In Loving Memory Of...

President Gordon B. Hinckley

June 23, 1910-January 27, 2008

The beloved prophet of our church passed away yesterday. He was such a wonderful man, prophet, and example and I celebrate his life and the legacy he left behind. 

Valentine Crafting

Scrapbook paper, wood, and mod podge... it can keep you busy for hours! 

These squares are about 9 1/4 inches... somewhere in the ballpark. Thanks to Nicole and Jason for cutting all the wood!! 

I made small squares for gifts... 

My sister-in-law did a similar project with 'Autumn.' Thanks for the idea Anya! I found the letters at Michael's. 

Just Call Me Brittany

Last weekend we met up with our friend Erica (and her date) in the city. After being stuck in major traffic and getting lost for about an hour, we finally made it to the de Young Museum 1 hour before closing. Ends up... an hour is plenty of time. I like being cultural... but not for too long. You definitely see some interesting things at museums... here's a few pieces I found interesting:

A splatter painting, why didn't I think of that and become famous? 

A very large man? 

 A table... flowers on top and a dog on the bottom... sweet. 

A woman giving birth. Please say it is not like this... 

So after being culturally worn out, we headed to Khan Toke, a Thai House. You walk in and they take your shoes... I'm a bit nervous since I'm not wearing socks. The ambiance was super cool and the tables were low and you sat on pillows. Cameron and I of course struggled getting into the table because we are so tall... our legs just wouldn't fit. After getting situated we started seeing ants crawling around. After we killed about 12 we asked to move tables.. which led to our legs getting stuck again. The next table was a bit taller and getting in was not as dramatic as the first. The food was pretty good and we were hoping that dead ants weren't cooked in with our curry. Now... before we left I had to use the restroom. Please remember that I'm still barefoot and I'm wondering how this was going to work out. As I neared the bathroom I see that there are 4 pairs of sandal type things by the bathroom door. So now I'm faced with a decision... be Brittany Spears and go into the bathroom barefoot or wear some sandals that have been worn by about a million people. I choose the sandals and thankfully have not broken out in some strange foot fungus yet. 

The Proposal

Cameron proposed about this time last year, clearly I can't remember the date. Now if I only I was blogging last year... We were planning on going to the temple but as we were driving he missed the exit. I'm thinking, "typical," but Cameron had other plans. We ended up at Skates in Berkeley for an ocean view dinner- so beautiful! After dinner we walked up and down the pier. I was a bit suspicious considering that he had given me a dozen long stemmed roses earlier in the night and we just had an awesome dinner... and now we were walking down a pier. But to my suprise there was no proposal on the pier. We then sat on a bench in the freezing cold and talked for about 20 minutes. After I was almost frozen he got down on one knee and proposed. It was so fun!! The best part was yet to come though. We went back to my apartment and he sang and song he had written for me- it was so great!! I LOVE getting proposed to!!

FINALLY!!

Ok, so who is excited for the new episode of Grey's Anatomy tomorrow night... we are approximately 12 hours away. It is about time!! 

Family Pics

Gotta love family pics, especially in the freezing Utah weather!!!


It's kind of like another engagement shot...

Christmas in the Snow

Cameron and I headed to Utah for Christmas to see my family... it was so fun and SO cold. I think I have barely defrosted. We had a blast seeing everyone, hanging out, eating, going to the movies, and just relaxing.

I can't remember the last time I saw it snow... it had to be at least 3 years ago. We had a white Christmas... it snowed on Christmas Eve. It was so snowy and slippery that we even got in a fender bender driving home from the movies on Christmas Eve. Hey... we needed to spice things up!


Our family tradition that has lasted as long as I can remember is to eat fondue every Christmas Eve. It was delicious... and it is such a treat to have it once a year. My mom even took a fondue class this year so we had new recipes (which I should post), a new fondue pot, and new dippers... it was a good fondue year!!


We got to see our nephew Lucas for the first time... he was so cute in his little Santa outfit.


Like most families... we open one present Christmas Eve which is some form of pajamas. We also exchange gifts with our siblings and we open those Christmas Eve. My favorite Scott's gift to Cameron...a dancing cactus with Arizona on it... hilarious. A few comments were made about this catcus but I will not be posting them.


I loved my R cup... which I was coveting from Anthropologie for quite some time. I especially loved the bow on top of the package... good job Em!

Brent loved his camo BYU hat- I thought it looked like baseball players on his hat... apparently it is cool to have camo school apparel now?

Christmas morning.. oh the memories. I have to admit it is just not the same as when you are little.. rushing down the stairs to see what Santa brought. But, it is still fun. My mom made me an apron after I had been eying one forever at Anthropologie. I love it and I just love the meaning behind homemade gifts!!


The annual brunch at my aunt's house... it wouldn't be Christmas without brunch.


We went skiing with Brent... it was FREEZING. We had to borrow everything to wear so thanks to all the lenders! Cameron and Brent did the hard runs while I took my first lesson. I was feeling pretty confident after my lesson and even went down a green run only falling twice. Cameron and I went up the lift again... only to find blue and black runs. Feeling very stressed we headed down very steep blue slopes. Cameron was just cheering me on as I did the biggest pizza I could... and then rolled down the rest of the hill. This is when I began to cry and the snot began freezing in my nose because it was so cold. There were only about 3 more hills like this and I must say Cameron was very patient and encouraging. Moral of the story... stick to green runs your first time skiing.

Cam's Surprise...

