Christmas part 2

I feel so lucky to have the in-laws that I do. I also feel lucky that my family, and my in-laws live in the same town. We spent half of the time with the Winters and half with the Quinns. Sunday evening we got to the Winters after our visit to Utah. Missy and her husband John were staying the night, as well as Steven and Melissa. The 6 of us stayed up till after 3:00 talking. Thankfully we all slept in so none of us were to tired on Christmas eve :) 

I had never been caroling before. Well.. unless you count caroling with the trouveres in a retirement center or something. Never gone to a home and stood outside in the snow caroling. The Winters went on Sunday night before Michael and I were back to town. On Christmas eve we just hit one home. It was a great experience. For those who know my in-laws it is clear that they are very musically talented people. I was lucky to take part in the most beautiful caroling I have ever heard. 

We sang 3 short songs. One I had never heard before so I just stood next to Michael and listened to everyone else sing that one. I found it incredibly touching. 

What can I give him, poor as I am?

If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb:

If I were a wise man, I would do my part.

Yet what I can I give him--give my heart.

I love the lyrics of that sweet and simple song. Christmas is such a lovely time. The feeling of Christmas is so perfectly fitting for celebrating the life of our Savior. 

With my family we had a traditional Christmas. Watching Mr. Krueger's Christmas and listing to Dad read from Luke 2 before going to bed. Growing up all of the kids slept together in my bedroom. We weren't aloud to leave the room until mom came to get us in the morning. We had some fun times in my room all together just waiting for mom to come get us, not able to sleep. I remember one year my brother Brian got out the Lego's to try to keep us entertained while we waited. This Christmas the only sibling to sleep with me is my sister Melissa. Thankfully we had Michael to add a little bit more fun :) 

However, we all seemed to sleep really well that night. I know people don't normally sleep at sleepovers.. especially on Christmas eve. Michael woke up an hour earlier then my sister and I (not a surprise.) 

We really enjoyed Christmas morning looking at our stockings and opening our presents. 

  We relaxed, ate and played some games. I'll be honest.. I am not the biggest fan of Mormon Mouthful. However, I LOVED playing Taboo probably more then anyone else did. Me and Melissa dominated that game :) 

I haven't let go of Christmas yet. I am waiting for January to take down the decorations. I am still enjoying Christmas music as well. It is always a little sad when the holidays end. 

The real fun at the Quinn home is yet to come. New Years Eve has always been a big deal at my house. We always do fondue. Which has been renamed to fundue by my brother Bill. I wish my whole family could be together for it every year. None of my brothers will be there this year because they live so far away. They will be continuing the tradition of fundue at their own homes. I always miss my brothers. Thankfully Marsha is close enough to come! I can hardly wait! 

Michael has joined us for fundue before, just before he left on his mission. It will be much more enjoyable this year because I will actually be there! I was sick on New Years Eve 3 years ago. Worst day to be sick EVER. That was incredibly disappointing. This year will be so much better :) 

I have to admit leaving the year 2012 is a little bad sad. I have never had a hard time saying goodbye to a year before. This year has been special. At the same time, I am sure 2013 is worth looking forward to.  

Christmas part 1

Michael and I had our little families Christmas morning on Saturday the 22nd. We were spending Christmas (the real one) in Pocatello but it was important to Michael that we had our own Christmas morning as well so we celebrated it a little early. 

Michael was out of control excited about it. He woke up after sleeping for only 4 ours at 6:00 a.m. Thankfully he let me sleep till 7:30 before jumping all over the place to wake me up in the most annoying way possible. Ha I love him :)

He got me all sorts of excited so we came out of our room to look at the beautiful tree. Even though I had been looking at it for the last month it seemed just a little bit more beautiful on that happy morning. 

As you can see in the last 3 pictures we were a little creative with the boxes that were used to wrap our gifts.. 

Michael has been especially excited for one of my gifts. It was opened last. It was in a largish box. When I was open I pulled out 4 of those tissue paper balls that I had used for his Birthday decorations. At the bottom of the box was a Hotel Confirmation for that night in Salt Lake! 

I had been wanting to go all season long to see the Lights at Temple Square but I wasn't expecting to go! It was a very sweet surprise. 

