Highlights

I could add 100 more pictures of all the great and fun things that have happened this year. 

M&G top 5 2012:

March: Engaged: story 

 May: National Lacrosse Tournament in Colorado Springs

August: Married for time and all eternity in the Jordan River Temple.

August: Honeymoon in Cancun, Mexico 

September: Got HOOKED UP with a two bedroom apartment in Riverton. We love it!

Excited to find what 2013 has in store!
Happy New Year everyone!

Snow Fun!

Yesterday while it was snowing, I hopped on Google to do some research. This is what I found:

http://www.parkgrades.com/blog/8-sledding-hills-parks-salt-lake-city-metro-area

So today, after a wonderful chocolate chip pancake breakfast made by the husband, we decided to try these places out. 

In case you're wondering...

Sugarhouse: Mid-afternoon there was still tons of snow. Lots of people were there but there was still room for everyone. Worth going!
Creekside: There was a mosquito bite in the middle of a field... we didn't even get out of our car.
Flat Iron Mesa: By the time we got here, there was no snow left. It looked like a big steep hill though and we agreed to give this place a try early next time it snows. It looked fun.
Eastridge: The hill here was pretty small but this is where we had the most fun because people had built little jumps that were easy to hit. The hill was small enough that it was an easy walk up but big enough to be a ride.

In all, we are still on a quest to find the best sledding hills near the Salt Lake Valley.

Any suggestions?

Gifting

When you run out of wrapping paper...

        ...Which was why we hit boxing day- ceramics, wrapping paper, ornaments, 60% off.
Merry Christmas all over again!

On a side-ish note, Christmas was good to us.

Thank you to everyone who made it this way! I was worried about sharing family time on Christmas Eve and Christmas. I think it worked out well and I had a great holiday- hopefully my husband feels the same.

*Christmas Eve we saw wreck it Ralph with the family then hit up Grandma's for dinner and presents with the other family.
*Gav & I unwrapped all our gifts from each other on Christmas Eve.
*I graciously woke up my husband at 6:45 AM Christmas day, went to my parents house, graciously woke up all my younger siblings by 7:30, and opened gifts. It is so fun to have someone in the house still into Santa.
*We went to the other parents' house to give company while sister opened her gifts.
*Aunts house for a big, delicious breakfast.
*I went tubing at Soldier Hollow with some girls from work that didn't get to go home for Christmas.
*Back to parent's house to have a big pizza dinner (new tradition- which couldn't make me happier!) and we played lots of games and got more gifts. (A lot more... we are SPOILED)!

LOVE Christmas season, the day isn't as great because it means the season is over, but now we have next December to look forward to!
Thanks again to all our family who helped us celebrate. First Christmas as a married couple was a success!!

2nd Annual

#drinks #mormonpartyanimals #christmas # treats #friends #games #goodtimes

'Tis the Season!...Finally!

Happy December 1st everybody! Untold by our half decorated apartment, I am so excited for the Christmas parties, the treats, Christmas songs in church, sparkles, lights, Christmas stories, Santa, scented candles and everything else December has in store!

 Let the season officially begin!

Attempt 1

Growing up I always saw my mom cooking and sewing and crafting. I thought and said out loud multiple times I could never see my self decorating or painting something for fun. "Do you just get married and then all of a sudden you like that kind of stuff?" Well, yes, actually, that is how it happens.

So here is my first project... or attempt at one. "The Wall". The idea started on Pinterest, I painted wood from hobby lobby, used a wedding hairpiece made by my cousin for the flower, bought the temple cutout at a scrapbook store, used my sister's Cricut to make the "Husband & Wife..", printed wedding pictures, and modge-podged it all together. Ta-da!

Thanksgiving

11/22/2012
I work at a residential treatment center for teenage girls. Because we can't let the girls run wild on Holidays, I didn't get work off for Thanksgiving, but it was still a good day! I was only at work for a few hours and during my shift, we took the girls to see the Lincoln movie. Those girls have the weirdest taste in movies! No Twilight, no Wreck it Ralph... Lincoln.
Anyways, after work, I met my husband at his family's house. It is a little weird having Thanksgiving dinner with so few people when I am used to a huge family, but the food was great (candied sweet potatoes- I ate the whole pan!) and the company was fun and we had so much to be thankful for and celebrate!

After dinner, Gav's parents let us open some Christmas gifts! They read us the story The Christmas Train, gave us an ornament, and a Christmas train! Gavin has been wanting a train- it may as well have been Christmas day for him!

Later that night, Gavin went to Red Dawn with his dad and brother while the girls prepared to Black Friday shop. We went to the mall at midnight, which was crazy, and a few other stores.. I am now a fan of ShopKo by the way.
One of my favorite things about Thanksgiving is it is the start of Christmas season! Stay tuned for our holiday decorations and festivities!

Happy Election Day!

But seriously, take all the joy you can from the above because anything else involving Obama and Romney tonight is a little depressing.

#GodblesstheUSA

Thanks!

