NYE 2010

Well sadly I am stuck at work today and Mike is at home since he had the day off...I wanted SO BADLY to stay cuddled up with him this morning. (Lame stock market. Why? Do you have to be open today).

Anyways, I am sad to see 2010 go by. It was an amazing year for me! I am so thankful for all of the wonderful memories! I will never forget you 2010!

NYE 2009

Here are some of my favorite MEMORIES from 2010

Valentines Day! Dinner at Mike's house with Steve and Ashley 

 My Birthday. Party at my parents, Lunch with Friends, and Birthday Dinner with Friends!

Mike's Birthday! We are both April Birthday... Which are the best by the way! ;)

Cabo, August 2010. One of my favorite vacation EVER. Mike, me, Heather, Candice, Kristen, and Kim.

 The night we got ENGAGED! 8/26/2010

The day we got Married in the Provo, Temple. The most memorable and cherished day of not only 2010 but, our whole lives!

Steve (left) AKA Elder Rosa left on a mission. August 2010. This picture was taken after our sealing in the Provo Temple, Steve was able to walk over from the MTC to be there!  

Thanksgiving with my awesome cousins and family (not pictured, lame)

Christmas in Chicago with Mike's family (Also, not picture... Super Lame)

We don't have any set plans for tonight but, I am hoping it evolves a sparkly dress and a cute husband!

Happy New Years Eve Everyone!



2010 Christmas Highlights

(We got home from Chicago late Monday night and it has been snowing ever since! WOW)!

Christmas was so WONDERFUL! We had a great time! I really do feel SO lucky to have such great in-laws!

Here are the Highlights of our first Christmas Together!

Where to start?

 I got to meet Mike's grandma for the first time! He has told me so many fun stories about her and now I can see why he loves her so much! She is a RIOT! We have a lot in common...she keeps a 12 pack of DC on her bed right next to her chocolates (we are talking warm DC here)! GO Grandma! I loved seeing her and Mike together... (KICKING MYSELF) Why did I not take a picture? SAD :(! She told me over and over that Mike was her favorite grandson and for a little bit she even forgot and told me he was her "only" grandson (she has a least 20 including Mike's two brothers)! HA! We showed her our wedding video and she loved it SO much that she requested to watch it on repeat! I loved her, aren't grandmas the best?! 

It was so nice to be at Mike's house with all of his family there (minus Steve on Mission in Idaho). Here is the run down of everyone...

Grandma

Mom and Dad, Gina and Marty

Mike and I

Lisa (Mike's sister), Andrew, and baby Katy

Mark (Mike's brother)

Christina (Mike's sister)

Emily (Mike's sister)

Lady and Trey (two of the chubbiest beagles that ever existed)

Muffy (cat/grandma's BBF)

They are ALL so fun, sweet, thoughtful, and loving!

We got to talk to Steve on the phone which we all loved of course! He is doing good and we are all so proud of him!

Now, on to what we did:

We all shopped, wrapped and unwrapped presents, cooked, ate a lot, went caroling, played with baby Katy, had a war (nerf style), PLAYED LOTS of GAMES, and watched Christmas movies but, my favorite part of the weekend was when Mike played the "new" piano for everyone on Christmas Eve.

Time out: I need to brag about my husband for a minute....(he'll probably hate this) I don't know if I have told you all this before or not but, he is SO TALENTED! He plays the piano (all by ear might I add, he doesn't read any music), sings, and writes music and I love it all! He doesn't play that much for me at home so to hear him play this much on the "new" (I'll get to that in a minute) piano was so fun for me! I love that he is so talented and passionate about music... coming from an extremely music challenged family it was so amazing to here him play and here his family all sing beautiful Christmas songs together! At one point he even had all of the girls in the room crying (ha), music is so powerful and moving! I am so lucky to have a husband that can bring music into our home! I have a major crush on him!

