Friday, December 31, 2010

2010 in Pictures!

Here we are, in the final hours of 2010, and I'm wondering... where did the year go? Looking back, it seems to have absolutely flown by. Here is a recap of our 2010.

J a n u a r y

In January, our upcoming wedding was on our minds! Lisa ordered Thomas' ring and it came in the mail during January. We also began a Social Dance class at BYU together.

F e b r u a r y

In February, we celebrated Valentine's Day with a nice dinner at PF Chang's the day before and a visit to Grandma Bradshaw the day of. Thomas got Lisa a bouquet of Peruvian Lilies. Lisa began a full-time job at Backstage Library Works assigning Library of Congress call numbers to records of books. We signed the contract for our apartment.

M a r c h
In March.... we got married! We were able to attend a presentation by Thomas' father at BYU. We borrowed vehicles to move furniture into our apartment. Thomas' cousin Sarah flew from Sweden to Utah, and Thomas' dad, Sarah, Thomas, Lisa, and Lisa's roommate, Megan, all drove to California together on Lisa's birthday for the wedding. Lisa's cousin Julia threw a bridal shower for Lisa in Utah, and some of Lisa's friends threw one for her in California. Thomas and Lisa were sealed for time and eternity in the Sacramento California Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We were blessed to share the day with many friends and family members. Afterward, we honeymooned in Utah.

A p r i l

In April, we returned from our honeymoon and moved in to our apartment together! We spent the first Sunday of April in Salt Lake for General Conference with some friends and family. Lisa's maternal grandmother passed away. We were called as Sunday School teachers in our new ward.

M a y

In May, Lisa's dad was in town. We spent some time with him. Lisa's cat, Peekaboo, passed away in California. At the end of the month, we drove to California for Morgan's graduation from high school. We met up with Elizabeth & Saki's family while there, too.

J u n e

In June, we finally finished all of our thank you cards and sent them out. It was quite an undertaking! We began the "Backstage 100," a fitness competition held by Lisa's employer, giving us 100 days to walk as many miles as we could to win prizes. Lisa got to travel to Saint George for her friend Shiloa's temple wedding, with her mom & sister, who traveled out for that purpose. Robert & Camille's family visited us as well, and we got to go to a baseball game with Thomas' friend Katey and her husband Ashton. Lisa's job responsibilities changed, and she was trained to catalog books, which she has been doing ever since.

J u l y


July was a very fun month. We celebrated Independence Day with Camille's family, as well as attending the Freedom Festival festivities a few blocks away. We watched the annual parade from (basically) our front lawn with some of our friends. We attended several temples. For Pioneer Day, we went on our first hiking/camping trip together down south at Nebo Loop.

A u g u s t

In August, we hiked the Y, got new glasses, and attended a party hosted by Lisa's employer. Thomas went to his friend América's temple wedding. We had a visit from Thomas' dad. Our neighbors moved to France. Lisa got a new computer.

S e p t e m b e r

In September, we both went back to school full-time, as well as continued working part-time at our jobs. Labor Day was the end of the "Backstage 100." Lisa finished at a little over 151 miles, and Thomas at 163.1 miles! The Poppletons had us over for dinner and Lisa hosted a "girls' night in" for the General Relief Society Broadcast.


O c t o b e r

In October, we watched General Conference together. We had the Grigsbys over for dinner. We went on a field trip together to Rock Canyon for one of Lisa's classes.  We went on a shopping date, we helped some friends in our ward move, and we carved pumpkins.

N o v e m b e r

In November, we celebrated one year since our engagement. We went to some concerts. We experienced a small but meaningful miracle in our temple attendance. For Thanksgiving, we flew to Florida to spend time with Thomas' parents and his brother's family. We walked on the beach but had to avoid Portuguese Man-o-Wars! We were glad to spend time with family.

D e c e m b e r

In December, Thomas surprised Lisa by bringing home and setting up a Christmas tree while she was at work. We attended the First Presidency Christmas Devotional and had a Reese's Peanut Butter Cake for Thomas' birthday. Lisa cut her hair and donated ten inches to Locks of Love. We went to a concert at the Provo Tabernacle. A few days later, the Provo Tabernacle burned down. We finished (and passed) all of our classes, even surviving finals week! We went to the Bradshaw family Christmas party. We had the Childs over for dinner, and then left the next day to drive to California. We visited Elizabeth and Saki's family and then headed to Lisa's parents' house. We visited some friends and family and celebrated Christmas there. Thomas got Lisa another bouquet of Peruvian Lilies for New Years' Eve!

***

Overall, it's been a great year! We've been very blessed in countless ways. We are so grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our lives, and especially for the blessings of the temple. It is a great comfort and empowerment to know that we are sealed for eternity if we live righteously. We have a bright hope for the future and find joy in planning together!

