What a busy month!

Normally I would say its been a long time since I last updated and I don’t have much to say…well, that wouldn’t be true this time. The month of December has come and gone and after having my first Christmas away from home I realized that I can’t recreate it just like it was back home. Jason and I did have a couple of firsts this year though. First time making pomanders and they were delicious; Brittany likes them to be about golf ball size so we didn’t get a whole lot out of it. We also made homemade caramels which was fun but very time consuming. We had to wait probably 30 minutes for the temperature to get just right stirring constantly. Once it set up it turned out really good and then we had to individually wrap them all which took forever too. Jason also took me out to temple square, which I’ve never been to during the holidays. It was gorgeous but freezing cold, we stopped to get hot chocolate which I ended up spilling on my jacket…good times, good times. We set up our Christmas tree we bought from Wal-Mart and ended up getting electrocuted when one of the bulbs was broken, that was another good time. We looked all over the place to try and find some cheap ornaments which is practically impossible. Wal-Mart has boxes of 4 ball ornaments for $6 or a box of 24 for $10 which is still expensive for our pay grade. So we just borrowed ornaments from Jason’s brother Daniel since he was going home for Christmas (Thanks Daniel). On Christmas Eve we both received a phone call around noon from our Bishop, we thought we’d be safe for a couple of weeks at least but no, we were asked to speak on Sunday and unfortunately it was on a topic I hadn’t talked on before so I had to write a whole new talk on the Second Coming. We were invited to go over to Brittany and Clay’s for dinner on Christmas Eve for Ham and Elegant Potato Casserole, Rolls, Salad, and dessert…mmm. That felt like home but there was no Sees Candies so that was a little disheartening…not like I need it though, I think I’ve had enough sweets this year. We played Guitar Hero and I finally got play drums which is a lot harder than it looks, I’m not coordinated enough to use the foot pedal and then pound on the drums…I would have liked to try singing the songs but I didn’t get the chance so maybe next time. We did get to watch National Lampoons Christmas Vacation that night so it felt like home. We tried getting out of there before the snow storm hit but we weren’t so lucky it had been snowing for a while before we left and on the drive home it was hard to see the lines in the road. I don’t trust myself in snow anymore after this past January’s snow storm in Oregon so I have Jason drive who is more experienced in snow. Christmas morning was great, Jason got me an attachment to my Kitchen-Aid…it was the ice cream maker attachment I’ve been looking at for over a year. He also bought me a movie called Daniel Deronda (I read the book this summer and had wanted to buy the movie ever since) and some micro fleece pajama pants, he bought me an XS which was very sweet but I needed another size up. So we tried exchanging them on Friday and no one sold those same pants anymore so we just returned them and will have to go out and get something else later. Jason received a new wallet, replacement shaver head, and Transformers on Blu-Ray. It was a great Christmas…plus we received a gift from Kevin and Nicole with the softest blanket ever (we used it last night, Thanks guys!) and a blockbuster gift card and popcorn for our movie night. Ooh, we can do that on New Years Eve!

We had Brittany and Clay over for dinner on Christmas night and I was pretty impressed with our meal, we felt just like we were at Sizzler or something. Jason cooked up bacon wrapped filet mignon, we did twice baked potatoes (which didn’t turn out as well as I would have liked) and I made a cheese toast bread...Usually the day after Christmas in the Smith family is a big deal we go out for dinner and to see a movie so after Jason got off work we made plans with Brittany and Clay to meet up at a Chili’s for dinner and then head on over to the movie theater to see “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”. The roads were so slicked over from the snow storm the day before and Friday that we were sliding all over the place. I had cleaned the entire apartment that morning and actually hung pictures up so it was nice to finally be able to come home to a clean house that looked like we lived there. Saturday we were working on our talks in the morning until Jason had to go to work at 3pm and I had the pleasure of driving once again to Jason’s old house to do laundry and to use their internet to try and write my talk but alas, the internet was down so I had to occupy myself some other way I played games on my computer for 2 hours and read through articles of the Ensign while I waited for our clothes to dry…After I made it back home around 8pm I figured I had some time to write my talk but I ended up falling asleep on the couch until Jason called an hour later. So yes, I am a procrastinator, I didn’t get to write my talk until Sunday morning but I think it turned out well. I was perfectly fine at church until the passing of the Sacrament, and then I started to get really nervous and felt dizzy. I have a tendency to talk really fast when I’m nervous but Jason said I didn’t rush through it so that’s good. I was more relaxed after I was done and just happy to have it over with. Jason did a great job even though he said he felt nervous you couldn’t really tell.

