Christmas

Almost caught up! And I have no idea why i'm still awake and posting. Heads up, bad writing and poor grammar will ensue.

So let me tell you, this was the BEST CHRISTMAS EVER! Chris made Christmas...epic.

The night before we went to my mom's and spent time with family. Barely sleeping, like always for me. He was so sweet though. Then I woke up and was amazed by presents. And Chris kept pulling them out! practically from thin air! Then church was fabulous. Then more time with family, doing a Christmas puzzle. Then after family had left my mom's, we packed up and went home. When we arrived, the apt (which I had been bummed I hadn't been able to clean for christmas) was cleaned! And chris had put even more presents under the tree! And we got to have Christmas just the two of us.

Remember those feelings of wonder you have as a kid? Where you feel like you got everything you asked for and more? Where Santa is the coolest guy in the whole world? Christmas feels warmer than any hug and happier than...anything else? This year with Chris... it felt like that again. Leading up to Christmas was super hard, transitions have never been smooth for me. I'm usually not a fan of change. I like traditions! So it really hadn't felt like a very good Christmas. No snow didn't help. Then, Christmas day... was more magical and memorable, and...perfect than it's been since I was a kid. Chris... I don't even know how to describe it... but he makes me feel more alive than I could feel without him. He IS my life at this point. I can't imagine life without him... it'd be too...dark to handle...

Anyways... Chris made Christmas super fantastic. I mean, I tried to make it great for him, but I'm a sucky gift giver. I'm good at decorating, music, food, and stockings stuff. But Chris... he puts the love and joy into Christmas to make presents and the mood all combine to magic.

So yeah. Best Christmas ever!

Digi-Disneyland!

and after thanksgiving, we got to go on a MAGICAL vacation!

Chris' company is amazing and they took everyone to Disneyland!

Here I will take you on a picture journey with us!

Our bed in the Grand California Hotel! So pretty right?

Gorgeous bathroom.

Carolers in the hotel lobby by the GIANT Christmas tree!

The first night, Chris took me to a Rain Forest themed restaurant. It was amazing. The best part: elephants! Disney Magic!

We got to see Mickey and Minnie! And they're all dressed for Christmas!

On the monorail. Can you tell I wasn't feeling so good? (Monorail gave me crazy motion sickness. worse than any ride. hehehe)

It's a small world all done up gorgeous for Christmas!

Chris in his aviator goggles, we're riding the tea cups!

See, teacups. We picked one that looked like my favorite tea set I had when I was little.

PRINCESS BELLE! We waited in line with all the little kids, talking about which princesses we hoped would be there, which aren't even princesses, etc. And my favorites were there! Belle and..

ARIEL! THE LITTLE MERMAID!

ToonTown. Chris. isn't he just sooo cute?

me...windy...driving crazy toon car. crazy driver in crazy car. scary idea right?

Chris insisted we go to the island. I'd never gone before. But look at the terribly dangerous pirate trap! Oh no! Chris!

After escaping the death trap, Cap'n Christopher found the booty he'd been looking for!

Isn't he so great? Perfect bod for an action figure, no? But I don't think he likes being stuck in the box.

And of course, my favorite part of the trip, where we spent a good chunk of time:

Here's the video which wouldn't load directly on here.

Going home was hard. Leaving the magic of Disneyland always is. But what a wonderful, magical adventure!

Thanksgiving

I love thanksgiving. I love the family time, the delicious food, and the feelings of gratitude. The chance to be thankful.

There are two parts to this post:

1- What we did. I'm going to run this out. (literally)

I woke up early, chris took me to zumba, zumba kicked my trash, my sisters didn't show, chris called his family was ready to play rock band, he came back to get me, we got ready for the day, we played rock band, tried to help set up dinner, played more rock band, went to my mom's to visit (and feel like normal thanksgiving), back to the calls for more rock band and a delicious dinner, continued rock band and family fun.

2- What I felt.

Here's the important thing-- Gratitude is the whole point of Thanksgiving. So here is my list of all the random things I remember being grateful for on Thanksgiving.

• First on the list has to be my super fabulous husband!
• from there I have to be grateful for all the wonderful things my husband does for me, all the ways he shows me he loves me, all his creative tendencies, his sense of style, the way he says darling, the way he smiles when he finds me playing games.
• I'm grateful for my family. All of them. I'm grateful for my mom: hardworking, always there, smart, and more. I'm grateful for my sisters: the best friends a girl can auto-find! I'm grateful for my brothers: how lucky am I to marry into a family of friends. I'm grateful for my nieces and nephews who are so fun! I'm grateful for an extra mom and dad who care! I'm grateful for all the love in our life.
• I'm grateful for exclamation points!
• I'm grateful for short commutes between family homes.
• I'm grateful for warm socks.
• I'm grateful for fun games, and a hubby who likes to play and have fun!
• I'm grateful for tv with fun stories.
• I'm grateful for rock band.
• I'm grateful for books.
• I'm grateful for compromising on books.
• I'm grateful for ice cream!
• I'm grateful for costco milk.
• I'm grateful for costco.
• I'm grateful for fun.
• I'm grateful for jobs.
• I'm grateful for the comfort good jobs provide.
• I'm grateful for internet.
• I'm grateful for holidays.
• I'm grateful for decorations.
• I'm grateful for gratitude.
• I'm grateful for the gospel.
• I'm grateful for the joy the truth brings.

