Christmas 2009!

This Christmas turned out to be better than we could have hoped for! We had such a fun time spending the entire day with eachother and just being with our friends and family! Sammie slept over on Christmas Adam (The day before Christmas Eve..ha, I'm so funny) after we spent the night with she and Jared. Our sleepovers always turn out to be a good time. Riley woke up on Christmas Eve day to her sleeping on the couch. He went over and stood right above her for a few minutes, obnoxiously clearing his throat trying to wake her up. After several failed attempts, he came back into our room and said, "Well. She's dead..." HA! That morning we went over to Riley's parents house and had breakfast with Jared, Sammie, and Jordan. Breakfast was followed by some Wii Mario and other general festivities. That night we had dinner at Riley's parents house, followed by fondue and games. The highlight of the evening was probably the Nativity that was attempted by the grandbabies. Joseph (Braxton), the shepherd (Boston), and the angel (Novali) all had bottles in their mouths for the pictures. Little Mary (Coral) cooperated the whole time though and looked darling! She stood very quiet and still for all the pictures and was on her best behavior. Despite the lack of togetherness, we got some cute pictures of the four of them!

Christmas morning, Riley and I woke up around 8 and opened our presents that we had gotten for eachother. We got a bunch of new movies from "Santa", and Riley bought me a pair of jeans, some lotions from VS, and a few other goodies! I got him...*drum roll please* an XBox 360 and a game, and a Rubix (Rubiks?? idk..) cube game thing. For some reason he LOVES to solve them, so I figured that would keep him entertained for awhile. I may have gotten myself a silk robe from VS, and Riley MAY have gotten himself some legos. But hey, we deserved them! We then made our way to my parents house for more presents and breakfast. Carter got Riley a banana chair to play his new game system on, and McKenna got us a gift certificate to El Matador. I actually think that gift may have trumped the 360, but I should have the whole "Way to a man's heart is through his stomach thing" down by now. I had been a little bummed about the XBox, because our TV pooped out on us a few weeks ago. We got it for free off of KSL, and got a good months worth of use out of it, but I was still saddened it had died. However, all my sadness was put aside when my dad brought out our final gift! They got us a brand new TV!! YAY!!!! I'm not spilling too many details about it, because we want all our friends to come check it out themselves! I thought Riley was going to cry out of happiness when we watched our first movie on it, and that's saying something! My parents bought Carter and McKenna Rock Band 2, and Lego Rock Band, so we spent a good amount of time fooling around with those games in the afternoon. It was a way fun time spending time with my family and carrying on the Christmas Breakfast tradition.

Later that evening, we headed over to Riley's parents house for the sibling gift exchange. We were way excited for Braxton, Boston, Bethanie, and Neil to open the presents we got for them. The boys got matching outfits and a sled, we got Booey a SNUGGIE (Yep, you heard me right, and she absolutely adores it so get over it), and we gave Neil some barbecue and grilling accessories, since he's into that sorta stuff. Jessie gave us a big bread basket from Great Harvest, and a gift certificate for Pier 1. Way excited about that! His parents also got us gift cards to Blockbuster and Iggy's, which we were also happy about! They also got us a shelf system to put in our second bedroom. Hopefully we'll get that set up here soon so we can bring some organization once again to that room, and maybe actually use it as an office or something. Also, Riley had saved a present for me that had to be opened in front of his whole family. Turns out he got me a LAMINATED copy of the New Moon posted with JACOB on the front. Ballin'. Best. Gift. Ever. I also had him open his last presents from me, including a season of Family Guy, and Season 1 of The Amazing Race!!!

Since Christmas, we've just been enjoying the time together. We've watched a few movies on the new TV, done some shopping, and lots of playing. It has been way fun to start our own Christmas traditions, as well as be able to participate in the ones our families both have as well. We're so grateful to be close to our parents so we can visit as often as we want. We definitely lucked out!

On Monday after work I spent some time with Jocelyn shopping. We went to Downeast, Old Navy, and the mall. I always enjoy hanging out with her! She's such a fun, cute girl, and it's nice to spend some time with the female gender. Don't get me wrong, I adore my husband, but there's just something awesome about a good girls night!

Yesterday, I went to lunch and a movie all the girls in Riley's family, including his mom, Carolyn, Shrena, Bethanie, Jessie, his Grandma Wiser, and Coral. We went to the Red Robin and had a fun time chatting. After, we went to the Frog Princess movie at Tinseltown. It was a darling show, but it may be a little scary for small children. There were some pretty intense parts for a Disney movie. I enjoyed it nonetheless. After the movie, I went to the mall with McKenna and my mom for a little post Christmas shopping.

I'm at work typing this up, but as soon as I get the time, pictures will follow. I had to hurry and post so I didn't have any more complaints from Riley's dad about my lack of blogging...So, here's to you, Wes. I got a few books from the library that were recommended by one of the therapist's I work with, so I think I'll get to reading one of those, but stay tuned for posts to come about our New Year's resolutions and such.

Christmas Poem

So the last few days have consisted of me, Jared, Sammie, Riley, and Jordan playing the new Mario game for the Wii for endless hours! We played last night for like three hours straight. Pretty sure Jordan isn't a team player, and kept killing us all because he's better at it. After we got sick of being beaten, we played some Phase 10 and ate this yummy caramel cereal stuff Riley's mom made. I spent the majority of the day yesterday at Riley's house hanging out even after he had left for work. I watched Angels and Demons with his dad, ate dinner with his family, and went to Blockbuster and Starbuck's with Carolyn. Good times.

Highlight of my week, I found out my grades! 3.6. Not bad at all..this whole college thing has been hard...

Here's a Christmas poem I wrote, hope you all enjoy.

Christmas is coming, and I love this time of year!
Friends and family close around, the days are full of cheer.
Despite all the fun and games, I have a few complaints,
as shopping rolled around, it was time to bring out my war paints.

Sammie and I bravely headed to the mall, with gifts to buy in mind,
We planned to wander through store after store, using a game plan we had designed.
We drove around for what seemed like hours, looking for the perfect spot.
The place was packed, we knew it! Not one place in the whole parking lot!

The stores were overflowing with people, running all around,
Thanks to a sign floating above people's heads, the end of the line we found :)
We got what we were looking for, and perhaps a little something for ourselves.
After all the hard work we'd done, we deserved a gift or two from "Santa's little elves".

I was incredibly pleased with the gifts that I had bought,
and I went to my parent's house to wrap them, because peek, Riley must NOT.
I fought with the wrapping paper just like I always do,
I wanted it to be just perfect despite the work I'd have to go through.

Now I'm just patiently waiting, for Christmas to finally get here,
We'll watch some festive movies tonight, to bring in all the cheer.
I wish for it to snow at least ten feet so we'll have to be bundled up tight,
Awaiting for the morning to finally come, on the Eve of Christmas night.

Sorry for the lack of blogging...

But our lives have been super busy the last little bit! We've been running around doing Christmas shopping, playing a ridiculous amount of games, and eating much too much food.

Here's a little recap of the goings-on.

