Lots of Updates

I'm back!! Sorry about slacking on updates... I think I will blame it on the holidays... I'm sure you all understand. Well, it has the past few weeks have been very eventful. I finally feel like I can take a breath and sit quietly at my computer to update my blog. Here is the recap:

So we spent 5 days up in SLC to visit our families. We had a blast! There was even enough time to take 1/2 day and go night skiing up at Brighton. My favorite part was giving my nieces and nephews lots of hugs and kisses!

My mom and nephew at my Grandparents house.

At Steve's aunts house in Liberty, UT.Lots and lots of snow!Christmas Eve fun...I couldn't believe all the snow we got.Isaac always makes me laugh.Don't they make great news anchors?At the Salt Lake Burger Co.Don't you love that smile?I just had to play in the snow the day before we left.We made this gigantic sledding hill.The annual friend Christmas Party... one of my favorite highlights of our trip.

Shortly after returning home, my sister and her family along with my parents came down to AZ to visit.

Celebrating the U game!

Audrey on the Bosu.

My friend Neema from work and I at the Suns game.

Too bad they lost.

Well, so that is a quick update of what we've been up to the past few weeks. Now that things have settled down I'll be sure to keep up with my weekly posts.

Busy in December

Well, I thought that things would slow down a bit this December since we are not close to family, but that has hardly been the case. Steve started up his 2nd quarter and is determined to achieve straight A's... I didn't think it was possible to study as hard as he does. While he has been off studying, I have kept myself occupied with making Christmas cards, buying gifts that will easily be transported on a plane, Christmas parties, and training for a 1/2 marathon in January. Although things have been busy, I am so excited to be going up to Salt Lake in a few days to see our family and friends!

Picture we used for our Christmas card:
My work Christmas Party:

These are two of my good friends from work, "Sparky" and Laura.

Mesa Temple Lights

A few weeks ago, Steve and I went to the Mesa Temple with some friends. When we came out of the temple they had just turned on the lights for the very first time this year... it was amazing. I was so sad because we had forgotten our camera. I really wanted to post some pictures, so I decided to just browse for some on the internet. Here is a little taste of what we saw:

A Happy Thanksgiving

Well, I can now say that I have officially hosted my first Thanksgiving dinner! Luckily everything went fairly smooth and our guests seemed to have a great time. We wish that we could have spent this holiday with our family, but this new experience turned out to be so much fun. It not only makes us very grateful for our family, but we are also blessed to have such wonderful friends. Here are a few pics from the special occasion:

We got a great deal on these dishes at Linens and Things (unfortunately they are going out of business).

The turkey turned out really well thanks to Reynold's Wrap Oven Baking Bags.

Turkey carving.

We had 3 couples join us and they all brought yummy dishes to share.
I hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Advice for a First-Timer

So, it seems that I have taken upon myself a somewhat challenging task... hosting/cooking a Thanksgiving dinner. Yeah, it sounds somewhat daunting, but I am determined to succeed. Since we are not traveling home for Thanksgiving, I decided to take a leap of faith and invite a few other couples over for the occasion. Although I am not cooking the entire dinner, I am still taking charge of the "meat and potatoes" portion of the meal (turkey, potatoes, and stuffing). So, my question for you is: what advice can you give a first time Thanksgiving cook/host on anything and everything from cooking, decor, food assignments, etc.? Wish me luck!

** just a note: I already put the Turkey in the fridge today to thaw.

Thanksgiving THEN

And NOW

Things sure have changed...

Sedona

Well, Steve's finals are finally over! To celebrate, we decided to head up north to Sedona for the weekend... it was soooo much fun. I'm very excited because Steve gets 2 weeks off for Thanksgiving! He still has some things that he needs to study over the break, but I we will definetly have a lot more time together. Here are some of our adventures this weekend...

We did about 9 miles of hiking on Saturday... it was amazing!
I was a little scared when I walked over to that ledge... it looks a lot higher in real life.
This one reminds me of Lake Powell.
Steve climed up to this little cove... and he even had a sprained ankle from playing basketball the day before! I just think he has a very good pain tolerance.
Hole in the rock... literally.
Taking a nap...
I can't believe he got his whole body in there.
The challenging part is getting out! We saw lots of art too.

This is actually a painting.

DDR

So, it seems that I have a new addiction: Dance Dance Revolution. I know this game is kind of old and its popularity died out long ago, but I have wanted to own one of these things for years. Steve got me one for my birthday a few weeks ago, but the story behind this birthday present is what makes me realize how lucky I am to be married to such an amazing person. Since we have only one vehicle, Steve's current mode of transportation is a bicycle that has a knack for getting flat tires (as some of you may know we sold Steve's car before we moved here). I occupy our vehicle almost everyday of the week and and some weekends because of work. Steve wanted to purchase my birthday present without me knowing and decided to use his bike for transportation. Luckily when he made the trip to Wal-Mart he didn't have a flat tire, but the journey was still quite eventful. Steve rode about 6 miles to Wal-Mart on a very warm Arizona day with his backpacking pack to put the presents in. He not only got me DDR, but also a sewing machine since I can no longer make a trip to my sister's house to use hers. Unfortunately the sewing maching box did not fit in the backpack. Steve rode all the way home with a DDR box in his backpack and a large sewing machine box on his handlebars! I'm such a lucky girl...

You can see the intense concentration.

But, it all pays off in the end... a nearly perfect score.

note: REENACTMENT

Now I just have to figure out how to use this thing...