pictures from the freakin' weekend

this weekend was a good one.

as you can tell sometimes we break our own rule and let bevi on the bed.

only when she is super tired, and i had just given her a bath.

but she just was shivering from the bath and needed some body heat.

i love a good cuddle.. so sue me.

we went on a bike ride to the google quad campus {where jeff works} to figure out a bike route for him to take to work. and let me tell you that where he works is so pretty.

the driveway is lined with trees and i just love it.

i also was asked to speak in church this sunday so that took up a big chunk of my weekend.

recycling old talks still takes some time. jk

it was a little hectic sunday morning. we don't yet have a printer, and so when it came time to print my talk {20 minutes before church} the printer wouldn't work. 

so i had to use jeff's iPad. which i was embarrassed about, but out here in the silicon valley i fit right in.

i could have brought my laptop and no one would have said anything.

they are all about the devices our here.

and i was lucky enough to be the recipient of this picture on friday night.

my parents are going to europe soon and my little brother was trying to help my dad look the part.

my favorite part are the converse.

yes.

we also went to a tailgating party for the stanford vs. usc game and i somehow ended up with a huge catering tray full of cornbread rolls and brownies.

yay for cornbread and brownies for days.

we thought we needed to go grocery shopping, but not anymore.

oh and p.s. i want a fuel economy car or whatever, because gas here is cray-cray expensive!

before we moved, california wedding

{picture overload}
i'm going to back track... kind of a lot. because i feel like i skipped over the whole summer.

it wasn't my fault that my physiology class decided to ruin my last utah summer in ever single way possible!

i even had a chance to play croquet with thee jef holm {yes, from the bachelorette} and couldn't because i had to bomb a test the next day. LAME!

but there were a lot of fun times this summer.

yay for fun and boo for school!

so starting with the california wedding we went to!

it was so beautiful and perfect! the wedding had so much personality!

i had never been to the san diego temple and it was absolutely gorgeous! it looks like a castle!

becca and j.r. couldn't have looked happier on their special day.

after the ceremony they were STARVING and met us at board and brew for some lunch!

can you imagine eating lunch and in walking a bride...

i love them and am so happy for them! 

love love love!

my favorite detail was maybe the biggest- her dress.

IT WAS PINK!

and then of course we had the wedding dinner, which was the night before.
but whatever, we are already way out of order cause this was like three months ago...
but it was super fun! we had banjo's playing, burgers, hot dogs, and hippo cookies!

we got a little bit jealous of all the attention on them...

another happy engaged couple

there is something in the water.

because i went on my trip and came home to bling on everyone's finger!

i am so thrilled for all of them! love makes the world go round right?

so happy engagement to this fine couple!

j.r. is my brother {can't you see the resemblance?}

and we are so happy to add becca to our family!

it was a romantic proposal. 

j.r. surprised her with a candle lit picnic dinner overlooking the valley after a day of snowboarding.

they had dodo dinner which was their first date. and cozy blankets to snuggle.

j.r. wasn't too considerate of everyone else thought... he decided to eat dinner before popping the question, so we had to crunch in the cold bushes and wait 45 minutes before we could unveil ourselves.

but it's ok because we love them!

so congratulations you two lovebirds!

can't wait for the big day in san diego!

happy birthday mother goose

before i get too far into my cruise, i have a birthday to mention...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MOM!

i was sad to be away for her birthday {march 15} 

but having this be one of my first texts back was a treat!

my mom is the most selfless person i know. 

she is constantly on the go and doing things for others.

on the day we left for the cruise, i forgot the book i wanted to read, which was really my book, but my mom's book {i was going to sneak steal}. we all met at a friends house to pile in the car and head to cali. but i really really wanted my book. we were waiting on a couple more things so i decided to call her and figure out my book situation. of course she offered to bring it over. when she got there i realized i forgot my pillow. so we went and got my keys from my parents {i left them there in case anything happened and they needed to get into my apartment}. went to my apartment and got my pillow. after getting back with everyone. we realized we had a check we wanted to cash, because we didn't have any cash. only cards. out comes her wallet, and off she goes to cash our check! 

this is truly what my mother would do for anyone!

every time my mom goes to costco, 

she checks with me, my brothers and her neighbor to see if they need anything.

anytime i leave my wash at her house unattended, 

it somehow ends up washed, folded and/or ironed and waiting by the front door.

in the beginning of a new season 

i often come home to my apartment door festive with a new wreath and welcome mat. 

whenever i call her, she usually asks if i need anything. 

