Our First Married Christmas

This was our first Christmas as a married couple and we were crazy busy and we loved it!! We had the Brown Christmas party, the Jensen family Christmas bonanza, the Rainey family party, and Christmas eve dinner at granny and grandpas.
Those were just the family parties, in addition to those we had a friend party at our house where I accidentally didn't cook the chicken long enough and everyone cut into it and it was raw. So we ate everything else while our chicken continued to cook. Then we had a little gift exchange where baby mama was by far the most coveted gift of the night. Cassity's and Morrison's left early because poor Dasha wasn't feeling well but everyone else stayed until the wee hours of the morning. We also had my cute girls dance recital where they did so awesome! I am so proud of them both an they worked really hard this year on their dances. I really love that they love dance and I hope to have a girly-girl one day who also loves it.
For Christmas eve we went to granny and grandpa's for dinner, then we went to my mom's and ate again (we couldn't turn down prime rib) and did our Christmas traditions with my family and then went home about midnight. We loved spending the night alone at our apartment instead of staying at one of our parents houses. We woke up early on Christmas morning so we could open up presents together before going to Michael's parents. We spoiled each other rotten but the main things were Michael got an autographed football from Alex Smith & Frank Gore and the new green jazz shorts, and I got a coat from Nordy's and tickets to lady antebellum.
Then we went to Hanson's and spent a few hours there, we went to granny and grandpa's, went to my mom's, went to my dad's, then back to Hanson's for dinner. It was such a busy day and we were totally spent by 8:00. Regardless of being tired though, we loved it! We had a great Christmas and hope that you did too!!

I kind of sucked at taking pictures, but here are a couple from or festivities.





Michael Troy playing santa at the Brown family party.




The girls and I at their recital




Michael holding Samuel at the Rainey family party. I kind of really love this picture of him...




My sweet nephew Noah playing with some presents from Grandma Ros




Christmas morning




And just for good measure, our Christmas tree skirt that I made for us. I am kind of proud of it.
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My first time sewing ever

I decided that I want to attempt to be crafty, so I bought a sewing machine about a month ago. When it first came I was so excited but it ended up just sitting in our spare bedroom because a) it intimidated the crap out of me and b) I had no idea what I was going to make. So as Christmas came nearer I decided I would make our stockings. My mom had homemade stockings for us growing up that all matched except of course they had different names on them and then they each had a different design embroidered on them. I couldn't imagine not having homemade stockings after always having one. I figured these would be our starter stockings and one day when we have a nugget or two, I'll make us a family set.



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Update of Our Month

We have had such a busy month! It has gone by so fast, and truthfully I don't remember a lot of the things we did. But here is what I do remember...

We put together a charity poker tournamnet/auction for our friend Alisa who has leukemia. I am not going to lie, it was A TON OF WORK which led to many sleepless nights, but it was so worth every single bit of it. Tons of people donated stuff for us to auction off and then people just kept giving us money that night. Seeing how generous people are always makes me feel so warm and fuzzy inside. We spent hours making the food for people to eat that night along with some orange almond rolls to be auctioned (delish if I do say so myself and they sold for $45, not to shabby eh), ran a bazillion errands to get stuff, and got the place decorated just in the knick (sp?) of time.
We are so grateful to all of the people who helped us and for everyone who donated and showed up that night. We were able to raise about $7500 for that cute girl. I just know that she is going to win this battle. She is so strong and has such an amazing attitude and outlook. She was actually super sick the night that all of this was going down and she still showed up with a smile on her face and was so grateful for all of it. I have never seen so many tears flow down one persons cheeks in one day before. But hers were constant and filled with happiness and gratitude which made everything so worth it!

We have also attended or watched on the telly many football games. They mainly consist of the utes and the 49ers. I can't help but smile when I see Michael watching football. It is seriously so funny. The things he says and his little dance he does when they get a touch down crack me up. Sometimes I will watch a movie in our room when he is watching the 49ers and I still know everything that is happening because that boy is so loud and he dances/runs back and forth between the kitchen and the living room because he can't sit still. I love it!

One thing that I feel like we have not done lately is see our friends. Life has gotten so busy lately that we don't see them a ton and I don't like it one bit. I am going to make a valiant effort to change that though.  Michael's basketball season just started and so I will at least get to see Dasha every Monday and maybe we can squeeze in some sort of activity before or after the game every now and then?