(These may or may not be the only 2 pics I took while we were there... SO BAD, I know)

So, isn't that piano pretty? Well, it's new... kinda. Mike's grandpa passed away in August and that is his old piano only with ALL new parts and completely re-stored! Mike's grandpa was a world renowned voice teacher and taught voice at North Western University. The family decided it was worth it re-store the old piano in his memory after he passed away. It came just in time for Christmas, it looks and sounds beautiful!

I hope all of you had as wonderful of a Christmas as we did! 

Can you all even believe it's almost 2011?! Holy Cow!

Sorry, for the long post and lack of picture AGAIN! Lame! I will try and get some pics from Lisa or Christina to put up so you can see the whole family!

Love, Jenna 

Gingerbread Houses

Two nights ago we went to Sophie and Brent house to build Gingerbread Houses! It was fun and pretty comical! Let's just say next time I am using a glue gun (shhh!)!

(our first married picture together, thxs Soph)

It was our first Gingerbread experience and we had a blast! I think we are going to try and do it again with Mike's family in Chicago! Hopefully ours will be prettier and STABLE next time! HA!

We are SO lucky to have such great friends!

Whenever we hang out with Sophie and Brent (little Eden) it is for sure the highlight of our week!

 WE LOVE THEM!

They are such a sweet family and great examples to Mike and I!

PS- our plane leaves in a couple hours and neither Mike or I have packed anything yet...Oh and I woke up sick today, blah!

Anyways, I think it might be time to leave work and pack!

Travel Safe Everyone!

-Jenna

I Heart Sugar Cookies

One of the presents my mom gave me for Christmas was a Cookie Press!  It makes a bunch of different cute cookies and does all type of cool frosting designs and even better it matches my babycakes! They are both PINK, I can't wait to use it! Thanks MOM!

How cute are these! Love!

-Jenna

Merry Christmas

I am getting SO excited to spend our first "married" Christmas together!

 I LOVE CHRISTMAS!

(who doesn't)

This is us last year in Chicago before Christmas!

We are flying to Chicago on Wednesday (I Can't Wait)...

 So, yesterday we had Christmas with my family!

We went to Church with my parents

We ate a yummy dinner 

I ate a smart cookie that I found in the freezer left over from our wedding (still amazing 2 mo. later) 

We opened presents (fun) 

 and of course, We all played Ticket to Ride and Settlers!

It was a really FUN day! We Love Them and will miss them on Christmas!

Love you all, Merry Christmas (again)!

-Jenna

Baby, It's Cold Out Side!

Burr, It's so cold outside right now... and I want Ear Muffs! Ear Muffs you say??? Silly, maybe but, aside from the horrible name, I think I might love them! I have tried and tried to force myself to be a hat person! It NEVER works.. I buy multiples hat (and I am talking cute hats) and NO, I can never get myself to wear them! It's.Just.Not.Me!

 So, last night while Christmas shopping (and freezing) with my wonderful husband it dawned on me!!! EAR MUFFS! I am going to buy some and see if I actually wear them....Wish me luck! Ha ha, this could be funny! :)  At least my ears will be warm while we.... 

Visit Temple Square to see the lights this weekend (or Monday) and then get hot chocolate at Hatch's! I can't wait!

They also might come in handy while visiting Mike's Family in Chicago this Christmas! 

I so very excited to spend Christmas with my Amazing Husband and Awesome In-Laws! I am a lucky girl! Not only do I love my family very much, I have loved getting to know Mike's family as well! What great people and amazing examples they are to me! I love all my family, friends, and husband! I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!

(our amazing parents at our wedding)

I will try and take some pictures while we are in Chicago (this blog is lacking pictures)to share with you! Oh, and I will update you on the Ear Muff situation, cross you finger!

Merry Christmas!

XOXO- Jenna  

**Update (12/20/10) Good news, I found a pair of seriously cute ear muffs on Saturday(they are huge). Bad news, We went to 5 stores before going to see the light on Friday and NO ear muffs so, my ears froze at the lights but, I can't wait to try them out in Chicago! Hehe, I am gonna look silly! 
Oh and other bad news... NO camera at the lights! Sad! We suck at taking pics since we have been married!  

My Guilty (TV) Pleasure!

