Thankful!

I love Thanksgiving. It is the one holiday that you get to eat lots of great food, spend time with family, and not have to worry about buying any gifts! This year I have SO much to be thankful for. Where do I even begin? I guess I can only list my top 9....because my list is much longer than that!

1) My husband. He is a dream come true. He is the love of my life and I love him even more now, than I did on our wedding day! And that was a lot! He is patient, loving, gentle, handsome, hilarious, energetic, happy, strong, and most of all positive. He brings me up and helps me remember to smile and not worry so much about "petty" things. He likes to eat the same things as me, we like to cook together, we love to go on long walks and talk, and we love just spending every minute we can together. We have already grown so much together and I am looking forward to spending the holidays with him during our first season being married. ( now that you are all throwing up...) moving on...

2) My family. Each and every one of them mean the world to me. Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents, Parents, Step-family, siblings, cousins...you get the point! But really, I think life is all about family and each relationship is so important to me. I am thankful for all of the love and support they give to me and David each day.

3) My job! Yup, I LOVE LOVE LOVE my job. Yes, I gripe and complain about it...but who doesn't? I truly feel lucky to have found this job and can't believe how adorable the kids I work with are. They keep me laughing, working hard, and smiling. I love their sweet hugs and kisses everyday. Now if only I could finish the credential program-I might be able to land the job I went to school for!

4) My house. I am so thankful for our new home. (well, our apartment but I like to call it home). It's hard to fork over the money each month for it, but David and I really are grateful that we can have our first home be in Huntington Beach just a few miles from the beach! We LOVE just being home. It is so cozy, peaceful, and warm!

5) DVR. I know, sounds silly, right? But I can't help but record all my fav shows and then when I have down-time coming home and watching them. Nothing better than speeding through the commericals!

6) The Gym. Yup, I love it. When I go, that is. I was doing SO well last year leading up to the wedding. Then we got married and I started a new job and things got even busier. I have been slacking, but I started up again about 2 weeks ago and I LOVE the way I am feeling. Love me some kickboxing, SET, and STEP classes! Bring it 2010!

7) Wallflowers. Their the scented home fragrances from Bath and Body. Everyone that comes over comments on how good our house smells. I give all the credit to the Wallflowers in the outlets. They smell SO good and I can't wait to put the cinnamon scented one in for Xmas :)

8) Friends. I feel like the older you become and especially once you marry, you start to realize who your true friends are. True friends are people that are happy for you, that stick by you, that support you, that make you laugh, that make you a better person. I am blessed with some amazing friends and appreciate their love and support more than they know. David and I are also hanging out with many great "married" friends and we have been having so much fun going on double dates and having dinner parties!

9) Health Care. I never knew how lucky I was to have full-paid health care all my life until mine expired when I got married. But luckily, David has a job where he gets full-coverage health care! It is such a blessing because I work with many people who don't have it and they can't even get to the doctor when really sick. Paying 20 bucks for an antibiotic and doctor visit is amazing!

LOVE this time of year!

I am getting so excited for Thanksgiving and Christmas time to be here! Some things I can't wait for....

1) Thanksgiving movie tradition: We always see a new Christmas movie on Thanksgiving Day...what will we see this year? hmmmm

2) My mom's famous Sweet Potato Yams...oh.my.gosh. they are amazing!

3) Decorating for Christmas! David and I are going to make it tradition that we do this the day after Thanksgiving! This means we get to get our very first Xmas tree this year :)

4) Cinnamon scented pine cones! Can't wait to put them in our home...LOVE the scent they bring

5) Christmas Music---I absolutely adore Xmas jams and can't wait to blast them all day long!

6) Merry Mint Patties and Gingerbread Men....these cookies only come out around this time of year and I can't wait to buy them. (I seem to be obsessed with food. Not good.)

7) Walks around Balboa Island. Last year David and I went and walked around Balboa Island and it was so gorgeous with all of the Xmas lights and houses and boats decorated for the holidays. Can't wait to go again

8) Our trip to Northern California...We get to go up North the day after Xmas and spend 2 nights in San Francisco...I have never been! And we also get to go to Monterey and Sacramento!

