Our crazy Christmas adventure!

This year we all went to Mariah's house for Christmas. We all spent the night on Christmas Eve. We all found a place either on the couches or on the floor to sleep. Our family always woke up at 6 on Christmas morning to open presents. CC was determined that we still wake up at 6 this year so we did. It was actually Jerome, Ciara, Garrett and I who went and woke CC and everyone else up at 6 cause Jerome and Ciara were so uncomfortable on the floor that they couldn't sleep any longer. As everyone gathered upstairs in the living room, Mariah got Travis on Skype so he could be there too. It was fun to watch the 4 little kids find what Santa brought them. Another tradition our family has is the youngest gets to open the first present, then we rotate through to the oldest and keep going in that order until all the presents are opened.

Now there was probably one present for each of us left under the tree. When it was Ciara's turn, Eliza handed her a big box. She opened it and sees that it is filled with news paper. It was heavy so she knew something was under the paper. The first thing she found was a large bottle of hand sanitizer. Then she pulls out a large bottle of margarita mix. At this time the box felt empty and she was really confused. She searched through all the paper and found one last thing, a little box. As she opened it, Jerome got down on one knee and asked her to marry him. He surprised us all. He didn't tell anybody that he was going to propose. We all were so excited for them.

They had been talking about marriage for a little while but Jerome always made it into a joke. They also had talked about doing a Vegas wedding when ever they actually did get married. They started talking about dates that would work for us all to be able to go with them to Vegas and we all decided that we should just do it while we were already together. So we were discussing the next day or the day after that, but that's when people were starting to head back to their houses. So the next thing we know, Ciara is on the phone scheduling a wedding chapel for late Christmas night. There were 16 of us so we all loaded into 2 vehicles and headed to Vegas.

We arrived at the chapel around 10:30pm and we were scheduled for 11 o'clock. There wasn't a wedding going on so they took Jerome and Ciara to go get their marriage license while the rest of us hung out in the little chapel. When they got back they decided Eliza would be the maid of honor and Dalton C. Would be the best man. Then it started. My dad and Ciara took their long walk of 4 steps down the isle. Then Ciara joined Jerome up at the front. The preacher said a couple words and then it was over. It was the weirdest most funny wedding I have ever been to. It was fun to witness a Vegas wedding. It was definitely an experience to remember. We took some photos and then dropped the newly weds off at their hotel and then went and found ours. Before we actually went to check in we tried to go and see the fountain show at the Bellagio but realized we had just missed the last show for the night. We headed back to the hotel and got our rooms and went to bed. We all were so tired. It had been a long day.

 

Family Christmas party!!!

The weekend before Christmas we all drove to Rexburg, Idaho for the Hill family Christmas party. As we were driving we get a phone call from my mom who was in the leading car, saying that my nephew Parker was having a seizure. This had never happened before so everyone was freaking out. A few minutes after we got to them the ambulance arrived. They took Parker to check him out but he would not cooperate so they decided to have us follow them to the hospital. We all arrived at the hospital and they said they were going to do some tests to see what was going on.

There were 11 of us who were sitting in the waiting room while my mom and Mariah were back with Parker. We decided that we all didn't need to sit there wondering what was going on, so we left my dad and Karsen at the hospital, and the rest of us headed to Idaho to get to the party. About 1 1/2 to 2 hours later the rest of them left the hospital and headed to Idaho. My mom had called her sister to let them know what was going on when we got there everyone was asking us how Parker was doing. Jerome had been in North Dakota working and was on his way home so he met us at the party. It was so fun once the rest of our family got there to have everyone together. The only one we were missing was Travis who still had a couple weeks left in Afghanistan.

After the party we all went to my grandparents house cause that's where we all were sleeping. We all changed into our comfy clothes and just hung out. We went and got some pizzas for dinner and just sat around and talked all night. When we all were ready for bed we sent the boys to one room and the girls stayed in the living room.

The next morning we got up and got ready. Garrett was taking Dalton and Kelcie's engagement pictures, so I went with to help out. It was really fun other than it was freezing. I had to be the mean one to keep taking kelcie's coat away from her during the pictures. We ended up getting some really fun poses.

After we were done with pictures we went back to the house and got all packed up to go home. It was a fun weekend together in Idaho.

