helping to spread the word...

Some guys from my high school (Robby Connolly and Stuart Maxfield) are in a band called FICTIONIST. Formerly known as Good Morning Maxfield. These guys are seriously amazing at what they do. Since I now live in another state I haven't been able to hear them in person in awhile but I have stayed caught up by viewing their live videos on facebook and their site: http://www.fictionist.net/index.html. You should check it out! They're so talented, and on their way to big things. Plus, it's a group of really great guys who just really love the music!

They have a new album being released and here is the info on the release concert:
DATE: January 9
TIME: Doors open @ 8:00
VENUE: Velour
135 N. University Ave, Provo UT
COST: $7.00 at the door

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone had a wonderful week and Christmas holiday! Since we did so much over the last week and a half, I have posted a photo journal of it all...

My friend Haley was married in the Salt Lake Temple on December 19th, and I was able to be at the ceremony and luncheon. We ran cross-country and track together in high school, and here is a picture of a few other girls from those days... Our little reunion!
Taking trax with my friends downtown... quite the snow storm!!
Decorating the bean pole... I mean Christmas Tree...
It was a crazy night! But don't worry - it was heavy on the ROOT.
SO crazy, in fact, that my mom went out in the backyard and did a snow angel... with bare feet... I have a video of it but it won't load onto the blog.
Abby reading to the Berger and Turner kids. Such a good mom/aunt!
Sledding with the Turner kids and little ones. I'm honestly not a huge sledding fan, but this was so much fun! We found a perfect little hill at Sugar House park so the kids wouldn't be too scared of it - and we were right. Two of the three were begging to go down by themselves! They're 3 years old!
Story time. Kyle read the christmas story to us on christmas morning.
Mom and Dad opening Amanda and Ben's gifts, sent from Ohio.
The gift from my parents. They know me well!! I can't WAIT!
Watching my sister's family slide show. I just love those little boys!
We played a trivia game with our old "LUCKY BUCKS" as prizes. My parents created these a looooong time ago when we were little. They would reward us with them when we did something good (cleaned something up, did the dishes, etc). Then we would trade them in for candy bars which were hiding above our fridge (where we couldn't reach). Oh the memories!!
Pictionary... someone sleeping/dreaming... snow... Answer: I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas.

Lots of eating...
And cooking... 

My little brother will be headed on his mission within the year and we are all pretty sure where he'll be going......
TONS of snow!!

Winter Wonderland... quite the surprise!

Today was NUTS! The people here are seriously freaking out about this snow storm - it hasn't happened quite like this for years, apparently. I had to take the mail from my office to the post office and then get home, but found that people weren't making it up the hills on my way there. So I had to turn around and try a different post office. While I was driving I realized just how STUPID people are here in the snow. They change lanes all over the place, trying to pass people like me who wouldn't go faster than 20 mph... heaven forbid. Surprisingly I didn't see any accidents while I was driving, but I did see people sliding around. Scary!! I personally was terrified because almost exactly a year ago this week was my fender-bender at the U. I hate driving in snow. :( I also wanted to mention that NV's Dept of Transportation has TEN snowplows... yes, ten total. haha! That is one main reason people freak out here with any bit of snow on the roads. Makes sense too!
Another stress is about my flight tomorrow... Right now all flights going in and out of McCarren airport are grounded. Not because of the snow on the ground but because of visibility. I'm really hoping mine won't be delayed this time tomorrow (6 pm). Please pray that our weather gets better on both ends so I can get to SLC on time! (and I don't have to sit at the boring airport forever... then again maybe I'll do a little gambling to pass the time... yeah right)
Here are some pictures!
This is right outside our apartment. There is about 3 or 4 inches in the parking lot. Do you see the light behind the palm trees? That is the light from the auto mall hitting the low clouds and making it look way lighter than it really is. This picture was taken AFTER the sun went down but it sure doesn't look like it huh?

This is our pool... Poor little palm tree.


I also wanted to post a couple pictures from our ward party last saturday. As the "ward photographer" and in the activities committee, I helped plan, set up, and take pictures at the party. Santa comes every year so that the families can get pictures for free with him (instead of going to the malls and paying up the wazoo).
This is our bishopric - they're so great! Bishop Cox is in the middle, with Cory Jones (my boss) on the left, and Brother Hagel on the right. For the record, they are purposely looking cheezy.. like little boys. It makes me laugh every time I see this pic.

A Piece of History

What an eventful week! All the husbands were studying for block tests and the wives were feeling particularly stir-crazy. I worked a lot this week because the other part-time receptionist at work was out of town... so I was able to work mornings and have time to play with my buddies after work while Ryan was still at school. Such a great week!
Last night, to cap it all off, I went with my friends Paige and Robyn (and their baby girls, Reagan and Abby) to the Old Mormon Fort here in downtown Las Vegas. Didn't know it was there?? Well, that makes two of us! Once a year they have an "1860's Christmas" celebration and it only costs a $1 to visit. So we braved the terrible Vegas rush hour traffic and visited the fort. It was pretty interesting! For example... and be honest... did anybody know that "Las Vegas" is actually spanish for "the MEADOWS"?! Can you believe that?? The valley used to be lush, wet, green and beautiful. But if you think about it, would the pioneers have stopped here of all places if it looked the way it does now? I thought that was QUITE interesting. Anyway, they also had some people dressed up in typical clothing and they had a cute little pioneer band and some neat things to look at and learn about.

We snapped a few photos with the guys dressed up as the members of the battalion.

