Jazz Game Time

Before Christmas, I had gotten everything for Bryan that I had planned on getting him for Birthday and Christmas. Somehow I had gotten everything on an amazing sale and wasn't even close to hitting the budget we had set for gifts this year. A good budgeter would have said, "Sweet, I did well" and called it a day. Naturally, I have to get as close to spending my full budget weather I need to or not.

My instinct is to buy clothes. What more could you want? But, knowing Bryan I figured he would really appreciate it if I got him something a bit more exciting. Merrill suggested this Holiday Package that the Jazz had. So, for $49 I was able to get two jazz tickets an a $20 gift card to the Megaplex.  Sports and a movie… everything he loves in one package!

Well, this week we got to use those tickets! Another great thing about buying your husband a gift, is  that he gets to happily share it with you… so I got to go to the game with him! Sadly, I had a nasty headache behind my eyes for half of the game, but thankfully it went away and I was able to enjoy the last half a lot more! The Jazz lost to The Golden State Warriors. Good news is, Bryan didn't care because it was a good game and he would prefer that they lost so they can get a better pick in the next draft :)

As always, a wonderful night with my best friend!

Weekend Loving

As far as weekends go, I would have to say this last one was really good. Ever since Merrill bought a student sports pass with us, we have talked about going to a gymnastics meet. Well, the first one was this last weekend and we decided to make it a girls night! Brooke came and it was the best! If you ignore the fact that BYU lost to the U… Let's face it though.. the University of Utah Gymnastics program is kind of amazing! Growing up, mom would take Jordan and I to their meets. I just loved watching them do all of those amazing things. I especially loved watching the floor routines.

Once the meet ended, we decided it wouldn't a proper girls night without food. We ended up at Taco bell, and spending a good hour talking. Always good times with my beautiful friends.

Saturday was wonderful because we were lazy for almost ALL. day. I got to sleep in and be lazy. Honey got to work on school work, calling stuff, watch some ESPN 30 for 30 episodes and he even did p90x. So when I say it was a lazy day, it was mostly lazy for me! I did finish reading The Help. Oh my goodness. One of the best books I have ever read! The book is hilarious, emotional and exciting. I had the hardest time putting it down when I needed to. 

We spent some quality time together and then got ready to go to the Temple. We decided to get out of the norm and go to the Draper Temple. I haven't been there for anything but Baptisms for the dead, so I was excited. We decided to do initaitories instead of Endowments that day, so I didn't get to see a whole lot of the temple. I do have to say that their iniatory rooms are gorgeous. I would say they are my favorite of any of the temples I have been to so far. We took a trip to DI before we got dinner. I found a few things that I thought I might want but in the end  I decided they might not be exactly what I am looking for for my projects! Bryan picked up Cafe Rio and we did the usual of splitting a salad and a burrito together. Mmmmmm yummy. I was a happy girl. 

Birthday Partying

 

So, don't mind my cute husbands asian eyes… those are pretty normal for him :)

Well, for my birthday Bryan took spent all of the day before with me. Since my birthday fell on a Sunday this year, we slept in, then he took me to IHop to enjoy my birthday Breakfast! Naturally I got French Toast because why would you get anything else?! After that we decided to head down to Traverse Mountain Outlets. We looked around for a long time, and I found a few things that I liked.

When we finished hanging out around the mall, we decided to go back home for a little while until we needed to leave for Mark Bulloughs reception. We went to his reception and it was good to see him so happy. We also got to see Nicole Newbold and Nicole Merrill. We didn't stay long because Bryan had made reservations for Tepanyaki.. mmmmmm… yummy! 


We both could not wait! Bryan had never been there before, so it was even a present to himself in a way! You can't tell from my picture, but the food was amazing! Their salmon is to DIE for. Obsessed. When we got home we had a nice lazy night with some of my favorite ice cream! Pistachio. Don't be afraid of the green color, because it is pure happiness. ALSO, this boy gave me a beautiful display of red roses! I seriously couldn't believe how big of a bouquet it was! They were gorgeous. 



Sunday morning Bryan made me Breakfast. We went to church, and left a bit early because I was starting to feel sick :/ Yes, sickly on my birthday, but what can you do? Thankfully it wasn't too bad that day! When it was finally time to leave, we drove to South Jordan to eat dinner with The Frandsens! Mamma Frandsen made me beef in a black bean sauce, which is so yummy. I really need to learn how  to make that meal someday! Later that night we had Chocolate Cake with Raspberry filling, and presents! Janet and Rick got me a really nice 0 degree sleeping bag, some winter boots, and a rack to hold my scarves! All very nice and needed gifts! Erika and Sammy got me nail polish and candy! 


