Smeeks & A Movie

I don't know about you guys, but since Greg and I got married dating just isn't the same. We don't really plan ahead of time and it ends up just always being the same old thing. To me it doesn't really feel like a date because its just our weekly routine. I know I know those of you who have kids are probably thinking that we are lucky we even get to do things every weekend, but I figure if we master it now then we will be better at it when we have kids. So we decided to make more of an effort and plan dates ahead of time, make them unique and fun. Greg and I wrote down a bunch of things we would like to do for a date and put them in a jar. So every Sunday we alternate who picks one out and plans the date for the weekend. We keep it a surprise to add more excitement :). So yesterday I started us off. We went to this adorable candy store in phoenix called Smeeks...

We took pictures in the photo booth...

and we got some fun candy and cream soda for a movie....

We ended up going to Extraordinary Measures afterwards. It was a great movie. We loved going all out. I definitely recommend going to Smeeks sometime. It was the cutest store ever. It would be a perfect place to take the kiddies for a field trip, we loved it.

Dear Rain

I love you! Come again any day.

Palm Springs

Over the weekend Greg and I drove to Palm Springs to go see my "Costa Rica" Dad and his family. We had so much fun!!! On Saturday morning we woke up and went to Elmer's for a great breakfast. Once we were full we went downtown and walked around. It is the cutest little town...so colorful. After goofing around downtown and stopping to get some delicious See's suckers we headed to Indian Canyon to check out the oasis...

It was gorgeous. There were so many palm trees.

As we were walking around I discovered the coolest thing ever... pussy willows! I always thought they were something different. My dad showed me how to make them fly off. I was fascinated as you can tell..

After we headed out of the Canyon we drove to the outlet malls to do a little shopping and this was our view....

That night we went out to eat at a great Mexican restaurant in downtown Palm Springs with everyone, we laughed our heads off and Uncle Mike had a lot of fun with his big brother. We had a blast :)

The next day we went hiking ...

I can't remember the name of the canyon but supposedly it is where they filmed part of Star Wars. We started hiking out in the canyon above then we gradually worked our way up.

and saw this gorgeous view...

The descent down was the coolest part.

It was a gorgeous hike. We loved Palm Springs it was a fun little trip. So many memories came back to me while we were there, I lived there when I was little for five months. It was fun for the Montez's to finally meet Greg. And to top everything off it was great to be able to talk to Greg for four hours straight on the way home... I love that guy.

Arizona Homes

So as much as I love the people here in Arizona that we have become great friends with and the family we have so close..I'm not a big fan of Arizona. I would much rather live close to the mountains or the ocean. Even after experiencing the winters it hasn't won me over. One major thing I dislike are the houses. They all look the same and since I don't really like that style well you get my point. So since Greg sometimes gives me the feeling that we are going to be here for a while if not permanently I started looking for houses that would win me over and let Greg maybe keep thinking that :) and I found this adorable townhouse.....

Isn't it so cute? I love brick!!! I love this house it is so unique and much more me then this....

Remember our Table?

Greg and I bought this table in August and lets face it is kind of ugly, but it has lots of potential. We wanted to paint it and haven't gotten around to it, but I think I'm going to start this weekend. We want to paint anything that is yellow now, black and then get some cute new fabric for the chairs. Since this is my first real paint project I really would like some suggestions....Where to get good deals, how to do it :), cute recommendations for fabrics?

The chairs and table are made out of wood and have a glaze type of thing over the paint so I'm assuming I'm going to need to sand everything before I start, but honestly I have no idea. We also don't want the paint to look perfect, I want it to have a distressed look (see images below) So please if you have any knowledge or know a website you could direct me to I would love it!

One Year Blogiversary

Yesterday was our one year blogiversary...one year since our first post. So I figured since I hadn't really written my new years resolutions down in stone this would be a perfect time to start...

