"What a Beautiful Day"

Wow! I didn't realize how much of a whirl-wind of fun James and I have had this past week until I sat down to blog about our past week! First off...my husband is amazing and always going out of his way to make our lives so fun and just live every moment to the fullest and this week was no different. So, while James was at work on Thursday he called me a few times (more than normal) and kept asking weird questions like what were my plans like this weekend, did I have to teach on sunday, what time could I get out of school on Friday. Finally he called in the evening on Thursday and said that we were going to Vegas for Valentines weekend, so pack a bag and we were leaving straight from Provo after my last class on Friday. I was antsy all through class and counting the minutes till I was free to enjoy the whole weekend away from life.
As always our road trip there was so fun, laughing, singing, eating and so much more. We arrived at 8pm and drove into downtown just in time to see the city light up. We felt all giddy as we found our hotel and got all checked in like "big kids" haha whenever we do something by ourselves like go on vacation we always say "oh we are being grown ups right now" and then laugh because we have no idea what we are doing. We walked down the strip, saw a few shows, went to dinner and enjoyed some fun time out on the town. The next day we spent the whole day riding rides and seeing acrobat shows at the adventure dome inside circus circus. After a fun and tiring day we started our way back to St. George. We figured we wouldn't want to make the whole drive home after a long day out and about so it was perfect to stay the night at my Grandparents in St. George. When we arrived in St. George and were starving and both craving Taco Bell Mexican Pizza which is really weird because that is not a usual fast food stop, but as we searched for Taco Bells in all of St. George there was none to be found. After driving around for 40 min of a Taco Bell hunt we finally found one and satisfied our cravings. Along with a search for Taco Bell we went on the same quest to find a movie theater. We found 4 movie theaters, but none of them were playing the new Adam Sandler movie "Just Go With It" that we wanted to see. So we finally arrived at my grandparents house and had a great time staying there, going to church, a delicious chicken cordon bleu dinner and celebrating my Grandma's birthday.
After such a fun and eventful weekend I figured we would have a very low key Valentines Day. I got up like normal and went to school and then to teach piano lessons. My last piano lesson cancelled and I called James to tell him that I was coming home. He was like "WAIT! You cant come home. I'm not ready for you yet" So he brought me my stuff to get ready and I showered and got ready at his parents. As I walked out to my car to go home to see what James had planned, I found my car covered in oreos. Now this may seem funny, but this brought such a huge smile to my face. When our car was decorated on our wedding day it was covered in oreos and as we were driving away oreos were flying off and people were honking and congratulating us all the way to our hotel. It was true bliss. So then...I drove home and found candles lighting the indie of our house and a box of chocolates and was lead into the "Logan Restraunt" where there were breakfast in bed trays set up on our bed. I took a seat and was served Olive Garden breadsticks and Salad (which I LOVE), followed by gourmet BBQ chicken/bacon/pineapple delicious pizza. Then to top it off some raspberry oreo cheesecake. James played one of my favorite songs "Just Another Day in Paradise" and sang along. It was perfect for our night because part of the song goes "Dominos Pizza in the candlelight". Although it wasn't dominos the song made me smile. Then this next part no one is going to believe and I could hardly believe it, but James bought the movie Dear John for me and we watched it together. The perfect way to top off a perfect night!
I was so lucky that James was on his seven days off during this time for Valentines Day and besides all of these fun things we also went out to lunch with Jim, went to the Temple, got frozen yogurt (which is now one of our favorite things), got Mexican Pizzas again haha, computer got a virus and were in a frenzy to get it fixed, drove around looking at houses we'd like to own someday, and finally saw "Just Go With It". Now James is back to work and we are both back to school, but I am so grateful for weeks like this past one where we were able to spend so much quality time together and make so many fun memories together. I LOVE my life.

Road Trip :]



Our Hotel




Pirate Show




Riding Rides at the Adventuredome!



My decorated car

Strange Happenings...