Thanksgiving was good/hard. We went with Michael's family which was great and I love them oh so much and they totally make me feel so welcome and comfortable but it just isn't the same as being with my family. And I don't think I would have cared so much if my family had stayed here, but they were in St. George and it was the first time they have gone down there and it was my mom's first Thanksgiving since getting divorced so I wanted to go so bad and be with her, but it all turned out fine and there will always be another time.

Then of course after the festivities ended I went shopping! I love me some black friday!!! I went with Kirstin who is my favorite shopping p.i.c and we went to Park City to hit up the outlets for a few hours and got some amaze-balls deals, then headed to Target which seriously was insane. We didn't really pay attention to the line because we were so focused on getting what we needed but by the time we actually got in line it was about a 3 hour wait to check out! So we got on my trusty iPhone and looked up the stuff we had in our arms on target.com and they had all of it for the same price plus free shipping! So needless to say, we just put our stuff down and hurried and ordered our stuff so we didn't have to wait in that insane line. Then we were starving. It was almost 3 a.m. and it had been over 12 hours since our delicious dinners so we hit up the only place we could find open... Rancheritos. And let me tell you it was surprisingly delicious! We are both fairly picky eaters and we loved it! Maybe because we were about to starve to death? But I am just going to go with that it was amazing regardless. Then we made our final stop at Macy's and made out like bandits! I am DONE yes done (besides Michael, which won't be hard) Christmas shopping. And it didn't even break the bank. I heart black Friday. :)

Now let the other holiday festivities begin!!!

Our Weekend

This weekend was super busy but a ton of fun! On Friday we went to Cornbelly's with Grant and Sadie. We did the corn maze, hay maze, and Sadie and I did this obstacle course that was about 1 foot wide and 1 foot deep so we had to army crawl on our tummies while going through the maze and doing flips and all kinds of crazy turns. I was apprehensive to do it at first but I'm so glad that I did it now.
On Saturday we had a Halloween party with Michael's friends from high school. We dressed up as Fred and Wilma Flintstone and Butch and Dasha went as Barney and Betty Rubble. It was fun to be with the Cassity's and to get to know some of his high school friends better.
On Sunday we celebrated little miss Ellie's birthday. We got invited to dinner with her family and I made watermelon cupcakes for the watermelon themed birthday she was dying to have, I love that little nugget and I can't believe how fast she is growing up.
We had a fantastic weekend and we can't wait for the next one to get here!!












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My nuggets

Some nights I just need them... They can always make a bad day good. And after hugs and kisses and tuck-ins, sometimes I have to sneak a peek because seeing this makes me melt.



(you can just barely see miss Maggie's face peeking out from in between blankets, and I don't have a picture of Sawyer because he was still wide awake when I went to go check on him. Ha typical boys)
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Weekend update

This weekend was a lot of fun. Michael went hunting and fishing, he caught a fish but didn't kill anything (thank heavens they never do!) but in all honesty he didn't mind because the whole crew really just goes for the food. They eat AMAZING on their annual hunt trip. Steak, bacon wrapped chicken, and sweet potato hashbrown skillets to name a few things.
While he was away I went and had a spend the night with my mom on Friday and Saturday morning we went to get massages and got delicious Bruges waffles with creme fraiche, peaches, strawberries, and blueberries. After that we did some shopping and ran some errands.
Then Saturday night I ate some delish cafe rio with my mother in law and then ros came over to my apartment for another spend the night and conference the next day.
Sunday we watched general conference and I made some super yummy baked French toast topped with butter pecan ice-cream and fresh strawberries for breakfast.
In between sessions we managed to watch rio (super cute by the way) and give each other a pedi just in time to come home to welcome home my hubby and make some yummy salsa to devour during the second session of conference.
It was a great weekend filled with way too much amazing food and Michael and I are both very happy to both be home together!
Here are some picture of our weekend!



My handsome hubby with his fishy




Bruges yummy waffles




The baked French toast I made

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Bake fest

Between the utes game (by the way, thank you Jake Heaps for being the utes MVP, you really pulled through and gave us a great win) and Stockton's farewell I literally spent my entire day baking on Sunday. I made about 6 dozen peanut butter blossoms and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies for the farewell and 5 dozen raspberry red velvet cupcakes and some delish potato skins with dill dip for the game. The potato skins and cupcakes were a hit and were so divine if I do say so myself. A huge blowout game is even better with amazing food which we had a ton of! But we didn't expect anything less, we were at the Smith residence and there is always something tasty there! Thanks for having us!!

