my little wes is sort of amah-zing.

Seriously though. This is the first video of him that we have (that isn't on my cell phone) I love hearing all the music he writes. There is a new one (with lyrics) nearly everyday!

Tanner can attest to the fact that I'm sort of a creep about him. I listen to his music as I drive to work, and the first thing I want to do when I get to my parents is hear Wes play! I am just jealous.

So anyways, this is the song he wrote for reflections. So far he has made it to region! What an awesome little guy. (who also has an affinity for cat videos - you'll see)

I'm so proud of Wes for finally making his cat video debut!!!

(^^^ a little clip of a sunday jam sesh) 

yesterYAY!

yesterday was a lovely non-eventful sunday.

we woke up to a snowy surprise, ate too many bowls of lucky charms, and then headed to church.

at church, we played too much fruit ninja and talked to friends during library - we are sure going to miss this calling.

from church, we headed straight to my parents for dinner. we had STEW. i have to say, there is nothing quite like a good bowl of stew on a cold snowy day. on our way home, we drove past our house, and wished it was our house already.

after we got home i skipped studying (like i currently am) and ordered christmas presents. jake and maki's are my favorite.

a good day. i wish we could have 2 sunday's in a row.

our new home

This time of year is always bitter-sweet for me. I love the holidays, gift-giving, work parties, sparkly sweaters, family gatherings, christmas lights, and fun memories. I love these things even more with Tanner by my side. But this time of year also brings stress with finals, moving,  busy days at work, buying a house, finals, and did I say buying a house!? 

Yep, because we didn't have enough going on already. We are oooooh so excited for our first little house. It's not fancy, but it is perfect for us, and we cannot WAIT for the fun projects that we will take on after we move in. We are planning on replacing a lot of the carpet with wood floors, this should make the house even better! We will see how installing those go... I'm so glad Tanner is so patient and willing to take on just about anything I foolishly dream of doing. So far nothing has gone horribly wrong. 

Our favorite past time is talking about and dreaming about the house. We stay up too late at night coming up with ideas for it, we sketch ideas during church, we sit out in front of the house (creeeepy!) and just about die because we can't wait to just pull into the garage & be home. We dream of planting a garden, building benches, and built in's, and finally being able to paint whatever we want!

I cannot wait to post pictures of all this fun. 

First things first, a new front door color! (blue or black?) 

tuesday

on tuesday tanner and i decided to take a much needed break, and decided to have a tuesday date night! i think we may make this activity a tradition.

first: we went for a drive up the canyon to see the pretty leaves, it was the first time we have done so this year and it was so worth it. utah is beautiful this time of year, and i totally can't believe we hadn't taken advantage of it. it was fun to drive up the canyon, and talk, and tell each other stories (some that we've heard over and over, and others that were new.)

after that: we headed for sushi. a girl came into the bank a few days ago and told me about how the restaurant she works at has buy one get one free sushi ALL THE TIME! she assured me it was great sushi so we thought we'd give it a try.. and it was! this place even had tables where you sat on cute little pillows on the floor. we opted for the table though, and left full, and happy that we only spent $23 on sushi night!

after which: we dropped my ring of at wilson's because, as much as i love this ring, it is retarded, and always crooked and one of the little diamonds had even fallen out. i ALWAYS love going into wilson's because it reminds me of when we got engaged. i love seeing the couples there looking at rings. it really brings back the best of memories. i also have to refrain myself from looking at all the pretty rings they have now that they didn't when i got mine. those jerks.

and last of all: we went to see taken 2.. and were so surprised when the movie boy told it tuesdays were half price. totally AWESOME! he made my night. i told tanner i wanted his job so i could surprise people with such great news every tuesday. the movie was good, but probably wasn't the best choice considering our impromptu date night was really to get away from stress!

gratitude

it's not even november yet and i'm feeling so grateful all the time
i mean... what's up with that? gratitude is reserved for the month of thanksgiving!

ok, but seriously.
the past few months have been hard.
they have pushed me beyond where i have ever been before,
and yet, i feel so at home in this place in our life full of challenges and growth.

and you know, i am grateful for that.

but as i take the new challenges that come our way
day by day by day
it  all works out.

the thing i love most, is looking back
and realizing that i, we, made it through
with a lot of help from one another, and from the lord.

so yeah, i am grateful, just so very grateful.

our lovely fall weekend

last week was so busy, that i made myself sick from going going going so much!  i woke up this
morning (afternoon) so sick. the worst! but, on the bright side, it was a great week.

kristen flew in late thursday night, so i headed straight from work to see her on friday. we spray painted pumpkins and went to mi ranchito friday night. yum! we were probably way too rowdy and loud at mi ranchito but it was fun, and we were able to practice our smize (smiling with our eyes), which is always nice, because i feel like there is hardly ever time to practice smizing (haha) i think pretty soon here one of us will be on america's next top model.. yeah, we are that good at smize.

anyways.. saturday morning i woke up and headed to gardner village with my mom and kristen. we have been going there since i was little so it was totally fun. but very cold!! after gardner village half the fam headed out sailing, and tanner, me, and my mom went out for a fun sushi lunch! i love sushi, and since i am so baby hungry i figure i should get all the sushi i can in now, until it's too late.

after sushi i took a 3 hour nap, the family went and got thai food

we had so much fun having kristen in utah, and miss her already!

october goals

i love making goals
i love striving to achieve the goals i make
and i am so okay with the fact that sometimes i don't live up to said goals
because in the end, i am always pushing myself for more
and i am always growing when i am reaching for more.

in october i'd like to

-catch up on my online individual income tax class
-make bed everyday
-eat at home more
-show more kindness
-serve others more
-ride our bikes more//exercise more
- & strive to be better at keeping the spirit in our home

i have so got this.