Traditions!

Yay! It's Christmas time and the traditions have begun!
Although Mike and I were technically married last year, with the planning of the wedding and flying out on our honeymoon on Christmas day, we hadn't even moved into our place yet and didn't have a chance to do any of the traditions we've loved since we were kids. So this is our first Christmas at home-- Mansfield style!

Decorating Our Christmas Tree
It was so exciting this year to have our own tree. Mike's mom gave us the tree she bought for our reception in Vernal and we got to decorate with all the ornaments we had signed by people that came to our reception in Sandy. Nothing like celebrating Christmas with ornaments that say "Get Lucky" on them! =) jk It actually really was fun to remember that night by reading all the sweet messages (because yes, most were very sweet and not all written by Mike's friends) people wrote to us. It ended up making for a tree that not only reminded us of the season but of the amazing day that we got married! Here are some before and after shots, one of Mike as we wrapped presents to put under the tree, a mid-decorating shot and one of "Mike getting bored as we looked at 5 different stores for our Christmas star shot". While we did this we watch my favorite Christmas movie... Miracle on 34th Street! Watching this movie is essential for me and I can't let the season go by without watching it at least once... or three, four, five times... well, whatever... =)

Sammi Klaus Tag

So this tradition is one that my family has been doing since before I can remember and I couldn't stand the thought of me not doing it with my own family. So even though we don't have kids yet, I don't even care! I love St. Nicholas Day, or as we always called it Sammi Klaus Tag!! This tradition is like mini-Christmas and happens on the night of December 5th. On the night before the 6th we put our shoes out with carrots, celery and treats for Santa's reindeer. If we've been good, we wake up the next morning to find that Santa has fed the treats to his reindeer and filled our shoes with small toys and candy. If you're bad he leaves coal. Thankfully, Santa is a little biased and has always given me the benefit of the doubt. =) This tradition is one of my favorite and I remember years of excitedly waking up and running down to see what Santa had left in my shoe! Quite honestly, this wasn't just a growing up thing. I've done this every year since I was kid, whether at college or at home, with roommates, boyfriends or family...this tradition means a lot to me and doing it with Mike was awesome. We did our secret shopping separate from each other the day before and got to wake up the next morning to see what we'd surprised each other with. Here are our night before and day after shots.


Needless to say, I love our traditions. Even the music playing to this blog, which most of you probably can't stand (don't worry, Mike is nearing that point as well) is a tradition for me. I woke up morning after morning hearing my mom listening to Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton downstairs throughout Christmas time. Having a husband this year to combine traditions and share everything with makes the season just that much sweeter! We still have more on the agenda and can't wait to go home and do more fun things with our family. But here's just the beginning of a great Christmas season at home and together... year #1!

Thanksgiving

Well Thanksgiving this year came and went faster than ever. Mike and I went to both our homes for Thanksgiving and it was lot a food and family for one short break... but we loved it. These are the pictures from Thanksgiving at my house as we prepared to have all the cousins, aunts, uncles and friends over for the day. This was our "potato peeling party". 4 bags of potatoes, 5 people, one cut finger from a peeler, 30 minutes later... mashed potatoes to feed the masses. It was really fun in the kitchen with everyone! (p.s. Jonny doesn't usually wear war paint to attack the cooking but he'd just returned from playing football with the Murpheys... which apparently, requires war paint!?)

Mmmm.... Turkey and a bowl full of my Aunt Linda's homemade rolls! This year I tried new recipes. Lemon cake and bacon, spinach and asiago cheese stuffed mushrooms... yum!

The best thing about Thanksgiving this year was getting to laugh and play with family. The highlights of the break were probably playing around-the-world ping pong after the Thanksgiving meal at my house, Mike and the boys dirtbiking at his and all of his family showing me the movie "A Christmas Story" for the first time ever...

Tag I'm It

1. Where did you meet your husband? Outside some apartments in Logan when I was on my way to a rodeo with my boyfriend

2. How long did you date before you got married? 9 months

3. How long have you been married? A year this month (December 20th)! Woohoo!

4. What does he do that surprises you? I'll come home from a long day and the huge pile of dishes we've both been too busy to do will be gone, the bathrooms will be clean and our bed made. There is no sweeter surprise than that. He's amazing!

5. What is your favorite feature of his? His adorable face. Eyes, smile, hair... he's handsome.

6. Does he have an annoying habit? Sometimes the dish doesn't make it all the way to the sink and stops just inches away =)

7. What is your favorite quality of his? His ability to be himself... he can have fun, make me laugh, kiss me in public, and be goofy no matter who is watching.

