3rd Anniversary

Today is mine and Brett's 3 year anniversary of our wedding. We slept in this morning and then braved a few stores with a few returns from Christmas. We bought a Super Nintendo from Savers yesterday and this afternoon we went and got the power cord and two controllers for it. That was our anniversary gift to each other. Brett took me to see Twilight again and then he took me to Red Lobster for dinner. After dinner we went to Provo to pick up 2 games for the super Nintendo-- Super Mario World and Donkey Kong Country- (both of our favorites from the past) All together we got the whole Super Nintendo system, cords. controllers and 2 games for $35.... what a deal! After we picked up the games we went to Coldstone for dessert and came home t0 play our new games. We had fun with each other today. He is by far my favorite person to spend time with because we have so much fun together. Im grateful to have him. I love you Honey!

Here are a few pictures from 3 years ago....

Jingleheimer Schmidt

Today I woke up and wanted to make a snowman. So Brett and I and my sister Macy got all dressed up in our snow gear and went out. It was really cold out today so the snow was very dry and powdery so the snowballs would not roll well so we had to make a big snow mound, pack it and then shape it- we even used water to make it freeze. Once it was big enough we rolled it and it was able to pick up some more snow. It took us about 3 hours to make our snowman that we named Jingleheimer. The middle and the head are a little too small but he is about 6 ft tall and it was really the best we could do with the crappy snow.

Ho Ho Ho

Christmas was really good this year. We were able to get to and from everywhere safely and we had a great time with our families.

Here are a few pictures from Christmas. I really didnt take many this year.

Brett got a Wii pajama set from my mom.... So funny!! He imediatly went to put it on and he liked them a lot. He is really just a big kid. I love it.

Brooke got a few princess dresses for Christmas and had to try them on. Here is the Sleeping Beauty one from Tori. She really looks liek a little princes-- So Cute!

Our package that I sent 2 day air on Monday for Trevor and Elise with thier presents hasnt gotten there yet... Bummer. Sorry Guys!! It should be there soon. Merry Chritmas and we miss you.

Mine and Brett's 3rd Annversary is on Saturday. Im not sure what the plan is yet.... But 3 years-- thats quite an accomplishment... meaning we are no longer newly weds. I love Brett with all my heart and I couldnt ask for a better husband.

Hope everyone else had a great day!! Merry Christmas...

Merry Christmas!

First of all-- I want to thank all of you who sent us a Christmas card... We love them... They are decorating the back of our front door. I have never been one to send cards of my own... maybe someday when we have kids but we sure do love getting them and all the letters catching us up on our loved ones lives. So Thanks!!

Christmas is here! I love Christmas time and I love the snow. I just hate hate hate driving in it. The snow gives me anxiety when I drive plus my car isn't the best snow car. Other wise I really enjoy the whiteness outside. It has been too cold here to build a snowman. I really wanted to build one today but the snow was too powdery and without moisture. So instead, I made sugar cookies with my sisters-- well they watched.

I let Brett wrap a present today. It was entertaining. He really isn't that good at wrapping-- he just wasn't born with the gift I guess. :)

Christmas for us is a little crazy. Christmas eve we always go over to the Smith party for dinner. We stay for a couple of hours or so and then we take off to go the the Gee party at my Nana and Papa's house. At the Gee house, people will have been baking all day. We prepare plates of cookies and candies for the people that we go caroling to. We normally make it right on time to go caroling with my family which is my favorite part of Christmas. Then we go back to Nana's and do presents from her and from our cousins. After that we usually gather and sing around the piano for a bit and then we head out to do our Sub for Santa families. This year we are doing 3 families. We drop the big box full of presents off and hide where we can see. This is another favorite of Christmas. Then we go back to my moms house. We open our stockings when we get home (we draw names for stockings and my mom gives us each $10 to fill them) Then we read a few Christmas books while we wait for Santa to come. I still have one younger brother that still believes in Santa. When we hear the bells some of us run into another room and some of us stay out to help Santa bring in all the gifts that are conveniently in baskets out on the back porch.
We then open one at a time in a circle all of our gifts. We have done it this way since I was a kid. I love it.
On Christmas morning we go over to Brett's parents house to spend Christmas day with them. We open gifts and then have lunch. Sometimes my family will go to a movie on Christmas day.

This is Brett and my 4th Christmas together. I love having him in my life and I love that he now shares my traditions and I can share those things that are so dear to me with him. I also love that I have gained his family and am grateful for the people they are and that we get to spend this great holiday with them as well. It is so nice to live close enough to do both families the way we want to.

We wish you all a Merry CHristmas! We will miss all of you that are not here with us-- especially Trevor and Elise and thier girls and the West Family. Oh- and a happy new year too!

Camel Kisses

Today I painted Tori's nails again... This time did bright pink. She loves them. We even did her toes too. Brett and I took Tori to the Cathedral Basilica today. It is a huge Catholic Church and it was so pretty. Inside it was full of Mosaic Art which is tiny squares of glass and stone of different colors that make up the pictures on the ceiling. It was amazing... When we got back we had dinner and then left to go to The Way of Lights. There are tons of lights that we drove through. There was a petting zoo with all sorts of cool animals.. there was a baby yak, a baby llama, a baby camel and goats and a calf. It was really fun.. The baby camel even tried to kiss me... actually it just wanted my carrots that were in my cup. :)

Then there was big camels that we got to ride on. It was cool to do it just so I can say I rode on a camel...

