Merry Christmas ya filthy animal

Merry Christmas! Blake and I have been having a great week in Seattle enjoying lots of family time and treats. Amy sent me this pic of Bad Anne (love her) opening presents on the fake Christmas morning my mom and Amy had with her. Doesn't this picture perfectly capture the magical feeling of Christmas? I love it. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas! We are so grateful for the birth of our Savior and for all of our blessings this past year.

turkey time

After finally being picked up from the airport (my mom got a little lost :)) we headed straight to a new donut place in SLC- Beyond Glaze. It was awesome. Seriously awesome. Great start to the weekend.

I finally saw Skus after about 1.5 years.. our pic wasn't sure but just know it was a great reunion! We saw our favorite baby Elle! Her parents are pretty cool too ;) Steph and Dev joined too and S has the cutest baby bump :)

My goal for 2013 was to learn to make rolls from my mom. Nailed it. Now I have to try to make them on my own…maybe I'll save that one for 2014.

My mom makes Martha Stewart look like a amateur. The woman makes her own soap! She was wrapping soap all weekend to prepare for her holiday boutiques. She sent us home with a heavenly haul. Wassil is my favorite mmmm.

We had a great Thanksgiving all together and got to celebrate my grandma's 90th birthday! She is such a rockstar and the best grandma ever. Keep on chuggin grams!

I also finally got to meet my not so new niece Heidi! She was such a doll but didn't love it when I looked at her. Guess we need to visit Utah more.

We also hit up the Black Friday madness at the outlets, saw Book Thief and enjoyed every second of being home.

Now onto Seattle for Christmas!

Vegas

Before we headed to Utah for turkey day, we made a stop in Vegas. Blake has lots of good Vegas memories and promised to show me, the skeptical wife, the better side of Vegas. First stop was the Centurion lounge in the airport, it had an awesome buffet and cool modern feel.

My dad, Jake and Jordan drove down from St. George to hang out with us for a day. We had a great time at the Bobby Flay restaurant, and visiting the Pawn Stars shop and the Shark Tank at Mandalay Bay. They also brought us Swig cookies and Blake about cried :)

We spent the rest of our time shopping, eating In N Out, and checking out all the cool hotels all while enjoying 60 degree weather. I got my first ever massage! It's safe to say I am now a big big spa fan.

We got to meet up with lots of friends including the Sundells, Bryce, Julie and Taylor + kids. We met up for dinner and dessert at the Aria one night, the best smelling hotel ever :)

It was a quick but fun and relaxing trip. We will definitely be back soon- I need to meet my girl Celine!!!

happy halloween to you!

For Halloween this year I convinced my fellow therapists to dress up as different colors of crayons for work. It was awesome. It was surprisingly easy for me to find an entire neon pink outfit (maybe that's not actually too surprising :)). All my little kiddos were adorable and I got lots of candy so it was a pretty solid day at work. Now we're headed to a little Halloween party. I whipped up some pumpkin cupcakes with cream cheese frosting. Thanks to Skus, my little Halloween picks really set it over the top. Have a very happy halloween! 

farm time

We spent a wonderful weekend at a farm in Northeastern Pennsylvania (NEPA!) with our fave couple the Coop Crew. We stayed at Kraig's parents' beautiful home and enjoyed pumpkin ice cream and late night ping pong tournaments (we won). Other highlights included the Cider Mill, a polaroid photo shoot, scenic drives and great company. It was a dream.

Despite a few hiccups (I caught a nasty stomach bug that I'm still recovering from), we had a fantastic weekend. Thank you thank you Coopers! We hope to be back soon!

happy happy birthday!

A big birthday shout out to my main squeeze! Happy birthday Blake! Thanks for making our life an adventure. I love our Target runs, singing in the car, road trips, Revenge marathon, date nights and baking parties. You da best. Love you to the moon and back!

P.S. Double shout out to Blake for taking care of me this weekend when I got a stomach bug. Rubbing my back as I throw up at 3 am? That's love.

Have a great birthday! Live up the last of your 20s ;)

my new happy place

Blake and I (plus our sidekick Foxtrot) took a little fall drive into the country yesterday. I love DC but miss nature being so close like it is in Utah. We had an itch to see some fall leaves and I neeeded to try an apple cider donut asap so we went on an adventure to Winchester, VA- aka my new happy place. (move over Target!)

We hit up Marker Mill Orchards first and this place was beyond charming. Blake had to ask me multiple times to please stop screeching with excitement. I didnt.

Next we went antiquing to find some little treasures. I passed up on an extra large vintage blue mason jar trying to "save money"....Then I made the boys go back 2 hours later because I couldn't stop thinking about it. At least I tried. And now it sits proudly in my bookcase :)

The Snow White Grill was closed (What a name! And I was looking forward to a corn dog real bad) so we settled for some Mexican food and homemade ice cream.

Oh and we stopped at Sonic. Twice.

Not a bad Monday. 

Winchester I'll be back for you!

#ldsconf

Blake and I are cuddled up on the couch right now watching LDS General Conference. I'm pretending that it's a cozy 60 degrees rather than the sweltering 90 degree it really is. Breakfast food and conference just seem to go hand in hand so I tried out this cinnamon roll casserole thing. Honestly frozen Rhodes rolls are just as tasty (don't tell Blake I admitted that). Stupid Pinterest always sucks me in.

Anyway, I love Conference weekend. It brings back lots of fun memories of eating butterscotch life savers watching grandpa rockin his talk from the pulpit. See my previous conference post HERE. Love you gramps, thanks for always inspiring me. Happy Conference Weekend!

a tribute to our Labor Day weekend

Over Labor Day weekend, we headed up to NYC for our end of summer hurrah. Our two main priorities were eating delicious food and sightseeing throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn. 

We managed to do lots of both.

Our good friends Larson and Ashley took us to the Brooklyn Flea for the first time several years ago, and it now has a become a must-do while in NYC. The place has some of the most eclectic and incredible finds - and on top of that, they have the world's yummiest doughnuts - made by a local Brooklyn bakery called Dough.

After the Flea, we spent the afternoon with the Laidlaws (we never seem to manage to take a picture!) and tried to watch the BYU Football game, but finally gave up an hour and half into the rain delay.  We headed under the Brooklyn Bridge for our favorite pizza, Grimaldi's and then took a walk down the Brooklyn Bridge Park (it's still under construction but we saw the pop-up Pool and ate some ice cream from Ample Hills).  

I love the Brooklyn Pier. 

Touristy? Yes. Delicious? YES.

The next morning found us at Rockefeller Center continuing our quest to find the best macarons in NYC - we've decided that Bouchon Bakery is the best, although St. Francois Payard (down in SoHo) is a close second.  We loved the birthday cake macaron!

Our final day in NYC began with brunch at Sarabeth's (right at the start of Central Park).  After some delicious French Toast we took a leisurely walk through the park to the Upper West Side to meet some of Blake's friends, Ryan and Linda. 

Now it's time to celebrate fall!