So much to tell...

As you can see the month of December is pretty crazy for us (hence the lack of posts). The first of the month is my birthday, the middle of the month is our anniversary, mixed with all the holiday fun and excitement the whole month of December.

I've already shared the happenings of my birthday so I'll fill you in on the rest of month. First of all, we finished with finals week! Can we get a "Hallelujah"! We both had finals up until the very last day - December 8 so if was a busy, full, hecktic week. After I got done with all of my classes and finals, it was on to preparing the application for graduate school, which is due on January 1. I'll keep everyone posted on the happening of that as soon as I know. Cross your fingers that I get in here so we can stay in the valley for a little bit longer. :)

You can see Beark Lake in the background kind of.

For our ONE YEAR anniversary (can you believe that it's been a whole year already!) we decided since we've both been working so hard for the entire semester that we just wanted to do something really chill for our anniversary. So we did just that. We headed over to Brett's family's cabin at Bear Lake and did nothing but sleep, eat, and watch movie. Nothing like really turning your breain off for a couple days. It was so relaxing. We enjoyed a nice toasty fire, hot tubbing and just relaxing with each other. It was a MUCH needed break from reality.
I can't believe that it's been a year since we got married. I am the luckiest girl on earth. My husband is such a hard worker. He loves his Savior and is such a great example for me. I can't wait for him to be able to be an example to our children one day. He sacrifices so much for me and I am so grateful to have landed such a great catch. He's the best and I'll argue that with any other woman out there! Love you babe!

I got the house all decorated up for the holidays. Here's a picture of our tree, the ledge above our kitchen sink, and the lights in the window. Boy, I can't wait until a big tree fits in my house and I can decorate the whole outside of my house!

We went to Brett's work Christmas party. Great food. Great company. Great attire - you'll see what I mean when you check out my dear sweet husband's attire and Dustin's sweet sport coat. Gotta love the boys. They keep me laughing.

Last Saturday Brett, my dad, and Dearth built some shelves for our closets. I wish I had a before and after shot but I forgot to take a picture before the place was torn apart. But it was a much needed addition to our closets. They turned out great and the whole room looks completly different. Thanks guys!

That night was the Petersen Family Christmas party too. Natalie found out that my dad had dressed up as Santa for his ward party and asked me to find out if he would come to their party for the kids. It was fun to see him tease the kids (including Greg aka Dearth, or dad's girlfriend).

Us and Santa

Greg and Santa

Garrett and Santa

Yesterday I spent almost all day baking cookies for us to take around to all of our friends. It sure was a lot of work but I really enjoy baking when it's for other people so I found it quite enjoyable. However, I still hate cleaning up the mess so the dishes are still sitting in the sink a day later. Maybe i'll get to them at some point. I love the holidays and I love them even more now that I have my one and only to share them with!

I'm not sure if any of you have noticed (those of you who live in the valley) but the temple is no longer green. What I mean is there used to be a green hue to the domes on top of the temple. That is no longer so. The lights have been changed to a brillant white white and I LOVE it! The temple was easy to spot before but now it's even better! You can see the outline of the temple in Newton (that's about 15 miles away)! Just thought I would say the "newness" with you all! Hope you like it as much as we do!