New Years and Blakes 24th

I can't believe how fast 2010 went! I still remember the begining of that year! And now it's already 2011...Blake and mines 2nd year anniversary is creeping up on us! I can't believe it. We were able to "celebrate" New years with my family as well this year, or should I say "last" year. I was so happy! We got to eat the traditional New Years Eve Hot wings with Bleu Cheese that my mom likes to make, along with melted chocolate and fruit, cheese and crackers, and lastly chips and salsa. All matches made in heaven. We also found a new favorite juice drink, Ocean Sprays "Cranberry & Pommegranate". So divine. I'm actually craving some as I write this. I wrote "celebrate", because as you get older, and ESPECIALLY after you get married, there are no parties to really go to..no dance's, nothin. And I still have 2 younger siblings at home that are still able to do those parties, so ultimately it was just me, Blake, and my dad! We ate, talked, laughed, DANCED, yes we all danced, and watched movies. The xbox Kinect is an AMAZING thing and sooo fun (that's how we were able to dance it up)! In fact Blake and I are looking into getting one. We paused our movie and counted down. It was my 2nd New Years Eve kiss with Blake. My 2nd New Years kiss period. And I am looking forward to bringing in sooo many more New years with Blake, and whatever family we are surrounded by. This year it happened to be mine. We still need to set our goals for the year 2011, but I have no doubt that there will be big changes this year. Good changes. Shortly following the New Year was my sweeties 24th Birthday! I can't believe it...I'm married to a 24 yr old!! 1 more year and he will be a quarter of a century! AH! It's not that old..but really..it is..I'll be turning a measely 21 this year. I can't seem to picture myself at his age..and yet it's not even that old! Silly me. Anyways, we were able to celebrate with my family before we left back to Canada, and then right after we got back, we were able to celebrate his actual birthday with his family! He got lot's of great gifts, and lots of yummy ice cream..cakes! I love you Babe! Happy Birthday!!! :) One year older..and almost wiser. :) Blake and his birthday cake in Utah. Blake and his Birthday Cake at his Family's house. Yes, he's biting the candle. Weirdo.

December Continued

As you know, we were headed to Utah this Christmas to be with my family! We left around the middle of December and were there for about 3 weeks. It was soooo nice!!! I was so happy that Blake was able to be with me the WHOLE time too. Usually, I'm there for a few weeks, and then he comes for only a week at most. This was the longest he had ever been with my family, so it was suuuch a nice change!! I was really happy that my family could get to know him even better! And that he could get to know them better as well! It needs to happen more often, if I do say so myself. Unfortunately, that's probably the longest we will ever get for Christmas Break in a long time, because hopefully I will be able to get myself a job soon!! But who knows, maybe where I work would be flexible if they knew that I hardly got to spend time with my family?! I don't know. But I definately cherished all the moments and laughs that we had this Christmas! I was also grateful that the roads were good both going there and back (even though we had a tire explode on the way back.)

Some of the traditions that we have in my family for Christmas are getting new pj's, and putting them on Christmas Eve, a new ornament, decorating giant gingerbread men cookies, and having a Christmas Eve dinner with the Grandparents and reading the story of the saviors birth!!

It was especially fun this year, because it was both mine and Blake's first Christmas with our Nephew Robert, who is 2 years old! He is sooo fun right now! Of couse he goes through the terrible 2 tantrums just like any other kid his age. But his cuteness makes up for it! He still is warming up to Blake, in fact most of the time he tries to avoid Blake, and even tries to take me "safely" away from him. :) Eventually!! I think when he gets older he'll be able to remember him better as Uncle Blake, and not some scary man that is always with his Aunty Missy.
And don't get me wrong! I LOVED being with everyone in my family! Every single person. It's just especially fun to have a little one running around entertaining everyone, or at least keeping you busy! He's still so new to the family, well, at least to me because I left when he wasn't even a year old yet.

Anyways!! Here are a few pictures!!

