Thanksgiving was a great day. It was so nice to be able to eat, relax, and spend time with the family. I can't believe my mom and Monty pulled it off with just moving in on Saturday. Way to go guys! It was great!

It was so fun to cook all morning with the girls, we prepared a great meal!

Eating our feast.....

And then they were full.....

Thank You

I love Thanksgiving. I love it because I have so much to be thankful for and it's a time when I can reflect on all that I have because I know I don't do it enough. The other day Scotty and I were talking about how blessed we have been and we just keep thinking something really bad has got to happen soon. Let's cross our fingers that is not the case, but I feel like I definitely need to be more grateful and count my blessings. I'm sitting here at work in the E.R. the night before Thanksgiving and just watching all the sick people and the terrible things that happen. I am so grateful that I can leave this place in a few hours and go home to my cozy little apartment and sleep in my bed, away from this crazy world. I know that so many people would kill to be able to go up to a nice house in beautiful Midway and eat delicious food and spend the day with a wonderful family. I am blessed.

I am grateful for my staples such as clothes, food, a car, a place to live. In fact, I am very grateful for those things.

I am also very grateful for....
-The four seasons. I love the variety throughout the year. Every one of them I enjoy so much. Utah is such a beautiful place to live, I hope I can live here forever.
-I am so grateful for a husband that makes me laugh all the time, and who takes such good care of me. There are so many men out there who have families and have no desire to work or take care of them. Scott works so hard and I am so grateful I don't have to worry about that. He is the best.
-Parents who taught my brothers and I how to work hard. I remember we had 2 paperoutes growing up (the early morning one and the afternoon one) and never left the house without our morning chores done. I dreaded it as a kid, but I'm so grateful for it now.
-For fruits and vegetables, especially fruits though. Oh I could eat fruit all day every day if cankers didn't exist.
-My little brother on a mission. He is such an awesome kid and such a great example to me.
-More than anything I'm grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. To have the knowledge of why I'm here on Earth and what I need to do to make it back to my Father in Heaven.
-I'm grateful for my knowledge and understanding of the atonement. Even though I feel I will never quite comprehend it, I know that I do not have to be perfect, and never will be, and that when life is hard I know that my Savior has been there and won't give me anything I can't handle.
-I'm so glad I have such awesome inlaws. Man I got lucky, I love them. I also got the cutest sister in laws in the world. It worked out okay growing up with all brothers because I eventually got the sisters that I needed.
-So grateful for night and online classes. Without these I could not have the awesome work schedule that I do, and also the sweet ski schedule that I will have next semester AND still be graduating in April!
-I am so grateful to have been able to take piano lessons for 17 years. It is something I dreaded so much and I spilled countless tears onto those piano keys growing up, but it is my most favorite thing to do in this entire world. I know that it's a gift and I have lost so much of it since I've been married. But in Omaha I will have a piano and can sit for countless hours and bring back the talent I once had.
-I'm so glad that my siblings and I are close. I hope that we will always be able to stay close and our kids can have the relationships that were/are able to have with our cousins.
-I am incredibly grateful for cold cereal right now. Without it I think I would go starving. I eat it usually for at least two of my meals a day. Thank you Cinnamon Life and Honey Bunches of Oats, I love you!
-I'm grateful for the healthy body that I have that allows me to ride my bike, run, laugh, enjoy life, smell the wonderful things of this world, and to see all of God's creations.
-The opportunity to live close to the temple (let alone many temples) and to be able to escape this crazy world. I love the temple. I feel so lucky to have been able to be married in the temple and to know that Scott and I will be married for eternity.
-I can't imagine not having the wonderful parents that I do. I could go on and on forever about my parents and all the things they've taught me, and what they have done for me. Even more than my mom and dad, I got the best, and I'm not kidding, the best step parents in the whole world. I could not ask for better people in my life. Monty is SO great for my mom and Crystal is SO great for my dad. I am grateful for all of them and their examples with their marriages. I can't imagine my life without them.
-I am SO thankful that tomorrow is Thanksgiving and I can start listening to Christmas music and have it be acceptable! I LOVE Christmas music! Bring it on baby!