Finally, Bryan gave me my beautiful beautiful Greg Olsen painting that I was dying to have! The one we ended up picking is called "Take My Hand". Seriously, it is gorgeous. The last gift he got me was a necklace, and yes - I picked it out :) Thank goodness this boy knows how to get me gifts ;) 

Besides getting sick, it was a wonderful day! I'm grateful for a sweet husband who puts up with my crap, and a fantastic family that I was lucky enough to marry into. 

That night Jordan came to spend the night as well! I'm glad that I got to have some sister time with her on my birthday. We watched a movie and hung out all night. She also spent most of the day with me the day after since I was sicky and didn't really want to be home alone all day! 




I was worried that I was sick with Strep Throat because that is definitely how it felt. When I was growing up, I used to get it ALL of the time. I decided I had better go to the doctor because if it is strep, you need antibiotics to treat it, or you can be sick for awhile. I really wanted to be getting back  to work quickly especially since I am FINALLY done with school, I got my raise and I want to be proving that I can be a good manager. I can't really do that if I am sitting at home in bed, sick. I went, and the quick strep test was negative. My doctor gave me a prescription to be safe. If I got better, I could chuck it. And if I didn't, I could go fill the prescription. He is pretty awesome. He tried to make everything as easy as possible for his patients. 

Tuesday, I went back to work. Angela was really surprised that I showed up. She really didn't' want me passing my sickness around, but I felt like I had started getting sick the Friday evening before, so I kind of figured by this point I wasn't contagious anymore. I realized I had a mask from the doctors office, so to be funny I put it on. Ron thought it was pretty awesome. I took it off at one point because it was making me hot, but then Ron told me I needed to put it back on ha. He didn't want me passing my sickness around either. I'm sure I wouldn't have even if I didn't wear the dang thing. Please enjoy my cuteness in this mask. Gosh, I'm cute. 

Birthday #2

So, because we didn't spend my birthday with my family, we still needed to see them! My mom was worried that she wouldn't have enough time to prepare for my birthday on my actual birthday because things had been a bit busy for her at work. We decided that we would go to her house to celebrate the sunday after!

That Sunday, we showed up and Mom had made dinner for us! Dinner was really good! She mad Calzones. The funny thing was that Lauren and Lizzy would not eat them, so one of the girls had pizza bites and the other had pizza pockets… Kind of ironic.  Grandma and Grandpa Colby even came! After dinner mom had a cake for me and ice cream! Josh was a little bum and switched the numbers to say that I was "32". The girls also had me wear a princess birthday crown all night. I was told that I was not to take it off the wholeeeee night! Once we were done eating all the goodies, we went downstairs to play Apples to Apples. You better believe that I won! :) I don't know if other families do this, but at the end we read the cards that we won, and they are supposed to describe you. As you can see I am natural and wordily…. Virtuous and Shallow, and lastly Perfect! Not sure what the cards are trying to tell me exactly!

We had a great night together! Jordan got me a very cute button up shirt which I had wanted. Mom picked out a lace slip, necklace and shirt. Lauren and Lizzy picked out a necklace! I'm glad that things are feeling normal again with my family. There seems to be less contention and sadness. It's sad that our parents marriage is ending, but I'm grateful that everyone is doing okay and that we all still love each other more than ever. It's definitely going to take time to heal, but I am grateful for them!

Back to Blogging

The last 4 months of our life have been the busiest, most fulfilling and yet I don't have anything written down. With only few weeks left of student teaching, I was telling Bryan a story about one of my cute students and  he turns to me and says "Now, you're writing all of this down right?".  My stomach dropped. I had not kept a journal about ANY of my experiences. I was always too busy or tired to take the time to reflect on what I had been experiencing. During that time I complained about never having any time for myself, and now I'm sitting here at 6:30pm on a weeknight with absolutely nothing to do….  The grass is always greener right?

I have decided to make a few goals for my self this year. I know, I know. New year resolutions that no one ever completes. But really, I am going to do this. I don't have any excuses anymore. I'm done with school, I need to still lead a productive life outside of work. I'm not going to be a Netflix junky!

Personal Goals
1. Write in my Journal/Blog twice a week
2. Go to the gym at least 3 times a week
3. Find a hobby and purse it
4. Read at least 3 books a month. One should be somewhat educational.
5. Ready my scriptures everyday
6. Say a meaningful prayer everyday

Couple Goals
1. Read scriptures every night together
2. Pray together every night
3. Pray in the mornings together at least on the days we get up around the same time.
4. Go to the temple every other week
5. Save 10% of every paycheck, more if possible.

I'm not going to play catch up and try to fill in all that I missed these last few months, because that will never honestly happen. However, I am going to try and put down the important moments and lessons that I learned. My future kids should know that their momma wasn't always perfect ;)

Here's to making and attaining my goals!