Here is a picture of the yummy cupcakes.







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-Mrs. Hanson

The Fair

On Thursday we went to the fair with Grant and Sadie. We had such a good time and it was fun to get to go out with them. Our favorite parts were the hypnotist and the deep fried snickers, Oreos, cheesecake, and of course the boys loved the bacon twinkies (that is so nasty if you ask me). Thanks for going with us!!





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Summer has come and pretty much gone

Summer came and I am pretty sure that it is gone... I am not sure how I feel about that. I really like summer... a lot. But I like fall too (especially the clothes, oh the clothes are amazing!). But I strongly dislike winter and unfortunately winter always follows fall like clock work. But the point of this post really wasn't supposed to be about the changing seasons, it is because I realized that I didn't post one thing about what we did this summer, so I am going to do it now. But I was a huge struggle fest and took almost no pictures, so until I can find some this is going to be a pictureless post.


We were super busy this summer. It felt like we had something to do every day and that there were not enough hours in a day to get it all done. But most of our business was by choice and we had a blast doing it. After we got married it felt like summer was in full swing. We went to bear lake almost every weekend and we'll just say that it is slowly growing on me. Michael loves it more than anything in the world and I love going and seeing him so happy up there and hopefully one day I will love it as much as he does and we will be able to create lots of memories there with our future nuggets.


On top of the lake we spent a lot of time playing with Cassity's, Jones', Matthews', and some other friends. We love them and can't seem to get enough of them (hopefully they feel the same). Hopefully all of these fun play dates won't come to an end with summer!

My favorite :)

I seriously love my hubby. Every day he does something to make melt and he is so patient with me. Every night he let's me fall asleep with the tv on, even though he really doesn't like it. And he snuggles with me and rubs my back until I can't keep my eyes open and then he tucks me in and makes sure I'm warm enough. He watches keeping up with the kardashians and teen mom with me (and laughs when I yell at the screen like I know them), and every now and then he will car dance with me, but I have yet to convince him that a water bottle microphone is necessary. I love you Michael Troy!!! I am so happy that we are hubby and wifey. There is nobody I would rather have for an eternity! :)


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Back to school

I am so grateful that I don't have to go back this year! But I am equally grateful that the hubs is. One more year! Back to school, back to school to prove to dad that I'm not a fool. I got my lunch packed up, my boots tied tight, I hope I don't get in a fight!


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Beauty Tips!

If you know me at all, you know that I love to try and look good and go shopping (just scroll down and you will have a sneak peak into my shopping addiction) and I am super into fashion, make-up, hair, and the list goes on... And those things make me SO HAPPY! But unfortunately material things only bring temporary happiness. I don't know about you, but I notice that the times in my life when I am happiest and the most care free and when I feel like I am pretty and I have confidence in myself are the times when I am happy and kind towards others and willing to lend a helping hand. Coincidence that these two things coincide with each other?? I think not! So these are my new "beauty tips" that I am going to strive to live by.

For Sparkling Eyes- Look for the good in Everyone.
For a Glow- Focus on the positive in Life.
For a Slim Figure- Work hard helping and sharing with those in need.
For a Young Look- Laugh Everyday.
For Beautiful Lips- Say only Good Things about Others.
For Lovely Hands- Use them often to Lift Others.
For Poise- Walk with the knowledge that You are Never Alone.

Tying her shoes

I'm not going to lie, I totally had a proud parent moment with this one. Recently when I have been babysitting Ellie has been asking me how to tie her shoes. Tonight she mastered it...


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Nordy's....

Nordstrom is seriously one of my most favorite places in the world. It is my haven. I hope that I have a little girl one day who's eyes widen and light up as she sees all of the perfectly placed clothes as we enter the doors to this magnificent place. I know, you are probably thinking that I am going to have one evil and demanding child, but I will only let her love and enjoy this place if she is sweet as sugar while looking amazing in her Nordstrom outfits mmkay?

