The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

These past few weeks have really been wonderful! Justin had two weeks off of school and I had two weeks off of work (one of the many perks of working at a school)! So basically we got to spend every minute of every day together. There is no one I would rather spend this much time with.

One of the first things we got to remember during our break together was when we had gotten engaged a year ago. On Christmas Eve of last year, Justin popped the big question. It was so much fun to look back on that this year and reflect on how much we have grown together throughout the year. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband who makes me a better person everyday.
We stayed in Utah with my family for the holidays. It is much quieter around here than it is with Justin's family, which is nice, but we do miss the craziness as well. On Christmas Eve, my parents and Justin and I went skiing together. It was so much fun to be with family and do something we love together. That night we went to my Aunt and Uncle's house for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner. My aunt wanted to do something a little different this year, so instead of traditional turkey or ham, we had a big fondue party. I must admit, I was a little skeptical at first since I love tradition, but it turned out to be a lot of fun! On Christmas Day, we woke up and had our big breakfast as a family like we always do, and then opened up our presents. It was so much fun to just relax and be with family.

For New Years Eve, we all went to my mom and dad's house to bring in the New Year. Our friends Sam and Dallin came over too so we got to be with family and friends. I cannot believe it is 2010 already. We have had such a great past year. I graduated in April, we got married in May, and I got a wonderful job that I love and is enough to support us so Justin can really focus on school. These are just a few of the many blessings we have received in the past year. We are so lucky and so blessed in so many ways. We are so excited for this new year together! Justin is especially excited for his graduation at the end of the year, and I am excited to hopefully finally leave Provo! There are many things to come in our near future and we cannot wait!

Thanksgiving!

As always I'm a little late on this, but I could not let Thanksgiving pass without posting something about it. We spent Thanksgiving in Arizona this year and had so much fun with the family! We got in late Tuesday night and had a busy busy schedule until we left on Sunday. On Wednesday, we went to the railroad park with the whole family... cousins, aunts, and of course lots of kids! It was so much fun to see everyone again! On Thursday, Justin and his two brothers in law ran in the 5k turkey trot. They had a lot of fun and did really well! Then of course later that day we had a big Thanksgiving dinner. On Friday, we had a girls day while the boys took the kids on a bike ride. On Saturday, we went to the lake and of course Justin and I made time for dinner at Goldie's with the family (a must every time we go to Arizona). It was a wonderful vacation and so much fun spending time with the family! I am so lucky to be a part of such a wonderful family! They are amazing and we never stop having fun.

Unfortunately, my camera died after a took one picture at the railroad park so I really don't have any pictures. I need to get them from my wonderful sisters and then I will eventually post them.

6 months

Wow I cannot believe that six months ago today Justin and I got married! It seems like it was yesterday. The past six months have flown by! Six months may seem like nothing to people who have been married for awhile, but to me this is so crazy! The past six months have been amazing. I could not imagine myself with anyone else but Justin. It is so fun to see the changes we have both made for the better because of each other. I cannot wait for the amazing journey ahead with Justin. There is no one I would rather spend forever with.

October fun!

So I have been a little bit of a slacker lately on our blog. It has been beautiful here in Utah with all the leaves changing and the weather has been amazing! In the beginning of October, we started Halloween early by going to a murder mystery party our friends, Jake and Sarah, hosted. It was a lot of fun! We were assigned "The Farmers" as our costume, but we sort of changed it to cowboys since they are semi close. There were six other couples there with different costumes for each couple. It was fun and creative and I don't think anyone could have made it as fun as the Shirleys.

The Farmers

The Witch Doctor and Jester

The Werewolves

The whole group

A few weeks after the party, Justin and I got to go to The Haunted Forest. We absolutely love going to haunted houses! It was probably the best one we have ever been to. There was a haunted house in the beginning, and then the second part was a haunted forest. It was a lot of fun and super scary.

Working at an elementary school is one of the most fun parts of the holidays. It is so fun to decorate the classroom and see the excitement of the children. We had a big fall festival at work on the Thursday before Halloween. It consisted of lots of fall activities, like decorating cookies, tasting different caramel apples and deciding which was the favorite at the school, and guessing the weight of a big pumpkin. We also had lunch with all the parents and a costume parade. It was so fun to see all the kids dressed up for Halloween!