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

...Christmas is already over?


After an 11 1/2-hour drive yesterday, we were plunged back into the real world today after our little Christmas vacation. It is definitely nice to be home, but I'll admit that I was wishing for a few days' reprieve from le train-train quotidien (...and the icky slushy snow) when the alarm went off this morning.

I made this in the 3rd grade.
Our trip to California was rather enjoyable. Thomas shared the first few days in our most recent post, so it is my turn to tell about the last few days of our adventure.


On Christmas Eve, after visiting friends and family, we headed back to my parents' for dinner. As is tradition, we (the "kids") each opened our one allotted gift early... and, as is tradition, each box contained new Christmas pajamas!

ok, ok, we took this on Christmas morning....
Christmas morning started off pretty slowly this year. Typically, as soon as we get out of bed, we take down our stockings to see what Santa has left for us. Then, breakfast and gift-opening kind of blend together and before you know it, the festivities are over and it's time to clean the house for guests.


This year, though, we all slept in later than normal. When we got up, we had our traditional homemade à la Dad Chocolate Pudding & (not homemade) Biscuits for breakfast. The kitchen was cleaned up before we took down our stockings, even. Then we opened up our gifts.

So rich. So yummy. Probably so bad for you.
Let the madness begin...! :o)
In the late afternoon, we went over to the former neighbors', the Kings', for Christmas dinner. I satisfied my hunger for ham, and after eating way too much, we went back home to catch Thomas' parents (and grandma!) on iChat.


Unfortunately, I managed to come down with a cold somewhere in the midst of all of this. I'm still trying to shake it...!

Sunday we went to church. I was really feeling under the weather so we stayed only for Sacrament meeting and a few hugs. I took a nap as soon as we got back to the house.

Me hugging Rosie. This hug did not actually happen at church.
On Monday, amidst packing and finishing our laundry, Thomas and I took a walk.




We left for home early on Tuesday morning. It is always hard to say goodbye to Mom, Dad, & Morgan... and the pets. But we were grateful for a nice visit with them and for their kind hospitality.

Purrl
Zip
Purrl, with Thomas
Purrl, playing with Mom
Rosie actually let Dad pet her...
 We hope our wonderful readers all had a great Christmas too!

Me in one of my Christmas presents :oD
oxox

Friday, December 24, 2010

Happy Christmas Eve!

Lisa & Thomas - Christmas 2010
We are enjoying the company of family now after a crazy few days. While finals are at last over, that doesn't mean we're not busy...

On Thursday last, we got to go out to Tucanos for a late birthday/early "finals are over" celebration.

Thomas & Lisa at Tucanos
On Saturday we did some shopping, then went up to the Bradshaw Family Christmas Party (sorry, not many pictures). We gorged on too much food, healthy and not. We're grateful for the example Thomas' grandparents have been in raising their family. We're also thankful for all the wonderful family members we have, including those who attended and those who were unable to!

Getting ready for the white elephant gift game
We had some friends over for carnitas (recipe here) and Family Home Evening.

Dinner table
the Childs and the Bradshaws
We awoke to about 6 inches of fresh snow at 4am on Tuesday, and it was still falling steadily (apparently one of our neighbours spun out in the driveway after we left). Despite everything going against us, including losing our keys (and miraculously finding them), we took off only 30 minutes late. The normal on-ramp to I-15 was closed as well, so we had to take a 4-mile detour to the next exit. Luckily, by the time we got to Tooele the weather had cleared up enough to drive safely at full speed.

Just before we left ...
See our trail to the car?
Somewhere in Nevada ...
Somewhere else in Nevada
We first headed to Fairfax to visit some of Thomas' family. We went out to eat at Chevys (no apostrophe), a "Mexican-style" restaurant that had great food although a strange atmosphere: not quite Mexican and not quite Texan. We spent the night with our gracious impromptu hosts and enjoyed good cooking, walks, and children.

Vakalalas at Chevys
Vakalalas at Chevys
Our niece enjoying her ice cream :o)
Our smiley nephew
Group shot take 1...
Group shot, refined
Glenn
Mere
We took a walk together
The next day we went up to Lisa's home. We thus far have spent time hereabouts shopping, visiting with friends, eating, and lazing about. Have a great set of holy days!

the Paulsons
The Paulsons, the Bradshaws, and Lisa's friend Lanessa at Grand China restaurant
Main Street, Placerville
Lanessa and Lisa - friends since 1st grade.
Lisa holding baby Annabelle
Thomas holding baby Annabelle
baby Annabelle and her mommy
Uncle Carl and "Turtle" the pug
Cousin Gail, Lisa, Morgan, Mom, and Aunt Lucy