Saddest Day Ever!!!!!

Sorry to vent guys, but I just have to...and this might explain why picture posts are going to be few are far between for the next little while. My hard drvie crashed. Nate said that it was the worst possible thing that could happen to a hard drive, don't ask specifics, cause I don't know. Would anyone like to guess why I have been in tears???? It's called 4 YEARS worth of pictures in that little hard drive. First my wedding pictures, now this. So, I guess I could use Nate's computers to download pictures, but let's be honest, WHAT'S THE POINT????? Ok, I sound like a basketcase, so I better stop. What better way to cheer myself up than by going to lunch at Zupas with my friends Aileen and Nicole. But don't expect to see pictures of this little outing!!!!

Caroling with the Fawcetts

On Monday night, Nate and I went to Hurricane to participate in the long time tradition of Christmas caroling with Nate's extended family. It was so much fun! The best part about it was that it actually snowed down there! That doesn't happen very often. Usually they go to home teachee houses, widows or shut ins and it seems to brighten their night. Here we are on the caroling route. If you are wondering if he's getting eaten by a fox, relax. This wonderful hat is from his mission in Mongolia. It definitely keeps him warm. (Don't you think he kind of looks like a giant next to me???)

Here I am with Aubrey, one of Nate's cousins. She's great! Not only that, she's also an Aggie. How could we not be friends with that in common???

I had to put this in. Nate took this picture because it's not very often that you see a palm tree with snow on it. I thought it was pretty cool!

Snowball fights...while caroling!

While we were enjoying the Southern Utah snow and caroling I happened to sneak a peak in Nate's pocket and this is what I saw...a huge snowball. He's like one of those fifth grade boys that just can't resist the urge to nail the second graders with a snowball, unbeknownst to the victim. I quickly made my way to other side of the group after I spotted it. The last thing I wanted was to be involved in the cross fire.

In the far left corner of the group, you can see Nate. He's trying to blend with the cousins, while spotting his easiest prey.

When they least expected it, he hit the first sucker, comparable to a Chuck Norris roundhouse kick the face. This created a night long domino effect between him and all the boy cousins.

Little did he know that his dad had created revenge in the form of a snowball the size of Pee Wee Herman's tinfoil ball. (slight exaggeration) Nate's brother managed to get him a well earned hit to the back with the massive snowball. Fun times in Hurricane!

GUESS WHAT I DID!!!!!

Hello new haircut!

Just wanted to show everyone my new haircut. I've been wanting to do this since about a month before the wedding. But I knew I had to hold out until it was over. Anyway, I started getting nervous, so it took me 2 months to cut it, and I'm so glad I finally did. And I cut 8 inches!!! It's so much easier to style!!!

A funny thing happened at Nate's work party tonight. My luck streak is continuing...or not. There was a raffle with about 75 prizes from businesses all over Provo and Orem. I just knew that we would win something like free groceries, movie tickets, Sees chocolates, a dvd. Well, it turns out we did win something!!! Guess what it was.....a free haircut at Seasons Salon and Day Spa!!!! What the???? Out of all the prizes at the party, they give the hairstylist who just got her haircut a free haircut? No thanks!!! I must say that we got a really good laugh out of it!

Tree Topper Mishap

I was pretty sure that this year, Nate and I wouldn't have a Christmas tree. I didn't want to spend the money on one, along with all the decorations for it. Luckily, Nate's parents decided to donate their old one to us. The best part about it is that it's pre lit! So we decided to buy some Christmas balls and do popcorn strings and candy canes, which was pretty inexpensive. We were just having a horrible time finding a tree topper. A few nights after we decorated our tree, we went to Target and found the perfect topper. But when we put it on the top, this is what happened. It didn't seem to matter how Nate twisted, turned and fenagled, it just flopped over.

I mostly added this picture, because of Nate's expression. But he found this little stick and decided that if he whittled the top into a perfect little point, the star would slide perfectly onto the top and perfectly top the Christmas tree. Perfect, right?

Little did he realize that the whittling process would take much longer than anticipiated. He hovered over the garbage can for about 30 minutes shaving the top of the stick. Oh, the things we do for a magical Christmas. I do have to admit that he was much more patient than I was.

Meanwhile....

Hello beautiful!

We got this little piece of heaven with some money from the wedding. I decided that while Nate was whittling, I would make some hot chocolate in our Cocoa-Latte machine. LOVE IT! If you don't have one of these, you should seriously consider buying one.

He managed to put the star on the whittled stick and jam it in to the top of the tree. What a little handyman!!

