Family Christmas Party

What a fun time of year! The holidays are great because we get to spend so much time with our family. My family is the absolute BEST family out there (and I am not biased at all). I am the only girl out of two brothers and three stepbrothers. Luckily for me, all of them are married so I now have sisters which is so much fun! On top of that, most of them have kids which makes things even more fun. Can I tell you that being an aunt is probably the best thing in the world? I can go crazy with them, get them all wound up, run around the house and then....send them home with their mom and dad :) I'm sure they appreciate that!

 The Christmas party that my mom put together was so much fun! We had delicious food (like always if my mom is in the kitchen) and of course there was WAY too much food (like always if my mom is in the kithcen)! After we ate we played lots of games that were very entertaining. We laughed a lot and had a blast! One of my favorite games that we played was pictionary. We had to pick a Christmas song and try to draw something that would get people to guess what Christmas song it was. I am a terrible artist...actually I wouldnt even say artist. That word would give me way too much credit, but at least someone was able to guess what my song was!

'Tis the Season

...to make gingerbread houses! I think every year since Blaine and I were dating we have made gingerbread houses. It's always so much fun, but my house never seems to stay up. Last year mine ended up being a tiny shack because that was the only way I could get it to stay up. This year was different though....maybe it was because Brett and Annika were there cheering me on! Everyone's house looked great! I loved how in to decorating Brett got too....very impressive!

 As you can see, Blaine was very serious while making his house! We wanted to get a picture of all four of us with our houses but no one was available to take the picture, so we decided to try to set my camera up on the timer mode and get one! It took us a couple tries.

Take One

Take Two

And....finally got one that worked!

Another year comes and goes (almost)

So,I feel like the older I get, the faster the time goes by, which is unfortunate because the older I get, the more valuable I realize life really is. I can't believe 2011 is almost over! This year has been great so far and filled with a lot of adventures. Here are some things that I learned throughout 2011....

1. My plans are not always the same as the Lord's plans, but it all works out in the end for the best.
2. Just because you really want a new red Jetta, doesn't mean you should get one.
3. I am a very big REAL fan and didn't even know it until my brother Kevin became their Athletic Trainer
4. I am capable of running a half marathon, even if I do throw up afterwards.
5. House hunting is not fun.
6. I am still completely twitterpaited about Blaine.
7. You can get a 4.0 at the University of Utah without reading your textbooks that you spent a couple hundred dollars on.
8. The most important thing to do is to stop thinking you can do everything on your own; God is there to help
9. Blaine is never going to make the bed the same way that I do....and thats ok.
10. The Sommerville's are our best friends
11. You can get to the point that you eat so much brown rice and chicken that you want to throw up just thinking about it. Why cant this happen with Oreos?

I am sure there are a LOT more things that I learned during 2011, but this is what I came up with for now. Here is to 2011!

Lake Powell

 Our wonderful and generous friends Brett and Annika were kind enough to invite us to go to Lake Powell with them for a couple days. We had the best time! Lake Powell is one of my favorite places to go, but I haven't been in about ten years....which is absolutely crazy! We spent the weekend wake boarding, wake surfing (which was awesome!), and hanging out. The best part was just being able to spend time with our friends. I wasnt very good at wake surfing, but I loved it! Blaine did great at everything, of course! And Brett and Annika? Well they were pretty much professionals at EVERYTHING! Very impressive to say the least. The water was so perfect the whole trip and the weather was amazing! We really couldnt have asked for anything better. We are grateful to have such nice friends who like us enough to invite us to Lake Powell! :)

When I was a little girl, my family and I used to go to Lake Powell all of the time. We had a boat that stayed in a slip down there (J5 to be exact:). I had SO much fun while I was there over the weekend, however, it was a little bitter sweet. My mind was overwhelmed with memories...both good and bad. There is so much history behind Lake Powell, my family and the things we have gone through. Of course, Steve has always been in the back of my mind, but going to Lake Powell made me realize that even though it was a long time ago that I lost him, I still miss him just as much as I did ten years ago. It was good going to Powell because it closed some open wounds, but at the same time it made me realize that it will never be the same going there as it used to be. It's ok though. I am grateful that I had Blaine to share this experience with me and to comfort me along the way. It was really cool to be able to share something with him that was so special to me. He is my very best friend in the whole wide world and the best husband a girl could ask for! Instead of hanging on to something that will never be the same, Blaine and I will make new memories together! Just because you do something one way for a long time, doesnt mean its the only way that it can be done!