Anyway... I always wait in anticipation for the anniversary sale and when it comes I shop to my hearts content. This year was a little different seeing as how I am married now and I need to think of Michael Troy as well as myself. But even with that being said I would say that I made out quite nicely, well maybe more than nicely... It is quite convenient that the sale is so close to my birthday :) Here is the beautiful outfit that I CANNOT WAIT to start wearing as soon as the weather permits it.

A-Z and in-between

So apparently this is the thing people are doing on their blogs these days, and welp... I've got nothing but time sitting here at work so here we go!

A-Z
Age: 21 (for one more week!)
Bed Size: Queen... but oh how I wish it was king!
Chore I hate: Weeding!
Dogs: Zilch :( we will have a couple one day though.
Essential start of my day: Making sure Michael has a towel so he doesn't drip on the floor after his shower... I can't handle it.
Favorite Color: PINK!!!
Gold or silver: Both
Height: 5 feet and 4 inches
Instruments I play (or have played): I took piano and guitar lessons growing up. I can successfully do neither now.
Kids: Not yet. But there will be a few Hanson nuggest one day! We just borrow Sawyer, Maggie, and Ellie for now.
Live: Sandy Utah
Mom's Name: ROS!
Nickname: Mor, Eddie, Morsol.
Overnight hospital stays: None so far. Knock on wood!
Pet Peeve: B-word girls and Michael dripping on the floor after the shower (see E).
Quote from a movie: Here comes yo Baby Mama... Drivin a Suzuki! (Haha I laughed out loud when I wrote that)
Right or left handed: Righty
Siblings: 3 crazy brothers, 2 step-sisters
Time I wake up: 7, unless it is the weekend then it is like 9 or 10ish
Underwear: Yes please. If you don't you have problems far beyond your lack of underwear...
Vegetables I dislike: NONE!! I love them all!
What makes me run late: Everything.
X-rays I've had done: Back, ribs, arms (many times), hands
Yummy food I make: Chicken roll-ups, cookies, and cuppy cakes.
Zoo animal: Elephants. I'm a tad obsessed actually...

Lunch with hubby

I love lunch with the hubs :)


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Goofies

Can I just say that I have the best sister in law ever? I can tell her anything and she is always there for me. And my favorite thing is, we take pictures like this to entertain ourselves...


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iPhone

Hubby loves me and surprised me with a white iPhone that I wanted oh so badly. I'm kind of madly in love with him...


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Honeymoon

For our honeymoon we went to Orlando. Yes, we did all of the typical theme park stuff and we LOVED it! Our favorite part by far was Universal Studios. Everything there was incredible and we had a blast seeing everything there.
Our first night there we got there at almost midnight so we just headed to our hotel. The attendant found out it was our honeymoon and felt awful that he didn't have any champagne to offer us. We told him it was no big deal and as we were telling him to not worry about it he looked at our reservation and realized we were from Utah and then said (in his fantastic British accent), "Oh I see you are from Utah. You might not drink. Are you those Musl... no, not Muslim. Umm... Umm... Those Mitt Romney people?" Haha we both got a good laugh out of it.

The next day we woke up and went to a super fun water park with lots of great water slides and it even had wake surfing! After that we went back to our hotel room and got all dolled up and went to Ruth's Chris. And much thanks to the big party behind us and the crying baby to our right, our meal was free. Nothing better than a medium rare USDA prime steak, fingerling potatoes, creamed spinach and creme brulee for nothing but the cost of valet!

The rest of our trip consisted of Busch Gardens, Disneyworld, Islands of Adventures, Universal Studios, (most of these places were attended multiple times) mini golf, Michael winning a basketball competition (I was such a proud wifey), the blue man group, and LOTS of good food. If you know us at all, you know that good food is one of our favorites! So we ate at lots of delicious places. One of the best things we had were tempura berries and I will tell you what, I was in heaven.

I definitely miss Orlando and getting to spend every second with my cute hubby, but it is nice to be home and to get settled. Our place is almost all put together and we are loving the start of our life together!