On Halloween, Justin and I went to Salt Lake and walked around with Jodi and Jeremy and the kids while they trick or treated. Halloween is so much more fun with kids. They get so excited and can't wait to get to the next house. It was so much fun to be with them on Halloween. After the kids were done trick or treating, we came back to Provo and went to a Halloween party our friends were having. I didn't expect to stay long, since we are boring married people now who don't stay up late, but it was so much fun that we couldn't leave. We had a great month in October with all of our Halloween festivities!

Family on Halloween

Barbie and Ken

Marty McFly and Juno

Jamaican bobsled team

I just want to take a second to brag about my amazing husband... So while Justin is finishing up school this year and taking lots of credits to finish faster, I am working to support us. I love my job, so I have no problem going to work everyday. Every morning when I'm leaving, I kiss Justin goodbye and tell him I love him and everyday his response is, "I love you so much. I'm sorry you have to go to work." He honestly feels so bad that I have to work and he isn't working right now. When I check my phone at lunch, I always have at least three texts from him telling me he loves me so much and thank you for working for us. He is so sweet! It always makes me so happy to know I have a husband who appreciates me so much. On Friday, I got home from work and Dallin was over and they were watching a movie. All the lights were off, so I dropped my stuff and went to lay by Justin. While I was watching the movie, I looked around the room and saw roses in one vase and sunflowers in another. It was so cute and absolutely made my day. I have the best husband! He is so helpful around the house and always makes things easier for me. I love him so much! I am the luckiest girl.

FINALLY!

The much awaited pictures of our apartment are finally here! The pictures don't give the best representation, so you will have to come visit us to really see it.

The kitchen. This is our favorite part of our apartment even though it's small!

We don't have any cupboards so we have become the ultimate space savers.

Our little table

Our bathroom isn't very exciting, but it had to be included.

Our family room

Our AMAZING bed

Our closet...Justin has just as many clothes as me...

Again, not an exciting part of the place, but we had to put it in.

So I know it has been awhile once again... One day I will be an excellent blogger...

Well we are finally getting all moved in to our place. It is finally feeling like a home. I will put pictures up soon when everything is completely organized... hopefully in the next few days.
We had a few fun last weeks in Arizona and California before we rushed back to Utah so I could start my job. It was so fun to be able to go relax in California with the family and be with my amazing husband! We cannot get enough of the beach! All Justin has been talking about is going back and living there. He really does love it.
So the day after we got back from California, we left for Utah. We were quite a scene driving the ten hours. We bought our bed in Arizona so we had to strap it onto the top of the bed of the truck to get it to Utah. At the beginning of the trip, we had to stop every fifteen minutes because the duct tape wasn't holding at the tarp would fly up. When we finally got to Flagstaff, Justin figured out a better was to keep it down and we duct taped it like crazy, so we were finally able to keep driving. We found out about 3 days before we came back that my job actually wasn't going to be starting that Monday, but since we were already packed up and ready, we decided to come back anyway. It was actually really good that the job didn't start because we were able to get everything moved in and spend a ton of time together. We are so lucky we have so much time just the two of us. We were really frustrated that my job wasn't starting right away, but it turned out to be the greatest blessing. We had so much fun spending every minute of every day together for two weeks. It's something no other couple really gets to do and will probably be one of the few times we will get to.
We both started school and work yesterday. Justin has a pretty hard schedule this semester. He is taking 17 credits and wanted to add one more class! He is crazy, but amazing, and he works so hard. The counselor he met with told him not to add anymore classes because he has two of the hardest classes in his major already in this semester. So he is going to stick to the classes he already has. He is a little nervous for his classes, but I'm sure he will do great!
It was only my first day of work yesterday and I was only there for a few hours, but I already love it! I am so excited about my job! I have my own little classroom called the "Readiness Room". It is exactly what it says. I have kids in there in the morning who have language disorders and I am getting them ready to be permanently in the real classroom. They are only with me for a few hours a day and then they go to their regular classroom. During the afternoon, I will be moving through different classrooms basically being the voice in the back of their head. If my kids are communicating in the classroom and have trouble with the "s" sound, I can say something like, "Don't forget your snake sound." It is all about observing though. That will be the biggest part of my job. Observe, observe, observe. I think I am really going to like this job! I could not stop talking to Justin about it yesterday and how much fun it was. I will be training for the next few weeks off and on and then the school starts on September 8th. We are so excited for this upcoming year! We know it may be stressful at times, but we will definitely figure out how to squeeze some fun in there together!

Our very fancy moving technique

I'm not that great at getting a good surfing picture, but this is the best I got.

The temple was closed, but we at least got a picture on the outside.

Mike and Jessica

Bentley, Tommy and Peter