Here is our finished result. Merry Christmas!

Random stuff in my life

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For those of you who didn't know, I finally had my 15 minutes of fame! As an explanation to all of my wonderful Aggie loving friends and family, please know that I love Nate and he loves the Cougars, and I also love contests and winning prizes.(And I still love the Aggies!!!) A couple of weeks ago, I was in the BYU halftime in the RC Willey giveaway. A few games before, I was a winner of the best seats in the house. We got to sit on two leather recliners on the front row and 50 yard line. Nate was thrilled and I was having a heat stroke. Leather and 95 degrees don't go well together! Anyway, for the last home game, all the winners of the best seats for the season got to be in this contest. We all chose a cheerleader and whatever she had in her case is what we won. I got the iPod boombox, but as you can see, I should have chosen the cheerleader to the right. I really wanted that TV for my bedroom. Oh well, it was still fun and now I've had my 15 minutes!

My salon had a retreat in Park City the second week of November and it was so much fun. Here are all of my coworkers. I seriously love all of the people at my salon. I already love my job, but they make it even better. Here we are at Cafe Sabor in PC. From left to right is Kristi, Sondra, Stacy, Sadee, me, Becky, Emily and Andrea. They are all so awesome!

Just wanted to give Sadee a little shout out. Not only do we work together, but we're neighbors and in the same ward. She is so fun! We watch the Office with her and her husband, Mike all the time.

Honeymoon in Vegas!!!

I know it's a little late, but I wanted to blog about our honeymoon. We went to Vegas, as I'm sure you can see. It was so fun!! Here we are with the fabulous strip behind us while we were partying it up one night.

Just a few nights on the town

We went to Coney Island at the New York New York and played arcade games and won a bunch of tickets. Here we are with our loot. I think the cash value of our prizes was about 75 cents. We also rode the roller coaster that night along with a ten year old little boy that cried and screamed the whole time, yelling stuff like,"I CAN'T BREATHE!" and "I'M CHOKING!!!" It was realy sad, but maybe a little funny too.

Watching the fountains at the Bellagio. My favorite!

Confession.....I might have played the nickel slots and I might have won $22. It payed for about two thirds of our roller coaster ride!

Can't go to Vegas without a trip to In n Out!

Wax Museum and Phantom!

So we went Madame Tuessads(spelling) and it was there that I realized that the Blue Man Group is missing a very important member!

Don't worry guys. Nate was there the whole time!

And Nate did a very impressive slam dunk over Shaq.

Our last night in Vegas, Nate took me to see Phantom and it was so good! It totally exceeded my expectations and was like a MILLION times better then when I saw it in SLC with the traveling group. We had a blast on our homeymoon. I'm sure that all you marrieds understand that going back to work is alot less fun than the honeymoon! We wish we could go back.

Best Thanksgiving Recipe EVER!!!

So, since I was not going to be at my parents this year, I felt like I needed to have a piece of Thanksgiving at home at my in laws house. My sister Michelle makes this recipe every year and it is so yummy. Since Nate is a great litle chef, he made it and...WOW! Give it a chance, even if you don't think you like sweet potatoes. Trust me now and thank me later!

GOURMET SWEET POTATO CLASSIC

*5 sweet potatoes
*1/4 t. salt
*1/4 cup butter
*2 eggs
*1 t. vanilla extract
*1/2 t ground cinnamon
*1/2 c. white sugar
*2 T. heavy cream
*1/4 cup butter, softened
*3 T. all purpose flour
*3/4 c. packed light brown sugar
*1/2 c. chopped pecans

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease 9x13 pan
2. Bake sweet potatoes 35 min in preheated oven, or until they begin to soften. Cool slightly, peel and mash OR peel, cut into chunks and boil for about 30 minutes.
3. In large bowl, mix the mashed potatoes, salt, 1/4 cup butter, eggs, vanilla extract, cinnamon, sugar, and heavy cream. Transfer to prepared baking dish.
4. In medium bowl combine 1/4 cup butter, flour, brown sugar, and chopped pecans. Mix with pastry blender or your fingers to the consistency of course meal. Sprinkle over sweet potato mixture.(VERY IMPORTANT NOTE!!!!!!!!!! I make NO GUARANTEES for this recipe unless you double the toppings. We have never enjoyed this recipe with a single mixture of the topping. Don't worry about the calories, it's the holidays!)
5. Bake 30 minutes in the preheated oven until the topping is crisp and lightly browned.
ENJOY!!!