Holiday Update!

I love this time of year when there are so many holidays so close together. These past few weeks and the weeks to come are so exciting as we get to spend so much time with family and friends. In the last bit Josh and I have had quite a bit of fun enjoying the season.



A few weeks ago, Josh and I went and spent just a few days with Amanda, Wes, and Nathan. When we arrived, Amanda was slaving away making gingerbread so we could make houses.



Here is Josh and Wes constructing our adorable houses.



I must say the end results were beautiful and I am so glad we were able to do this. It was so much fun and definitely something I want to do every year!

I am so happy we were able to spend some time with the Horrocks family. Thanks Amanda and Wes, we love you!


Next was Thanksgiving dinner in St. George with the Nelson clan. It was so much fun to go and visit. This was the first time Josh has ever met and been around my Aunt Susan and Uncle Kirk's family. I love Thanksgiving, and not really for the food, although yummy, I have never been one to eat a lot so...not completely amazing. I do, however, love spending time with family and reflecting upon the many blessings. No talk of Thanksgiving would be complete without my expressing my gratitude for some blessings. This year as I have joined a new family and created my own I must say that family has been something on my grateful mind. I am so grateful for my new family and all that is done for me! When seeing some of the children i do and the backgrounds they have i truly am grateful for my roots and the family that raised me and the many blessings the Lord has provided.



Ladies first!!


It was so warm and look no snow! Josh and I took a drive while down in St. George, if you look closely you can see the temple!




Now that December is here, it is time to move on to Christmas! Although we don't have many decorations we were able to somewhat decorate our tree (thanks Nate and Cami for getting the tree for us). We thought it turned out cute! So here is to our first Christmas!

6 months!

Josh and I have officially been married for 6 months today. I have to say I have loved being married and not having to drive back to Logan after the weekends! Although I am sure this won't be the case I sure hope that in the next 6 months we will get to spend more time together. I love you Josh and pray we will always enjoy each other's company the way we do now!

So it has been awhile...

Okay, okay! I realize it has been a really long time since any posting has happened, here you all are, a major update of just a few of our activities. Since our last posting, a lot has happened, most of which has been our day to day activities. School has started for both of us and we are now busy as ever and although I miss the easy days of summer, it is nice to be working and enjoying our crazy life!

Clear back in August was Nathan's first birthday and for the day, Josh and I drove up to Pocatello with my family and celebrated. It was a great day and we loved being able to just spend time together hanging out with family and watching Nathan open presents!

During the summer, my mother helped me begin some decorating projects to pass time, these were my first attempt at sewing decorations. You can't completely tell from the pictures but these are the biggest Christmas stockings i have ever seen, but i am awfully proud of them!


After the sewing projects, I decided to dabble in a bit of painting and so here are my first toll painting projects, a turkey and some pumpkins. Although i wasn't sure I would enjoy painting, I really have. I am now working on a bear that i can change the outfits for the different seasons and holidays. Look at me, I am crafty!


Over conference weekend, Josh and I joined the Shipps in St. George. We had a great time and here we are walking through the Narrows with Matt.

Zions was definitely pretty and I was glad we were able to get to spend some time in there.



I love fall! I love how beautiful the trees look especially in the canyons. It makes me miss driving back and forth to Logan and seeing how gorgeous Sardine Canyon looks in the fall!



My adorable nephew, Nathan, dressed as Tigger for Halloween. I am so glad that he came to visit for a few days and that I was able to at least say hi!




For the last week, Josh and I have been babysitting his brother Matt and sister Sarah while his parents were out of town. For Halloween we were able to go to the Ute game, we went early so that Sarah could trick-or-treat. The trick-or-treating, however, did not take that long and as you can see we were quite early for the game!


At the last minute, Matt needed a gangster costume for a dance at East High so while we were there we scrounged around and found we thought made a great "gangsta." Doesn't he look great?

Sayonara!

This month was my birthday, my 23rd to be exact, and my birthday has always been an interesting time for me. Of course I enjoy birthdays but mine being in August is always a bit sad. I know that as soon as my birthday comes the days of summer come to an end and alas real life must begin. This summer has been such a quiet one for me. I haven't been working and although i have had a few classes they weren't all that time consuming and thus i had plenty of time to spend cleaning, visiting friends and family and just getting done that which never gets done. Unfortunately, next week classes begin again and my job in an elementary school starts and while i am grateful to be busy again, I am having a difficult time saying goodbye to summer. So here it is my last pining for summer bliss. Sayonara! I am now ready to embrace the busy days of real life!

Despite the weather!