Feel the Burn!

I love fitness, you love fitness, everyone loves fitness!!!! Ok, unfortunately that is not really the case...not everyone loves fitness, but I really do. I don't know what I would do if I wasnt able to exercise....probably pull my hair out! Working out for me releases stress, makes me feel better about myself (however, still a challenge accepting certain flaws that wont seem to go away. Ha!:), and gives me energy! Plus its something that Blaine and I enjoy doing together. I go to a gym called Crosscroads (which is awesome). Its no Lifetime, BUT it is an amazing value, super clean, has great equipment...oh and they just added group fitness classes. I participated in my first class last week and it was SO much fun! It was a cardio interval class and less than half way through I was dripping with sweat! I tried Zumba last night...and well.... I dont know if I'm coordinated enough for that yet. Maybe with a little more pratice. I looked pretty ridiculous trying to keep up with all those dance/salsa/workout moves. I have been worked out for quite a while so I didnt think this classes would kick my butt as hard as they did. Honestly I think I am sore everywhere right now from taking these classes. It's just nice to mix things up! Everytime I am going to go to a class I ask Blaine if he wants to go, but everytime he says no. I know deep down he is DYING to do Zumba! :) I loved this picture I found about fitness being fun. A lot of people think that working out is a punishment or something that they totally dread. Its not always easy and I dont always feel like working out but I'm so glad that I actually enjoy working out. It makes it a lot easier to get up to go to the gym at 5 am! Brooke, I know you hear me on this one! Everyone smile...fitness is fun!:)

Doin' the Dirty (Dash)

Ok, so I will start off by saying if you have never done the Dirty Dash Race, you are totally missing out. I had the opportunity...yes it was considered an opportunity...of running a dirty, muddy, obstalcle 10K race with my best friends Brett and Annika and my hubby Blaine. Before I say anything else, I want to give a shout out to Ann for doing such an awesome job on her first race! Next year you better plan on doing the East Canyon half marathon with me:) I guess I should give another shout out to Brett and my super hot husband for getting the comment, "Man, I could watch them all day!" by some cute girls that were at the race. I will take that as a compliment for scoring such a hunk for a husband!;)  

Brett's dad has a house up in Midway (which is where the race was at) that we got to stay in for the weekend. The house was amazing and we had it all to ourselves. I never imagined there would be so many people at the race as there was. It was kind of an interesting race because the majority of the people dressed up in crazy costumes. My favorite? Definitely the three girls dressed up as Piligimists with one guy there to be their husband. So hilarious! I have no idea how they ran 6 miles in those dresses. The race was filled with all sorts of obstacles ranging from stacks of haybells you had to jump (or crawl over in my case), pipes you crawled through, walls to climb over, slip in slides to go down and ropes to swing on...all in lots and lots of mud!

Award for Best Photogropher Is.....

 Brinn Prowse!! Wow...is all I can say about the amount of talent she has! I am lucky enough to have her as a sister-in-law, and even luckier that she donated so much time and effort in to taking my bridals, mine and Blaine's engagements and our wedding photos! I know this was a couple years ago, but I got looking through them and couldn't help but post them. My bridals were, by far, one of the most fun days I have spent with Brinn. "Use your next top model hips!" is what she kept telling me. It was fun pretending to be a model for one day....but dont worry, I wont be quitting my day job. Thanks for sharing your talent Brinn!

HOLY HIKE!!!

Blaine and I decided to try out a new hike. The name of the hike? Cherry Logging Trail. This was by far the hardest hike that we have ever done (we have been on a lot of hikes). The trail starts off with a little bit of uphill, then some more uphill....then two hours later, some MORE uphill! "We are almost there! It's just on top of this peak." Blaine said these words probably about five times throughout the duration of this adventure. I will admit that, after two hours of hiking straight uphill, I was much less determined to reach our destination than Blaine was. What was our destination you might ask? We have no idea.....but every good hike has to have an awesome ending point that makes it all worth it right? Well I wish I could say we finished the hike, but we didn't but we were SO SO SO high. These pictures dont even start to justify what it was really like!