 

Colorado

After Thanksgiving I drove back to Colorado with my family to spend some time with my mom. She wanted some help to get all her Christmas decorations up. We went and got all her Christmas boxes out of the garage and brought them into the house so we could see which ones we were going to use. The first thing we did was get the tree set up since we already knew where we wanted to put it. We found all the ornaments and decorations for it and got started. After wrapping all those strands of lights around the tree, I realized that pre-lit trees are definitely the way to go. Next we started with the decorations. My mom always has theme for her tree and this year it was snowmen. So we added the stuffed snowmen, some large pinecones, some red sparkly twigs and then we were done with the tree. It was beautiful. Next we picked the room decorations that she wanted to use and found spots for them. We also made a pile of the decorations she didn't want anymore so we could get rid of them.
The next day was time for the outside decorations. Since it was so cold outside, we started with just the front porch decor. We got her big wreath hung up by the door, then had to go back inside to warm up again before starting on the lights. First we started on the fence. It starts at the side of the house and goes to the back of their yard. We started up by the house and worked our way back. First with the lights then we added tinsel and wrapped it around the strand of lights. Once we got the fence done we started on the house. It was actually pretty easy, we first put the clips on the roof then clipped up the lights. We only did the front of the house so it didn't take to long which was nice cause we were freezing. When we were done we went inside and made some hot chocolate to help warm ourselves up. Mmmm.
The next day was just a hangout day since we were now done decorating. We went grocery shopping and when we got back Dalton came over until he had to go to school. It was fun visiting with him. Then we got a phone call from Ciara saying that she was getting married. So obviously after hearing this we went to some stores to look for decoration ideas. My mom said she saw some wedding dresses at Arc, which is a secondhand store. So we went there first just for fun, even though Ciara wasn't there with us to see if she even liked them. We got there and saw a couple that were pretty ugly and then we found it. It was beautiful! It was simple but had some awesome beading. When we checked the price tag we all about had a heart attack....$35. So I took it and went to try it on just to get an idea if it would even fit her. We decided it would fit her perfectly. So we sent a picture to her to see what she thought. She did not like it. We then get a text. It was a picture of her perfect dress. That's right she was out looking at dresses too. She said she found the one she wanted and it was only $200, which is a good price when it comes to wedding dresses. We felt we found the perfect dress and for only $35, you can not beat that. So of course we buy it and figured if she still hated it after she tried it on then we we wouldn't have wasted our money. When Ciara heard that we bought it she was so mad, but we knew once she actually saw it in person she would love it....and we were right.
The next day was the day I left Colorado and flew back to Provo. We left with plenty of time to get to the airport on time. We kind of got lost but still got there with time to spare, or so I thought. We went in and I got my boarding pass printed off and noticed that I had about 8 minutes until they started boarding. I was now freaking out and was sure that I was going to miss my flight. I still had to go through security and of course my gate was like the very last one...gate A60. So I hurried to security. I got there and saw that there weren't very many people in front of me so I was very happy for that. It still felt like it took 15 minutes to get through. Once I was through security I started running to my gate. Then I got to the end and saw gate A59 and A61, but no A60. So I wandered around for a minute knowing it had to be right there and then I finally found it around the corner. I got up to the desk and asked if I missed the flight and they said that they were just getting ready to start boarding. I was so relieved that I didn't miss my flight.
When I arrived back in Provo I had my friend Stephanie come pick me up from the airport cause Garrett was at the Yellowcard concert. I was supposed to be at the concert with him, but when we booked my flight we had forgotten about the concert and booked a flight for the same time as the concert. Oh well I was just glad to be back on the ground and headed for home cause the flight was pretty rough.

Thanksgiving!!

This year we drove to Kansas to spend Thanksgiving with Garrett's family. My parents and Eliza also were there cause we were having our open house the next day. It was fun to get together with everyone again. We talked and played games and just hung out all weekend. Obviously we ate a lot of good food that weekend too. It was fun to have both of our families there together. We also celebrated Trevor's birthday while we were there. We had brownies cause they are Trevor's favorite.

 

 

Our 1st apartment together!

Garrett and I rented a little apartment in Provo.  I was living there for a little while before we got married.  It was fun to be able to decorate and move in to our first little apartment together.  Garrett signed the contract and everything without even seeing it so we didn't even know what it looked like.  Here is what it looked like when we first moved in....

