Wednesday, January 4, 2012

December

We had a fun and busy December!

Drew's sister Dani gets married next week! We are so excited for her and really like Dave.

Her ward shower: Robin, Clarissa, Dani, Crystal, and me
The week between Christmas and New Years I took off work and went to the cabin with my family. Drew came up when he could get a little bit of time off work. There wasn't a ton of snow but it was fun anyways. We still went snowmobiling and had my mom's side of the family up for a day. I finally ordered another charger and gave up on finding mine after I saw out of four pictures from the cabin one is really blurry :(.


One of my favorite things about the cabin besides hanging out with these kiddos is you don't feel like you have to ever get out of pjs or do your makeup.. my kind of vacation!



Earlier in the month we went to festival of trees with Jannali, Ryan, Mary, Bryce and Megan. It was fun and as always the food is delicious!

Bryce and Megan did an ugly sweater and white elephant party. We got a barbie and sunglasses haha. It was fun eating and chatting.

Jannali and me

Kylie and Megan with Mary

We are excited for Steve and Kylie they are having a boy!

Jake and Jenna

Brynley had her gymnastics performance to Christmas music.

It was adorable and fun to watch.

We had a girls/guys night and this is the only picture I got to remember it sorry Jannali :). The girls went to CPK and did crafts and the boys went to a Jazz game after eating wings. It's nice drew's friends wives all get along it makes everything easy!

Once again I have no pictures to show but a couple of girls I went to highschool with (Jena and Ali) did a highschool reunion in December. It was fun to see everyone and catch up! Most of them I had not seen since last years reunion. Emily and Al were also in town from Oregon so we got to hang out with them for a bit.

My parents also took us to Christmas Carol at Hale Theater. I always love it even though I saw it every year growing up. It's one of my favorite traditions.

Drew did well at work this month and overall our month was fun and productive!

November

Thanksgiving is always bitter sweet for me. I lost my opa three years ago around Thanksgiving and I miss him so much. Every Thanksgiving growing up we went to my Oma and Opa's to celebrate Thanksgiving with German food. I can't even begin to describe how much I miss dumplings and that whole experience that made it my favorite holiday. I am now to the point I don't dread Thanksgiving but it will never be as great as it used to be. This year was special though because Matt/Nats and the kids came to visit from PA. We spent Thanksgiving with Drew's family. After some black friday shopping with Drew's family we headed up to the cabin with my family.


Drew and Brayden



Kauner and Cam










Since Matt's family was heading back to PA until August we celebrated Christmas a little early.






Out of order.. but Danielle and Dave waiting until Midnight on Thanksgiving

to get their new TV at Target. Drew, Drew's mom, and I went to Walmart (inside :)) and waited to get a wii (yay we have netflix!), pans, and movies.


My dad's birthday was at the beginning of the month. We celebrated with giant

eclairs instead of cake.






Tuesday, January 3, 2012

2011 in review

We have had an amazing 2011 and hope 2012 will be equally great! We were lucky to be able to go on lots of vacations (that part won't happen again this year), spend time with family, and have fun with friends. We are so grateful for each other, our family, and our friends.
Memories from 2011...
January
We spent a fun night in Park City going to dinner and laughing til our cheeks hurt to Jason Hewlett.
February
The romantic husband I have surprised me with white popcorn and candlelight chicken alfredo for Valentines mmm
March
We had the time of our lives on a Carribbean cruise with my family. The cruise included lots of laughing, eating, snorkeling, scuba diving for the guys, and lots of strawberry daquiris! We were able to watch March madness on the top of a cruise ship (hence the excitement in the picture below).
Matt really did have fun even though his face doesn't show it.
Labadee Haiti before we went on the waverunners. Absolutely love the water in the Carribbean!
Formal dinner

April
We had a great Easter and watching General Conference with both families.
May
Drew graduated from the U in Exercise and Sports Science. Drew also turned a quarter of a century old. We spent Mother's Day, Drew and Clarissa's birthday with his family and then headed to Hawaii to celebrate (and because we were suckered into a vacation club). We had a blast staying 2 days in Waikiki (I like the hustle and bustle) and then 6 days in a resort on the beach in the middle of nowhere (Drew's liking). Our favorite parts were snorkeling with sea turtles outside our hotel, trying new restaurants, the PCC, diamond head, golfing, and snowcones of course.