We ate German pancakes for breakfast, then packed and left for Salt Lake. We made a quick stop in Pocatello and then arrived in Salt Lake around 4. Checked into the hotel and then went to City Creek. I love that mall! We just walked around and enjoyed the Christmas feeling. I really liked the way they had decorated the mall. Most of Salt Lake seemed to be covered in Christmas decor. 

We then went to dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory. We ate there last time we went to Salt Lake as well. To be honest, I think it is my favorite restaurant of all time. Then went to see the lights. We were so surprised how busy it was! I think the best way to describe the amount of people squeezing through Temple Square would be "concert packed". I have never seen it that crazy. Michael looked especially handsome in his warm winter attire :) 

It was a truly beautiful evening. 

Birthday

Michael didn't want much for his birthday this year. 

He asked for pie. 

Check :) 

Andes mint 

 Also, his birthday landed on a Thursday. He works every weekday evening so I knew we wouldn't be doing much on his birthday. So the Saturday before we celebrated it kinda. I took him to the Hobbit. I'll be honest.. I was kinda falling asleep through the whole thing. At one point Michael actually leaned over to me and said "Michelle.. you have to stop snoring.." oops. 

So if you want a review on the Hobbit I am not your girl. I'm sure it was very good for those who read the books.. :) 

On his actual birthday he wanted to do nothing but be lazy and stay at home all day and then go to Nielsen's before he went to work. 

It is right across the street from Porter Park in Rexburg. That Park is probably one of my favorite things in the town. He was nice enough to walk though the park with me even though it was freezing! 

And! there is a new Deseret Book here! Also across the street from the park. So we had to go check it out. It is awesome! It is like a small version of the one in Salt lake. I could just go hang out in there. I love looking at the art there. I read him every birthday card in the store before we left. I was rather excited about them.

   

clearly he was more excited about the one with the cute bride and groom on it that says eternal bliss.. because that is us of course. 

So he goes to work and I wanted to decorate our appartment a little and then we could have our own little party with his pie when he got off work! As soon as he left I walked to Broulims to buy balloons  only to find out that there aren't any. Apparently there is a helium shortage. I had no idea! I guess it is like common knowledge that there is a helium shortage. I should have been more educated on the matter. I was feeling a little embarrassed asking for balloons in the middle of a helium drought. The lady that I asked looked at me like I was an idiot for asking. I went back home feeling a little pathetic and balloon-less. So I improvised with those tissue ball things the best I could with what I had :) 

I was so excited for him to get home!! 

I yelled surprise when he walked in :) 

Just kidding I didn't.. but I should have

  

:) 

December

There is something special about the month of December. For me, there are lots of memories relating to the month of December. 

 4 & 5 years ago I was performing with the Trouveres like. Concerts all over town and madrigal dinner.. doing what we all hated/loved most all season long.

 3 years ago Michael and I had finally fallen in love. Spending every day together enjoying the Winter.

 2 years ago I missed him while I waited, but had just finished hair school and was starting a new job. Working 2 jobs that had the best people and the best experiences. 

 1 year ago I was ending one loved job. I was in quite possibly my last show at Mystique. And counting down the days that Michael would come home. 

 This year, I am in complete married bliss with Michael I could not be more happy. This month is full of new memories. Last week I came home late one night from work and Michael and I were up late talking. Before going to bed we went to brush our teeth. Michael flipped a light switch on, and all the lights went off. Weird. We had the outlet that the fridge plugged into working but that was pretty much it. We couldn't figure out how fix it. We tried everything. So of course I am determined that there is a murderer outside and he cut the power lines, And then he was waiting for us to fall asleep before he came in to murder us. So poor Michael had to deal with all my crazy for a few hours. He kept trying to reassure me that I wasn't going to be killed in my sleep just because the power was out. 

 It was so dark! I could't sleep in dark like that! Even though.. lets be honest. We always sleep with it that dark. It was just the fact that it couldn't be light if I wanted it to that freaked me out. It was about 5:00 a.m. when I finally got tired of worrying and fell asleep. We woke up 2 hours later. Michael got ready for work and I dropped him off. then I drove around for a half hour because I wanted to be in my warm car rather then my cold dark apartment all by myself. 

