And the countdown begins! On February 21, Jake and I will be embarking on our first cruise together to........


If you guessed Mexico you are right! and i hope we actually see someone who looks like this and is VERY excited to see me - that would be my dream come true! I have wanted to go to Mexico ever since I was little. I even had an obsession with latin music when I was in high school and would listen to my Shakira cd when i mowed the lawn. I even tried to minor in spanish when i was at college, but after my first semester I realized I sounded like an idiot american trying to sound like i actually knew how to speak the language. I also realized i could not, and never would be able to roll my r's, so i trashed that minor asap.


So Jake and I are off on our first foreign adventure with our friends Tanner and Allie. It was funny because Jake and I had talked about going on a cruise and thought it would be more fun with friends, so we were going to try to convince Tanner and Allie to go with us on a cruise. When we brought up the idea, they started screaming that they wanted us to go on one with them to Mexico! Of course it took us two seconds to approve, and then we got our plans started! We are headed out of LA, and then off to the ports of Puerto Vallerta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas. It will be lots of fun! And one other bonus, is that people always say to drink bottled water in Mexico, but we won't have to worry about it too much since we will be drinking the water off of our ship. Unless they decide to trick us and give us the REAL experience and contaminate their water. I should just pack my entire suitcase with bottled water.

In other random news, Jake and I happened to catch this show on tv tonight:


have you ever watched this show? It makes me extremely sad but also makes me feel motivated to get in shape (at least for an hour after the show ends). Tonight there was an old man who got voted off and I started crying! I couldn't believe it. I am the biggest baby ever. Anways, this man was so incredibly gracious about the entire thing, and then after the show ended, they showed a clip of him after he had been home for a while. He looked so good! It was amazing! I am astounded at how determined these people are to lose weight! I need to use them as motivation..but I am thinking I have a long ways to go after my breakfast this morning of gummy bears and diet coke. I have a problem.

One of my most favorite things:


I know it sounds ridiculous because it is a kitchen appliance, but I absolutely LOVE my Kitchenaid. If you don't have one - stop reading and get one right now. This lovely appliance not only helps me when I cook and bake, but it sits on my counter beautifully. I am so protective of it, that I will not let the silver bowl dry in the dishwasher - I will hand wash it and dry it with a towel, of course making sure that there are no water spots. I make up any excuse I can to use it. It is one of the reasons I like to cook! Of course cooking and baking is more fun when you have fun little gadgets and appliances.

Another one of my favorite things:


I love things to be organized and be in cute boxes with labels on them. Nothing makes me feel better than to look in the closet and see all of my boxes stacked on top of eachother with labels. I love taking a messy room and organizing it. (you wouldn't be able to tell that by our spare bedroom - but where else do you cram everything you can't fit anywhere else?) I love filling empty shelves with neatly folded towels, linens, or anything that looks pretty. I just love for everything to have a specific place. I have gotten into the habit of walking around the house and throwing things away that I don't find important - It has gotten to the point when if Jake can't find something he will immediately ask if I have thrown it away. What can I say - I don't like clutter :)

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! :)