Now it’s back to work for a few days but I get Thursday and Friday off again so that will be nice and hopefully I can get a lot done. On Wednesday we have plans of getting together with Brittany and Clay again and watching movies and pigging out on junk food unless Brittany has her baby then it will probably just be Jason and I hanging out on the couch eating junk food…either way I’m eating Chex Mix (I made some last night), cream puffs, peanut butter M&M’s, Butter mints, Chips, Salsa and bean dip. Anyway, I guess that’s all I have for now, I will let you know how everything goes.

We got hitched!

To be perfectly honest the past month was a such a blur everything went too fast but it was amazing. We took off for Medford on November 17 and it was a very long drive, we took off at 5AM and arrived at home around 4:30pm so we definitely made good time. When we got there Jordan, Christina, Hayley & Tia were there so that was exciting. We got our marriage license on Wednesday and hung out with family, and on Thursday night Kevin, Nicole, and Noah made it out to Medford so hung out with them too. Friday was spent getting food items for the wedding reception and flowers for corsages Costco had a bit of a lacking in the cream roses area so we were lucky that found a lot of cream colored roses at Safeway. That afternoon I was kidnapped by Eden & Hanah and taken out for lunch at a really nice cafe and then we made our way over to the Brookhurst building where the reception was being held so that we could help set up. That night we went to the temple and took out our endowments. It truly is an amazing experience to go through for yourself and I don't think I will remember a whole lot about it but that is why you go back. On Saturday I woke up early to get ready and Dad made pancakes and bacon so it was just like old times (Thanks Dad). When Jordan, Hayley and Tia came over Hayley kept saying I looked different I looked beautiful...I had a new face...however, I don't remember getting plastic surgery or anything so I guess make up really does work. I got all ready and we were a little late getting to the temple. It seemed like we were waiting in the lobby forever but finally it was our turn and we went through with it. I know that you were all worried but I can now say that I married my best friend...After taking pictures we went back to my parents house and changed and went over to Aunt Jeanne's for the luncheon where Jason's parents made a delicious meal of taquitos and chicken tortilla soup and we watched the BYU vs. Utah game (I was hoping that being married that day would have created some good luck for them but to no avail they lost). The reception was really nice everything was beautiful and the food was terrific, and of course it was great to see everyone again.

On Sunday Jason and I took off for San Francisco and found our hotel pretty easily and right next door was a Sizzler so that's where we ate...I still love their cheese bread. On Monday we had tickets to Alcatraz, we just had to find a way to get their so we went looking for a gas station to drive to downtown San Francisco and the closest gas station happened to be next to the BART Station. So we got to ride BART to the Embarcadero area and then walked the rest of the way from Pier 1 all the way to Pier 33 where our ferry was waiting to take us to Alcatraz. I've been fascinated with Alcatraz since I went there on choir tour in high school several years ago and it was different then. We had our our own personal guided tour and stayed with the group. This time we were given an audio guide and got to walk around and follow our own time table and got to go anywhere. The audioguide was interesting because it had interviews with 4 previous prisoners and 4 previous guards. They had background noises like whistles blowing, people chatting, yelling, doors closing and it all seemed like it was happening around you it was kind of creepy but I loved it. After taking the ferry back we walked to Pier 39 and watched a magician light his hands on fire while juggling, we also tried finding somewhere to go for dinner but everything seemed so expensive. We walked a few blocks further to an Italian restaurant we heard about but there were no customers inside and the cheapest thing on the menu was $15 so we went back to Pier 39 and looked at something else and finally decided on Hard Rock Cafe not knowing what was on the menu...sure enough it was $15 a plate too. Oh well. On our way back to the hotel we saw a Krispy Kreme donuts and IHOP while we were on BART so on Tuesday we tried to drive to where we thought they were. We ended up driving around for about 2 hours trying to find IHOP and finally found it. We drove to San Francisco and wanted to go to the Golden Gate Bridge and got lost driving around again but quickly found our way. We walked across the bridge and then tried to make our way back to the hotel so that we could go to San Jose for the Winchester Mystery Home but no, San Francisco was more of a mystery and we got lost again. While we were lost we did find Ghiradelli Square so it wasn't a total loss...and we did make the mistake of going down Lombard street (the crookedest street) and it really is crooked...I don't think I want to do that one ever again. Eventually we got out of San Francisco but unfortunately the Winchester Mystery House closed at 5pm, next time we'll make it there...Wednesday we took off early to make our way back home in Medford and when we got their we had a game night with the family. Thursday, thanksgiving and we all know that was amazing. And Friday we took off for Utah again, it was a fast trip but I enjoyed every minute of it, it was sad to leave but I hope that everyone in the family can come together soon and this time with Brittany, Clay and Maeli joining in. We love everyone and appreciate the love and support that has been shown to us during this important time in our lives. I tried to keep the posting short but sometimes I just ramble, sorry about that.

I'll post more pictures once I get them!