home sweet home

it's been a long time. we're on christmas break and enjoying las vegas before our 1st anniversary/honeymoon cruise to the caribbean.
when i return, we'll have loads to catch up on.
until then, here's a sampling of our {meager} christmas decorations:

the awesome vintage tree {that brad hates} that i got from my great-grandpa's garage


the apothecary jars went festive | brea and i made a paper banner

the stockings were hung by the fireplace/brad's amp with care...

and a belated merry christmas to all, and to all a good night1

Merry Christmas to All!

In case you've stumbled upon our blog as a result of our Christmas card, and you have some little questions, we'd like to help you out.

Question: What is a blog?
Answer: Technically, we're not sure. We use it to write stuff about ourselves and post pictures of how cool we think we are.

Question: Do you really expect me to read all of this?
Answer: No. But if you want to vicariously hang out with us and bask in our greatness, then scrolling through the archives on the left isn't a bad idea.

Question: What if I don't have the patience to go through the archives?
Answer: Here's some highlights from the past year...
*One of our many trips to the fair
*My Birthday Party!
*A Visit to San Francisco (while we were living in Napa this summer)
*What Our Blog USED to Look Like - we're working on a new layout.
*Brad and Avril's 24th birthday party!
*Halloween Dress-ups

Question: Ok, you've got me hooked, how do I get more? Answer: Luckily, we update quite frequently (usually at least weekly), sharing our words and pictures with our friends and family to enjoy with us!! Bookmark our blog, and you too can be a part of the action!!

Wednesday.

This morning, I did lots of nice things: I drove Brad to Midas to drop off his car. Then I came home and made him breakfast (French Toast cooked SLOW so they'd be extra-yummy).
I had to make more syrup since Brad burned our last batch in the microwave last night. And we were out of buttermilk, so I improvised. But, even though the recipe says to let it boil for 5 minutes, I overcooked it and pretty much made melted caramel.
Brad complained and got in trouble.
But he had dishes since I made breakfast.

Later tonight, he said (regarding the syrup left in the pyrex cup), "So your syrup... was as solid as the cement i inject into my muscles."

Saturday + Salt Lake = Not What We Thought

So, Saturday night was a bit interesting for us.

I REALLY wanted to see my friend Jeanette perform in the Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert (she was dancing), but me being totally forgetful and stupid, forgot to call her to get the tickets. So, Brad and I headed up to Salt Lake anyways to try to get standby tickets, which didn't work out. So we decided to go look at the lights at Temple Square. But it was snowing. So we went to find a generally close parking spot, and ending up driving around for a half hour in construction-ridden traffic before going to the Gateway Mall (after seeing the lights from the outside).
At Gateway, I didn't find ONE THING to buy, and then after an hour at the Gateway Mall, we decided to leave. When we gave them our parking ticket at the gate, they tried to tell us it was seven dollars. Apparently something was wrong with our ticket that said we'd been there for like seven hours. So we had to (kindly) protest until the lady charged us for like two or three hours instead. Lame.
Our spirits semi-renewed, we decided to try Temple Square again. Problem: the aforementioned Christmas Concert had just gotten out and so the pedestrian traffic + cops directing traffic = more waiting in traffic. After another half hour of that, we realized that by the time we moved and found a parking spot, Temple Square would be closed, so we decided to head home.
Bad idea again. In the time it took us to get to the freeway, the Jazz game had gotten out and so there was a huge back up on the I-15. After a long wait, we came to the source of the traffic: a blonde girl ran her car into the outside barrier and everyone had to stop and look (it wasn't too bad, everyone looked ok).
By this time, it's almost ten thirty and we're starving, so we think, "Hey, let's eat at Rocky Mountain Wingshak." After calling over and over, we realize it's closed. So, we call Ihop, which is luckily open 24 hours then decide to head over there.
This was probably the highlight of the night:

Yay! Brad + Food = No More Crankies!

I've officially decided that I can't wait till we're senior citizens and we can be regulars at diners for our morning breakfast!

Brad says...

So sometimes Brad gets a little bit overwhelmed and decides to go shoe shopping... seriously.
We've been looking for a nice pair of brown dress shoes for Brad, and he found these ones for himself. They arch up a lot in the front so I was surprised Brad bought them. He was debating whether or not to keep them; I pointed out that detail, afraid that he'd be uncomfortable wearing such a metrosexual pair of shoes.
"I know," Brad said. "When I bought them, I told the girl, 'I'll take the elf shoes in a size 9 1/2.'"

"They'll be Parties for Hosting..."

For other people...
My friend Coryn hosted a super cute little party for some of the girls from London. It was great fun to see everyone and to see what we've all been up to.
Brad even came and participated (passively) in the girl talk until he had to leave to study (whoohoo finals).
Thanks to Coryn for a lovely little gathering!

Our First Christmas

Over a week ago, Brad and I went to Color Me Mine with Brian and Megan, and we made "Our First Christmas" ornaments. We got there one hour before closing, and I was pretty impressed with our artwork after only one hour. Brad liked lots of colors, then in the last five minutes, decided that he wanted the Halloween witch on the back of his ornament (it's that big black shape on the striped side). I apparently have an obsession with love birds. I bought some last year too...
Not yesterday, but the Monday before, we went to pick them up! I was SO excited to get them back.


Now I just need pretty ribbons for hanging. I'm thinking either a red, double faced satin or a red, velvet ribbon. Your opinions are appreciated.

"today is a career day..."

The end of the semester equals lots of presentations. Brad definitely wore that outfit two days in a row.
We look like real life grown up people!!

A Week In Pictures

This week, I'll have pre-blogged posts from the last week while Brad and I take finals, work, pack up for three weeks away from home, and prepare for the HOLIDAYS (!!!!).

Last Sunday, Brea and Cody were up to something secretive in the kitchen.


An hour later, they emerged with a red velvet bear cake:
That had a pretty rainbow on the back:

{fakesgiving}

Last year, my sister had to get her wisdom teeth out two days before thanksgiving. So, she established "fakesgiving" a week earlier.
This year, after we returned home from Thanksgiving with the fam at Zion Ponderosa, we had fakesgiving with G-On in Provo...