Christmas Fun

Stephen and I are pretty boring when it comes to Christmas gifts. We typically do all of our own shopping and then wrap our own presents. Our stocking stuffers are the only real surprises we get. This year we finished our Christmas shopping early thanks to a trip to Las Vegas for Thanksgiving.

This Christmas we celebrated Christmas Eve with Stephen's family in Provo. Their tradition is to have tacos and re-enact the nativity. Stephen's sister Lara made awesome nativity costumes for the kids, but I didn't get any photos.

We slept over at Stephen's brother's house on Christmas Eve because we wanted to see the kids open Christmas presents. It was fun watching them open their presents and then helping them put their toys together. We had breakfast at Stephen's Brother's and then went to my brother's house to exchange gifts with my family. Afterwards we went back to Stephen's brother's for dinner and watched Elf. Stephen did a great job stuffing my stocking. This year my stocking stuffers comprised of...

-Beehive Cheese Co Cheese and Rusks

-Peanut M and M's

-A Chocolate Orange

-Riesens

-Socks

-An ornament from Anthropologie

-Pot holders from Anthropologie

-Portugeese Soaps

-Bath bombs and bubble bars from LUSH

-Banksy book

Stephen and I see the lights on temple square every year. This year, we went the same time as Stephen's family. We had dinner at Hires and then walked around temple square. Here are a few shots.

The cute Hemmerts
The Vellingas
The Stewarts
Cute Katherine on Stephen's head

My 3rd annual picture in front of my favorite nativity.

Halloween

This holiday season has been very festive for me. Usually I don't really get into the holidays because I have been in school and haven't really had the time, but this year has been great. It all started in October with Halloween.

For Halloween I usually don't dress up. And if i do dress up, i find something around my house or wear a costume i wore in previous years. This year, thanks to a 25$ gift card to Target from my boss, i purchased a REAL Halloween costume. I thought long and hard about what I wanted to be. I needed to be something timeless that I could wear year after year. And I also wanted a costume that could potentially be a couples costume (assuming Stephen would take the initiative to go costume shopping.)

I decided to be Yoda. I found an awesome Jedi costume from Target in the little boy's section that fit like a glove. And then I went on my search for Yoda ears or headband or something. I visited several Halloween stores, and the only Yoda masks I could find were latex. Deciding that a latex mask wouldn't be best for work at the bank, i decided to scrap the Yoda idea all together and be a regular Jedi. Here is my costume.

We celebrated Halloween at Stephen's parent's house. We had "body part soup" for dinner, which was soup in a pumpkin bread bowl with plastic body parts, and then built a haunted house in the basement. Here are a few pictures.

Spooky witch Elizabeth

Joshua was a Chinese man.

Here are Harry Potter and Dracula reading Calvin and Hobbs.

Donnette Perkins gave Talisa Vistaunet and I tickets to see Dracula at pioneer theatre in Salt Lake. It was great! but a little scary. I also saw Thriller at Kingsbury hall with Stephen's family. It wasn't very scary, but pretty fun.

Dear Santa

Things I want for Christmas....
I would love this Kate Spade "Upstate Fillipa" Cross-Body bag in Eggplant.

Lush is Lush is Lush is the best!

Essie nail polish, especially J.Crew's colors for this season.


Will I get Flowerbomb in my stocking this year???

Leopard print Sammie flats from Banana Republic. Love them.

What do YOU want for Christmas???

P.S. Thank you Heidi for the inspiration!

Sundance

It is time once again for us Utah locals to register for tickets to the Sundance Film Festival. Do it here.

I know this is unrelated, but I also need to mention that Stephen took the GRE yesterday and got a great score! I am proud of him. He will be applying to 7 grad schools over the next month and a half. Good luck Stev-O.

My Guilty Pleasures

Ever since I graduated from the U I have had a lot more time on my hands. It has been fun to pursue things that I previously had no time for. I have picked up some good and useful habits and hobbies and some that are a little more embarrassing. Here's a list.

