Christmas is in the air!!

I feel like we've been going non-stop lately! Work has been crazy with preparations for all of the year-end accounting stuff so I've been sooo busy. Thanksgiving was totally amazing, I'm so happy that I got to spend some time with family and be home on such a great holiday for the first time in the past 5 years. On the flip side, this is the first time I've ever celebrated a Christmas away from home. I'm really sad about missing our family's Christmas party and not getting to spend it with my Grandma when it will probably be her last one...but there are definitely so many reasons why I'm excited about this Christmas:

1) I'm really excited for our first Christmas in our home. I'm excited about spending Christmas morning with my husband and beginning our own family traditions.
2) I LOVE having a house to decorate! Granted, I don't go around putting something in every nook and cranny, but I love having our own tree with our ornaments, my own nativity set, yummy smelling candles, and a few others things.
3) I'm excited about taking part in my husband's family traditions and seeing how he's grown up celebrating Christmas.
4) NO traveling!! Seriously, getting back and forth between two of the snowiest states is extremely stressful sometimes. Last Christmas my brother and I were really close to spending the night in the airport in Minneapolis and I seriously had a nervous breakdown.
5) I'll hopefully get to talk to my brother!! (this is something I would get to do either way, but I'm still excited) Eric is on a mission in Boston since August and I'm excited to hear from him. I miss him a lot.

Here's a few pics from Thanksgiving and our Christmas decorations at home :)Some of my family celebrating Thanksgiving at my parents house

I LOVE my nativity set!!

Our kitchen table

My Grandma gave us this for Christmas this year

Our awesome tree and some presents!

Anniversary

So today is our 6 month anniversary!!! I feel a little bit lame every time I say that, but I still think it's a big deal. I can't believe it's been that long, I love us!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRIS!!

Christopher turned 26 on Saturday! We went out to dinner to Chili's with some our amazing friends and came back to our house to celebrate afterwards. Chris opened his presents from me at the party and got new shoes, Guitar Hero 5, and tickets to the Jazz/Raptors game on November 18! The cake follows the Jazz theme. I ordered from the wife of a friend of mine from work. Wow, I've never had cake so good! www.ladow.org/stacycakes So good!! In the pic below, you can see the guys playing GH. I love the intensity on TJ's face as he sings! haha

It was a great day to celebrate, and so fun for me to be able to surprise Chris with all my planning. :) I couldn't ask for a better husband!

Corn Maze!

Two weeks ago we went with our friends Benj and Amanda to a corn maze in Syracuse. It was a Team Edward vs. Team Jacob maze based on the Twilight movies. It was a little strange because it had no distinct beginning or end, but we did get lost pretty good a couple of times so that made it worth it. We had a lot of fun with them!

IT'S OCTOBER?!?

Where did the summer go? Wow, it's kinda been a while. Chris and I have been married for 4 months now! Yeah, yeah, that doesn't seem like a lot to most of you, but it's pretty exciting for us. Actually in just a few days is the anniversary of our engagement. I can't believe it's been that long. We're loving life though, staying busy and relaxing at the same time. Work is going well for me and I'm really enjoying what I do. Chris' job at New York Life finally got it's kickoff. It's something that takes a while to get the hang of, but he's working really hard at it and has done pretty well so far. Here's some highlights of the past couple months:

• We bought tickets to MI for Thanksgiving!! And I can't tell you how excited I am :)
• Chris broke his thumb playing softball and had to wear a cast for like 6 weeks. And this is kinda funny, the hair on his arm that was covered by the cast grows a lot faster now! haha
• Like I said, Chris has really started working his new job. I love seeing my professional husband all dressed up every day :) He's even fully equipped with a Blackberry, bluetooth, two new suits, and his own business cards! Anyone interested in life insurance?!?
• We've attended like 5 wedding receptions. Such is life in Utah during the summer I guess, right?
• Our condo has turned into a really homey place. We finally got it set up just the way we like it and we just love it here. And being able to decorate your own home is SO fun! (some pics below)
• My brother left on his mission to Boston. He left the MTC last week and we just got his first letter from the field today. He already baptized someone! (it made me cry! :)
• I've started scrapbooking our honeymoon pictures and it is so fun! I love having time do the things I love without worrying about homework anymore!
• etc., etc., etc.

Well, enough of that. Last night we carved pumpkins with our friends, Benj and Amanda and here's some pictures of that and of our cute Halloween decorations!

Michigan Wedding Reception.

Me with my Mom and her mom
Grandma and six of nine siblings - Tammy, Bob, Pam, Grandma, Reyne, Tom, Kathy(mom)


Our first dance to our song - "18th Floor Balcony" by Blue October

Daddy/Daughter dance to "Butterfly Kisses" by Bob Carlise

Mother/Son dance to "What a Wonderful World" by Louis Armstrong

MARRIAGE

So it's already been a month, how crazy is that?! Married life is the best. Seriously. I love coming home to Christopher every day and just being so in love. I've been meaning to update this for a long time, but it's just been so busy that I really haven't had the time. And now there's so much to tell that I don't even know where to start!

The week of the wedding was amazing. My bridesmaids were all here staying at our apartment with me and it was so wonderful to have us all together. Those three girls are my very best friends from freshman year of college, and to show how great it was to be back together - we haven't been all together in three years, and the girls flew in from three different countries to be here for my day. My family was here too of course, and it was so wonderful to share such a great time with everyone.