Wedding

It is safe to say that June 7, 2011 was THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE! I am so grateful that I get my Michael Troy for an eternity. Marrying him in the Salt Lake Temple was the smartest and greatest decision I have ever made. This is one of those days that I always want to remember every detail of. So, you get to read about the entire day in this post (mainly because I will blog about it and then write it down in my journal later on)... So here it goes!
I woke up 5:30 to be at my hair appointment by 6:00 and then I came home and helped Gram finish her hair and make-up before doing my make-up and getting ready. Then my mom and I got my dress and everything in the car to head to the temple. I was supposed to be there at 9:15 and was there by 9:20. I know, can you believe it?? ONLY 5 MINUTES LATE!! This is such a huge accomplishment for me because I am always super late. I met up with everyone and Michael grabbed my hand and kissed me on the forehead and into the temple we went. I had the best butterflies throughout the day. They weren't the make you sick kind, they were the make you happy and giggly kind.

Our sealing was so special and I will always remember how I felt at that moment. When it was time to greet everyone outside the temple doors it took forever because my shoes got lost and I had to wait for about 25 minutes while my mom, step mom, and 3 matrons were running around trying to find out where they were. Luckily they were recovered and we got to have a good laugh about it. Then we went outside and got to hug everyone and take some family pictures. After the family pictures Michael and I took pictures until time for our luncheon.

Our luncheon was at JSMB and was so yummy. Both of our mom's told stories about us and then our wedding video was shown and some songs were sung. It was relaxed and low key and in my opnion perfect. After the luncheon it was on to the reception, but not without a pit stop for a diet coke of course! :)

We got to our reception and got changed and took as many pictures as we could until our guests started to arrive. It was our goal to just try and mingle and not have a line, which we accomplished (even though Michael and I were usually in different places due to this, but it was totally okay).

We had creme brulee, a shortcake with berries, strawberry cheesecake, and a chocolate fountain with tons of stuff to dip in it. We heard that all of it was delicious and we will just take your word for it because we never got to eat haha. When it came time to cut our cake my mom told Michael ever so kindly that she would kill him if it got on my dress, so we managed to only destroy each others faces. It was super classy. Then we had the traditional bouquet and garter toss which was great fun.

When it finally came time for our first dance we were both so excited because we had been taking dance lessons to do a little swing dance. We started out just doing a traditional slow dance to "Then", and then finally or music switched over to "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" for our swing dance which I must say we did a pretty good job at. Especially Michael, lifting me in my dress was no easy task and he made it seem like he was lifting a bag of feathers. Then finally it swtiched to the ever so classic "Baby Got Back" and everyone got to see our ghetto fabulous dance moves. After that everyone joined in and we danced the night away. Including a special number by the groomsmen doing the YMCA and the bridesmaids starting off the conga line with many of the guests joining in.

After a few hours of dancing we decided that it was time to leave and we both went and changed into jeans, toms, and our Mr. and Mrs. Hanson jazz jerseys with our wedding dates as the numbers. As we walked out everyone blew bubbles at us and we crawled into the classic car arranged for us and drove off into the sunset to go to Little America. It was perfect! I am so excited to go through all of lifes adventures together!

P.S.
Pictures will be here as soon as we get them back from the photographer.

Married

It's legit. We are husband and wife. I love it. :)More to come about our wedding day and honeymoon.

He makes me melt...

I just have to say that Michael Troy makes me melt... He is seriously is my best friend and I am so grateful that I get him for an eternity. I got my tonsils out last Friday and I have been pretty much miserable ever since. I love that he is constantly checking on me and asking me what I need. He stays with me until he can't keep his eyes open anymore (even if I have been asleep the entire time he has been there) and he still tells me I'm beautiful even though I look like a complete mess. One night I couldn't take the pain anymore and he was playing basketball and without hesitation he told butch (one half of our best friends) that they needed to leave early so they could give me a blessing and they were at my house in no time. I love that I am marrying someone who has the priesthood and that we will always have that strength in our home. I love you Michael and I cannot even wait to be your wife!!

A Real Grown-Up???

On April 29 I graduated from UVU. I thought that I would feel some huge sense of relief and/or satisfaction but I didn't. Maybe I will get this feeling when I don't have to go to school next fall? But I was actually a little intimidated. All I have done my entire life is go to school and then work the typical part time jobs most college students do, and I have got to say I was pretty good at it. But now I am a little worried about being a "good grown-up". This year I will achieve 3 significant steps into what I like to call grown-up land 1. graduate college 2. get married 3. get a full time job with benefits and all that jazz. Let's just hope and pray that I can transition from little girl to big girl smoothly...

