Utah Trip

We spent a weekend in Utah for Nick's grandma's funeral. Poor Nick has lost two grandpas, a grandma, and an uncle in the short 3 1/2 years we have been married. We had a lot of fun in Utah though seeing family and Nick has some fun memories of his grandma to comfort him. We kept telling Allie we were going to play in the snow. When we got there there wasn't any snow so we were relieved when it starting snowing the next day. We appreciated Mother Nature not making liars out of us. Random story, when we were driving away in our rental car from the Salt Lake City airport I saw a friend's husband. What are the odds. I haven't seen or talked to Stacey in forever, so it gave me a good excuse to call and get caught up with her. Nick had the opportunity to dedicate the grave and did a really good job. It stopped snowing just long enough for us to finish the graveside service. It picked up again right as it was ending. Coincidence...I think not. We had a really good time in Utah and hope to go again soon just for fun. Maybe then we can see friends and see family during a happier time.

Her princesses

kept her entertained

on the flight. She did

so good to and from

Utah.

The first thing Allie

did when we walked

into the hotel room

was jump in this

drawer. She had

a blast playing in

it.


Allie and her cousins

Hailey and Emma

had fun watching

the snow fall before

we left for the

funeral.

This was Allie's

first time to see

snow so she wasn't

quite sure what to

do with it. She

wouldn't touch

it with her hands,

only with her feet.

We were happy my

mom bought her

this cute little

coat to go over

her dresses. It

worked perfect

for this trip.

Thanks Mom!

This is how Allie

looked almos the

whole luncheon.

We weren't

complaining though.

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We had a chance to see the lights at Temple Square with Nick's family. We took Trax to get there. While Allie thought it was fun riding the train it was super crowded and Allie cried almost the whole way there. It made for a really loooooooong train ride. She's only two and she's been on planes, trains, buses, and ships. Too bad she is too young to remember it. Good thing we have pictures to prove it!

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Allie liked holding

Sasu's hand while

walking to the train.

Can you tell she

was a little grouchy

that night? She kept

saying she was cold.

Poor thing. We had

her bundled up pretty

good, but I think she

was tired.

She finally got happy

when we let her walk

and hold Emma's hand.

I hope we can always

channel her strong

personality in the right

direction!

*********************************************

When we stopped to see the Christus I was trying to be really spiritual and show her Jesus. I asked her if she knew who it was and she said, "Jesus!" I told her that Jesus loves her and wants her to be happy. She interrupted my spiritual thought with, "boobie." "What?" I asked. Then completely matter-of-fact like and totally serious she said, "He's got a boobie Mom." and pointed to Jesus. Well Allie, yes he does, but can we focus on the nail prints on his hand or something?! I knew my thought was over at that point.

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Allie had a lot of fun playing in the snow with her aunts and uncles. She even threw a few snowballs herself. We built a super tiny snowman and took a picture right before Allie kicked it down. We played at a park too but it was covered in snow and ice. Allie still went down the slide. She thought it was fun to walk in the deep snow that no one had walked in yet. Silly girl.

She had a rosey nose

cheeks like Santa.

Can you even see

the tiny snowman?

"HIGH-YA!"

She kept throwing it and yelling, "Right in Mommy's face!" Thanks Al. Love you too babe.

Gingerbread Houses

We had our annual gingerbread house making again this year. We went over to my mom's and watched the First Presidency Devotional with all the family and then made our houses. We are so blessed to be able to turn on the TV and hear a specially prepared message from our sweet First Presidency. I loved watching it every year. The Christmas stories are so inspiring and really fill me with the Christmas spirit. I am so grateful for these three men and all the love and sacrifice they put into our church. Allie had fun making the gingerbread house. She also liked eating the candy before we could get it on the house. A couple of weeks after building it I found her on the counter at home with both hands on each side of the house and she was licking the sprinkles off the top of the house. Goofball. I thought our house was pretty cute until I saw some of your houses!! Like, hmm... Lindsay for example!! Holy cow your gingerbread Mesa Temple blew ours out of the water! I'm impressed! I should have taken a picture of all of the houses because they were all so unique and turne out so cute. Oh well. Maybe next year.