1. I have re-arranged my apartment several times since graduating. I have only shifted the furniture once but I have moved around picture frames and accessories dozens of times.
2. The Real Housewives-- I have become a fan of the show The Real Housewives-- I will watch any season from any location. I know it is kind of a ridiculous show, but that is why i like it.
3. Target-- I get gift cards to target when I meet my sales goals. This has led to quite frequent trips to Target which has become my second favorite store behind Costco. I have created a need for many and more things I never thought i needed before.
4. Sister Wives--I have come to love the show Sister Wives, I have watched every episode. I don't know why I like it so much... I think it is just interesting to see the daily life of a polygamist family.
5. The LSAT-- I keep changing my mind about whether or not I want to go to graduate school, so over the course of the summer I have resumed study of the LSAT and quit several times... I still have not yet made up my mind...
6. FOOD--We planted a garden in the spring which means we have had an abundance of veggies all summer--mostly tomatoes (or are they fruits????) This means I have cooked quite a bit. I love to cook and since I worked at Pottery Barn I made good use of my employee discount and stocked up on almost every cooking utensil known to man at Williams Sonoma.
7. The New Yorker-- Stephen got me a subscription to the New Yorker for Christmas last year. While I was in school I didn't have much time to read it, I mostly just read the New York Times, but since graduation I have been able to spend the time reading the serious as well as the more light-hearted articles in the New Yorker.

I managed to compile a list of things i have been doing since graduation, but I have an even longer list of things I wish I would have done with my extra time... But I guess I can save those until January and just make them New Years resolutions!

the magical kingdom!

Stephen celebrated his 26th birthday on Sunday with a trip to Disneyland!!!! Actually, the trip just happened to coincide with his birthday, but i keep telling him that was his present. Here are the top 10 things that made Disneyland especially awesome this year:

1. More/Older nieces and nephews to take on rides. (they are so cute and fun, this was really the best part.)
2. Seeing Stephen's cousin Johnny and his wife Jen and their 4 cute kids.
3. Sharing a hotel suite with more cute nieces and a nephew.
4. Having the entire Stewart family (except Penelope and Jack) in Disneyland together.
5. Going to a "Princess Lunch" with nieces where we met Ariel, Aruroa, Snow White, and Cinderella!!!
6. Bacon wrapped asparagus.
7. Lots of Churros
8. Halloween decorations
9. Buying nightmare before Christmas souvenirs
10. Spending 3 whole days with Stephen.

Disneyland is really the happiest place on earth. Stephen and I were so sad to leave, but we really had a great time. Thanks Stewart Family!

Here are some Pictures.

Stephen and Daniel were best buds our first day. They went on almost all the rides together.
Not sure what David is doing in this picture.
Justin and Traci in the car with the sweetest paint job.
Dave bought ponchos for everyone so they didn't get soaked on the rapids ride.
Little Jon Jon driving the car. Look at those beautiful curly locks.

We went on the grizzly bear rapids like 10 times.
I asked olivia to smile for the camera and she stuffed this wrapper in her mouth and smiled. ha ha.

We'll miss you Disneyland...

Family Foto Fun

While we were at the ranch the Stewarts decided to take some family pictures.

Here is just one of the many family pictures

After taking the group shot, each family took their turn getting their pictures taken. Stephen and I decided we wanted some photos as well, even though we are just a family of two.

Crow Creek Ranch

Stephen's family goes to the Stewart family ranch in Crow Creek, Wyoming every year. This year we went over Labor Day weekend. The Ranch is like your typical Wyoming Ranch (or at least what picture a typical ranch being.) There are cows, horses and two dogs to keep them in line. The ranch is in a pretty rural area surrounded by pine and aspen trees. It is really beautiful.

When we go to the ranch we try to help out wherever we can. Last year we spent half the day raking up grass clippings around where the houses are and filling up a big hole where a pipe had been replaced. This year we got up early one morning and helped repair a 50 year old fence that was in disrepair due to snow, falling trees, and cattle. Although it was hard work (i really didn't do any of it, i mostly just kept the kids that came along from getting hit by swinging hammers and wood), it was really fun to see the fruits of our labors. Stephen's Uncle Brent who runs the ranch said that he had never seen the fence look so good.

