1 year anniversary!!

 

I can't believe it's already been a year since we got married! Our wedding day was so perfect and magical and this has definitely been the best year of my life! Thanks babe! XO

Since Dan and I both had work on our anniversary (and Dan had to work late), we decided to celebrate the night before. I picked Olive Garden since I had been craving it and it was definitely the right choice! Yum, so good! Dan got stuffed chicken marsala and I got chicken roma. Of course we also got soup (their chicken gnocchi might be one of my favorite soups ever), salad and lots of yummy breadsticks. We also split a strawberry cream cake for dessert. 

Before I left for work today, I surprised Dan with The Art of Monster's University. He was so excited since he loves Pixar and can't wait for the movie to come out. He read the whole thing while I was gone and enjoyed getting a behind the scenes peek!

When I got home, Dan surprised me by getting the cutest summer decorations for our place! There are so many different styles of summer decorations and we weren't quite sure of our vision, but then Dan had the awesome idea to do a country theme and I love it. He got me adorable sunflowers in a milk jug, bumblebees peeking out of a bucket and the delicious mango peach salsa candle! What's even sweeter is that he walked (since I had the car) ALL the way to the craft store since he really wanted everything to be waiting for me! He's the best!

And that was our day! One year down, eternity to go!

91st Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my sweet Grandmother! I hope I look half as good as her when I'm 91 years old. Last summer, I stayed as her aide, and I wanted to write down some of the cute, funny things she said so I can remember them!

*When I went to see her one evening, I was surprised to see her in the movie room. The movie Casablanca was playing, and she had fallen asleep watching it. When she woke up a few minutes later, I said "Hi Grandmother, you're watching Casablanca" to which she replied "NO" in a super defensive voice. Then she looked at the screen again for a few seconds and admitted "well, maybe something like it."

*One of my Grandmother's favorite things was for me to tell her stories about when she was younger. Some of them she remembers and adds her memories to, others she does not recall but still enjoys. Once when I was telling her the story about when she took the train down to visit her husband in the military, and he snuck out of his base to see her, I asked her if she remembered it. "No" she replied, "but it sounds like something we would have done!" Another time when I was telling her a story, she said "I think this is why we have children and grandchild, so they can tell us our stories when we forget."

*I was trying to help her sign a birthday card for her daughter in law, Lin, but instead she wrote "Dear Lori, Happy Birthday!" Then she wrote another word I could not read and then "Love, Mother" I asked her about the word and she couldn't read it either and asked for her reading glasses. She put them on and immediately told me the word she wrote was "dictionary." I asked her why she wrote dictionary in a birthday card, and she responded, "because there are a whole dictionary of words between Happy Birthday and Love, Mother."

*One evening, she asked for a cup of tea, so I made her one. Then she asked me to make another cup for her sister Gina (who passed away many years ago). I explained that and said that if Gina were here, I would make her tea, but since she wasn't here with us any more, I wouldn't. My Grandmother replied "well, that's just her tough luck!"

Trevor and Kendall's Wedding

This past weekend, we were invited to our friends Trevor and Kendall's wedding. Dan was companions with Trevor on his mission. We also went to their sealing, which was really special since the last (and only) time we attended one, it was our own. Seeing their wedding also made me think about ours and everything that has happened this past year. I'm so grateful for my sweet, precious husband and married life is the best!

P.S. For some reason, I've been into making photo collages lately :)

Monster's University Advanced Screening!

Monster's Inc has always been my fave Pixar movie, so obviously I was really excited when I found out they were making a prequel, Monster's University. This past weekend, Dan saw that Pixar was doing an advanced screening for college students in Salt Lake City. Since it's only about a three hour drive, it was totally worth it for us to head down and see Monster's University two months early. We were one of the first in line to get tickets so we were able to pick out great seats. Then we hung out at the mall until it was time for the movie. Dan's cousin Jake and his wife Jordan saw it with us which was super fun. We LOVED it! I can't share any spoilers (like that Sulley sheds) but it was awesome and Dan and I couldn't stop talking about it after. It was fun learning more about Mike and Sulley and seeing their personalities and friendship develop. It had so many great messages too(I love how all the Pixar movies always have that). It was 99% done, I guess some of the score isn't there yet, and now we're super excited to see it finished in the theater! We hit up The Pie with Jake and Jordan for some cheesy bread and then watched Monster's Inc at their house lol. Such a perfect little trip down to Utah!! 

New Years!

We celebrated New Year's Eve with Dan's family at his sister Meg's house. We had such a fun time!

 

Meg and her husband James made yummy lasagna and garlic bread, soo good!

 

Dan's niece Evie was decked out :)

 

Dan and I were so excited to see the Snow letter set we made and gave Meg for Christmas displayed on her mantel. 

 

Dan playing games with his nieces and nephews and Meg and James putting in my hair tinsel. 

 

Toasting in the New Year (with a little help from Dan's brother Rob)

Halloween!!

Dan and I love Halloween! It's one of my favorite holidays, probably because there are so many fun festivities to go with it. This year, we got to do so many classic Halloween things, such as... *Going to a haunted mill *Hosting a Halloween party *Enjoying pumpkin dip and ghosts in the graveyard dessert *Hosting a pumpkin carving party and carving pumpkins *Drinking cider and eating homemade donuts *Watching LOTS of scary movies *Dressing up in costumes *Decorating our apartment *Eating pumpkin frozen custard (even better than ice cream!) Well, that's all I can think of right now! We're off to a ward Halloween party now. It's crazy it's almost November, soon we'll be getting ready for Thanksgiving!

Wedding- Behind the Scenes...

My wedding day was magical, beautiful and more amazing than I ever imagined it would be! I posted my favorite wedding pictures on Facebook last month, but as I was looking through all the photos taken, some that really stood out to me were the more candid, behind the scenes shots. They help me fully remember the day, and everything that went into making it so special, like...

The many times my mom had to fix and adjust my veil

Kids being kids (not sure what they are doing here :)

Touching up my makeup before the reception

My sister Kersti helping me re-curl my curls

Dan and his brother in law, Darin, getting ready

My mom helping my brother tie his tie

Dan's brother and best man, Rob, getting his son Cade ready

Dan's brother in law, Chad, bringing in the favors

Diane setting up the flowers

Dan's aunt, Jayne, and his cousins' grandmother, Janet, assembling the cake!

One of the pictures where not everyone was ready

Pictures of pictures being taken :)

Such a perfect, incredible day!