Temple Square 2010

Friday night we went on a big group date! First we went to dinner at a noodle house called "La Cai" down on State Street and 9th south. It was really yummy. I took a picture of the sign! Riley spent a good portion of dinner talking with Lorna's friend Sheila about Chinese food. He learned the fortune cookies and sweet and sour sauce are all American, and not authentic. I think his whole world was turned upside down...

Then we went down to Temple Square to walk around and enjoy the lights. We rode Trax from the library to the temple. Riley had never been on it before so that was interesting. Reminded him a lot of the subway in New York but a WWHHHOOOLLEEE lot cleaner. Before entering the temple grounds we got distracted by this man playing the bagpipes. We spent a good 15 minutes talking to him. Funny guy. He wanted to tell us ALL about his bagpipes and also a million jokes....

The temple never fails to disappoint! The pictures I took of the actual lights didn't really turn out all that great, but the temple itself is beautiful.

After we went to JB's for some hot chocolate and dessert. We went with our friends Cameron and Lorna from our ward, and they brought their friends Kylie and Craig. Kylie has a litttle 3-yr old so we spent the majority of that time talking to him. We learned that he wants "a sewing machine and some fabric for making clothes" for Christmas, and that babies come from Ikea! Who knew!!

Finals Week

This week was finals week for me. Even though I only took two classes this semester it was still pretty intense. This post will only focus on my first final because it's the only one I ever want to talk about again!

Final #1-Leisure in Your Life (Diversity requirement fulfilled. Really a fun class. We learned all about how to create fun in your life without relying on the TV, learned different varieties of leisure, and discussed the world's point of view when it comes to free time)

Final #2-Living with Quakes (This class was online. The first half was focused on volcanoes and the second was on earthquakes and tsunamis. Fulfilled an International Relations requirement. Class itself was good, but I'm preettttyyyy sure I failed the final. And I've never failed a final in my LIFE.)

This picture taken right before I left my car to walk to my first final. Notice the concerned look! HAHA.

This was me halfway to class, realizing I forgot how far the walk was and these boots were a bad choice.

Yes I totally took a picture of the building. Goodbye Orson Spencer Hall!! (for the semester, at least)

Annnddd, this was me POST final. Cute, huh?! Don't worry only like three people saw me totally taking a picture of myself in my car. I was relieved to be done, ok? Don't judge me.

A Sunday in the Gold household!

Sleep in (oops..), and make breakfast. Last Sunday was waffles, bacon, and eggs.

Benny waits patiently beneath the bacon hoping a piece will magically jump out of the pan and into his mouth :)

We made a raspberry shake with the raspberries Riley insisted were taking up valuable freezer space. Why fill it with frozen fruit when Hot Pockets are so much more convenient?

Did the dishes that we had been procrastinating on. Don't judge us!

(Dear Santa, if you're reading this...well...do I really have to tell you what household appliance is on my Christmas list?)

Put up the few measly Christmas decorations we have.

Marley and Me may or may not have been playing in the background of doing chores...

Try and be festive and put up Christmas lights around our patio door. It's just what you've gotta do when you don't have a roof to call your own.

Try to take a semi-cute picture of us at the end of the day.

Our Weekend

I have to preface this post with a warning that I didn't take any pictures...My camera was MIA (actually, I accidentally managed to lose it between the couch cushions at my in-laws house...but that's neither here nor there).

Friday night we went to Riley's parents ward's family party! Phew, that was a mouthful. I was scheduled to work until 7 that night and the party started at 6. Riley had been there for awhile before I got there but luckily there was still plenty of yummy food! We watched a high school Madrigals choir sing Christmas songs for about an hour then left.

Saturday I had to work until 3 but Riley went shooting with Carter that morning/afternoon. They had a grand time shooting cans of food they found up on the range. I'm lucky to have found somebody that loves spending time with my little brother. I think Carter is pretty fond of Riley, too :)

That night we went bowling with our friends Mitch, Amanda, Dustin, and his girlfriend Heather.
Galactic bowling at Bountiful Bowl is always a good time! It reminds me of high school and all the nights we spent there, but it was a fun activity! It doesn't start until 10pm though so we had some time to kill before we went. Amanda and I stayed at our apartment and just chatted while Riley and Mitch "went for a ride in the Jeep". They both came back with huge grins on their faces. They had made a pit stop at Smith's and bought ten two liters of Mtn. Dew... They also spent a good chunk of time driving over huge snow piles in the Les Schwab parking lot. We drove past it on our way to go bowling and just saw huge tire tracks through the mountain of snow...

Bowling with Riley is always fun because he only actually tries for the first 4 frames or so. After that he just tries to either throw it as fast as he can/how many balls he can use at the same time/how far he can throw it/if he can bowl through his legs. He always provides a good amount of entertainment wherever we go.

Sunday we woke up late (we slept through Sacrament, oops!), made breakfast and watched Marley and Me. Still love that show. And yes, I STILL cry at the end EVERYTIME. We went up to my parents house for dinner then back down to his parents house to watch the Amazing Race! I can't believe next week is the last episode of this season. We're all addicted to that show...still...

Hopefully tonight we'll be able to go find a Christmas tree! We strung some lights around our back patio door and I hung up a wreath, but it's not quite the same without a tree. I promise I'll be better at taking pictures, since no one likes to read a huge chunky post without anything to look at...

Really going private this time...

I know I said this before, but I think it's really going to happen this time. I installed a tracker on this blog to see where my traffic was coming from, and after seeing hits from India, China, etc etc I got kinda creeped out.

I've always used this blog as a sort of journal mostly for my own records, and I reveal a whole lot of information about our family, so I'd like it to stay a little bit more private. But I don't mind sharing it with people I know!

