Christmas Lights!

I've been trying extra hard to get into the Christmas spirit this year. It is hard when I feel like I am so busy that I can't even finish all my school work, let alone do anything else (i apologize to anyone who reads this for my constant complaining about school) Last Thursday night Brody and i had a little time and it has been nice weather lately so we decided to take advantage of it and go look at the lights at the temple! We love living so close. We took a ton of pictures.

Merry Christmas! I just finished my second to last final and will be heading home Thursday! yay!

My 25th, Thanksgiving and black Friday

I of course haven't had time to write lately. But I thought I'd give a little summary of my 25th birthday (I still can't believe I am that old) and our Thanksgiving. So school was beyond busy leading up to Thanksgiving break so when I finally made it to vacation, I was very ready to take a break from school. So I treated myself to almost a full week of no school work. Break was so nice. I got to read Hunger Games (the whole trilogy), bake a ton of pies, shop a ton, eat and relax. On my birthday I didn't have school so I was able to stay home and bake pies all day. I was determined to make my first completely homemade pie! I did better than that. I made four.
Unfortunately on my lovely birthday, Utah decided to be extremely cold and to snow. The weather people were going crazy because they were expecting the blizzard of the century. I was freaking out because of course a blizzard would ruin my birthday. Well the blizzard never really came, but everyone sure acted like it did. They shut down restaurants, the mall and lots of roads. We couldn't do anything my bday night other than go to dinner. Everything else was closed. They even shut down BYU and that has never happened in all the years I've been here!! Needless to say, my birthday turned out ok, but not my favorite. I did get lots of lovely presents from friends and family and tons of bday wishes which i really appreciated.

with one of my many pies..ignore the messy kitchen behind me

I had to include this one..even though its not the best because its the only one we took that night.

The next day we both were off from school and work so we were able to go play in the snow. We attempted to go skiing in Sugarhouse Park. It was very exhausting and not really worth the work. Then on Thursday we had Thanksgiving and of course that was full of eating tons of food! oh how I love thanksgiving food! On Thanksgiving night the mall opened at 9 p.m. and was going to stay open all night so Brenda, Karissa and I decided to do a little shopping. The mall was ridiculously packed. We stood in line for 2 hours at Express. It was a claustrophobic, crazy experience. We then decided to go to Walmart and fight the crowds at midnight. We were almost stampeded, but we came out with almost every person's Christmas presents. It was amazing! Next I stayed up and ended up at Target at 4 a.m. ! It was a fun night! I loved it, even with pulling the all nighter just to shop.

A Visit from Pam

So today, I got to stay home all day-- it felt quite strange to not go to school and well I felt a bit bored. I am coming down from a high of frenzy since the past 2 weeks of school have been beyond crazy. I turned almost everything in yesterday and now have one more presentation and I am finally free to relax and begin Thanksgiving vacay!!! But my vacation from school today was not planned, my car broke down on the off ramp of I-15. Luckily some kind man helped push me to a nearby parking lot. It couldn't have been a better parking lot, because I was able to get my car fixed at the car place right there. I did have to sit in a Scone Cutter for 2 hours while I tried to get ahold of Brody. Because of this, I missed all the buses to Provo and decided to just stay home for the day. Luckily, a lot of my classes were canceled today and my presentation is tomorrow so I was ok to miss school. but anyway that is my long introduction to my actual blog post.

My dear friend Pamela came out from PA to visit this past week. She named herself my shadow for the week that she was here. I felt bad that I had school and other things to do, but I think we still managed to spend some quality time together.

We were able to go to dinner for her bday at this trendy sushi place in Salt Lake. She got a sushi roll called the volcano. The plate even had fire underneath the roll, it was pretty cool. I'd post a picture, but you can't see the fire.

I think I look bald in this picture. We went out with Pam's old roomies, Paige and Mindy

Afterward, we went back to my house to share a special cake that I made especially for Pam. She loved it.
It was fun having her around! She'll be missed!

Halloween

This year I was determined to do a little more for Halloween (last year I was sick right before and never got around to doing much). Sadly, I was still quite busy the week before Halloween so I didn't get to devote much time to planning, but I was still able to attend a few parties, make a fun treat and get slightly dressed up. Brody's mom was throwing a family halloween party and she asked us all to dress up as celebrities. Brody wouldn't help very much, but we finally decided that he would be Donald Trump and that I would be his wife Melania (sp?). We found a nice wig at Walmart for him so he could replicate the Trump hair style. I basically just dressed cute and Brody's mom let me borrow a huge ring (to make me look a bit more like a billionaire's wife)

Brody with his cute, little brother Cache

I also made a nice creepy treat. Severed fingers (as seen below)


It was quite fun and I was pleased with how they turned out. We went to Brody's mom's party, a party thrown by Brody's good friend from high school and another get-together where we made caramel apples. Over all it was a fun holiday weekend. (and I'm excited that it didn't take me a whole month to blog about it)

The past month

So I feel awful that I have not updated since September. I am horrible. I also now suffer from insomnia so I thought that when I can't sleep at 1 am (and I have to get up at 5) I should get caught up on some things that I have been neglecting; i.e. blogging.