1. Be better at sending out birthday cards and presents on time. To accomplish this I plan on taking a Saturday and just making a bunch of cards and to constantly keep my eye out for presents. Since I got married it has gotten worse then it used to be because my birthday list doubled. So forgive me if we have missed your special day. 2. Go to the temple at least once a month. 3. Read scriptures daily on my own and with Greg. 4. Work out at least four times a week for at least ten minutes. 5. Participate in three triathlons. 6. Graduate with my Bachelors. 7. Work on growing our savings account. 8. Pay off our Student Loans and live debt free! 9. Stop "P" 10. Blog more, this is practically my journal so I need to be better. 11. Live life to the fullest!

Christmas Vacay

For Christmas we had a chance to fly to Georgia/Florida. We had tons of fun... shopping, going to movies, opening presents....sadly I'm not posting any present opening pictures because I would be severely punished by my little sister.

Greg and I decided we would wait until after christmas to get a great deal on a tree so we didn't really decorate this year...kind of depressing I don't suggest it, but we did get an awesome deal which I guess makes up for it. We got a 9ft prelit tree for $45 bucks at Hobby Lobby!!! Once we got to my Moms though it was great cause it finally felt more like Christmas.

Here is there adorable tree....

The first night we got to Atlanta we got all dressed up and went to an amazing steak house called Bones. It was really fun we felt all fancy shmancy. The next day we goofed around in Atlanta.

Later on we headed down to Florida. We took family pictures and had tons of laughs. Everything that makes Christmas Christmas! We were sad that the week went by so fast. Love you guys thanks for making Christmas amazing.

Christmas Treaties

So I'm a little behind on updating, but now that our Internet is deciding to love us we can catch up again.

For Christmas this year I decided to try and live up to my Aunt Katherine's accomplishments by making a fun treatie for friends and family and sending out home made Christmas cards. Since I had never made caramels or chocolates before we decided to experiment. It didn't quite happen how I was expecting and we had a few disasters, but they worked out in the end and we had fun. As for the Christmas cards sorry you didn't get one, we didn't send any out because we ran out of time this year, but we love you and hope you had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year :)

Caramels . Oreo Truffles . Chocolate Truffles was what we ended up making....

Packaged them up and sent them out with love.....

Then came home to this.....

Thanks for doing the dishes sweetie you are the bestest husband EVER!

Cam + Riss

Cameron and Marissa got engaged and are getting married on May 7th in the Manti Temple. We love Marissa and couldn't be more happy with Cameron's choice. She fits into the family perfectly and her and Cam Bam are super cute together.

Congratulations guys We love you and miss you like crazy!

School is Out

I'm so excited today was my last day of class. I still have one more final, but it feels good to be so close to being done. I can't believe I almost have my bachelors degree. It feels like it's been forever since High School, but at the same time I can't believe it's already over. I discovered today that I can get certified as an SLPA (Speech Language Pathologist Assistant), that way I can actually work using my degree. I just have to get a 100 clinical hours, I'm so excited cause I was thinking I could only use my degree if I went on to get my Masters. Yippee!

Theres no better way to express my emotions than this picture.

A Miracle

Yesterday my two little cousins Addison 5 and Dylan 6 were hit by a car and survived with only a few cuts and bruises. They were crossing a street with their older sibilings to get to their bus stop and were hit by a minivan. We went to the hospital yesterday and they are doing amazing. It truly was a miracle. My cousin Addy went home that same day and just hopped out of her hospital bed like nothing. I am so grateful for miracles and the power of prayer. My Cousin Dilly was reading her Book of Mormon as she was crossing :) and that was the only thing that got under any tires. You can check out the news feed here.

Thanksgiving

Greg and I had the chance to head up to Salt Lake for Thanksgiving. We loved every minute of it and wish we could always be close to our family.

We took family pictures

Prepared delicious turkey

Mashed Potatoes

Ate until we were stuffed

Played with tons of cute kids, Thomas was just one of many

Went shopping on black Friday

Put up Christmas trees

Took fun pictures

Spent time doing Christmas crafts, hung out with some of our favorite people, watched the U of U versus BYU football game and saw BYU kick butt, played games, etc.... we loved it and didn't want to leave.