Jeff's "ULTIMATE" day

This past week was Jeff's final week of school and he is now graduated and completely done. I'm so proud of him and he is so excited to move on to the next 3 years of on the job training. All year I've been preparing for his graduation thinking of all these great gifts I could get him... from an xbox (he already got himself one), surround sound for the tv (place is too small for so much noise), nice big recliner that he has been dying for since we got married (but now he says he doesn't wanna move it in a few months when we get a more permanent place), projector (don't have a big enough wall to use it at this point) and my most recent thought was hunting stuff (but don't know where to start or what to buy). So I decided to plan a day full of fun things for him. Well I told him this 2 days ago and this morning in our morning prayer Jeff says, "and please bless me and my Ultimate day, and all the Ultimate things my Ultimate wife has planned for me" (something to that extent, I asked him to requote it and he said he can't, it was just inspiration.) Ha ha ha!!! So anyway, I felt like I had lots to live up to to make this an Ultimate day... Instead of buying him something I thought he would like that was practical, I started his "hunting" savings account for him so someday he can get all the top of the line gear so he can start hunting in Alaska with his brother Josh. We headed to a mattinee and saw the new Sherlock Holmes. Then we went to killer 4 star restaurant (it was the first restaurant we ate at when we moved to Alaska but haven't been back since cuz the wait is always 1-2 hrs) and then we hit up the Alaska Ace's Hockey game and had a blast. I'm thankful for days like this where we just hang out and enjoy each other's company!!! Happy ULTIMATE day babe and congrats on graduating... I'm so proud of all your hard work in all you do.

Ugly Sweater Party 2011

We had a blast last night with all our friends over for a pot luck and ugly sweater/gingerbread house contest. We sure have been blessed with such great friends. Everyone brought their own finger food to share and we all raided Value Village throughout the week to present what we thought were the ugliest sweaters. some looked better on the hanger but once on the body some were really able to pull it off.

How bout this for UGLY!!! Jeff's is more just comical...Iditarod dogs. And yes, my husband wore it today after church and will be wearing it this weekend for the Polar Plunge. Sadly this sweater I guess is a permanant accessory in Jeff's closet.

MMMMMM, the food was divine. Sausage Meatballs, Egg Rolls, Chicken Sticki fingers, build your own Nachos, pumpkin bread, cupcakes... gosh wish there were leftovers to eat for sunday dinner, but it all got devoured the night before.



We then had our second annual gingerbread house contest. We look forward to continuing this tradition every year... it sure is fun to see who is creative... and who isnt.
Our little Polar Express... our idea and mental picture didn't prove very cool in real life. 2 years in a row we flopped!!!



This is Meg and Terry's version of a HUD home in Alaska...


Bishop, Charmaine and our buddy Jax (yes, our Bishop is young enough to come to our friends party... what a trooper) and Jax was a riot. He was in heaven playing the kinect, eating tons of food, decorating with the most amount of candy a kid has ever seen, and of course playing with the dogs.


Last years champs, Kari and Ryan... they sure were creative with their Lemonade stand. I loved their's alot.


And the winner is... Mac and Jamie and their Igloo... with a fire pit out front (nice touch Jamie)


We love having get togethers... and we love how much fun we always have with our friends. They truly have become our family up here.

Happy 29th Birthday Jeff

Jeff really set a high bar for birthday festivities when he went above and beyond for mine this year. And I was suppose to work the night before his birthday so I was afraid I was going to end up sleeping all day but I got called off and Jeff and I spent the whole day together. We started off opening gifts and then headed off to breakfast...

Then we drove around to various stores so Jeff could spend his birthday money from his parents and his grandparents. We first ended up at Men's Warehouse, and he got some sexy new pants, if I do say so myself. Then we went to Pets Mart and got the dogs some new chew toys. As we were shopping we were talking about having a friends ugly sweater party... so of course we text everyone and then we found ourselves shopping at Salvation army and Value Village (aka D.I.). We found some killer UGLY sweaters. Then we went to Sportsmans and wondered around.
(Jeff found this Jacket he really liked at Value Village... but it definately wasn't something we wanted to take home)

By this time the lady who I made Jeff's cake called to say it was done. She made a cake for our friends baby shower and it was devine and ever since last March that is all Jeff has wanted for his birthday, is a cake from her. She makes INCREDIBLE creative cakes and I would recommend her to anyone... in Alaska.




