My photo
Salt Lake City, Utah, United States

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Happy New Year!!

Hey everyone, just stopping in real quick to wish you all a super happy new year!! Hope you enjoy however it is you will be spending it! We are going to our friend Devan and Kelly's. (Really good friends from when Travis was growing up). We usually hang out with them and a few other couples. Last year we played pictionary and poker and ate yummy snacks!! It should be fun! It will definitely be nice to have tomorrow off!! Still trying to think of some new years resolutions!! I will try and take lots of pictures tonight so I can post them!!

Crap! I still need to post stuff about Christmas! I have been slacking because I took lots of pics and I dont have them with me to add to the post! I promise I will get them posted soon :) It was good times!!

Once again, have a FANTASTIC new year and be safe!!

P.S. So, I think today I am just being SUPER picky! I'm not sure what the deal is, lol. I do know that I looked through a million blog templates on
http://www.thecutestblogontheblock.com/ but I didnt find ANY that I really liked! I guess this one will have to do for now. (Travis would just laugh at me if he knew I had a hard time picking one. He is fine with the plain color ones, or even..better yet...the default ones, lol) Anyway, if you happen to come to a site that has come pretty cute ones, you should definitely send it my way so I can look through some more!

Monday, December 29, 2008

THEY DID IT!!

This weekend was a very important one when it comes to football!! The Minnesota Vikings needed a win against the Giants -OR- the Bears needed to lose against the Texans. Well, guess what happened?? BOTH OF THEM!! The Vikings score was 20-19! Longwell kicked a field goal during the last couple of seconds for the win by ONE POINT! By the time he was kicking the field goal, we already knew the Bears had lost, which meant...the Vikings CLINCHED THE DIVISION and we are in the playoffs!!! How nice was it though to end with a win against the Giants? So freakin nice! Our poor neighbors, I am sure they hear us every Sunday! The vikings have not won their division since 2000. It has been 8 years!! It's about time! We play the Eagles next week at the dome. First game of the playoffs :) Here we come!!

P.S. A LOT of people ask Trav and I if we liked different teams when we met and the answer is no! As crazy as it seems, we were both die hard vikings fans when we met. It couldn't have worked out any better! ;)
I am going to post pictures because well...it is a pretty big moment for us :)


Haha after Longwell kicked the field goal to win the game!
Ryan Longwell!
Peterson running in for a touchdown!

Tarvaras Jackson, our QB. I hesitate to even post this picture because of what happened during the beginning of the season, but he has come back and been a huge asset!

Taylor doing what he does best!!

Our boys!!
PS...Christmas pictures soon to come!!

Monday, December 22, 2008

A little piece of Grandma.

Everyone needs a happy/sad/teary post on their blog, right? Well, here is mine.

Growing up I have so many memories with Grandma and Grandpa Smith. I remember when Kassi and I would sit on their TINY coffee table while Grandma and Grandpa would feed us fruit cocktail...delicious fruit cocktail. They would tell us, once we got older that we looked like little birds with our mouths constantly wide open, waiting for our bite of fruit cocktail.

I remember the MANY times we went on rides. We would load everything up in the little white toyota, Grandma and Grandpa in the front, me and Kassi in the back where the cab was. It was all carpeted and comfy and Grandma and Grandpa would always pack it real nice with lots of blankets and pillows and games to keep us occupied and yummy snacks of course! I remember we would play "I Spy" Yes. I Spy, in the back of a truck just big enough for us and a few bags of fun stuff. Believe me, there was plenty of things to "Spy" :) We would go aaalllll over in the mountains. Different mountains, different parts of Utah, we would drive around and stop here and there to fish, look at beautiful trees/waterfalls/and sometimes when we got lucky, animals!! My personal favorite spot was Lambs Canyon! I would always request to go there!! I am so thankful to have grown up taking part in these adventures and I can thank my Grandparents 100% for passing them down to me. Now, this is a HUGE part of what we do. We absolutely LOVE to fish, LOVE to camp, LOVE to explore. Thank you guys so, so much for starting me with this and teaching me so many things about the outdoors, and FISHING!