Nick put the walls

up while Allie

made sure the candy

wasn't poisonous.

The families hard

at work building.

Now looking at it

I see it needs a lot

more candy and

frosting...but Allie

liked it and that's

all that mattered

to us.

The Polar Express

Our ward activity this time was Polar Express. They did a really good job! The little kids came in their pajamas and each child got a gold ticket that was punched. I thought Allie wouldn't get it because I kept telling her we were going on the Polar Express Train and really we were just going to the church. But she loved it! They had chairs in the cultrahall set up in rows like on a train. The conductor was a friend of Nick's since high school, so it was fun to see him up there getting into it. They had the movie Polar Express playing on a projector and they would play parts of it and then act parts out. Like when they bring out the hot chocolate they played that scene while members of our ward dresses in aprons and chef hats rolled out hot chocolate to all the kids. And when the caraboo are on the track the conductor stopped the movie and told us all the make caraboo sounds and then the movie turned back on when the caraboo were clearing the track. We obviously didn't watch the whole movie only parts of it, but the parts we did watch were the fun ones. We sang the first part of Santa Claus is Coming to Town and suddenly one of the doors flew open and there was Santa! The child who had three punches in his ticket instead of one like everyone else got the first gift of Christmas. All the children got to take a turn meeting Santa and he gave them a bell to remind them to believe! Allie was so excited to see him until she actually got up there...of course. We had snacks afterwards and then went home. Good job to our activities committee!!

Getting ready to

get on the train!

Standing in line to

see Santa!!

Check out that

look she is giving

me! So sad!

Allie got to meet

the conductor up

close. We were

excited to find out

Ben and his family

were in our ward

whenwe moved out

here.

Here's Allie's ticket

to ride.

Tempe Marketplace

The weekend after our cruise we had a datenight with some of my friends. We went to Zoolights and then had hot chocolate and sat by the fire at Tempe Marketplace. Allie loved the zoolights, but wouldn't touch the stingrays this year. I only got a couple pictures of zoolights, darn it. It was a big night because I set up two of my best friends, Jaime Smith and Mike Hass. I am proud to say it is still going really really well!! They are together every night, they are both totally into each other, and they are going to Disneyland together with Mike's family next week!! I told Mike when he was ready to slip the 'ole ring on to let me know because I'm ready when he is. It's fun being friends with both of them because I get both sides of the story...and it's funny to hear them say the same things about each other. It's always a relief when you play matchmaker and it works out so well! I'll keep you posted!!

Tempe Marketplace
had a HUGE tree set
up. Allie was very
impressed.

Ensenada, Mexico Cruise

Thanksgiving weekend my mom took Nick, Allie, and I on a cruise. My brother also came. It was a short cruise that only stopped in Mexico, but since it was Allie's first we thought it had better be a short one so we could see how she would do. Also, I was still in school and my mom was busy with work, so a little weekend cruise was perfect. We had a blast! Allie was so good and loved being on the "big ship"! The first couple of days she kept saying she wanted to go on a big ship, so we had to keep reminding her that we were on a big ship and show her the water out the windows so she would believe us. Those cruise ships are so big sometimes it doesn't feel like you are even on one! We went with Carnival cruise line this time and decided we liked our Royal Carribean cruise line cruise to Mexico better. But at least we know which one we like better now. We went to see "La Bufadora", the blowhole, again (we saw it last cruise too), but along with La Bufadora there is the open air market where you can haggle with prices. My mom and I both got Coach purses that look completely real. They have the leather patch on the inside, it says Coach on everything, and there are "C"s on the purses instead of Gs or Os. The guy told us we were getting genuine Coach bags and not Ooach or Goach bags. That made us laugh. Whether or not they are real, they look real and we got them for like $65 instead of the couple hundred we would have paid in the states. Mom and I had fun seeing how low we could get them to go. The guy started off at $120 so I thought we did pretty good. Nick and I really enjoyed just getting away. Nick said he was going to be sad to go home and find the bed unmade, no towel animal sitting on our bed, and no chocolate on our pillow. Cruise life is definitely the way to go. Thanks Mom! We had such a good time! My mom has a lot of the pictures so I'll have to post more later of Allie mini golfing on board the ship and a few other things.