Classic Wedding

You know the classic saying: something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue? Well ever since I was a little girl I have wanted this to be a part of my special day and I have most of it covered.

Something old: a handkerchief made out of my grandma Harper's wedding dress

Something new: wedding dress

Something borrowed: I am stumped... I was going to borrow Meagan's skirt to go under my dress but her class act friend borrowed it for a pageant and lost it. Please explain to me how in the hell you lose a 4' x 3' skirt???

Something blue: ANYTHING Tiffany blue :)

So for the whole 2 people that read my blog if you have any idea's about something borrowed, please let me know!

P.S.

I can't wait to marry my cute boy! The wedding plans are going great.

Luck of the Irish? Nope, I'm not Irish... But I am LUCKY!

Today for good ol' St. Patty's day I had plenty of adorable green, leprechaun, shamrock, Irish, etc... activities for my cute little first graders to do. Our celebration was a blast and I was constantly laughing at the funny things they do and say. The last activity that I had the little nuggets do was write a story about being lucky on a cute paper that a leprechaun held. Most of the kids had these typical things: I'm lucky to... have a wii, play basketball, go to the movies, and so on for 8-10 lines. One little girl came up to me to get her spelling check and her paper simply said, "I am lucky to have a family that loves me and that I love too."

It took everything I had inside of me to not start crying. This little girl has had a harder life in her short 6 years than I will probably ever experience in my whole life, and she just recently got adopted into an amazing family and I am so happy for her. I usually would tell students that they had to make their papers longer because it wasn't as long as I said it had to be. But I just told her that it was perfect and that she was very lucky and that I was happy that she recognized that.

After that I started thinking about the things I have in my life that make me lucky. I have so many of them and I need to start recognizing them more often. Here just a few of them out of the hundreds that I have. I am lucky to have...

Michael Troy :)
My Mom
3 gross, stinky, wonderful brothers
Great step-siblings, their spouses, and their kids
My Dad and Step-mom
The greatest friends I could ever ask for
An education
Amazing (almost) in-laws

There are so many more things that I could post here, but I will spare you that. Anyway, I hope that everyone can realize how lucky they are for the things in their lives!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

Time to Put a Ring On the Finger He's Wrapped Around!!

On February 26, 2011 Michael asked me to be his wife and I very excitedly said yes! On June 7, 2011 we will be Mr. and Mrs. Michael Hanson :)

He is so good to me and put a lot of thought into how he was going to ask me. Here is the readers digest version:

He knew it was my dream to get engaged at the castle at Disneyland but seeing as how we live two states away, I knew that would most likely not be an option. But he knew it was important to me and put a lot of effort into it. He got a cake made for me of a castle and it even came with cinderella and a prince. After spending the day with him getting our pictures taken, we ended up at Noah's in a room decorated with rose petals, sparkling cider, and the cake. He then dropped a knee and proposed. It was so perfect and I couldn't have asked for anything better. After that he surprised me with dinner with our familes and our close friends the Cassity's. Then last but not least he had arranged for all of our friends and families to get together at his house to eat our delicious cake. It was the best day ever!!

I am so blessed to have him and I can't wait to begin our eternity together. I can honestly say that he is my best friend and every day I fall even more in love with him! Thanks for choosing me Michael Troy!!!

Valentine's and Snowmobiling

So I was looking at the usual blogs that I try to keep up on and I noticed that almost all of them had posts about Valentine's Day. Well, I obviously did not. So since I need to do a catch up blog anyway I decided that I would just include V-day in it.

Valentine's Day was great! It wasn't lavish or extravagant, but I got to spend it with Michael so it was perfect! I have never been on a Valentine's date before so I was excited to do my first one with him. I had to teach all day (my kids made the CUTEST valentine's and it was a terrific day minus a girl cutting a boys ear off...) and then after teaching I had to work. So because of those two things we kind of got a later start but I was perfectly fine with it. We went to dinner at Asian Star, exchanged gifts (he gave me a gorgeous necklace) and indulged in some chocolate covered strawberries and grapes from Cummings, and then we went and saw No Strings Attached. It was such a fun day and I am so grateful that I got to spend it with Michael. I especially appreciated the movie because he HATES chick flicks and he knew I had really been wanting to see this one. He is my favorite!

