Quick Trip to Montana

I was at work on Friday and I was talking to my sister Macy who plays volleyball for Montana State University in Bozeman. She was having a really bad day and was sad that my mom couldn't make it to her end of season volleyball banquet that was on Saturday morning. I texted my other sister and asked her if she wanted to drive to Montana to surprise Macy. We ended up deciding to take Brett and Kellen with us.

We went to the BYU men's volleyball game on Friday night and went home to get a little sleep. Our alarm went off at 2:45 in the morning and we were out of there by 3 in order to make it the the volleyball brunch that started at 11. WE traveled in our PJ's but stopped at a Chevron in West Yellowstone to change and get ready.



(yes I am wearing shorts and it was FREEZING!)

We made it by 11:20-- a little late but oh well... we walked in and Macy's coach was talking to all the girls. We walked in and stood behind her. It took Macy a minute to notice we were standing there. She started bawling and then introduced us. We had brunch and there was a program. Then we went to our hotel and got a little sleep.



After a few hours of well needed sleep, Macy came over to the hotel and she took us over to her dorm and over to her gym and showed us around a little. We picked up some pizza for dinner and went back to the hotel and played games. We had a lot of fun.





We woke up this morning at 8:30-- had breakfast and were back on the road by 10. The weather was not that bad on the way there. On the way back it was a little worse- especially when we got to Utah. It took us 9 hours to get home today. But it was worth it to see Macy and to make her feel a little less homesick.

My Babies

Today we went over to my brother Brian's house to hang out with him, his wife Nadia and my 2 nephews- Malachi and Micah and my niece Mariah.
We had a yummy dinner- chicken and veggie skewers which Brian (the BBQ king) made outside in the cold. We played with the kids and then watched The House Bunny with them.
It has been way too long since we have hung out with them.

Draper Temple Open House

Yesterday Brett and I and his family all went up to the Draper Temple Open House. (Thanks Mandi for getting us the tickets)
We met at a church and watched a short film and then got on a bus that took us up to the temple.
It was beautiful way up there on the top of that hill. The view was amazing.




The temple itself was amazing. It was really pretty inside-- just like temples should be. I am glad we got to go do that.

I remember the Mt Timpanogos Temple Open House and Dedication. My mom sang in the dedication choir so we got to be there. It was so cool... Crazy that it was over 12 years ago.

After the Open house we went over to his parents house and had a delicious meal-- ribs...mmmm.

Travel

My friend posted about where she had traveled last year and I thought it would be fun to do it too...
These are all the places other than my own house that I slept last year....

Odgen- (camping)
San Diego
Orange County-- 2 different trips
Las Vegas-- 2 different trips
Manti
St. Louis
Mesquite
Pocatello
Salt Lake

So there was a bit of traveling last year... I love love love to travel. Hopefully there will be more of it this year... These are the places I plan to go this year.

St Louis- to see Trevor and Elise
Puerto Vallarta Mexico
California
Montana- to see Macy
Road trip to somewhere??? with my sisters

Cricut-- my new favorite toy

Today Brett took me to Roberts Craft- where we bought my new cricut machine. It was my Christmas/Anniverary present. We got a really good deal buying it all in a package set. I have wanted one of these since I started scrapbooking. The thing is amazing!! I played with it for a while and I just cant believe what it can do-- it will definetly change the way I scrapbook.
Brett is getting a new phone next week for his Christmas/ Anniversary present from me... A little late but worth the wait-- for both of us.

Nicklecade, New Years Eve and Yankee Snatch

On Tuesday, Brett and I and Alyssa and Kellen went over to Nickelcade. We had a lot of fun winning tickets to buy cool stuff.

New Years Eve we all decided to go ice skating. We were all having a fun time skating and then there was a group of boys that were about 8 or 10. They were skating with these orange cones and I decided that I was bored and so I wanted to steal a cone from one of the kids. My first two attemps failed and by the second time they knew what I was up to. The 3rd time I was successful. After that it turned into this war-- 5 little boys against the 4 of us and 4 cones. We totally kicked butt. Although I think we all ended up falling at least once-- I got my pants all wet. At one point we had all 4 cones. We declared ourselves the winners as we had to get off the ice so they could smooth it. We were all gathered and took a group picture. It ended up being a really fun time skating. Leave it to me to start a war with a group of complete stranger little boys in a public place. We named the game Yankee Snatch...:)

After that we went over to Nana's house to hang out for a while. Then we headed home to play some games into the New Year. It was a fun night.

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.