The Best Gingerbread House

It is tradition in our family to make a Gingerbread house every year for Christmas. We all put on different parts of it so it was a mixture of all of our ideas. We had a pond in the back of the house with horses around it, there was a rock candy path and a wood pill. My sister Sarah took a garlic press and pressed green gum drops in it to make all the bushes along the path. We also had a fence made of pretzels, and the finishing touch was the roof made with Neccos. It was fun to see everyone's ideas come together to make a very unique gingerbread house.

Our First Christmas

This year, Rick and I had Christmas at the Gudmundson's house. We left the Saturday before Christmas and then came back to Provo the Wednesday night after Christmas. On Friday night before we left to go up to Mendon, Rick and I had our own little Christmas. Rick got me a really nice sewing machine and a blue bathrobe with matching slippers. He also got me a lot of smelly good things from Bath and Body Works and a Zip Zap RC car. I got Rick and new boat motor, walkie talkies, and (with the help of his parents and grandparents) and new gun that his has wanted for about 5 years. It's a Springfield Armory XD 45 ACP. We both had a great Christmas together and it was also fun to be able to spend some time with my family. Although, we did miss seeing Rick's family too, we were able to talk to them over the phone and wish them a Merry Christmas.

Rick's Choir Concert

On December 8th, Rick had a choir concert for school. His choir sang about 10 different songs and some of them were in Latin. It was different for me to go to a choir concert and not be the one singing. But it was fun to be in the audience and not having to worry about performing. It was also a good experience for Rick to be able to be a part of a choir and to preform for me.

Lights at Temple Square

This past weekend Rick and I met my parents and sisters up in Salt Lake to see the lights at Temple Square. The lights were so pretty, but the temple was the most beautiful thing there. While we were up there, we also had the chance to see Savior of the World. It was such a wonderful experience to be up there with the Gudmundson family and to also feel the spirit. We are so grateful that we live so close to be able to go to Temple Square every year for Christmas.

Provo's First Big Snow Fall

This weekend Provo got its first big snow fall. It was so nice to finally have snow along with all the cold weather. It is finally starting to feel like Christmas is here. We went down to a park so that we could get some good pictures of the trees with snow all over them.

Decorating for Christmas

After we got home on Thanksgiving, Rick and I put up our 6 foot, $20 tree from Dollar General. You'd think that the tree would look like a Charlie Brown tree but it actually looks really good considering where we got it from and how much we paid for it. When we first put it up we only had the lights and two ornaments on it, but a few days ago we got the rest of the ornaments for it. Our ornaments are the standard red and silver glass balls and then we also bought nature ornaments. So we have fish, bears, eagles, and quail on our tree along with a few other "traditional" Christmas ornaments. But my favorite one is this ornament that has the year that our little family started.

Thanksgiving

Rick and I had two Thanksgiving feasts this year. First for lunch, our really good friend Daniel invited us over to his apartment complex to have a Thanksgiving feast with him and his friends. Even though we only knew Daniel, it was a lot of fun to get to know the other people there. They were so nice and hospitable, and the meal was great! Then that evening we went to my Aunt Janice and Uncle Ken's house for dinner. My Aunt Terri was also there along with our cousins Katie and Makenna. It was really nice to have family to spend Thanksgiving with and enjoy a break from school and work. We even got to talk to my Uncle Allen on the phone, who is serving in the military over in Iraq right now. It was nice to have extended family so close to spend Thanksgiving with since we weren't able to spend it with our immediate families. Happy Thanksgiving!

Halloween

For Halloween Rick and I carved pumpkins. My mom grew these pumpkins in her garden and then hand picked them out for us. Rick got a pumpkin that is really big and tough looking because when my mom saw it she said it reminded her of Rick. She said the pumpkin I got looks like the Cinderella Coach and I was the princess. We had fun carving them but the cleaning them out part wasn't that fun. When I was little, we always had to carve pumpkins outside so we wouldn't get the kitchen dirty. But this year since it was our own apartment we decided to do it inside on newspaper, but we still got the kitchen dirty. I guess mom was right.

Pumpkin Decorating Contest

I work at Mountain America Credit Union in Provo and they are having a pumpkin decorating contest. Rick and I went to the store together and looked at different things until we decided on the perfect idea. This is my witch pumpkin with googly eyes. I worked on it all weekend and was so excited to finally be able to display it at work. I hope that I do well in the contest, but if not then it okay because I still enjoyed making the pumpkin with Rick. Happy Halloween!!!!!

Fun Weekend at Home

Rick and I went home this weekend for a surprise visit. When we walked in the door my dad thought that I was Sarah so he had to do a double take before he realized it was us. And my mom was so excited she could hardly stop smiling. It was a lot of fun. While we were up visiting Rick and I went to a small reservoir called Newton. That night Rick caught this 31 inch tiger muskie. This is the fourth tiger muskie that he has caught this year. Tiger muskies are known as the fish of 1000 casts and sometimes 10,000 casts. So he was pretty excited about catching another one. The only sad thing about tiger muskies is that they have to be 40 inches or more in order to keep. So we had to throw all of them back. Catching one big enough to keep is another challenge in and of itself.

Rick's Northern Pike

This is one of two Northern Pike that Rick caught down at Redmond Lake. They were both about 24 inches long. He was so excited when he caught them. He even came home soon after to show them to me. That same weekend we sent three fish to the taxidermist to get mounted: His big walleye of the year, the albino trout he caught at Tony's Grove, and one of his Northern Pike.

Fun at the Park

Rick and I went to visit a park that my parents used to take me to a lot when I was a kid. When I was little I thought that the park was so big, but when we went back to the park together, I wasn't sure if it was the right park because it seemed so much smaller then I remembered. We found these beehives while we were there. The object of this beehive was for both Rick and I to fit inside. And surprisingly enough we were able to do it. Rick and his friends all tried to balance on a beam that was hanging from chains. It wiggled all over the place so it was difficult to stay on...as you can probably tell from the look on Rick's face.

Rick's Spring

On our way home from Tony Grove we passed a spring. It was, of course, named after Rick. It was neat to see water come straight out of the ground and run into the Logan River. We also found a little cave next to Rick's Spring. It wasn't very big but it was still fun to go explore. I wore flip flops the entire camping trip, even on our little hikes, so my feet got so dirty. I just can't help but wear flip flops, even when it gets cool I will still wear them until I can't stand it anymore.

Rick's Albino

One of Rick's dreams has always been to catch an albino trout. While we were at Tony's Grove he was finally able to catch his very first one. It is such a cool fish! He also caught this little snake. He loves to catch little critters as well as fish.

Tony's Grove

Tony's Grove is my family's favorite place in Utah to camp. There is lake filled with trout and with moose? Yep, we saw this moose on a daily basis. In fact, a few days before Rick and I got there my mom and sister had a close encounter with it in our campsite. We almost lost our little dog Missy because she thought she was tougher then the moose. But thank goodness she had smarts enough to move out of the way when the moose started charging through the campsite.

Kaiser Truck

Rick and I were driving up to Tony's Grove up Logan Canyon and we passed a truck that had our name on it so we slowed down for a picture. The driver and his wife looked at us pretty confused at why we were so intrigued by their truck.

Our Wedding

Rick and I got married on Aug 3rd in the Mt. Timpanogoes temple. It was the most amazing day of our lives. It was so nice to have our whole family there to share it with us. We have never had any brothers, just sisters. Now we have even more sisters and it is the best thing ever! They are all amazing and so much fun! We love you!