Happy Anniversary!

Parker and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary on our way to Medford. We stopped in Reno, Nevada and took it easy. Parker surprised me with a wedding band, pictured below... and I got him cologne that smells delicious.

If you are easily "grossed out" you may not want to read further.

While in Reno, we stayed at one of the casinos and ate at their buffet. I've decided I'm not really a buffet person anymore. I don't like the idea of so many people touching all the tongs I'm going to touch to get my food when I don't know where their hands have been or if they've been washed. Maybe my infectious disease class has ruined me. That's what Parker claims. The experience I had at this particular buffet only increased my anxiety. We were waiting in a line ( that was way too long) to get in, just chatting with the couple next to us. As were we talking, I noticed the family in front of us. The father was sitting with his son draped over his lap as the son threw up into his hand over the flower bed, then wiped off his hand into the sweatshirt he was carrying. Gross. I lost my appetite. It got worse when we got into the buffet and I asked the waitress where the restroom was. It was out of the restaurant and way down the hall. I walked out, started walking down the hall and saw just how far away it was and decided to just wait. It was way down there, and packed. Not worth it. So, I go back into the buffet grab a plate and notice this father walking around getting food. That's when I think to myself "How in the world did he have time to go wash his hands and get back here to get food? And now he's walking around touching everything." Parker was of course a little irritated that we'd just forked out 30 bucks for dinner and I didn't want to eat anything. He tried to comfort me by saying that guy must have washed his hands because that would just be too disgusting for him to eat with nasty throw-up on him. He was probably right, but still... I had no guarantee. I ate my salad, and Parker was kind enough to dish up a couple things for me so I wouldn't have to tough anything, but I pretty much filled up on deserts that were already on individual plates. Yuck. Yuck. Yuck. Just thinking about it is gross. No buffets for me for quite some time.

Happy Anniversary!!

Utah Flash

I don't know if any of you heard about the Michael Jordan not coming to the Utah Flash game fiasco, but we were there. If you want to know more click http://dleagueutah.blogspot.com/ and read his blog post. Anyway, Parker and I of course wanted to see Michael Jordan, but weren't really expecting it, so we weren't too disappointed. Actually, Parker really enjoyed it because he got this out of it.Parker and Bryon Russell are buddies.

Vacationing in Oregon

I'm not so good at coming up with catchy, clever titles. Oh well.

We've had a grand time doing nothing here in Oregon. We've watched a bazillion movies (which is not my favorite thing anymore. I'm definitely all movied out.) and eaten lots of fat and sugar. Delish.

Tomorrow we're planning on going to Jacksonville, but other than that we're just enjoying being together and relaxing without many responsibilities.

We arrived in Medford on my daddy's 50th birthday. (I can't believe he's 50! That makes me feel old.) We had a little party for him and had a wonderful time visiting with friends and eating delicious manicotti and spinach lasagna for dinner.

On Christmas eve we did a little more shopping then had our big dinner. So tasty. Our great friends, the Coffmans, came over and we did our little gift exchange with them. They are so wonderful. :)

Christmas morning was great. We slept in late... till about 9:15, had our traditional cinnamon pull-aparts for breakfast as we opened up presents one at a time so we could ooh and aah. We decided to watch one of the new movies afterward and got another wonderful surprise. My dad, Adam, and Parker had bought a new TV and Parker and Adam stayed up till 3:00 to set it up. It was so fun to see the surprised faces of my sisters and mom. Of course we had the Christmas goodies spread to snack from all day, and leftovers from Christmas Eve dinner. That's my favorite part. :)

I can't figure out why I can't move these pictures around, so they're all in reverse order, but that's better than nothing, right?

Here's Parker making German Pancakes for Sunday dinner. They were AMAZING! Really, He makes them way better than I ever have. I was impressed.

Slush is a Hilton must around Thanksgiving and Christmas. So tasty! :) (PS. Parker's sporting his new sweater I gave him and the shirt my sister, Sarah, gave him. Looking good!)
We played a wonderful game of apples to apples and my mom won! We're all "acting out" the words on our cards.
Sarah's a Boise State fan... and a cute one at that!
Here's all our loot after opening presents. It's a little hard to tell where the boxes and paper end and the toys begin!
So happy!!
Cami is (of course) also a Boise State fan and wore her new sweatshirt and red high heels around all day. :)
Parker's modeling his new sweatshirt.

Pre-opening of presents. Parker is in awe. Oh, and we match... both showing our love for the Utah Flash.
He's a little excited.
And finally, here's Dad opening presents. He loves his new root beer float/berry shake glass.

It's Done!

That's right folks, Parker and I have successfully completed the fall 2009 semester... AND yesterday we made an offer on a condo in Pleasant Grove that was ACCEPTED!!! :) Yay!! It's kind of a weird feeling for me. Buying a house is a grown up thing to do, so I must be a grown up I guess. Weird... but so exciting too. It's beautiful, and I love it, and can't wait to make it home. :)

Just thinking...

It's the end of the semester and we've just got finals to take! I've got a mountain of 'em: 6 in total! It's going to be a busy week, but it will be nice to do things on my own time, mostly. In more exciting news... Parker and I are looking into buying a town home or condo. We looked on Saturday with our realtor and had a blast (well at least I did)! It's going to be hard to choose though. There are so many factors to consider. We're hoping to decide quickly and start investing instead of loosing $615 to rent every month. The down side (in my opinion) is:

1. Moving is a pain. A BIG pain.
2. We have wonderful friends just two apartments away. That's about as convenient as it gets.
3. I really like our ward and my calling (which just got changed today, instead of being the assistant primary music leader I am THE primary music leader).
4. We can walk to campus, and moving would most likely mean we'd have to drive and find parking everyday... that's no easy feat.

But, in the long run, buying a place of our own will be for the best and it will be bigger and I can paint it any color I please! Ok, I'm done. This is basically what's been on my mind lately. :)

Thanksgiving Week in Arizona

First off, we were definately loving the weather in Phoenix; it was perfect! Second off, we had a great time! Parker's parents were right in the middle of moving down the street, so we did our best to help them out. We went to Parker's cousin's house for Thanksgiving dinner, and boy was it delicious! Parker and his brothers all played in the alumni lacrosse game on Friday. It was great fun to watch them all in action. Parker was probably one of the first lacrosse players to go to their high school (His high school didn't have a team, so he actually played for another school). He got a pretty good scrape though. Thursday night we both went to the mall to experience some black friday shopping. The mall opened at midnight, and we were there in all the craziness. It was fun, but I don't think I'll be doing it again next year. We got a lot of Christmas shopping done though. And lastly, we have our car again! We traded back with Parker's dad. It almost feels like a new car again. It's been fun to have it back. :) Enough chit chat... here's a few pictures...

Carving the turkey...
Parker hanging out before dinner... I just realized I'm in none of these pictures. I guess that's what happens when I'm the one taking them... Parker's always ready and waiting to attack. I thought he did pretty well throughout the game... but then again it hasn't even been a year since I've seen my first game, and I still don't know all the rules. Parker said he was pretty rusty though. Parker's facing off on the left there. He's a little sad about his scrape... he didn't even feel it at first, so he doesn't really know how exactly he got it. I don't think this picture really does it justice... :) The brothers... Parker, Taylor, and Bobby. Can you tell they're all looking right into the sun?