Of course I could go on and on forever with all of the many blessings that I have, and continue to recieve each and every day of my life. I am so grateful for today and to be nestled in a warm house with my family and eating delicious food. Doesn't get much better than that.

How sweet it is!

Wow it felt good to finally beat the cougars! It has been a heartbreaking last two years playing those guys and we finally got a great ending! Scott and I were so sad that we didn't have tickets to go to the game and it seemed like everybody we knew was going! We went up to help my parents move into their house Saturday morning and Monty handed us 2 tickets on row 6 and the 45 yardline and said "Good thing you came to help us cause if you didn't you wouldn't be getting these tickets!" It was such a surprise, Scott and I couldn't even believe it! We had such a great time and will miss the Utah games badly for the next 3 years. GO UTES!! Towards the end of the game, everyone was getting ready to rush the field. See everyone standing around it?Well within seconds it looked like this!Brian Johnson, Paul Kruger and Coach Wittingham celebrating!We have a neighbor who is an avid BYU fan and thanks to his wife, we were able to play a great trick on him. We dressed up his two little boys in Utah shirts and took pictures. We blew them up and mounted them on a huge poster that said, "Go Utes" and hung it up high on our building for everyone to see where he couldn't get it down. To get us back, the night before the game he put a a BYU sticker on our back window of our car! It was a good rivalry back and forth. Tonight we took them blue cupcakes to cheer them up since we're sure they're suffering from a great case of the "blues".

Way to go Utes!!!!

Annual Update

It has been a week since I last updated and I'm sorry to say there's not much more that is going on in our lives! I swear we belong in the movie "Groundhog Day" because it seems as though every day, week, let alone month just seem to repeat themselves. There are certain days set aside for work, others for school, and the weekend to do laundry, clean up and prepare church lessons. But it is a great life. There's still plenty of time for fun.

Very exciting news......I just registered for my LAST semester of college!!!! I can't believe it, this is it! The light is finally at the end of the tunnel and I am so excited. I feel really blessed to have the opportunity to get an education. It worked out so perfectly with Scott going to Creighton so I could stay and graduate here from the U, and the biggest blessing of all is my great job that has paid for so much of it to make it possible. Without my job, there's no way I could've done it. They've make it possible for me to have a 3 day work week and still be full time with benefits, and I couldn't afford $3,400 a semester (which is what it is now for 16 credits). There's just no way.

Well biking is over and that saddens me. I miss it so much. My ears and throat are so dang sensitive to the cold and so I haven't been riding for the last few weeks. Thank heavens for my spin class which I absolutely love. I love to just close my eyes when I'm on the bike and pretend I'm climbing up Parley's or Little Cottonwood canyon. But it is now time for skiing and that is fun because it's something that Scott and I can do together. I have officially planned my school schedule around my ski schedule. Shows how straight my priorities are, I know. But it's all gonna work out! Why not kill two birds with one stone?! So everyone must start praying for snow because winter break is just around the corner and we are slacking in the snow department!

I am looking forward to the holidays coming up so much. I am crazy about Thanksgiving. Food aside, I love the opportunity to think about all that I am blessed with and to record and share with others what I am thankful for. Man, God has blessed me so much. I can't even begin to write the things He has blessed me with just within this year alone. I love the time with the family, it doesn't get any better than that. Family is everything. My mom and Monty move into their new Midway house on Saturday and so we get to have Thanksgiving up in their new house. I am absolutely nuts over this house. They have done such a fabulous job with it, it is beautiful. I will be sure to put some pictures up of it. Forget my dream house that I posted awhile back. I'll just copy theirs thank you.

Scott is doing great in school! He is done with all his classes this semester except anatomy and his dental classes, but has gotten straight A's so far. He is seriously the man. He is such a delight to have as a husband. If I had the schedule and stress that he does, I would be the worst person to be around. But he is nothing but genuinely kind, sweet, and more than anything fun. I can't wait till we have kids, they are going to have a blast with that big guy. I am totally going to be the "mean mom".

