Welcoming 2011

January 2011...we still have lots of ground to cover.

The first day of the year was spent celebrating our 2nd anniversary. We were actually married on December 27th, but due to the family time with the Grubers for Christmas, we decided to postpone our celebration until afterwards. Therefore, that Saturday was spent watching Tangled and shopping. As everyone knows by now, Tangled was an adorable movie, a must see!!! That evening, Jason surprised me with dinner at The Foundry Grill... which has special significance since we went there the night that Jason proposed to me! We hadn't been since that night, so it was very special. He even got us the exact same seat we had right next to the fireplace.

Our 2nd Anniversary:

The night of our engagement:

What a difference two years can make!

Thanks Jason for such a fun surprise!

January also brought our first calling in our new ward. We were called as the Sunday School teachers for the 17 year olds. With this calling, Jason and I felt a lot of responsibility. There are only a few kids in the ward that are that age (we live in a "Newly Wed - Nearly Dead" ward); there are about three boys and one girl that come regularly. We felt the heavy responsibility because they are at a very pivotal time in their lives. They are seniors in high school, about to move on to college or to go on missions. It is very important that they have strong examples in their lives and that they develop testimonies of their own. So far, the class has gone really well, the kids are great....the challenge is getting them to speak up sometimes...but overall, it has been a very enjoyable and rewarding experience. 

Another January arrival included our first smart phones! Our two year mark was coming up, and my dad shocked us both with the idea of adding a data package to our plan. We were thrilled and a little torn. Up to this point, we had planned on switching carriers and getting the iPhones (or I should say that was Jason's primary plan). However, my dad offered us an awesome deal that we couldn't pass up, so we took it. We are now the proud owners of the MyTouch 4G.

We absolutely love it!

Life changing...we'll never go back.

Words with Friends has been the recent app favorite

(sadly Jason dominates)

This winter season has also been the season of skiing! Before this year, Jason and I only managed to make it up a couple of times to enjoy the snow. This year, we have both gone close to ten times. I have definitely seen a huge improvement in my snowboarding. I feel so much more confident and it has become really enjoyable. I even gave in and tried skiing twice (but I'll talk about that in a later post when I cover February). My first day of hitting up the slopes this season was actually with my work. APX has really come through lately with several surprise perks; one of which included a free skiing day at Sundance. Sadly, the spouses were not invited, but my manager, three other supervisors, and I spent the morning shredding up the mountain and enjoyed a nice lunch at The Foundry Grill (I hadn't been for two years...and then I go twice within a week...funny how things work out). 

Jason also took Bryan for his first day of skiing, ever! Little did Jason know how much work he truly had cut out for him. Jason took him to Sundance and it was quite the first experience. To give you an idea, it took Bryan an hour and a half to make it down the half way mark of the first lift. An hour and a half!!! That's with Jason skiing backwards and practically holding Bryan up. Thanks to his enduring spirit, they went at it again...this time only taking ten minutes to make it down the slope. Since then, Bryan has had a love for skiing and has asked time and time again to be taken to the mountain. 

The final January arrival was Zoey Sainsbury. My friend, Kerstin, finally had her baby! She is the cutest little thing. Alisha and I brought Kerstin and Jed some dinner, and got to meet their sweet little munchkin.

I love the one-eyed monster!

That pretty much sums up our January of 2011...except for one crucial event: 

Jason's Birthday!

...and that deserves a post of its own!

December's End

The final wedding of the year. Briana got married on December 29th. This meant another drive to Idaho, but one that would not have been missed. They had a beautiful marriage in the Idaho Falls Temple. She looked gorgeous, of course, and he looked handsome.

A couple of my favorite photos, courtesy of her photographer:

The gang at the wedding dinner the night before

The reception.

The place looked so beautiful! A lot of work went into making that evening wonderful...

and it was a success!

(If only the weather could have been more kind...freezing temperatures while loading the decor)

Also, here's a glimpse of the road conditions on our drive back home the following day:

The snowy winds were like ghosts dancing across the asphalt.

So cool!

The final night of the year, we got to spend with our long lost friends...Zach and Kaari. After graduation, they moved back to California to start their "real lives"....leaving us behind. We hadn't seen them since April so that was a fun surprise. We brought in the new year with Olive Garden and reminiscing about old times. 

In memory of Zach and Kaari:

And that concludes 2010....we did it!!!!

Christmas Time!

The impossible task: to describe all of the joys and memories of the 2010 Christmas season in one post. Yes, I am about to attempt it.

Jason and I had an awesome Christmas season, including ward Christmas parties, work Christmas parties, dinner dates with friends, and all of that jazz. However, the real joys of Christmas time were centered around family.

Jason decided to carry on the Twelve Days of Christmas tradition and surprised me with many wonderful gifts, including: a chocolate orange, the Children of the Promise series (LOVE it...I recommend to all!), candy galore, air fresheners for my car, a coat stand, pillows, and more! I love it when Jason surprises me like that!

 (apparently Jason was trying to go with the rhyming, rather than the song rhythm)

The Sunday before Christmas was spent with my family. My mom asked each of us to come prepared with something to present or share for a Christmas program. Some may call Jason and I lazy, but we found an awesome slide show on YouTube with pictures of Christ assigned to Christmas music (hey, why redo something that has already been done). I think pictures and music can have a greater impact than words if done correctly (that was my justification). It might even pass for a great Easter video as well!

My sisters, however, really stole the show with their part of the program. Camry is genius! She found an old family video of Kimberly and herself dancing to a Christmas song, played it for us, and then surprised us all with an exact reenactment of it. They had spent several hours watching the old dance, relearning the choreography, and preparing to dance it for us. It was hilarious! I'm jealous I didn't think of anything like that. Wish I had pictures or video from it...sadly I don't. Camry and Kimberly definitely get props for their creative and comical contribution to the program.

