When a Child is in Need

....my Mother is ALWAYS there.

I have been very lucky to see my mom almost every two to three weeks this semester and let me tell you...I have Loved every second of it!!
She came up to Utah because poor John needed hand surgery because he had a bone cyst. She was there every step of the way. And...since she needed to be in Provo she stayed at our place on a blow up bed! and then John did too the next night. I wish I could have taken a picture it was pretty cute. I LOVED having them in my home. Makes me so happy. My mother spoiled us too...got groceries, did our laundry, did dishes, and retaught me the correct way to make scrubbies (Mine were turning out like footballs and I have been getting so frustrated. Turns out I was slip stitching the whole thing instead of single crocheting. This only means something to me, but I have to document this for myself because it is comical if u know about crocheting)...Well she is THE BEST. She seriously is super woman. I am a very lucky daughter. Love you mom

Thanksgiving

It was our year to go to the Dunn side for Thanksgiving with my side of the family and it was wonderful!
We spent it at my uncle John's house and ALL of the Dunn family and cousins were there, (except Kat and Drew). We have not all been together in a long time. No pics from actual Thanksgiving day but it was delicious food and great company, what else could you ask for?

Highlights of the whole trip included:
Seeing Breaking Dawn with Kat and Jenna
Eating food and more food
Baking/Cooking
Picking out a Christmas Tree
Watching Christmas movies
Sleeping in
Good Shopping Deals on Black Friday
75 degree weather
Getting to see the Blessing of our niece Lydia Dunn
Enjoying Family Time and Conversation

Yay for the Holidays!

Family Photos courtesy of Drew Himber
Thank goodness for Self-Timer!

BYU Football

We did it.
We finally went to a BYU football game.
It was the last home game of the season and Stuart got free tickets...so I said I would go for half :) (It started at 8:15 pm and it was freezing)
This was the first BYU game we have been to while being married.
CHECK that off the list of wrapping up our life in Provo.
We even convinced John that he should not be studying on a Saturday night so he came and joined us!
We saw a sweet sack and had a great time

Stuart wanted to try out self-timer because he was looking so fly in his new outfit he picked out and bought for himself. This is BIG for Stuart

Thankful

I am lucky to spend this Thanksgiving with my family in California. I have not been here for Thanksgiving in three years and I am happy to be back. I am loving the constant smell of food in the kitchen, watching movies, shopping, and enjoying one another's company. Stuart and I are so thankful this holiday season for these things,

Marriage

Loving Families

The hope the gospel brings to us

Beds

That Stuart will have a great job upon graduation

Our home

Wonderful Friends

Dessert

JUICE (that is Stuart's)

Homemade food

Being Debt free

Christmas lights

blankets

LIFE

Just a small list of what we are grateful for this Holiday season. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Ferris Wheel

A couple of weekends ago Stuart had a flyout for a job interview so I decided to join in on the fun! I flew in later than him on Friday and my mother picked me up to go to dinner with my dad, Kathleen, and Drew. Kat and Drew didn't know I was coming so I popped out when they walked into Claim Jumper! She was surprised but immediately said, "I knew it." My parents and I may have slipped a few times and had bad cover-ups :). Apparently Stuart was the only successful one at tricking her. We ate and shopped and then when Stuart was done with his festivities we met our friends David and Allie at the Spectrum!

I have ALWAYS wanted to go on this ferris wheel at the spec. Seriously I have been wanting to for so long. So the boys humored us and let us go around a few times! It was scarier and quicker than I thought it would be but so worth it :) Then we went to go talk in Allie and David's car and the cops came to our car TWICE. They blared their lights on us and kept making us seem like we were in trouble. They didnt beleive us when we told them that we were just talking because we hadn't seen them in a while and it was cold outside. It felt so weird to keep having to justify that we were just talking. Guess that isn't usually the case when a cop sees all the windows fogged up in a car....

That night Stuart still had his hotel room so I was able to join him for a "mini getaway" for a night. Funny how it feels like vacation as long as you are in a hotel.
That weekend was also my sister's shower! Unfortunately I do not have any pictures because I was the photographer with my sister's camera. It was a very cute shower though and I enjoyed getting to see family and friends, so fun! After that we just relaxed and went in the spa. A perfect weekend. We may have ALOT of California weekends in our near future..stay tuned...

lifestyle change

Lately Stuart and I have changed they way we live. We basically decided to amp up our lives and start living more! We will never get this time back as college students and we realized we need to make the best of the rest of our time here. So we do not stress financially anymore... Okay maybe I don't :). I was kind of a budget freak. In the grocery I would debate for minutes over items that had a 20 cent difference. So instead of trying to save a couple hundred dollars every month on our 18 hour per week minimum paying jobs, we just LIVE. If we want to do something, we do it (to an extent:)). We have been trying to read our scriptures more and see the hand of the Lord in our lives. This life is truly a gift and I am so happy we are realizing this more lately. Life is just oh so good right now and we look forward to our adventure ahead of us!

Livin it up at Macaroni Grill

We love Riverwoods

I came home to post-it's around the house. Oh how i love my baby :)
Here's to living it up!

California Dreamin!

So we were lucky enough to go down to California a couple of weekends ago and it was too good of a weekend not to post about!

Stuart had some job interviews and it is around the time that my family likes to go to Knott's Scary Farm so Stuart, John, and I hopped on a plane and jetted down for the weekend. We flew in really early Friday morning (left Provo at 430 am) and then Stuart went straight to an interview. It just so happened that the office he interviewed at was right by the Irvine Spectrum, how convenient :) So we shopped, ate lunch and got some yogurt before he had to head off for more interviewing and I went home and took a nap.
That night was KNOTTS. It was a great time as usual, scary monsters and mazes and great company. My Dad even supposedly had his FIRST funnel cake, and what was his reaction? "It's good, it is like fried shrimp." What?? haha it was great. We did miss Kat this year, she is just a little too prego to be dodging monsters. Thanks Dad for a great time!
Saturday was the day that conference began and it was so nice to be home and eat a YUMMY breakfast both days and watch all snuggled up on the couch. That day we went to the beach and Stuart even got to get in the water with John and Drew, finally! That night the boys went to priesthood session and we got to have some quality girl time. We got our nails done, ate dinner at Wahoos, and went shopping. SO great!
Sunday we relaxed, watched conference, and ate lots of delicious food....that afternoon I said goodbye to my lover because he had more business to attend to and John and I headed back to Provo. I tried to convince John to have a slumber party with me but he wasn't buying it. I just hate being alone. The only other time Stuart was gone for a few days, my mom came to Utah to stay with me. I know I need to grow up but I just can't. It was a ROUGH night, but I survived and excitedly picked up my husband the next night. We do not do well apart and were very happy to be reunited.

This is how excited Stuart was about his yogurt...

"Give me a normal smile"..this is all I got.

This is my brother Michael trying to catch a chicken at Knott's.

MONSTERS

Always reppin the pumpkin king, Jack

Stuart and Drew

happy boy

I told Abby to wave like a princess. She is such a natural

This was Abby's first time getting her nails done! She did great! So cute..

At the spectrum I let Abby throw some coins in the fountain and make some wishes.

I also got to take Abby on the carousel! The whole time she just said "whee" with a very straight face. I asked her if she was having fun and she said "Yes! I say 'whee' when I am having fun!". you go Abigail

Well...until next time California....