Merry Christmas To All...

Well the Christmas Season has begun and we have been extremely busy with parties, shopping, and just playing together. We have so many wonderful traditions that we enjoy this time year and we have been able to already experience so many of them. We have attended almost all of our family parties, watched Christmas Vacation, drove around to see the lights, exchanged gifts with my family, and I made Christmas candy with my mom. We still have so many things left to do...one of which is to watch this all important movie.

yes, the Muppets Christmas Carol, not only is it a classic, but for those of you who don't know Eric and I watched this movie on our first date which was Christmas time six years ago. wow. We need to do a Christmas puzzle, decorate gingerbread men, and exchange gifts with Eric's family. I just love this time of year!

Christmas Gift

If anyone is wondering what they can get me for Christmas...

We finally started playing Christmas music at work today! Christmas really is coming, even though I haven't seen our first real snow (and I'm really okay with that.) Here is a little song for my friends to put them in the Christmas mood!

It's beginning...

At the Lundell House, it is beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Please excuse my attempts to make myself look like a photographer, but I did have fun taking all these pictures. First off, my friend Gina and I made these glorious wreaths (that may have caused us a bit of stress, but were fun.) I decided to hang mine indoors because it turns out that it is extremely fragile!

This is a close up of our wreath, just some dollar store ornaments and a wire hanger...yep that easy!
We also decorated our Christmas tree, which I absolutely love! It is my parents old flocked tree, (Eric absolutely HATES to put on the lights...I don't blame him!) it is a beautiful tree and I really can't believe it still looks so good after all these years.

I bought these big ornaments this year at Tia Pan, and I love them! They add so much.

Here are some more close up shots of the tree, I'm loving the bright greens and reds.
Here are some more of my the decorations that I use to keep my home warm and happy for Christmas. I love my apothecary jar, I use it for all seasons...for Christmas I fill it with ornaments!
Candy cane candles! I used to have a fireplace with a mantle so my bulb garland would go on that, this year I had to get creative with it so I put it on my entertainment center... it works!

This is a close up of my "garland"

I had some extra ornaments from our wreath so...I put them in a dish.
That is most of it! You have pretty much been through our house now, well you missed the nativity, and our stockings are hung, etc. I love the Holidays and it was so enjoyable to spend this weekend with family. Thanksgiving day was amazing filled with so much food and so much family. On Thanksgiving day we went to my Aunt Lorraine's and watched Up (great movie, i recommend it) we followed the movie with a fabulous dinner. After feeling like huge pigs we rested for a bit, played a little pool and ping pong and then we went to visit the Lundells where we ate wonderful pie, had a Fifa tourney, and watched The Passenger. Fine Holiday Fun!

In the spirit of Thanksgiving I would like to express that I feel so grateful for family and to have so much family so close to us. I am also so grateful for friends, I feel like I have the most wonderful friends that would really do anything for me and are always there to help me out or just be there to enjoy time together. Most of all I am super grateful for my husband, he works so hard at school, his classes get harder and harder and he never gives up, he also continues to keep a job while juggling school and homework and I'm so grateful for his commitment to his family.

Visitors and Visiting

Last Saturday one of my very best friends Stephanie and her adorable baby girl Ella came to visit! It was a short visit, but it was so exciting to finally meet Ella and finally see Steph again after such a long time. We got to chat, I fed Ella her bottle, and we played a quick game of Blockus (Stephanie and I are very avid game lovers and are very competitive, so it really wouldn't be a reunion without a game of some kind!)

After spending such a short time with Stephanie and Ella I quickly realized...that was not enough! I decided to make the long, lonely trip to Logan despite my driving anxieties for a special visit on Monday.
As you all can see, Ella is irresistible! This is Ella enjoying some "tummy time" and trying to find her thumb!
When I arrived on Monday evening we took a moment to catch up again...two days is a long time! Then we played a game...surprise! Wackee Six, I swear every time I see Stephanie she has a new game to teach me...love it! Then we went to New Moon with one of Stephanie's neighbor friends and enjoyed some Mexican food afterwards.

Oh doesn't Ella look so cute! Stephanie sure is good at dressing her so well and her nursery is so cute too! We had fun getting her ready for the day on Tuesday, making her smell nummy with baby lotion! We played the rest of the day and met up with Jace (Stephanie's husband) for lunch, it was his birthday.
When I was leaving, Ella was ready for a nap and she was getting really cuddly... it was so hard to leave some of my most favorite girls!
I really had a such a fun trip and it was nice to have some fun on my days off I had to take! Thanks so much Steph and Jace for always having such a nice welcome home for me, you guys are always so sweet and thoughtful. You did too much for me for sure and I miss you! I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful friend!