Meet Chuck and Blair

I love them!

I heart Gossip Girl in a BIG way! 

Anyone else a GG lover?

What's your TV Guilty Pleasure?

In close second comes SYTYCD and Prison Break

and tied for third is DWTS, Bachelor/Bachelorette, Kendra, and Kardashians

PS- I have even converted my husband to GG despite his initial resistance....I think he now kinda likes it!

He recently purchased a "chalk striped" suit and sold me on the idea by telling me that Chuck Bass wears "calk strip." Ha!

Oh, how I love my husband so! Thanks for watching GG with me.. I owe you a BB game! ;)

XOXO- Jenna

Babycakes

 We Scored!

We got a lot of awesome wedding gifts from all of our wonderful friends and family

(THANK YOU EVERYONE)! 

One of the present is by far my favorite though (eke, is it bad to have a favorite?)! I LOVE IT!

Meet: Babycakes, isn't she cute!

She makes 8 mini cupcakes in FOUR minutes! Baking heaven, if you ask me!!!

 Lately, I have gone a little crazy with my cupcake baking... it is just too fun and SO easy (great combo when cooking baking). I have made all kinds and flavors... Lemon, chocolate, strawberry/cream cheese, strawberry/chocolate, rainbow chip, etc.

Chocolate/ Chocolate- My husband Favorite!  

Chocolate with Peppermint Cream Cheese!

YUMMMY!

I do the baking and Mike does the cooking, Perfect!

I'll have to have Mike post about his favorite wedding gift as well!

I'm guessing it's the Crock Pot!

or maybe the Ninja Blender or the Ihome? Stay tuned...

 

Moral of the Story: If you have a major sweet tooth, like me, get yourself a Babycakes! Now!

Ps- You can purchase one at Bed, Bath, and Beyond

Pss-I apologize for the bad phone pics, I am a lazy picture taker in my old age ;)

Love, Jenna

The LONG and SHORT of our love story

***I was asked to answer some questions about how we met, how we got engaged, and info. about our wedding day for a website that featured some of our wedding pictures and I just thought I would post it on here in case anyone was wondering! :)

How We Met:
SHORT Story: We met  in Provo at a BYU institute class and our first date was in Las Vegas, NV
LONG Story: How we met is somewhat of a funny story! Here is how it all went down, in my opinion of course (we tend to debate on the actual location of where we met)! We were in the same institute class at BYU and he noticed me and had a friend (smooth) of his come and ask me for my number so he could ask me out on a date. His friend of course pointed him out so I "saw" him and agreed to giving his friend my number. When he finally got around to calling to ask me out, I explained that I would like to but, that I no longer lived in Utah. I went on to explain that I had recently packed up and moved to Las Vegas to dance in a show on the strip. He then fired back telling me that he and his friends were going there down there next month and he would give me a call when they got there. So he did, and we went out on our first date in Las Vegas, NV and had a really fun night! After he and his friends headed back to Utah I didn't hear from him again until I moved back to Utah a year or so later and ran into him at a party. We became really good friends and then eventually started dating! Funny how the guy that didn't call me back after our first date would end up being my husband! In his defense: I had just moved to Las Vegas with no sign that I would ever come back so he figured that even if it was a really fun date it was kind of long shot living in different states. I understand but, tease him about it on occasion! ;) 

How He Proposed:
SHORT Story: He proposed in beautiful Cabo San Lucas, Mexico while we were on vacation there.

