Monday, January 5, 2009

A WHITE WHITE Christmas!

Well, as I mentioned we went to Washington for the holidays this year. Mainly because Bayli was getting baptized on the 27th! Our plan was to leave December 23rd and stay at my mom's til Christmas morning...

The 800 Mile Journey to Washington!
On the 22nd a snow storm came into Utah (and everywhere west of it for that matter) so we decided to leave early and stay the night at my uncle Preston's house in Tremonton UT. We made it there pretty quickly and went on our way on the morning of the 23rd. The roads were great!!! There was a patch of snow on the road here and there but 90% of it was as clear as any other day.
Once we got into Portland we hit some tough snow and ice which delayed us quite a bit. I got extremely stressed out and feared for my life. Poor Gary had to listen to me scream and cry as I was sure we were going to die. As a result, we stayed in a Howard Johnson in Tualitan, just north of Sherwood where my mom lives. It was a really nice hotel and we were in great need of a rest after the 13 hours in the car.

Visiting my Mom!
Luckily we made it safely to my mom's new house with ease on the 24th. Once we reached her driveway we had Scott (her fiance) come get us on the 4 wheelers because he didn't want us to slip off the driveway. Once we arrived to the nice warm home we did some catching up and took a tour of her grand mansion in the middle of nowhere. We didn't get to see it in its true beauty as the power was out the entire visit but it was a very lovely home.
Christmas morning was fun! We got to open our presents and watch Jeremy open his new PSP! Not long after that we left for our long journey to Washougal.
To make a long story short, it took us an hour to get out of my mom's driveway Christmas morning. Luckily Scott's brother (who lives next door) has a snow plow/tractor and helped us out. Once we got out of that mess we were at my dad's in no time.

Home Sweet Home!
We were warmly greeted at my dad's. Oh how I love to be home. Colton and Bayli had waited to open their gifts, which was extremely sweet of them! Luckily we got to enjoy all the gift giving again! Gary and I got pj's, some crystal Christmas decorations, games, movies and books! We all spent the rest of the day relaxing.
Unfortunately I woke up with the stomach flu so my goal for the day was to recover! None the less, it was an outstanding Christmas. I loved being with my family and having Gary with me too.

The rest of the week was enjoyed as we played games, spent time with aunts, uncles, and my family. Gary and I also ran around town a little on day care days. We even took a family trip to Powell's bookstore! Bayli was baptized too which was a glorious event! All in all, it was a WONDERFUL vacation!

We left for home and made it their safely! For New Year's Gary was sweet enough to take me to my Grandparent's house in Preston ID where we enjoyed more games and family.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I was so on top of this thing but suddenly a month flew by and I realized I hadn't added any updates. Sorry!!!


Thanksgiving!

Its Thanksgiving morning and Gary and I are eyeing the Black Friday deals! He sees an x-box that he thinks might be a good deal at Wall-Mart. He had planned on us going and getting in line at 3 in the morning to try and get this great deal. Once he realized what an ordeal it would be to get the discount he quickly changed his mind.

If your are thinking he changed his mind on the whole idea your CRAZY! No no no, he jumped in the car and ran over to buy it at full price! lol. I cant complain though, it's great entertainment

We spent our Thanksgiving with some of Gary's family. We wanted to spend some time with each of our grandparents in Idaho but at the last minute decided to just stay in town. Gary was kind enough to take me to see Twilight in theaters Thanksgiving day! I enjoyed the movie but it has its cheese moments. Following the movie we went to Gary's great aunt's house for Thanksgiving dinner. The food was quite tasty! We also cooked our own turkey (Gary won it at work for getting the most sales). It was my first till cooking a whole bird so I did some research. I think it turned out really well for my first try. It was juicy and had some favor to it. I used the meat to make a couple batches of Turkey Bundles and some turkey Alfredo type of a meal. The rest went towards delicious turkey sandwiches.


Less Exciting Stuff...

