End of 2014

The end of 2014 was very busy for us. The last two weekends in December were spent in Idaho. The first was to celebrate our friend Taylor's 30th birthday and the second was a whirlwind post-Christmas visit with my family in Ashton and Dustin's parents in Pocatello. 

We got new iPhones!

Samson, the best old lab ever!

Reggie says no to photos

Reggie and Margeaux

Adorable Miss Margeaux

Sophie is not thrilled with these other dogs being in HER grandma's house

Seeing what's up

Jade is so helpful with gift wrapping

I worked at the University Hospital on Christmas day. When I got home Dustin and I walked Sophie at the dog park in the freshly fallen snow. We exchanged presents and spent the evening putting together Legos.

Christmas at the U/Huntsman

Some Christmas afternoon fun in the snow.

A quiet Christmas is too much for Dustin to handle

Jade is also helpful with Lego construction

We drove up to Idaho the Friday after Christmas. We had a short visit and present exchange with Taylor and Athena Friday night and headed up to Ashton Saturday morning. Britni, Jeremy, Tate, and Camille were in Idaho for the holiday, but they were all getting over the flu they'd had over Christmas. My grandparents, aunts, uncles, and an assortment of cousins came over to my parents' house Saturday afternoon for a turkey and ham dinner (sans mashed potatoes, which everyone thought that someone else was making). There was a nerf gun battle, whipped cream eating contest, and the obligatory white-washing of one or more children out in the snow. It snowed 18 inches while we were there! On Sunday, Britni, Jeremy, Dustin, and I went out to play in the snow with Charles, Tate, and Camille. I was sabotaged when Britni pushed me into the snow and then Charles dropped an armful of snow in my face while I was innocently making snow angels! We drove back to Pocatello on Sunday to have our Christmas with Randy and Teresa, before heading back to Salt Lake.

My dad signing his masterpieces

Kaydance, Juniper and Layla making art

Nerf gun battles

Kaydance and Camille making friendship bracelets

So much snow!

Wake up, Uncle Dustin!

So cold!

My snow dog

Sophie doesn't like being chased by Dodger in the deep snow. She can't outrun him

We had a very low-key New Years. We watched a movie and then I fell asleep on the couch before midnight (much to everyone's surprise, I know).  This past weekend was spent at home, where I was happy to get the house cleaned and do some laundry. I've been using the popcorn popper that my mom gave me for Christmas nonstop and tried my first batch of homemade ice cream in the ice cream maker that Teresa gave me. It tasted delicious, but I need to experiment to figure out the right consistency. I also watched our friends' adorable little girl Audrey for an hour on Saturday. We played with the Little People zoo, some plastic frogs, and cat toys.

Yummy vanilla bean ice cream

November-December 14, 2014: Thanksgiving, Mug Swap, Dogsitting, Holiday Parties

November was fairly uneventful for us. We spent Thanksgiving with Dustin's parents before heading up to Ashton to have a second Thanksgiving on Saturday at my grandparents' house. All the photos I took are on Britni's camera, so I'll have to get those from her and then do another update.

Visiting with Randy, Teresa, Taylor, and Cody on Wednesday night

The boys watching stand-up comedy after Jeremy and Britni got into town

It's a dog party!

Our newest niece, Margeaux

Kieko and Dodger like playing tug-o-war on the hide-a-bed while Dustin is trying to sleep.

I participated in the second annual mug swap put on by my friend Amanda. I sent my partner, Lindsey, a pretty yellow mug from Starbucks along with some Ghirardelli hot cocoa, tea, Lindt and Ghirardelli chocolates, and some craft supplies. This year, the swap was a round robin, meaning that the partner I gave to wasn't the one I received from. I'm not sure who sent me my mug, but they gave me some yummy Lindt chocolates and other chocolate goodies and a notebook and colored pens.

Cosmo was very curious about my mug goodies

Mishael and Santiago went to Paris for a pre-Christmas visit to Santi's family, so Dustin and I took babysitting duties of their new dog, Rosko. It's been a bit trying having a small dog around, but we've survived so far. The cats have gone after him a few times, and we had some time-outs in the kennel over torn up toys and aggressive behavior, but I think that he's starting to learn his place and respect our authority.

