We have been having a very snowy christmas! It feels like it won't ever stop. There was one day I came home from work and couldn't get my car in the driveway because it was so snowy. I just parked my car halfway in the street and walked inside and made Jake get it in the garage. These pictures are from yesterday when jake was shoveling the snow...

Look at that form! = broken back in the future

He decided to build a wall up around the stairs going into the basement

We had a fun first christmas together - we opened gifts and then later in the day went over to have dinner with his family. It was fun to be with family on christmas! Christmas eve Jake was working, so I went up to my sister's house. Santa visited and her two boys loved it, but her girls were both screaming and crying. I wish I had pictures- but it was seriously hilarious.

Trying our stockings on..

We hope you had a merry christmas!

Christmas Spirit!

The past couple of weeks have been busy but fun! My friend Shiloh and I went to the Hogle Zoo one night to see the Zoo Lights. The whole zoo is full of lights and some lights in the shapes of animals. It was alot of fun to go around and look at everything! There weren't many animals out but we did get to see the penguins and go in the smelly reptile area. The zoo also got a new carousel...we stood in line to ride it, but didn't actually get to because we didn't realize you needed to buy special tickets. We felt like the biggest idiots ever.

I look like an old lady for the zoo lights

Shiloh rockin it out at the zoo lights

We had some friends over one night to play games but realized we didnt want to play any of the ones we already had, so we decided to open one of our christmas gifts (from santa) a little early. Jake got to open it, and you can tell that he was extremely excited.

This picture makes me laugh so hard...
he is just so excited!

classic christmas picture

sorry not much to say, but just wanted to share the pictures!

This weekend was full of adventures! Friday we were able to do Thanksgiving dinner with my sister and her family, my younger brother and my other sister. We started the day off with a 3k run- the "Turkey Trot". We were all getting ready to do the run and my nephew karate chopped the finish line (made of crate paper) and when my sister asked him why he did that he paused for a second, i think because he realized he did something wrong, and then he threw up his hands like he had won the race and said "woo!". It was super funny. After the run we all started the food preparation and then stuffed ourselves silly. After a movie a few of us went up to Ogden to iFly-and indoor place where you go inside this tube thing and they turn the wind up super high so you can fly. It was tons of fun!

Getting all of our gear on

All geared up and ready to go!

The next morning we met up again to go shooting out past Saratoga Springs. I didn't have the best time, but everyone else enjoyed it! I hadn't ever held a gun before and the first gun I shot was super loud and the trigger was hard for me to pull. Once I shot it I started crying because I was so scared! I screamed and handed the gun back over to Jake and then the rest of the day shot a small gun with my nephews. I am the biggest baby ever. Everyone else had and awesome time- Jake brought all of his guns plus some, so everyone had lots to shoot. Jake got some targets and clay pigeons, and I brought the pumpkins from our porch- so we had lots to shoot! It was interesting driving out to the middle of nowhere and seeing little spots where you could tell people shoot their guns because there were piles of garbage- tv's, bottles, and even a windshield(at least it looked like one). It was fun to be with everyone again, but I don't know that I would go shooting again.

Vic shooting a gun- doesn't she look totally in her element?

The guys all lined up

my nephew, Austin and his dad shooting the gun that made me cry- they are so brave!

Overall it was a good weekend. It was nice to sit at dinner and talk about all the things we are thankful for. It is amazing how I don't even think about some of the small things-like being able to take a shower everyday, having a car to drive to work, or even food to eat at every meal. We are super fortunate to have these things!

The other night we headed out to look for Christmas decorations (yes, i know it is not even Thanksgiving yet-but i wanted to be ready for the day after Thanksgiving) and we decided to get some stockings. Jake asked if I wanted them to match, and after I told him I didn't really care he went off looking for his favorite one. After looking at the picture below, I will give you one guess as to which one is his:

Maybe this will help:

I couldn't stop laughing. I think it is so funny how much he loves the Jazz (no, not the music Vic). We both love christmas and are excited for the day we get to put up our christmas tree! I even bugged Jake to get the gutters put up on the house so we could hang christmas lights outside. I still haven't gotten to it, but that is my goal for this weekend! (they will not be turned on until AFTER thanksgiving) I still can't decide what kind to do- the clear ones, white ones, or multi color? I don't really like the solid colored ones (besides white)-it reminds me of a house back home on our street that did all yellow lights on their house, including yellow spotlights shining on their roof. I can't remember if they had a tweety bird dressed as santa or not- I could be imagining that. I also don't like when people do solid red (sorry if that includes you)- it just seems like the opposite of christmas. Or I could do the ones that flash according to music...what will they come up with next year?