 Thankfully the landlord was awake when I called and quickly came over to fix the problem. I have to say it was a really funny experiences. My landlord is an elderly kind man. When I called and explained the problem he told me how to fix it over the phone. I told him that I had already tried that and that it must be a problem with the wiring he kinda chuckled and asked if my husband was home to help me. I said no so he said "alright little lady, I will come show you how to fix it. Ill be there in 15 min." 

When he arrived he was very sweet and ready to give me a lesson on how to use the power thing on the wall.. uhh.. I can't remember what its called right now (power box?) but for what its worth.. I do know how to use it. After trying to fix it 3 different times he took of his hat, scratched his head while muttering about how in all his years of living he has never seen this happen before. He called the electrician. Who also said he would arrive in 15 min. I sat on the couch rolled up in several blankets trying my hardest not to fall asleep for an hour. Then he showed up. He was also an older man. He kinda looked like the shorter balding guy on Home Alone. Kinda creepy looking. He was holding a small bag. Just large enough to have a hand gun in maybe. I was a little hesitant to let him in especially when I greeted him at the door and he kinda scowled at me rather then saying hello. But I let him in and after 5 min of awkward silence he broke it with even more awkward conversation and he ended up to be a very nice man.

 Good news, not only did he get the power working, he didn't have a gun in his little bag. Just tools. Which makes more sense. Even though I was determined that the bag consumed the weapon that would kill me, it was in fact tools to fix all my problems. I know, I am a little crazy. I am really not a very logical person. Especially when I am tired, cold, and stuck in the dark apparently. Ha. Its not unusual for me to assume I am going get shot. I blame the creepy gunman guy on Grey's Anatomy for that. 

 The problem was behind an outlet by the way. Which I thought was kinda odd. We also participated in Applebee's karaoke for the first time ever this month. That was exciting! Actually, It was just Michael. I just watched :) He sang Blue Christmas by Elvis. I have a thing for Elvis Christmas music..

 We attended the Melaluca Christmas party a couple nights ago. 

Eclipse an acapella group  performed. They did mostly Christmas music, but some covers as well. They were pretty good! I love watching groups like this perform. 

This is them :) 

I wouldn't say this is my favorite song.. but the ones that they did that I REALLY liked they don't have on youtube. bummer. 

 

I think my favorite part of the party was watching all the huge gifts they were giving away in a drawing. It was hilarious to watch some of the people and how excited they got when their name was called. They gave several gifts away. The one I really had my fingers crossed for was the 7 day cruise to the Caribbean. WHAT! That lucky girl.. I was super jealous of her! How freaking awesome would that be to just win a vacation like that. Just saying. 

They gave all the employees blankets. It is amazingly soft and so warm. That blanket has been in almost constant use for the last 3 days.

We are celebrating our Christmas tomorrow before we go to Pocatello to be with our families. I cant believe how excited Michael is. He has been talking about it for weeks. I am sure it will be an early morning at the Winters home tomorrow. :) 

Christmas cards

I originally didn't plan on doing Christmas cards. Then one of my closest friends asked me if I was going to, then I got all sorts of excited about it! So, while we were in Poky for Thanksgiving my sister took family pictures of us, and I took her family pictures. For Christmas cards of course :) 

For a few reasons I decided not to do them. Well, mostly because I just want to print them through Costco but I don't think I will be going to Poky again in time to pick them up and get them sent out.   

We had a lot of fun taking the pictures so even if I am not using them for anything it wasn't a wast of time. Michael said we should just send one out electronically. Blogging about it is close enough. Right? 

Michael isn't really a fan of me wearing any lip color.. because we give each other lots of kisses. He doesn't like getting lip stick all over him so it is rare that I have anything on my lips. I put some on for pictures anyway. Oops. :) 

P.s. this is my Black Friday success coat I posted previously about 

Happy December everyone

and Merry Christmas!!! 

Love, the happy Winters couple :) 

holiday cheer

I have been overly excited about Christmas this year

which I am glad about because the past few Christmas's I have had a hard time getting into holiday spirit. I blame it on graduating high school and no longer participating in a choir that starts working on holiday music in October. Anyone who was in Trouveres with me I am sure would agree with me when I say that performing Christmas music almost daily in December can really Christmas you out. So, it was more difficult for me to get really into it I think when I didn't have that to get me excited. 

