This is Halloween! This is Halloween!

Happy Halloween everyone! This year instead of dressing up and going out to party, we celebrated the holiday quietly with our families. We had lots of yummy food, way too much candy, and plenty of good company. It was nice and relaxing, but it made me excited for when we'll be able to celebrate with our own little kids:) And it also made me very homesick for London. Last year's Halloween was my favorite ever, and I don't think it'll ever be topped. Missing all of these fabulous people today...

 

Love all of you dearly! Happy Halloween!

Catching up...

Due to the fact that my entire life currently consists of work, school, and homework at the moment, blogging hasn't really been a priority in the last few weeks. BUT I've had way too many great moments to put it off any longer. So, here's a quick recap of the last month:

London Family Reunion at my place. I love these people more that words can explain. We've probably set the record for most study abroad group reunions of all time, but it's because we just can't get enough of each other.  Always a good time with these folks :)

My beautiful blonde bestie got married. Congrats to Mrs. Sami Tillotson :) You made a beautiful bride and the entire day was  magical.

 

 

 My best friend/cousin-in-law got married and I had the privilege of throwing her bridal shower, along with Ms. Emily Eyre and Leann Paulsen. Way too much fun.

I love Al with all my heart and nothing made my happier than being able to be a part of her family shower, her friend shower, her wedding dinner, and her bridal party. You're a beautiful person inside and out and I couldn't ask for a better friend to be stuck with for the rest of my life. Love you Al and Mikey! So so happy for you both.

 

 And finally, my babe of a little sister Maddie turned 19. We celebrated with lots of shopping, food, family, and a pretty cake that I slaved away on for hours, and will probably never attempt again. But for this girl, it was 100% worth it. You're my BFF and best sister ever. Love you Mads!

 

 Life is crazy busy but we're loving it and loving this beautiful fall weather! Happy October everyone!

 

The Birthday Boy!

Happy happy birthday to my handsome husband! Yesterday Justin turned the big 2-7. (Yep, you're right, he is almost 30. And no, we're still not having children anytime soon.) We've been celebrating all month long with our families and friends with lots of food and presents. And Justin's fortunate enough to share his birthday month with both of our younger brothers, so he also got to enjoy three different birthday cakes! Lucky guy.

I decided to attempt my very first ice cream cake, and I think it turned out pretty well if I do say so myself. Devil's food cake, Tillamook caramel-toffee-nut ice cream, and chocolate pudding frosting. At least with those ingredients I knew it would taste good if the whole thing fell apart on me. But I'll be honest...I was pretty proud of this baby :)

Justin, being the very practical/cheap man that he is, told me that I wasn't allowed to get him anything that he didn't need, so lucky for me he finally thought of something he both needed and wanted--a grill! We spent about an hour putting this baby together in the dark because Justin was too excited about it to wait until we had some sunlight. And the best part about this gift? He's already made me dinner three times :)

 Last night we celebrated with Justin's friends at Texas Roadhouse--and yes, I made him ride the saddle. He was loving every minute of it.

 

And now for the mushy part. 27 things that I love about my husband :)

1. His smile and the way he smiles with his whole face...melts my heart.

2. How easily he makes me laugh.

3. What a hard worker he is. He never stops.

4. The fact that he does the laundry and the dishes more often than I do.

5. He tells me that he loves me and that I'm beautiful multiple times a day.

6. How smart he is.

7. How much he loves little kids...he'll be the best daddy someday.

8. He tells me how much he appreciates everything that I do all the time.

9. He lets me get away with doing zero yard work, even though he's always telling me that it's both of our jobs.

10. He always lets me order whatever I want when we share a meal because of how picky I am. 

11. He never says anything to me when my half of the bedroom (and the entire bathroom, and the kitchen) is a complete mess and his is spot-free. I never realized how messy I am until I got married.

12. The fact that he's so good with our money, yet still spoils me like crazy.

13. How much he loves both of our families, and puts up with me wanting to spend so much of our time with them.

14. How he gets ready in the dark every single morning so he doesn't wake me up.

15. How he kisses me on the forehead and calls me "sweetheart" before he leaves for work. 

16. How he still opens the door for me everywhere we go.

17. How he holds my hand in the car.

18. The fact that he is such a handyman. That boy can fix anything. Blows my mind.

19. He let me turn his bachelor pad house into our home.

20. His love of the gospel and his strong testimony. 

21. That he'll sleep with an eye mask on so that I can do homework in our room instead of sitting out in the kitchen by myself at night. 

22. How outgoing he is. It makes up for my shyness. He completes me :)

23. How patient he is with me. I get so upset so easily, and he just hugs and loves me until I'm over it.

24. How touchy he is. I've never been one to hug and cuddle more than is necessary, but he's quickly converting me. 

25. How he takes such good care of me. 

26. What a good person he is.

27. How much he loves me, and I love him. 

Happy birthday Justin! I love you so so much and honestly could not ask for more out of a husband. I am one lucky girl.

California Lovin'

This past week we loaded up our car and set out for the 10 hour drive to Newport for our one and only vacation this summer. We spent the week with the Reynolds clan shopping, eating, playing on the beach, and soaking up some much needed sunshine.

The Reynolds have spent numerous summers in Newport staying in beach houses right on the boardwalk, and I used to go with my girlfriends during High School (I missed you all dearly), so we were all thrilled to get back there. We ate at all of our favorites places—Sharkies, TK Burgers, Charlie’s Chilis, Jane’s corndogs, and we all about ate our weight in Seaside donuts. Needless to say, we brought back a few extra lbs in addition to our suntans. But as Justin likes to put it…tan fat is better than white fat :) Right? 

We shopped and shopped and shopped at Fashion Island, Huntington Beach, the Las Vegas outlets, and all the little shops on the boardwalk. And I almost brought home a little puppy Maltese that we named Mo, but Justin wouldn’t let me. And yes, I do expect all of you to give him a hard time about this when you see him. Because it broke my heart. But no worries, I spent half the drive home on my phone searching the KSL classifieds for a new one :) All in good time...

 We spent everyday laying out on the beach just soaking up the sun, sleeping, and reading. I finally read The Help, a book I’ve been dying to read forever but just haven’t had the time. But I was determined to finish it before the movie comes out, and I absolutely loved it. Seriously one of the best books I’ve ever read and I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone.

On Wednesday we woke up at the crack of dawn to head to…DISNEYLAND!!! I haven’t been to Disneyland in years and it’s one of my very favorite places…so I was giddy like a little girl the whole way there. We were there from open to close and I loved every minute of it. Justin may have had his Disney fix for the next few years (he gets a tad but queasy on the rides) but I already can’t wait until I get to go back with my little kids. It truly is the happiest place on Earth :)

A tab bit wet from Splash Mountain...

And one of the best parts of our trip? We got to spend a day with our good friends the Clevengers! Bryan and Amy are Justin’s good friends from college, and are probably the nicest people you’ll ever meet. Plus their baby McKay is a doll. I couldn’t get enough of his blue eyes and chunky little legs. The Clevengers drove a whole four hours from their home in Fresno just to spend the day with us and we were so glad they did. Plus our good friends the Nielsen’s were there for the week just four streets away, so we got to hang out with Dave and Mckell too. We love you all!

Now we’re finally home and back to real life. We’ve got about four loads of laundry to do and lots of homework to catch up on, but it was 100% worth it. We loved every minute of our trip and just wish we could’ve stayed longer. Thanks Corinne and Terry for such a fun week! We love you so much!