Project Runway picks a winner

Yes, Charlotte is right, for those of you who went to New Moon last night, you missed out watching Project Runway to find out that Irina was chosen to win! The link takes you to my favorite design of her collection (the back is awesome!), it's all good though...check it out!

ANTM picked a winner.

Nicole.

Happy Veteran's Day.

I love this picture, and would some day love to see it hanging in my home. Maybe it is more appropriate for an independence day post, but I still feel that it is fitting. I feel so grateful to our Veterans for making the sacrifice to protect the freedoms these men worked so hard for.

I hope that everyone was able to remember something or someone this Veterans day. I know that in elementary school it was so much easier to be reminded of those who served for our country. We would have a huge assembly and the adorable old men would speak to us about their experience. Today, it seems we go about our normal day.

Since I work at a financial institution, we are closed for this holiday, and Eric's Birthday always falls on Veteran's day (maybe that is why he is so patriotic) so I am always able to be more aware of this day. I feel blessed to be reminded, it gives me a chance to really think about our Veteran's, and also about our current armed forces who are protecting our freedoms this very minute. I have great respect for each and every one of them. It also gives me a chance to remember my grandpa who was in World War II and my two cousins who serve in the National Guard now.

I am proud to be an American and I grateful for the freedom that comes with that.

Recessionista!

Shoes, Jewelry, and Purses! I absolutely must have this bag! Check out this site, everything is amazing. http://www.recessionistaparty.com/

Have You Picked Your Favorites?

ANTM...I choose Nicole.

SYTYCD...I choose Kathryn.

*update for Charlotte. Project Runway...I choose Irina.

Happy Halloween!

Watch out for a picture overload!! Eric's family planned and put together an AMAZING Halloween party! First of all, we all received our invites complete with instructions on a. what to contribute b. that we must wear a costume and c. that we need to bring a decorated pumpkin. Eric and I were very excited and showed up like this... Thanks to my cousin, Britney, we were a Rodeo! Eric the bull rider and I was the Rodeo Clown! awesome costume. Britney and Brett always get into Halloween so they had tons of great ideas, I thought Eric would get a kick out of wearing that big blown up bull.

We brought my pumpkin that I had to decorate for work (that also won me a $25 gift card!) it was a pink pig with wings...aka the swine flu!

We were all pleasantly surprised when we saw Aaron! Charlotte and Aaron are looking good!Everyone had excellent costumes it made it so fun that everyone got into it and came dressed up! Even Grandma Gray!

Eric and Grandma.


We had a Donut eating contest...it was a big hit! Eric won this round.

Malia was totally ready and excited to beat everyone at the eating donuts...this video is so great! Malia trying to eat her donut. Sorry Bucky is barking so loud, he just wanted to be a part of the party! (also I didn't realize I was recording for a second, don't mind that.)

Ryan got tuckered out pretty quick, but we had to show off his amazing costume made by none other than, Charlotte!


Cutest Girlies!

Malia wanted to try on Eric's costume.

Velma and Shaggy take down the evil monster! Where is Scooby (yes...even Emma was in costume!)


and the winner of best costume...Velma aka Chloe!

The rest of the night was spent with a few rounds of Mafia! It was so fun!

Then Saturday we spent with our friends we dressed the same...we forgot to take pictures this time, but we just hung out, played some Mad Gab, and watched The Village. I finally got to try out those Oreo Truffles I've been wanting to make and they were so delicious!! We can't believe it is already November!

I can see!

I'm tryin' something new...wish me luck!

College Game Day

On Saturday Eric and I got tickets to go to the BYU game! Our seats were 3rd row from the top, but it was a pretty good view...I just neglected to bring my glasses, opps! It had been raining all afternoon so we came prepared, fortunatly it stopped raining, but as soon as the sun went down it got really cold! It was fun to be there though, we sat next to the cutest little girl who was cheering them on all night, in fact if it wasn't for her we would have had a hard time watching that game. We did end up leaving early, due to dissappointment. We came home, warmed up, began to cuddle, and watched Stardust (good movie!)

Eric, in front of the College Game Day bus! How cool, ESPN came to Provo!!

Me in front of the whatever the game day bus is...

ahh To Be a Kid Again...

I came across this photo the other day and I couldn't help but remember the cutest story about my nieces, and since my nieces are the absolute cutest, ever, I'm going to have to brag about them for a moment.

It was a hot, sunny, summer, Sunday; we were still living in Spanish Fork at the time. Eric and I decided that we would attend church with Eric's family that week (okay, not so much decided to, but probably slept in and missed our own meetings.) So we arrive at Eric's mom's house to find the girls, Chloe and Malia, all ready to go in their cute Sunday dresses, bear in mind that this was a hot day and A/C was running as soon as we walked in the door. Chloe, decided that since we were going to church and that was a special place, she needed to "puff up her dress" and naturally Malia followed closly behind. So my cute little nieces resembled this picture pretty much exactly.

