cooking.

i've tried really hard this past year to work on healthier eating for us and better dinners. it's been a lot of fun and i've felt like a better wife for it. excited for better eating habits and love making my husbands belly happy. also am in a cooking group that i love.

valenitnes.

woke up to these...

 had a fun filled day...

 gave him this... with tickets to the Jazz game (thanks Michelle)

and house decorations...

it was perfect. love V day.

super bowl.

party at our house. lots of good food, great company and an attempt at making a football field with rice krispies. we. had. fun.

mom's birthday.

we celebrated my mom's birthday at our house. i made a good vegetable soup, opened gifts, had cake, putted in the family room and watched some football. my mom's kind of birthday. it was fun to have them with us. happy birthday cute mom, love you!

new years.

new years at granny's house. just a low key night, sparkling cider and family. great way to bring in the new year!

excited to wear my new boots!

husbands birthday.

we celebrated his 27th birthday! i always try and go all out especially since he has a december birthday. so this year we bought him a 20ft ladder, clothes, golfing things, had a party at our house and went to Tucanos. he deserves everything he gets, love him!

dinner at Tucanos. Also my dad's birthday!! it's fun that they share the same day, except it can be a little hectic but we decided each year we will do dinner together. happy birthday to my sweet dad. he is incredible and so awesome. love you!

my birthday boys!!

party at our house.

christmas day.

.church
.opening gifts
.listening to my mother in law play the piano
.cute little nephews
.delicious food
.mistle toe
.i love christmas!

.helping the littles with their new toys. so cute.

christmas morning.

i really loved Christmas morning this year because it was just us, Alex and I waking up in our new home. it was perfect. we made cinnamon rolls, had the christmas music playing, opened gifts and set up our new sound system. it was so sweet and a day i will never forget. i loved spending it just with him. He of course surprised me with some amazing gifts, he always has something up his sleeve. i am one lucky girl.

 he is so cute! excited for his new surround sound.

our christmas decorations

i had a lot of fun this year decorating our home!

christmas eve.

i love this day. so much family time and fun activities with the Davis'...
*it begins with morning bowling, the best girl bowler gets the trophe and best boy gets the family shirt
*next is pizza at Pier 49 in American Fork
*then we all go to see a movie, this year was Shirlock Holmes
*we finish the night with an egg nog toast & our gift exchange.

it's the same every year, we love it!

treat.

this year i could not decide what to take to all of our new neighbors and close friends for their christmas gift. i went back and forth with many ideas and finally settled on banana jumbos! one of my friends gave me the recipe and i have made it several times since. i liked that it was something unexpected but also something everyone would like, well if they like bananas. i was really happy with how it all turned out!

nephews.

for a funover, as we call it. we love these two little boys so much! if our future children turn out like them we will be so lucky! we borrowed them for the weekend to get pizza, play games, watch Elf and go to church. it was so fun for all of us. Alex's nephews are just a good time. a favorite thing we like to do with them is play finish my sentence and would you rather. such clever little guys :).

friend parties.

our home was finished in the second week of november and with christmas around the corner we decided to throw a few parties of our own! the first one was with our friends from woods cross/farmington. we had lots of treats and played games. i loved having everyone in our home and seeing them again since our big move.

the Jone's, the Richardson's, the Wright's and Ryan & Emily

some of my best friends, love love these girls! Ciara & Megan.

our second party was with our friends from Layton/Ogden area. we had the ingredients ready and prepped for each couple to make their own Stromboli. it turned out really good. then we had a gift exchange and played a few games. just like old times!

the Park's, Trujillo's, Reid's & Barlow's

our Stromboli

excuse the blank walls, we'd only been in our home for a month.

work parties.

christmas parties this year were very fun, probably our best yet! for my work party we ate at Ruth's Chris. their food is amazing, such a nice restaurant. then at the end we were given the new nikon j1 camera! i was so excited!
then for byu Alex had 2 parities. the first one was with all of the baseball team and was held at Coach Law's house. it's tradition for the team to have it there every year. following dinner each player and coach gives their gag gift to the person they were assigned to. they get up in front of everyone and explain what they bought. i got to know the players really quick from this. it was hilarious. the things they buy and their reasons for it are so funny. the player who had Alex bought him a chocolate bar and a bill cosby dvd... he said he was guessing that Alex likes chocolate haha, because of me. too funny.

the second party was for all of the Athletic Department at BYU and was held at the Cougar banquet room. it was a great dinner and after they gave all the staff a gift basket full of mugs, root beer, ice cream coupons and a blanket! they also received the Prophet's book, Thomas S. Monson. Amazing! We had such a great time and were so happy Alex was apart of it all.

the girls i work with after dinner at Ruth's Chris

alex's gifts from byu

mormon tabernacle concert.

it's a family tradition to go to the concert every year. we really look forward to it and love the christmas spirit that it brings. the church does such an amazing job with the music and their guest vocalists. we all met up and took the trax into downtown salt lake. it was smooth and easy. we were so excited that Ben could come, Lindsey's boyfriend and Rachelle & Steven. after we went to the Marriott and had hot chocolate and pie! loved having this family time together. can't wait for this year!
trax ride

 we got there very early, which made for great seats!