I'm on Brody's computer so I don't have any pictures on here, but I'll just do a quick update on our lives. Recently, we've participated in some fun activities. We went camping with some friends in the far-away mountains. Thank heavens they had a trailor because I do not particularly love the great outdoors (when I have to sleep in it). We went fourwheeling and saw some amazing scenery.

The weekend after that we were able to do a couple fun things. First, our friend James through this large masquerade ball, complete with paparazi photographers and a red carpet. I was coming off a very stressful, busy and sleepless week so I did not get to get ready as I would have liked. Everyone had amazing masks and I had my crappy one that we picked up at Hobby Lobby right before. I attempted to glue rhinestones on it, but sadly I took Brody's advice and used superglue. Apparently, even after superglue dries, it gives off fumes and these fumes made my eyes water so bad that I couldn't wear my mask. Here is a picture of us on the red carpet anyway.



Friday, we went up to our friends' Eric and Josh's cabin. That is always enjoyable and we played a riveting game of catch phrase!

This week my parents are visiting and we also have some Halloween parties. I am excited for the holiday, though I've done nothing to prepare. School is killing my holiday preparation this year!

He's more than half a century!

Wow! It's almost been a month since I've posted. Well I guess I've had an excuse. I have been incredibly busy.

Noteably, I have started school and for the record, grad school is much more busy than undergrad (at least for me) I have been commuting and I think that adds a lot to the days (a bit of stress and time) But I have enjoyed being back in school. It is different, but I love school so it is fun! It is weird being on campus being married...boys never talk to me anymore. I guess I am off limits.
But enough me. Last week we celebrated Brody's 26th! I can't believe time has flown by so fast (on his 24th bday we became officially bf and gf) it feels just like yesterday! For his birthday I threw him a cheese themed birthday party, cause if you know Brody, you know that he loves cheese!


We also went to Boondocks that morning (he got a free pass for his bday) we rode go carts (5 times at his insistence) played minature golf (I killed him), played arcade games and laser tag. It was fun and we played hard. For his party I made everything with cheese. We had cheese cake, grilled cheese a cheese ball and cheese pastries! It was very fun! I loved having my first party at our new house!

Utah's Beach

Yesterday, we decided to take a small day trip. I've been wanting to do something exciting before school started, but since Brody is strongly adverse to driving, I had to find a place to go that wasn't too far from our house. He finally agreed to take me to Antelope Island. I've always wanted to go there for some reason. It just sounded intriguing and I've lived in Utah for 5 years now and still haven't gone to the Great Salt Lake so yesterday was finally the day!


Even though the island is named Antelope, it is famous for its herd of buffalo. I stood by this nice buffalo statue at the visitor center hoping to real life buffaloes. (or I was reminded they are called bison)Later we were lucky enough to see these. We got pretty close but a park ranger made sure we weren't too close. I guess the buffalo are very aggressive at times.


We spent the day hiking and visiting the beach. We hiked through a lot rocks to see some amazing views. It was a super windy and hot day. Antelope Island is definitely a wasteland, but it is the closest we get to a beach in Utah. I figured since I can't visit a real beach I should at least visit the huge salty body of water that we have hear.

Sadly, my least favorite part of the trip was actually the beach and the Great Salt Lake. The beach was full of painful rocks and we had to walk across it forever to get to the water and then the lake is ridiculously salty. It left this gross residue all over your body from being in it. I even attempted to float in it. Unfortunately, I was not successful!

The 'not so beautiful' beach

P.S. I was sad that I never saw an antelope!

Devestation

So I am wasting my life away since it's my last week before I enter the big world of grad school and will probably have no more free time. I decided to get caught up on all my old shows. So against my better judgment, I was convinced that I must watch that last few episodes of the Hills. I have wasted the last 4 years of my life watching Laguna Beach and the Hills (I took a break last year bc I couldn't handle the ridiculousness of the show anymore) But this season I have been intrigued by the fact that Brody and Kristin were kinda a couple so I just had to watch I guess.

Well much to my disbelief they devastated me if their final episode! It's not real! I mean I always knew there was no way that all that drama and meeting up for serious talks at cutesy cafes could not possibly be real, but I wanted to believe that at least some of the story lines were partly true. Take for example, Brody and Kristin. Now I must believe that Brody and I do not have a celebrity couple like us!! (To make matters worse they all went to Costa Rica and stayed in the exact town that we did on our honeymoon...oh the similarities) And even if the drama was all scripted while they were there, I do know that they were actually in Santa Teresa bc I recognized the streets and restaurants.

So that is my desperate rambling for the day! I am sad that Brody and Kristin were completely fake. I guess I'll have to move on with my real life with the real Brody. Definitely not as glamorous :(

New chapter in our lives

Life has been crazy lately. I am wrapping up my job at United Way of Utah County, Brody graduated and craziest of all we moved!! We are now Salt Lake County residents, no longer stuck in the confines of Utah County. So far, I haven't figured out why so many Utahans hate Utah County but are ok with Salt Lake. I guess we have better shopping and probably more restaurants (though I haven't tried any of them yet) but I guess I will get back to you on why Salt Lake is better after I figure it out.

