Christmas Stockings

Sewing project #2 = DONE. On Thanksgiving I made Sam and I's Christmas stockings. My mother-in-law, LuAnn, has made all her kids, their spouses, and grandkids such cute stockings that I decided I wanted to make Sam and I's stockings. LuAnn went with me to pick out fabric and helped me throughout the entire process... and I must say that I am SO grateful because I definitely could not have done it without her! I am still a beginner with this whole sewing business. It was fun to make the stockings though. They were not all that difficult and they turned out great!! I LOVE the fabric... neither are traditional Christmas colors/fabrics but I think they are super cute!

My stocking is on the left and Sam's is on the right.

My next project? A Christmas tree skirt. We will see how that one goes. Wish me luck!

Our Christmas Tree

Sam and I went and got ourselves a Christmas tree Friday night. And I must admit, it is a fake one. I grew up having a real tree EVERY Christmas, so I was a little reluctant to get a fake tree. Of course, we couldn't just let the little guy stay in the box, so we put up the tree as soon as we got home. We don't have any decorations yet, just lights, but I am still so excited about it!

Isn't it so cute? Our ceilings aren't very tall so it isn't the biggest tree. But I love it! Christmas season is my favorite time of the year. And I can't even tell you how much I LOVE Christmas trees. Whenever there is a Christmas tree up in my house, I always find a reason to turn the lights on and sit by the tree.

I am sure after this Christmas we won't have very many decorations on the tree, but I am excited to see what ones we can come up with! Hooray for the holidays! And that includes Thanksgiving too :)

Fall Fun

It is crazy how fast this year has gone by! It is almost over... which means that the semester is almost over as well. Thank goodness! Sam and I have really been enjoying the fall. We love the colors of the changing leaves, football season, going on walks in the crisp cold air, and snuggling up on the couch to keep warm. Hopefully the lack of continual snow holds up for a few more weeks! I am not holding my breath though...

Sam and I have done a few exciting things lately! Things that most people would probably think are really not exciting at all. A couple of weeks ago we decided we didn't want to sit at home (like we usually do) on a Friday night, so we ventured to Macy's. We still had gift cards from the wedding so we decided we would go see what we could find to spend them on :). We got a meat grinder attachment for our KitchenAid which we think is pretty sweet... AND, while we were there, I found this little gem... don't worry, I didn't buy it. I just thought it was hilarious.

For Halloween we really didn't do anything special, considering I had class the night of Halloween. We did carve pumpkins though... which I LOVE to do! Last year I pretty much did all the pumpkin carving myself and Sam tried to take credit for it (even though he hardly did anything). This year though, Sam will have you know that he did pretty much everything. The only thing I did was come up with what the pumpkin would look like. Otherwise, Sam did everything else.

Isn't it so cute? We love the little Utah mouth with the lonely tooth in it.

Just last weekend we had our niece, Lucy, over Friday night to hang out. She kept telling her parents that she wanted to have a sleepover with us and we would definitely not turn down an offer like that (since we are the favorite aunt and uncle after all). While she did not end up sleeping over, we still had a good time playing with her. We built a fort in our living room, moved the TV into the fort, and watched "Tangled." I had already seen the movie a handful of times but I would never say no to watching it another time... it's just so cute!

Cute Lucy in the fort waiting so patiently for the movie to start.

Last thing... I had been SO bugged by the completely bare walls in our room (seriously, there was absolutely nothing hung up) that I decided it was time for me to take action. It took a while for the project to get completed, but it is finally done! It is nothing extravagant but it is better than nothing! I am very happy with the finished product!

This is up right above our bed. I love it!!

Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend seems like forever ago now but we did such fun things so I have to share! The night before Labor Day we went camping... in our front yard. Daniel (brother-in-law) thought it would be fun to set up tents and camp out in the yard. So we did. The front yard at our house isn't terribly big but we made it work.

Our tent is the cute little gray and orange one.

I really did not help much with putting up the tent... but Sam sure did a great job!

I played with little Whitters instead :)

We all had a good time chatting and hanging out together. 

We even made our own campfire and roasted s'mores in the driveway!

Sam with cute baby Matthew.

It was so fun to see Lucy enjoy "camping" so much. In the morning she came and cuddled with Sam and I in our tent and told us the cutest things (like that we are her "best friends"). She is a doll.

