These were taken after a night of bowling.  As you can tell Mike and Candice came in first place… although the rest of us were not far behind.  I love these pictures because they really show everyone’s personality!  I took three pictures trying to get a good one… instead I got three GREAT ones!

Take One

Adam, Tiffany, Candice, A Very Intense Mike, and Jas

Take Two – Failed

Adam, Tiffany, A Very Enthusiastic Candice, Mike, and Jas

Take Three – Still Failed

Adam, A Super Cute Tiffany, Still Enthusiastic Candice, A Scary Mike, and Jas

As long as I can remember these cinnimon rolls have always been apart of our holidays, and they date back to my great-great grandmother, however in recent years (as my mom has gotten older) this tradition has been harder and harder to continue.  Since Mishell and I needed sister time, and she didn’t get any cinnimon rolls this year, we thought it would be fun to try and makeup a batch together (especially since I have been really wanting to learn how to make this recipe, but I needed an experienced person to help me if I had a fighting chance).

Here we are off to a great start… so we think!

Keep rolling… We are so close!

They looked SO right… but they tasted SO wrong!

About half way through rolling out the dough Mishell knew that something had gone seriously wrong!  She knew when the dough was sticking to the counter (since that is not suppose to happen) that we used the wrong kind of butter.  This is a huge mistake and one that you cannot recover from.  I really wasn’t kidding when I said you have to use the RIGHT kind of everything.  The wrong butter ended up being a deal breaker in the end.  Although we were sure that we used the wrong butter, we still had to call mom to verify.  Yep, we got it all wrong.  Not only did we use the wrong butter but the wrong sugar too!  Oh well, we had lots of fun trying and we’ll get it right next year (especially since we are going to bring my mom next time to watch us do it)!  These are so much work to roll out and make that you really don’t want to mess them up.

After all that baking Mishell needed a glass of milk – so it was off to the store for us!  (we had to go to the store since Jason and I never keep milk in the house… this drives my siblings crazy when they come over)!  Just as we pulled out of the garage we saw this little snowlady!  She was so cute so we had to take a picture.  It totally made our day!  The kids in our neighborhood are so cute!  I had a great day with Mishell and I’m so lucky to have her as my sister.  She is fun to be around, she is a good listener, and she is pretty darn cute herself!

Wow, I can’t believe that it’s already 2012!  This last year was such a blast and we had so many highlights throughout the year.  Looking forward to the new year, I want to set some goals that I will easily be able to mark some progress by.   I heard from someone that instead of making a list of 20+ goals (that they would never reach anyway) they make just one for each category in their life they want to improve.  I thought that was a great idea!  After thinking about it, I’ve come up with my own catagories and goals I wanted to accomplish this year.   I figure if I post about them then I am more likey to keep ALL of them.  Here it goes:

Mentally:  Go back to school and finish my degree.  I am only 6 credits away from getting my associates degree in generals or 12 credits away from getting my associates with an Emphasis in Business.  I know now that I should have never stopped 10 years ago, it would have been so much easier to just finish out my last 2 semesters but I got caught up in working and life and thought I needed a break… 10 years later I think my break is over and that it’s time to go back and wrap things up!  This is my year!

Spiritually: Read the Book of Mormon.  Believe it or not I have never read this book all the way through, cover-to-cover, in a normal amount of time in my entire life.  I’m kind of embarrassed about this, but  that’s not the reason for my goal.  This year I have had a serious desire to know the scriptures more, to have a greater testimony, and to be able to recall the stories and meaning of the stories much faster then I do.  So this goal isn’t just about reading… it’s about learning, knowing, and gaining a testimony of the knowledge that can be had through just a little more effort on my part.  I think I am most excited about this goal!

Physically:  Run a Half Marathon.  It seems like everyone I know is a runner!  Ok, so maybe that’s not true, but it seems like I know a lot of people that have ran a half marathon and its time to add MY name to the list.  My friend Liz has ran 20+ half marathons and has convinced me to join her in training this winter.  I am a little nervous to train through the winter months but I think I can do it!  It also helps to know that for all of my runs (long and short) that I will have a friend to help push me past my own barriers and be there to celebrate with me with I do!  I have made this goal official by signing up for the Hurricane Half Marathon on April 28th.