Outside view

Living room 

Kitchen/Bedroom

It obviously was a studio apartment so there wasn't a bedroom, but the kitchen had a big spot for a table which we didn't have so we out our bed there instead of having it out in the living room.  The colors in the kitchen were fine, I could handle them but mint green....I wasn't so much a fan of the living room color.  When the landlord came by the first day and told us we could paint, I was so excited.  We got in the car and headed straight to home depot to buy pain.  We decided on a neutral tan color for 3 of the walls and then black chalkboard paint for the other one and a red door.  It looked so much better.  I loved it.  It actually felt like home.  It was fun to come up with different ideas for the holidays to draw on our wall.  

Honeymoon to Cabo!!!

The day after our wedding, which was my birthday, we we got on a plane that was headed to Cabo.  I was so excited to go relax for a week in the nice warm weather with Garrett.  It was by far the most relaxing week of my life.  I loved walking on the beach, swimming in the pool, hot tubing, and sitting on the balcony soaking up the sun!!!

One of the days we drove over to Cabo San Lucas to swim in the ocean.  We found a spot on the beach that wasn't as crowded to claim a spot for our towels.  After we had been in the water for a couple minutes Garrett told me he felt like his ring was going to fall off.  Sure enough just then it was gone.  We looked and looked and felt around in the sand for a good 20 minutes or so but could not find it.  After this happened we were pretty much done swimming in the ocean, so we headed back to the hotel.

The next day we went into the ghetto part of town to find a taco stand, cause thats where you can find the best ones.  OH MY GOSH!!! These were the best tacos ever.  We first each started with 2 tacos each but after we ate them we had to get more so we each got 1 more.  Nothing could have ruined our day after eating those tacos.

For the rest of the week we pretty much just hung out around the resort.  We watched a show that the hotel put together.  It was different kinds of traditional mexican dances.  The fire dance was pretty cool.  After the dancers were done performing they ended the night with a little game show.  That was pretty funny to watch.

On the day that we were leaving Cabo we wanted to find another taco stand to end the week right.  As we drove to the airport we kept our eyes open for one but were not finding anything.  As we got to the airport, we were driving around to find where we needed to drop off our rental car, and thats when we saw the sign for tacos.  So we drove around trying to figure out how to get over to the road with the taco stand and couldn't figure it out.  So we decided to return the car and then just walk over to the taco stand.  After we climbed over the fence we finally made it.  We sat down and ordered some guacamole and chips and 2 tacos each again.  This time we each got one chicken and one steak taco.  We both had our expectations way up after our last taco experience.  So when we took the first bite, we both were in heaven, these tacos were even better than the last ones!!! So of course we had to order one more each.  We were so full but so happy! This was exactly the way we wanted to end this great week.  So we left and went to the airport to head back to Provo.

Our Wedding Day!!!

The day everyone has spent so much time planning for is finally here.  The first thing we had to do was decorate for the reception.  I couldn't reserve the church the night before so we got to wake up bright and early to decorate the morning of.  So we got all the decorations, table and chair covers and food loaded in the cars and headed to the church which was in Sugarhouse.  When we got to the church we got everything out of the cars and put away.  We had some people start coving the tables and chairs, while others started with the ceiling decorations.  I was helping with getting all the tables and chairs set up and in the right places and getting them covered.  This is about all I helped with before it was time for me to start getting ready.  Our Wedding was at 1 o'clock but Garrett and I had to be there at 11:30 and everyone else at 12:30.  So there was a lot to be done in a short amount of time.  Garrett and I left before I could really even see how it was going to look when everything was done but I wasn't worried cause my sister Mariah was in charge of everything and I trusted her decorating style.

Now everyone was at the Temple and it was time to get married.  It was wonderful to see all our family and friends that were there celebrating with us as we walked into the room.  The things that were said and being surrounded by family and friends made it a wonderful and exciting experience.  It was a beautiful wedding.  Then all our guests left and went outside to meet us as we went and changed.  It was so fun to walk out those temple doors and have everyone start cheering.  Now it was time to  gather everyone together for pictures.

Then we let everyone leave and went and did all of our pictures.

After we were done with pictures we headed back to the church for the luncheon. We had some good food, it was lasagna, chicken alfredo, garlic bread and salad.  When everyone was done eating we got all cleaned up and got everything set up for the reception.  Let the party begin!

Cutting the cake!

After feeding each other 

Throwing the bouquet or should I say corsage since I forgot to order a toss bouquet! Oops!

Garrett going exploring to find my garter.

Getting ready to toss the garter.

