Thursday, December 30, 2010

The most wonderful time of the year

I did a horrible job at documenting Christmas this year. But regardless it was one of the best Christmas' I've ever had.  Probably because I got to spend it with my Branson.  Yeah, that's definitely it. ;)

We spent Christmas Eve at my mom's house and Christmas day at my dad's.  Still getting used to the whole divorce thing.  It's so inconvenient, to say the least.  BUT I have to make the best of it.  Sadly I didn't take ANY pictures on Christmas day.  Although that's probably a good thing because we all looked haggard.  We woke up, opened presents, eat a big breakfast, played games, watched movies, and eat a big dinner.  No need to get all dressed up for that.  I just wish I had my dad in these pictures. :( But anyways, we had a wonderful Christmas and we are so sad it's over!
My mom made us stockings!  She is making it a tradition and will make each of our kids one, too.

I always love the "funny face" pictures the best.

I love this man^
Jenee is really pretty.
The "kids"

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

I died my hair...


Okay not really.  I have been temped though, I must say.  Everyone tells me NO! Don't do it!  But part of me just wants to see!  As a little experiment we tried using my sisters hair to see how it would look.  Didn't work too well but you can get a little gist.  Any takers?

P.S. Cute face, I know.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Yum

I have come to realize how much I miss these....
when I am away from home.  Green drinks.  They have become my best friend and I don't know how I function without them.  Branson and I bought a BlendTec blender with some of the gift cards we got from our wedding and I have to say it was a great purchase.  I need to start packing it in my suitcase. haha.  We drink one every morning for breakfast and it gives us so much energy and we feel great!  They even taste good, too!  A lot of people have asked for the recipe so this is what I put in mine..
  • 2 cups water
  • Splash of OJ
  • Spinach
  • Kale
  • Collard Greens
  • Mixed Berries
  • Strawberries
  • Banana
  • Flax Seed (optional)
Greensmoothiegirl.com also has more about the green drinks and you can get other recipes from there as well.

:)

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Trickster

This made me laugh so I thought I might share it. I don't know why no one else has ever thought of this!?

Monday, December 13, 2010

It's beginning to SMELL a lot like Christmas

Christmas is here and I am one happy girl.  I love walking through the mall or driving through town seeing all the lights and decorations.  The Christmas spirit makes me so very happy! We finally got our tree up that my father-in-law gave us,
along with a few other decorations. We don't have much yet,
but once those after Christmas sales come around, i'll  be going crazy. :) Since our tree this year is fake, it of course doesn't have that smell that I look forward to every year.  So, I went on a hunt for a good pine smell. Sure enough i found it!  It's called Holly Wreath from Bath and Body Works.  It smells heavenly.  I got the oil, but they have candles and wall scents as well.  I would highly recommend it. Here are just a few more decorations we have up for the Holidays.


MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Turkey Day

Thanksgiving consisted of a lot of...

Friends, Family, & Food.





































We spent Thanksgiving this year with the Hadfield's at a cabin in Beaver,Utah. Branson's grandparents own it and his whole family has gone up there for the past 15 years. This was my first year EVER being away from my family on Thanksgiving, but it was so much fun being able to spend it with my in-laws and husband. I sure missed my family, but we had a great time. Our friends Robby and Vivian came up for Thanksgiving Day, too. We all went snowmobiling, sledding, shooting, played tons of games, and eat some delicious food. The yams are my ultimate favorite. I'm so excited that I now get to be part of this family tradition. :)

Happy Holidays everyone!

Oh yeah baby we cruisin!

Oh boy do I have A LOT to catch up on. This post is gonna be pretty long, so bare with me! November has been an eventful month for us! We left on the 14th for a cruise to the Mexican Riviera. It was a 7 day cruise with Royal Caribbean. There was a big group of us, about 23 people. Branson does sales with an alarm company called Elite Home Security so it was a bunch of the guys he works with and their wives. This trip was one of the funnest I have ever been on. There was always SO much going on and it was just non-stop fun.