I was anticipating the opportunity to decorate our house in Christmas decorations! I was sad to find that I only have 2-5 Christmas objects. It did humor me a little though and made me realize it means I'll get to do some shopping for next year! Its the week before Christmas and I still haven't done my shopping or my Christmas cards. Heck, I still have a couple thank you cards to send out from the wedding! I was doing so well and I'm starting to fade. I apologize!

Speaking of slacking; I had been having some minor health issues the past few days. I'm all for trying to cure my issues on my own so I'd been taking extra good care of myself but I wasn't feeling any better. This morning Gary not only asked me to but demanded that I go to the doctor to get everything taken care of. We don't have insurance quite yet so I was looking for an office that was willing to accept me anyway. I looked for a couple hours and ended up finding one in Payson (about 30 mins south of us). Sadly Gary had to come home from work and ended up having to take the whole day off for this lame appointment. It was a bad day, that's all I'm going to say about that whole situation... Anyway, I'm great! I'm on some antibiotics while they watch my test results. I'm sure I should be better by tomorrow.

I should also quickly mention... We got SNOW! That usually doesn't excite me but for some odd reason this year it does. It snowed about 3 inches this morning but its looking like that should be it for a while. Other than that, we have just been living a boring (but AMAZING and FUN) life here in Provo.


Christmas Plans!

Baylie is getting baptized this month! I'm really excited for her and I'm even more thankful that she held off a month so I could be there to share the exciting time with her. With that said, we are going to Washington for Christmas! We'll leave the 23rd and spend a few days with my mom in Sherwood Oregon. After spending a few days with her and Scott and my little brother Jeremy we will head up to my dads. I am so excited to go home and spend some time with my family! I really love them more than I could ever explain.

The weather is forcasted to be pretty stormy this next week from here to our destination. I'm honestly worried about our safety on the road. I'm sure we will be safe, I just worry. I will be sure to update the blog once we are back in Provo.

I love all of you and hope you have a great holiday season!!
Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

I was so on top of this thing but suddenly a month flew by and I realized I hadn't added any updates. Sorry!!!


Thanksgiving!
Its Thanksgiving morning and Gary and I are eyeing the Black Friday deals! He sees an x-box that he thinks might be a good deal at Wall-Mart. He had planned on us going and getting in line at 3 in the morning to try and get this great deal. Once he realized what an ordeal it would be to get the discount he quickly changed his mind.

(If your are thinking he changed his mind on the whole idea your CRAZY! No no no, he jumped in the car and ran over to buy it at full price! lol. I cant complain though, it's great entertainment)

We spent our Thanksgiving with some of Gary's family. We wanted to spend some time with each of our grandparents in Idaho but at the last minute decided to just stay in town. Gary was kind enough to take me to see Twilight in theaters Thanksgiving day! I enjoyed the movie but it has its cheese moments. Following the movie we went to Gary's great aunt's house for Thanksgiving dinner. The food was quite tasty!

We also cooked our own turkey (Gary won it at work for getting the most sales). It was my first till cooking a whole bird so I did some research. I think it turned out really well for my first try. It was juicy and had some favor to it. I used the meat to make a couple batches of Turkey Bundles and some turkey Alfredo type of a meal. The rest went towards delicious turkey sandwiches.


Less Exciting Stuff...
I was anticipating the opportunity to decorate our house in Christmas decor! I was sad to find that I only have 2-5 Christmas objects. It did humor me a little though and made me realize it means I'll get to do some shopping for next year!

Its the week before Christmas and I still haven't done my shopping or my Christmas cards. Heck, I still have a couple thank you cards to send out from the wedding! I was doing so well and I'm starting to fade. I apologize!

Speaking of slacking; I had been having some minor health issues the past few days. I'm all for trying to cure my issues on my own so I'd been taking extra good care of myself but I wasn't feeling any better. This morning Gary not only asked me to but demanded that I go to the doctor to get everything taken care of. We don't have insurance quite yet so I was looking for an office that was willing to accept me anyway. I looked for a couple hours and ended up finding one in Payson (about 30 mins south of us). Sadly Gary had to come home from work and ended up having to take the whole day off for this lame appointment. It was a bad day, that's all I'm going to say about that whole situation... Anyway, I'm great! I'm on some antibiotics while they watch my test results. I'm sure I should be better by tomorrow.

