'tis the season!

here is a little glimpse of how we have celebrated this wonderful season in the month of december

each year our old stake puts on a creche festival for the community that is absolutely incredible. they exhibit more than 700 nativities from 55 countries and the way they display them is so professional looking. i love seeing how each country and culture depict the birth of christ. each way is unique and beautiful. it is my favorite way to start the christmas season.

this is a nativity that my brother brought me from Angola in Africa. i love it!


decorating our *first* christmas tree

my mom turned 60 this year and my sisters, sister-in-law, brother and nephew came in town to help her celebrate. to kick off the birthday weekend suzi, angela and i took mom for pedicures...well pedicures for us and a manicure for her. after a little pampering we threw a "surprise" party for her. it was so much fun to celebrate my wonderful mom! more pictures to come!

we were invited back to a special christmas fhe with our old branch. we sure do love these people and were happy to see them and celebrate with them.

the daynes-a couple of our favorite people

how can you not love these people?

hot fellas

julie and carla-i miss getting to see these girls every sunday

me and megan-what a babe

the denver zoo has a fun thing every winter called "zoo lights." dave took me on a date and we had a great time. we also had a fun driving around the city and looking at people's christmas lights. there was one house that even had the lights blinking in time to music. you tuned the radio in your car to a station and could listen to the music and watch the lights. it was pretty amazing!

we celebrated together on christmas eve before heading over to dave's parents house

we had a wonderful christmas with dave's family. there was lots of fun, relaxation and good food! we slept over at dave's house and were woken up bright and early at 7:20 am by dave's mom. she was just like a little kid on christmas morning and it was so fun! and we woke up to a great surprise...a *white christmas* i can't think of the last time it snowed on christmas. it made everything look so pretty. i actually didn't take a single picture which is totally unlike me. even though my family was spread across the country in various states, we enjoyed the wonders of technology and all talked together through a webcam. it was fun to see some of our cute nieces and nephews and hear about all their christmas loot. we had a great day and were grateful to reflect on the birth of our savior and his life.

we hope everyone had a wonderful christmas season!

bowling buddies

a couple weekends ago we met some friends at the brunzwick zone for bowling. we had a great time with them and after playing 2 games it is official that i will be the last person chosen for any future bowling team!! i did have my moments of glory, like the 10th frame of the first game where i finally got both a strike and a spare. and i won a 99 cent game of laser tag for getting a strike...i was on fire!! i still finished last but had a great time!!

carla and kyle. i think kyle doubled my score. i would definitely
want him on my bowling team (he just wouldn't want me)

bowling buddies: carla, kyle, jd, amanda, me and dave

the kbco tradition continues

for the last couple of years dave has joined his dad to wait in line for the kbco studio c album. studio c is at a local radio station where popular artists come and play acoustic versions of their songs. it has become really prestigious for artists to play studio c and once a year they release an album. this year is the 19th volume and they only make 50,000 of them and they were only available at select cricket stores . dave and his dad were hardcore and got in line at 6:15 am and it was a COLD saturday. the doors to the store opened at 8:00 am and that was when i showed up and hopped in line for my first studio c album experience (kathy, kari and sterling arrived at about 7:30). when i arrived at 8:00 it was only 8 degrees...we're talking cold! we finally made it into the store at 10:00 and got our cds (a limit of 2 cds per person...we made a little money selling the extras on ebay). afterward we headed to a diner for breakfast and to warm up. it was a fun and cold morning.

crazy, cold guys
all of us trying to stay warm

20 great years of fun!

i have obviously been slacking with blogging and so now it is time to play catch up.

on november 24th we surprised dave's dad at pf chang's for lunch (when pete and kathy walked up pete couldn't quite figure out why we were all there). it was the 20th anniversary of him adopting dave and his sister kari. he was definitely surprised and it was wonderful to celebrate such a special day (i will admit i teared up a little). hey guys, it's dave-my dad gave up his young life (early 20's) to marry and take care of my mom, my sister and i. he has been a great example of selflessness and love of his family.
here are some pictures after the surprise.

kari, pete and dave...20 great years

the whole gang!

Thanksgiving Time

after a loving rebuke from my sister-in-law erin, i am back from my blogging sabbatical! we got a jump start on a fun thanksgiving the night before with a visit from my friend andrea and her sister carmel. they stayed with us for the night on their way to washington dc and are officially our first house guests (or apartment guests if you want to get technical). it was so fun to visit and i had to make sure i didn't keep andrea up too late talking since she had a full day of driving the next day...and the next day. after a delicious breakfast cooked by dave on thanksgiving morning, they were on their way to kansas city and i was on my way to "boot camp" at the gym. it was an hour and a half long class and was KILLER! but i sure felt good about eating lots of good food at my parents house later in the afternoon.

we had a great afternoon with my parents, great food and a great thanksgiving message from my mom reminding us what this great holiday is all about. thanks mom and dad for a a wonderful day!