Financially:  Buy a new house (for a steal of a deal).  This has recently been on our radar a lot more since Jason’s work is moving to the point of the mountain at the end of January.  With all of the road construction he is not looking forward to his commute.  Not only that, but since he is a computer engineering genius, it only makes scenes to move to the point of the mountain since it is turning into the software hub.  We really like the North-East Lehi area and are on the hunt for a home in the Traverse Mountain communities.  We like this area because it doesn’t feel like the “Lehi” (yeehaw!) that is old and ugly (that’s how I picture Lehi in my mind) yet it is still close to the freeway, and not far from many of our family and friends.  I think Jason is most excited about this goal!  :)

Emotionally:  Grow our little family.  Yes this means getting pregnant!  I’ve wanted to be a mom for as long as I can remember…. we have been trying for a while and hope that this fun adventure is right around the corner.

I’m very optimistic that I’ll be able to achieve each of these goals by the end of the year and this will help keep me accountable!

We were so excited for her to retire not only for the benefits to her health but also so that she could begin to enjoy doing the things she loves.   All of us wanted to help celebrate the big event so we went to dinner and then had everyone over for games and a good time.

 Dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory… One of Charlotte’s Favorites!

Did you know that the Old Spaghetti Factory now has gluten free pasta?  Pretty cool!

It’s finally here…Peace Out Corporate America!

The “cake”… it was really a Christmas box with Happy Retirement candles poked down in it.  The best part about a box cake is that you can relight the candles as many times as you want…

yea we did that!

Now that’s some good volume!

The Babes capturing Christmas Eve #2 as a married couple.

Grandma Evans discovering the iPhone camera for the first time.

This picture says it all…  Where is it?!  It’s inside the phone?!

Aside from Grandma’s sheer amazement of the phone, other things this picture captures is how she still wears makeup and gets all dressed up.  I don’t think I have ever seen her (not even when we are camping at Bear Lake) without her eye brow makeup, lip stick on, and her hair done.   When I am her age I want to still be doing my makeup too!  I love this Grandma!

Lynn Gray, Grandma’s husband taking a nap in the chair at the party.  Getting old has got to be the best!

You’re tired and need a nap, no problem, you now have the magical ability to sleep anytime – anywhere and with any amount of chaos going on around you!

We didn’t have tons of pictures from the party this year, but Jason did take this cool panoramic picture, with his iPhone which shows everyone just hanging out having a good Christmas Eve together.

After the party was over, Jason and I and Tyson and Aimee all went over to Charlotte’s house to have a sleep over!  We spent the night playing the game SORRY which I don’t recommend.  Who knew that game could get so intense?!  I swear every time you’re about to win someone sends you home and says…. SORRY!  Which you know they’re not…. HAHA!  Good times!  Eventually we all went to bed and woke up the next morning to the smell of Charlotte’s famous Christmas casserole.  Ahhh, life is good.  Merry Christmas!

I love how Wyatt and Rebecca met.  They have both been attending BYU, Wyatt is majoring in Mechanical Engineering and Rebecca is majoring in Exercise Science with a minor in Business Management (she wants to go into Occupational Therapy), but the best part is that they didn’t meet at school, or in their singles ward, and they weren’t set up by roommates or college friends.  They were setup by Wyatt’s GRANDMA, Bonnie Marshall.  Do you love this story?!  When does that ever work out?  Bonnie knew Rebecca when she was just a little girl and her family lived in her same ward.  When Rebecca was little they moved away to California where her parents still live.  Rebecca grow up and came back to Utah to attend BYU.  When Bonnie received Rebecca’s families annual Christmas card saying that she was attending BYU she was thrilled!  She knew that she had to set Wyatt up with Rebecca.  Their first date was at Wyatt’s Grandma’s house … and the rest is history!

We love these two!

 The Happy Couple coming out of the Salt Lake Temple.

 Jason, Wyatt, Rebecca, Me

Malcolm, Holland, Rebecca, Wyatt, Laura

Here I am standing in front of the Salt Lake doors, just moments before my Marilyn Monroe moment…

You gotta love short skirts and windy days!