One thing for sure is that our apt is a hundred times better. Gone are the days of cave dwelling. After 2 years of living in an apt with no major outside facing windows, I am delighted to report that we have windows on every side of our home and they let in a ton of light. I do not have to turn on the lights at noon anymore!!! We love our duplex. We have a backyard, bigger kitchen, 2 bedrooms and tons of fun upgrades. You must all come visit soon!

Not decorated yet...it's a work in progress

Brody's graduation was fun. His parents came down for the convocation on Friday morning and then we all went to lunch at Chef's Table. It was fun to celebrate in style. The food was amazing.

Afterwards we began the dreaded move! It took us basically all weekend and was miserably hot. But we are finally done and now only have cosmetic things left to do. I need some throw pillows, curtains and a few other things.

Next week I start orientation and then school. I am not really looking forward to the commute, but I will enjoy being back at my favorite University.

Good bye to Provo, but not to campus!

1 whole year!

It's amazing that one year ago (more now cause I'm slow to update the blog) that I married my husband here!

That day ended up perfect and I came home with a pretty good prize! Being married to him really has been the best :)

Love Brody's face in this one!

K enough of the mushy. For our anniversary we decided to go to Snowbird. It is one of our favorite ski resorts in the winter, but we never had been there in the summer. We also just had a month of traveling so we didn't think a big trip was appropriate.

First, we ate at an Indian Restaurant on our way. It was yummy. I tried to take a picture, but the waiter who took it, took a horrible picture! We stayed in a quaint room at the Inn of Snowbird. We had a fireplace and a cute kitchen. It was nice to get away from the heat and spend a day in the mountains.



We also got a pass to participate in all the activities that they have there. We went on the alpine slide, ziplinging (nothing compared to Costa Rica ziplinging), the tram and hiked a bit and some easy rock climbing walls. It was a fun day!

Afterwords, we went to the Jordan River Temple (I wish we could have gone to the DC temple, but they are all special and beautiful) We had an amazing experience there. We definitely felt loved and so happy that we had chosen each other!

Two New States for Brody

Brody was lucky enough to visit two new states on his trip to Nauvoo. He made me drive across the Mississippi to visit Iowa (we were there for about 10 minutes) but we touched the Mississippi with our toes. We found this old historical fort and park conveniently just across the river.

As I said before we flew in Milwaukee, WI so when we drove back to the airport Brody wanted to walk around the city for a bit. He also wanted to visit the Northwestern Mutual campus. He is currently doing his internship for Northwestern so he was excited to see their buildings.



We also walked down to the water (Lake Michigan) and saw a cool museum. There were about 10 weddings going on at the time so I'm sure we crashed many pictures!

We finally boarded our plane home after this! It was a fun trip!!

Woffinden Family Reunion

Last week was our much awaited Nauvoo trip! The trip entailed flying from SLC the whole way to Milwaukee, WI renting a car, driving 5 hours to the middle of nowhere Illinois and then staying in a large historic building with 20 some people (my entire immediate family, minus some in-laws) Sounds crazy, but it was actually really fun! Brody even survived it. It was a super short trip, with too much traveling, but the whole thing was fun!

We did have to suffer through 100 degree weather with horrible humidity. We were basically dripping the whole time. But that was the major downside of the trip.

When we arrived to Nauvoo, we were able to go straight to the pageant. They told us at the beginning that it was a tear jerker. I was impressed with myself the whole time, thinking "wow I haven't cried yet, I'm so good" well I spoke too soon. I ended the pageant basically bawling. It was super touching to listen to stories of the pioneers and of the prophet Joseph!
I also got to see my old roommated Meghan who is currently on a mission there! It was so fun to catch up, brought back tons of good memories of living in LA.

Snow cones before the start of the pageant!

After the pagent we all crashed in bed. We had an early start the next day. We were going on a hand cart trek and wow did I need the rest! So I went on a trek when I was 14 for youth conference. I had a ton of fun and don't remember any manual labor. Maybe my memory has dimmed or we were just on the cushiest trail ever, because this handcart trek was no picnic.
As you can see in pictures, by the first 5 minutes we were all covered in mud and tired. We unanimously decided to just go 1 mile instead of 3! It was definitely an experience to remember!

We spent the rest of the trip sight seeing . I never realized how much their is to do in Nauvoo. There are a ton of historical houses and shows and plays and pioneer activities. We went on a oxen ride a nd the rest of the family went on a wagon ride through out town.

At Carthage Jail. That's my nephew Connor in the back.

Cute houses in Nauvoo.

Our wedding cake topper! My mom drove it the whole way out from PA. We shared the cake with our family (just a couple weeks early for our first anniversary celebration) A real romantic night with 20+ members of my family!

We got a chance to go to the temple while we were there! It was really beautiful!

So that was the majority of our family reunion. My parents are enjoying their mission there. They wear pioneer clothes, do tours and appear in shows. Sadly, we didn't get to see a show where my parents actually have parts, but we saw them perform none the less.

I will add the rest of our trip later. This post is getting too long.