Birthday Boy

Massive Breakfast

Happy Birthday to Hubby hubby!

Morning of this guys birthday I made him breakfast. Surprising him was tough because waking up earlier than him is not something I am very good at! After we ate breakfast, we got ready for the day!

We then went down to see my Grandparents. I felt bad because it was Bryans birthday, but it was the best time we could stop by to see them. The visit ended up being really good! We talked for 45 minutes or so and it was great. My grandpa is probably the cutest guy ever.

We hurried on up to the ice skating rink and made it just about on-time, which is a miracle when I'm involved :)

Naturally I take a selfie of myself. 

A lot of people showed up as they do every year. Emily and her kids, Rosanna, Darrell, Amy and Brett. Grandma and Grandpa Frandsen, Velyn and Monty, Karalynn and her cute kids and probably a few others! Everything was really great! We even got Erika to skate all on her own! It took some time, but we got her skating all on her own! Until that point, we all took turns holding her arm and skating with her. Little Jackie also did awesome! She was skating all on her own so quickly! She is probably the cutest little thing ever! I do remember why I don't go skating very often though.... skates hurt! Once a year is worth it for this guy though!

After skating we went back to the Frandsens house. Maribeth picked up Grandma and Grandpa Theuson, and Grandma and Grandpa Frandsen came over as well. We played games most of the rest of the afternoon. Rick made Bryans favorite, Bacon Burgers. From what I hear, most of his family can't remember a time that they didn't have Bacon Burgers on this boys birthday! I've never met someone so obsessed with Bacon. Naturally we went around the table saying our favorite things about Bryan, and ended the evening with cake, ice cream and presents! Bryan got a lot of great gifts, but I still think mine were the best of all! This year I got him a new hoodie, and a baseball display case for his baseball collection. I'm not usually very creative, so this was pretty good on my part!

Lastly, let's not forget how awesome Grandpa Frandsen looks while wearing Bryans new sweet headphones, and his fabulous shopka. This is a priceless photo... so it belongs here to be remembered and loved.

Bryans birthday was a success overall! It is crazy to think that just last year we were only engaged. And the year before that I was wishing he was home. I am grateful to have this guy!

Our First Christmas

Christmas is a beautiful season. At times Christmas was a bit rough for me growing up, but I could not wait for my first Christmas with my Husband. It took us quite some time to figure out how we wanted everything to work out between when we would be with his family, my mom, or my dad. BUT we finally got it resolved and figured out. I think what we came up with ended up working out wonderfully!

...Christmas Eve…

Dad came in town for Christmas, he brought the Henstocks along with him, and that was frustrating for my siblings and I. I really wish he would have just come out with Isaac and spent time with us. I am glad that he came out to visit even so. He reserved tickets for Savior of the World, which is a wonderful production done by the church at the Conference Center. The performance was beautiful, but long. Bryan and I looked at each other during the second half and said "Is it Easter now?" because they had moved on to the death and resurrection of Christ. It was quite beautiful and the music was very pretty.

After the show, Dad took us to lunch down at City Creek. We all picked out what we wanted to eat and found a big table for all of us to sit at. We also got chocolate shakes to share. Jordan had to leave to take Josh to work after we ate. The rest of us decided to walk around City Creek a bit more. I walked into stores with the girls. Lauren was a crack up because she was so picky about which stores we went into. She is going to be worse than me when it comes to clothing and shopping. Future shopaholic on our hands. At some point everyone left to go back to the hotel, but Bryan and I decided we would go walk around Temple Square. It was a gorgeous night, and only a little bit chilly. There still was not any snow on the ground either, so walking around the temple was quite enjoyable! I wish we had had more time so that we could watch the nativity at Temple Square, but we really needed to get back to the family.

Back at the Hotel all of the kids were swimming, so we sat down at the pool watching them for a while.
Not a normal Christmas Eve, but I was happy to spend time with them. Dad finally showed up after some time, and we got to talk and exchange Christmas gifts. The kids got tired and began to leave the pool, and Dad was going to go visit with Royd White, so we decided it was probably time for us to leave.

So my favorite part of the night was that as we were driving home, I begggged Bryan for a soda. He caved, so we stopped at McDonalds. As we got to the drive thru to order, we heard the lady say something, but we couldn't understand her. After awhile of waiting , Bryan finally said "Hello?," the lady responded with "I said, just a minute!"........ haha speechless... Finally she asked us our order. We asked for two drinks and two waters. At the window, she asked for the money, we paid, and she handed us two drinks and one water. Which, honestly is not a big deal... But, Bryan then simply asked her if there was a second water, she looked at him and said "NO!" Window. Slammed. Shut. We were honestly shocked ha. But it was hilarious. Bryan wanted to go talk to her manager, but I reminded him that it was Christmas Eve and she was probably super upset about having to work that evening instead of being with her family. I sure would be upset if I was them! Anyway, makes for a funny story.