Leaving in our beautifully decorated car!

I think everyone had a good time at the reception.  It was fun to party with everyone.  Thanks to everyone who helped plan everything especially my sister Mariah.  It definitely wouldn't have turned out the same without your help, and thanks to everyone who came and supported us on our special day!

stupid Logan / Road Trip to Boston!

Sometime in June Garrett told me that he was taking a road trip to Boston to deliver his Grandma's inheritance to her kids.  My reply was that sounded like a fun adventure and so he said you can come with me if you want.  At the time I was working in Sandy so I said I didn't know if I would be able to take off that much time from work, but I would see if it would be possible because it would be way fun.

At the beginning of July I had the crazy idea to pack all my stuff up and move to Logan...What was I thinking?  Anyways, I found a job there and started working.  My schedule was 2 days a week. I only worked on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.  At first I thought this was ridiculous, but then I realized it was actually a blessing.  I really began to miss my life in Sandy and started hating being in Logan.

The reason why my schedule was actually a blessing was it allowed me to spend most of my time back in Sandy!  I pretty much lived in Sandy and worked in Logan, so I would work my 2 days a week and then drive to Sandy on Wednesday evening and be in Sandy until Monday night and then drive back to Logan so I could work.  This was my weekly routine, until I got sick of having to make the 2 hour drive back and forth.  This is when I really starting thinking about the road trip to Boston cause it could actually be a possibility.  I told Garrett that I was going to go with him.  He was a little surprised that I was actually going to take a 3 week road trip with him.  So once I had made up my mind I told my boss that I was quitting and moving back.

Garrett and I were engaged before we started the road trip, so when I told my parents that we were taking this trip together my dad said you are going on a 3 week honeymoon before you are married?  Then he said we should elope before cause then we could have more fun.  My mom told me that this would be a good test to see if we can stand being around each other 24/7.  This would either make or break our relationship.  Lets just say its exactly what we needed.  We had all the time in the world to sit and talk about everything and anything!  This made our relationship so much stronger and we grew so much closer.

Ok so now on to the road trip!!!

To start off we had to rent a U-haul trailer to pack up all the furniture that was in the storage unit.  Good thing Garrett is good at packing cause we fit everything in the trailer.

Now that we had everything packed up we were ready to go.  Garrett's uncle Karl and aunt Barbara were the ones letting us use their vehicle for the trip and they were in Provo for Education Week, so we rode with them to their house in Denver.  This was our first stop to deliver furniture.  We stayed at their house for a couple nights.  While we were in Colorado we went and visited my parents and saw their new house.  It was a short visit but it was fun.  So the plan was to take one of Karl's blazers but as we were getting ready to leave Karl and Barbara's house the blazer was having some issues so we took it into the shop.  This kept us in Denver for an extra night.  We finally convinced Karl to let us take the tahoe instead of the broken down blazer.  We were very excited about taking the tahoe cause it was bigger and way more comfortable.  So goodbye Colorado, hello Kansas City!

Kansas City was our next stop.  This is where Garrett's parents live, yep this was when I met my future in-laws for the first time.  I was really excited to meet his family, but as we were getting closer the nerves started to sink in.  I met his parents, his older sister Sarah and her 3 kids and his younger brother Seth.  We were in Kansas City with his family for about 4 days, and had a lot of fun.  The first day we were there we went to an outdoor mall and walked around, had lunch and let the kids play in the fountain.

                Colton decided he wanted to take his shirt off and soak up some sun!  What a cutie!

                  Garrett with Colton and Jaxon after they were all wet from playing in the fountain.

                                         Jaxon, Madison and Colton having fun in the water!

When we got home, I gave Sarah a haircut.

The next day we went to the petting zoo.  It was a really nice petting zoo.  It was fun to see the animals and see the kids reactions while feeding the goats!

                                 
                                   The goats just wanted the food that Jaxon had in his hands.

                                                         Garrett and I feeding the goats!

                                                      Colton was to scared to feed them.

                                                 Garrett and I being such pretty flowers!

                                                Madison makes such a beautiful butterfly!

                             Sarah, Colton, Madison and Jaxon coming down the slide together!

                              Letting the kids ride on our shoulders after waking around the zoo.

                                  Garrett and I playing at the playground acting like little kids.

                                 We found a bench swing to sit and relax on for a few minutes.

                                              Madison, Colton and Jaxon being Flowers!

