table was decorated with candles and rose petals and they even had a cute "Happy Anniversary" card for us.

As we are admiring the setting and the table and the beautiful restaurant, we see our best friends across the room enjoying dinner as well!! We asked them to join us but they had all ready finished. These two are the cutest ever.
Our dinner was delicious and our desserts are exquisite! This is my new favorite food right now... bread pudding with white chocolate ganache. I crave it daily. I loved the message in chocolate!
Happy Anniversary my love. These past 2 years have been amazing, fun, happy, and full of awesome memories! Thank you for being mine forever!

California Part I

Our trip to California was for business- but we had a lot of fun as well! Our first stop was Newport Beach. We arrived in the evening and decided to take a drive around town and get some dinner. The concierge at the hotel informed us we were super close to Laguna Beach and Huntington Beach as well. So our first stop was Laguna Beach. It was SO beautiful. We found this little cove and walked around in the sand and water and watched the waves roll up. Scott even found this long stemmed red rose that washed up and he gave it to me and we were teasing that it was a rose from the Bachelor. It was all slimy and gross so I left it behind. Ha ha.

We also went to Balboa Island and Balboa Pier (they are right in Newport) and we did some shopping, bought some "Bluth's" frozen bananas. (Give me a Gob!--> If you haven't seen the TV show 'Arrested Development' you should definitely watch it. So funny.) We also took the ferry over to the Pier and enjoyed this amazing sunset.

The next night we actually spent the night at Disneyland- but I will do that in my next post. So really... a couple days later we went over to Huntington Beach. My family went there a few years ago for my dad's business trip and we really loved it. So I was excited to take Scott there. There was a giant farmer's market going on down the main street so we wandered around that for a little bit and then ate dinner at a nice restaurant. Afterward we got some gelato and walked down the Pier. It was freezing and dark, so the only pictures we took didn't turn out so great.

While we were in Newport we also went to the Newport Temple. It is gorgeous and super small! It is also fairly new. We enjoyed walking around the grounds, getting some good snapshots and doing a session. Such a gorgeous place.

After Newport beach we spent a day in Disneyland (which will be in my next post) and later we headed out to San Fransisco. I went there a couple years ago with one of my best friends Ambria and we had a blast! So I was excited to go with my man. We decided to go to the Oakland Temple since that is really close to San Fransisco and we spent almost the entire day there. It is such a pretty place and has some amazing views! It sits up on a hill overlooking Oakland and San Fransisco in the distance. We also did a session here, and it was a great experience!

These pictures are a little out of order... but my next post will finish it up. I know I have millions of pictures, but I LOVE to remember the fun things we did.