Deck the halls

The Christmas decorations are up, the stereo is playing Christmas music, and the house smells of pine trees. This is my favorite time of the year. I have been waiting for it to roll around since January 1. 2010.
The hubby and I have been trying to really enjoy this Holiday season (in between the chaos of photography, work, and school). We have enjoyed ourselves a Christmas movie almost every night for the past week, and we even top our movie nights off with warm apple cider. The Christmas cards are in the works, the shopping has begun, and holiday activities are filling up our schedule. However, the thing that we are most looking forward to is going back home (to Utah) for the Holidays. There is nothing like being around family, mountains, and lots of snow to make a perfect Christmas.

Christmas Cards

As some of you know, I am a freak when it comes to Christmas cards. I have been thinking about them since Halloween. So when I read that bloggers can receive 50 free Christmas cards from Shutterfly, I was all in. 

Here is the link http://blog.shutterfly.com/5358/holiday2010-blog-submission-form/ for YOU to get your free 50 Christmas cards. They have so many cute designs. Here are two of my favorites... 

Shutterfly has been my favorite place to get personalized cards and photo books. For the hubby and I's 1st wedding anniversary I had wrote a letter to him every month after we had been married.  Shutterfly made it easy to insert all my letters and add a picture for each month to create a beautiful photo book that we will both cherish forever. 
If you are in need of a unique Christmas gift, head over to shutterfly.com to see what they have to offer. Everything from photo books that you can cherish forever to calendars and coffee mugs.  I personally can not stop looking at all the wonderful Christmas card design selections that they have. Usually I stress and lose sleep over our Christmas cards, not this year thanks to shutterfly. 

A Thanksgiving in Philadelphia

This year I am thankful for many things, a supportive husband, a wonderful doggy, good health, a house that has started to become a home, and great friends (just to name a few).  Friends have become a second family to us now that we live so far away from our own family.  This Thanksgiving I was extremely thankful to be spending the holiday with the Lindsay, Casey and the cutest one of all, Jack. We had a such a wonderful time eating yummy food, enjoying Thanksgiving and the first snow fall of the season, going on a beautiful walk, reading bedtime stories to Jack, and going downtown to a German Christmas Village. It was relaxing, enjoyable, and very special to be around such amazing friends. 

NieNie Dialogue

Do you read the nienie dialogues? I do, and I love them. Nienie (stephanie) is such an inspirational woman. To be honest, she helped me realize that New Jersey was not so bad or at least helped me get a better attitude about living here. I know that sounds crazy, but if you are an avid follower like myself, you will know that a while back her family resided in the same town as we are living. She talks a lot about her trials living here. She talks about Costco outings and how people are just plain rude, or how she watched her neighbors cement duck change outfits for seasons. That is true New Jersey style, the cement duck with changeable outfits that is. I love that she is honest. She holds nothing back in her blog and that is inspiring. Anyways, if you don't read her blog.. do it.. She is holding an awesome giveaway for a tamera lens (calling all photographers or anyone who want to take better pictures)! Go here nienie-reviews.blogspot.com to enter. Good Luck! 

A Birthday Celebration

26 years ago the most wonderful person entered the world. As you can guess, that person is my hubby. We celebrated in style. As much style as you can get with the both of us couching non-stop and snot running down our noses. We still had fun, and that is all that matters.
The weather has been beautiful this weekend so we took full advantage of it. We went to one of our favorite places and walked along the river path.  The top photos are a couple snapshots from our walk. In the evening we went out to eat at Chutney Mary. A wonderful Indian food restaurant. We splurges and ate way too much. We waddled out of the restaurant laughing at how much we actually were able to eat. When we got home it was time for singing, presents, and a little pin the tail on the donkey.  Needless to say we ate no cake but it looked pretty and Bear got to make a wish and blow out his candles. Here's to another year of wonderful celebrations, parties, romance, and laughter. I love you hubby.

A Trip to Philadelphia

You have the kind of friends that you say hi to at work, & then you have good friends, like the kind you talk to on the phone at least once a week or the kind that you call or see on special occasions but it seems like you had just seen each other yesterday. You start off exactly where you left off.  I have a couple of these friends, one happens to be Lindsay. 

We met in high school and have been friends ever since. She is a shining example and always has been in my life. We use to have sleep overs almost every single night during summers, we would stay up late and talk about boys and our big plans of traveling the world together. Our big plans got ruined by husband, that we are so very grateful for. As our lives went on and we drifted in and out of contact for a couple years. Only calling or texting when something 'special' was happening. I regret that time and not making a better effort to be a better friend. 

Anyways, last spring I got a phone call from Lindsay saying that they are packing their bags and heading to the East Coast. Casey, her husband, got into dental school! I was ecstatic, jumping up and down to be exact. This past week was my first trip to Philadelphia to visit and it was wonderful. I had such a great time just hanging out and talking, playing with Jack, and being around some of my favorite people. I can't wait for the next visit. 

While I was there we took a trip to the reading terminal market and walked around looking at all the yummy food. I also got the opportunity to take some family pics for them. Go visit my photo blog to see more. They are an adorable family.  

P.S I was to busy talking and enjoying my time. I forgot to take pictures. Oh well, there is next time. 

He is...

AMAZING!!

Step one.. Check

The proposal is complete... Printed, emailed, stapled, signed, stamped, and on its merry way to New York. What a relief. Yesterday morning Bear had to email it and then go print it off (7 copies) and post mark it and mail it that day. I pushed the send button on the email because he was so nervous. He drove like a crazy person to the school and was in a panic most of the morning. I tried calming his nerves but to be honest, I think I felt just as nervous. We acted like lunatics at the post office asking all types of questions that we normally would know the answers to. We checked and double checked all that needed to be complete. I silently said a little prayer as Bear handed the post-worker the package that contained so much time, effort, emotions, and hard work. What a relief... Now all we have to do it wait...

We went out to lunch, hugged each other for a long time in the middle of campus, and Bear could not wipe a smile off of his face.. I am so proud of him and all of his hard work. Bear is the most dedicated student and works extremely hard. This proposal was challenging and he faced it head on. Never giving up or getting a bad attitude. I am a very proud wife!!

I will tell you more about our evening celebration later. As of right now, I am off to sit on the couch with Bear and watch Toy Story 3.

The Pumpkin Patch