January & February 2013 3/3/13

January and February are two months that just flew by...thankfully.  They were such busy months for so many reasons.  We have been busy with work and church and who knows what else.  Here are a few things that I can remember that we did:

• My momma had a birthday!  I won't tell you how old, but we did call her and wish her a happy birthday.  Her gift was Hobby Lobby gift card that we gave her at Christmas time.  (Must be where I get my LOVE for that place!)
• Josh and I went to the Washington DC Temple for a stake temple day.  I had a wonderful experience there.  It's such a beautiful temple....we just wish it was a little closer.
• We both worked
• Josh worked some more
• and then he worked some more...
• In February, we went back to Ohio to be there at the temple when a friend went through for the first time.  We always meant to take pictures of us outside the Columbus Temple, so we were able to finally do that too.

 

 

• On our way to Columbus, we went through West Virginia.  We stopped to eat there so we could both cross that state off as a state we have been to. 
• 
  We celebrated Valentine's Day...No pictures...but we did celebrate with a few small gifts and dinner at Texas Roadhouse....YUM!
• We put up and took down Valentine's Day decorations.  This is the only picture I have of them.  My mom sent us some garland in our Valentine's Day package.

• We have had two fun and totally awesome game nights with our friends, Nick and Sarah.  We stayed up til 3am one of those nights.  None of us had stayed up that late is forever but we were having such a good time!

I think that about sums up our last two months.  We have been very happy as south Jersey doesn't seem to get very much snow.  We have enjoyed the lack of snow a lot!  It's been cold but is definitely warming up.  We are both REALLY ready for spring.  I can't wait to be able to go running outside on a consistent basis.  Spring is now just around the corner!

Christmas in Idaho 3/2/13

Yes, I know it is now March and that I am still posting about Christmas.  I'm not sure where time has gone.  It must have something to do with this really busy calling that I have now.  Time seems to just be flying by.  Josh and I have both been so very busy lately.  But let's start with Christmas. 

 

After leaving Oklahoma, Josh and I headed to Idaho.  My mom took us to the airport early in the morning and like always, it was so hard to say goodbye to her.  I really hate those airport goodbyes.  Luckily, this time I had Josh with me so it was a little easier.

 

It took us pretty much all day getting to Idaho.  We booked flights on two different airlines so we could fly into Idaho Falls the cheapest way possible.  I'm not sure that I would ever recommend this to anyone especially during the holidays when lots of flights are canceled.  We didn't have too much trouble flying there but the way back home was another story, but we did make it.

 

Like always, we had a great time in Idaho.  I sure love the Wray family.  They are seriously great in-laws to have.  We always have fun with them.  Since it's been about two months, I don't remember everything we did but I do have some pictures.  Some of these are my own and some are stolen from Ashley or Becca (thanks!).

 

Here is Josh with Paxton and Alexander.  We had fun playing with them and getting to know them more.

 

On Christmas Eve, it is Wray tradition to act out the nativity.  I was chosen to be a wiseman and Josh read the story out of the Bible.  Here are some pics...

 

 

 

Aunt Julie and Uncle Donald and their family joined the party.  They are both so much fun!

 

Christmas morning came early but it was great!  The Wrays sure do spoil us way too much!  Unfortunately, there was a little bit of illness going around while we were there.  It hit poor Reese Christmas morning.  Poor girl came up and just laid there for a few minutes before going back to bed.  She opened her presents later that day.

 

 

At some point, a few of us decided to do a cheese puff contest to see who could fit the most in their mouth.  I'm pretty sure Taylor won this one.

 

Vince and Jill also treated us to a dinner and western show.  It was so much fun and the food was fabulous.  We got to go on a sleigh ride to get to the dinner.  It was a blast.

 

We really did have so much fun while we were in Idaho.  I wish I didn't wait so long to write.  Next time, I won't wait as long so I can remember all the details.  It was sad leaving the Wray family.  Even though Josh and I have always lived so far away, it always feels like home when we are there.  We love you guys!  Hope to see you all soon!

Christmas in Oklahoma 1/26/13

I started this post weeks ago and I'm just now getting back around to it. Things have definitely been a little crazy lately. The week before we left for Oklahoma, I was asked to accept the calling of relief society president and I feel as if my life has been crazy busy ever since. :)

We had a great time visiting both families over the holidays. Josh and I flew separately out to Oklahoma. We both flew standby. I left a few days earlier than Josh and didn't have any problems getting on my flights. I was even able to jump flights and beat my baggage to Oklahoma City. Josh had a completely different experience. He left Friday before Christmas and sat in the Philadelphia airport for about 15 hours before he made a flight out. After flying standby all these years, if you don't make that first flight of the day, you pretty much have no chance of making your destination; yet, after many prayers, Josh was able to make it out and was able to still (barely) able to make a connecting flight into Oklahoma City. It was a STRESSFUL day. We weren't sure what we were going to do as we bought our plane tickets the rest of the way and he had to get to Oklahoma by first thing Sunday morning.