So a week ago James and I woke up at our normal good 'ole 5:15am to get ready for school and work. James went out to start our cars to get them warm [because he is such a sweet husband] and I was inside making our lunches. He was taking entirely too long out there and I knew something was up. So when he came back in his first words were... "now I don't want you to get freaked out or anything..." any sentence started out like this is not a good one! but he continued to tell me how when he went out there all our car doors were open and trunk was popped, his seat was leaned back, cars smelled like smoke and our glove boxes were emptied onto our seats, but nothing was damaged or taken. These troublemakers are so lucky because James and I close to NEVER leave our car doors unlocked, but they got lucky that night because we had to do a quick late night errand. Anyways, nothing was taken. Which is the weirdest part! I had my wallet and ipod in my car. I only had my wallet in there because I had lost it and had been looking for it for a couple days and we didnt find it till we were checking all through the car and found it in our secret glove box. ugh! so I decided to play it safe in case the intruders took down my card numbers and had to cancel all our cards and change account numbers, and let me tell you that is a hassle! ugh! Finally now we have everything taken care of.
The other scary part of this fiasco is that it looked like someone was trying to break into our door. The stripping that seals our door was pulled off right where our lock is located and they tried to pull back a plastic piece of the door. Now whoever they are, are VERY lucky people that they didn't get in because no one wants to have to deal with James after he's been woken up and they are sneaking in our place in the middle of the night. Their night would not have a happy ending that's for sure. It was nice to hear that we were not the only personal target of these intruders because we heard of atleast 5 other houses in our area that got hit this same night. The puzzling part is that we live in a very safe neighborhood, with good people, so it is strange that our area gets targeted so frequently.

Our Cars

Good thing nothing was damaged!

Basketball !

As most of you know James and I love sport. We love playing sports, watching sports, and cheering our teams on. We both especially love basketball. Lately we have had alot of basketball in our lives. James is playing in the stake tournament with games every week. I am coaching the young women basketball team for our ward and my girls are awesome we are going to regions! Also, because it hasn't snowed alot in awhile we have been able to get out and play together alot lately. Something fun that we have been loving lately is BYU basketball, especially Jimmer Fredette. He averages over 27 points a game shooting over 42%. It is so fun to watch. It was awesome when he scored 47 points in the game vs. Utah. Then to top that we played undefeated San Diego State and he scored 43 points with a 71-58 victory. We love basketball!



Story of the night!



As of lately...

Since the holidays our life has gone back to its usual routine of work, school, and squeezin in some play whenever we get a second. There are a few fun things in the mix of our life now. James jumped on an opportunity at work for a promotion and switching to only working days. The only thing is that it is a welders position. So...James is going to Applied Technology college in Tooele and is getting his welding certification. He is so excited to be in school and be learning to some something new with his hands. I'm praying there are no extreme injuries during the process, since he always seems to find a way to get hurt. But its nice now to not be the only one with homework in the house now! As far as me I'm just going through school, teaching piano, and doing wife things like cooking, cleaning, and getting crafty. My new thing that I am loving is new recipes, so if anyone has any good ones, send them my way. Some new ones that we have tried are cafe rio pork, curry meat sauce and rice, and our own original (made-up) haha ribs and mashed potatoes recipe [which turned out DELICIOUS]. Besides that James and I have had some fun feeding the ducks who ended up attacking us, or slipping on the ice racing to get the bread from us, it was pretty funny watching some ducks face plant it on the ice, playing basketball, and getting over being sick. Even though these all may seem like normal everyday things, i love my life. and routine things are now the funnest thing when you have someone to share them with. I love how James and I make everything fun...no matter how simple it is. I am so glad to be married and would not have it any other way. :]

Holiday Happenings!

