Decorating the Tree

Our house has been looking like this for a few days and I was ready to finally decorate and get rid of the boxes.

So I made the traditional hors d'oeuvers to munch while decorating. . .

and we decorated our little hearts out while listening to Christmas music.

I'll have to post pics later of the rest of the house decorations.

Another Trip to Beaver

So I'm not sure if my in-laws will forgive me for re-introducing the tradition of Christmas tree cutting into their lives. I'm pretty sure when they purchased an artificial tree they thought they were "out of the woods" literally. . .and then I came along. We didn't get a permit to cut trees with my family because of Christian's schedule so we tried to still enjoy my family's tradition by getting a permit in Beaver. The Bowers' were definitely troopers as we ventured up the canyon in search of the perfect tree.

Saw. Check.

Colorful Beenie:) Check.

The Bowers' Crew. Check.

Christian falling down the hill with a tree that didn't belong to us:) I almost peed my pants.

The search was a little long and rough but . . .

we finally found the perfect (we'll use that term loosely) tree to cut.

Anyone with kids (who you don't want touching ornaments) would love this tree. It is deadly. The needles are so sharp you have to wear gloves to touch it. Any kid would learn his lesson the first time:)

Decorating pictures to follow.

What My Poor Husband Did This Morning

So I did this:

P.S. Doesn't he look happy?

Our 1st Anniversary

I can't believe it has been an entire year since this:

We wanted to keep our celebration simple this year but Christian still surprised me with a bouquet of gorgeous flowers and a wonderful night out together. We started with dinner at The New Yorker and wow was it delicious. I even ordered a steak and Christian had the lamb. It was decorated for the holidays and a little reminiscent of the Hyatt where we spent our honeymoon. After dinner, Christian took me to see the lights at temple square and then we ended the night with pumpkin frozen custard. It was a perfect night to celebrate a wonderful and really easy first year of marriage:)

I sure love this guy!

Our Favorite Apple Pie

Throughout my childhood, we have enjoyed the famous Brown Paper Bag Apple Pie. It's amazing! We love our trips to Apple Hill and even more we enjoy the recipes and pies that follow the trip. I decided to bake our favorite pie for Thanksgiving this year. There are so many memories that accompany this pie. Like the time the bag caught on fire and my dad ran in the kitchen, hosed it down with the fire extinguisher, and my mom cried over her ruined pie. I also made it for my roommates in college but we had to hand peel and cut all of the apples. I was excited this year to use my apple corer and peeler from Em to make the task a lot easier. It was so yummy and I finally was able use my beautiful pie dish from Williams-Sonoma. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

All Aboard!

Wow! This weekend was a whirlwind but I loved every second of it. Between the Polar Express, Thanksgiving, cutting trees, a baptism, an anniversary, and family pictures there wasn't a spare second (pictures to come). We started off with a trip to Heber to ride the Polar Express to the North Pole. On the train we ate cookies, drank hot cocoa, sang carols, and visited with the elves, Mrs. Claus, and Santa. My nieces and nephews had a great time.

All aboard!

Another Flood in the Basement

Here's the culprit: a pipe that decided to burst while I was at work and the night Christian was on call. So rude.

So we moved everything . . .

and tried to vacuum up the water (for 3 hours).

It didn't work. So we called in the disaster clean up crew and thank goodness because the flooding was worse than we thought. We're supposed to have an estimate of the damages tomorrow. Bummer.