Sunday-Dinner at both my parent's house and at Austin and Shrena's. We had stew at my parents house, and laid around playing the Wii and sleeping until Kylee came by with her AMAZING caramel popcorn! We ate the WHOLE bag between four of us!!! Yum!! Homemade soup at Austin and Shrena's, followed by pie and other goodies.

Saturday-We went shopping with Jared and Sammie. We split up from the boys so we could actually get something done, and were very successful! I'm so excited for Christmas to come so Riley can open up the awesome stuff I got him! Yay for our first Christmas together. I spent a good amount of time at my parent's house wrapping his presents because I knew there's no safe place to hide them from him unwrapped at our house. But while I was there, McKenna's date came to pick her up for the Christmas Dance at Davis. He goes to Viewmont...but he's a cute kid, so I'll let it slide. I'm a traitor myself, and married a Viking, but whatev. That night we went to my friend Amanda's reception! She was a beautiful bride, and we're so excited for her and Mitch! That night we played some serious Phase 10 with Jared and Sammie, and ate fruit pizza Riley's mom made.

Friday-I worked all day, and so did Riley...but AFTER work, I went to my work's Christmas party and had a way fun time! White elephant gift exchange, catered dinner, and raffle makes for a good time! I have way cool co-workers. When I got home, I took a quick nap, but then Riley's mom, Carolyn, and Jessie came over to have us sign the pillowcase they're sending Baker! Riley put an outline of his foot, and his elbow traced on the pillowcase...what a weird kid... We spent the remainder of the night in Hooper at Sammie's playing games at her house! And yes, it's like 40 miles one way! Ridiculous. Note to self: Never move to Hooper. Pretty sure you pass Wendover on your way out...

Thursday night I went to my home ward's relief society Christmas Party with my mom. It was fun to go and catch up with all the cute ladies from the ward. We ate lots of delish food, listened to a Christmas program (well, I did, my mom accompanied a few of the songs), and just had an all around fun time socializing with everyone. One of my absolute favorite Young Women's leaders is expecting a baby and just found out the gender! She's the same lady that made us teh caramel popcorn. I threatened to tell her husband the gender of the baby since she wouldn't give me the recipe..but it was an empty threat, and didn't really work anyway....

WEDNESDAY, I took my very last final, and we went to Riley's work's dinner party at the Cheesecake Factory! Had a fun time messing around with his co-workers and having an enjoyable night. Also got Jordan and Alyssa's wedding invitation that day! We got cornered by members of the Elders Quorum that were visiting our apartment complex after dinner, so we invited them in and spent some time getting to know them.

I'll post some pictures later. We're way excited for Christmas and a break from our jobs! I'll be sure to keep our few readers updated on the goings-on, but here's what we have to look forward to:

Christmas Eve-will probably consist of me playing the piano while his family sings Christmas songs. I've been specifically asked. Pretty sure that's why they let me stay around, because I can play the piano for all the times that specific talent comes in handy...

Christmas Morning at our house! Then followed by making the rounds to our parent's houses, family outings, etc etc.

Coral is also probably going to be spending the night with us sometime soon, too! We owe Austin and Shrena for watching Benny for us when we went to Powell this last summer, PLUS it'll be a blast. Coral is such a funny little girl. She already asked permission last night to bring her pony games and blocks with her when she comes, so that'll be a good time!

Christmas Concert & the weekend!

On Thursday night me, my mom, Carter & McKenna had the opportunity to go to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir annual Christmas concert at the Conference Center. We trekked down in the freezing temperatures, despite my mom almost giving herself a heart attack on several occasions. She's definitely not as aggressive as I am when it comes to driving, so telling her to merge into a full lane sometimes doesn't go over well. Also, when she accidentally handed Carter two tickets, leaving her with just two others in her hand, she tried to come up with some reason why I was going to have to leave without attending the concert..in a nice way of course. Right. Luckily for me, we realized we DID in fact have four tickets and all of us made it in the building. The cute little ladies checking bags at the door got a kick out of the fact I had a couple pairs of socks in my purse. Not sure why they found that strange? Our tickets ended up being on the seventh row, very middle section. They even had to check our tickets to pull aside the velvet divider thing so we could get to our seats! Sahweet! I guess it pays off to have an aunt who is a personal secretary for President Uchtdorf, and can get us amazing seats to events like that! The concert was incredible. It featured Natalie Cole and David McCullough, and it was great. It was fun to get to spend some time with my family.

I also think you all will enjoy the quote of the night. Here's the context surrounding that quote. The concert had finished and the four of us were waiting at a crosswalk to get to our car. While we're there we see a procession of sorts of black SUV's, and I said something like "Well, there go all the IMPORTANT people." McKenna gets this surprised look on her face and says, "The Jazz players were here?!"

Hahahahahahaha.

Friday night Riley and I spent the evening at our house watching movies in bed. We (well, Riley mostly, because I fell asleep halfway through) watched "Public Enemies". It was really good from what I saw. One day I'll have to see the rest. It was a RedBox, complimentary of the free codes Riley keeps getting magically sent to his phone and e-mail....

Saturday we attended my Uncle Todd's funeral. It was a great service! I was so proud of his little girl for doing such a great job on her talk/tribute and her flute solo. Afterwards, we all went to the Spaghetti Factory for lunch. That night, we also broke into Jordan and Alyssa's new apartment. Sshhh...more details about that to come.

Sunday we went to Tanner's farewell! He's headed to the New Hampshire mission, and he's going to be such a great missionary!! I'm so excited for him. Riley and I promised to send him some good treats while he's in the MTC, but since he's stateside, I guess we can send whatever we want to him through the duration of the mish! Lucky boy! That night we went to Riley's sister Bethanie's house to celebrate Braxton's third birthday. He's such a cute little kid, and he loved singing "Happy Birthday" to himself. It mainly just consisted of him yelling really loud at the first, and tapering off towards the end.




Today I'm back at work, doing the yearly Christmas cards. LDS Family Services sends out what I swear is like a billion cards every year. This year it seems that they've significantly cut down on the number, but there will be at least 1,000. The responsibility of getting the cards stufffed and the envelopes labeled falls on me, so that's what I'll be doing here at my desk for the next week or so in case anyone was wondering!

I finish up the semester this week with my very last final on Wednesday night. I'm so happy the semester is almost over, and I'll have some more free time to get things done around the house and spend time with Riley. Jared has also moved back home to Centerville, so we'll get to see those guys a lot more often, too!

"This, too, shall pass..."

I needed this today. Hopefully it'll help those out there that maybe could use it, too.

"If you learn from your suffering, and really come to understand the lesson you were taught,you might be able to help someone elsewho's now in the phase you may have just completed.Maybe that's what it's all about after all... "
Anonymous

"Love is stronger than death even though it can't stop death from happening. But no matter how hard death tries, it can't separate people from love. It can't take away our memories either. In the end, life is stronger than death."
-Anonymous

"Perhaps they are not stars, but rather openings in heaven where the love of our lost ones pours through and shines down upon us to let us know they are happy."
-Eskimo Proverb

"Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life and repeat to yourself, the most comforting words of all; This, too, shall pass. "-Ann Landers

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjrWu5K4u8s

My letter to snow this year

Dear Snow,

I hope you take the least amount of offense possible to my following statements. I'm not sure how else to word this, but...I hate you. If it was up to me, you would visit us on Christmas morning, and then evaporate after I'm done with you. I enjoy the occasional sledding day, but only at my convenience should you reside on the ground.