Last week Dustin and I had both of our work holiday parties. They are back to back, but both always fun because they are so different. Dustin's work always has a catered dinner and a white elephant gift exchange (we gave a hot dog toaster this year and received some almond roca). My work has a dinner and then a casino night where you earn tickets for a raffle at the end of the night. Last year we played Blackjack and doubled our money, but this year we tried out roulette (also doubling our money and winning a blender in the raffle).

Dustin's parents drove down to Salt Lake on Saturday and we went to a matinee play of Peter and the Starcatcher (a Peter Pan prequel) and then introduced Randy and Teresa to the amazing eggrolls at La Cai. 

October 2014: Fall colors, Hunting, My birthday, Halloween

We did our annual drive to Park City and through the Provo Canyon to look at the fall colors. We did the drive a few weeks earlier, but none of the aspens had changed yet, so we decided to try again at the beginning of October. We also took our last motorcycle ride of the season. We went up Little Cottonwood Canyon, which was very pretty, but we had made the mistake of going up during Oktoberfest, so traffic was pretty heavy. 

In more domestic news, we got a new dishwasher! I never thought I'd be excited about a dishwasher, but when our old one went out, I got sick of washing silverware and plates very quickly. The best part? We live in a rental, so we didn't have to pay for it!

The dog park has such a wonderful view of the fall foliage

Visiting the City Creek dog park

I drove up to Ashton to go hunting with my uncle Tom and my Grandma Gene. I had never been before (too early, too cold, don't want to kill anything), but I was missing Idaho and decided that I wanted to wander the mountainside (with a camera instead of a gun). My first day started early with my uncle and his brother-in-law picking me up at my parents' house at 5 am and driving up to Island Park to hike up a mountain in the dark. We saw a bull and some cow elk, but no spikes (which is what Tom had a tag for). I didn't really mind since I was only hunting with my phone camera. 

On the mountaintop just in time for the sunrise

If you look closely between Tom's head and gun, you can see the bull elk running off away from us 

Snow

What a view!

The second day, I decided to hang out with my Grandma Gene instead of hiking for 11 hours. She picked me up just after sunrise and we drove the back roads up to Island Park, finding some moose and antelope on the way. We took a few short hikes (you'll remember my grandma was still recovering from a bout with pancreatitis), but were equally unsuccessful on the hunting front. We did rustle ourselves up a couple of cheeseburgers from one of the lodges, and we stopped so I could visit my friend Whitney and her family.

Love this fog!

Grandpa Chuck's truck is still going strong!

My grandma is a badass

14+ years later, I still find this funny.

Together again for the first time in (8?!) years

The next Wednesday was my birthday, so I treated myself to a white chocolate mocha before work. It was a gorgeous day so when I got home, Sophie and I took a walk. That evening, Dustin took me out to the Copper Onion (a fancy-pants restaurant that we'd been meaning to try, and boy, was it worth it! Yum!).

We entered Sophie in a costume contest supporting the Humane Society of Utah, which she was less than thrilled about. I took a turtle costume we'd had for a few years and added some purple touches from an old shirt to make her into a ninja turtle. She won an honorable mention and we got all sorts of goodies as a prize. I think she wanted to pay us back for making her wear a costume, because on her walk that afternoon, she decided to roll in a dead falcon carcass. Brat!

She hates dressing up...

Our personal favorite, William Wallace from Braveheart (the dog's real name was Hamish!)

This house built a pirate ship in their front yard!

Guilty face

Jade had a vet check-up. Other than the fact that he's fat and grouchy, he's in perfect health.

This year, Dustin and I didn't dress up for Halloween. It was our 10 year anniversary or being together, so we went out to dinner and a show. We ate at Squatters Pub (one of our favorites) and went to the show Thriller. They did a bunch of skits in different dance styles, and we found ourselves very entertained. 

Dinosaur skeleton sugar cookies

10 years ago!

Oh, and for my birthday/anniversary/Christmas present, Dustin bought me a new iPad! I've been playing with it all weekend and am loving it so far.

My new toy!

The weather has started to change and it's really feeling like fall. It snowed up in the mountains this weekend and we had to break out our thicker jackets and beanies for our walks.

Dustin and Sophie chasing each other

Snuggle time!