All our friends came over for cake and ice cream and Jeff finally got to open and set up his Xbox with Kinect that HE bought on Black Friday (I have protested for 2 years that we don't need a playstation AND and xbox, but my husband is pretty spoiled) We had an incredible night laughing, and playing Just Dance on the Kinect. We sure have great friends who are always willing to party with us :)








It wasn't my birthday, and since Jeff doesn't want to contribute to the blog, he did say his birthday was "AWESOME and on a scale of 1-10 it was a 10!!!!" YEAH!!! Happy birthday honey. Hope you felt loved and enjoyed the day of relaxing and doing whatever you wanted to do.

Ward Christmas Party

We had a blast at our ward christmas party. It was alot different this year just due to the fact we have been in the ward longer than 3 months (unlike last year) and Jeff and I were both more social and loved just hanging out. The amount of food there was incredible, but believe it or not we were last in line cuz we were to busy chatting so we got the scraps, so needless to say we hit up Taco Bell after :) We sat at a table with all our friends and the missionaries. It was fun to have Channing around this year so we could take pics with him and Santa (I know, I act like he is my child, sorry Meg. But both Jeff and I would claim him in a heart beat.)
We can't wait to have little ones of our own to throw on Sants' lap and laugh whenever they cry with fear :) Maybe next year!!!

Happy 27 to me!!!

I've had a hard time looking forward to my birthday this year. 27 just seems so old... especially when you don't have any kids yet. I just pray I have them before I'm 30 :)
As some may know, I have 2 birthdays :) One is the actual day of my birth (Nov 26) and the other my birth certificate date (Nov 27). When I was born the Dr. forgot to look at the clock to see what time I was delivered. It was a good half hour or so later when they relized it so the Dr. just said 12:01 on Nov 27. Well my Aunt Sue was there filming and I was really born just before midnight on the 26th. So I'm spoiled and get phone calls and text messages 2 days in a row :)
After our long weekend of shopping and wrapping gifts, Jeff and I had planned to go to a friends house for game night. We had arranged this night the week prior. Well Jeff got sneaky and text everyone during the week to plan a surprise party for me. So here I am thinking we were just going to go hang out with 1 set of friends but when I walked in their house all our friends in Alaska were there hiding in the kitchen. I had no idea. I'm so thankful for an amazing husband who tried so hard this year to make it the perfect birthday (last year was hard to beat cuz he got me luggage and in every pocket was a new activity we had to do through the day). He ordered pizza, we had cake and ice cream and played games and laughed super hard that my cheeks were hurting driving home. We have been blessed with such amazing friends and I'm so thankful for all they do for us. I'm especially greatful Jaime brought her camera knowing I probably wouldn't have mine with me to capture all the fun with everyone around.











On Sunday, Jeff woke up and made me some amazing french toast for breakfast. We then went to church and then came home and literally vegged on the couch all day. We skyped with my family for a good hour or so (was so nice to see everyone minus Jonny) I got tons of phone calls from the in-laws singing me their various renditions of Happy Birthday. I took a 3 hour nap and then we had thanksgiving left overs. Jeff had me open 2 presents the night before but I had to wait til today to open the other 5. Wow, did he spoil me. I got a couple beanies and headbands (so I can actually go outside in the freezing temps and not have my hair frozen or ears fall off), a super cute pea coat, some socks and comfy pants, tons of my favorite treats/snacks, a shirt and last but not least a new Sony Cypershot camera (he is so tired of me complaining about how crappy my point and shoot camera is.) I'm so excited to learn how to use it. So far it has been so fun to play with. It is perfect for someone like me who isn't a photographer but would love to learn so I can take some amazing pics while living her in Alaska. Thanks honey for spoiling me and doing everything you did to make my weekend incredible. I'm so lucky to have you and can't wait to spoil you on your special day next week :)