This year, being our first Christmas together is exciting! I was getting anxious about getting a tree before Halloween! To be honest, I have had Christmas decor up in Thoroughly since the beginning of November. Now that Thanksgiving is over I think its finally appropriate for me to publicly announce that my tree is up. I tried to avoid all the people who think its a crime to speak of Christmas before Thanksgiving.. 

SIDE NOTE: for those of you who don't know.. Michael and I named our apartment Thoroughly Thursday. I realize I use phrases like "I decorated Thoroughly today". I just wouldn't want anyone to be confused about what I mean. It may be possible that I would mean I decorated thoroughly, and you could assume that I was using that word the way one normally would. However, I am just using our apartments name. I just thought I would clear that up :) 

ALSO.. you may be confused about why we would name our apartment Thoroughly Thursday, or why we would name our apartment at all. I would love to tell you the story. We think its a funny story, but no body else seems to think it is. So i'll just keep it to myself. 

Moving on...

OUR FIRST TREE!!!!! :) :) :) 

                                 

these little guys were given to Michael in Norway. God Jul means Merry Christmas . I believe the direct translation is Good Christmas. Possibly.. I would have to ask Michael to be sure. 

Costco wrapping paper. Highly recommended. 

We are very much enjoying the warm decor in our little home :) Its going to be a great first Christmas!

Our first Thanksgiving together was wonderful! I was thankful for the family members that traveled  to join the festivities :) Holidays are much more enjoyable when you are with family. I am also really thankful for my in-laws. They have been wonderful at loving me and welcoming me into their family.

 At least one large laugh attach usually occurs when our family gets together. We were eating dinner at my house. The Millwards were there, and it was Michael (my brother in-law) who started the laugh attach by saying "cheese pass the curds". Don't ask me why I thought it was so funny.. but Marsha and I were both in tears over it.

I spent a good amount of time being read to by my nephew Abram.

He read Are You My Mother to me probably 10 times while he was here. He reads incredibly well :)

I very much enjoyed playing games with Michael's family while we were in town. We played Phase 10 on Thursday evening. On Friday I was introduced to the game Nertz at the Winters home. Love that game! I am terrible at it.. but its so fun!

Black Friday was a success! My sisters and I went to Herberger's.

We ran into Britt and Mandy. So they followed us around until almost 2:00 a.m. :)

It was so busy! It was a little disappointing, we didn't buy anything that we had gone there to buy. Marsha has a list of things to look at. Unfortunately all she left with was socks. It wasn't a complete wast of time though. It was a fun Black Friday experience! And.. I found a red coat! I could not have been more thrilled about it! I am sure I will be posting pictures of that beauty soon :)

Saturday night we went to the Millwards to get in their hot tub. Just before getting out Michael stands up and tells me "I'm feeling a little black outish.." and then fainted. freaked me out just a little. I got to play the hero and save him from drowning. Thankfully it was just seconds before he came to in my arms. He was confused about his wet hair and why I was suddenly holding him when he was just standing up. Oh good memories.. :)

I everyone had a happy Thanksgiving and a successful Black Friday as well :)  

his latest accomplishment

Just a short update..

 Michael came home from work on Friday night with some great news! His supervisor pulled him away from his work for a moment to promote him to Team Lead!! :) 

I am very proud of him

I'm so lucky to have a husband that has been blessed with many talents

Since November has begun many people have been listing things they are thankful for day by day on Facebook and Instagram. Seeing posts of others has led me to think of the many things that I am thankful for. I have found myself emotional while trying to express my gratitude to my Heavenly Father for Michael. Its an impossible task. I can in no words describe how much he means to me. He has exceeded my expectations completely. Then I just get more emotional thinking of all the other people and blessings I have in my life. November is a great month! I am so happy that we have thanksgiving as a holiday to remind us of how truly lucky we really are.

Happy November everyone! 

Halloween

As disappointing as it is Michael and I have work and such so we haven't been preparing costumes or parties like I had hoped. However, we did go to Dr. Slaughters so we have had a little bit of Halloween excitement :) 

For the past 2 years the Farrs Crew took a little drive to Idaho Falls to visit Dr. Slaughters 

year one

year two 

It kinda became tradition, well at least Mandy and I feel like it is.. So we did it again :) 

year three

It was probably the highlight of my October. That and working at a straw maze! My friend Ashley gave me a job for the month and we have had some good times together :) When we aren't freezing to death. And when she hasn't been having false labor contractions.. haha its been fun :)  I'm glad I have had it.

