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.