That night when we got home it was Madison's turn for a haircut!

Before...

                                               

During...

After...

The next day was the day that EVERYONE was excited for, and honestly I think the adults were actually more excited than the kids.  It was the day to go to LEGO LAND....I had never been to a lego land so it was really fun.  Everything was made out of legos.  

                                                  Garrett and I riding our lego animals!

                                                       We found some lego friends...

                                                 Seth and Garrett building their lego cars!

                                                             Their finished products...

                                                        and now its time to test them out!

                                                 Why the face Garrett? What did Seth do?

                                         Madison and I getting ready to ride on the lego ride.

                           Sarah and I standing in line waiting for our turn on the other lego ride

Covering Garrett with legos...

                                                    

Where did garrett go?

                                              We started construction on our lego house...

                                                        Just about ready for the roof...

and the finished product...I think we might have made it a little to small.

After we were done at Lego Land, we went back to the house and celebrated Colton's 2nd birthday!!!

                                      

Look how excited he is for his car cake!

Sarah is very talented with decorating cakes!!! Looks good!

After we were done celebrating Colton's birthday we pulled out all the legos the owned.

         Our goal was to find all the pieces for the lego people they had and get them all put together.

After a couple hours of working on it, we finally got them all put together. I think there were about 96 lego men.

We had so much fun playing in Kansas but knew we still had to get to Boston so we said goodbye to Kansas and his family and got back in the car and on the road.  We drove until we got to Indiana.  We stayed the night at my friends house on our way through.  Josh and Ginger took us out to dinner to a restaurant called the Mayberry Cafe.  It was an Andy Griffith themed restaurant.  It was fun visiting with them and catching up with what was going on in their lives.  Thanks for dinner and for letting us crash on your couches for the night. 

Early the next morning we got back on the road to make it to our final destination....Boston!!!  We were staying with Garrett's Uncle Mack and Aunt Rhonda out there.  The first day we were in Boston we went to a Redsox game with Garrett's cousins.  It was really fun to meet them and hangout.  The Redsox won the game so his cousins were very happy.

After the game on our way back to Mack and Rhonda's house, Garrett took my sunglasses and some earrings and wanted to wear them....

When we got home Mack and Rhonda were getting dinner ready.  We were having clams and lobster.  They were just getting ready to cook the lobsters so they had us each take one and put it in the pot.

                          I was a little freaked out holding it even though the claws were tied up.

                                  Lobsters while they were still alive before they were cooked.

                                                     Cooked lobster ready to be eaten.

I had never really had seafood before this so I was a little iffy about it but I said I would at least try it.  So I tried the clams first.  I took one and made sure it was totally covered in the butter sauce and ate it... it wasnt as bad as I was expecting it to be so I ate another.  After about 3 I was done.  I don't know why ate more after the first one.  Clams are disgusting.  Now it was time for the lobster.  The first piece of lobster I had was pretty good.  So I continued to eat more but the rest that I ate was rubbery.  I cant handle when I cant chew through my meat, I must have a texture issue or something.  So my first experience with seafood wasn't my favorite but now I'm nervous to try it again.  

The next day was just a nice relaxing day.  We just hung out at the house.  Garrett installed a security system in their house.  Over the next couple days we wanted to go to some of the surrounding states and to take some picture.  We decided we were going to our engagement pictures while we were on this trip so we could get some fun pictures.  We made it to Plymouth Rock, Cape Cod, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine.

On our way back to Utah we added another passenger, Garrett's cousin Mia.  We towed her car with us so that she could then drive it to Rexburg for college.  We drove until we got to Chicago where we had planned to get a hotel for the night.  Before we went to the hotel we had to go try Chicago's famous stuffed pizza.  This is why we planned to stay the night in Chicago just so we could get a pizza.  It was DELICIOUS!!!

The next morning we got back in the car for another full day of driving.  By this time we were so ready to be home.  We drove and drove and drove some more.  Garrett started trying different ways to drive to make things more entertaining...

That night we made it back to Karl and Barbara's to return their car and to have a bed to sleep in.  The next morning we re-packed everything into Mia's car which is a PT Cruiser.  We drove it back to Provo.  Those 8 hours were very long.  Lets just say we were all cramped in there, but we all were just so excited to almost be home so we made the best of it.  With Garrett around there will always be something to laugh about.  We finally made it to Provo and couldn't have been happier.  It was a very fun and adventurous 3 weeks together.