I remember after taking our little rides up into the mountains, when we pulled back into Grandma and Grandpa's house, Kass and I would pretend we were sleeping just so Grandma and Grandpa would carry us in the house.

**Story I should/shouldn't share about one of our trips**
It's one of those stories you tell when someone asks you "What is the grossest thing you have ever eaten?" Everyone has one of those stories, right? So, mine was on one of our trips to the mountains. We were at Lambs Canyon :) Grandpa took us on a mini hike and I kinda wondered off just a little bit. I remember going up to my Grandpa and saying "GA PA, look!!! It's WHOPPERS!! :) Next memory is him saying NO! CA CA!! and slapping said "Whoppers" out of my hand. Turns out it was moose poop!! I tell this story because I can always think that I never ate any, right? I mean what little girl would find whoppers and actually try one? None that I know of :)

I remember always picking on my little sister and Grandma saying that one day she will grow up and get me back. haha.

I remember the talks with Grandma. She is/was one of my all time favorite people to go to for advice. She always knew just what to say. She could make anyone feel better.

I remember Grandma always telling me how proud of me she was because of my personality. She said I always thought about everyone else and I could sense people's feelings and I always cared so much. One time she told me I was intuitive. I didnt want her to think that I didnt know what it meant so I hurried and wrote it down and looked it up in the dictionary as soon as we got off the phone. I'm sure I pretended like I knew what she meant. I wish I could remember that part of the conversation. I bet it was pretty funny.

Grandma was such a fantastic cook. Every year for our birthday's she would make us a "birthday dinner" of our choice. Anything we wanted. There was one exception. She wouldn't make enchiladas. She said she didn't know how and wanted it to be a really good birthday dinner. I kept asking, year after year for about 4 years it seemed like, lol. (Poor Grandma) FINALLY, Grandma gave in. She said she would attempt to cook them. We show up for dinner and it smells DELICIOUS!! She takes it out of the oven when we get there and we start to eat. They turned out perfect! So, so yummy!! Her trick? Apparently she had called La Puente prior to us showing up and informed them that she needed a pretty large order of enchiladas...she went and picked them up and brought them home and put them in her own pan...so clever! haha...she admitted it at the end of the night because I told her I wanted those for every other birthday dinner!!

I remember Grandma being one of the biggest Vikings fan ever. She loved football. She wrote down EVERY single game and wrote the scores at the end of the day. I felt so grown up when she let me read the scores to her so she could record them. She trusted that I would read the right scores and I loved it so much. Again, this is something that is now a huge part of my life. We absolutely love football and keep up with all of the games/scores.

There are so many other memories that I am so thankful for :)

My Grandma knew that her time with us was close to coming to an end and she would talk to us about it. At the time I was young and scared. I didnt want to believe her. I didn't want to think of the day when she would leave me. And so I didnt. I prayed and prayed that it wouldnt happen. But it did. It happened right before my graduation. I got the call at school, I was a Senior in Oakley High at that time (In Idaho) and left right away to come to Utah to see my Grandma one last time. It was really, really hard. It still is really, really hard.

Tonight we went to Grandpa's house to visit and get some Christmas stuff he said he and mostly my Grandma wanted me to have. There was a box full of memories. I hurried home and set everything up at my place. I am so excited to have this part of my Grandma here with me, especially during this season and once again, I feel so trusted and so grown up to have these things here with me, in my home. It seems like it was yesterday that Grandma had them in hers. They are all beautiful and I will always and forever remember the little memories that comes along with each and every decoration. If you would like to share these memories, here are the pictures.


My Grandpa told me tonight that Grandma bought 3 of these angels. One for me, one for my sister, Kassi, and one for my mom.

Her wings close over her, or you can keep them open! Isn't she beautiful?

This is so awesome to me. Look at all of my other angels that I had previously bought. She just matches so perfectly :) Good choice Grandma!

I LOVE this Nativity scene in the globe. I remember when Grandma would put this out around Christmas time. We weren't allowed to shake this one. I just love it. P.S. I shook this one tonight...shhh...don't tell ;) I just had to do it! I've always wanted to! It also plays Christmas music, isn't that so awesome?

So pretty!

This little ornament is so great! It is a nativity scene carved in wood! Love it!

