Girl’s Night!

On Friday I had a Girl’s Night with my mom, sisters and my mother-in-law, Liz. We went to Color Me Mine in Provo which is a shop where you paint your own ceramics. They have a ton of items you can choose to paint from kitchenware to decorations to random trinkets. We all had fun painting and spending time together. They had a guy in the corner singing with his guitar all night which really made the atmosphere  fun as well.  Afterwards, we all came to my house and I Made fruit smoothies for everyone.

Justine with her bowl and Meilin with her Frog piggy bank

Liz with her bowl

Mom painting her bowl

 

My Veggie tray

I was able to pick them up today! Here are the final FABULOUS results of everyone’s pieces:

Meilin’s Frog

Liz’s bowl

Justine’s Bowl

Mom’s bowl

My tray :)

I think they all turned out great! I definitely want to go back. There were so many things I wanted to paint that I had a hard time choosing! And if you don’t feel like you are very creative, they have tons of stencils and ideas and all the staff are more than happy to show you how to do the different techniques.

L.O.V.E

Having someone to love is so wonderful. It is even better when you have someone who loves you back.  I’m so lucky to have both in my life! Andrew and I had a cute evening for Valentines. I made roasted game hens and we ate by candlelight (cliché yes, but fun) While I was cooking, Andrew set up a mattress in the Living room and after dinner, we watched a movie “camped out” in our living room. It was cool.

When Andrew and I were dating, somehow this song would always pop into my head when he made me happy, if I was thinking of him, or around him etc…My friends would always point out that I was humming it again. It eventually became known as our Theme Song. So in the season of love, I just wanted to share it :D

Andrew and his Awesome Family!!!

I have married into an awesome family and I just need to brag about them a bit! I’ve known this all along but every once-in-a-while they do stuff that just reminds me how lucky I am to have them all In my life. I’m not just talking about his brothers and parents but extended family too! From his aunts and uncles, to grandparents and cousins. I love them all and I have even made some close friendships with a few of them.

On the weekend, we spent some time with Andrew’s parents and brothers. They asked us when we were going to put up Christmas lights on our new house. We responded that we just haven’t had the time between work and school and we may or may not be able to  get them up this year. It’s not that we don’t have the Christmas spirit, we are just ridiculously busy with everything and can barely find time to breathe some days.  Well yesterday, I drove home from work and as I was coming up the street, I noticed our house had lights all over it! Liz, Darrel, Alex, and Anthony, bought lights and put them on our house for us! They didn’t just get a string of lights and threw them up on our house, NOPE! They totally went all out and bought colored icicle lights for the house, light-up candy canes for the walk-way, a Snowman, and also wrapped our fences and trees with lights as well! It looks so great!

 

Well, the awesomeness doesn’t stop there, when I came home today, I discovered that Andrew had cleaned the ENTIRE house, got the laundry started AND bought me flowers for no reason except that he loves me. I love him!  Here are the flowers:

Sometimes I wonder what I have done to deserve such great people in my life. I just hope that I return their love in a way they know I love and appreciate all of them.

Counting My Blessings

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I want to dedicate a post to things that I am thankful for.

• A wonderful Loving husband  who lets me know everyday how much he loves me! Who understands what I want to say when I don’ know how to say it. Whose personality is both so much like mine and so different at the same time that we fit together perfectly. And a man who I get to spend eternity with. I couldn’t ask for anyone better!
• A wonderful house to live in-and the jobs that have allowed us to have such a luxury.
• Our goofy but sweet dog Sasha who makes us laugh every day.
• 2 running and reliable vehicles that get us both where we need to go.
• A husband who enjoys cleaning-since I don’t :)
• Our wonderful families that provide us with much-needed love and support.
• Friends who like to play games with us :)
• The gospel-which has helped us through our tough decisions and been a rock for us during our hard times.
• The magic and beauty of nature that Heavenly Father has created for us to enjoy.
• The opportunity that we both have to go to school.
• To be able to express my emotions through music.
• My “awesome” family genes that have caused me to cry pathetically through this whole post.

This only scratches the surface of everything I have to be thankful for! I feel so blessed that Andrew and I have so much to be thankful for!

Our House!

So we bought our first house this past May. Sorry it has taken me till now to get pictures posted but here it is at last! It is pretty plain and boring from the outside but it’s the inside that counts right? I still love it. It is 3 bedrooms, 1 bath.

 

Living room:

Kitchen/Dining room:

So that’s our house….You’re all welcome to come and visit and see the rest of it.

My Garden Flowers

So for those of you that don’t know, I am a horticulture major. I love flowers….they are my obsession. Here are some of the flowers in my garden at my new house!

  

Two Best Friends

Sasha and Schoggi LOVE playing together. They have been friends ever since we got Sasha. Schoggi is Andrew’s Cousin Kami and her husband Ben’s dog. Back when we first got Sasha, Schoggi was a lot bigger but Sasha is now the bigger one.

Last Year….

Now:

Sasha gets SO excited when we tell her we are going to Schoggi’s house. When we pull up to their house, it is hard to contain her. She knows EXACTLY where we are. They love to wrestle together! It is fun to watch them. When they get tired, they will plop down at opposite ends of the room. Then they start a staring contest until one of them gives in then they both start running full speed toward each other and start wrestling all over again. They also both like to play tug ‘o war. When Sasha was smaller, She was no match  for Schoggi but now, They can both have fun playing it. It is fun to watch their little strategies they come up with to win.

Playing when Sasha was little:

Playing Tug

Friends Forever

Disney Land

Our Christmas present was to take a much need vacation from work AND school. We went to Disney Land with Ben and Kami and had a blast. It was Ben’s first time so we all had fun showing  him our  favorite rides as kids. It was wonderful weather and Short lines, We couldn’t have wished it to be more perfect. We were able to stay with Kami and Andrew’s Grandma & Grandpa Wilkins in Perris California and see their new house.  

On Saturday before we went to Disney Land, we decided to do a sealing session in the Redlands temple. It was a really cool experience. It was nice to be able to see something so familiar like a temple in such a different place. Andrew’s dad was nice to let us borrow his GPS.

If we didn’t have that with us, we would have been so lost! Those California roads and freeways are so confusing!  It made us appreciate our parent’s dedication and patience when they took us to Disney Land as kids. The only bad the of the trip was having to come home to work and school and life.

Forever Family

On Saturday December 27, 2008 Andrew and I were sealed together in the Mount Timpanogos Temple. We were joined by many family and friends. It was a wonderful and spiritual experience for both of us. To make it extra special, Andrew’s parents, Liz and Darrel had made it their goal to be able to come with us. It was their first time back in the Temple since they were married 23 years ago.  We are so blessed to have so many people who care about us.