The family!! We love you all!!
From left to right- Wes (Danae's husband), Danae, Robert, Mom, Nicole, Dad, Brandon, Me, and Blake.

The Wardell kids with the Grandparents (Mom's side). Christmas eve.

This is Blake and mine's creation. We always create the ugliest, yet cutest, things. We're great together. :) He was delicious!








And...to the right, is Danae and Wes's. Blake and I will get there...one day. It's sooo cute!! If you couldn't tell, its an ugly Christmas Sweater.




Christmas Eve dinner! It was sooo good!! I can't quite remember what the actual piece of meat was called that we have, but it was a type of Rib Roast!? Sooo tender and juicy!! Yum!! That along with greek salad, Lion House Rolls (amazing), German Noodles (aka Spetzle, like I said, family favorite!) And Sparkling cranberry juice! I never have really liked Horseradish with my roast, but my Mom made a really good mix of like, Horseradish and Sour cream! IT WAS SO GOOD!

This is what we woke up to Christmas Morning! Even at 20 years old, it still excites me!









Blake and I Christmas Morning!


Blake and I were really thought of this Christmas and I was so happy to share everything that I've experienced my whole life, with Blake this year! And I can't wait to do it again!

Also, can I just say I saved so much money by waiting to shop for Christmas presents 3 days before Christmas down in Utah!? Seriously, so much. People have crazy sales when it's a few days before Christmas! Loved it.

Oooo, another awesome present Blake and I gave ourselves was a very nice and needed teeth cleaning!! Yet again, saved a lot of money!

Anyways! Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

December Happenings

I forgot a very important part about our month of November in 2010. Yup. The WHOLE month of November. Or more so "Movemeber". Blake grew this beauty in support of Prostate Cancer. It's pretty nasty, but he does pull it off well. :) Anyways. Just like the rest of the months in 2010, November flew by just as fast. Next came Decemeber. Which brought two very big birthdays for two of Blakes sisters. 18 and 16!! Within a week of eachother! So amongst all the busy schedules we were able to finally pick out a weekend to go "celebrate", their birthdays! (I put celebrate in " because they had already celebrated with presents and everything before we could make it out there.) The girls are both on cheer this year so they're sooo busy!! Like we hardly see them anymore! But its so fun for them! But we went out and while they were at a game having to cheer, since the girls BOTH didn't get a birthday cake, only presents..kind of backwards, Blakes mom, sister-in-law, and me decided to make them both cakes to come home to. 6 hours people. 6 hours of cake decorating. Heres the 18 yr olds cake. Sooo cute! But you have no idea how HARD it was to get the fondant that brown. I had the job of kneading the color into the fondant...I was almost positive I had carpell tunnel syndrome after both cakes. My mom decorates cakes...she had to have surgery for just that...and I now understand COMPLETELY how that happened. Way to go Mom!! The 16 yr olds. Yeah..I complained about the brown.... Black fondant....is the devil. It's just better to buy the fondant that way, if any of you are going to go out and try it! I was very proud of the result though. But my hands were literally purple and blue from it..not bruises..just the coloring. So that was the begining of December for us, actually more so the middle. The girls came home and were very happy!! We didn't even end up eating it, but oh well. At least we know we can do it. The next weekend, we went back to Blakes family's house, and were able to have a little Christmas Eve/ Christmas with them. We had a bunch of appetizers for dinner, and made the traditional Happy Pop!! Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of that. Blakes brother and his wife were also there to celebrate, since we were both going to be away this year for Christmas. (Coordinating it so that we can all be together the next year of course!). In Blake's family it's tradition to open new pj's on Christmas eve, so we did that as well. In my family we always just bought new pj's that we wanted, so we figured it worked out perfectly to still do that with his family and then have new pj's with mine! This year the girls got footie pajamas! Mine were elmo and had little elmo heads on the feet! They were cute! My nephew loved playing with them when we were down in Utah. We got lot's of wonderful presents from Blake's family, it was a nice way to kick off the Christmas Season for both me and Blake.

It's Been Awhile!