 Once we got to the top we took a little break, ate our protein bars, then decided that we better head back down before we both fell asleep (or before our legs fell of and we couldn't make it to the bottom). But wait....we still had to go downhill! Sounds easy right? Not when one of us has terrible knees and the other one is the WORST and SLOWEST steep downhill climber (downhiller?) ever! There were parts when we were going downhill that were so steep that I just slid down on my butt (sounds way scary, but its mostly just because I'm a chicken of falling)!

The best part of the hike? Being able to spend three and a half hours with my best buddy in the whole wide world. These hikes wouldnt be nearly as fun if I didnt get to do them with Blaine. We always get to have the best conversations (in between trying to catch our breath) and have so much fun experiencing something new together. What a blessing it is to have him and to live in such a beautiful place where we can enjoy all of these wonderful things!

Gone Fishing

Blaine and I have been going to Diamond Fork for quite some time now. This time when we went we got to bring along Brett and Annika (who else, right?) We went up Friday night and came home Sunday morning. I will have to admit that I was a little nervous about going camping without having a bathroom (I know what you are thinking...high maintainance right?) but it ended up not being a big deal at all. It was a great trip filled with lots of interesting things.....hiking and fishing, of course, but we also had to opportunity of hearing Brett fall out of the pop up trailer in the middle of the night, laying down in an ice cold river (doesnt sound that crazy, but in my book, this is considered living on the wild side) and getting our car jumped by a man who looked a little shady. To get to our fishing spot we have to climb a huge mountain (I think the correct word for this hike is grueling!) There is no path...somehow the mountain man in Blaine just takes over and gets us to the place we need to go. We end up at a river on the other side. This fishing is not the kind where you sit in a lawn chair, throw your line in, and wait for a fish to bite....no, we are TRUDGING (and again, this is definitely the correct word for this) through a river going from hole to hole. I must add that I have never seen anyone, other than Blaine, be so determined to catch a fish as Annika was. This was her first time fishing in a river and she did awesome....what a woman! We cant wait to go again!  

Couldn't Get Any Better

 So, not only did I get to go to East Canyon to run a half marathon....we got to go to East Canyon with two of our best friends, Brett and Annika. We love these guys so much (as you can see in the picture of Brett and Blaine holding hands)! I think this has been one of the only vacations I have taken this summer, but even if it wasnt I could easily say it was the best one.

DID IT.........finally!!!

After years of saying I was going to do it and after months of training I finally ran in....and completed.....a half marathon in East Canyon! I can't tell you how good it felt crossing that finish line. When I was almost done with the race I looked up the road and there was my wonderful husband waiting for me to finish the rest of the race with me. It took all I had to not cry at this point. I dont know what it was about running this half marathon that made me want to cry so much. Throughout the race I would start thinking, "Wow, I am really doing this!" Once this happened my eyes would get all watery....I guess I am a little emotional. It wasn't the actual running that made me want to cry, of course, it was more of the fact that I was going to accomplish a goal I had set for myself. Thanks to all my cheering fans that helped me along the way....Blaine, Brett, Annika, and all of the random people I had no idea on the sides of the road :)

Blaine and Brett ran the 10K and took first and second in their age group. Quite impressive for two people who didn't really train beforehand. The motivation must have come from the women (twice their age) who were passing them up, telling them to "push it!!" at the end that lead them to their victory. Way to go boys!     

Fairytale Wedding

After three wonderful years of dating my high school sweetheart, Blaine, we decided to tie the knot and make it official on September 26, 2009. It was the PERFECT day! There is not one thing I would have changed about this day (other than making time stand still of course). May I add that it was the most beautiful, wonderful and spectacular wedding I have ever been too.....not that I am biased or anything :) I will give credit where credit is due...Thank you to the world's best designer: Brooke! Thank you to the world's best wedding planner: Danielle! Thank you to the world's BEST mother-of-the bride: Mom! And of course, thank you to the world's most amazing man who picked me to be his bride. What a blessing it is to have him....I am so grateful!