Last Night in Utah

I'm now back in sunny San Diego and have to admit I am missing Utah. We had such a fun week with our families, its always hard coming back home knowing it will be awhile before we can visit them again. On our last night in Utah we went to the Gardner Village for dinner, partly to say bye to everyone and also to celebrate Jake and Brittney's third-year anniversary. We had a lot of fun, and the food was amazing. We just wanted to thank everyone for the awesome trip, we had a blast and can't wait until we can visit again (hopefully after the snow is gone).

Fella's Festivus

We were actually in town this year for the Annual Festivus Party. Tyler has remained very close with the guys he went to high school with and ever year they get together for a fun Christmas party. Last night we met at Red Robin for a great dinner and then headed over to Andu's for dessert. Below are just a few pictures from the evening.

Jack, Nick and Josh

Peezly (I'm probably spelling it wrong), Adam and Chris

Ryan, Adam, Jack, Josh, Eric, Peezly, Tyler, Nick and Chris
Chris, Kathy, Katherine, Diana and Ashley

Merry Christmas

Christmas Eve is a day we usually spend with Tyler's family. That evening we gather together with all of his extended family and have a great party. They put on a talent show and have tons of yummy snacks. It's always a great time. On Christmas morning we spend at Tyler's family where we open presents and have a wonderful brunch (somthing I look forward to every year). We played with our new toys and had a great time.

Later in the afternoon we head down to my brother Mark's to celebrate with my side of the family. This year was strange not having my parents around, but we still had a great time. Little Trevor received a remote controlled helicopter from Santa, it was the hit of the day. My brothers Mark and Doug played with it all day, I'm not sure if Trevor even got his turn. We spent the afternoon opening presents and hanging out. Nicole and Natalie prepared a yummy dinner and salad.

Last year on my trip to Germany I got Tyler this great sweater. At the time Doug also bought one, I didn't think much of it and never thought it would be an issue since they live in different states. So, we were all surprised when we showed up and they were wearing the same thing! They look like twins!

Our family is kind of bad at getting professional pictures done, but we do try to get a family picture taken every Christmas. After we left Mark's house we headed straight to Tyler's grandparents house. Tyler and Laurel have been working hard to put together something nice for Grandpa. They have put together an amazing plaque to show Grandpa's awards during his time in the Air Force. We're also working on a plaque that will be put on the Veterans Memorial at Mt Soledad (La Jolla, CA). It was an amazing night and Grandpa was really blown away. He is such a remarkable man and it was a pleasure to do something to honor all his service.

Snow Days

Last night we went to dinner with my family to our favorite restuarant, Johnny Carino's. We had a great time there, and I want to wish Doug congratulations again for his new job as bank manager at US Bank. After dinner we went back to Rob's house with the intent to watch movies but ended up playing Scene It: Friends instead. We, or at least Natalie and I, had a great time.

Tyler and I were a little worried about how Charlie would adjust to all the snow here in Utah. He is so used to the sunny weather of San Diego. Luckily, he loves it! At first he was a little timid, and tip-paw (tip-toe) around, but once he got use to it we can't keep him away. He loves to jump around, dig, and just have a good time. Whenever we take a walk he prefers to walk in the snow instead of the street, and he still loves to play fetch in the snow. I think he would play fetch anywhere, anytime.
Here is a video of Charlie playing Fetch at the local elementary.

Utah Trip...Day 1

We finally made it home to Utah! We were planning on making the 11-12 hour drive in one day, however the weather had other plans for us. We ended up staying the night in St. George and driving the rest of the way on Saturday. Our first stop was at my brother Rob's so his lovely wife could cut my hair. Anyway, we spent a nice time visiting with them and then met up with my other brother Doug for lunch at one of our favorite places...Crown Burger. I really enjoyed seeeing my brothers and sis-in-law, whenever I am around them I realize how much I miss spending time with them. After lunch Ty and I headed to his parents house, where we will be staying this week. Their dog Porter was SO excited to see Charlie, he could hardly contain himself. We spend a nice afternoon visiting with family and getting settled in.