I've started a separate (public) blog that I'll use to post about random thoughts and ramblings but in the meantime if you'd still like to read and follow this one, please leave me your e-mail either in a comment or e-mail me at alyssagold08@gmail.com.

Thanks everybody, I appreciate your interest in keeping up with us!

Thanksgiving 2010

For Thanksgiving this year we went to Riley's parents house. We celebrated with his immediate family, as well as his Grandma and Grandpa Wiser and his Aunt Darla. We had such a fun time with LOTS of food and good company. We spent the day eating and sitting around the table talking and munching on pie.

I took my camera with me but wasn't very good at taking many pictures. I blame it on Novali. She wanted to just sit on my lap the entire afternoon and take pictures...of herself...

It's a good thing she's so stinkin' adorable! Here are some of my favorites!

This year I am especially grateful for our amazing families! I love having the opportunity to live so close to both of our extended families. My parents house is about a 12 minute drive, and Riley's are about 8 minutes. We've been incredibly blessed with such great people in our lives.

I hope everyone else had a fabulous Thanksgiving as well!

One Year Anniversary

I can hardly believe how fast time has gone by. On one hand it seems like I've known Riley my entire life, but on the other it seems like we just got married like yesterday!

We both had the day off for our anniversary and we just spent it together. We didn't go out of town anywhere, or do anything overly out of the ordinary. I woke up and he had bought me flowers and a card, and he tried his best to make them look pretty even though we didn't have an actual vase to put them in. I had the best time just hanging out, watching movies, and relaxing with him. My parents took us out to dinner (free food is always the best) and we just enjoyed eachother's company.

So, in honor of our one year anniversary, I'm going to list 365 things that I love about Riley...



Psych. Nope. That'd take waayyy too long. But I guess I better say a few things.

-I was wandering around the house the other day, having not even showered. Completely unsolicited, Riley came and told me how pretty I am and that he loves it when I just wear "t-shirts instead of all those frilly girly things". Not sure if this was a compliment on the t-shirt, or him telling me that I shouldn't try so hard? Either way, it was nice of him.

-He's always the first one to apologize when we get in an argument. It's a good thing one of us is willing to back down...


-He always supports me in all my decisions. No matter what they are.

-He will drop whatever he's doing to ask me how my day was.

-Riley will send me nice/funny texts througout the day. He'll always send me one to let me know he got wherever he was going safely.

-He will pretend to like EVERYTHING I cook. Even if it's slightly burned/crunchy. He's not picky.

-I love that he comes to visit me at work when he's free.

-He's the most selfless person I know. He's always happy to put others needs in front of his own. He's a handyman and loves to fix things for anyone and everyone. I used to get annoyed that he'd put other people's projects ahead of anything we had going on, but I've come to appreciate that it's just who he is. (AKA, we were planning to spend the night together when we saw a girl pulled over on the side of the road with her hood open. Riley made me turn around so he could make sure everything was ok and help her.)

-He's an incredibly hard worker. I've never ONCE heard him complain about all the responsibilities he has.

-All our nieces and nephews ADORE Riley. He's incredibly patient and loving to them.

-He treats me like a Princess, even when I don't deserve it.

-He'll quote The Office with me till we both run out of things to say.

-I love how he's always so excited to tell me about his latest project at work. Even if I don't understand 3/4 of the words he's saying....

-Lastly, he's my biggest advocate and my absolute best friend. I really lucked out snagging him!

Here's to another bajillion years just like the last one! I'm so excited to spend the rest of my life here, and for eternity, with my best friend :)


In honor of making it this far, I've decided to post some pictures of my favorite memories with Riley.

Our Wedding!

10-30-2009

In front of the Manhattan Temple

Sept. 2009

Lake Powell-July 2009

Before seeing Mama Mia on Broadway!

Sept. 2009

The Statue of Liberty

Sept. 2009

Our Honeymoon

Lake Tahoe-Nov. 2009

Bear Lake riding fourwheelers!!

Riley's Disneyland birthday!

July 2010

Shooting a gun for the first time (Me)

Before the Weber State fireworks!

July 2010

The State Fair!!

Aug. 2009

Engagement Photo

Hiking with Benny!!

Carving Pumpkins with Jared & Spam

Last night we went over to Jared and Spam's house for the first time! We carved pumpkins (as you can tell).

This first picture is out of order, but I just couldn't help but put it first. Aren't we just adorable?

Pumpkin guts..Bahaha.
Sam was very intense.

Jared...likes the smell of pumpkins? I dunno...

The finished product!!

It was tons of fun! We hadn't seen these guys in over a month. Completely unacceptable. I guess that's what happens when you have family in from Japan. You ignore your friends. Hahaha!

Best. Friends. Ever.

Halloween at Booey's!

This year there was a Gold family party at Bethanie and Neil's house!

I couldn't find my maid costume from a few years ago...luckily Ryan and Sarah let us borrow some of their costumes!! Thanks guys, we owe you big time!!

(This picture is of Riley being a complete CREEPER. He insisted on tucking his ears and eyebrows into the hat)

Carolyn's AWESOME homemade Little Mermaid costume!!

Aren't these two ADORABLE?!?!

Coral was a fairy!

We played the donut on a string game... Hahaha.

Sharon's creepy eye ;)

And we carved pumpkins! This picture clicked right after Neil put his tongue back in his mouth..hahaha. It helps the creativity flow, ya know?!

Bethanie's spider

Braxton's pumpkin (carved by Sharon)

Riley's pumpkin

Neil's "Mater" pumpkin

Thanks for hosting the party guys! We're looking forward to this tradition for the coming years!!