Christmas time is here!

We went to Temple Square last night to see the lights turn on.

We got there early to be able to get a good parking spot. So we walked around the visitor's center while we were waiting. We also looked at the Nativity.

Then, we came home and decorated our apartment FOR CHRISTMAS! It was so much fun and made a great Friday even better.

We are pretty impressed with our tree decorating skills:

I LOVE Christmas time!

P.S.
Only 6 more days until my mom comes.
Only 9 more days of classes.
Only 21 more days until we go to Washington.
AND only 28 more days until Christmas!!! :)

Thanksgiving!!

We had a wonderful thanksgiving at our Aunt Patsy and Uncle Brett's home in Centerville. There was tons of delicious food! We are so grateful they let us spend the holiday with their family!

We offered to bring pies and we were very proud of ourselves!! Just look:

Marcus was FANTASTIC at rolling out pie crust. He says he must get it from his mom :). We are so proud of how perfect the crust looks.

We made two pumpkin pies...

and one chocolate coconut cream pie. (Which was delicious!)

Since it's Thanksgiving tradition to eat the meal at random times of the day, we were hungry later on and decided to make sandwiches with all the left over turkey! Brian was a master at making the sandwiches.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! :)

We hope yours was as fantastic as ours!

Our Best Bites

Marcus' aunt Patsy introduced me to this site called Our Best Bites. I have recently spent a lot of time on this site and want to try just about every recipe they have posted! Marcus and I are fans of Caramel Apple Cider and so their recipe sounds DELICIOUS! As well as their Pies in a Jar. I officially just want to spend an entire day making some of these recipes. Thank you Patsy for introducing me to this site. :)

Great Weekend!

We've had a good weekend. On Friday, we doubled with a friend from one of my classes and her boyfriend. We went ice skating and then got Caramel Apple Cider from Starbucks and walked around Barnes and Noble. It was lots of fun! We also found out that my mom is coming to visit for a little over a week at the beginning of December! I'm SUPER excited!!!

On Saturday, we volunteered for Habitat for Humanity. We really enjoyed it! We helped sheetrock a ceiling. I had never done that before and it took a lot of arm strength but we were proud of ourselves. We did a pretty good job, too. My arms are a little sore today, though.

Then today, Sunday, was a very relaxed day. Marcus made fajitas for dinner. They were delicious! Also, I'm really ready for it to be Christmas. But I have promised Marcus that I will not decorate for Christmas until after Thanksgiving. So instead, I've been playing lots of Christmas music and baking. Today, I made Magic Bars. They are delicious and remind me of the Holidays.

They look better in person. And they taste great!!

Because I've been in the Christmas mood lately and playing Christmas music a lot, Marcus asked me if I would be sick of Christmas music by the time Christmas actually came around. Yeah, I don't think that could happen. This is definitely my FAVORITE time of year! I just have to hold out less than two more weeks before I can decorate...

100 DAYS!

Marcus and I have officially been married for 100 days. We feel like it's such a landmark but really it's only been a little over 3 months. Still, it's been wonderful! I debated making a list of 100 things Marcus and I have learned and love about marriage, but that is far too long of a list. So instead, here is a list of the square root of 100 things:

1. I use to sleep like a rock; now I wake up at least once a night. I feel like my Mom. However, Marcus still sleeps like a rock.
2. I have officially become obsessed with our apartment being clean at all times. (My former roommates can attested to my desire for the apartment to be clean.) Marcus is pretty good at helping me out with this. And he tells me often how much he enjoys the clean home. :)
3. School is more fun when you're married. Homework and tests still stink but it's nice to have a built in venting outlet.
4. I have become more interested in politics, much to Marcus' delight. However, writing about politics and the government is a TOTALLY different story. Thankfully, I have Marcus to help with that. Yay American Heritage! ;)
5. Parents seem to love when their kids are happily married, working, and going to school. You'd think it had never been done before. The amount of praise we get is great! (this is by no means a request for the praising to end, FYI Dad)
6. Roadtrips when you're married are like 10928575729018492175 times better! It's fun to have someone to travel with!
7. We both loved to read before we got married but now we encourage each other to read more. It's great! I am reading a lot of great books, thanks to Marcus.
8. We have discovered that we LOVE the show Psych! It's one of our favorite things of the week to take time to just relax together and laugh for an hour!
9. About a week after we moved into our ward, we were called as Gospel Doctrine Teachers. It's been so great to learn more about the church together!
10. We seem to have a never ending supply of ground beef and have no idea what to make with it. There's only so many times you can eat tacos...

Well, that's just a few things we've learned/loved about marriage. We are fully aware that 100 days is not the big of an accomplishment. But regardless, we've enjoyed it!

I have an awesome mom!

For my birthday, my Mom made me the cutest chair covers that match our kitchen curtains (which she also made). (Pictures will come once the whole apartment is decorated). In case you didn't know, my mom is amazing at a lot of things but one of her many talents is sewing. So, in addition to the chair covers, she made Marcus and I aprons and we LOVE them. So, as a tribute to her, we cooked in them the other night and took pictures. Enjoy:

This is Marcus working hard on the meatballs.
In case you can't tell, his apron is multi-colored
chili peppers with flame pockets.

It's difficult work stirring tomato sauce.
My apron is a black and white floral-type pattern
with red and black polka-dotted pockets.

Thanks Mom for everything! We love you!

Best Birthday Ever!

So today am I officially an adult! Yes folks, today I finally turned 21. My wonderful husband Marcus made my birthday so AWESOME!

It started with him taking me to see "Love Happens" on Friday night. As poor college students, we really try to save as much money as we can and so we don't go out to movies. So going to see "Love Happens" was special and really fun. We also recommend the movie, by the way.

Then on Saturday we went to Tucano's for my birthday lunch. It was delicious! And super filling! Followed by the BYU vs. Colorado State game (which we won)!

On Sunday, Bryan, Stephanie, KPAX, Derek, Kate, and Brock surprised me with a little get-together. They got me a Cherry Cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory and it was AWESOME! Thank you for being such great friends!

Then today, when Marcus and I woke up, Marcus handed me a big white envelope while informing me that this was my birthday card. I opened it to find this:



What a little cutie! He even had me read it aloud before we got out of bed to get ready for work and school.

After work and school was over, we came home and made scallop fettucini alfredo. It was delicious! Even though I received a cherry cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory, Marcus said he didn't feel right about me not having a cake to blow out candles. So he made me a funfetti cake with rainbow chip frosting! :) He knows me so well!



And of course, the great person that Marcus is, he got me some more presents. He also informed me that I am not allowed to spend as much on his birthday as he did on me. We'll see about that...



He got me the new Nicolas Sparks book "The Last Song," a cute apron, and a new set of scriptures!

Thank you babe, for making this the best birthday ever! I love you so much! :)