For this last weekend, Josh and I had planned some fun water activities. We were planning an end of summer pool party bash with friends we hadn't seen in awhile and then because I had planned on playing a bit with my friend Stephanie we decided we would go up to Bear Lake for Saturday. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate with our plans and it ended up being too cold and rainy for all of the above.


Despite the weather, Steph and I found a great way to entertain ourselves. On Friday we visited the zoo, something we both had not done for quite some time. Although we were without children and I think some people were wondering what exactly we were doing, we had a great time!

This picture you can't see all that well but it was hilarious as it happened, Steph was standing in front of a fan blowing water and it just looked too funny to not picture.



Okay so these water fountains have always just made me laugh so we both had to take some pictures in front of them.





It was a great day! Thanks for suggesting this Miss Yates, it made for some great pictures.



Thanks to the Lash family we were able to go to a Real Salt Lake soccer game on Saturday night and although it was an interesting game, we all had fun!

Our First Home

We are finally getting around to decorating our home. It's been fun going through our pictures and deciding what to put up...ok so more often then not Jess has done the deciding of what goes where but lets be honest and say that it's a really good thing she does! We've been given lots of great gifts that have also really helped. We really do thank all of you for your generous gifts.

Jess is...helping? ;-)

Here I am measuring where to put the nail.

It turned out great. I love the stuff that Jess already had. This had stitched "6 be's" of President Hinckley is a great touch.

I think our mantel turned out really nice.

So we bought this the other day and finally put it together. We finally have a place to put the beginnings of our food storage.

The Honeymoon!

Hawaii was beautiful!! Despite the many rainstorms we had a lot of fun and I am not sure I have ever relaxed quite that much. This was the view from our hotel room, a welcome site our first day!


This was actually our last day in Hawaii. We went around Pearl Harbor for a few hours and then hiked Diamond Head. Pearl Harbor was amazing, quite a different feeling there and a deep appreciation for those who serve our country then and now.


Okay so this is slightly embarrassing, here we are after we just got down from volcano. This is supposed to be a walk really, and it is, until you reach the last 300 feet of the 600 feet climb. Really it doesn't sound that difficult but oh my, the last half of the climb is straight stairs and my thighs really were sore after climbing them and then going back down. By the time we took this picture I was tired and slightly ornery.

Here we are enjoying dinner in the sunset. This was one of my favorite times of the day! It is very interesting to compare the sunsets there to those of home, quite different but both beautiful.

One of our first days in Hawaii we went to walk the grounds of the Laie Temple. We had wanted to go to the temple while in Hawaii, but the temple is closed for remodeling so we walked around quickly and took pictures before the rain came.

While at the Polynesian Cultural Center, we enjoyed a lot of Hawaiian rain. The day was enjoyable, even though the rain didn't stop for long. I enjoyed seeing the dancing in the rain!

Oh look, Josh and I wet.


Mom, this is the site of your and dad's mission. Look at the pretty quilt! I need to show you the rest of the pictures we took in this room.

Our Fijian tatoos. Mine signified a queen and Josh's a warrior.

The Wedding Day!

May 20, 2009 was a beautiful day to get married, we are so grateful that everything turned out as well as it did. Thank you family and friends that helped us along as we went through this amazing day!

Here we are walking out of the temple after the sealing, both exceptionally happy and ready to embrace the wind!

Thank you to all the family and friends at the temple and luncheon. This day wouldn't have been the same without all of your love and support.

Aah! Aren't we cute? I must say we enjoyed this.


The luncheon was perfect. A little out of the ordinary but everyone was great. Here we are cutting the cake, isn't it cute!

New Post!

Yes, we are finally adding to our little blog. This experience is a bit new and since life hasn't quite settled we have neglected our blogging obligations. No worries, we are getting there.

Wedding Fun Stuff

Hello friends and family,
We thought it would be fun and helpful to have a blog in order to let you all know general information about our wedding. We are gettting married May 20, 2009 in the Salt Lake Temple. We have opted for having just a small luncheon and no reception.

For those looking for registry information there are links to the left under our picture. If you are looking at the registry information online, follow the links and use Josh's name to find us (this is the easiest way, my name pulls up too many people). We have decided on colors for our new home and they are the following: Kitchen- Red and White, Bedroom-Navy, Burgandy, Sage, Chocolate Brown, Bathrooms- Tan and Sage, Living Room- Navy, Chocolate Brown, Deep Dark Red, Light Green (similar to bedroom).

For those not looking on the websites we are registered at Target; Bed, Bath and Beyond; and thanks to Josh, REI. :)

Thank you all, we love you!
Jess and Josh