You make driving an absolute nightmare. Because of you, I was over an hour late to work this morning. My normal 10-15 minute drive took me nearly 2 hours, and it's all. your. fault. You caused my car to spin out multiple times and caused countless accidents. Common sense in people goes out the window when you're around. The idea that you can't just slam on your brakes and stop immediately doesn't occur to many drivers. There is no sense of moderation while driving in you. There are two speeds. Fast & stop.

Here's the thing. I know many people enjoy your company for things such as snowboarding and skiing... However I find these activities pointless and retarded. Don't get me wrong, I won't bash on other people's hobbies too much, but travelling at excessive speeds down an icy hill holds NO draw for me.

Also, you're only pretty for about five minutes. Then a dog comes along and pees on you, or cars drive in you and you get all black, slushy, and hideous.

You cause homeless people to sleep my stairwell at work. Which makes for a really awkward conversation when the security guard tells him he can't live there.

I don't like being cold. I don't like being wet. You are both.

Wet socks is also a common occurence when you choose to grace us with your presence. No matter how delicately I put on my shoes/boots to avoid hitting any place on my rug that is wet, I always seem to end up with wet socks. Wet socks=cold feet. Cold feet=aggravated Alyssa.

To further extend my hatred for you, I have to shovel you. Yes. I have to go out of my way, put on a shirt, pants, two pairs of socks, a snow coat, gloves, and a hat just to go outside and move precipitation out of the way of my car/foot path/walking space.

I wonder if anyone else has noticed this strange phenomenon of snow plows. They clutter the roads when it snows about a half an inch, and make driving behind them slow to go. However, when an actual blizzard hits, they're nowhere to be found. Maybe they take the day off, like I wish I could be doing right now. Laying in bed with my husband (who has the day off), sipping either hot chocolate or cider (maybe both at the same time, who knows...) and watching The Office.

Yes, dear snow, that is how I wish I could be spending my day. But no. I'm here at work sitting at my desk, glaring out the window at your ugly self. I'm being forced to plan my whole day around you, a fact that I DO NOT appreciate.

For all these reasons, I do in fact strongly dislike you. Please make yourself go away ASAP, as it would make my life at least a billion times easier.

Best regards,
Me

Countdown to Christmas

Friday night Riley put in his usual time at FedEx. That was going to mean I would be spending the evening alone until he got off work, but turns out my luck changed! Riley's mom called and asked if I would like to come to their ward Christmas party with the rest of his family, and I happily accepted the offer. It was a great alternative to sitting home, watching more countless episode's of The Office, and counting down the minutes until he got off work. I went and enjoyed lots of yummy food, listened to the choir sing Christmas music, and spent the time with his entire family MINUS Riley. I thought it may be strange for me to be there minus my significant other, but it turned out to be a really fun night. I got sent home with tons of leftovers, so Riley didn't have to go hungry that night (and it's kept us sustained for 4 of 5 meals since then, too!).

After the party, Jared and Sammie came over and we attempted to make gingerbread houses. We made a trip to Wal-Mart to purchase the needed supplies, and came home with lots of frosting, candy, and graham crackers. Unfortunately, my house was a huge disappointment...the roof kept caving in, and refused to stand by itself. Everyone else's turned out really well though! Riley's was complete with a roof, and a chimney. Jared's was multi-storied, and managed to stay up the entire night! What the heck? Seriously? And Sammie's...well...hers started out like mine, all crumbly and pathetic, but she had much more patience than I, and ended up forming it into a church-like structure complete with lots of candy for decor. Next year though, mine will be the freaking Taj Mahal. You heard it here first.

Saturday, we went and found our very first Christmas tree! We went with Riley's parents to J & L in Bountiful, and found the perfect REAL tree! I think I'm ready to take on the task of tackling the endless numbers of dropped needles. It was a sacrifice I'm willing to make for the amazing smell of a real pine tree that is already filling our little house. We had a fun time searching out the best trees, and also meandering through the store finding little goodies here and there. Quote of the afternoon: "We're all adults here. We can talk about flocking." This was said by Riley's mother, in reference to the fact that she's a tad bitter about not being allowed to get a flocked tree. It wasn't her year to choose, evidently!

That night, we went to Kohl's to find a cute skirt to put under the tree. We found a darling plaid one, and it looks great with the rest of the decorations. After that, we went to Target with Jordan and Alyssa to pick out some ornaments. We found some fun ones, purchased them, and came back to the house to play games. We ended up playing "Would You Rather" for like 3 hours straight! Riley and I definitely don't agree on many things, and that became evident through our constant bickering and debating. It was a fun evening nonetheless, spent with our friends that will be married in less than a month! How exciting?!

Sunday we went to my parent's house for dinner, and played a Cabela's hunting game on the Wii with Carter. He had bought it a few days ago, and was eager to show it off. Riley played for about 20 minutes, and shot one animal I think. I, however, spent about a half hour with the game, and shot like 20+ plus animals. I'd never hunt in real life, but it was kinda funny to be better at something electronic than Riley. That'll teach him!

After that, we went to Riley's house to watch the LAST EPISODE of the Amazing Race!! Our favorite team won! Go Megan and Cheyne!!! We were SSOOOOO happy that the gay bro's and Team Zebra didn't win. Megan pulled Cheyne through the hard tasks! What a tough chick! Evidence of the fact that Shrena and I will totally cream Austin and Riley when we get on the show. An all girl team has never won before, but that's just because they haven't seen US yet. After a heated debate over that subject, we finished off the night talking about possible million dollar ideas and patents, and Coral and I played the "Princess Jewelry Game". During the game, Coral asked me, "When can I come over to your house and play with your children?" I had to explain to her that we didn't have children yet, which spawned the question of, "Well...when ARE you going to have a little baby in your tummy?". She didn't quite like the answer of "Not for a while! Probably not until you're seven years old at least." This was replied with, "Well..I'm 4 now...so that's not too far away!"

Yikes!!!

It's the thought that counts!

It seems like this week has flown by incredibly fast. Probably because I've stayed pretty busy with work on Monday and Wednesday, and lots of adventures in between. On Wednesday night, I came home from work at about 9:30 to Riley making dinner. Cute. He went out and bought everything he needed for it at the store. He said, "I figure since you always have dinner made and ready by the time I get home, I ought to do that for you once in awhile, too." So needless to say, I had to snap a few pictures, and I'm glad I did. Here's what he made. Chicken patties on buns, complete with curly fries. He even bought Some Dude's Fry Sauce to go with it, or SDFS as it's affectionately referred to in our home.

Anyway, upon removing the tray from the oven, Riley lost a french fry to the depths of the oven. It just HAPPENED to land on the actual burner, and almost caught on fire. Despite my heedings that the fire alarm would go off, he left the oven open while he dished out on food onto our plates.