I should also quickly mention... We got SNOW! That usually doesn't excite me but for some odd reason this year it does. It snowed about 3 inches this morning but its looking like that should be it for a while.

Other than that, we have just been living a boring (but AMAZING and FUN) life here in Provo.

Christmas Plans!
Baylie is getting baptized this month! I'm really excited for her and I'm even more thankful that she held off a month so I could be there to share the exciting time with her. With that said, we are going to Washington for Christmas! We'll leave the 23rd and spend a few days with my mom in Sherwood Oregon. After spending a few days with her and Scott and my little brother Jeremy we will head up to my dads.
I am so excited to go home and spend some time with my family! I really love them more than I could ever explain. The weather is forcasted to be pretty stormy this next week. I'm honestly worried about our safety on the road. I'm sure we will be safe, I just worry.


I will be sure to update the blog once we are back in Provo. I love all of you and hope you have a great holiday season!!

Monday, November 10, 2008

3 months of Great Food! (and a very happy marriage)

So we have been married for 3 months now! After about a month of no repeat dinners we thought it would be fun to see if I could make it two months. When I did that we thought, what the heck... lets go for three. Yes, I did it! I did not repeat a dinner in our first 3 months of marriage. I wish I would have kept a list of all the things I made because Gary LOVED all but one of them. The one he didn't like was an Asian salad consisting of coleslaw, crunchy noodles, almonds, chicken and a great dressing. He liked the dressing but not the overall meal. I will admit that the recipe was my personal least favorite as well.

This is a list of all the things I remember making...

Pork chops in cream of chicken soup with rice
Sweet and sour meat balls and rice
Fajitas
Beef enchiladas
Creamy chicken enchiladas
Beef Tacos
Chipoltle chicken tacos
Smoky Sweet Potato Stoup
Potato Soup
Chicken and Cheese Crescent Chimichangas (Eric's Favorite!)
Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo
Beef Lo Mein
Tuna Pasta Bake
Chicken Devan
Tuna and cheese braid
Steak and potatoes
Chili
Nachos
Vegi Stir Fry
Kielbasa and potato skillet
Phad Thai
Stuffed Pasta Shells
Pot Roast
Chicken Salad Roll ups
Chicken Bundles
home made Chicken BBQ pizza

Jazz vs. Blazers Game! and a bit of disapointment

Last Wednesday we had planned on going to a burger place for restaurant night and then going to a haunted house. When we heard Grandma and Grandpa Hall were in town we quickly changed our plans and headed down to Spanish Fork to have dinner with them and Keith and Juliann. It was great to see them! When we got home we had a group over to watch a movie and play x-box. I think that was the hi light of the week.

This past Wednesday we again had to put restaurant night on hold. Gary had bought tickets to the Jazz game because they were playing against my home team, the Blazers. It was a BLAST! I had a ton of fun and was so happy to get to go. I love being at games, where the action is.
The Jazz won which was a disappointment since we were cheering for the Blazers but it was a really close game!

Thursday Tanya came down. We went to Target for a few hours. I was really excited to get to shop slowly rather than hurrying up so the guys don't get bored. We had a blast! Then we came home and had dinner with Gary. I hate to brag but the soup I had made was the most amazing soup ever!!! SO GOOD! We then watched Juno which I must say was a pretty awkward movie.

Friday Tanya and I went to the Provo Town center to shop a bit. I bought Gary new shoes since his had holes all the way through the bottoms. After she bought be lunch we headed back home and she headed out. When Gary got home we went to see Madagascar 2 in theaters with Sid. It was a great movie!

Saturday morning we started the day off by going to Aquatica with Krispin and Jess. They just set up a fish tank and wanted to check out the fish store we're always raving about. That night we went to Eric's to play rock band.

Sunday was just the same as most. We went to church, came home and took a nap and went to Keith and Juliann's for dinner.

Overall it was a pretty low key but fun weekend!