This holiday season has been a very unique one for James and I. It was our first Christmas together as a married couple. We were so lucky that James could get 14 days off work so that we could go see my family in California. We were excited to road trip it together, but not so excited when we hit traffic/snow/madatory chains and a 9-10 hour trip turned into a 14-15 hour trip. We just laughed about it and ended up having a good time together stuck in the car for all those hours. All the silly CA drivers were freaking out and James and I were laughing thinking that there was more snow on our driveway at home then on the road. The day after we got there we watched my youngest sister Rachel play in her team's last soccer tournament. I miss playing soccer so much so even though it was rainy I enjoyed every min of cheering and watching. Then we attended my home ward and it was fun to see old friends. My family has a tradition every Christmas that we take a homemade bread called cherry cheese bread to our close family and friends. James and I carried on this tradition by taking them to a few friends in Utah, but I am nothing compared to my mom who bakes for 2 days and makes 30 breads. It was fun going around as a big family caroling. During the week before Christmas we were busy doing puzzles, playing tons of games, playing some pick up soccer and volleyball games, and wrapping lots of presents.
One of my favorite parts of our trip was to go back to the Oakland Temple where we were married 8 months ago and see all the Christmas lights decorating the grounds and also remembering all the wonderful memories from that day. Another fun thing we did while in California was go back to Tracy, CA where James grew up. We stuffed our selves for lunch at his favorite Mexican place, the Burrito Shop, visited old friends and saw his old schools he went to and houses he lived in. I loved seeing all the places James loved growing up. We kept saying to each other, "I cant believe that we lived only an hour away our whole lives growing up and didn't even know each other existed." Thursday night we went out with one of my best friends from home [yes she's a mom] lol ;) and then hung out with their family for a little bit. I love and miss them! Then it was Christmas Eve and we read the story of Jesus Christ's birth and sang Christmas songs together as a family, we all opened one present and watched the Grinch, then all hurried to bed so Santa could come! :) Christmas morning we all waited at the top of the stairs where Santa hung a red ribbon we couln't pass till mom and dad were awake. As soon as the parents woke up we rushed downstairs and opened presents all morning. My parents and family were so generous and got us lots of great presents [tools, boots, clothes, hats, kitchen things, coats, and lots of other things]! We are so blessed that James has such a great job so that we could have an amazing first Christmas. After we had all opened our presents he got up and said there was one more. Everyone was looking at each other and then he got a little box from hidden inside the Christmas tree. He was so so so sweet and got me a BEAUTIFUL pearl/diamond ring. It is so perfect! :] :] :] Christmas day we played with all our new things, then got ready and went to my Grandma's house for Christmas dinner and time with our extended family. It was everything I could have dreamed of for our first Christmas together! After we came back to Utah we had another little Christmas with James family, we sure love and appreciate them.
Another fun thing we got to do this Christmas was talk to both of James sibilings who are serving full time missions for the church. We first talked to his sister Alyssa, also my best friend, as soon as I said hello we were both in tears it was so good to hear her voice I miss her tons, but we are so happy she had the chance to serve at this time and she was so happy and having such a great time in New York. Then later on Christmas we were able to talk to James brother Joey. Even though he was just here a lil more than a month ago we were so happy to hear from him and hear that he is doing well and working hard. I feel so lucky to have two "sibilings" serving missions right now. They are awesome.
Now James is back to work and I am enjoying my last few days I have off of school. We had such a fun time cracking up, singing, wrestling, tickling, cuddling, and letting our competitive sides take charge playing sports and games all while making memories on this Christmas vacation!

At the rainy soccer tournament

After the rainy game

Caroling with the family :]



The beautiful lights!



 

At the temple lights



 

HUGE burrito!



 

The Burrito Shop



 

James old High School "West High"


 

Wrapping Presents


 
  

Christmas Morning



 

Cousins at Grammy's

 

Marlina, Me, Kiely



Edmonds Family





Ring :]



 











Can't wait for California!

James and I really got lucky this year. He was scheduled to work Christmas Eve and Christmas, but because he knew how important the holidays are to me my wonderful husband figured out a way to get it off! Yay! So, we are headed to California for the holidays to be with my family. I am looking forward to a break from cleaning, cooking, and responsibilties. Looking forward to my moms yummy cooking, hanging out with my family,caroling, seeing friends and the warm weather. I am sure there are going to be lots of fun pictures to post after our trip. I always forget how crazy it is getting ready to go on vacation with cleaning, packing, and getting everything settled to leave (especially since we added a kitty into the mix of things), but I think that pre-trip craziness makes the vacation that much better.

Crazy till Christmas!

We are so excited that we get to go to California for Christmas, but it is making our time till we leave very jam packed full. James is on his long part of his work schedule, and I am in finals. Not only is it just tests, but now that I am in the Elementary Education Program it means lesson plans, projects, papers, and on top of that all tests as well. Not to mention that I am taking 17 credits. Its o.k. though because I will feel so accomplished by the time this semester is over. Also, I will be that much closer to having my degree! Yay! On top of all the school work I am trying to do fun holiday things around here for mine and James first Christmas together (Christmas cards, baking, decorating, Christmas movies). Finding balance in all of this craziness is sometimes hard, but prioritizing and choosing what is good-better-best helps us get through all of our busy-ness, but still enjoy this time we have together. I always keep in the back of my mind lots of lines from different songs and lines that come to mind in our daily lives currently are "you've only got 100 years to live" "live like you were dying" "Well, it's ok. It's so nice
these are some good times It's just another day in paradise Well, there's no place that I'd rather be Well, it's two hearts And one dream I wouldn't trade it for anything And I ask the Lord every night For just another day in paradise" "your gonna miss this,  your gonna want this back, your gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast, so take a good look around, you may not know it now, but your gonna miss this"