Visiting Cindy & John and the kiddos

At the end of May Bryan and I took the drive to Dallas to visit the Merris'. We packed up the Uhaul with the rest of their things and started the drive.

Here is Bryan right at the start of the trip. He drove the whole 20 hrs.

And here I am trying to settle into my little space. Apparently Bryan and I decided that these are all the pics we would need for the trip. Because I don't have any pictures while we were actually with the fam.

This is what JJ was doing while we were driving. This is him talking on the phone to us and waiting patiently. (pic from Cindy's camera)

It took JJ a minute to get used to me and BA when we first got there. But, after about 20 min he warmed right up. (pics from Cindy's camera)

Poor Cindy and JJ got sick while we were visiting. This morning JJ was especially bad. He was sleeping on the big couch with Cindy and I was seating on the love seat on the other side. When JJ woke up Cindy had left and he immediately called out for me. I went over to check on him and he let me cuddle him while feeding him yogurt. It was sad how sick he was - but it was kinda fun cuddling him. (pics from Cindy's camera)

We had a blast with the Merris'. We can't wait to go back to Texas (but hopefully it will be much less windy when we visit again).

Kelli and Lee's Wedding Reception

Kelli and Lee were married in February. We weren't able to go to their wedding, so we decided to head to Washington for their wedding reception.

Apparently Bryan and I took like no pictures at the reception! I didn't even get a picture of Kelli and Lee together :( Kelli's colors were black and pink. So, everyone in the family wore black. It looked really nice.

Congrats to Kelli & Lee!

Happy Valentines

This was one of my favorite Valentine Weekends ever!

The celebrating started Friday Night with my favorite Valentine tradition. On our first Valentine, Bryan brought Little Caesars Pizza, Martenelli's, Chocolates, and two romantic movies to my apartment. So, every year since then we have enjoyed Little Caesars the day of Valentines and have gone out to eat on a different night. With Valentine's being on Sunday this year, we decided to get the pizza Friday night.

Saturday night, Elliot and Katie hosted us (and Steve & Summer and Heather & Jeff) to our version of the Melting Pot. It was seriously so delicious and Katie did such a great job decorating. For more deets see Heather's Blog!

Monday afternoon we headed up to Park City to celebrate Katie's birthday with a little outlet shopping, eating, and hot tubbing.

Seriously.....it was such a great weekend!

Hope everyone enjoyed Valentine's and the extended weekend :)

Farewell to the Merris'

The saddest part of 2010 was when Cindy and John decided to ditch the family and move to Texas.

Before they left we went with them to John's Mission President's Cabin. We went 2 years ago and had a blast - so we decided to continue the tradition.

We spent most of the time eating and playing wii

The cabin is on an old ski resort. So, we borrowed sleds from neighbors and sledded down the ski slope. It was so fun. We were seriously sledding for 10 minutes down the hill. JJ decided he liked watching people come down the hill more than he liked actually being on the sled.



Me and the sis. Both looking our best :)

Bryan and I also took JJ out for a special date the week before they left. We went to see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs at the dollar theatre. We got JJ his own carton of popcorn and drink. JJ decided the popcorn in his carton was pretty good.....but, nothing beats the popcorn on the floor. We tried the best we could to get him to stop eating it. But, he was loving it!
We had a fun farewell date!

Christmas 2009

This year we spent Christmas with the Attridges in Oktown.

But, before we headed to Washington we made the traditional gingerbread houses with the Merris'

Bryan and I made Calli's house and Cindy and John helped JJ make his. We titled Calli's "Calli's Cabin" We thought we were pretty creative :)

We flew out the day before Christmas and spent a few days hanging with the family.
Rae spent a lot of time dancing - sometimes with Bryan and sometimes with Kaedn

Christmas Morning
Jill wrote a letter to Santa the night before and the next morning we found a lengthy and comical letter from Santa (front and back on the yellow pad)



I got to go ice skating for my first time.
I'll just be honest - I spent most of the time just as I was in these pictures. Holding onto the wall :) Still fun though!

Our Christmas tree back in Orem!

Adam

I have wanted to see the movie Adam since I saw the preview (which I saw when I went to 500 Days of Summer!). Adam really is such a touching story.

Here is the synopsis on Yahoo:
Adam is a handsome but intriguing young man who has all his life led a sheltered existence -- until he meets his new neighbor, Beth, a beautiful, cosmopolitan young woman who pulls him into the outside world, with funny, touching and entirely unexpected results. Their implausible and enigmatic relationship reveals just how far two people from different realities can stretch in search of an extraordinary connection.


This was one of those previews that I saw and I knew I had to see the movie. It is just such a great film. Part of the intrigue of the movie is that Adam has Asperger Syndrome.

I really would suggest seeing this movie.....along with 500 Days of Summer :)

**There is one love scene - which is short and pretty tasteful. And one inappropriate language scene - which has 2 strong swear words. Rated PG-13

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had an awesome Thanksgiving - it was full of family and food and fun. And lets be honest - family is what I am most thankful for anyway.



Here are my highlights from the weekend:

My mom and dad came in from Yuba

And of course mom did the bulk of the cooking (which I'll never really complain about)


The girls spent a lot of the day knitting. I don't think I ever finished the headband I started!


We headed up to Duchesne the day after Thanksgiving to have the traditional Wilkerson Thanksgiving Dinner


Big Lare came in from Okanogan on Friday to go to the BYU v Utah game! And luckily we pulled out a win. (Sad that I don't have any pics with Big Lare)


Little Calli was blessed