Happy New Year

The best thing about celebrating the New Year is getting together with the people that matter most. Ringing in 2009 was so much fun. My beautiful, darling best friend Melissa Camille Johnson got engaged to Tyler Jensen on December 31. I was at work when she called me with the good news. I screamed and nearly fell out of my chair!
So that night, Russell and I drove to American Fork and had a great time partying at Melissa's house and celebrating the engagement with her family.

I met Melissa when I was ten. Throughout the years of stealing each others' Barbie furniture, scooters, "modeling" in our church dresses and our moms' makeup, 5-7-9, Beanie Babies, Limited Too, Girls Camp, matching sweatshirts, "Best Friend" necklaces, scrapbooking, and PB and Js, she has been my biggest fan, a great listener, a shoulder to cry on, and a more wonderful friend than I could ever hope to deserve.
I love you Melissa and I wish you the best in wedding planning!
On another note...a brand new semester starts tomorrow. I am so excited for new classes. Russell starts classes at UVU on Wednesday. We are grateful for Pell Grants to pay for our education.
I hope everyone had a fantastic New Year celebration! Bring on 2009!!

Best Weekend Ever

Russell and I had the best weekend ever. Here are the highlights:

• Seeing Spencer Orton and Sara Salmon get married in the Salt Lake Temple, then going to their luncheon and reception.
• Having a giant Lee sleepover in our tiny apartment with lots of cream soda and laughing.
• Eating strawberry and banana french toast at Village Inn.
• Shopping.
• Driving to Logan at 2 a.m. Saturday night and eating Del Taco on the way.
• Caroling to neighbors and handing out Santa Pants filled with candy.
• Skiing (First time! Loved it!).
• Snuggling on the couch under a huge blanket while drinking hot chocolate and watching "Home Alone" with a blizzard outside.
• Playing the chimes.
• Eating cheese balls, candy, pineapple slush, pumpkin spice dessert, clam chowder, and homemade toffee like it was going out of style.

I don't know how we fit all that goodness into one weekend, but we did. And it was fantastic.

Christmas Party!

Last weekend we went to the Men's Wearhouse Christmas Party. It was at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Salt Lake. There was a great buffet with endless food and I met some of Russell's coworkers. Then there was a dance which was also great fun! Who knew Russell could do the windmill? Not me....





We had so much fun and Russell looked really nice in his free tux! Too bad I forgot to take off that glow-in-the-dark necklace they handed out for free.

Giving thanks, late

Even though Thanksgiving is over, I want to make a list of some things I am grateful for:
1. Russell
2. family
3. Melissa
4. being at BYU
5. a car that works
6. my job
7. Russell's job
8. wedding giftcards
9. Tiffani
10. living so close to my family

Russell is grateful for:
1. Me
2. family
3. his job
4. health
5. a car that works
6. nice weather for longboarding
7. Deseret Book giftcards to buy cheesecake and pulled pork sandwiches
8. ESPN
9. Provo cops
10. living so close to my family (haha.)

Honeymoon

Russell and I spent a week in Cancun, Mexico after we got married. It's one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen! We had a great time. We loved the all-you-can-eat buffets and Russ was especially excited to discover that we could get free pina coladas every day, all day. We enjoyed just laying around on the beach every day doing nothing. What a perfect way to end the summer.

We found a hammock

Snorkeling

No one can tell we are Americans if we wear
these brighter-than-life solid T-shirts

Beach!

Chichen itza

Some cool jungle

Looks like that thing at the Mayan
restaurant...except this one is real

That's Russell doing a front flip off the cliff

after I told him not to do anything too crazy

Cancun = b e a u t i f u l

My new favorite things

These are my favorite things as of late:

Wall-E
Have you seen this movie? Probably, because it's been out for quite a while. Russ and I just went to see it at the dollar theater last night and it was fabulous. So much better than I could have ever imagined. That little robot is absolutely adorable and it was a heart-warming story. The best movie I've seen in a really long time.

My red KitchenAid mixer
It looks beautiful on my kitchen counter and is really fun to use. One time I dropped my mom's, so I am really careful now not to pick mine up and try to move it anywhere.

The Office Season 4 on DVD


We just bought it last week with some of our wedding giftcard money. When it was airing last fall, we were in France, so it's been fun catching up. We watched all 24 episodes in maybe 3 days. It's absolutely hysterical and we love it.

F A L L

I wish my trusty Mac laptop hadn't died last month, so I could post some pictures. I think pictures make blogs more interesting. But as I have no way of uploading and sharing them, a boring post with nothing but my words will have to do for now.

Russ and I have been married for two months tomorrow. It's crazy how time flies. We are still very much obsessed with each other and it works out perfectly.
My brother Daniel turned fifteen last Friday. I can't believe he will be driving next year. We gave him a tie and my favorite book for his birthday, "Le Petit Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. He is learning French in school and is almost as good as I am which is embarrassing. I am so proud of him.

We drove to Logan yesterday with Russ' aunt and uncle (naturally we couldn't turn down a free trip to see his family). It was a beautiful drive through Sardine Canyon. We watched our cousin Chandra play in Utah State's last soccer game of the season. They dominated and it was a fun game to watch.

We had a great dinner and then enjoyed the day in each other's company. All the Lee girls sang a song and it was beautiful. Russ and I went through his old mission box which was chuck full of two years' worth of memories. I loved seeing his old pamphlets and books and planners and pictures. He loved his mission to Prague and we hope to go back soon. I am dying to see the places he lived and walked and visited.

Last night our power went out at about 10:30 right when we came home. It destroyed any hope I had of studying for my French oral exam this morning. I spent a few minutes trying to read by candlelight before realizing I was probably worsening my vision and gave up. But I think I did okay on the exam anyway. I have midterms all this week.

This weekend has been the most perfect, golden fall weather. Leaves are all over the ground. I wish it was like this for two months straight, with no weird cold spells or rain storms.

My favorite fall snack is taking a bite of apple and a bite of caramel at the same time. What a wonderful flavorful combination. I would strongly recommend it. It just tastes like fall. If that's possible.

Russell is enjoying Men's Wearhouse and is always coming home with swanky new shirts. He loves his discount and sharing style tips with customers. One of the reasons I fell in love with him was because he dressed so well.

Hilarious moment: Craig, my 56 year old coworker, turned to my boss Joanne and me and said: "This is going to sound embarrassing but I saw a UFO."

I guess that's it for now. Please bless that everyone has a happy autumn.