Well.. I've definately slacked in blogging mine and Blake's life. But..good news... I'M BACK!!! I have a lot to catch up on, but like usual I have a TON of time to do it, and so I am now committing. By the end of this week we will be up to date on what is going on in our lives.

So, for the first blog post in the time line..of up until now will be Thanksgiving. What? Thanksgiving..yeah, it was almost over two months ago..so what.

So we were planning on making it down to Utah for American Thanksgiving. But we suffered the loss of our dear cousin Taylor Tolman, so that weekend we had a funeral instead of a feast. It happened so fast what happened with Taylor. He had been in the hospital for over a month before we went and visited him. It made me realize that sometimes no matter how busy your schedule may seem, you ALWAYS need to make time for the important things. Especially family. We visiting him, literally, the day before things went down hill. Blake and I are so grateful that we did and will always keep the memory of him in our hearts. It still hurts me because the last thing I said to him when walking out of that hospital door was "I PROMISE we will see you again." Though it's not going to be in this life.. Taylor, my promise still stands. :)

Anyways, so because of that we had a change of plans and I made a LITTLE Thanksgiving dinner for me and my hubsy! It wasn't anything extravegant, but it made me happy. Blake has yet to experience an American Thanksgiving with my family, so I'm banking on it this year!!

Here are some pictures!
See, like I told you.. very tiny! We didn't even have turkey.. just a Rotissery Chicken! With gravy, stuffing (that we had left over from Canadian Thanksgiving, yay for freezing) and some spetzla aka german noodles.

You might be wondering what the heck those are..but they are a HUGE tradition in my family!! What it is..is..well.. Just flour and eggs! But with some gravy or cheese or anything else you want...sooo good! My grandparents gave me my own Spetzla press knowing how much I love them.
Unfortunately..I didn't have any white flour to work with..so I changed up the recipe using whole wheat flour..BIG mistake.. such a waste of flour..and of noodles. But hey, we tried! And now we know!


This is our make shift "pumpkin pies" I didn't have the time, being as this was a last minute Thanksgiving, so instead I found this easy recipe of a Pumpkin Pie Crumble Cake. It was soooo good!!! I have a favorite recipe that is the same, only using cherry pie filling. It is so good! As was this!

So that's pretty much it for now! :) Can't wait to write about Christmas!!!

Meet P.J.

So for the past little while, Blake and I have considered getting a dog! After having to leave my beloved Rusty in Utah, the dog of which I've had for 9 years this thanksgiving, I've had an aching in my heart for a dog. I love them. They truly are man's best friend, or at least they are mine! I want to save all the dogs in the world. Ceasar Millan, the dog whisperer, is my hero. I'm obsessed with his ability to "rehabilitate" dogs, and train owners. I take to heart everything he says about dog's behaviors and how all they really want to be in the world..well is a dog. Anyways, I will rant about him another time!

Well, I have decided against it for the time being. We have a place right now that would allow a pet, but I just don't think it would be smart (Financially or work wise) since we will be leaving in the summer! So, maybe next year. It also limits us when looking to find a final place and what not!

To make up for the ache that I've had...we borrowed Blake's family dog for the past couple weeks. I've loved every minute of it! Well most..he's had some whining issues, but thats where we have put in to play what Ceasar Millan has taught us, through his show, and his book. And he is doing great! It's been such a blast to play with him, snuggle, and just have been enjoying the company of having a dog spirit in the house! It really is uplifting!

Among walks, I took the opportunity to give him a nice bath, and a hair cut!

Here he is :). So cute! Thanks for coming P.J. we will surely have you over again!!! I think i did pretty good for my first time grooming a dog. :) I didn't think to take a before pic! Sorry.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from our Beloved Tarantula, Timmy!




Blakes Brother and his wife!

Blake and I both carved Half
of a face on the pumpkin!

Blakes Half.




My half, I knew he was going to be doing something crazy,
So i tried to make mine evil.. :)

The result.