Second Honeymoon

You read right. Second Honeymoon. I'm the luckiest girl! :D

Chris took me to San Diego (a place that I've loved my whole life) for a wonderful week of honeymoon bliss. :) We went in November, so when it started snowing here we were there, still enjoying sunshine. The people there were all 'it's so cold.' 'it's so windy' and we were all 'wahoo! not snowing!' Anywho, here's how it went down (and some pics)!

First day: airport. Once there we surprise visited my family. That was sooo much fun!

Second day we stayed in.

Third day we went to Legoland!

The classic 'WE'RE AT LEGOLAND' pic!

Chris in a lego car!

Em being devoured by a lego shark!

Chris and Em with bestie- Lego Darth Vader!

The fourth day we went to the San Diego Zoo!

we're here pic.

i love elephants!

chris likes the big cats

another elephants. I really love elephants.

Fifth day we went to the Safari Park (a.k.a. Wild Animal Park)

I really really love elephants. There were a lot of them at the Wild Animal Park.

...see. lots of elephants. even baby elephants.

Our favorite part was a Cheetah run.

Heads up the vid... is turny.

The sixth day we went to Sea World (for a full day. We'd gone several times briefly.)

We're here pic.

Our favorite thing was dolphins. The dolphin show, petting dolphins. Etc. So here's some dolphin show pics.

pic of chris with dolphin. sorry, shoulda gotten one of him TOUCHING the dolphin, but I was a scaredy cat about salt water + camera = sadness.

Oh and then there's SHAMU!

(buh buh, buh buh, buh. Shamu, Shamu!)

Leaving was sad... but here are the pics of hotel room, view, etc.

The hotel was surrounded by the beautiful birds of paradise.

The bathroom was gorgeous. Love love love the granite counter top.

The view from our balcony. Gorgeous view of the bay, huh?

The bed. Big and comfy.

It was a fabulous second honeymoon, busy, but not busy. We had fun just spending time together doing new things, and seeing things we love. Lots of Elephants, just like the first honeymoon. I don't have enough words to say how much I love my husband. A husband who loves me so much, he constantly surrounds me with things that make me happy, because he can't fathom that he makes me happier than anything else in the whole world.

Halloween

This halloween was fabulous! We went to 3 spooktacular parties! hehehe. 1- We went to the Digicert (most especially the Bretschneider's) Pirates party. That was so much fun! They go all out! They were also taking pictures, which was a blast. Karli took some later: Here are our pirate costumes. A mermaid and her pirate catch. Or is it the other way around? hehehe.

(ok so my friend who took the pics hasn't gotten them to me yet. but i will come back and put them in when she gets them to me so I can post now and my brain can keep moving with the catch up so I can post the NEW stuff in our lives!)

2-Julia, Becca, and Katie's party. They were watching movies and chillin. So we went to join in the fun!

3-The next evening we dressed up as fighter pilots (top gun style) and went out to Eagle Mountain to spend time at Matt and Tam's annual Halloween trick-or-treating turned party so Chris could take Jacob and Mac out again! I was sick so I just stayed in and watched all the awesome. Matt and Tam invite their trick-or-treaters in for bobbing for apples, decorating cupcakes, and hot apple cider. They have movies playing and make trick-or-treating into quite the party. Sadly, we have no pictures of us in our flight suits. Crying shame, I know. We'll have to dress up randomly so we can get some pictures taken! hehehe.

Fall

See, just going through the seasons! :D But this fall was great too. Granted, I went back to teaching preschool (so I miss my hubby greatly) but preschool is tons of fun. But with fall came the following list of individual posts!

-Halloween

-Our "Second Honeymoon"

-Thanksgiving

Summertime

This was truly a wonderful summer. Because my work schedule changed in the summer to 1-6, Chris and I finally got to spend all the time together we had wanted to before! We got to enjoy our newlywed life! And let me tell you it was great!

New Apt

So, I wrote among my lists of things I intend to post "New Apt" But what is there to say about our new apartment other than that Chris and I took a lot of time to make it home. And now... it's wonderful. Truly OUR home. Together we filled our bookshelves, pantry, covered the walls in shelves and pictures, decided on furniture and colors. Sadly I didn't take before or after pictures, and don't feel like taking pictures now just for the post. hahaha. But decorating per season is fabulous. But I did want to say that friends coming to see the apartment are always welcome!