This is the one that got me tonight. This is the globe we were allowed to shake with Grandma's help. It is/was Santa and a little boy. It is very old. One of the first decorations I remember my Grandma putting out. One year the little boy became unmounted, lol. My Grandma wanted to just get rid of the globe because it was broken, for some reason I did not want her to get rid of it! I begged her to keep it out. It is/was my favorite globe. Now, I know the reason. It is so, so special to me. Broken boy and all :)

It's snowing!



I am obsessed with candles. Everyone who has been to our house can pretty much tell. Funny that my Grandma/Grandpa picked this Santa candle out for me before knowing this.

This is another one that got me. This is another one of my favorites. If you turn the angel around in a circle, it is a musical box and it sings a Christmas song. We were never allowed to touch this one because of the type of glass it is. (It's the type that finger oils REALLY show up on) Grandma would always turn this one and show us. Now, it is in my house. It is so weird for me to imagine having grown up so much that Grandma's decorations are in our home. So special.

We all love and miss you so much Grandma. Merry Christmas! :)
This was a very long, but necessary blog. I needed to do it. Thanks for reading!

Monday, December 8, 2008

It's almost Christmas!!

As I've said before,

I. Love. This. Time. Of. The. Year.

Everyone is just so kind and thoughtful. For the most part. There are some exceptions when you have shoppers who procrastinate and shop at the last minute and think that they are going to be the only ones in the store shopping and therefore are irritated when they find out that 90% of the population is doing the same thing. I am not an irritated shopper, but I see a lot of unchristmassy things happen with said shoppers.

Anyway, other than those shoppers, everyone is so kind during this season. Now I have a story to prove that point! So, Trav and I are driving home from my grandma's house the other night and we were talking about renting a movie from Redbox. So, we go to Redbox, pick our our movie (Fred Clause, which was fantastic btw) and run the debit card. We have had this debit card for a long time and it is time to order a new one but the last time we ordered a new one, it took about 2 months total to get it finally, so it's not just a simple process. This current card will work every once in awhile but sometimes it just doesnt work at all. Well, this was one of the times where it wasn't going to work at all. I feel so bad thinking about it but there was a lady who pulled up and got in line behind us, patiently waiting to rent her movie and neither of us turned around and apologized for how long we were taking because we just kept trying to run the card over and over, because unfortunately, that is the only thing that makes it work. After we had been standing there for about 10-15 minutes trying to run the card, and freeeezing! We decided to just forget renting the movie and let the lady behind us get her movie. We both went back to the car and I remembered that we had a rebate card that still had $1 or $2 on it so we decided to give that a shot as soon as the lady had picked her movie and left. So, we waited in the car. While we were waiting, she walked over to us with a movie in her hand...Travis rolls down the window and she says "Here you go. I just rented it for you guys. I could tell you were having some troubles with your card or something." What a NICE thing to do. She rented it for us, on her card. Not knowing us....never even seen us before, yet, she rents the movie for us just because she could tell we were having problems. Thank you so much lady, you are so awesome. Put me in the holiday time spirit that much more! Next time I promise I will turn around and apologize because after she did that, we both felt worse for not doing so the first time! The world needs more people like that!

Other than that, it is so fun to get family together that you don't normally see very often. I love, love, love decorating for the season! I love that even though it is close to Christmas time, you can go into Robert's or Michaels and all of their Christmas decorations are 50-75% off instead of being super high priced because of the demand. I love the snow and how it makes everything look so pretty! I love the crazyness of Christmas day, going to 3 or 4 different dinners, trying to squeeze them all in but still enjoying every minute with everyone! It is just so much fun this time of year!

We put our tree up this weekend and I took a few pictures! Enjoy :)


I think we are going to go look for a bigger/better star. This is the one we had last year. It just looks so tiny compared to the tree, lol.


New tree skirt! $10 at Roberts :)


Part of the villiage, btw...it is extremely hard to do a village on the tree skirt that already has decorations!! (It is something I will continue to do though, passed down from my Grandparents) any ideas?


Our tree!


And again!


Close-up of part of the village


The other side of the village

You might also like...

Custom Search