From the heart

This is my first homemade wedding gift and I'm actually very proud of it. I made it in just a couple of short weeks and I managed to find a frame that fit it at the first store I went to. I would like to make a couple of changes to it the next time I do it. And lucky me will soon have that opportunity because it is December and we all know how many people get married in December! Yea for December weddings!! :)

Fun with Boa

Last week Travis finished up his rotation for the semester and he is now on break! Because he's on break-I took off work, so now we're both on break! It's feels so great! This will be the last year that we actually get what you could call a "Christmas break" so we're definitely going to be enjoying it and hopefully telling you all about it along the way (opposed to three weeks after it).

We've been getting lots of visits from our upstairs neighbors, Boa. She's not our dog but I can't help but take pictures of her, she's so sweet and so much fun. most of the pictures I take of her are a blur because she's constantly moving but I think it makes it that much more fun.

Travis loves playing with her. Trav just sits on the floor and she just goes to him until she gets bored. It's so much fun to watch. I am learning. I've gotten used to the "play bite" and don't mind it so much anymore. Although when we went up to my brother-in-laws their cat wanted to play and it freaked me out. I had to put a huge pillow in between us so that he knew I meant business. I guess only one thing at a time right? Boa loves to give Travis kisses. She is constantly reaching up for his neck, and then his cheek, and then she goes for the ear. It's all in good fun and Travis totally loves it. We're both dog hungry.And can you even believe I got this totally awesome shot! Love it! Boa was looking back at me and I quick told Travis to smile at me and ta-da! I love this shot for two reasons. Not is Boa looking at me, but it looks as if she's smiling at me too! Oh, and look at Travis' goofy smile...so I guess three reasons.

Got eggnog?

What can I say? I'm not a perfect blogger. One day I will post something a day after the event but until then I will blog about our Thanksgiving.

We had a great Thanksgiving and we definitely have a lot to be grateful for. We are back in Utah and just a couple of hours away from family. Travis will be graduating from grad school! How cool is that? I have a job that is helping paying the bills and keeping me out of trouble. We're part of a great ward and will soon be getting callings where we can help serve. Our Father in Heaven watches over us and continues to bless us despite the mistakes we make. We have an apartment to keep us warm. I have plenty of scrapbook stuff to keep me busy. We have computers, cell phones, and other technology to help us stay connected to the world. Our fridge is full...mostly. We have a family that loves and cares for us and is just as excited about us being back in the same time zone. Things are going great for us and like I said before, we have a lot to be grateful for.

This picture was taken up by Eagle Mountain on our way to our family party. I wasn't sure if it would turn out or not but sure enough it did. Aren't those mountains beautiful? We really have missed them. We were lucky enough to be able to spend part of the holiday with my family in which we went to a family Thanksgiving party that included the normal Thanksgiving feast and pie, it was all very yummy. We also went to a movie and saw 007, we all enjoyed it. Especially Travis, he enjoyed it just as must the second time. :) My favorite part this Thanksgiving was all of the games that my family played together. I really enjoy playing games and being away from my family for so long in Pennsylvania had a lot of time to make up for. We had a lot of fun.

We also were able to hang out with Travis' brother and his family, and his sister her family. It was a full house and we all had a good time playing games, drinking eggnog, and watching Fred Claus. Speaking of eggnog...
I don't know if you can see it or not but this is James, Atkin, and Avary sporting their eggnog mustaches. It was so cute because at first they came so naturally but once I busted out the camera they made sure they had a mustach for the camera. They're so cute though so mustach or not I would have taken a picture. Yes, we do have a lot to be grateful for.

Two weeks ago...

It's been so great being back in Utah. The weather is wonderful, the mountains are spectacular, being around friendly people is refreshing, but being around family is best of all the game. The first weekend we came back to Utah my family came down for a visit and it was so great seeing them. We went down to St. George, did some shopping, and spent time together. It was great! The second weekend we were here we went up to Eagle Mountain which is where Travis' brother, Clint, and his family live. It was so great seeing them. It's such a blessing for us to be back in Utah. We really are so grateful to be back and are so happy to spend so much time with family again.

While at Clint and Danielle's we played Bananagrams, kinda like a short version of Scrabble. It was a ton of fun, and as you can see, child friendly. Avary and Akin did so great. Atkin would line up all of his pieces and then raise is hands up in the air and yell "I did it!" So cute.

I gave Avary bonus points for not only spelling her name but for using a 'v'.
We also spent part of the afternoon at Costco looking at all the wonderful Christmas toys that were out. The kids would practically tap on every toy they walked by and say "I want that, I want that, I want that". It was funny. Oh to be young again. We also watched movies, played with the kids, and played catch up on everything we had missed.

I really wanted to do this post two weeks ago but as always, time got away from me but I'm saying it now and it's better late than never. We love spending time with our family and are so grateful that they welcome us into their home. It's so great being close to family again.

My first dog walk

**GASP** I know, totally crazy that I've never taken a dog on a walk before but it's true. So if you know that I've never taken a dog on a walk before then you can probably guess that I've never had a dog before either....or any kind of a pet for that matter. But today I got to take a dog on a walk. The people that live above us (we live in a basement of a house) have a little pikanese and she is adorable. Her name is Boa which is short for Rocky Balboa. She's a fun little dog and today she just seemed to be begging me for taking her out on a walk. Which I couldn't really blame her for cuz it was a beautiful day out so I asked the rightful owners and they were cool with it so I got to take her out for a walk.

Talk about a work out man. Boa could have easily pulled me on my rollerblades even though she is a small dog, that's how fast she was movin'! She was so much fun though to walk, it seemed like she knew exactly where she was going and I was the one that was just along for the ride. I had a good time walking her. Hopefully it won't be my last time I take Boa for a walk. Travis and I are really looking forward to getting of our very own dog...some day. Oh, and this is what Boa looks like from the front. :)