It DID indeed go off, and I think he felt that his whole making dinner for me experience had been ruined, but it just made me laugh. Way hard, in fact. I'm hoping it doesn't affect his ego to the point where he won't make dinner for me anymore...

Thanksgiving!!

The Thanksgiving break turned out to be an absolute blast for our little family! On Wednesday, we had Jared and Sammie over to watch movies and hang out! Sammie slept over at our house, and we stayed up for hours talking and watching "27 Dresses" while Riley slept. Thanksgiving Day consisted of us going to Riley's house for food, and then we went to the Gateway with my family to see "Blind Side". Great movie, by the way. It's very clean and family friendly, so it comes highly recommended by us!

Then Black Friday came along...and it came in all its glory. Jordan and Alyssa slept over at our house and we awoke bright and early (well, not exactly bright, it was 4 am). We made our way to pick up Jessie in the pitch black, and then we went to WalMart to do some people-watching. We needed absolutely nothing at WalMart, but it was hilarious to see the fights and verbal abuse go on between customers. Ripping things out of hands/carts, and running around like mad trying to get everything on their lists. After a few minutes of this entertainment, we walked over to Target to see what good deals we could score. We made off like bandits with seasons 1-4 of The Office, Angels and Demons, The Da Vinci Code, a DVD upconverter and a converter box for our TV so we can get the regular programs.

The line wasn't too bad, and we got out pretty quick. The five of us (Riley, Jessie, Jordan, Alyssa, and me) went to IHOP for some breakfast, and then Riley and I went home and took a nap! A few hours later, we decided to continue on our quest for good deals, so we went to Kohl's and found a vacuum! Same vacuum that we were GOING to purchase at Target, but ended up saving over 200 bucks buying it at Kohl's! That was an adventure, but we got a great deal on a sweet vacuum. Go us.

Friday night I did some shopping with my Grandma and Aunt. I found Riley two cute sweaters, that he ended up liking and actually fitting in! Yay!! We also found a cute Christmas wreath that's now hanging in my house. After our shopping adventure, I went to dinner with some high school friends to the Olive Garden. We had a great time giggling about our creepy waiter, and just catching up. Great time!!

Saturday we went to my family's annual "Saturday after Thanksgiving" event. We went up to my Aunt and Uncle's church and enjoyed the afternoon surrounded by family. We ate a ridiculous amount of food, played a little basketball, and had the opportunity to watch a few of my family members show off their talents at the 'Talent Show'. My grandpa is so proud of his family and loves being able to see all of their individual talents, so this show is put on every year. It's so much fun to watch him take everything in. What a neat man I'm blessed to have as my grandfather.

We were informed 2 hours previous to the actual event, that Riley's mom side of the family was also having a get together at their church in Centerville, so after we left my family party we made our way to his. We were greeted with warm welcomes because I had worn some U of U apparel. Talk about "cleansing the Gold family, one generation at a time". Hahaha.

Then, the highly anticipated game had finally arrived. The legendary BYU vs. U of U day of rivalry had come. After an intense, yet incredibly sloppy game, BYU ended up winning 26-23. Disappointing ending, but a fun time nonetheless.

Sunday we attended our ward, and had spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. I'm an amazing chef, by the way. Who knew, right? Ha. I'll never be able to duplicate the meatball recipe though. I just threw in a little bit of everything here and there, but it turned out really yummy!

We watched The Amazing Race, only to be greeted with another disappointment. One of the house favorites, the Harlem Globetrotters got eliminated. You'll be dearly missed Flight-Time and Big Easy...

Oh and as a funny sidenote, I learned that Max Hall dislikes me. Hates, actually. In fact, he hates everything about the U. The program, the administration, the fans. Everything. We're a classless school, and he loved beating us.

Yikes. Looks like your true colors really DO show through in the heat of the moment. Please read this article by Amy Donaldson in the Deseret News that I find incredibly satisfying. Here's the link... http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705348028/Halls-pain-a-reflection-of-self-betrayal.html

Pictures of the house!

**My Grateful List**

I figured with Thanksgiving coming up in a few days, I'd better get to making my own list of things I'm thankful for. I'll probably be busy the next few days, so I wanted to make sure I got it done before the actual holiday. I know, I know, you may thinkg I'm another cliche blogger ranting and raving about the things they aren't grateful for till November. But seriously, some of these things are ALWAYS on my mind, and others are new this year, but here it goes:

1st and foremost: Riley
-Where would I be without this kid? Through this past year of dating him, and now being married to him, it's been a huge adventure! He's always there to make me laugh, listen to me go on and on about how I hate backtracking, people who jaywalk, and to just fulfill all my "Best Friend" requirements. Most nights when I get home from work or class, and he's at work, there's a note waiting for me on our rug. Usually it's just something simple like last week's "Hey babe, can't wait for you to get home so we can have our movie night. Love you, xoxo Riley" But it means the world to me.
-He's the absolute hardest worker I know. He goes out and works 12.5 hour days every.single.day. to help provide for our little family. It's got to be taking a lot out of him, but he never complains. He always has a smile on his face when he comes home, and is willing to spend time with me when I'm sure all he wants to do is sleep.
-He scrapes the snow/ice/frost off my car every morning, and he does ALL our dishes! He told me it'll be his job as long as I cook for him...cute. I am SO blessed to have such an amazing husband. (Still getting used to calling him that...but I'm learning) Seriously. He's my best friend, and literally my other half.

2-Our families
-My mom and dad have been incredibly supportive to me my entire life, and it continues now that I'm married and on my own. My mom still offers to go grocery shopping with me, and take me to lunch. She misses me at home, I'm sure ;) She's always there to help out and offer her advice, and she's even watching Benny for us while we get things settled at our house. I'm really grateful for her.
My dad not only helped us find our house, but also helped us finance it AND fix it up! He was there during every spare moment he had either painting, or doing some other kind job. I get random texts from him every once in awhile with Seinfeld quotes, or other funny stuff. He makes me laugh, and he's such a great all around guy. He puts everyone else's needs before his own, and does it with a smile on his face.

-My brother and sister think I've been nicer to them since I moved out. Not sure how much truth there is to that statement, but I really took for granted getting to see them every day. It's fun to go back up there every once and awhile and dip in to what they're up to.

-I'm really grateful for my in-laws, too! Wes is a genius contractor, and helped a ton with our remodeling! He's incredibly sefless and put our projects ahead of a few of his own that I'm sure he wanted to get done. Sharon is such a funny lady. She makes the craziest jokes sometimes that make everybody laugh, even though we'd never imagine them coming out of her mouth!

Also, all of our amazing friends. I don't need to name them all, they know who they are. Seriously guys, I owe all of you so much. You've always been there for me and help my life be as awesome as it is now. I think I have some of the greatest people ever as friends, and I feel SO blessed to have each and every one of you as a part of my life.

The other things aren't people, so they don't need much of an explanation...