I think what made it so funny was that I remember doing this exact same thing...see I wore only dresses until about age 3. I bet most of you (who have ever worn a dress) have "puffed it up" for a special occasion or even just because it is fun!

The Proposal

All right, who loved The Proposal? I did, therefore I just had to share this, go here to save five buck and purchase this DVD now! Or you can save ten if you are wanting the the blu ray. Sweet, no?

Autumn Drive

Today Eric and I went for an autumn drive in hobble creek canyon. The mountains were all so beautiful! We got to see all the many colors of fall, red, orange, and yellow. I absolutely love fall and I usually forget about going to see the leaves before they all change and fall off so I'm glad that Eric reminded me this time. We captured some of the beauty on digital film for you to enjoy, but it doesn't do it justice!

my always goofy husband!

The air is crisp and autumn officially began on Tuesday (the 22nd)!! I love this time of year! I love wearing sweaters and jackets!

Let's Have a Baby!

On Saturday we had a wonderful shower for my dear friend Stephanie who is having a baby...right now! I got a text message at noon today informing me that she was in the hospital, talk about timing.

All of us friends together to celebrate Steph and her brand new baby girl Ella Ovard!

Jo-Elle (not pictured, her adorable little Hailey who was so shy the whole time but so so cute I could have just kept her there with me all day.) Andrea and Jocelyn, Me, Stephanie, Sarah (who is also expecting a bouncing baby boy), Camille and Julianna.
Andrea and little Jocelyn. She is so adorable and was so entertaining. I love this little girl, she gets so big so fast, but gets cuter and cuter every time I see her!


Stephanie got so many wonderful things, this cute outfit from Sarah was one of them.

Some adorable shoes from her mother.


and some bathing stuff for little Ella.


It was such a fun opportunity for us to finally see each other again! (I probably haven't seen Jo-Elle since her baby shower and her little girl is 2!!) We had a couple games planned, but spent so much time talking and catching up that we didn't even do them. I have to say that I have some pretty great friends and we should get together more! Thanks to Steph for having a baby so that we could!

Our Life Latley...In One Huge Post.

It has been a while since we updated this blog so here it goes. Eric started school the day before Katie's wedding and has been going very steady at it ever since. Right now he is taking Physics (with Physics lab), Calculus 2, and Statics...that's right Statics not Statistics, it is an Engineering class but everyone seems to think we are saying wrong. He was enrolled for Ethics and Values, but decided that an extra 50 min was valuable study time... this semester is tough!

While Eric has started school so has one of the loan officers at my work and she has started working part time so she could go to school full time, this is interesting for you because that means that I have been able to work part time as a loan officer for her. It has been pretty interesting so far I still get to work as a teller on Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays and then Tuesdays and Thursdays I work loans and new accounts. The day sure seems to go by faster, even though I don't really feel like I accomplish a whole lot. So far I'm still learning how everything goes, but I think I'm going to like it.

Last weekend I was able to go with Gina and Kyle and Kyle's family to Swiss Days! My favorite weekend of the year! It really is so fun to see everything they have there and get up really early. I also got a new phone, which I love!

We also had an open house for Katie and Dave on Friday, which was just as beautiful as the wedding! It has been fun to see so much of family recently with the wedding going on. Unfortunately I have been so bad lately with my camera, but I did take one picture in the past few weeks...Ryan turned 19 on September 6th!

Katie's Wedding

Katie and Dave were married on Thursday and it was the most beautiful wedding, ever! We attended the ceremony in Draper that afternoon. It was amazing, there is always an amazing feeling at the temple, but it was absolutely wonderful being able to be a part of their wedding. Dave and Katie are a perfect match and I felt something very unique throughout the entire ceremony. I have never seen a happier, more beautiful bride!

Mr. and Mrs. Carlile for the very first time!

Malia is always such a model.
all the cute cousins and nieces!

Eric holding the beautiful bridal bouquet!
Sara and Brooklyn
awww sweet!

After the ceremony we took lots and lots of pictures and then broke away to get ready for the dinner. We came early to help set tables and yes, take more pictures! The dinner was at Wadley Farms in Lindon, so beautiful. It was the most perfect evening!

Eric and I at dinner


The happy couple and their parents.

Wahoo, cutting the cake! This cake was seriously AMAZING! So delicious.

After cutting the cake, we did a little dancing, it was a blast! We had a super fun night and we are so very happy for Katie and Dave and so glad we got to celebrate them!

Off to the honeymoon!