So, I made chicken enchiladas and wanted to make them Halloweenish. Hence the Boo written in Olives! :) It worked for me!





All of our Pumpkins! Blake did his side first, and he did the mouth very high up on the pumpkin..so the candles had a tough time lighting
him up! But we still loved our creation!









On Sunday, I made Dinner in a pumpkin! It was soooo good! Definately will be a tradition for us!






We got a total of 14 trick or treaters that night! Blake and I had a lot of fun passing out the candy to the cuties! Some of them..were too old to be trick or treating I think. And when we only gave them one piece each, they'd look at us like we were the worst "Halloweeners" out there. I didn't feel bad at all though, especially because we were limited on candy, and they would come in huge groups with pillowcases full of candy. They were perfectly loaded!

Anyways, next year Blake and I are hoping to hit up some party and be able to dress up! We didn't hear about any parties this year, so we just had a relaxing time at home!

Also, I've noticed a lot of people are already putting up their Christmas decorations..I absolutely am going to be jumping on that Bandwagon!!! I think once it snows a lot more people will be putting theirs up too! I can't believe it hasn't snowed yet, IN CANADA...in NOVEMBER!!! It's snowed in Utah multiple times already. Absolute insanity!

Conference Weekend/Canadian Thanksgiving

Last weekend Blake and I were able to go to Utah for his mission reunion, conference, and mostly to visit my family!

We left Thursday, a day earlier then I had planned, and stayed till Tuesday, which was a day later then I had planned as well! As short of a trip that it was, it was all very worth it.

Last year I only got to see my family every 6 months! I was not going to do that again. This year of course was going to be a little different, we aren't settling in anymore, and we learned that Blake being the only one able to work, and going to school is not good. So we lightened the load with Blake only taking 2 classes, and not working as many shifts that are as long or late! So we have a lot more time to travel, plus we don't have his WONDERFUL grant anymore, unfortunately, so he can afford to miss some school!

We didn't do much while we were down there. My main focus was to get Blake to be an Uncle. He is an uncle you know. Sometimes we both forget he is an Uncle, because he hasn't been around Robert enough to feel like he is! We got to do a lot of catching up! We of course, hit up Cafe Rio while we were down there as well!



Blake with Rusty, my dog that I've had since 6th grade.

Unfortunately, I didn't get hardly any pictures..I should be better about that. Next time we go down I will snap a lot of pictures.



This is Blake with one of his Mission Presidents. President Barrett. I absolutely loved meeting them, they were both very sweet!

This past weekend, was Canadian thanksgiving! I LOVE being able to have 2 thanksgivings in a year!! One right after the other, and then following them Christmas. It makes fall the absolute best season of the year! Now, the actual Holiday is on monday, but we always will be doing the dinner on Saturday so that we can have monday to play, instead of everyone eating and then heading back to their homes.

I went out a couple days early to help Mama Schnoor with the meal. I made pumpkin pies last year, and they were a pretty big success, so I decided I would make them again, along with one of my holiday favorites Candied Yams. Emily was there a day after me, and all 3 of us were in the kitchen all day long! It was a lot of fun.

I'm grateful for the opportunities that I have to really practice my homemaking skills. This year Mama Schnoor fed 20 people!!! I couldn't even believe it! But I can't wait until I have my own family, and am feeding that many people! It's weird to think that in a few years, Mama and Papa Schnoor and my parents, will no longer be the ones feeding their kids, but we will be feeding them!!! So exciting!!!

I love the holidays that we are able to reflect on the things we are grateful for, and the ones that have meaning behind them. I also love that it brings everyone that we love together!

Anyways, once again I did not get any pictures of the feast...next year I will for sure. The amount of food is Unbelievable. We devoured a 24 lb turkey if that gives you any idea! My favorite part......leftovers!

That's what we have been up to!

P.s. I got my Winnie the Pooh halloween town out of storage and am SOOO excited to set that up. Blake has also agreed to let me spend 10 dollars on dollar store halloween decorations.. :) its all we can afford! Love it.