I also have to note that Sam and I slept on a blow up twin-size mattress in our tent. I was not too excited about our sleeping arrangements at first but it actually wasn't bad! Sam kept me nice and toasty and I actually had plenty of room to sleep. Camping in the front yard was a pretty good time.

On the actual holiday Sam and I did the usual chores, bike ride, etc. Later that evening, though, we decided to make grilled pizza for everyone... and boy did it turn out to be delicious! We were nervous because it was our first time making pizza on the grill but it turned out to be a huge success! We made all different kinds of pizza... hawaiian, pepperoni, bbq chicken, and a super veggie one. What a great ending to a long, fun, relaxing weekend!

Sam in one of his mom's aprons. He thought this one was pretty cool because it had a towel on the front to wipe his hands on. I personally just thought he looked so cute in it!

The delicious veggie pizzas. We had grilled zucchini too (which is so so good)!

Some of the other beautiful pizzas.

What a great weekend to spend with our family and enjoy one another's company! Can't wait for another long weekend!

Fourth of July

We had such a wonderful Fourth... it was SO nice not to have any work or school!! It was a much needed day off. Sam and I began the day by going on an early bike ride - it was great! The ride was followed by the infamous neighborhood breakfast. It has been going for like 22 years. It was my first time and it was way fun! The food was delicious and the parade that the kids put on was hilarious.

The rest of the day was filled with watching a rented movie (the newest Narnia movie), a long nap, a barbecue with some neighbors, and of course... fireworks!! We went to the Holladay fireworks. I had a hard time staying awake since it was past my bed time but I always love some good fireworks.

Hope everyone had a lovely holiday!

Flowers

Here is what my most wonderful husband came home with after work last night:

He got them for me "just because." What a sweetie. Stuff like this goes a long way for me.

Have a Happy Easter tomorrow!

One -Month Anniversary/Valentine's Day

Yesterday was Sam and I's "one-month" anniversary being married. And it also happened to be Valentine's day. Last week I was really looking forward to Valentine's day because it would be my first one with an actual valentine. Crazy right?! But then... sickness hit our household. Not so fun. Sam got sick last Thursday with the achy body, feeling really week and tired, super congested sickness. I did not lag far behind... I started feeling sick Saturday afternoonish with the same thing.  Needless to say, I was super bummed about being sick for Valentine's day and our one-month anniversary. It actually ended up being a fairly enjoyable day though-- Sam stayed home from work and we just sat around and relaxed the whole day. Then, for the evening, we brought Cafe Rio home (which we LOVE) and watched a movie. Sadly I could not even taste the deliciousness of Cafe Rio because my nose was so plugged, but it was still nice to bring dinner home to enjoy with my hubby.

So the best part of the whole day? The present my wonderful, sweet husband got me. And the funny part about it? I got him the same thing. Well, sort of. Here is a picture of us holding what we got from one another.

I had this genius idea to make Sam a blanket because we don't have one to cuddle in when we are relaxing on the couch. Well, we do but none of them will fit around us both because they are mine... so yes they are quite small since I am a small person :). Sam had said numerous times how he wanted a blanket that would fit us both so I thought my idea to make a blanket was SUCH a good one! Little did I know he had the same idea for me. I knew without a doubt that Sam would want a Utah blanket so of course, that is what I made him. He surprised me with my blanket first though. Around lunch time he said he wanted to give me my present early (we were going to exchange gifts around dinner time) because it might make me feel better. He was right! I went in our room and he had it folded up on our bed, wrapped in purple ribbon (from our wedding) with cute little hearts on the ribbon he had made from the leftover fabric. SO CUTE RIGHT?! My heart melted. The fabric he chose for my blanket is PERFECT!!! Elephants are my favorite animal and purple is one of my favorite colors! The fabric on the back side is yellow... which goes so great with the whole thing and is also one of my favorite colors! I was (and still am) SOOOOO impressed. I really do have the sweetest husband. He put a lot of thought into the gift and a lot of time as well! Those blankets take longer than you'd think. Or at least more time than we thought they would. I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE the blanket. And he loves his as well. Pretty funny that we both thought of the same exact thing to give each other. We must be like perfect for each other or something. Probably the reason we got married :).