This year was our first ever classic Christmas Card to send around to our family and friends.  It was a little tricky to take photos that didn’t look like they were our second engagement photos.  I felt like we needed to barrow someones dog or fish or something to add to our photo.  Oh well, I think our  photographer did a great job in positioning us  in a way that didn’t look like it was round two of engagements.  She was so nice and we think she did a great job!   If you want to check-out her blog, her link is below.

Here are just a few snap shots from our photo shoot.

http://www.kalipoulsen.com/

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http://www.kalipoulsen.com/

http://www.kalipoulsen.com/

Jason and I have been making gingerbread houses together every year since the beginning of our relationship (almost 4 years now) and it has turned into quite a little tradition for us.  Typically we make houses with Jason’s family, however this year we ended up doing it with my siblings and their families.  I always love having my family over because of the sheer entertainment and chaos that it provides!  I often times find myself stepping back from whatever activity that is going on, just so I can listen to the sheer volume of noise that is roaring through our house.  It gets SO LOUD that I find myself sitting and laughing over the amount of noise in the house.  I find it hilarious!

When everyone comes over it is seven adults and eight kids… and all in our cute little house.  We basically are shoulder-to-shoulder and not many of us have quite voices.  But that is what I love about it; and that’s how I think it should be around the holidays.  It sure does create lots of fun memories… and I am a big fan of that!

Michael and Mishell teamed up and built a sweet mansion of gingerbread amazingness!

However to much of their disappointment the roof caved in due to the amount of frosting and sheer weight of the candy placed upon its frail fame.  ONE DOWN!

Shane and Robbie teamed up and made a “hut” looking house which also did not survive!

TWO DOWN!

Lauren and Kristen built there own houses!

Although they look strong, Kristen’s was also falling apart not because she didn’t do a good job building it, but because all her candy was missing!  Haha!  I love that girl!

THREE DOWN!

Kaylynn teamed up with her mom and build such a cute little house, however it also did not survive!

FOUR DOWN!

Nicole was so proud of her house, however by walking around hers fell to pieces!  FIVE DOWN!

Jason built the “Twin Towers” in memory of us dating in New York, however those came crashing down by the hand of Nicole!  SIX DOWN!

I built of flat roofed house thinking I would be safe, however the sides of my house clasped in, thus my whole house fell apart!  SEVEN DOWN!

Donovan’s house didn’t even survive being built!  Ha!  You can see in front of him his house is in shambles!  EIGHT DOWN!

Jeffery did SO GOOD and his house lasted quite awhile, that is until he put his roof on and it was ALL down hill from there!  NINE DOWN!

Lauren and Shannon!  Their house was the ONLY one standing at the end of the night!  This house was perfect!  (kind of like the two of them… we love ‘em.)

GOOD JOBS GUYS!  You redeemed the whole activity and made us so proud!

Although the gingerbread building was fun and we all consumed an insane amount of candy, popcorn, and cinnamon rolls the best part of the night was the Christmas Chimes.  A few years ago we received them as a gift and have LOVED getting them out to make our own Christmas music.  I think the reason why we love it so much is because the kids have so much fun, the parents all participate, and it really brings us together.  After the chimes we read a Christmas story and bear truth of our Savior, his birth, and the love he has for all of us.  Although our activities change each year, the message of our night does not.  It really is special time and it’s one I look forward to each year.

Hurray for new traditions!  Here’s a cute video of everyone in action with their chimes!

<<insert chime video>>

I put together this video to recap mine and Jason’s wonderful, exciting, amazing, delightful first year together!  We have had so much fun and being married has been the best ever!  We thought you would like to see some of the great memories we’ve had, so please enjoy the little video below.

First year down, 350 million years and then some to go!  Bring it on, Eternity!

After flying for 16+ hours from London back home to SLC we landed, went home for 1 hour got ready and headed off to to Candice’s surprise birthday party!  Here amazing husband pulled off the biggest surprise party ever!  We all met up Provo canyon for a tinfoil dinners and dutch oven peach cobbler.   Not only that, Mike also make a Gluten Free cobbler just for Jason!  Such a fun party.  Happy Birthday Candice, we are so glad you were born and that we are such great friends!

The babes and Candice… she’s a babe too!

What a huge group!  Lots of people love this girl with good reason!