Toddlers to Temples

This weekend was so exciting because I got to see one of my oldest friends get married! And even better, Emily tied the knot to one of Jeff's mission companions! {Small Mormon world} We drove through rain, sleet, and snow to get to Arizona, but it was so worth it! It was so nice to get away and visit with friends.  We stayed at Jeff's friends Hunter & Lacy's house.  Hunter is in dental school there, so it was fun to see them talk about everything dentistry. Anyway, Congrats Emily & Kenny!

Friends since we were babes!

I can't wait til they move to Arizona so we can have some weekend getaways!

Yummy cake!

Snow in Cali! This is like 10 minutes from our house...

Jeff swears his eyes are open. Poor guy was running on 3 hours of sleep.

{No pictures from staying with Hunter & Lacy, but they were such great hosts! Hope to see them again soon!}

And there went January...

I’m not exactly sure what has kept us so busy this month, but I feel like we have something every single night.  Between Jeff’s 4 basketball and 1 soccer intramural teams, youth group, school, and work, we have still managed some excitement.  A few highlights: Jeff reclaimed his championship title in the Stake 3 on 3 basketball tournament! For all the juicy details about the take down, check out Erika's Blog.

Shirts and blue ribbons for Jeff, Nate, & Drew!

 We had the annual Youth Retreat for the teenagers in our ward, but this year was even better because Jeff got to come since he is in Young Mens! Quite a different experience than last year. This year it snowed on us and was freezing, where last year we had really warm weather.  It was wonderful and the kids had a blast.  

Sunrise! Look at the ice on the tree!

Jeff was really in to ping pong. He was the champion.

Our awesome banner for this year's theme of "Stand Ye In Holy Places"

 We also got to attend the wedding of our friend Belkis.  Jeff baptized her on his mission and we were lucky enough to get to go to her sealing in Newport Beach!  We love her family and had so much fun talking and dancing with them at the reception.

Newport Beach Temple

Belkis & Alex!

Last, my friend Elisabeth from MO came and stayed with us for a few day while she scoped out the area.  We will be lucky to have her and her husband so close in the near future! 

We came out in matching blue pants one morning... No worries, I changed.

Here’s to February!

December Review

Wow, I have been horrible at keeping up with this during the holidays.  December flew by! So here is what we were up to:

We celebrated our 2^nd anniversary.  

 We took a quick trip to Las Vegas to visit some of the families Jeff taught on his mission.  We got to go to the beautiful temple and enjoy home-made tortillas!  Sadly, we had to get 2 new tires for Jeff’s car while there, but luckily they didn’t go flat while driving on them! 

Then we took a long Christmas vacation to both Missouri and Seattle.  I got to help with my friend Emily’s bridal shower, whose future husband was one of Jeff’s mission companions {small Mormon world}.  I visited with old friends and got to spend time with my family.  

Emily, Me, Elisabeth, Rachael

After Christmas, we headed to Seattle. Jeff wore this the whole plane ride:  

Keeping with the ugly sweater tradition.  Since the twins are on their mission and we were in Missouri for Christmas day, everyone had to mail them to their sweater recipient.  Thus, Jeff wearing his on the plane.  I'm not as fearless as Jeff, so I didn't wear mine on the plane, but this was it:

 While in Washington, we took a trip to central Washington to watch Trevor play in a basketball tournament.

So pretty on the drive there!

Trevor's cheering section! 

Jeff, Trevor, and Bry

  

It snowed while we were there!! :)

We spent New Year’s Eve as a family seeing "Parental Guidance", eating, and playing Scene It. We all wore New Year's hats to eat.. and through the movie :-p

Happy New Year!

The next day we went to this cool restaurant called XXX. Sounds scandalous, but it was totally retro and delicious! 

Then, I had to go back to work, but Jeff got to stay a few more days to play.  And then our Christmas vacation was over. Bummer.