Love our family!

f & b games.

i decided it was time to update our family blog. we have done so many fun things especially now that we've moved :). and i have set a goal to make the "blog book" and finally print it out. so here i am blogging all the way back to october/november of 2011...

byu football games...

 one of the many perks to Alex's job at BYU, is being able to attend all of their other sports. we went to several of the football games and had a blast. took a lot of our friends too.

i have great family and friends who come with me to the baseball games! i just like to be where Alex is, well close to since he is always in the dugout. we love baseball. 

these are just a few pictures that i took, but really we went to so many games that i wish i would have taken pictures. next time :).

more to come...

remembering him.

2 years ago today the doctors thought they might need to do an emergency hysterectomy. i lost a lot of blood, was heavily medicated, scared for what else might happen and sad. i felt like i was living in a nightmare, and i was. having something that i loved so deeply taken away from me hurt like nothing i've ever done before. delivering our 4 pound baby boy was a spiritual experience. in looking back i wonder how i made it. and honestly i'm impressed with myself and my husband. we accepted what happened, prayed a lot, loved a lot and moved on. it wasn't easy and still isn't. i miss him. miss being pregnant. miss the idea of what our family was about to become. i miss having alex touch my belly. i miss knowing that i was about to become something so important, so sweet and so real. that my true calling in life was about to begin.

i appreciated every single person that came to see me in the hospital those 6 very longs days. for those that called, and prayed for me. for all those that brought meals and sent flowers, i love you. you really understand who your real friends are when you go through something so hard. and i feel so good knowing that i have some of the best people in my life that really do care about us. how special that is!
over these couple of years, people asked how i am, gave words of encouragement and listened. i love those who asked and were concerned. i know it is such a brave thing to do, and scary to ask someone about something so heartbreaking. but i appreciated those who did. since then i have had so many sweet girls who have come out to me and shared their very personal stories. i am so sorry and saddened to hear similar things have happened to so many. i feel for you. emily you are a true inspiration to me!

i've learned a lot, grown so much and feel so close to my husband. we really are one. i am grateful that he has been my solid foundation through it all. always offering a kind word or reminder that i am a wonderful mom and that he wouldn't want anyone else to be the mother of his children. he tells me i am beautiful and that he is grateful for my strength. such a blessing he is to me. i am in love with the man he is today, the provider and loving support he is to me.

above all i am most thankful for the Gospel. i know that my Heavenly Father loves me. i know that our sweet baby is safe in his arms. i am forever grateful for temples and feel so comforted knowing that our family is for time and all eternity. it get's me through each day. i feel Peyton with me everyday as well. i love him so much that it hurts. but i know that there is a plan for us and that it all happens for a reason. i encourage all of you to love your babies with as much love as you can possibly give. i am happy for you. i hope to be a mom someday and am grateful for the experience i had.

2012 is going to be a good year, we've been blessed with so much already. i owe it to him.
mom and dad love you Peyton.

thanks for being there!

dominican.

just backing up a couple of months...

Shout out to my husband!!

Alex had an amazing experience traveling for work in november. he was able to go to the Dominican Republic! the team went to play baseball but were also able to do a lot of charity work and have fun too. and even though it was during thanksgiving and i missed him like crazy i am so glad he was able to go. i was so impressed with BYU and their willingness to take time on their trip to plan service opportunities. Alex is so grateful that he works there, they are so good to their employees and really hold to their standards. it makes me so happy knowing that he loves where he is at and for him life couldn't be better :).

PUBLISHED here.

card.

happy holidays!

special thanks to ciara for the photos!

vegas.

i need to back up a few weeks...

phew we have been busy! we went to Vegas and had a blast. nothing sounded better to us then a visit to see our very good friends the Doyles. it was one of the most relaxing trips we've had and we are so glad we went.

our trip consisted of:

-2 days of golf for the boys
-2 days of shopping for the girls

-trying new dinner and lunch places
-catching up on some good reality tv
-football games
-cute guest bedroom
-amazing home cooked dinner and breakfast by Anna
-good talks & lots of laughs

it's easy hanging out with these 2 and baby Easton. we all like the same things and get along so well. so very lucky to have real friends like them. thanks for the wonderful stay! can't wait to have you over in a week!

and most important was this little guy...Easton. cutest thing! i loved playing with him all weekend. Anna is such an amazing mom! and lucky to have him :).