The day we helped repair the fence also happened to be Stephen's Uncle Brent's birthday. (We didn't know it at the time.) Even though it was his birthday he was a good host and took us all on a horseback ride later in the afternoon. We spent the rest of our trip relaxing, going on a four-wheeler ride, playing games, and watching our cute nieces and nephews.

Here are some pictures.

Here I am on top of the Plateau looking over the Ranch.

Stephen is filling up the gas tank on the four-wheeler using these old-school-looking gas tanks
Every time Stephen goes to the ranch he finds a hat in his grandparent's house that he wears the whole trip. He chose the red one this time.
Here I am with Uncle Brent on our horse ride.

end of summer fun

the past two and a half months have been really draining on me. since i started working at wells fargo full-time while keeping my part-time job at pottery barn kids i have had no time for rest and relaxation. i was pretty sad thinking that summer was almost over and i will be working full-time the rest of my life. so we decided it was time to take a mini-vacation.

stephen's grandparents have a cabin in bear lake that he hasn't been to since before his mission. (about seven years.) i'll be honest, i was kind of scared to go after hearing stories of an indoor hot-tub, dead animals found around the house, and strange scents. but for me, any vacation is a good vacation. and all the hype about the cabin turned out to be over-exaggerated.

we spent most of our trip outdoors. we went on a couple of hikes, went swimming, and laid out on the beach. at night time we sat on the deck and saw millions of stars, way more than i have seen anywhere else. although we weren't too far from home, it was just the break i needed.

here are some pictures.
here is the view of the lake from the deck of the cabin.


here we are on the deck. i am trying to get stephen to throw away this Schmit house shirt, i hate it!
beautiful bloomington lake. the water was so clear, so fresh.

stephen walking past some wild flowers. they were soooo beautiful and colorful.
"take a picture of me with the wild flowers!"

summer veggies

Today i picked our first cucumber of the season!
We are excited for the many tomatoes, peppers, squashes, and green beans to come.

le cruset

I got my first Le Cruset piece about 2 weeks ago and I love it! I just wish i didn't have such a tiny stove and oven.


I made this yummy braised rosemary pork roast from The Silver Spoon (which Stephen gave me as a "prize" for getting a new job)

The Rest of our Trip

So i realized it was taking me forever to blog in detail about our trip which was a little over a month ago at this point. So I will instead just touch on the things we did briefly. We spent the remaining 13 days of our trip as follows, 1 and 1/2 more days in Kyoto, 2 and 1/2 days in Tokyo, 8 days in Singapore and 1 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Things we did in Kyoto:

Went to more Shinto ShrinesSaw some Geishas at the train station.
Went and saw some Buddhist temples.
Sat under a cool Aqueduct in the rain.
Walked around the city.
Took a little hike onto the side of a mountain and saw a beautiful view of Kyoto.


Shopped in this alleyway that lead all the way up the mountain.
Went to this shinto shrine that had tori gates lined up really close together to form a pathway up and around a mountain. The hike would have taken about 2 hrs so we just did a small portion of it.

Things we did in Tokyo:
Visited the Museum of Western Art designed by Le Corbusier in Ueno park.
Went to see the Senso Ji temple which was right by the hotel we stayed in.
Went to the busiest crossing in the world. Shibuya? Something like that.
Went to the Imperial palace and gardens.
Had lunch in Toyo Ito's concert hall.
Got good views of Tokyo from the Tokyo Government Building.
Went to the national Sumo wrestling tournament.
Visited and purchased something from every Paul Smith store in Tokyo.
Saw the Dior building designed by SANAA
TOD's building designed by Toyo Ito
Prada building designed by Herzog and De Meuron

Things we did in Singapore

Went to the National Orchid Garden
Got a fish pedicure.
Went to a Chinese Temple
Went to McRichie Reservoir, a place I went a lot as a child.
Had a Tea Ceremony to celebrate our wedding with my Family.
Rode Segways.
Took a boat cruise up the Singapore River
Went to the Jurong Bird Park
Visited the Esplanade Theater.

Walked around downtown near the financial district.

It was such a great trip. I was really happy to finally introduce Stephen to the rest of my family, and I am very happy the Stewarts got to meet them as well. I love my family in Singapore, they are so wonderful. And I look forward to visiting more often in the future.