And then for an update on life... Life is so busy! I absolutely love student teaching. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't laugh out loud and getting 25 hugs every day makes me anxious to go back for more the next day. However, I don't love working while student teaching. I am at school 40-45 hours a week and then trying to work on top of it kicks my butt, but it will all be over March 21 yippee!!!

My mom took Sterling and I snowmobiling on presidents day and we all had a blast! I love any chance to spend time with my family. Some highlights of the trip were:
1. On our reservation paper it says that there are cabins available to stay in. We pull up and there are about 5 big cabins in a row. Sterling then states, "Well I guess those are the cabins people stay in." Thanks for the point out captain obvious!
2. Within our first five minutes of riding, I rolled my snowmobile with my mom on the back, then we both tried to stand up and had snow up to the middle of our thighs.
3. Sterling going off a jump and then coming over to us saying, "I feel like I broke my face and then a smile and a laugh to reveal a bloody lip and mouth and my mom then proceeding to say, "Look Morgan, he is bleeding!" Thanks for letting me know in case I couldn't notice his bright red teeth. (He is all better now, in case you were wondering).
We had so much fun and laughed a ton! I had to tell Sterling many times to stop making me laugh so that I didn't pee myself in a one piece snowsuit.

Life is great and I wouldn't have it any other way!

P.S. A few weeks ago Michael bought me a pink Williams jersey that I had been dying to have. Thanks a lot for the trade D-Will!!

The Craziness of a New Semester... and my LAST ONE!!!

Every time at the beginning of a semester I can't help but think to myself, "Oh nelly this is going to be a long one!" I thought that to myself at the beginning of this semester as usual but this time is different. This time it doesn't even make me sad and want to quit because it is my LAST ONE!!!!! That's right folks at the end of this semester I will have my bachelor's degree. I still need to get my masters and finish my cosmetology license, but for now I am relieved to have this done. This semest requires a lot of effort. I have to teach my cute little first graders 40 hours a week, go to 3 classes a week, do my senior portfolio, and still work about 35 hours a week. The only thing that it seemed I could cut out of my schedule would be social life and there is no way I was going to do that. I. Would. Go. INSANE. Even with such a busy schedule, I am having more fun than ever. Michael and I have managed to see each other way more than I had anticipated with me living and teaching in Provo and him living in Sandy so I am very grateful for that. He has a basketball game every week so I try to fulfill my girlfriend duty and try to attend them. Getting to chat with Dasha and Masha is a bonus at those, and then we all usually end up grabbing dinner and/or hanging out afterwards. I also get to see him every time that I babysit my kiddos and he comes down and visits me, so it hasn't been too bad. Another bonus is that my best friend Kirstin is dating Michael's cousin (and good friend) Tyler so the 4 of us do things together quite often and I am lucky enough to get to spend time with my bestie and my cute boy! Then I always manage to get some quality time in with my mom every week. I absolutely love getting to spend time with her and talk with her. I couldn't ask for a better mom. I love this crazy life that I am living at the moment and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. Hopefully one day it will slow down a bit, but for now I am strapped in tight on this roller coaster and I am riding it with my hands up!!

VIVA LAS VEGAS!!!!

This year we decided that the new year would be the best if it was celebrated in sin city. Me, Michael, Kirstin, and Tyler started making our plans a while to go on our little adventure. Well as usual mother nature was not on our side and decided to have horrible weather the night before we left. We were contemplating whether or not we should drive down due to the weather conditions. After much contemplation (and let's be honest, a few arguments haha) we decided to go. Luckily good ol' Troy came to the rescue and let us borrow his truck. Michael said we needed it for 4-wheel drive, I said we needed it for the seat warmers... It was a win win situation; my tush was so happy and warm the whole way. Thanks Troy!! Anyway, we made it to Vegas safe and sound. We played black jack (we all won woo-hoo), shopped :), ate WAY too much, and saw The Mentalist. I didn't know anything about it when we bought or tickets but it was so awesome, I would recommend it. We all had a blast and definitely enjoyed the great people watching the Vegas has to offer. I put many people on Michael's team haha. We just might have to make this adventure a tradition!

P.S. None of my pictures will upload... :( I shall try again at a later date but until then, sorry that this is a lame pictureless blog.