Christmas

So for Christmas this year we ended up staying at Mark's parents house in Sandy. Our original plan was to stay at our apartment on Christmas eve, have Christmas morning here and then head up to his parents house. But, the weather had other plans. We checked and it was supposed to be snowing pretty bad exactly when we wanted to be driving, so we decided to just do the whole thing in Sandy. So This is us Christmas morning:

Mark with his stalking

As you can see, Mark did all of his own wrapping. Notice how he ran out of ribbon, so he tied two pieces together. Such a smarty!

The grandness of the gifts. That furry thing at the bottom of the table is Wendy's dog Sydney's tail.

DISCLAIMER: My eyes are extremely red in every picture and I don't have time to go fix them all. So I look a little satanic in every picture.

One of my gifts to Mark: Roger Moore's book "My Word is My Bond". Mark really likes 007 and was very excited for this

So here is the funny story of Mark's gifts to me. I told him that i wanted new Sunday clothes. So Mark being a guy, took his sister Wendy to help him pick out things for me. However, lets just say that Wendy is a bit short and when she held the dresses up to her, they went past her knees. Let's just say they barely covered my butt and now i have several new very cute sweaters!!!

Mark and I had a budget for our gift buying, and i was getting towards the end of mine. Can you see the disappointment?? In my defense, my family had a bingo game growing up and I LOVED it. We have yet to play, but I anticipate very fun times to come.

Us with our fabulous gift from Jordan and Tamra, a gift card to Kohls. I can't wait to use it!!

New Sunday tights. These did fit by the way

Last year for Christmas Mark got me a bunch of little sample perfumes. This year he got me the full version of my favorite one from last year. So here are last years model and this years. By the
way, it is called Pure Turquoise by Ralph Lauren.

Mark opening my main gift to him

YIPPEE!!! Tickets to go see the Jazz vs. the Suns. (Go Suns!!)

Me with my favorite "dress" of the bunch

So, Mark and I ended up staying several more days at his parent's house just hanging out with his family. His sister Melinda and her husband Jake (who has been in Iraq for the last year) were here this year. AND, Jake brought the game rock band with him. I'm pretty sure we played for 3 days straight. We had a blast and actually got pretty good.

Anyway, this is the cottage in Mark's backyard where we slept when we were there. Can you see the mini donkeys? Mark's mom got them for her live nativity on Christmas Eve. (I was an angel and Mark was a centurion. I'll have to find pictures from someone else.)

We had a great Christmas and are so grateful for our wonderful and generous families! A special thanks to both of our Mom's for their awesome gifts for us!

For Abby

So I noticed that on Nathan and Shelly's blog that they got some "snow" in Houston and that Abby was very excited about it. So I decided I couldn't bring the snow to her, but I could show her what real snow is like. We woke up this morning to a big snow storm, so i ventured out to take some pictures for Abby.

Right outside our apartments. You can't really tell, but it was really coming down. (Also notice that I got my hair done. You can't really tell because I was doused with snow the second I stepped outside, but I got some highlights in. The first step to getting rid of the stupid stupid brown)

Views leading up to our apartment:

the view from our living room window:

I had planned on going to the gym and grocery shopping this morning, but after looking outside and seeing this, I decided it would be safer to stay off of the roads until this storm passes.

Every morning we get up Mark goes to the window to see if it snowed the night before. When he discovers that it did (and sometimes when it didn't) he sings this song:

It snowed last night
It snowed last night
The angels had a pillow fight

It's really dorky, but I love it!

Anyway, I hope you liked the pictures Abby. Sorry it's not more exciting. It was too cold to stay out to get better pictures. You will just have to come visit us here and we can go play in the snow!

New Skiis

So a while ago Mark bought me my very own skiis!!! As soon as he discovered that I was actually enjoying myself skiing he just couldn't resist. We got a screaming deal on them. Skiis, boots, and poles for $50.00!!! And everything is in GREAT condition. So here are some pictures of me sporting my new goods.