Well I hope you are all doing well and looking forward to the holiday season and the cold winter ahead! It is such a fun time to cozy up in warm blankets, drink hot chocolate and watch old movies. I love the four seasons. They are so perfect, and I always seem to be ready for the next one by the time it rolls around. This fall has been fantastic. Here we come winter and a beautiful snowy season.

Coming soon...

We officialy have our place to live when we move to Omaha! We are so excited! They have these little town homes where most of the graduate students live and we were lucky enough to be able to find a place and have everything work out financially. It is almost 3 times the size of where we live right now in our little 420 sq. ft. apartment so I have no idea what we're gonna put in it but it's going to be great! More than anything I'm excited that I'll finally have a place to put my piano that's waiting for me to play her as she continues to sit in my dad's garage. And more than anything I'm thrilled to not have 5 pairs of skis, 2 sets of golf clubs, 2 pairs of ski boots, a long board, ski poles, a pull up bar, a rolled up yoga mat, and tennis racquets in the corner of our living room anymore. Here is a sneak peak...

P.S. Thank you all for your fabulous comments on my "tucking jeans in boots" post! Oh they were just a crack up. You girls are all great, thanks for the awesome tips. I still haven't tried it yet but if all works out, I will let ya know how it goes. That was a fun time reading all those great tips. Oh, what girls go through to be fashionable!

Help Ladies!

Okay girls so I need your help.....

I'm totally diggin' this whole "jeans tucked into your boots style" but I'm having a hard time. Do I seriously need to buy a pair of skinny jeans just to pull this off? Honestly, I think a whole 1% of our womenly population can actually pull off this look and be flattering in it and I am definitely not in that 1%. But I have two darling pairs of boots that I would love to show off but when I tuck in my jeans they look all bunchy and it's hard to get them down in there. Any tips you guys? I'm seriously considering wrapping rubber bands around the bottom of my jeans or stuffing them in knee socks.

So tell me, how do you guys do it? Is buying a whole new pair of jeans just for that my only option? If so, the "jean in boot" tuck is just not gonna happen. Let me know if there's hope.

Today is a huge game for the Utes! We are playing TCU and I'm quite worried. Besides winning, I'm also very worried about how freezing it's going to be at the game tonight. We will be bundling up in our long johns, gloves, and hats!

GO UTES!!!

Well after being at school today, I forgot how much I hate walking around campus when it's freezing cold and dumping snow. My jeans get soaked, so soaked that the water absorbs and travels like all the way up just below my knees! I have realized it's finally time to get some of these!

Not only do I want some of these, they are now officially a necessity.

A Remarkable Time in Hisotry

Well as I'm sitting here on election night, I know this is a very historical time in my life and in many other's lives as well. Barack Obama has been elected as our new president. I admit that I did not vote for him, and there are many, many issues that I disagree with him on. But I am going to put all my faith in him as our next president, respect him, and hope for the best. I know that our nation is going to be okay. This is a scary time, but we are a strong nation and I truly believe that we are going to pull through this slowly but surely. In a way it may be a blessing as our nation has gone so over the top with our spending, not living within our means, and wanting so much more than we really need. I am excited to see what lies ahead for us as a nation and as an economy. I am tired of everyone hating the President of the United States. To me the president is someone who should be treated with respect as he holds probably the most powerful position in the world. This hasn't been the case at all the last few years and it's really saddened me. Not because I like President Bush, but because it's the President of our nation, such a powerful nation. I hope that with President Obama we as a people can pull together and have pride in our country and in our president. What a remarkable time in history. As I watch the TV and see all the African Americans with tears in their eyes, it brings tears to mine. This is probably a moment that they never thought they'd witness in their lifetime. What a neat and remarkable thing that we as a nation have come so far, yet we still have so far to go. I am curious to what lies ahead for our nation, and I hope that it's for the better.

Husband Tag

I thought this tag was pretty fun and I think it'll be funny to look back on in 10 years and see what's changed!