following dinner we headed to dave's parent's house for some more good food...dessert! we enjoyed some delicious pie and great company hanging out with them. thanks pete and kathy for saving us some pie (we've enjoyed the leftovers this week) and for a fun night.

our first thanksgiving! we're so grateful we could spend it with our wonderful families...well, part of our families. we missed the rest of you guys and wish we could have all been together.

sealing a great day with a kiss...and a little laughter!

our "spooktacular" evening

our friends evan and hilary (the cop and the jail bird) threw a fun halloween party that we went to wednesday night. i went as an angel and dave went as a vampire (he had fangs that actually molded to his teeth. they were pretty real looking). we also saw our friends megan and seth jenson there.

the wesslers and jensons

i should watch my back a little more carefully. dave loves halloween. i just think he likes an excuse to wear his long black coat, fangs and "guy-liner" (and the chance to go around biting people).

the halloween fun never ends! i came out of the shower one morning to find this little "angel" eating his breakfast.

just because it's tuesday!

tuesday night i had to work late and when i got home dave had made dinner and had bought me these beautiful flowers "just because it was tuesday." he is so sweet and thoughtful! we have been married for 3 months today and it has been fantastic. i can't believe how fast the time has gone. good thing we've got eternity together!

bc #17: back together again!!

a few weeks ago i got together with 6 of my best girlfriends from college for a reunion in utah. it had been planned for months and months and miraculously all 7 of us were able to make it. we came from all over the country...new hampshire, michigan, colorado, utah and arizona. christine, megan, anna, gina and i met our freshmen year in the dorms at chipman hall and we were lucky enough to meet and live with amy and heidi when we moved to bountiful court apartments (bc #17). after months of anticipation i can honestly say that the reunion *exceeded ALL expectations* (and i had high expectations)! we had a great time reminiscing about all the fun memories we had made together and created a whole bunch more! so here is how the weekend went:

friday


christine, megan, anna, me, gina, amy, heidi at the mt. timpanogas temple. it was our first time all being at the temple together!

christine and megan. cruising in the honda odyssey. i'm sure we were a funny sight...7 girls cruising around in a mini van, jamming out to the awesome cd amy made of all the songs we used to listen to together. gina was our awesome chaffuer.

lunch at burger supreme in provo
me and the pump. it was a key part of our reunion. anna and i were lucky enough sit in the back of the van with amy and assist as needed. back on campus. it was so fun to be back at byu and see all the changes since we were there. christine got the royal treatment in the wheelchair (well deserved since she was 8 months pregnant).
this is us in front of the new gordon b. hinckley alumni building...appropriate since we are all alumni now!
enjoying a movie at provo's classic movie 8 dollar theater.

back at the bc!!
we even had a few guys hit on us, but they were told that our
husbands and babies wouldn't approve of it. we even knocked on the door of apartment 17 and looked around (i'm sure the girl thought we were a little crazy). it was fantastic to be back there because we had so many fun times in that apartment. we even found the pink lightswitch plates we put up years ago still there. and of course we had to take a picture on couch (where we took many apartment group photos). our reunion wouldn't have been complete without a visit to the bc!! our reunion would also not have been complete without a visit to the provo cafe rio.

we rounded out friday night with a gift exchange and plenty of talking.

saturday:

shopping at the outlets in park city (no pictures...it was serious business)lunch at sweet tomatoes

pedicures! we pretty much took over the whole nail salon and had such a great time. it's probably good no other customers were there because we were loud and a little out of control. gina and heidi rocking out while playing guitar hero. gina looks like she is living out her rock star fantasy!
the pj picture!
we finished out our reunion with a traditional dance party. it was the perfect way to end an amazing reunion. it was sad to say goodbye, but we'll all be back together in 3 years for our 2010 reunion! i love you girlies!! thanks for a fantastic weekend!

80237

i have lived in colorado for a majority of my life but each place i have lived has been in the 80122 zip code. dave has had more variety than me:
80122, 80121, 81301
but the last weekend in september we said goodbye to 80122 and are now proud residents of denver, colorado 80237! after much searching we found an apartment that we liked, was in our price range and exactly in the middle of where we both work. we underestimated the amount of stuff we have and filled a u-haul and 3 other cars. we were lucky to have so many friends and family help us...although i don't know how lucky they felt giving up their saturday morning...especially when they found out we were moving into an apartment on the 3rd floor! needless to say everyone got their exercise that day. we love our new place and have had so much fun getting settled and re-discovering all our wedding gifts. it's almost been like getting them all over again!!

jake loading up all the wedding presents on the front lawn

he seems really happy moving the mattress

our first apartment after we were married.
goodbye #6. you've been good to us.

hello #1733. we can't wait to create new memories with you!

the gang of movers. they were the best! thanks guys!