Tonight we celebrated Grandma Hart's 80th birthday. Donna Mae is an amazing lady, she is Tyler's grandma on his fathers side. She has always been so welcoming and we always enjoy our visits with her. Below are some fun pictures from her celebration dinner. Her kids planned an amazing party for all her family and friends. They had a nice program which included a great movie of Grandma's life. I'm so glad that we made it into town in time for this.

Birthday Girl (DonnaMae) Tyler and Kathy

Brooke, Kathy and Tyler

Happy Birthday Gradma!

A Disney Christmas

On a previous post I showed our recent trip to Disneyland. Ty's family comes down ever year over Halloween to visit Disneyland, this year we bought 3-day passes but were only able to go for 2 days. Since we had the extra day we decided to go up on Saturday to see all the Christmas decorations. We invited our good friends Resh, Lindsey and Owen to come along, I'm so glad they were able to come. We had a blast hanging out, and I especially loved Lindsey's stroller pass, I was able to go on all the rides twice!

The Disney tree is just amazing, I can't imagine how many lights and decorations they use to fill up this entire tree. It looks so pretty at night when all the lights are on, and they even have fake snow that falls over Main St.

Lindsey, Resh and Owen. Owen is the sweetest thing, he was so good the entire day, and is just the cutest little guy.

This didn't turn out great, but Main St looks amazing at night. I love all the cute Christmas decorations throughout the park. I forgot (conveniently) my coat and it was so cold, so Ty bought me my cute blue Mickey jacket.

Charlie Update

It has been awhile since I've blogged about Charlie. Charlie came into our lives in March 2008, at a lovely 10 weeks of age. He wieghed a little under 1 pound. He was (is) so adorable. It's hard to picture him as small as he used to be. I wish I would have taken more photos and videos. Owell.

About nine months later and Charlie has reached his full size (hopefully). He weighs about nine pounds and is still adorable.

This is Charlie in his Christmas coat, my parents gave him for his trip to Utah. Charlie has never seen snow, or experienced cold weather, so it will be interesting bringing him home for Christmas.

North Carolina

I spent last week with my parents in North Carolina, visiting my parents on their mission. It was such a great experience. Tyler asked me if my parents were different as missionaries, and honestly I couldn't tell that much difference. They have always been a great example to me and really lived the gospel, so being missionaries was a very easy transition for them. They are living in Whiteville, NC or as the locals like to pronounce it "why-it-ville". They love their little branch and are having a good time getting to know everyone there.

My parents really planned a fun trip for me. We went all over N. Carolina, and we were able to see so many cool places. Our first day we spent in Raleigh, which was beautiful. We also went to Fort Fisher, Southport, Willmington and of course Whiteville. Below is a picture of the capital, the N. Carolina Temple, the Govenors Mansion, the Bellamy Mansion, Fort Fisher and the battleship N. Carolina.

On Sunday my parents were asked to speak in Church. I was excited to be in town on a Sunday where they would be speaking. I got a nice front row seat and was eagerly awaiting them to begin when the branch president came up and asked if I would mind sharing my testimony as well. How could I say no? I don't care for public speaking, but it actually went okay. Luckily, it is a small branch and everyone was super nice so I wasnt quite as nervous as I normally am to speak in Church. I was kind of grateful for the opportunity to share my testimony and glad that I have one to share. I know I need to more often, so I was happy that they asked me to speak.
Here are just a few pictures from their missionary apartment. All their furniture is from the mission home, including the double beds. Its actually a really cute place, a little old, but nice. The quilt they are holding is one I made for my Pop right before I went out there.

Okay, one of the most amazing things I saw in N. Carolina was the cotton fields. I never really thought much about cotton before and so I was kind of blown away with it. I made my Pop pull over so I could pick some, and it is just amazing. What a blessing from Heaven that we have cotton growing on bushes. Doesn't it look like snow?
I really wanted to find an amazing barn photo to have my mother-in-law paint for me. Below are a few that we found, but I don't know if any of them were really what I had in mind.

We went looking for alligators, which are really popular in the area. Unfortunately, it was too cold so all I saw were turtles! There were so many of them, I couldn't believe it.
Below is a collage of this really cool swamp area near my parents house. I wish I had been there a few weeks earlier when the leaves were changing.

I'm so glad I was able to spend this time with my parents. It is nice being able to picture the people and places my Mom is always telling me about. They are wonderful missionaries and I know that their branch is so happy to have them there.