THE DAY was the best of our lives. There's not even much I can say to describe it. I'm grateful for all of you that were there for us. The temple was indescribable, such an amazing feeling to FINALLY be sealed for eternity! Here's the day described in pictures!

We left the party in a limo with me not knowing where we were staying. And it took us to the Grand America Hotel! It was so beautiful and Chris had decorated with rose petals all over the floor and bed! I could probably say a whole lot more about it, but I'm pretty sure I should skip to the next morning... ;)

Our flight left at about 11:30 am for Maui!!! Lucky for us our flight was overbooked and we actually got on a direct flight that got us there 3 hours earlier! What can I even say about how amazing Hawaii is? It's so incredible. In Hawaii we signed up for three main activities. The first was a luau at the Sheraton resort. I loved it and the food was great! The best part was when the honeymooning husbands had to get up on stage and be instructed in a dance! HILARIOUS! I wish I had videoed Chris up there, but I did get a picture.

The second activity was on Wednesday. And let me tell you, this turned out to be quite an interesting day. We got up around six to take a trip on the Four Winds boat out to Molekini for some snorkeling! Now let's preface this by saying that I'm really good at getting motion sickness. But I thought the boat wasn't too big and I'd be outside so I would be fine. BAD assumption. It took an hour to sail out there and I was sick the whole time. I threw up in Chris' hat and towel and the rest of the trip was pretty much ruined. I couldn't eat and I could barely even snorkel. But the day's not over yet. (I did manage to take one good picture)

When we finally got back on dry land it was a happy day! Back at the hotel afterwards Chris did some more snorkeling and was later complaining about his ear hurting. Well right I was falling asleep he starts yelling for me to help him because there's something in his ear and he can't hear anything. Now of course I want to be this cute little wife who knows exactly how to help and console her husband, but I had no idea what to do. All the nearby clinics were closed and Chris was freaking out so we drove across the island for an hour to go to the ER. Let me sum up that experience by saying its the first time I've heard Chris swear. He was so frustrated because the people were extremely rude and almost sent us away without having fixed the problem. Luckily I asked them to wash it out again and it worked!

But this day still isn't over... Well technically it is, but we got back at 1 in the morning and a bus picked us up at 2:30 am for our next trip. This day was actually 100 times better but we were going on an hour of sleep! We drove up to the top of a volcano called Haleakala and got to watch the sunrise and then bike back down about 25 miles. I can honestly say it's one of the coolest things I've ever done. The sunrise was beautiful and the view for the bike ride was amazing. We were pooped when we got home!!

( sunrise on Haleakala, it was SO cold!)
(Lookout on the bike trip. This is a pose they suggested after learning we were honeymooners)

The rest of the trip was filled with lots of beach snorkeling, eating out, sleeping in, hanging by the pool, and just relaxing and enjoying each other. Coming home was a little sad, but I couldn't have asked for a better honeymoon or a better husband. Here's some of our other favorite pics from the trip!

(Bubba Gump - We actually ate here twice!)

Life since being home is pretty awesome. It's great to come home to my husband every day and not have to say good night and go sleep in different rooms! I feel like we've already learned more about each other and that the years ahead are full of wonderful moments and special things to share. Our house is looking great and we love it! My job is going great and Chris should be staring his any day now! We celebrated my birthday on the 6th of July, I'm now 22! And the most recent news is that Chris broke his thumb playing softball on Wednesday. The cast is pretty ugly right now cuz he was so swollen but he'll get a new one on Monday and be in it for 6 to 8 weeks! Sad... :(
Well hopefully now I'll keep up with posting a little bit better. We're looking forward to things dying down quite a bit now and us getting into a better routine. Exciting times ahead!! :) :)

So...the day is swiftly approaching. In only 12 days, Chris and I will be married for time and all eternity. Pretty awesome, huh? It was really great to come home to Chris after being in Michigan for two weeks, and the time since then has flown by. I started working fulltime as an accountant with the company I interned with last summer. It's called AgReserves, and they oversee the investment farms and ranches of the LDS church. It was pretty awesome to receive that first big paycheck! In the meantime, Chris was studying super hard for his exam to become licensed as an insurance sales agent for New York Life. He took the test last Wednesday and passed with flying colors! I'm really proud of him. :)

Wedding planning has also taken off in the past couple weeks. I had three more showers when I got home, which were all absolutely wonderful. Thanks goes to Natalie and the rest of the girls for the great dinner and party that we had! I also got my bridal photos taken last Thursday, which I'll give a sneak peek of in a minute! I LOVE THEM!! I'm really glad Natalie went with me to do those. We had such a great time and she was a really great help with everything! Chris and I also have put in orders for many last minute wedding things. Our guest book is one of them. Thanks goes to Mallorie for getting us the website and everything for that! I put in the order on Tuesday and we already got the book!

Things are all falling into place. The cake is ordered, menu decided, guest book, serving set, and party favors acquired. Now we just need the next couple of weeks to go by quickly! My family is all coming in a week from tomorrow and I'm super excited for them to all be here. My bridesmaids will all soon be here also, as well as Chris' sister Ashley. Lots of fun time are coming up, and we're excited for all of you, our greatest friends, to be a part of it too!