And of course it wouldn't be complete without adding "the suit"

So that's it! Thank you craigslist for getting us in touch with people who have no idea what their stuff is worth!!!




P.S. I have no idea if that is how you spell skiis. I kept going back and forth between skis. They both look weird. Stupid word.

The Tree

So we've had the tree for a while now... I just keep forgetting to post. We opted to put it on the coffee table this year because it was very much in the way last year. Anyway, it's a little odd but we love it! We need to get some better pictures because it really does look a lot better than this picture would have you believe. But anyway, there is our tree!

Also, I must mention, that the only problem with having the tree here is that I can't see the TV from the kitchen. It drives me a bit nuts because i have grown accustom to watching Seinfeld while I make dinner. But i can still listen!

Ski Class

So as many of you know, I am taking ski lessons right now. I took one before Thanksgiving and I just had one on Saturday. I was feeling pretty good after my last lesson (mostly because my teacher told me that i did the best! I tried not to let that go to my head because most of my class is a bunch of sissy girls that as soon as they get scared they fall over. it's actually pretty funny to watch) Anyway, at the ski resort that my lessons are at (Alta) they have free skiing from 3:00 to 4:30. My lesson is from 1:00 to 3:00. So, Mark goes up with me and studies in the lodge during my lesson and then does the free skiing when I am done. But this time I went with him.

So this is us on the lift. It was FREEZING. I had taken a lot of my under layers of clothes off during my lesson because I was actually sweating to death in "the suit." But way up at the top of the mountain it was a bit chilly. This is the same place Mark took me skiing last year, and let's just say that it wasn't pretty or fun then. But, this time it was much much better. Actually having some clue as to what you are doing helps a lot.

I know the pictures aren't the best because we used Mark's phone (as you can see from the reflection in our awesome goggles).

Christmas Countdown!

So I've been trying to think of things i could do for Mark for Christmas to make it really great despite our limited budget. I was looking through a Christmas book that Mark's mom gave me and I got this great idea. To build the anticipation for Christmas to come, I'm doing a 25 days of Christmas countdown. Every night until Christmas Eve Mark gets to open one of these little box presents!

These pictures didn't really turn out, but i promise it looks really good. As you can imagine in our little apartment there arent many banisters to hang things from, so i had to use the already stuffed bookcase.

I insisted on making them as cute and fancy as possible and for some reason thought that glitter would be a good idea. Well i think they turned out cute but now our apartment and not to mention Mark and I are covered in glitter. Now i know why my mom would never let me play with glitter growing up.

I had to get pretty creative to think of so many things to put into all of these boxes, so most of them have some candy and a "coupon" for Mark. They are just silly things like a back rub and other stuff like that.

Also, I thought I would share our little pathetic tree. This is it!! not much of a tree i know. BUT GUESS WHAT??? Today at work my boss said he would let Mark and I have a real tree for FREE! (he has several tree lots) All we have to do is go pick one out!

Mark is 24!!!

So it's official!! Mark turned 24 on November 14. We were pretty lame picture takers, but we had a great time! this is Mark after he opened all 2 of his presents. The first chocolate orange of the year, and a new web cam!

So as you can see, i'm having some hair issues. I went in to get rid of the red, and i said i wanted blonde. i came home with practically black. I'm just not meant to have nice hair ever again. But anyway, this was the only other picture we got on Mark's actual day. I tried to take others, but let's just say there was someone who didnt want to.

So, here is how the day went, I went to work in the morning as usual, Mark stayed home to hang out and relax... Or so i thought, i came home and Mark had cleaned the whole apartment, including scrubbing the bathroom floor. Silly kid, the one day he has the excuse to take it easy. Anyway, I got home from work and Mark and I went to lunch at Einstein Bros. It was so amazing!!!! I've never had one of their sandwiches, and i discovered that i had never really lived until that day. It was amazing.