The one thing I don't like about this time of year in Utah is how dry my skin gets. It is disgusting, and I am sure people look at me like I have a disease but it looks like I have a goatee of dry skin. D-I-S-G-U-S-T-I-N-G. Maybe too much information for you, but it is worse for me- I have to live with it. Regardless of the pounds of lotion I put on, I am left with the dry skin goatee.

We are excited for Thanksgiving- we are going up to my sister's house to be with family (sadly Jake will be working on the real thanksgiving day so we will miss out on his family's festivities) but my sister usually does her dinners on Friday so her family can go skiing on Thanksgiving day-that way they aren't slamming into other skiiers and having to yell at people to get out of the way on the day after thanksgiving. We will probably all eat tons of food and have intentions of playing games afterwards but in actuality will fall asleep within minutes of finishing the dishes. That's the best part-taking a nap with your bloated belly. I am in charge of the traditional Black Bottom Pie (initiated by Dad Ryder) and hope I don't ruin it. I have never made one before- I am usually in charge of mashed potatoes which no one can screw up (which is why it is always given to me). Wish me luck! Dad- if you have any pointers let me know!

I am somewhat grateful I was home by myself tonight...after feeling extremely stressed and irritated by a couple days at work, I found myself sobbing on the couch reading about this amazing family. (or you can click the NieNie icon on the right pane) I found a link to this inspiring woman's blog on a couple of my friend's blogs and was curious to see what was going on. After a few hours of reading her blog entries, followed by entries in her sister's blog, I felt myself wanting to aspire to be a fraction of who she is. Her family is most important to her. She is loved by many people, mostly her husband. I cried the most when I read of how her sisters were helping through this, and how all her husband cared about was his wife. I know it sounds creepy, and almost stalkerish, but after seeing pictures of her and her family, she seems like one of those women at church that you see yourself longing to be more like. You should check this out- and if you are female, make sure you have some tissues handy!

I feel like this was a mushy, weird post from me, but I am allowed to be emotional every once in a while! :)

We went to Lowes the other night, and by our pictures you can tell what we found! They have all of the christmas decorations out, and they had tons of different types of hats.

I think this one is my absolute favorite :)

This one makes me feel a little sick

It kind of felt like winter because it had snowed almost 3 inches that morning! I woke up and was excited but ticked off at the same time. It took me 1 hour and 20 minutes to get to work, when usually it only takes me 30 minutes. I think its funny and it drives me nuts how when it snows people somehow forget how to drive and they freak out. There was a five car pile up on the freeway, and another accident they were cleaning up. I fought the urge to jump into the carpool lane, but decided a super expensive ticket would make me feel even worse.
We joined a co-ed volleyball team with some friends from church and we had our first games on Tuesday night. There are three couples that play and it was alot of fun! We only won one game out of the four but it was fun to play. I haven't ever played on a co-ed team, but I do like the rule of having to have the girls touch the ball almost everytime it comes over the net. The guys on our team are good about letting the girls play, but there was one time I played a game with some people from church back home and some guy acted like girls didn't even know what a volleyball was. I am glad this team is different!
I am also on a church volleyball team and we were good enough to make it to the regional tournament! We played our first games last night and were good enough to move onto the next pool play next week. It is alot of fun and it's nice because everyone plays hard but have fun while doing it.
Jake and I also had a new nephew born this week! Jake's brother, Danny and his wife Courtney had little Cason on Monday! We went to the hospital to visit and they are all doing super well. Cason is adorable! He is so little!
Other than that things are good! I am counting down the days until Thanksgiving so I can be lazy, watch movies, and eat tons of food.