First, let me begin by saying that I LOVE the pitch black rooms on cruise ships. I sleep so well and the beds are just so comfortable. Anyways, our first stop was in Cabo San Lucas. We all decided to go to Lover's Beach where we snorkled and played in the sun. It was a beautiful day! We were there for a couple hours and then a few of us decided to go into town for some authentic mexican food. We stopped at this place called La Paisa. It didn't look like much from the outside but man they can cook some MEAN al pastor tacos! They were probably the best tacos I have ever had in my life.  There were six of us and altogether we eat like 40 tacos. Just thinking about them makes my mouth water. We also ran into our friends Elise and Dustin who were staying in Cabo for the week. It was quite a coincidence. There was also a local that got us our taxi into town and he went with us to eat. He was telling us that he was engaged and had a baby on the way. It was sad because we could tell he was struggling financially and he was such a nice guy. When we got back to the pier, our friend Danny handed him $20 and he started crying. He was so grateful for a measly twenty bucks. It made me so sad for him but also grateful that we live in such an amazing country and have everything we need at our fingertips.

Anyways, our next port was in Mazatlan. A bunch of guys got together with the locals and we got a group deal for the day where we got to chose from three excursions with lunch included. (It's great to have a salesman as a husband, let me tell ya haha) We got all this for only 21 bucks! Mexico is pretty dang cheap and I like it. So we took a little boat to an island where we went horse back riding and banana tubing. I hadn't been on a horse in so long and that was one of the highlights of the trip. It was so much fun! The next day we stopped in Puerto Villarta. This place is so lush and green! It was gorgeous. We got to take about a 45 minute taxi drive up the mountain and saw some amazing houses. They actually said that 20% of the homes up there were retired Americans. So it's definitely a popular spot. After the tour we made it to the top of the mountain where we went zip lining!! There were about 10 different zip lines and each one got higher and higher. The tallest one was about 650 feet and the fastest was about 50 mph. It was awesome. After that adventure, we found this amazing restaurant in town and had lunch. The tacos were pretty good, but didn't come close to the ones in Cabo. Afterwards we went shopping. Branson and I didn't buy much. We just got matching bracelets that a lady had made. Only a buck a piece. We're cheap. :) At this point I was still SO full from lunch, but the boys wanted to go find a place that had al pastor tacos again since it was our last day in Mexico. So we found a little place and ordered about 13 tacos for 5 of us. Of course, I eat two and afterwards wanted to DIE! I have never been so full in my life. My stomach is still recovering.

Besides the big stops in Mexico, the nights on the cruise were some of the most memorable parts. We had an amazing gourmet dinner every night where we could order whatever we wanted and how ever many meals we wanted. It was divine. There were shows every night with comedians, dancers, singers, and ice skaters. Yeah, there was an ice skating rink on the ship. Pretty cool. One night there was a battle of the sexes contest. People from the audience would come up to participate in different games. About half way through I decided to go up and turns out I got up at the WRONG time. It was a singing contest. REALLY!? A singing contest!? I almost ran back to my seat. I looked over at Branson in the audience and could tell he was just dying cuz he knows how much I hate doing that kind of thing. But I sucked it up and actually almost won it for the girls. It came down to just me and one other guy. But unfortunately I lost. The way the game went was that when the announcer guy came around with the mic, you had to sing a song. If you couldn't think of one or you repeated a song, you were out. I accidently sang a song that someone else had sung, so that was that. But I have to say I am really proud of myself for sucking it up and trying to win.

There was so much that went on, but I don't need to bore you with the details any longer. Here are tons of pictures from the trip....

(p.s. sorry for the random order)
 Night one on the cruise

Branson, Travis, Danny, and Jay


We played sardines one night on the ship.  This hiding spot didn't work too well.

Okay, so i'll explain.  We played a game called The Quest and everyone got into 10 different groups in the audience.  They called for certain things, and this round consisted of a man dressing up in a woman's bra, earings, lipstick and a purse. haha.  Whoever got their fastest got the most points.  And this is how it turned out...

Cruisin to Lover's Beach
Zip Lining in Puerto Vallarta







Obviously we didn't stick to the rules of scrabble. haha (luv and flix?)
Heaven.
Cabo San Lucas




More Heaven^
Sade and Trav













The lobster was amazing.  One guy ordered 4 of these and a prime rib in one sitting.


Ashley and Lisa

MORE eating...


Awards night
All the Elite boys


The funniest comedian show!

And that's all folks...