Christmas of 2009 was spent with my family, so that meant Christmas of 2010 was our year with the Grubers. That meant my first Christmas away from home, ever! That may not be a big deal for some, but I take Christmas very seriously...I look forward to the month of December all year! I make it point to get at least a week off of work around this time. I am so thankful to Mitch, the night team Supervisor, for taking over that week between Christmas and New Years. I was so nervous that with my new promotion to supervisor that I would have to miss out on a lot of the Christmas holiday. Mitch was so nice and didn't let me worry a second longer; he offered to cover for me for the entire holiday. I couldn't have been more thrilled or grateful!

The night before we headed out to Alpine, Jason and I had a mini-Christmas party, opening up the gifts from my parents and siblings. Here's a peak at our Christmas moments at home:

Our tree (Jason even set up a moving train around the tree)

 If you look on top of the book shelf, you'll notice two white paper wreaths.

Bryan taught us how to make those in his part of the Christmas program.

Jason's gifts

Emily's gifts

(can't forget the famous Arbon Christmas cereal!)

And so the true Christmas gathering began. How do you sum up five days of utter happiness and bliss?!? Amy, Robby, Alli, Sean, April, Max, Karl, Nancy, George, and all of the grandkids were there to celebrate. That's seventeen people sleeping, eating, bathing, etc. in the same house! Complete chaos and complete joy! The Grubers totally took me in and made it an amazing "First Christmas Away From Home!" I absolutely loved it! George and Nancy were so thoughtful, they even got me my own box of Cocoa Puffs (my typical Christmas morning breakfast) just to make sure it was just right. 

Let the pictures begin:

 Love this picture of Capri!

Thanks to Alli we had night after night and bowl after bowl of the most amazing kettle corn I have ever had! She brought her Whirley Popper to share her special treat. Ironically enough, Jason and I had just given ours away at my work Christmas Party as a white elephant gift since we had never used it (never really knew how). Needless to say, after being treated by Alli, we totally regret giving it away and wish we still had ours!

We spent many hours watching stand up comedians like Brian Regan and Jim Gafagan. 

Lots of kitchen time for all of the amazing meals!

The nieces and nephews

Mya, Clara, Oliver, Harlan, Alex, and Capri

This was a typical spotting...the kids getting into any and all of the food

(especially Capri....she never STOPS eating)

The big Christmas Eve feast

The traditional Party Poppers with their toys and crowns

Next comes the Christmas Eve Nativity Scene. I tried uploading the video of it, but it kept giving me an error (I'll try again later). Now, I'm quite used to a longer and more serious nativity, but I must say, after this year's little scene, it's going to be hard going back! The angels never tried to flatten the baby Jesus in previous years. Nor have they ever shown such lack of focus. So great!

The official cast

Jason and I brought our TV to put in the family room with the hope of providing hours of entertainment. It definitely got its share of attention. We played Mario Kart, a motorcycle stunt game, Super Mario Brothers, and more. This picture captures the real "excitement" of the video games. This is also where we enjoyed the evening hours of comedy shows and kettle corn.

I will be getting one of these chairs when I have kids! So awesome!

 Christmas morning!

Clara being a diva

There are always competitions when the Gruber boys are together. In this intelligent contest, the purpose was to see who could blow the most air into the balloon. Jason still boasts about beating out all of the men. We're all so proud, Jason... :)

It was so different being in the "aunt" role this Christmas. Up to this point, I had always been on the "receiving" end of Christmas...Santa was coming to visit me. This year it was about Santa visiting the grand kids. Not that one way is better than the other, but it definitely made me excited to start my own Christmas traditions with my own family some day. There's something about seeing kids' eyes light up when they open their gifts that makes me so excited for that day. And I know that Jason is itchin' even more than I am. Maybe soon? We'll see. 

Other fun holiday activities included swimming at the Lehi Rec Center, skiing at Brighton (just the boys), and sealings at the Oquirrh Mountain Temple.

The time sadly came for Jason and I to leave the Gruber clan and head to Idaho for yet another cousin wedding. It was definitely sad to be the first ones to bid farewell. It was such a fun and memorable Christmas. Thanks again, Grubers, for sharing such a wonderful time with us!

The Big Event: Bryan's Birthday

As we have learned through the years, Bryan takes great care in planning and preparing for big events. Add his birthday into the mix and you can only imagine the production.

This year, on top of his multiple friend parties (of course you have to have a separate party for school friends and church friends, right?) we had a special gathering in Midway. Not sure if I've mentioned this before or not, but my parents are members of WorldMark....so they get to take advantage of time shares for their resorts across the country. They have a resort in Midway that my family often visits...very quaint and comfortable.

Anyhow, that was the destination of Bryan's birthday bash. Just as Thanksgiving included a written schedule for events, activities, meals, and shower slots....you guessed it....the schedules returned.

The weekend included games, games, and games, snowball fights, hot tubing, igloo making, movies, and lots of good food. There was also a town Gingerbread House exhibit. I've never seen so many amazing gingerbread houses! So clever, intricate, and detailed. It even inspired a gingerbread house of our own.

Sunday brought it's own array of activities. We accidentally attended a singles ward....weirdest and strangest ward I've ever been to. There was also a Christmas Cresche Exhibit. Don't know what that is? That's ok, I had no idea. The basic idea is a tour of international nativity scenes. Paintings, sculptures, you name it. They had an awesome collection that took them hours and days to assemble. If you ever get a chance to attend one...take it.

Add presents to the list, and that pretty much sums up the birthday weekend.

Here are some of the Gingerbread Contest favorites:

 

Other pictures from the weekend:

Happy Birthday Bryan!