After many holidays of surprising Cam with dress shirts and hoodies (ok, not surprises).. I thought of a great Christmas gift that he would not suspect. I went to great lengths to keep it a secret- I even hid it at Brooke's house until we exchanged gifts. I got him a guitar and it was so fun to see him open it... he had no clue what it was until he literally tore off the paper and saw Martin written on the box....he was so surprised and I was so impressed with myself that I could pull off such a task. The best part... he is not returning it and he loves it. Merry Christmas babe!

Hiding the gift under a blanket as to not give away the gift by the size of the box... come to find out he thought I bought him a T.V. after seeing the box.

The suspense...

Looking like a rock star...

Gingerbread Houses

I have decided that I have really competitive friends. All of our parties turn into competitions.... i.e. pumpkin carving. So here is our Christmas party.. pizza and gingerbread houses. The boys would have nothing to do with making them so the girls were hard at work. The Brittany's used their kit from Target which required no imagination. Brooke and I had to try and create decorations on our Sweedish gingerbread house which I think should count as double the points. Then our husbands judged and it was top secret because each husband knew if they didn't vote for their wife's house then there would be trouble at home that night. I think the Brittany's won... I think it was because they had more candy? Clearly, modern and simple designs do not win with boys.

Brooke and I

The Brittany's

Yes, I Wore the Same Dress

Cameron's building's Christmas party was 2 weeks apart from his other Christmas party in Orange County. I wore my same dress with pride but changed my hair.. maybe people wouldn't notice the same dress? The party was super fun and Cameron played a rocked out version of Silent Night while his department heads sang... loved it!

I Love Decorations...

We didn't get a tree this year because it just would have been a waste... but I tried to spice up the little apartment as best as I could. Merry Christmas!

Tis the season

I attempted to be a bit crafty this year for some gifts... the first being beeswax candles. These were actually fun to make and even more fun to do with friends. While in AZ for Thanksgiving my in-laws and I made the cute jars- basically they were really hard. You buy the jars from Ikea and tie ribbon on the top... my kind of craft. I filled them with home made caramels. Yum!

Laguna Beach

Wow, I'm finally posting the events that happened in the right month! Cameron's work party was held in Laguna Beach this year- we flew down Thursday night and were there until Sunday afternoon. It was such a fun little vacation and so generous of Cameron's work... lets give a shout out to Generations Healthcare! We stayed at the Montage Resort and it was just beautiful... not to mention Laguna Beach... we just love that place and it brought back memories of our wedding! It was so great to relax, walk on the beach, and sleep in. Cameron become the super star and played his guitar at the dinner Friday night- while singing. Everyone loved it and I think he thinks it is the beginning of his rockstar career.

Turkey Day In Arizona

We went to Arizona for Thanksgiving and had a blast! It was great to see family and friends and spend time with everyone. To my great relief I discovered that Arizona does produce cold weather... I only packed one sweatshirt because I only remember sweating in Arizona. Lucky for me I got to wear that same sweatshirt everyday to block the chill.

The Fam Visits

My mom and sister came out to visit right before Thanksgiving. It was great to have them here... we basically ate, shopped, and got mani pedis... what a dream! It was so fun to have them here!

Supreme Loser

So we started a Halloween tradition last year with Brittany and Derek Simmons... eat chili and carve pumpkins. This year we found more friends... things are looking up for us and the Simmons! So last year Cameron and I won the contest (sorry Simmons and yes, the pumpkins were judged). This year there were 4 couples and the competition was heated. Cameron and I went in with complete confidence and we made the name for last place: Supreme Loser. We bought an awesome white pumpkin and carved a skeleton. The other couples were hard at work yet Cameron and I knew we had it in the bag. You might need to sit down for this: at the judging competition we did not take 1st, nor 2nd, and not even 3rd. We were deemed the SUPREME LOSERs. I do not know how this happened and I don't think Cameron has recovered from this yet. He is hard at work planning next years pumpkin.

Yet another tourist attraction, Alcatraz

So here we are again, being tourists. But actually.. this was really fun. We toured Alcatraz at night and it was really cool. We paid an extra 6 bucks a ticket to see it at night. See in my mind I was thinking it would be kind of spooky and it was our Halloween activity. But let me give you a tip- it was not scary. But it was cool to watch the sun set behind Golden Gate Bridge while on Alcatraz and there was an added bonus: the cool headsets you get to wear!

Welcome Little Lucas

So my first nephew was born in August... Lucas Scott. My brother Scott and his wife Anya are super excited and I can't wait to see him. I actually get to see him in a few days and I can't wait. This is the day he came home from the hospital... so cute!

Caramel

We headed to Caramel in August and it was so dang pretty. I had no idea such beautiful beaches existed in No. Cal. We loved walking around, touring the shops we couldn't afford, and trying out this awesome deli. We wanted to drive the 17 mi. drive in Monteray but you needed 9 dollars.. in cash. Who has cash these days... so we had to turn out. All in all, great day!

You don't need a boat, just friends with a boat

This is where the Hall's come in. Meet the Halls... we just love them. They were our first friends in our new ward and literally after the first time we met them we were invited boating. Come to find out they are obsessed with boating and can't go without some friends... I'm getting over the fact that we were being used. Anyway, I refused the first time since I couldn't wakeboard... and then I learned how in Utah. So the second time I took them up on their offer.. and the good news was that I could still get up. Cameron LOVES wakeboarding and Brooke and Jason are such great friends.