Happy Birthday Brett

Today we woke up early and went to church. After church I got a short nap and then Brett and I went over to a park that is full of different sculptures. It was really cold so we just walked around for a bit and then went into the art gallery which was kinda creepy. Brett watched a lot of football today and we had cake and ice cream. We also played another Settlers of Catan game which Trevor won...

To my Sweetie:

I love you so so much. Thank you for always putting up with me and helping me be a better person. You are always here for me when I need you and you have helped me become who I am today. I couldnt ask for a more loving husband. You always try to do your best at everything and the way you treat me is amazing. Thank you for being you and for sticking with crazy ol' me all these years. I am excited to continue to grow old with you and one day start a family. I love you always and forever. Happy 25th birthday sweetheart. I hope you had a great day. XOXO

Love, Cali

Beer and Turtles

Today was a really fun day. We all went over the the Anheuser- Busch Brewery.. that's where they make all the Budweiser. We went on a tour of the grounds and to see some of the machines that they use. After the tour we all got terribly drunk... wait... no we didn't. But we did get free soft drinks and pretzels... yummy. Then Brett and I split off from the others and went to dinner... Brett's birthday dinner. We went to the Hard Rock Cafe. Before we went into the restaurant there was a fudge making shop in the mall and we stopped to watch the show... He had a whole crowd there chanting with him... if you didn't he would call you out and embarrass you in front of everyone.. it was pretty entertaining. After we had finished our dinner I asked the waitress if they did anything for birthdays. She soon came back with an ice cream sundae. She asked Brett to stand up on a chair and she announced to everyone that he was turning a quarter of a century old. Then she made everyone sing "I'm a little tea pot" while Brett did all the actions. Watching all of this was very entertaining to me.

We decided that we might want to go ice skating after dinner but Brett was too sore from playing in his turkey bowl football game and it was a bit too expensive so we drove around Forest Park. We ended up finding this Turtle Park which was awesome.

Zoo part 2

Today we went back to the zoo to finish seeing everything. The zoo is free, so at least we didnt have to pay twice. Brett and Adrienne were once again zoo buddies-- (he carried her in the front pack) After the zoo we went to a place called Fitz's for dinner. The have really good homemade Root Beer and a bottling room where we could watch them bottling soda.

The battle of the game playing against Brett & I and Trevor & Elise is now at 4-4. We have been playing games all week and keeping score... Sadly Brett and Elise have not won a single game... so basically it is a battle between Trevor and I... So we will see how that turns out..


Only 3 more days here in St Louis.... Im really going to miss my girls... :(

Day of Thanks

Thanksgiving is a great day. We ate a great dinner that Elise made most of-- It was amazing. After dinner Adrienne and I wanted to take a nap... We were so tired. Its good to be able to be with family on Thanksgiving even if it isnt the same with out my own family. We are so thankful to be able to spend this time with Trevor and Elise and the girls. It will be something that we will always remember.

The St Louis Zoo--- part 1

Today we went to the Zoo. Anyone that knows me knows that the zoo is one of my favorite places in the world... I love to see the animals. We got going a little late so we only had about 2 hours to be there so we didnt get to see alot but we are going back on Friday to see the rest. Today we saw the Hippos and the Elephants, Then we saw all of the bugs-- there was a butterfly house that we got to walk through and it was amazing- I love butterfls and there were hundreds of them.. I got some really cool pictures. Then we went over to the petting zoo where we got to pet a sheep and a goat. Tori has been so cute with me the last couple of days... She just comes right up to , gives me a hug and says "Oh I love you Cali." I just melt. We had a lot of fun. We also found our turtle-- ( every vacation that we take we find a turtle of some kind to add to our collection. We found ours at the zoo this time. It is made out of a kind of nut that is really hard. Brown on the outside and white on the inside. It is really pretty. Last of all, I want to wih all of my family a Happy Thanksgiving. I will miss them very much. This will be my first Thanksgiving away from my family in a long time if ever.. So to all of you... I will be thinking of you and I love you.... Also, Kick some butt shopping on the day after for me. XOXO

The Gateway Arch and Old Courthouse

Yesterday we all went over to the Gateway Arch. It was really cool. Brett and I went up to the top to see the view while the others waited for us. It was really cool and the view of the city was awesome. You can see the courthouse in the middle on the right. Its a pretty building. There was a museum under the Arch and Tori and I were walking around an we saw this guy. She looked up at me and said "Who is this guy? Can I hold his hand?" I just laughed.

Then we headed over to the Old Courthouse. That was pretty cool too. We watched a movie about Dred Scott and how he purchased his freedom and had to take the case all the way to the US Supreme Court. This picture is from the steps of the courthouse. We had a nice day out yesterday.

Today we are going to the Zoo. That will be fun.