9) Shopping! This time of year is a good excuse to say you are out xmas shopping for the day and want to be left alone! :)

10) Some free time! I can't wait to have 2 weeks off to just relax, attend my favorite workout classes I can't go to because of work, be with family, enjoy my husband, and enjoy the holiday season. It can't come quick enough!

Some pictures from last year:

Happy Halloween!!

We have been having so much FUN during October celebrating Halloween....
We went to our ward's "trunk-or-treat". David dressed up as Jack Sparrow from Pirates of the Carribean, I was a zebra, and we brought sweet Dana along and she was a spunky little witch!
Us with Becky the Cowgirl and CJ the kangaroo!
Anne didn't even recognize David!
Me with my sexy Pirate ;)
Kalei the surgeon, Dane the Lion, and Cole as Batman

Picking out our pumpkin at the patch....Some day we wouldn't mind living on the East Coast where they have real pumpkin patches, apple picking, leaves changing, and cold weather! It's pretty funny to have to go to a fruit stand to get your pumpkins around here!

We carved our pumpkins with the Nielsen's and also made candy apples! yum!

Our pumpkin has an "evil" look this year....

Halloween at the school I work at....

It was really fun and the kids looked adorable but SO much work

on the teacher's part. Whew! Keeping them in a straight line for the costume parade,

setting up the potluck, trying to get a group picture....dealing with sugar highs, and crazy

parents! The kids were so off their routine and it made for a crazy but FUN day! I LOVE these kids!

Can't get any cuter than this little kitty cat :)
Me, Nemo, and Batman
Me, Ms, Jamie, and poor Ms. Roseanna was sick :(

our zebra was now just down to 2!

The whole class

Of course we had to make a trip to

Disneyland for Halloween Time!

So much fun! LOVE going to Disney!

Big Bear Weekend

David and I took a mini-vacation up to Big Bear about a month ago. We have some great friends that have a place there and let us stay in their gorgeous trailer. We had so much fun relaxing, hiking, biking, taking walks, walking around the village, and taking the golf cart out for a few spins. We feel so lucky to live just under 2 hours from such beautiful mountains!

Back In Business!

I have been the worst blogger but I am promising to give more updates. I read SO many other people's blogs that I figure I should contribute something for you all to read, since our life is that fascinating. ha.

It has been almost 2 months since our wedding day and so much has happened. We have settled nicely into our new home and have been having fun putting it all together, painting, organizing, and just making it "ours." It's been the best getting to live with your best friend and start a life together. Our wedding day was more than we could have ever imagined. We had all of our closest family and friends there. We were married in the Newport Beach temple and had our reception in Huntington Beach. The weather couldn't have been more perfect and all of my stresses about the things that could go wrong, were forgotten. Everything was perfect, thanks to much help from family and friends and great vendors.

We went on our Honeymoon to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. We stayed at an all-inclusive resort and loved every minute of it. It was gorgeous! Very hot and humid but after a nice cold smoothie and dip in the pool, that problem was solved. We had so much fun laying out, walking on the beach, eating, repelling, hiking, eating, getting a couple's massage, boat rides, gorgeous sunsets, eating, midnight room service, crazy taxi rides, mule rides, and did I mention eating?! Seriously though the food was the best part. They had wonderful food and it was always all you can eat. We would go to a beautiful restaurant, demand all the food we wanted, and then get up and walk away. Ha! It was awesome. Good thing we did this AFTER the wedding, or my dress wouldn't have fit! We truly didn't want our honeymoon to end and we can't wait to go back there someday soon.

Now, our lives are super busy working and David getting ready to transfer schools. We have never felt busier but we have also never felt more blessed. We love our ward and have so many great families that we get to see all the time. We can't wait to meet more friends and other couples.

I know this is a really fast catch-up over the past 2 months but it would be boring if I told you every detail....not to mention the fact that I feel like I am writing a cheesy annual Christmas card.....but I promise to write on here and keep family informed of what we are doing! It's also a great journal and record for us to keep of these fun times!

We don't have wedding pics yet, but will next week!! Can't wait to share them :)

Some pics from the honeymoon~