-My job. I have THE best job ever. I get to work in a church environment every day, and I love serving the people of the church. The clients make me laugh and I'm really getting to know some of them. My co-workers are the greatest. They've all got me by like 20-45 years, but hey, they're some of the coolest people ever. I look up to their amazing examples so much.
-Our comfy DI & KSL couches. They're amazingly comfy, and REALLY cheap.
-Our yellow kitchen, complete with my rooster painting. Love it, they make me happy everytime I go in.
-My cell phone. I have it with me everywhere, so a text or call to a friend or family member is just a click or two away.
-My digital camera. I take it with me everywhere, too, so I can capture things that happen to me throughout the day. It made my wedding DVD awesome!
-My car. (See previous post) But I still love it.
-Comfy boots. I. love. shoes. Especially boots. One of the only good things about winter.
-But, I'm still grateful for the seasons. If we didn't have snow, I wouldn't appreciate summer as much. So here's hoping I don't get too depressed about the cold weather this season.
-School. I'm learning so much, and I enjoy all my professors. Even the crazy ones.
-The Office & The Amazing Race. Only two shows I watch religiously. They give me something to look forward to each week, and it helps that Riley and I share a love for them, because it brings us closer together as we discuss each episode. I know that one is pretty far fetched and lame sounding, but seriously, we love them.
-This blog. I like being able to look back at everything I've done since I'm not a great one at keeping journals. Also, I like to stalk my friends that I don't see often and be aware of what they're doing!


I'm sure I'll look over this and think of a billion other things, but those are the things that I've found myself grateful for this past little bit. I went around the house today and took pictures of our cute house, so I'll probably post those pictures later tonight or tomorrow! We hung some decorations last night, and tomorrow (hopefully) we'll be going through our wedding pictures with the photographer, so I'll share some of those, too.

Thanks for reading my incredibly long Thanksgiving post!! I hope everyone has a chance to sit down and think over the things they're grateful for.

New Moon viewing party!

It has been a few days since my last post, but don't worry, there's some fun stuff that's gone on since then I'll be sure to fill you in on! This weekend was a good one! Friday we had Riley's little sister Carolyn over for a sleepover. She went to the 10:30 showing of New Moon, so she didn't actually get to our house until after 1 o'clock in the am. But when she did show up, Riley had set up the air mattress for her in our living room, and she and I (attempted) to watch Star Trek. Since Riley needs the weekends to catch up on some sleep, he was a party pooper and went to bed. Carolyn and I both ended up falling asleep, and I'm sure Riley didn't appreciate me tromping into our room at like 4:30am when I realized I was still on the couch, and decided to move to the bed. We slept in till 10ish and made blueberry waffles, bacon, and eggs for breakfast.

We dropped Carolyn off at home that afternoon on our way up to lunch with my family. It was my dad's birthday on the 16th, and Carter's on Saturday (the 21st), so we went to Famous Dave's to celebrate. My grandpa, grandma, and my family all went, and it was a great time. Riley and I gave Carter a set of pocket knives (courtesy of Riley...of course...) and my parent's got him a pellet/BB gun. I don't think he could've been more happy with his gifts. Perfect for an 11 year old boy!

Riley and I wandered around the mall for a few minutes before my hair appointment, and both came to the conclusion that the mall is just TOO busy this time of year. We didn't find anything too exciting, but we'll be going back to find Riley another pair of jeans here pretty soon. He loves the multiple pairs of Buckle jeans I either bullied him into buying, or bought him myself, so he'll need a few new pairs for the upcoming months. Going back to that store always reminds me of the fun times I had working there. Made lots of fun friends, and loved working with clothes. Awesome.

We went back to my parent's house, and used their computer to buy us six tickets to the 11:30 pm showing of New Moon!! We had made plans to go with Jared, Sammie, Jordan, and Alyssa. Before the show, we had to watch Twilight to catch up on the series, and made an arrangement of things for dinner, including frozen pizza, Ravioli's, and fruit cocktail out of the can (Jared...). We all headed down to the Gateway and found our seats. Perfect, dead center of the row, front middle of the theater. Yes.

The movie watching experience included quite a few memorable quotes. Mostly coming from Riley during the feature. Some of the highlights were the following:

(Jake's first appearance in the movie) "What? Why is his shirt still on? This is NOT what I came to see."

(When Jake takes his shirt off to help with Bella's head) "Yes. He is SO hot. THAT'S what I'm talkin' about."

(At the end of the film) "What?!?! Why the FREAK would you choose the sparkly gay vampire over the werewolf?! He made you motorcycles, what is WRONG with you?!"

Needless to say, he ended up getting quite a few laughs from the audience, and also a number of punches from me.


This sparked a bitter debate between all the members of the Gold family on Sunday night when we gathered to watch The Amazing Race. Before starting the show, everyone had their designated time to speak about who their vote was for, and it made for a pretty heated and intense debate. Team Edward or Team Jacob. The results ended as follows:

Team Edward: Carolyn & Shrena
Team Jacob: Riley, Bethanie, Sharon, and myself
Team Alice?: Wes & Austin

I think we should all go to the movie again and make "Team Mike Newton" shirts instead. Seems fair to me.

Also: The Amazing Race? Huge letdown this week. We've all been cheering against "Team Zebra" and they finished this leg of the race last. Sweet, right? Wrong. Turns out it was a non-elimination round. Ugh, we all thought we'd be able to say goodbye to her whining and bad attitude, but they get to have another chance. Oh well, I guess that means one extra week of the show.

On a good note, Riley and I found where our ward is!! We went to a random ward that started at 1, because we didn't wake up in time for any other blocks, and didn't think the two o'clock Samoan ward would do us well. The bishop, his counselors, the ward clerk, the stake president, and the stake clerk were all there trying to help us find where we were supposed to be. We found out that our ward meets clear up by Eaglewood golf course, and it starts at 1. We even met with our Bishop! He's a super nice guy, and also several people introduced themselves to us while we were there. Needless to say we're excited to start attending a ward where we're actually supposed to be!! Yay!

Our 70's countertop

So, some of you may remember the post I did awhile back that outlined all of the improvements that were made to the house. I mentioned in it, the countertop that is in the bathroom, correct? Anyways, I think I made some joke about how "The 70's called, and they want their countertop back".

That being said, here's a fun little tidbit of info. We bought a replacement slab of counter, only to realize that it's at least 3 inches too long, and therefore wouldn't fit at all. We'd have to get a custom sized piece if we were to redo it. We started looking into countertop refinishing instead, but haven't gotten too far into the search yet. Today before I went and took an anthropology test, I spent a good two hours with our current countertop. This involved really getting up close and personal with it. We got a little sloppy with the paint job in the bathroom, and while we were replacing things, it was the only working sink we had, so we ended up setting open cans of paint all over it, too. That being said, there was a TON of stuck on paint ALL over it. During the painstaking time I spent scraping the paint off with various tools (I couldn't find a razorblade till I had almost finished. I'm not going to say what I used before, because Riley MAY get upset about it, but what he doesn't know won't hurt him), I came to develop a feeling of toleration for the strange attempt at marbling that was made with it. After deliberating, and deciding how exactly I was going to go back on my word, I may in fact...like...the countertop. I know, I know...I'm not one to change my mind about things. Not sure at this point if it's really a "like" or more of a "I'm just getting settled into a dust/work/project free house and I don't want to start something else".