Anyways, we both made it to Oklahoma. My dad was able to pick me up from the airport. I barely even recognized him. He never goes out in public without being fairly nicely dressed, shirt tucked in, hair combed and clean shaven. But since he has been struggling Guillain–Barré syndrome, he hasn't been able to do much for himself, so he had a walker, FULL beard and was in sweatpants. It broke my heart but I'm so glad that he is doing so much better now. I wish I had taken a picture of him like that because that is probably the only time in my life that I will see him like that :) We had a nice date. After picking me up, I ran a few errands with him then we went to Braums for lunch and ice cream. YUM! Always, one of my first stops in Oklahoma.

I hung out with my Dad, Nola, Brayden and Jenna for the next day. I went to a late night movie with Christine. I wish I could do those way more often! Then on Friday, I went up to my mom's. It was quite a crazy weekend. I didn't seem to get to do much and spend much time with everyone, but I am grateful for the time I did have with them. Friday night, we had a Christmas party at my mom's. There was a ton of good fun and my family. Other than being stressed out of whether or not Josh was going to make it, we had a great time. I only took out my camera when we opened presents. So here you are:

Matthew, Stirling, Kylie, Nichole:

Karri & Darcy:

Tatyanna (my new sister-in-law) & Isla:

Leah:

Emmi (she LOVED the bow and arrows she got):

On Saturday, Logan and Tatyanna got married in the Oklahoma City Temple. It was so neat to be there with my whole family and to be there for their wedding. They are so cute together and I'm so happy for them. Tatyanna is a fun, cute girl. I don't know how Logan got so lucky!

Leah & Josh:

Nola, Jared, Brayden, Payton, Nathan, Matthew and ?:

Dad with his walker (at least I got a picture of this :) ):

Leah, Shawnee, James:

The beautiful bride and handsome groom:

They are just too cute. Congrats Logan and Tatyanna!

After the wedding, we had a nice luncheon. Then Josh and I hung out with Christine, Robby, kids, and my cousin, Niel. We were able to squeeze in a little meeting with a podiatrist that are in Christine and Robby's ward. He gave some great advice for us and are thankful he took the time to talk with us.

Then we headed back up to Stillwater and to El Vaquero. Our FAVORITE Mexican restaurant. They have changed a few things since we were last there, but the food was still fantastic and way better than what we have been able to find here in Jersey. We definitely need to keep trying to find a good Mexican place here. We have been to 4-5 places and none of them are quite as good as what they have in Oklahoma or even Cleveland. After dinner, we headed to the reception at the church.

We had a great time in Oklahoma. It was just too short. We left for Idaho on Sunday morning. I'm glad I was able to get to see my family and be there for the wedding. I just hope that next time, I will be able to stay for more than a few days.

Idaho will be the next post...when I get around to it :) We had a great time there as well and were NOT ready to come back home.

What We've Been Up To Lately...12/18/12

Here is a little bit of what we have been up to lately. 

 

This picture was taken sometime in the late summer.  Josh is always wanting to help bring carts up to the front of the store.  This time he got lucky as there was an electric one out by where we parked.  He just had to ride it into the store.

 

We swapped with some friends one fall afternoon for family pictures.  Here are a few of our favorites:

We had an amazing Thanksgiving dinner.  This was our fifth time in a row that we didn't celebrate with our families.  In Cleveland, we spent just about every one with great friends who have become like family and that has stayed true here in New Jersey.  We were able to celebrate with our friends, the Huish and Davis families.  We had a great time with delicious food, fun games and lots of laughter.  We can't wait until next year to do it again.  

We did host it at our house, which was a first.  We did the turkey, which I was really nervous about but it turned out great along with everything else we had.  We definitely had some great food.  The camera didn't come out too much that day but here are the few that I did take:

 

The day after Thanksgiving, the tree went up and the decorations came out.  I LOVE decorating for Christmas especially when my mom sends me a new painting for me to hang :)  Thanks, Mom!  We get a ton of compliments on it.  (Well, maybe not a ton because we don't have that many people over, but everyone that has come over has said they really like it and I LOVE it!)

 

 

 

 

For FHE last week, Josh and I headed into Philadelphia and went to this little Christmas German Village they had set up for the holiday season.  I thought it was much bigger than it actually is so I was a little disappointed but we still had a great time and were able to find some really cool things.

 

There was a "homeless" man taking pictures for people in front of the LOVE sign for tips.  We only had a five and a twenty on us, so he took three pictures similar to the below (all of which are out of focus) and we gave him $5.  I told Josh that was the most expensive picture I have paid for :)



Here are just a few random pictures of downtown Philadelphia.  It was a foggy day so we thought it looked pretty cool.

 

After we left LOVE Park, we headed to IKEA.  It was one of the best FHE/Date Nights!  We had a great time.

 

Other than that, we have just been keeping busy.  Well, at least I am.  Josh has been on an easy rotation this month and only has to go in for about 3-4 hours a day, which has made my work days seem to last forever.  We have both been keeping busy with our callings and with getting ready for Christmas.  My little brother, Logan, is getting married in Oklahoma.  So we will be heading there for a few days then will head to Idaho before we come back home.  It will be an exhausting week but we can't wait to see our families especially around this time of year.  We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a happy new year!