{i could take offense to this, seeing as she thinks i'm needy, but this is just who she is}

sometimes i get surprised with a diet coke.

i just love her so much! 

when we first got married, i sort of loved the overbearing, not letting go and somewhat intruding person she became. it's how i wanted things to be.

i have said this so many times, and i'll say it again. 

but the best compliment i've received is being told i am just like my mom.

royal bliss

royal bliss is a band that i have been following for years. why? because it is my brothers band.

they are pretty hardcore rock, so it's kind of awesome to go to their concert and get our rock on!

the other night they released their newest CD, waiting out the storm 

and so we went to the concert downtown following.

it was also great because next door was a MAJOR techno thing going on 

and boy was that crowd entertaining!

and major congratulations to them for making top 10 rock albums on iTunes! woot woot!

my rockstar brother 

royal bliss and the fans

MLK weekend

this weekend, and every past MLK weekend for the last 23 years of my life has been spent here {idaho}

doing this {snowmobiling}

and boy, was it cold!

but as always- it was a blast!

we lounged in comfy clothes, ate too much delicious home cooked meals, watched the miss america pageant, played wacky six, ticket to ride, and everyones' new favorite: scramble with friends, found an elk leg, read books, got stuck in the snow a lot, watched good flicks {maybe too much indiana jones}, snowshoed, drank hot cocoa, and had good chats. 

it was a much needed relaxing cabin weekend! but we'll take any break from 7:30 am math class eh!

love ya!

raspberry jam

this saturday i was busy busy in the kitchen ALL morning making raspberry jam!

sadly, i don't eat raspberry jam or any jam for that matter. i'm more of a peanut butter girl.

but husbs does. and so jam i made. and jam he eats. but with all that sugy it has to be delicious!

so for those of you who were fortunate enough to receive a jar- i hope it was yummy!

christmas 2011

oh how you came and went. we loved our little morning christmas with just us two! we enjoy you very much. and we can't wait to see you next year!

GOOD MORNING

this year we celebrated christmas with the monson family on christmas eve. it was so much fun! we had a little program put on by the babies with a beautiful flute to sing-a-long with. followed by presents!

it was a successful christmas! jeff's momma, vera was pleased as can be {visually observed below}to be welcomed to the apple family with an iPad. pure joy.

on christmas day, we had our own little christmas and then visited church. all was lovely. i have really come a long way because when i was little i did like christmas and sunday to EVER fall on the same day, but this year i did. there is something special about beginning your christmas day at church and reflecting on christ's life throughout the entire day. it is where our thoughts are supposed to be anyways.

christmas award goes to me and my gift to my parents. it was the one that brought out the tears. from both of them. a picture book from our hawaii trip over thanksgiving. later that day we were lucky enough to have a private yo-yo show from my dad, the SL boy who won a trip to disneyland when he was 10, and went on to take second place. oh the glory days.

and of course we lounged in our christmas eve pajamas. i would get these. and i would wear them too.

getting together with our family is a favorite tradition on christmas day. it is so fun to visit with these cousins who we don't see all that often.

we are grateful for many things this christmas and are looking forward to another great year! we hope everyone had a wonderful christmas day and felt loved and blessed!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

monson family christmas party

this year jeff and i were in charge of planning the monson family christmas party.

it was a difficult task, since years previous have been such great parties. 

but i think we pulled off a pretty sweet party!

we decided to go traditional and make gingerbread houses, wear ugly sweaters

and play a christmas game.

jeff's brother michael and his family live in american somoa. we were sad that they were unable to make it, but wanted them to be apart of our night in some way. if there was no prize for making the best gingerbread house then no one would care to make theirs at all. thanks to the handy internet, we were able to make our gingers and send them off to be judged. 

1. jeff and eliza 2. gerry and vera 3. erik and sara 4. ryan and emily

and surprisingly we didn't win either contest, ugly sweater or ginger

gingerbread house making

 the other night we had our annual birthday party and gingerbread contest.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALLIE!

the theme of the night was 12 days of christmas.

we chose five golden rings.

this was not our house...

but this was.

and this is our "creative team"

i was working with the little, winston and blake. who were ever so helpful, and kept saying "uh-oh" holding up their hand with frosting on it. and i just kept telling them to eat it, it tastes super good. 

{sorry parents for the sugar high}

and this was the result.

and we did not win. shocker..... but the birthday girl did! the schneider house won.

their theme was also five golden rings, and they did the olympics!

 and then there's the song competition. which was so funny, as always.

schneiders "happy birthday to allie"

mulcocks/barkers "on the first day of christmas my true love gave to me, a house in sun valley"

leichman's "mama papa, i love you" jing-a-ling-a-ling-a-jing-a-ling"

and then will thought he was skinnier than he really is and tried to fit between two columns.

i look forward to this party all year long! it has been a part of my christmas for as long as i can remember. 

it is so fun to catch up with friends and make new memories.

christmas is the best time of the year and i think its because we get to visit with so many wonderful people

duke's

ummm, hi hottie.

yum. we ate at duke's our last night in waikiki right on the coast.

waikiki is kind of uber awesome. with tons and tons and tons and tons and tons and tons of shopping!

anything and everything! it's definitely a little bit amazing that the only thing i walked away with were pearl earrings from the ABC store. jeff was proud.