Fall is my favorite season. I have decided it is because its so short. All the other seasons I get sick of and i'm ready for the next! But with fall, it begins, its pretty and perfectly chill for about two weeks, and then it snows and its over. You have to enjoy it while it lasts! Rexburg has some areas where there are lots of beautiful trees, I loved watching the leaves change.  But as of this week the snow has come and I could not be more excited for Christmas!!

Its our little families first Christmas and I have all these ideas of how I want to spend it! I'm excited about continuing Quinn family traditions and starting new ones. I'm not sure what those new ones are yet, so if anyone has any family holiday traditions I would love to hear about them!

Starting in November I will be decorating Thoroughly. Taking down the fall and putting up the Winter :) We're looking forward to having a little Christmas joy in our little home. 

conference weekend

Conference weekend was eventful for us! I LOVE conference weekend!

On this particular conference weekend Michael and I were able to go to his mission reunion in Salt Lake. It was wonderful! While waiting for Michael while he served I got to know a lot about the people he was blessed to serve with through letters. Since he has been home I have met a few of them. It was exciting to meet so many more this last Friday and the reunion. I feel so lucky to have been a part of Michael's life during his mission. I loved putting faces to the names of the people I already felt so familiar with. 

It was an enjoyable night of lots of hugs, memories and food. Driving back to Rexburg following the reunion Michael and I talked about what we enjoyed most about the evening. I was surprised to see that there were some Norwegians there. If I remember right there were 6 people there that came from Norway to come to conference. Since they were in town they came to join the reunion. President Johansen asked everyone who had come from Norway to introduce themselves. I was thankful to one woman who stood and expressed her gratitude toward the missionaries who labored there. She told them how much it excites her to watch new missionaries come in to the Land of Norway because they change lives. This woman was a result of two LDS missionaries who changed and shaped her life to what it is now 35 years ago. I couldn't help but get emotional to hear her speak of the marvelous work the missionaries do every day.

I was lucky to be born into the family that I was born in. I was lucky to be raised with parents who taught me about the Gospel and to have the priesthood in my home. I was lucky to live in Idaho where almost all of my friends were members. I am lucky to live so close to Temples! The members in Norway have to travel to Sweden to attend the Temple. On the way home from Salt Lake we passed 5 temples in a 4 hour drive! Those 6 people came to see conference live when I have always lived 3 hours from it and I have never gone. I am thankful that I was there to hear that woman's testimony. I am thankful that I was reminded of how truly lucky I am. It was also the perfect thing to prepare me for listening to conference. 

6 months ago conference weekend was a little hectic for me and I didn't give it the attention that I should have. I was thankful that I got to view every session this last weekend. I don't know that I could say that I had a favorite talk, I loved so many. Although there was one talk that really stood out to me. Elder Perry's talk Saturday afternoon was focused on family/parenting. In this talk he read a letter that he had once written to his mother. The letter was tender and led my thoughts to the wonderful mother I have, and to the mother I hope to become. 

If you missed it here is the link :) 

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2012/10?lang=eng&vid=1882748016001&cid=4

On Sunday, along with enjoying conference we enjoyed our 6 month anniversary together :) I cant believe how fast the first half of this year has gone. Its been a great adventure so far. 

my beautiful 6 month roses :) love you darling

People say that the first year of marriage is the hardest. Being half way into that year for us we find that hard to believe. But I sure hope its true! Because if this is the hardest part of marriage then we have a great life ahead of us! :) 

Boise

Michael has never ever been to Boise. I know, its all very shocking. 

So we took a quick trip randomly. 

along with Boise being a first we had a couple more firsts. 

First TGIFRIDAYS 

First banana split.

That's right people. Michael had never had a banana split before. And I didn't even know until we were sitting outside this darling bistro listening to some man that we couldn't see playing bongos underneath the stars. That is when he dropped it on me! This is my first banana split! WHAT!? I feel like I should have known ya know? A girl thinks she knows her husband and then she finds out something so shocking out of nowhere. 

Blew. My. Mind. 