So, I know i shouldn't be posting at work, but i just HAD to do it. I got the hiccups and they were the worst I have ever had! I told this guy that I wanted them to go away, then he sent me this link:

Click This

It made my Hiccups go away! You should visit it!

Halloween Galore!

So my older sister Maureen was in charge of the Fall Festival at her son's school (the one in the Narnia outfit below). My sister Vic, my brother Mike, and I were able to go and help with whatever was needed. It was alot of fun! Vic and I took money for tickets the whole night, and we were surprised how busy we were! Vic dressed like a skeleton-it was seriously one of the creepiest things ever-and she even made a little girl cry because she was so scary! (she wasn't trying to scare her, she was actually being really nice). It was funny to see how all of the little kids would stare at her as they walked by. I was all prepared to put on a witch costume, but I didn't actually have time to put it on. Oh well-I guess I could wear it to work tomorrow, but I always feel stupid dressing up for work. We all had alot of fun and I feel sick from all the pizza, soda, and baked goods! It also makes me grateful that I chose to not go into elementary education-those kids are crazy!

Vic (skeleton), Austin (pirate?), Tyler (narnia character), and McKell (princess)

Creepy Skeleton

Jake wasn't able to go to the Fall Festival because he was working, but we have done some Halloween adventures of our own! We went to a cornmaze (yes, shaped like the American Idol guy, David Archuletta) at Thanksgiving point and did all the fun festivities! We went with our friends Tanner and Alli, and had a blast! Tanner and Jake decided to run ahead of us and try to scare us. They did it so many times that Alli and I decided to just run and finish the maze by ourselves and we would wait for them. Well we started running-with me in the front- and I wasn't watching where I was going and I tripped and slammed super hard into the ground. It was the funniest thing!-you had to be there I guess. They had lots of things for people to do-a small barn filled with hard corn kernels that you can bury people in, or have corn fights, a trampoline, little pedal karts, and a huge inflated monster that you walk through kind of like a haunted house. The inflated monster was super scary- especially when they all pushed me in front and it was pitch black and I was screaming because I couldn't see anything and ran into the walls. There really wasn't anything jumping out at you, but there was a random creepy girl who kept popping up in crazy places-that was the scariest part!

I will be celebrating my Halloween night with a night at home with my friend Shiloh. We will probably just watch a movie and make dinner, and pass out Halloween candy of course! Jake will be a cop for Halloween- and be at work dealing with all of the weirdos.

I forgot I had this random video, but thought it would be fun to watch. This is my brother mike dancing to some music. Enjoy!

Our East Coast Trip!

Well we got back Monday night really late from our trip out to Connecticut. It felt like a super fast trip full of tons of fun stuff. We had things planned for everyday which made the trip go by really fast. Jon and Christy's little girls are the cutest things ever. We loved being with their little family and were sad to leave and come back to long days of work and normal life. It went by so fast! I think it would be easiest to go through the trip day by day, so I hope it's not too long!
Tuesday: we arrived around 3 pm and hung out with Christy, Riley and Melaina at their apartment and then when Jon came home we had dinner and played games.
Wednesday: Jon had school so it was the five of us again- we went shopping at a mall near their house and went to lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. While we were eating lunch all of the power went out and we just kept eating and talked about how crazy it would be if the animals came alive when the lights went out ( like jumanji). The waitress brought us a glow stick which entertained Riley throughout the power outage. We couldn't get dessert because the power was out, so we left and did some more shopping and then went back to get dessert. I am sure they thought we were weird for going back after an hour of already eating there. After the mall we went to a state park and went for a walk in the woods. It was gorgeous and alot of fun!

Thursday: New York Day! We started off our morning really early with the train ride:It took about an hour and a half to get to NY from Hartford but it was fun to just sit and talk. There was also this weirdo guy stretching for almost the entire train ride. It was kind of funny. When we got to NY we went and saw all the touristy things: the Statue of Liberty, Wall Street(the gold bull), some old church, Empire State Building, Ground Zero, China Town, Little Italy, Times Sqaure and FAO Schwartz. View from the top of the empire state building

The Wall Street Bull - it's supposed to be good luck!