LONG Story: I had been waiting and waiting for a ring, I was in the placed where I was ready and excited to be engaged to him! As I waited and got more excited there was NO sign of a ring! I found myself thinking "maybe this weekend" or "is it gonna happen tonight" and with my mom and family asking me every second it was HARD to be patient!
We had been planning a vacation to Mexico with some of our friends for awhile and secretly I was hoping that it would happen there (since it hadn't already). Our resort was VERY nice and SO pretty but, day 1- NO ring, Day 2- still NO ring, Day 3- Of course NO ring so, I decided to stop thinking about it so I wouldn't get my hopes up and reassured myself that it would happen when it was supposed to. As the days of our vacation rolled by we were having so much fun that I had forgotten about it! The last night (Day 8) of the trip everyone went out to dinner in downtown Cabo together and got dessert after that we all went back to the hotel and Mike asked, "Wanna walk around and look at our pretty resort one last time?" I didn't really feel like it (I was tired) but, agreed thinking it is really pretty here and I was sad to leave (I wasn't thinking anything about a wedding ring or suspect of a proposal) we walked around the resort and went up to the highest part of the resort overlooking the ocean and he simply asked me to MARRY HIM! I said YES and it was perfect! I was right... It did happen when it was supposed to and that was when I was least expecting it! What a great way to end an amazing trip with my wonderful friends and newly fiancee.

Wedding DaySHORT Story: We got married on October 18th in the Provo Temple and had our reception at Sleepy Ridge in Orem, Utah.

LONG Story: A lot of people ask, "Why Provo Temple?" Well, here is the answer....We picked Provo Temple because Mike's little brother (Missionary for the LDS church) was able to get permission from the MTC President to attend our sealing if it was in Provo Temple. For us this was an easy decision! Steve (Mike's little brother) and Mike are very close and over the year that Mike and I dated Steve became a good friend of mine! We both love him very much and were SO excited to have him there with us on our special day and we were pretty lucky to get to see him the day before he left the MTC for the mission Field too! We picked Sleepy Ridge for the reception for obvious reasons. Have you seen it? It is GORGEOUS! The wedding day was amazing, it was such a special day that I will always remember! Everything turned out GREAT and despite the weather forecast it didn't rain and was nice and sunny all day! The Wedding was just so much FUN! 

It's the Married thing to do, right?

Hi Everyone (if that is even anyone...)!

We decided to start a blog, it's the married people thing to do, right? I am super new to blogging and don't really know how to do it but, I have decided to try, any tips or tricks are welcomed!!!
(Ps- how do I get the thing on the side of my blog that shows when my friends have posted? That would for sure make my blog stalking easier! JK! But, really how do I get that... Wow, see I have no clue!)

Well here is an update of what we have been up to in our 1 mo. and 6 days of marriage!

*We got married 10/18/10 and it was an AMAZING day, stay tuned for wedding pictures! I can't wait to post some of them!
*We went on our honeymoon to Las Vegas and stayed in a suite at an awesome hotel! We also got to go see Cher and Le Reve while we were there! I love going to shows and it was fun taking Mike to both of the those show ( I had seen both of them before)! I highly suggest Le Reve if you haven't seen it! I have seen it at least 7 times and I still love it! Cher was great too, our friend hooked us up and we sat front row! Needless to say we saw a whole lot of Cher! ;)
*Since we have been home we have been busy cleaning, organizing, and decorating our house. It looks SO cute, I really love it!
*We made an awesome DIY headboard for our bed! It turned out surprisingly great! We will post pics and how we did it later just in case any of you have a free Saturday and want to spice up your bedroom!
*We bought a new car, and I am loving it! I have been driving the same old Honda Accord for 9 years, and it was SO time to trade it in and get something newer! R.I.P my old friend!
*We have had fun hanging out with "Married Friends!" Soph and Brent are always fun to hang out with and the other night Josh and McCall (Kevin and Date) came over for a fondue party!
*Last weekend Mike's sister, Lisa was in town with here cute little family and they stayed with us at our house! It was fun having a little person around, Katy is cute and looks SO much like Mike's baby picutes! I feel like I now know what my children are going to look like now, weird! :) On Sunday Meg, Jake, and John came up to our house and Mike cooked a Roast in his new crock pot (he has been super excited about using it) and it was yummy! Good Job Honey! We also played Ticket to Ride with Lisa and Andrew, Andrew won!
*Now we are looking forward to Thanksgiving with my family at my Uncle Brent and Aunt Heather's house in Coalville and then X-mas is Chicago with Mike's family!

Moral of the story: Married Life is Bliss, we're sold!
-Jenna

A little preview of our wedding pics to come!