In other news we met up with an old friend of mine. Aside from Michael's first banana split this was probably the highlight of the trip. On the Sunday before first grade I met a curly red headed girl in church. Her name is Karli, we became best friends. We were attached at the hip from first to sixth grade. Then she moved to Boise. Since then it has been difficult to spend time with her so I was happy to do lunch with her :) 

It was a fast trip but im glad we got to go. I am afraid I don't have much to blog about other then then. Except for maybe that we're really excited for Fall! YAY!! I LOVE LOVE Fall. At the first of September I got overly excited about it and started decorating. This is my current centerpiece :) 

which is darling :) 

Salt Lake

Once upon a time Michael went into the MTC and met his first companion Elder brown. 

And good news! Logan (Elder Brown) had a girl waiting for him too :) 

This is Kayla. We met up and put together a package for them! 

More good news.. 

we both waited :) 

go MG's 

Logan and Kayla got married this last weekend! We went to their sealing at the Salt Lake Temple. We have been excited about this wedding for a long time! We were very happy to be going. To be honest, it was a miracle that we made it! We were told the sealing was at 10:20 and needed to be there a half our early. So we arrived a little late.. we got to underground parking at 9:50 only to find that the lot was full. A nice man holding an umbrella on neither a rainy or particularly sunny day sent us to a different parking lot. We drove in the direction that he told us to go and couldn't find the lot. 

Its 10:05 now and i'm getting a little stressed. 

We drove back to the nice man to receive more detailed instructions. A different man was standing in his place and he was very helpful! We parked at 10:13. 

We are now running toward temple square in my heels, but not to fast because 1. I cant run fast to begin with and 2. modesty would probably be a big issue if I tripped clumsily wearing my high heels. So for me it was more like I was prancing and Michael was jogging. My level of stress is increasing and i'm feeling a little emotional with worry of being too late.  

For those of you who have never been to the Salt Lake temple the entrance isn't actually located on the building. That would have been good for us to know before we arrived to the temple 23 min late, but we didn't. So the shoes came off and we started to run a little faster. Its now 4 min until the wedding is scheduled to begin. We are running past several brides and their families wishing that somehow we will make it in time. With 3 min left my hopes are low and i'm close to giving up when I feel something hit my shoulder and fall to the ground. Looking back I see one of my favorite earrings on the ground. Quickly I ran back picked it up. I started heading back toward Michael and he asks 

"did you get the other one?" Holding my left earring in my hand I reached up to touch my right ear to find my right earring was gone. 

I was almost positive we were to0 late, I was tired and incredibly frustrated. Losing my ear ring topped it off for me and I started to cry. We only had 2 min left so I don't know why I even tried to keep going after that. My poor husband is scanning the ground trying to find my right earring hoping that if he does he can stop my tears. And I started running faster. More like sprinting faster then I probably ever have. Looking back this moment is really quite funny. I had completely fallen apart so I didn't think it was at all funny then. Now I cant help but laugh imagining what people were thinking watching me sprint red faced, sweaty, shoe-less with tears streaming down my face and Michael chasing after me toward the entrance of the temple. 

10:20 and we enter the temple. The man the greeted us informed us that we had come to the wrong entrance. I wiped away my tears and tried to fight back more looking at the clock above him. We quickly turned and ran to the correct entrance. The second we walked inside they asked the group inside to follow them to the Brown wedding. 

We made it! It took me a few min and a couple jokes from Michael for me to compose myself. I'm so glad we made it in time! The wedding was wonderful! They had a perfect day! The weather could not have been better. Logan and Kayla were truly happy. 

It was an awesome weekend. We're so happy for them! And it was fun to have an excuse to go play in salt lake :) Going to Trolley Square to go to the Old Spaghetti Factory is a must, along with the new mall. LOVED IT! We went thinking we would just check it out and then leave. Nope, we were there for 5 hours. I'm pretty sure we still didn't see everything. Next time we go, we're both wearing more comfortable shoes. :) 

goodbyes are always sad

Well, vacation is over.. back in Rexburg trying to get used to real life. 

our trip was AMAZING :) 

We left late Thursday to Pocatello, Slept there and got up bright and early to get on the road! Although to be honest it wasnt very bright. It was kinda gloomy for most of the trip but for those of you who dont know I LOVE gloomy weather. Rainy days are my very favorite. Well.. other then when its raining and sunny in the middle of a beautiful street with lots of trees covered in beautiful Autumn leaves. That has gotta be my favorite. But that is not at all the point. The point is I was with my husband on a beautiful day headed on a road trip and the destination was sister time!! I was happy :) 

It was a happy week. 