Next entertaining part of the evening happened after we got back to the Frandsen Household. I needed to wrap a few more presents that evening, so I pulled out everything I needed and got started. Bryan came down the stairs to let me know we had forgotten Erika's christmas present.... We knew that we definitely could not tell her on Christmas morning that we forgot about her... So, to the Provo home we went. I don't want to know how many miles we drove that day!

Somehow we made it back before The Frandsens arrived home. When they got home we made cookies, and hung out. I then finished wrapping the presents that I hadn't gotten to do before we drove to Provo. When it was time for bed, we all got together in the living room to read the story of Christ's birth from the Bible. I know that is such a normal thing for many families to do, but I can't really remember mine doing this. I'm sure my mom tried at some point. Anyway, it was really nice. After that we went downstairs and opened our christmas jammies, which you can see wonderfully displayed here.

Matching Christmas Gift Shirts. Precious little twins. 

Christmas morning was early… so early. The kids woke us up around 7:30 am. Which, is not a normal time for Christmas in my personal opinion! I am happy that we got them to agree to that time, but honestly.. who doesn't want to sleep until at least 8am?

All the kids went to Erikas room, and we waited while Dad (Rick) set up the living room. When we went down, there were designated spots on on the couch for each of us. We got to open all of the gifts in our own piles without waiting for others. This pile had like gifts from "Santa" and a few from Mom and Dad. This was so new to me because my dad made us wait for each person to take their turn. After we finished our opening what was in our piles, we then past out gifts from each other, and took turns watching everyone open their gifts. It was definitely a different Christmas morning from what I am used to, but it was really good. After gifts, Janet brought down Breakfast and we ate together while waiting to Skype with Jake on his mission. Talking with Jake was really great. He looked good, and very happy. It was fun seeing how happy Janet and Rick were while they talked to him. I think we got to talk to him for about an hour, which was very nice for everyone. I wasn't sure what to say really, but I still enjoyed getting to see him again since it's been so long! Oh wait! We got and IPAD :) The In-laws must love us :) :) We also got a bunch of fun games, clothes and useful things like a care emergency repair kit.

The rest of the morning we relaxed and got ready for the day. That afternoon we drove to Grandma Frandsen's house and helped finish the preparations for Christmas dinner. Emily's family, and Uncle Darrel's family were there as well. I like how everyone make such a big deal about Thanksgiving food, but Christmas dinner is usually about the same haha. We had a good time with everyone, but we couldn't stay long since we still needed to get to Christmas with my Mom.

Mom decided to have a bunch of appetizers for dinner instead of the normal Christmas dinner. d. This was good especially since we were already so full from eating at Grandma Frandsens. I was barely able to eat any of the food that my Mom had prepared because of how full I was. The appetizers were super tasty. The only thing we all avoided were the stuffed mushrooms haha. I've never been a fan of those things.. their texture is too weirAfter we ate, we went downstairs to open gifts!

Mom had really outdone herself. Especially with the kind of year she has had. She had plenty of sweet and thoughtful gifts for everyone. I was incredibly surprised. She must have really saved everything she could to do what she did for all of the kids. She got Lauren a ton of Art supplies, which I thought was awesome! I had basically picked out all of my stuff (booties, scarves, perfume), but she surprised me with gift cards to Charming Charlies and a gift box from Body Works. It was so sweet of her. She even got Bryan a shirt and a gift card to Red Robin. I really enjoyed Christmas with my Mom. We definitely had a beautiful Christmas with mom! There was no contention at all, everyone was happy and kind to each other, and we felt like a loving family. I'm so happy that everything is beginning to work out even though our family is going through major changes.

After everything, Jordan needed to take Isaac back to my dad. My dad had planned to go bowling with his side of the family and Jordan and Josh were planning to stay for that for a bit. Jordan asked us if we wanted to go. I could tell Bryan didn't really want to go, but I felt like we should. I hadn't really gotten to see my dads side of the family during the holiday, and I wanted to see my dad one more time before he left. We ended up going, and I thought it was pretty enjoyable. I even kicked Bryans butt one round. I was still annoyed to be around Nico, but I had the rest of my family there to make it a bit better. We bowled a game and half. I got to hang out with my Grandpa and  talk to him quite a bit, and I really enjoyed that! I tried to talk my dad into visiting our apartment before he left back home, but he said no. I really wish that he would have.

Well, thats the end to Christmas Day, but it was overall a wonderful day spent with all of our families.