1. What is his name? Scott
2. Who eats more? Well this is interesting, Scott can go all day without eating and then comes home and eats a ton. I on the other hand am grumpy if I don't eat every few hours, so I snack all day.
3. Who said I love you first? He did. We were on the playground at Cottonwood Elementary sitting on the slide. (Just a funny side note, it was the same slide where I learned what the F word was when I was in elementary. It was carved right there in the plastic and I remember saying, "What's "F"?" Learned that lesson). So now I have a better memory of that orange slide.
4. Who's taller? Definitely Scott, he's got 9 inches on me standing at 6'5".
5. Who is smarter? I would say book smart definitely Scott by a long shot. Okay and probably street smarts go to him too.
6. Who is more sensitive? Oooh that's a tough one. We are both very sensitive.
7. Who does the laundry? Me. I hate laundry, one day we will have our own washing machine and dryer.
8. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Scott does but our whole bed just sucks. We both slide into the middle all night.
9. Who does the bills? Uh I would say it's pretty equal. Thank heavens for automatic bill pay.
10. Who cooks more? Me. I wish Scott would cook more because he is such a great cook and he always makes his meals so beautiful. He should've been a chef.
11. What meals do you cook together? Milkshakes- he does his the way he wants it and I do mine the way I want it.
12. Who is more stubborn? Me by a long shot.
13. Who is the first to admit they're wrong? Scott. He's so good at that. Like I mentioned above, I'm super stubborn. It takes me awhile to come around.
14. Who has more siblings? Me
15. Who wears the pants in the relationship? I'm not sure. We both are working our butts off right now and are pretty equal in everything.
16. What do you like to do together? We love to ski together in the winters, watch movies together, go out to dinner, dollar movies, eat milkshakes in bed and watch the tv shows online that we miss throughout the week, spend time with family, and so much more that we rarely have time for.
17. Who eats more sweets? Scott because he can get away with it. I love sweets but try not to overload too much because I'm not 6'5" and a bean pole like he is.
18. Guilty pleasures? Sleeping in late on Sundays, milkshakes every night pretty much, not eating dinner till 10 almost every night.
19. How did you meet? Up at the Institute at the U. I was dating another kid in his fraternity at the time.
20. Who asked who out first? Okay so Scott asked me out twice and I had to deny him because I had a boyfriend. BUT I wanted to go out with him so bad. Finally this boy and I broke up and he asked me out one more time. I could FINALLY go but I was going to be in Lake Powell so I asked him if he could go out the night I got back from my trip. I saved myself because Scott had given me three strikes and I was out. Thank heavens!
21. Who kissed who first? Scott kissed me.
22. Who proposed? Scott did up at a cabin in Solitude. We went snow shoeing in and were supposed to meet friends up there for lunch inbetween confrence sessions. They kept calling saying, "Where are you guys? Are you coming??" Little did I know it was all a fake and when we got there it was all set up with a delicious lunch from Rumbi's and a darling sign that said MARRY ME! We spent the day up there cuddling up by the fire and talking about our future life together.
23. His best features? Physically (because I know 'qualities' is the next question), I think he is so dang handsome and I love that he's so tall and has got the cutest smile in the world. I got a good man.
24. What is his greatest quality? Scott works so hard and I know he's doing it for me and our future family and that's what means the world. He is so tender and sweet and always worrying about me and if I'm happy. He wants everyone to be happy and he is going to be the best dad.
25. Tag? Nataile, Emily, Abby, Cassie, Geen, anybody!

Today my little brother Matthew had his championship football game. They went the whole season undefeated and then played a great game today but couldn't quite pull out with a win. I tell ya, that kid is an animal! He plays middle line backer and he has the most amazing tackles. He gets em' everytime! I am so proud of him. It was a tough loss, and he wasn't too happy of a camper but boy am I proud of him. I love that kid so dang much I can hardly stand it.

Losing is tough, that's for sure.

He heads up the huddle and calls all the plays

This is classic

You'll get em' next year buddy!