 If you would like a summery of each day spent in Nevada continue reading :)

DAY ONE 

7:00 a.m. the happy couple is sleepy.. but excited :) 

We drove about 8 hours were we met up with the Millwards at Scheels in Reno. We went on the farris wheel, played on the escalator, and looked at fish.

 We then when to Olive Garden :) 

love love Olive Garden :) 

DAY TWO 

Mini beach day! We drove across the border to California to visit this beautiful beach. I wanna say it was called Vikings Home? I could be wrong about that.. so I guess there was the Sweden queen that spent her summers here and on that little island is a small house that she drank her tea every day, and you can take tours of her castle. We didn't.. I did look through the windows a bit though :) 

Friday nights are pizza movie nights at the Millwards household. But for this week they were with us in Reno Friday night so pizza movie night was moved to Saturday. 

Did you know you can make pizza on the grill? 

Marsha is a genius. It was delicious :) 

DAY THREE

Sunday was one of my favorite days! Marsha does the music for the primary so rather then going to Sunday school Michael and I visited primary with Benjamin and Abram. We sang happy songs and watched the adorable kids learn about the importance of participating in good media and staying away from bad. So cute!

For dinner that night we did something I was especially excited for. Amatriciana :) 
Made with HOMEMADE pasta!

cute outfit :)

awesome and exciting :) 

While Marsha and I are in the Kitchen making preparing dinner Michael (my husband) and Michael (her husband) were outside practicing golf by hitting the balls into a large net. Until Michael (my Michael) hit the ball hard, and outside of the net and hit some guys house. Thankfully not through the window! But both boys came running inside to avoid talking with the person that would probably soon come out of his house to find out what the noise was. I wish I had a picture of their faces. Classic. So Michael joined us in making pasta :) 

also! that night we celebrated national smores day! It was a couple days late.. but still lots of fun! 

DAY FOUR

There is a great swim center not far from their house. We went last time I was there and it was a BLAST! The highlight of that visit was Abram jumping off the diving board into my arms. He wanted to SO bad but was terrified. He got up there and was shaking so bad that the whole board was shaking. I had seen knees knock together before in cartoons.. but never in real life. He finally jumped and squealed with excitement once  in the pool again. That was a memorable experiences for sure!

Abram didn't jump this time. We just watched Michael do tricks off the diving board. One of the best parts of that swim center is they have two large slides and there never seems to be a line at them for some reason. So we run up the stairs and slide down over and over! It can be great exercise for sure!

OH! and Trader Joe's of course!! Trader Joe's is pretty much one of the coolest grocery stores ever! Honestly.. I couldn't tell you why I like it so much.. but happy things always happens at Trader Joe's. The nicest people work there! Its like Costco! Only.. like 1/8th of the size. And, ok its not like Costco at all. But I do love Costco. Anyway, They have cool bathrooms.. that is probably the best part of Trader Joe's :)

DAY FIVE

I honestly cant remember what we did on this day.. it was Tuesday. And I know that we went to the temple in Reno. It rained on that day. We ate grilled cheese. Humm weird. Maybe that was the day that we went to Costco to buy socks and cereal. Haha could be.

RENO TEMPLE :) 

DAY SIX 

BEACH DAY! 
SAND HARBOR 

Other then forgetting the beach umbrella, that day was perfect.

First of all, I normally don't get in lakes and such because its always so cold and i'm kinda a wanny about it. BUT this water was AMAZING!

We built a.. mm.. I don't really know what you would call it actually.. in the sand. And ate sugar snap pees and probably the best PB&J I have ever had. AND PEACHES! We did that on Tuesday too! Farmers market to buy peaches. Almost forgot.

 We all got a little burnt I think.. Except for Michael who got way burnt! The tops of his feet are still red. Poor guy. I guess from now on we should put sun screen on every hour instead of every two. :) And me and Marsha both look like we have a dandruff problem from sun burnt scalp. Still, so worth it! Best day ever! It was SO fun!

We had a dance party and made home made chicken pot pie that night
then went to bed,
and in the morning said goodbye.as
I cried driving away from the Millwards home toward our next destination.

Thanks for the great week Marsha and family!

WE LOVE YOU! :) 
cant wait to see you again!