I have always heard your wedding day is the best day of your life. I assumed that would be true because it is such a significant day. I didn't expect it to actually be the most happy, exciting, and FUN day EVER!!  Seriously, the whole day was so fun, and we were so appreciative of everyone who came or showed their support in some way shape or form. You all made our day that much better!

The only problem we ran into was that we got a few gifts that we couldn't find cards for (dominoes game, mattress pad). We loved these gifts and want to thank people for them but who do we thank?! If you have any information regarding these mystery gifts, let us know!

And thanks again for helping us celebrate the best day of our lives!

#deonethorntonphotography #beautifulweddingannouncements

First Big One

About two months past due, I will post about our first adventure as a married couple.

Since being home from our Honeymoon we have been busy with school, switching jobs, colds, putting our place together, and enjoying the little things (like football games, softball, and dinners out). I can't wait for our next day out of the ordinary but I am so glad we started off our marriage with a big adventure to tide us over for a while.

After the reception we went to the Marriott in Salt Lake and were hooked up with a room on the top floor overlooking the city. AWESOME! Unfortunately, we got there at 11:00 at night and had to leave by 4 a.m. to catch our flight. We woke up early the next morning and headed to the airport, security was longer than ever, got on our flight, and headed to Cancun, Mexico!

Our trip was booked through Morris Murdock. They helped everything run smoothly and it wasn't any more expensive to go through them than to do it ourselves!

We stayed at the Grand Occidental Xcaret: a huge, all inclusive resort, built right in the jungle. We ate at the buffet for breakfast and lunch,which was alright, the bar for tons of virgin pina colada's, and we hit a resort restaurant every night (still all inclusive) for dinner. The restaurant food was great!

There were two huge pools at the resort, a small beach with tons of fish, and tours your could book through the resort.  We took excursions to Tulum (the ruins) and combined that tour with snorkeling in Acumal. We saw plenty of Sea Turtles in that beach!

We also took a tour to an ecological zipline park Xplore. Here we did a whole zip line course, met plenty of other young honeymooners from Utah, and swam and rafted through underground Rivers. The helmets were much needed!

We also took a day trip to Playa Del Carmen- one of the nicest, warmest beaches I have been to. There was a lot of shopping here too. This is where it was really helpful that Gav knows Spanish!

A few people have seen the Facebook pictures and have said they are looking for a trip like this, have asked us the travel details, and if we recommend it. The answer is YES. We were very pleased with our travel help, our resort, our tours, and everything! It was so fun and we are hoping to be able to go back one day!

Jobs

A normal day looks like Gavin getting up early, going to work then school while I stay home, clean the house, run some errands, and head to work in the afternoon. I am 100% fine with the laundry/dishes/vacuum jobs while he is busy with other things.

On Sunday I had to work from 9-4. I came home to dishes all over the kitchen, Gavin watching T.V., and candy wrappers all over the floor. 

I got frustrated as I thought to myself "why is it my job to clean up all the time?" The frustration probably showed in my actions but I am glad I didn't say anything.

It came to me about 8 o'clock that night when I went half an hour without hearing a word from him but I did hear a whole lot of splashing in the bathroom. 

The answer to my question: "because it's your job to plunge the toilets!"

(cha-ching motion with right arm, hand in fist, elbow bent at 90 degrees)

Old Man

I am married to an old man. I'm not saying that because he just turned 23!, but because this is how we celebrated his birthday (his choice):

• Slept in, made a fun breakfast, got ready for the day, etc.
• Went to the mall to buy a hat and picked one out in 30 seconds. We left the mall by going through Macy's, where a knife sharpener caught Gav's eye, so we got him another birthday present. Our never-before-used knives are know very sharp. As well as our spoons, forks, butter knives, and scissors.

• Stopped at Ikea to buy another present of glass bottle because why would we keep our beverages in jugs if we can keep them in glass bottles? And some funnels. Because how are we supposed to get our beverages from our jugs into our glass bottles without funnels?

• Hung up his (I mean our) coo-coo clock and watched that for about half an hour to make sure it was clicking at the right pace.
• Bought some oranges, played with our juicer and made an $8 bottle of orange juice.

• Went to Red Lobster with the fam.
• Bowling with the friend.

 I am just glad we got to spend the day together and with other loved ones. Hopefully he had fun because he deserves a good birthday- so many great reasons to celebrate him! Happy birthday!
xoxo

Home Improvement

I made this blog with the intent of updating it frequently, which will happen eventually I think.
As of lately we have been busy changing this...

into this...

It's been fun. Some of the walls are still bare but with the help of pinterest and a creative mom, I am sure that will change soon.

Today is Gavin's birthday so hopefully within the next couple of days I will share a little bit about his big 2-3! 

xoxo

Where to Begin?

We want to tell everyone our story and blog about our wedding, honeymoon, past adventures, current happenings, and future plans. But for right now we are in his parent's basement enjoying the internet that we don't have at our place and won't get until we move into another apartment next week. Baseball is on and his fantasy team stats are pulled up. She is on the internet supposedly looking for ways to continue her education.
There's your update and we hope you enjoy the many to come! 
xoxo