A picture is worth 2 months words

Because writing about the last 2 months would take longer than any of you have or would care to read... I'm catching everyone up on our life through pictures (which are more fun anyway!) and adding blurbs. Enjoy the whirlwind we call life...

For the last 3 months Mike has done an internship at Deloitte. He interviewed and finally got his dream of one with a "Big Four" accounting firm. He lived in Salt Lake for 3 months while I lived in Logan... nothing was as great as him coming home! He loved Deloitte and they loved him. He hopes to work for them in the future!

While working for Deloitte, Mike worked in Indiana for 2 weeks. Deloitte flew me from a conference to meet Mike for a weekend. We went to Nashville and saw a little of Indiana.

Easter came and went in a flash. We spent it at my family's house having a great Easter egg hunt with the kids. There were strategically placed eggs with 10 dollar bills as well for the adults. I won't lie and say there weren't some scratched up arms and legs (of the adults of course!) in fighting for those eggs. There were so many, my mom had to make a map!

School ended-- thankfully! It was the hardest semester of graduate school so far and never would have survived if Mike wasn't home to help me. With the end of the school year came Mike's graduation! Yay!! He graduate Summa Cum Laude from USU and got in to the Master's of Accounting program here. As if he's not amazing enough... he also received the highest scholarship offered to MAcc students and the only assistanship. He's my hero! Both our fantastic families came to Logan-- which is a lot of people-- and we had a great celebration with them. They are incredible and we couldn't do it without their support!

Two days after Mike graduated, I left for Costa Rica on USU's annual audiology humanitarian trip. Short of boring you with all the stories... here's the summary: I fit hearing aids on children, screened children for hearing loss, used my auditory-verbal training, used ASL to communicate with kids that spoke a totally different language, saw a child with a Med-El cochlear implant, held a crocodile, went canopying and hung out with some really great people! The picture below are the student in my year of the AuD program-- now 3rd years! Wahoo!

And now I'm home again with Mike! It was great to come home and finally stay home. Things have calmed down for me but Mike has started up school again. Today we went on a date... during the day. Gasp! Yes, we are looking forward to a slower summer together which hopefully involves staying in Logan for awhile.

Thanks for the catch up with the Mansfields!!

Things I never thought I'd see...

At our New Year's Eve Party we had all sorts of games. One of those involved playing Raving Rabids on the Wii. (This is a fun group game if anyone has ever played it) There is a dance game in there that quickly became a favorite. I'll let the video speak for itself but watching my dad play Wii within itself is funny enough... dancing through the Wii is a whole 'nother thing! Not to mention Marisa... she's feeling it!! Good times at the Grover's house....

Catch-Up

First off, I apologize for the lack of blogging the last month. I kept waiting to get the video of my dad dancing before I made a new blog. But with my parents in Florida for 3 weeks and not getting home very often... I've decided to move on in the blogging world and catch up with what Mike and I have been doing for the last 2 months.

Chronologically, first off in December was mine and Mike's anniversary. As of the 20th Mike and I have been married a year! That night Mike blindfolded me and drove me to the cutest bed and breakfast called the Four Seasons in Logan. I'd seen it once and said I wanted to buy it as a dream house one day, it is so picturesque. I was so surprised and delighted. He'd rented the Bridal suite with fireplace, sunken tub and balcony... complete with pink and orange rose petals (my favorite!) everywhere. It was adorable! For dinner, Mike took me to Hamilton's steak house. We sat and talked for hours-- which is something we love to do. The next morning we sat in a sun room alone eating homemade apple pancakes, bacon and fruit. It was almost like being far away from Logan in a snowy Vermont or something. It was an awesome anniversary and Mike was so sweet to surprise me with a night away!







Christmas came soon after and even though that makes this post out of order... I thought I'd post the only pictures I have. I forgot my camera over Christmas and so a lot of the pictures were taken with my mom's camera or Mike's phone. I won't go on forever about what we did but here's just a couple pictures of what we did.
South Jordan...









Vernal... (We didn't take very many pictures here because we didn't have a camera but here's a picture of us playing Guitar Hero with Mike's sister, mom and brother in law. This other picture is one that Mike and I enjoyed. We were at a restaurant in Vernal called Seven Eleven, which is my favorite place to eat in Vernal. They have a little country shop you can buy in while you wait and this is what we found. Don't you just love "frige" magnets? ;)

The holidays were good to us. Since we've been home, Mike and I have enjoyed our weekends together. Whether it's staying in, going bowling or to an arcade for fun, out to eat, playing games or watching movies... we've been relishing the weekends where we can leave work and school behind. Here's a couple pictures of one fun weekend where Mike and I went bowling and to an arcade with a couple of our friends, Don and Heather. At a bowling alley in Logan there is an arcade attached to play in while you wait. We found a whole new kind of fun playing Deal or No Deal... what's more fun than that? A dollar a game for enough tickets to buy matching tatoos, tootsie rolls and pixie sticks that would cost 50 cents! =)

Happy New Year!

Well this year is already starting out interesting... with Mike moving to Salt Lake for an internship and me staying in Logan it looks like it's going to be a long beginning to a new year. Fortunately, we had a great (if not long enough) break to enjoy each other before we headed back to reality. With our 1 year anniversary, Christmas and New Years... we have lots of pictures to share. Also some funny video for all you people who think seeing my dad smack his own butt in a dancing game is going to be hilarious to watch... so check back soon and I'll hopefully I'll get some fun pictures up from the last month!

p.s. I know whoever is reading this is secretly grateful Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers have FINALLY stopped singing their Christmas tunes... so ungrateful. But you're welcome. =)

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.