Our Honeymoon

After our wonderful wedding celebration, Chris took me to see the Fireworks from the Orem Summerfest (so I didn't miss the whole thing. Especially my favorite part-fireworks!) It was the perfect ending to our wedding day! Then he took me to a nice hotel in Orem for our first night together. Which was also perfect. The rest of our honeymoon was also perfect. The following morning we drove to bridal veil falls to spend some time, then up to Salt Lake City. Then he took me to the Anniversary Inn. Here's a link to the amazing Jungle Safari room we stayed in. http://www.anniversaryinn.com/fifth-south/room/19-jungle-safari You can see all around the room. It was beautiful. Working waterfall, jacuzzi tub set into rocks and elephant head for the shower head. A cave with a table and mini-fridge. Follow up stairs into the trees to a bed up high with a tv set into the tree. It was amazing. While there Chris took me to the Hogle Zoo to see the elephants. (See, I love elephants)again- amazing. So far we've just had a great life together. hehehe.

the official wedding post

June 11, 2011 was... a magical day!

I woke up and for the first time since our engagement I was a little bit nervous. After my favorite fancy breakfast mom made just for me (carmel pull-a-parts) and quite a while with Christel (my wonderful hairdresser!) and Karli (the bridesmaid who stayed the night with my sisters and me) getting beautiful, mom and I rushed to the temple. I'm proud to say I was not late! Though I admit I thought I would be. hahaha.

I can't imagine anything more beautiful than the time I spent in the temple waiting to be sealed to my husband- humming together to calm me down. Except maybe, actually being sealed to my husband. The most wonderful man in the world...became mine for eternity.

We do have a funny story though. While I was getting ready, Chris, well Chris was ready far more quickly. And, while my Chris is artistic, funny, kind, hard-working, and a more perfect man (for me) than I ever dreamed could exist, sometimes he's not the best listener. So when he finished getting ready, he headed to go right outside.

Luckily, a friend of ours (Thank you, Jillian!) was working in the temple that day and stopped him. I wish I could have been there for the "where are you going?" We're so fortunate she made him wait for me so we got to have our 'WE'RE MARRIED!' exit from the temple. So happy!

The rest of the day, we just had a LOT of fun! This is probably my favorite picture to illustrate all the fun we had! The day was sunny and perfect and we took some pics in sunglasses!

Our families being with us added immensely to our joy. And didn't the pictures turn out great?!

After pictures, we went to Los Hermanos (our family favorite Mexican Restaurant) for a wonderful luncheon hosted by my new family. It was super exciting because my family growing up went to Lost Hermanos for almost every birthday and most family occasions. So it meant a lot to me that Ken and Marilyn reserved a place that already meant so much!

We even got to sing the Los Hermanos Happy Birthday song to my cousin!

Then we got to set up our Celebration. (I never really wanted a fancy reception. Luckily Chris agreed to a big casual party outside.) So many people helped set up, and the decorations Mom found were super fabulous, fantastic, and most importantly, fun.

We had a ring ceremony to include our loved ones in sharing the joy of our union! It was great. My bishop officiated, but really, I just loved the chance to express my feelings for Chris and hear his beautiful words for me. It was wonderful. Mac (our darling nephew) was our ring-bearer. He

did such a great job!

Now I have to tell you about all the

supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

FOOD! That's right,

I threw down THE

adjective of all adjectives!

(and many others)My Grampa and Ken

spent quite a while

making dutch oven

COBBLERS!

They were super delicious and perfect for me (because I'm not really a fan of cake.) Then Mom and many helpers helped with chocolate fountains and lots of yummy things to dip.

Speaking of all those many helpers - I really really need to tell them all a big THANK YOU! I've been working on our Thank you postcards, but that task...has yet to be completed. I can't wait to unlock that achievement. But I am enjoying expressing my thanks. I'm so grateful for the many hours put in by so many loved ones coordinating, planning, and making those plans come to pass. :) Off the top of my head: thanks to my angel mother (who put in more time than anyone else), my new mom and dad, my maid of honor Megan, my bridesmaids- Karli and Callie, my sisters (Julia, Becca, Katie, Wendy and Tam), my aunts (who were my mom's extra hands and emotional support. thanks for making it fun for mom too guys!), my grandparents (all 4 sets- Atkinson, Fuhrmann, Call, and Ivie), my brothers (The list more than quadrupled! Jacob, Jim, Matt, Dave, and Brett), my dad, my new nieces and nephews, extended family (aunts, uncles, and cousins from all 4 sides of the family), members of the Aspen 5th ward (home ward for both Chris and I), and all the others who love us!

Now I have to express my thanks to my Father in Heaven. I know it may sound like a bit much, but I'm so grateful to know of a God who loves me so much that he found and set aside the perfect man for me, a man I didn't think could even exist. But he did. He'd grown up across the street from where I grew up. What a perfect omniscient God to plan things out in such a way! I'm grateful to belong to a church that can help me learn to be more like a God who would give us temples so that our families can be Eternal. I can't think of anything that makes me happier than the thought that my family can be together in happiness For Eternity.