I also found a few goats... yes GOATS... and a calf to get in a picture with. :) The guy who owned the goats helped me climb inside the trailer with them. Somehow I didn't get any poop on my shoes!


This evening Ryan and I are finally going to hang out together for the first time in a week and watch a movie (thank you red box!). We're also very excited about our FREE MEAL at Rio! There's nothing wrong with one dollar date nights. :)

Bellagio

Today a bunch of girls went to the Bellagio to see the christmas decorations. I'll admit it was pretty neat! Here are some pics from it: (everything was SUPER sized)




Here are a few photos of the girls and the caravan of strollers we had. It was a funny sight with all of us walking together through the Bellagio and outside to the water show. The people we passed kept looking at us and laughing, saying it was a stroller and baby parade. haha It's kind of rare to see young kids on the strip.




After that, I took my friend Paige to Trader Joe's to get pizza dough, and we had a pizza night with our husbands before they went off to study some more. Thanks Lindsey for getting me into TJ's! :) I'm slowly becoming addicted to certain foods they sell. We LOVE their pizza doughs.

And the boys cleaned up! We've trained them well.

Christmas in the desert

Last night, Ryan and I visited the Cactus Garden at the chocolate factory here in town. They lit it up for the holidays and it was pretty neat! A little cheezy in a way, but it was nice to be reminded that Christmas really IS coming. It sure doesn't feel like it down here... I know that most you guys in Salt Lake are not loving the snow storm you're getting today, but I for one am excited to visit and experience the "white christmas". Lately in the mornings I have been keeping my blinds closed, turning my christmas tree lights on, and listening to Jon Schmidt Christmas while I get ready. It helps a little! :)

"Red" (the M&M) was there too!...


It's no Temple Square, but it's unique! Can you imagine being the person stringing these lights?! I wonder how many pricked fingers there were in the end...



Also this weekend we were able to spend a couple hours at the mall shopping for christmas gifts. I usually never get Ryan out shopping with me (oh wait... it's because we don't ever "shop") so it was a really good time! :) I put up with Ryan's whining about taking too long and he put up with my indecisiveness. We didn't get even half of it done but going christmas shopping in a mall with lines of people to see Santa, and christmas decorations everywhere is definitely what we needed to get into the season!


p.s. Sorry about the small pictures. I don't know why they loaded so tiny this time.

Thankful for home

We were so grateful to be in Salt Lake over the Thanksgiving holiday! Even though Ryan was up and down from Vegas a couple times last week, we were still glad to have lots of time to play with family and friends. Unfortunately I think that those trips on the airplanes were what ultimately gave him strep! ... Or whatever sickness he has now. I just took his temperature and it's 102!! Yuck! Sorry Ry. :(

But as for our trip home, here are some photos:
Thanksgiving was OH so yummy! Earlier in the day, we ate at my parents' house with everyone but Jason and Jacey, who were on their honeymoon (a pretty good excuse).

The guys threw a football around outside before dinner was ready. Unfortunately, a few of them (including my 3 year old nephew) came back inside with dog poo all over! In fact, strangely enough that seemed to be the theme of our week. Let's just say it happened more than once in just a few days!



In the evening, we went to Grandpa T's house with the extended Turner family. We were still full from the first dinner but were able to make ourselves useful by playing with the chillens and holding the babies while their parents ate.




On saturday some of our family went to lunch at Eat-a-Burger. Tradition!! :)

That night my sister, Lindsey, performed with her choir at the Tabernacle. The concert was incredible, not to mention the beautiful building they were in. It was a full house!


As I was thinking of the many things I'm grateful for, I was reminded of another wonderful blessing I was given a few years ago. I won a Mercedez Benz (a '92, I think??) my senior year of high school.

I know - you don't hear that everyday. Anyway, my Grandpa Goates bought it off of me that summer, which gave me the money to start school at the U of U. That is where I met my wonderful husband. I'm grateful to my Grandpa who kept that money in a special bank account reserved for buying a car for my grandma (who passed away several years ago). Who knew he'd end up using it to buy MY car?! I know without a doubt that it played a part in Ryan and I meeting. Sorry for the cheeziness with mentioning this story - but I wanted to share it. :) So... because of a long chain of events, I am very very grateful for that car and that experience.

Thank you to both of our families, and to our friends we were able to spend time with! Thanks for putting up with us for over a week. haha. Don't get too comfortable though because we'll be back up in just a few weeks. Yay for holidays!

Wedding Bells...

My brother, Jason, married Jacey yesterday in the Salt Lake Temple. (I love this picture, by the way! I love the individual reactions) It was a beautiful (and very cold) day and a wonderful ceremony, performed by my Grandpa Brent Goates. The bride and groom looked wonderful and very happy. :) Our whole family was able to be together for it.
Before the ceremony we stopped by Rio (where else?!) for some lunch. It was the first time in several months that the Ohio extension of our family was able to go (Ben and Amanda) and here is a pic of them enjoying their first chicken salad in awhile!

We took a few pics outside the Temple while we waited to go inside. Here is a picture of my sisters and I.


The big game started at 4 pm and the reception was starting around 7:30. We set up a computer and projector in order to watch the game on the wall of the church where the reception was held. Even as people started showing up we were still watching the game - Thank you Ben for getting that figured out! We had a nice little set up in the middle of the fairy-tale decorations of the reception. The majority of our family members were very happy that we KICKED BYU'S BUTT!! ;) (sorry Ry...)


Pics of the reception...




I'm still trying to add more pics but some of them aren't loading right. Hopefully I'll have a few more up soon!!