Drew's family

My family... Matt and Natalie were there too but had to leave before pictures.
June
Matt graduated first in his class from medical school in Arizona! He wanted it a secret he was graduating first and had to speak so Erin and I tried to keep it a secret we knew and were going to be there. Jason, Erin, Drew, and I got to know each other too well on the 24 hour trip to Arizona and back but had a blast. Matt figured we were coming so it wasn't a surprise but it was still fun. We are so proud of my brother! After this my parents and Matt's family drove back to PA where he will do his residency for the next 5 years.
We just survived our first Christmas with out Matt's family.. we miss them lots.
July
We went to the Oakley rodeo and stayed at the cabin with my dad's brother's family and my mom's sister's family. This is always one of my favorite weeks.

We were also able to go to Redfish Lake Idaho with Drew's family for the second year. It is so gorgeous up there and we get to spend our time on paddle boards, paddle boats, trying to kayak (Clarissa and I learned upstream is a bad idea), having campfires, and getting to know Drew's family better. We were just told we get to go again this summer and can't wait!
August
My parents took Brynley and I out to PA to visit Matt's family. It was so much fun going to amusement parks, Omish towns, gettysburg, and getting to see their new house. I have never really been back east, unless Florida counts, it is so pretty and full of history. I told my mom if I lived back here I would have done better in history.. I think I learned more about the civil war in one day visiting gettysburg than I ever did in school.
An omish buggy ride to a tour of their farms.
Also in August.. Drew got a job! He is working for Rehab Specialists selling durable medical equipment. The learning process has been hard at times but he is becoming a very good medical sales rep. He tried balancing his new job, Texas Roadhouse, and me and it wasn't working very well so he gave up Texas Roadhouse in October. We miss the discount but are excited with all the experience he can gain at this company.
September
During September we had a lot of fun with friends boating, having a friends cabin trip, and throwing Jannali a baby shower.
October
We spent time carving pumpkins with friends and watching scary movies. Drew and I dressed up as lamps last minute and went trick or treating with Erin's kids.
We also went to Muldoons with Drew's family and got to know Dave better (Danielle's fiance). It's kinda scary how similar Drew and Dave are. We spent time four wheeling, shooting, and watching movies.
November
My dad turned 60! We had a fun dinner on Sunday and went out with our family friends the Verno's to Olive Garden that week. We had a good Thanksgiving with Drew's family and spent time at the cabin with my brother and his family who came to visit. We also had family pictures taken.
December
We had an event filled December with lots of family activities. We also spent time with friends at girls/guys night out and having an "ugly sweater" party. We were able to go to festival of trees, a Christmas carol, and the temple square lights. Drew spoiled me with a fun birthday and I turned 24! We spent Christmas with both of our families and I enjoyed not having to work :).
Christmas Eve with all of my girl cousins.
We have been so blessed this year!
We already have lots to look forward to in 2012. Drew's sister Danielle is getting married this month, gaining another nephew in March from Matt and Nats, more of our friends are having babies, I am graduating (again) in April, and we're hopefully buying a house!
We put an offer on a house in Draper about four months ago and are still waiting but crossing our fingers.
I am still working as a nurse in the NICU at Primary Children's. I will graduate in April with my BSN from Byu-Idaho. I have been doing school straight through this year and although I have been drowning in homework and very stressed feeling like I can't keep up with school, work, and our house I have gained a huge respect for women who work, go to school, and have kids! I am grateful for my husband who has put up with a dirty house and a moody wife this year.
This summer we get to continue our traditions in going to the cabin, Montana, and Redfish lake. My goal this year is to blog more consistantly :). Phew that was a long post!