Jon, Christy and Melaina

This was outside some old church- i guess it was in National Treasure or Divinci Code ( I can't remember)Central park

FAO Schwartz- these were made out of Legos

Rockefeller Center-where they have the ice rink and the huge christmas tree- they were already getting the ice rink all set up

Friday: Boston. I think I liked Boston more than NYC. It still had the big city feel, but it wasn't as crazy. I thought it was alot of fun! We went on "the Freedom Trail" which is this red line that is painted on the ground and if you follow it you can see all the historic sites in Boston. We decided not to get a tour guide (they were men dressed in colonial clothes), and went on the trail ourselves. I am glad we did because we were able to stop and look at whatever we wanted. At the end of the day we got a big pizza and ate it in a park in the middle of the city. It was seriously one of the best pizzas I have ever had. Riley and Melaina ready for fun!

Some tour thing that takes you on land and on water...

One of the tour guides for the Freedom Trail

Saturday: Jake and I went to Six Flags in Springfield, Mass. It was alot of fun- they had it decorated for Halloween and we went through a haunted mansion. We made the mistake of going on the best ride first- Superman- and were dissapointed with all of the other rides. Next time we will have to save the best for last! Afterwards we went to dinner with Jon, Christy, Melaina and Riley to this place called Moes with really yummy mexican food.

Sunday: We all went for a hike in the same state park we went to on Wednesday. Before we got started I got hit by a car- It was the craziest thing! I was leaning against Jon and Christy's car while everyone else was getting the kids ready for the hike and all of a sudden I was pushed forward by the car- Some psycho old lady bumped the front of their car with her bumper (don't worry there was no damage) and I got hit by their bumper. It was super funny. This time we went on a non-paved hike and enjoyed all the fall colors and the trees. It reminded me of Michigan because it was so gorgeous and had so many trees! Afterwards we went to a little city Whethersfield and looked at all the scarecrows people had put out. It reminded me of all the cute little cities you see in the movies. It was alot of fun! Jake, Me and Melaina

Jon, Christy and Riley

Monday: We headed back to Utah.

Leaving on a jet Plane....

Well, we are off bright and early tomorrow morning to visit my brother, his wife and their two cute daughters in Conneticut. This trip could not come at a better time- we are both excited to not have to work for a whole week! We have lots of fun day trips planned- Rhode Island, New York City, and Boston. It will be great to get to spend some time with them! Not that I post all the time, but be looking for pictures from all of our fun adventures when we get back next week!

Fall Decorating!

So I love the feel of fall. I don't know if it is the fact that because growing up in Michigan was absolutely gorgeous in the fall (the canopy of trees down the street when they were changing colors), or because the air just smells so good! I also like the fact that we can wear light jackets and cute scarves. I decided this past weekend that our house needed some fall decorations, so I took matters into my own hands. I went to Tai Pan in Sandy and spent about an hour and a half walking around and just thinking about what I could do. Now, I am not good at decorating by any means so it took me forever to pick out just a few items. I went home and cleaned the house and put up my decorations. I love sitting in a clean house (especially with fall decorations!). Here are a few pictures of what I could come up with:

Our fall colored pillows!

Pumpkins on the front porch

I promise these are fall colors (it looks a little christmasy)

I also tried to make the house smell like fall with this wax melter thing we have, but it didn't quite smell like fall. When Jake got home that night he said " it smells like a craft store in here". It reminds me of something my Dad might say...

Two things I don't understand: poor sportsmanship and sagging pants.

Last night Jake had a softball game and I saw a great display of poor sportsmanship. While our team was in the outfield (know that jake's team is full of ward members and the bishop) the other team's 3rd base coach went crazy. I guess our third baseman made a comment to him about whatever and the 3rd base coach went off. He was swearing like crazy and looking like he wanted to push the baseman and then Jake got up off the bench and told the guys to calm down and just play the game, but then the 3rd base coach yelled at Jake to "Tell YOUR team members to calm down and play...What are you doing up anyway? Shut up and sit down". I was sitting on the sideline watching this whole thing and I was getting fired up! I wanted to yell at the stupid guy for yelling at Jake. I had this whole thing set up in my mind how I would yell at him and then things would get so crazy that I would have to punch him in the face (a little extreme, i know). The Ump stood up and told everyone to shut up or he would call the game, so everyone went back and played. I couldn't believe how upset I had gotten. On the way out I saw the jerk walking out and i wanted to "accidentally" hit him really hard with my purse. I can't imagine how I am going to be when we have kids and someone says something mean to them. I told the guys at work about this today and one of them told me "watch out for mamma bear!" That's right!