Lifeboat drill!

She thought she

was pretty special

drinking out of

these glasses.

Dinnertime!

We took a charterbus

to La Bufadora. Allie

thought it was really

fun.

She was very impressed

by the water shooting

into the air. She is

so dang cute!

Nick packed her

all around and squeezed

in between people

to get her closer to

the blowhole. She

loves her Daddy.

She wasn't quite

sure what to do

with this seal.

She sat like this

for a good 5 min.

before going closer.

One night there

was a bunny on

our bed. She liked

that one so much

she read it a Pooh

bear story.

Like a big girl she

slept on a pull

out bunk bed. We

lined it with pillows

and if she rolled off

it would have been on

our bed so we weren't

too concerned.

She loved jumping out of the windowsill. This is what kept her entertained while we were in our room.

Thanksgiving

I'm sad to say I forgot my camera on Thanksgiving, but maybe I can get some from my brother and post them later. We had a really good Thanksgiving. We truely have so much to be thankful for. I was supposed to work 7p-7a the night before so I thought I was going to be totally exhausted Thanksgiving day, but I went to work and it was super slow so they let me go home. We woke up and watched the Macy's parade (it just wouldn't be Thanksgiving without it!) and then my cousin Erin came over to help me make the gluten-free greenbean casserole. We had to use a different cream of mushroom soup and since the fried onions you usually put on top are covered in wheat we had to fry our own onions. It turned out so good, but we smelled like fried oil! We ate dinner at my grandma's house with all the aunts, uncles, and cousins. After being there a few hours we went to the Powell's for dinner #2. We enjoyed being with all of Nick's brothers and sisters and Allie liked playing with her cousins. They had a bonfire in their backyard for some, while others watched a movie or played a game. It was a fun day to be with family. Nick and I have been so blessed this year. He has a stable job that is still getting him at least 40 hours a week, I have a really flexible job that brings in a little extra money each month, we have our sweet Allie Mae, we are happy and healthy, we have a beautiful home, a reliable car, I am almost done with nursing school with no student loans, we have no credit card debt or other debt besides our home and car, we have strong testimonies of the gospel, we have a love for our Savior and Heavenly Father, we have an amazing ward family, and we have loving families who support us and love us back. There are many more things we are thankful for but these are the few that come to mind right away. We look forward to the year ahead and pray we are prepared for any challenges it might bring. Darn economy!

TWILIGHT!!

My friends and I went to the midnight showing of Twilight. One of Jaime's friends designs t-shirts so he made us all Twilight shirts. I thought they were way cute and we didn't match everyone else who had a Twilight shirt on. We met up with some of Jaime's friends that had been in line since 11:00am. Needless to say, we got a really good place in line that was inside the theater. We were probably in the first 50 people. We passed time snacking, reviewing the NCLEX book (ok, we really only did a couple of questions), taking turns to go out and get dinner, and talking. We ended up being on the news since we were so close to the front of the line. I don't know if that is something I should be proud of or not. I liked the movie. I know there are a bunch of people out there that were sorely disappointed, but I went into the movie realizing it wasn't going to win a grammy. There were some cheesy lines, the special effects weren't all they could have been, and it was way too short, but hey, I go to be entertained and I was entertained. It probably helped that I was there with a bunch of friends. Thanks Nick for not thinking I'm too lame and for staying home with Allie that night. Don't worry, you still win over Edward!










Jaime, Shaela, Me, Jess, Sharla
People in school call us
"The 5 Musketeers".