Then, Mark and I went to pick up his sister Wendy and we drove all the way to downtown Salt Lake to see the new 007 at the Gateway (outdoor mall). We drove all the way there because Mark had said he wanted to get some caramel apples at a shop that is there, so we thought we would do it after the movie.

But, before we went in to the movie, Wendy said that we needed to try to find this store called Ben's cookies. We found it and got some cookies and they were SO GOOD! in case you can't tell, we are all about the good food/treats!

After the movie, we decided that we were too full on movie candy and Ben's cookies, so we ended up not getting the caramel apples, so we drove all the way to Salt Lake for no real reason, but that's OK, we enjoyed the drive.

So it was pretty much a great great day. Mark had asked me for a banana cream pie for his birthday, but i didn't have time to make it for the actual day. So this is him with it a few days later.

Happy birthday Mark!! i hope you had as much fun as I did!!

The Real Halloween

So everybody can stop being so disappointed in me, because i did end up dressing up for Halloween. I was Hermione from Harry Potter. It was a very last minute decision and I had to use things that i already had. (Mostly from Mark's side of the closet) I decided to be Hermione because Mark and I had planned to take his nephew Strauss to a town about half an hour away that was doing a special "Harry Potter Halloween." In this one neighborhood, everyone decorated their house like a location from Harry Potter. One house was King's Cross Station, another was Snape's office, another was Gringott's Bank. There were about 20 houses that were doing it, so we were really excited.

BUT, on our way to pick up Strauss, we decided to call and confirm that he was still coming with us. We called to discover that he had just left with his friends. Yes, we were ditched by a 10 year old. So we were pretty disapointed, and decided it would be kinda awkward if we went trick or treating without some kind of a kid with us. so instead we went back to our apartment and ordered pizza and watched the first Harry Potter movie with Wendy.

By the way, i did go to school like this too. I even carried my books like this instead of in my bag like I normally do. Some people could even tell who i was!!

Halloween

So this year for Halloween, Mark and I had some GREAT ideas for what we could dress up as. The first was the notorious Dog the bounty hunter and his wife Beth. As we have mentioned on here before, we love Dog and thought this would be pretty funny. But alas, it turns out to do something like this you actually have to plan it AND spend money, so that didn't happen.

Next we thought about the great duo Woody and Jessie the yodeling cowgirl. But you guessed it, it also requires planning and money.

We thought Jessie would be especially appropriate for me with my stupid red hair. (hopefully that will be changing here pretty soon)

So, even though we had these great ideas, we will probably be going as ourselves. I know, pretty lame.

Poor Sicky Marky

So yesterday Mark came home from school really sick. All he could do was lay on the couch and moan. So of course i had to do my duty as the wife and skip my class so I could stay home and take care of him. (and when i say take care of him, i mean lay on the couch and take a nap with him!! ; ) much better than class) But eventually i did HAVE to go to school for one class, which turned out to be really lame and pointless. THEN, I had to go to a Dental School presentation that Mark was planning on going to. And, I have particular interest in this school because it is in Mesa. (A. T. Still University) So then i went home and reported about the school to Mark, who in the mean time had gotten much worse. We decided that Mark needed a blessing because he was so sick AND because he has a really big organic chemistry test today, so I went down to the church to find the only priesthood men we knew (who were at mutual, where we should have been). (we have been in the ward for over a year and have yet to discover who our home teachers are) Anyway, brother Schiffman and brother Strong came over after mutual and gave Mark a blessing. It was really great and they blessed that he would get a good nights rest and be able to have the strength to make it through his test today. So, the whole point of this post, every one pray for Mark that he can do well on his test despite feeling awful. He did seem to be a little better this morning, but the extra prayers can't hurt right??

Witchy Woman

Ok, i need everyone's opinion. This is what i wore to church today. For some reason, half way through the day i decided that this outfit resembles one that a witch would wear. Mark disagrees. So I need everyone to vote on the poll to the right of this post. Maybe it's just because it's almost Halloween, but I felt like I was in a witch's outfit.