So for now, the countertop has found a small little place in my heart.

Fun weekend with awesome friends!

I worked my shift on Friday until 5pm, and thought Riley was probably at his second job (FedEx) by that time, so I had prepared myself to go home to an empty house and find something to occupy my time till he got off work at 8:30. But much to my surprise he had called and told his manager at FedEx he could stay busy for a little while longer at insulation, so he actually didn't have to work his second shift that night! How nice!

Instead of being home alone, we ended up going out to dinner with his family at Chili's. Riley wasn't feeling too well after, so while my grandma and aunt came by to drop off some goodies for us they found at the DI, he mostly slept. These goodies included two matching end tables, and a fake tree for the living room! Sweeeeet. Doesn't get much better than cheap, nice furniture. They look great! Stay tuned for some pictures. I know I always do that, make a post without pictures...but it's because I'm at work and can't upload pictures from my camera from here, so you all will have to be patient. Even though most of you that actually read this blog have probably seen the stuff in person by now...oh well... So anyways, with Riley running a pretty high temperature, we decided to call it an early night. Which was amazing, because we were in bed by like 11, and didn't get OUT of bed till nearly 11 am on Saturday. He doesn't get much of a chance to sleep in ever, so it was nice!

Saturday was a blast. During the day, Riley and his dad did lots of little jobs around our house. They put in the baseboard in the kitchen, installed our oven and microwave, put all the vents back on, etc etc. It was SO nice! While they worked, I put stuff away in the second bedroom, and went and returned a few things to Target with my mom. That night, we had a few friends come over for a house party! It was filled with the 8 of us playing "Battle of the Sexes", Mario Kart, and eating a ridiculous amount of pizza, breadsticks, chips and dip, and soda. Doesn't get much better than that. There will also be pictures of that coming soon, too, so stay tuned.

(As a side note, Saturday marked my 1 year anniversary of my job. My next post will probably talk about all my highlights of being here. Love it.)

Sunday we woke up early to get ready for our "9 am" church. We got to the building, and it was deserted! We didn't go to church last week, so we didn't get the memo that it was Stake Conference. Good thing, too, because it turns out we didn't even have the name of the right bishop. Only apartments through #240 that attend that ward, and ours is #321. Dumb. So we went to stake conference at the huge conference center off of 2600 s. at 10am instead. We still have yet to find out where our building is, the name of our bishop, or what time our actual ward starts. So wish us luck for next week :S

But the day was an overall success, because after church, our friend Clayton stopped by to visit and see the new place. We watched Star Wars on our sweet TV (which we found out yesterday is HD, by the way. It was free, so the price was right!!) and just chatted. Then we went over for dinner with my family and played the Wii for awhile with my mom, brother, sister, and grandma. Hilarious. Then we finished off the night at Riley's parents house watching the Amazing Race. The father/son team got eliminated, which we were sad about. We really liked them. Here's hoping that next week "Team Zebra" gets eliminated. I think we're all getting sick of the whiny black girl on the team...Go Globe Trotters!!!!! They're the house favorite I believe.

Ben Franklin. Hit? Or miss...?

So, Sammie and I went to Ben Franklin yesterday up in Roy because it's going out of business. Store closing specials with EVERYTHING in the store 70% off! Hard to beat that! We found cute matching Christmas moose things (stay tuned for pictures, they're stinkin' cute), and some fun candle holders with Christmas candles. Our purchases both would have been over $60 if we'd have paid full pop, but they were both like $15 bucks! Sweet! I got a text later that night from Sammie, questioning me as to whether or not the "green" candles she purchased were in fact GREEN when we got them at the store. I was 100% sure they were, because they came in a set of "green", red, and white! Perfect for Christmas, right? WRONG. Turns out the candles we were seemingly mislead into thinking were green were in fact purple when she got home. What the heck? We're still trying to figure out this mystery... But this is a public warning to Ben Franklin, that if their store just happens to catch on fire because SOMEONE threw a lit candle through the window...it wasn't us.

Excited for the weekend! We're having a house warming sort of party on Saturday with our closest friends. Making dinner, watching movies, and playing our fair share of Mario Kart. Bound to be a GREAT time.

Nearly complete condo!

The only things we have left on our condo at this point are baseboards in the kitchen, and our new bathroom countertop! Riley's dad who has done all our other work has been busy the last few days with other projects, so we're patiently waiting for him to get some time to finish up our house! All the tools that were in the kitchen were sorted through and the ones that needed to remain were moved into the living room, so our kitchen is now usable! We're getting our oven and microwave put in tomorrow (Hallelujah! Homecooked meals will now be possible!). SO excited to finally make him dinner in our own house! Living off of fast food and mooching off our parents can only last for so long! We're having a celebratory gathering with our closest friends at our house on Saturday, complete with dinner, movies, and plenty of Mario Kart! Riley has made significant progress on his boxes today, so our living room is now divided into A) stuff to return to his house that isn't really his, and B) Stuff to take to the DI. Sweet!! He also finished putting together our entertainment center and DVD stand last night and we got them moved into place today. I helped by putting in a few screws here and there, but it was mainly him. I bought him a new project for tonight, too! A shoe rack that hangs over our walk-in closet door. He's been complaining that my shoes take up the whole floor, which may or may not be true...

I went shopping with my mom today and bought a few more necessities for the house. IE; a toilet bowl brush, a broom, a dust pan, a utensil separator, the shoe rack, an ironing board, and some matches. Speaking of matches...a lit one of the cute candles we got for a gift and realized when I got to work tonight that I left it burning. Oops. So hopefully our house won't be burned down by the time Riley gets home...but if it is..at least the candle smelled good for a few hours?

Busy busy day!!!

Today I woke up when Riley left to work, which was about 7:30 in the a of the m. I don't work on Tuesdays, and I don't have class till 6, and there were quite a few things to do around the house so I got to work. My willingness to do this may or may not stem from the fact that Riley works 12.5 hour days with both of his job, and my ego can't take me not being productive while he's busy. So, I went up to my parent's house to finish my homework (our internet connection at the condo is hit and miss, so it's easier that way), and to pick up some of the clothes we left to be washed there last night. After those things were finished, my mom came with me down to Sugarhouse to Bed Bath and Beyond to pick out a dish set. We found a super cute Oneida one I liked a lot, so we purchased that AND a fruit basket/banana stand thing.

After our trip to Bed Bath and Beyond, my mom headed home to pick up Carter from school, and I went out to a warehouse somewhere WAAAAAY out west to pick up our entertainment center and DVD case. Which we got for a screaming deal, by the way. We've really lucked out with lots of stuff like that throughout our marriage so far! (IE our Anniversary Inn rooms which would have totalled over $700 but we got for less that $300). After passing Wendover I wondered if I had gone too far? Not really, but seriously, this place was like HOOPER west. (This is for you Jared and Sammie...) Needless to say I successfully made it home and got the boxes into the condo.

