LoVe

I have been wanting to blog about this since Valentine's and am finally getting around to it. It is better late than never right? But I just wanted to have a post about the love of my life and list a few reason why I love him!


So here I go.
* I love Neal so much because he is such a hard worker. He goes to school ALL day and then studies ALL night so that he can provide for me and our family one day!
* I love when he sings goofy (like Ryan Reynold's does in The Proposal). It makes me fall in love with him all over again.
* I love when he really smiles, he has this cute crooked smile that melts his heart.
* I love how knowledgeable he is about the gospel. He teaches me so much all the time.
* I love how he watches chick flicks with me, even though he can predict the ending with in the first 5 minutes.
* I love how he kisses me and tells me that he loves me every night before bed and before he leaves for school in the morning.
* I love how he can calm me down in any situation.
* I love how big of a softy he is, even though he acts tough.
* I love how he really is my better half and I can't live without him!

I could keep going and going but since this was our third valentine together I decided to do three things for each year.



I am so glad you are my valentine forever and always!

Christmas Break!

We went down to Utah for the holidays. We had a blast going out to eat with some friends, going to movies, visiting with family, and celebrating our Savior's birth! Here are a few highlights from our holiday break!
Riding Trax downtown to see the lights at Temple Square!


After going through Temple Square we headed over to Abravanel Hall for the Mannheim Steamroller concert, which was incredible!


We spent Christmas Eve with Neal's family. We saw the new Mission Impossible, ate a yummy prime rib dinner, acted out the Nativity, opened some presents, and then headed back to my parents to spend the night there.



We had a great Christmas Day spent with my family.




After opening presents, we headed over to my grandma's for a yummy Christmas brunch! This has always been one of my favorite parts about Christmas.

We went to church and then got ready to skype with Taylor.

Tay is doing awesome and is still the same silly Taylor! It was really fun to talk to him! Christmas night we played games with my family!

The day after Christmas we went bowling.


Neal found a ball with his name on it to bowl with. Unfortunately it didn't bring him good luck. I smoked him! ;)

We went to the Bountiful Temple to end the year.


For New Year's Eve we went to my aunt's house and played some games to ring in the new year.
Me and my momma.
New Year's Kiss :)

I am excited to see what 2012 has in store for us!

3 Years...

Our third anniversary looked something like this...

#1 Cheese-Delicious!

#2 Salad-Yummy

#3 Meat-To die for!

#4 Chocolate-A taste of heaven!


We loved the Melting Pot and had a great Anniversary!



We ended the night by watching our wedding video!

Our anniversary was kind of low key this year, but I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate! Thank you Neal for being my best friend and a great husband! I love you!

From Halloween to Now

I dressed up as a Crayon for Halloween this year. I chose a crayon because I knew all my kiddos would know what it was. We had a fun Halloween party at school and all my kids looked so cute! My co-teacher was a crayon box. We looked awesome.



Neal's family has a tradition of making chili and scones so we thought we would keep that tradition going. We had fun making dinner together!


Neal went off studying and I was excited to pass out candy to all the trick-or-treaters. But to my dismay we only had 2 trick-or-treaters come! I was so sad! So Neal took me to go get a pumpkin shake!

The day after Halloween, I got a phone call at 6:55 a.m. from my mom. She was calling to tell me that my Grandma Smith had passed away. The news surprised me. My grandma was old, but she was doing pretty well. I was able to fly down to go to her funeral. I was glad I was able to be there.


I was blessed to have a such great grandma. I have many wonderful memories of her! I will love and miss!

A few weeks later Neal and I went to Salt Lake for Thanksgiving.
We had a good Thanksgiving! We went to Neal's family first and then headed down to my family dinner.

We left early to have our first Black Friday experience. And what an experience it was!!! It was crazy, I have never seen so many people in a store before. We got what we wanted (a 46 inch TV) in a very round about way, but that is a long story! Needless to say, we had a fun, eventful, first Black Friday. Maybe we will try it again next year.


Our new TV, much bigger than our 32 incher.

We saw Arthur Christmas with my family. Didn't really love it, but it was ok!
My best friend from High School was able to take a few pictures for us while we down there. They turned out great! Thanks again Mel!


We had a good Thanksgiving weekend. It was fun to relax and spend time with family. I have so much to be thankful for. I am thankful for my amazing husband and the trials that we go through that brings us closer together. I am grateful for my parents. They are great examples and are always there for me. I am grateful for my brothers and the friendship I have with them. I am grateful for my job, even though I complain about it a lot. I am grateful for my health, my friends, Gabby, my little townhouse, and I am extremely grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints!

The Idaho Life

Life here in Idaho is pretty uneventful. Neal goes to school from 8-5, comes home studies/makes dinner, studies, studies, and studies some more before he goes to to bed.

I get up for work at 7:00, get ready, walk Gabby, and work from 9-6, get home, eat, do the dishes, and then before I know it, it is 11:00 and time to go to bed. Here I am in my awesome Challenger shirt. Neal says I look like I work at McDonald's when I wear it. :(

The weekends are so precious and go by so fast. We don't usually do a lot, but just spend lots of time together. A few weekends a go we did something a little different. We watched my co-teachers kids for the night. It gave us a little taste of parenthood, and showed us that we definitely aren't ready to have a four year old and an eight year old. We took them to McDonald's, which if you already didn't know is the nastiest place on earth. We definitely will not be taking our kids to McDonald's. We came back to our house played games and watched Rio. It was kinda fun to watch Neal with the kids. I know that someday he will be a great dad!




This past weekend, my parents surprised me and came up for the weekend. I have been a little bit home sick lately and was so glad they came up for the weekend! Unfortunately, there isn't much to do in Boise. But it was just fun to spend time with my parents. We showed them the Greenbelt, saw the movie Moneyball, ate some yummy food, and enjoyed each others company.





We even got to see a little red fox on the trail. It was pretty neat.

I sure do miss my parents and CAN NOT wait for Thanksgiving to come. I miss Utah and my friends! Honestly, I miss college life. Life as a student is so much better. The only plus to working so much is the paycheck! :)