8. Does he have a nickname for you? Schatzy

9. What is his favorite color? Blue but it probably depends on what he's picking out

10. What is his favorite food? Chinese but he won't pinpoint a favorite meal for me

11. What is his favorite sport? Volleyball and Tennis. His whole family loves softball and I know he really enjoys that but he also plays basketball a lot in the winter.

12. When and where was your first kiss? On my doorstep outside my apartment in Logan.

13. What is your favorite thing to do as a couple? Go anywhere together. We have so much fun shopping, driving, watching movies, playing games... whatever. We are goofy and what I love best about him is that he still loves me when so often, I'm weird!

14. Do you have any children? Not at the moment... but as soon as we can... we will.

15. Does he have a hidden talent? He's very insightful and once he learns something... he remembers it!

16. How old is he? 24

17. Who said "I love you" first? Him

18. What is his favorite type of music? Alternative, Rock and Instrumental

19. What do you admire most about him? His ability to love, forgive and support me even when I know I shouldn't be.

20. Do you think he will read this? I highly doubt it.

What bites about Twilight

I said I would blog about Twilight and so here's my take...

Mike and I went to see this Saturday night. We'd gone on a date earlier and funny enough, everywhere we went where people were talking about "it" turned out to be a discussion on what their review of Twilight was. It appeared to be either a love/hate relationship for everyone that saw it. I'd read all the books so I suspected I'd hate it but went in with no real expectations. Surprisingly, after Mike got pushed out of the way by some 35 year old women racing to get seats... I actually enjoyed it! (Mike might characterize it differently if he looked over at me in the middle of the movie and saw me grinning ear to ear.)
This is what was good about Twilight. One: it doesn't take huge creative liberties with the book. For the most part, it stuck pretty close to the book (even if events were out of order in some cases) and even had some direct lines from the book which is fun if you've read them. Two: I read the books... I knew it was an completely unbelievable, teen novel. What makes me laugh about people that talk about Twilight is when they say they hated it because it was sappy... uhhh, hello?! Did you read the books? This movie was based on the book, which hate to disappoint the people that thought it was somehow going to magically become an action-packed horror film but it was targeted to teen girls. If you can't get on the same level with that to tolerate what is going to appeal to teen girls (or middle aged woman, apparently) then you're better off going to see Quantum of Solace (although, let's not get started on how unbelievable James Bond is). Finally: I wanted to see a love story with all the good "love story" inclusions... the beginning love/hate relationship, boy pursues girl, jealousy, love triangle, mystery, action, boy saves girl... it's all in there. So I got it!
So what bites in Twilight? Edward. (ha ha) But really, surely there is another actor out there that can pretend to be 17, make-up his face white, wear gold/black contacts and dye his hair reddish brown to be Edward? The criteria for that actor couldn't have been that ovewhelming since they were going to change everthing about him anyway, right? Just one thing: he was supposed to be good looking! I could even got over Bella's buck teeth and the apparent need to keep zooming in on them during the movie but Edward is supposed to unbelievably good looking and the actor playing Edward really was pushing "cute" at best. I will admit after awhile he grew on me (more because of the characterization he had to fulfill than how he looked). Beyond his looks, I had a hard time not laughing at his "i'm-completely-confused-and-the-world-is-too-overwhelming-for-me look" he constantly wore throughout the film. Surely, as he is a vampire that's lived over 80 years all over the world with two medical degrees... he'd be able to latch onto situations a bit quicker.
Despite my disappointment in Edward... I loved Twilight (how that works when you're so upset with the main character is beyond me). In fact I loved it even to the point that I may or may not have attempted to convince Mike to go buy tickets for the showing that followed so I could watch it all over again. =) Aww... the life of a 22 yr old stuck in a 14 yr old fantasy... I feel no shame. =)

Another one bites the dust...

Okay, so I caved. I made a blog. Yes, it's very near the top of my list of things I have less time to do... and yet here I am. And all for one simple reason... I can't stand that everyone in mine and Mike's family has a blog (even my parents!) and we don't. Mike thinks that's a funny reason to create a blog and asked me the classic question about if all of you jumped off a bridge would I do it? Well...apparently this blog's existence answers that question. =)
I also credit this sick turn of events into the blogging world to all my friends who created cute blogs that in the last week I couldn't help but check... thanks a lot both Brittany Griffin 1 and 2! Ya, I saw Twilight too and darn it...I want to blog about it! ;)