Then I decided that since we no longer have power tools living in our kitchen, it was past time to get some groceries. So I went with my budget, found a few coupons, and went on my way. There's a little family owned grocery store in N. Salt Lake called Winegar's, which is like an equivalent to Kaysville's Bowman's. I loved shopping for food! It was my very first time going shopping for the two of us by myself, but I think I did a pretty good job!

After my grocery stop, I came home and put things away, and Riley came home for a few minutes between jobs and started to put together the entertainment center. He made some significant progress in just a little while. I was really impressed, even though I should be used to his incredibly advanced handy man skills by now. Seriously, the kid is a genius. My mom came over for a little while to bring us our dishes and to help me wash and put them all away. Then I went to dinner with my parents and siblings, and now I'm here sitting in class. Which I probably should be paying attention in...but obviously I've found more entertainment in doing this!

Oh, and as a sidenote, I just want it to be recorded somewhere that I got a VERY solid "A" (99%) on that Western Civilizations test I was griping about having to take the day of our wedding dinner. I'm pretty pleased with this accomplishment. Go me.

It's done! We're married!!!

So, I realize that it has been awhile since my last post...but I've been understandably busy! Riley and I FINALLY got married on the 30th of October, and everything went beautifully. I'll recap the important highlights of the last little while.

On the night before the wedding, we had an adult dinner party at Joy Luck in Bountiful and invited our aunts and uncles and close friends. Riley and I both come from large families, so we decided aunts and uncles would be the extent of the family we could invite, otherwise we couldn't accommodate everyone. Even with just them we had a group of nearly 60 people though! It was a great turnout. We had a microphone go around the room to everyone and got lots of good advice from the old married couples, as well as solid advice from our young single friends as well. The highlights were Riley's grandma telling us that, (paraphrased) "Everyone used to say that you should never go to bed angry, but that's NOT true. Everything seems way worse than it really is at night. It's dark. It's dreary, and looks bleak. In the morning everything usually gets better. However, if it doesn't (looks straight at me) you let. him. have it."

Also, Riley's uncle Cliff taught us a few handy tricks to use around the house. In order to avoid dirty dishes, simply eat everything over the sink. Also, it's hard to go through an entire gallon of milk with just two people before it expires. Therefore, he suggested mixing the expired milk with double stuff oreos, so you can't tell the difference between that and the chunky milk. Yum.

Riley was determined that nobody had EVER seen us kiss. In fact, he addressed the entire group at the dinner asking if anyone had ever seen it. There was a silence, and a shaking of heads, until my little brother chimed in that he had! Wes (Riley's dad) asked Carter to come up to the front of the room with the microphone and tell everyone of his experience. Pretty sure everyone thought he wouldn't actually do it, because he's a pretty timid little kid. But he did. He marched right up to the front, grabbed the microphone and said, "Well...I was up in my parents' room, and Riley and Alyssa were in the backyard playing with the dogs. And I saw it. They kissed.............*exaggerated pause*...........THREE times." Of course the entire room then proceeded to explode with laughter, and needless to say, Carter was the man of the hour. He looked at us with a face of "Ha. Stuck it to ya with THAT one." It turned out to be an ongoing joke throughout the rest of the wedding proceedings, and everyone saw us kiss a few times after that (over the altar, ((Shrena complained that since she was behind me, she didn't get a great view of that one)) during pictures, and after cutting the cake), but EVERYONE kept track of their own personal number. I'm sure we'll be hearing about all that for years to come.

After the wedding dinner, we took a few of our friends and family over to the condo to see it before it got completed, and we toured them through the clubhouse. Then we were obligated to watch that day's episode of The Office, and since someone deleted it off the TiVo at Riley's parents’ house, we watched it at Jordan's with he and Alyssa before calling it a night.

The day of the wedding was overcast, and our journey to the temple started a little after 9 am. Riley and I drove up separate from our parents since we had to get there a little earlier than them. We were both hungry, so we stopped at Wendy's before arriving at the temple. Nothing like little snacks from the dollar menu to tide you over! The ceremony went flawlessly, and the cute man who conducted did a great job! The room was PACKED with our endowed friends and family members. It was so neat to see all our close family there to support us, as well as three of Riley's closest friends all sitting together. He has the greatest friends, they've been a huge support to use, and let's be honest...Jared likes me better than Riley anyways :)

It was freezing outside the temple, and one of Riley's aunts had the awesome idea of bringing hot chocolate and hand warmers, so everyone enjoyed that as we took group photos and lingered around the temple. Riley and I had our photo shoot, and my toes nearly froze off. Seriously, no joke. They were past the hurting point when we finally got back inside the temple, and our family sat in the waiting room with me as I unthawed. Despite the weather not really cooperating, it was amazing.

The reception was awesome, too! We had a HUGE turnout, and ended up standing in line, with NO breaks, for nearly 3 hours because our line was so long. We have AMAZING family and friends who came out to show their support. Our hostess had to break up the line for Riley and I to have some time to cut the cake, and throw the bouquet and garter. But we had time to see everyone and spend some good time catching up and talking with people we hadn't seen in awhile. All our guests said the food was great, even though the six of us didn't get any that night (six meaning us and our parents). They packed some soup for Riley and I to take, as well as some breadsticks and sweet roll type things were sent with our family. The cake also turned out GREAT. It was absolutely beautiful. The flowers looked amazing thanks to Riley's cousin Sarah who works at the Flower Patch. She did such a fabulous job, the reception center looked gorgeous. I don't have enough good things to say about all the people who helped with the whole reception, in any way. Seriously, it couldn't have been better.

Riley and I left our reception and spent our first night in the Treasure Island room at the Anniversary Inn. The themed room was fun, but the rickety bed meant for a hard night's sleep...we woke up and went to our parent's house to grab some things I had forgotten, and we opened our gifts with Riley's family. We kept track of EVERY present and card that was received, so don't worry, thank you notes will be coming shortly!!!! The second night, we spent in the Twilight Room at the Anniversary Inn. That one was SO much fun! It didn't have too much to do with the actual Twilight books, but it was gorgeous. Riley was tickled with the king size bed, even though took up less than half of it between the two of us. He thought that was the greatest thing ever, although the cheese and cracker platter that we got to choose with the room was also a hit with him. It was massive, and very yummy. Sunday we embarked on the journey to Tahoe. We got there in pretty decent time, though it was dark when we pulled in. We went grocery shopping and got ourselves all outfitted for the week.

We had such a great time in Tahoe! The lake was beautiful, the weather was perfect, and we couldn't have asked for anything better. We went horseback riding, hiking, wandered around the shops and the town, and altogether just had a week of relaxing. It was so nice to go and have the time together without any stresses. I didn't take ANY homework with me (which I'm paying for now...) but it was well worth it. We owe Riley's dad BIG time for letting us use a week he had accrued for his timeshare.