Saggy Pants: What is the deal with these? Is this even comfortable? I went to get dinner tonight and while there a teenager was walking around with his pants around his thighs. He didn't even have a belt to hold them up. Do teenage girls find it attractive when guys have to walk with their legs spread so far apart, not able to bend their knees because their pants might fall down? I would think it would be harder to walk that way, but what do I know?

I went to a pampered chef party last week and realized I have a problem: I love to buy kitchen gadgets. Do I cook very often? No. I think I have a hope that if I stock my kitchen with fun gadgets I will want to cook more. I think I just find it hard to cook for two people. Then when Jake is working I find no point in cooking for myself and when I do I usually just make macaroni and cheese. Any suggestions? I know it will definitely help the waistline and wallet if we don't eat out so much...

We had the fun opportunity to have dinner with my friend Heather and her husband last night. Heather and I went to high school at the same time (different High schools) back in Michigan. It started out as a normal dinner, but of course it turned out to be a reminiscing party (for me and heather). I am sure our husbands felt like it was one of those times when old mission companions get together and talk about all of their old mission stories, except our involved my "jersey years", when I was obsessed with wearing basketball jersies in elementary school, and girls camp stories. I thought it was tons of fun and we laughed alot! I love hanging out with old friends. It is so much fun to remember fun things we did together and it just feels comfortable. I just hope our husbands will let us do more things together-even though we talked the whole time :)

Some fun memories we talked about last night:

• When we were girls camp YCL's and one of the girls was made over by the other girls in our cabin with tons of blue eyeshadow and makeup and I didn't even recognize her. I was yelling for her and asking where she was when she was standing right in front of me.
• Youth conference when we were given and orange to eat in the morning and then had to go all day hiking and doing different activities without eating anything and then we had a HUGE dinner and everyone got sick.
• Going to Prom with boys who were brothers and then wearing our dresses and disgustingly hair sprayed "prom hair" to church the next day.
• Jet skiing and having heather be pulled into the water by the neck from the rope that was attached to my tube.

There were alot more, but these were some of my favorites.

In other news, Jake started rifle school today, and I am sure he was VERY excited. He came in to say goodbye and was practically skipping :) Okay, not really, but he is excited to go. I am off to work and on my way will listen to the Mamma Mia soundtrack- vic you got me totally addicted! (if you don't own it, Go get it!)

Well things have been going really well. Nothing too exciting has been going on. We have both been working as usual and are excited for the upcoming weeks. Next week Jake is going to rifle training for work, so he gets to work from 8am-5pm Monday through Thursday. We will get to see each other everyday! I have been in a transition at work with moving into a new position, still doing my old tasks but adding on a whole new aspect of the technical side of email marketing. I am starting to learn HTML and CCS coding (totally geeky, I know) but I am really excited about it! I get to start learning how to build templates for emailing and webpage design, so it is a challenge.
Enough of boring work! We have both signed up to play sports in our ward. Tuesday nights are Jake's softball nights, Thursday nights are my volleyball nights, and Jake will start playing volleyball on Saturday mornings. It has been alot of fun going to Jake's games and watching him play! I promise to get pictures up soon!
We are heading out to CT to visit my brother and his family (Jon and Christy) at the beginning of october and are SUPER excited. It will be fun to go out there to visit them and see where they live! We all plan to make a couple day trips....to NYC and Boston and eat real seafood! It will be quite an adventure! We are counting down the weeks until then.
I realize I don't have much to say, but will post something better soon!

Although this does look like photo shop, these were actually stickers he put on his face

Vic brought us a suprise!

Showing off my sunglasses