Callie's Cookies

So I made some cookies for my visiting teaching people. Wendy and I made them a few days ago, but i just frosted them Saturday night. This is how they turned out.

Also, while I was creating the great black frosting, i guess i kept sampling it without really thinking about it. After a while Mark walked in, looked at me, and started busting up laughing, this is why?

More Yummy Brownies

So this is from a while ago, but Mark's sister Wendy got a new job within her same company (Xango). Now she is an executive assistant in the legal department. So, to celebrate we made these yummy brownies with the legal balancy thing. So i thought we would share.

Brick of Mormon Stories

So this is a book that Mark's brother Steven wrote (along with his nephews Taylor and Matthew). It is a bunch of stories from the book of Mormon. Basically how it works is he has a brief synopsis of what happens, followed by the actual scripture quote. But, the best part is the illustrations, which are all pictures of the scenes built in Legos. It's pretty awesome. Mark and I have been trying to do better at our scripture reading, so every night we read some of the actual Book of Mormon, and then we read a story out of the Brick of Mormon. It's really fun. So you all should check it out. Here is the link to a sample of one of the stories in the book:

Nephi Builds a Ship

Also, you will notice that there is a link on the side to his website where you can learn more and purchase the book. (if anyone feels inclined to put a link on your blog we would really appreciate it. Steven is really trying to get the word out!)

Anniversary Weekend!

So it's official!! We have been married for one whole year! To celebrate, we stayed in Midway, Utah at Mark's cousins cabin. This is me waiting in the car for Mark to get us some drinks for the 30 min . drive there.

Mark started a tradition this year. He is going to get me one white rose for our anniversary for every year we have been married. So this year i got one, on our 50'th I'll get 50. cute huh. and i thought pretty practical, because by that time, maybe we can afford it!! So here i am with this years rose.Us taking a cheesy picture while we are driving there

We thought this would be a cool picture, but it didn't turn out so well because you cant really see the mountains. But oh well.

I put these on in the wrong order, but you'll get the idea. These are the inside of the cabin. As you will see, it looks a little strange, but it's way cute. The people who built it (I'm not sure when, but a long time ago.) immigrated over here and didn't have a lot of money, but for some reason they had some telephone poles, so they built it out of those.

There isn't any insulation in this little house, so it was FREEZING!!! it was even snowing for a while when we were there, and it was just about the same temperature inside as outside. But there was a fireplace, so we stayed on the couch with blankets and hot chocolate for most of the time.

Mark locking up the garage

View from the porch

The baconator

Yummy!! Mark's a great chef!

This is me with the gift Mark got me before i opened it. In case you can't tell, he wrapped it with one of our wedding pictures! isn't he SOOO sweet?? We never got a picture with it unwrapped, but Mark got me my first ever Nixon watch!! it is so so cute!! If you are really interested you can do a search for the Nixon Loft watch. (i got the blue one)

So the next morning we got up and went to some outlet stores in Park City. I got this snow jumpsuit for a GREAT deal. It's normally $289.00 ($306.00 with tax) and we got it for $32.00!! ($36 with tax) We are some pretty cool shoppers. In case you can't tell, its too big for me, but with a deal like that how can you pass it up?? I may look like an astronaut, but I'll never get cold playing in the snow again!!

Mark got this cute shirt at Gap for $3.99! what a silly stud!!

Mark already had this shirt in maroon and loves it, so he was very excited to get another one in a new color.

That night, after dinner we used our new Fondue pot i got as a surprise for Mark. It was so tasty and romantic!

I'm kinda a dork and kept getting chocolate all over my face, so Mark couldn't resist pulling out the camra. It was just so yummy i couldnt help it!

So that was pretty much it, we had a great relaxing time and are so grateful for Rachelle and Morgan for letting us stay there! It was awesome!