We came home a day early to a nearly completed condo! Our carpet was put in early Friday morning, and we were home early that night. We got all my stuff moved in that night thanks to the help of my parents, Carter, and Jared and Sammie. We were incredibly grateful for their help. We got all of Riley's stuff moved in the next day, and spent that evening playing Mario Kart at our house with Jordan, Alyssa, Jared, and Sammie after a yummy dinner at El Matador. We watched the Last of the Mohicans, too, and had a great time. We LOVE our friends and couldn't ask for anyone better!!!

We spent Sunday trying to get the problem with our water heater figured out. Turns out we have the water turn off for the entire building, so we have to get special clearance to turn it off. Our neighbors are going to hate us after all the late night work and loud noises, and now this! Oh well. From those that we have met, it seems we have some cool people living around, so it shouldn't be a big deal. We're hoping that after today we'll have hot water again! YAY!!!!!!!

This has been a ridiculously long post, so thanks for taking the time to read it. Your patience shall now be rewarded by getting to see a collection of pictures from the last little while! I haven’t had a chance to upload many pictures from the actual wedding and reception that were taken with either of our cameras, so quite a few of these have been stolen from my friends, but they’re still great! I’ll post some from ours when I get the chance. In the meantime, here ya go!!

PS-I love my mom, my dad, McKenna, and Carter. Even though McKenna is taking over my room now that I'm gone, probably still has a few of my clothes, and sometimes doesn't like me. Carter, even though he spilled our secret to the world that Riley and I actually like eachother. My mom, even though she insisted on going over every detail of the wedding at least a million times, thanks. It was perfect. And my dad, even though he painted a few parts of our ceiling with the color on the wall, as well as the mirror, and painted over a few light switches so we had to scrape that off. We absolutely love the condo, and may even let you come over and visit sometime. The end.

3 days!!!

Ok, so I realize that my countdown is probably getting slightly annoying to readers, but you guys will have to get over it. I can't believe we're so close to the big day!!

Oh, and good news. After multiple attempts, I have finally finished our wedding reception video! I was having issues with Windows Movie Maker and getting the timing just right. It kept skipping huge chunks of music on the disc, which was completely unacceptable. But after burning 3 separate DVD's, it's finally RIGHT! And it's stinkin' cute. Not gonna lie, we're gonna have darling kids. I dunno if anyone else knows this, but we were absolutely adorable when we were little. And now we're just hands down amazing looking. In fact, Riley was worried we'd have a problem getting our marriage license today since the world can't possibly handle more cute children, but we got it!!

I haven't posted in a few days, because I've been understandably busy. I can't help that I did school this semester and Riley suckered me into marrying him so close to midterms! I've been busting my butt to get all my homework done and tests studied for. I even have to take a test just a few short hours before our family and friend's dinner on Thursday! But it was either take it on Thursday, or take it Saturday morning. Screw. That.

This weekend we carved pumpkins and scared Baker's parents to death. A little explanation for those two things. So on Saturday night, Ryan Newbold, my friend Jocelyn, Jared, Sammie, and Riley and I decided to trek to Wal Mart to buy ourselves some pumpkins. I wanted to just steal some from a local patch, but they said since I'd been through the temple earlier that day that probably wasn't a good idea....yikes...who knew...So we went and bought some instead. The pickings at WalMart were slim, but we found some decent ones! Riley carved a happy face, mine had a skull and crossbones, Ryan's had a "Y" for BYU (In memoriam of their incredibly humiliating loss to TCU), and Jocelyn's...well...she's a little special when it comes to carving pumpkins, so she took hers home without finishing and hopefully it'll be turned into a masterpiece by her little brothers.

On Sunday we went and met with Riley's stake president. Luckily he decided we were a pretty good match and agreed to sign Riley's living ordinance recommend. PHEW. Anyways, later that night, after watching the Amazing Race (of course), we went with Riley's mom, dad, and sister to drop off the cardboard cutout his mom made at Baker's house. She had it made so he could be in some of the pictures from our wedding, at least in spirit. He's still way bummed out that he's missing the wedding, so this was a small gesture (along with shipping him a piece of wedding cake overnight) to compensate for him having to miss out on the festivities. We stood the cutout, which is basically his head taped on Mitt Romney's body, on his front porch and rang the doorbell and hid. His dad just laughed and thought it was great. Unfortunately his mom wasn't home at the time, so we had to wait for her to get there to see her reaction. Baker is such a great kid! We're probably not the best of influences on him what with sending him packages full of mountain dew to the MTC, but oh well. What are awesome friends for?! Riley's FedEx job gets him like 75% off FedExGround shipments, so we can send him whatever we want for pretty cheap! Sweet!!

Yesterday was kind of a rough day for me. With Riley working 12 hour days, I don't get to see him as much as I'd like. Plus I was getting weighed down with all the stresses of the reception, school, and work, and I guess you could say I kinda crashed. I slept for like 10 hours and laid in bed while I had a billion other things I could be doing. I'm just lucky I haven't gotten physically sick from all the outside stressors. But Riley knows me better than I know myself, and picked up on the fact that I'd kind of hit a wall. So when he got off work, he baked me cookies, rented Aliens vs. Monsters, and brought them up to my house and enjoyed them with me. What a nice gesture, I love him :) Can't wait to spend the next week in Lake Tahoe with him and relax from our apartment and everything else! Hopefully when we get back it'll be totally ready to move into. We're keeping our fingers crossed!!

We have a shower!!!

Good news! Our shower got finished yesterday! We still don't have carpet, or all the walls painted, or the tile done in the kitchen and bathroom, or a fridge, or light fixtures, a nice lock on the front door, etc...but...WE HAVE A SHOWER! Riley's dad finished tiling it, and it has officially gotten my stamp of approval. It looks great! Things are starting to come together, and even though all it really has is some of the paint, it's starting to look like it'll be fit to live in here pretty quick! Looking more and more like an actual apartment rather than an empty space every day.

Yesterday involved my mom, my grandma, Carter, and I dropping our engagement pictures and my bridals off to Frameworks to be framed. 24 hour turnover, doesn't get better than that. The frames we found were gorgeous, and the funny lady that helped us knew just what frames would look best with what pictures. We were really pleased. We then had lunch at Maddox and sat in our cars in the Staples parking lot since there weren't any places to sit outside. I went in to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to pick out another zen waterfall fountain since the one I ordered online doesn't light up, OR trickle water! Dumb.

BUT! After that, I got to meet up with a great friend of mine from high school later that day! It was so much fun to sit and chat for hours with her. We've both gotten really busy and I hadn't seen her since August we figured! But it didn't seem to matter, because we just happily chattered about all the goings-on in life. I'm grateful to have such awesome friends that I know will always be there for me. It kinda makes me feel bad when I drive past Davis and see all the high school kids going out with their friends to lunch, because it makes me miss my own high school years. We skipped out on one too many classes, ditched every assembly, snuck out past dark, went to Albertsons, Quiznos, home, and STARBUCKS nearly every day for lunch, and did completely random, crazy things one too many times; but I have NO regrets. I had TONS of fun, and wouldn't trade high school for the world. In fact, in lieu of reminiscing on all the crazy adventures we had, I'm just going to post some pictures so everyone else can enjoy our awesomeness. I love where I am today, and I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for my amazing friends. Thanks!