Thank You 2011
12312011
Tonight, New Year’s Eve… yes! Tyler and I ate dinner at his parent’s house and then went to mine for a good ol’ fashioned New Year’s Party. It was mostly planned by my friend Matt, I just provided the house. It was super fun though, we had white elephants, we visited over finger food, played in the game room and double dash and ended the night with lego pictionary. Then it was out into the street for the final countdown. We blew horns and popped poppers. I then snapped this lovely shot… if you’re grossed out, don’t look at it you silly goone. 2011, you were SO good to me: I lost 40 pounds, I graduated from College with a four year degree, I met the love of my life, I got to spend one wonderful week with my ENTIRE family, I married the man of my dreams, I got a dream job and got my first New Year’s kiss…mmm. I know that 2012 is going to be ten times better, but I don’t think I will do a photo-a-day again… but I will start some sort of new blog. Stay tuned for that. Remember, a lot can happen in 365 days, you may start out one way and end up completely turned around and around, but I don’t take back any of it. In fact, thank you 2011… I owe you one.
Half Day
12302011
I only had to work for a half a day. It was so super nice. I came home and pulled out this bad boy… it is a burlap CD case containing the CDs of our wedding day. I spent the rest of what would be considered the work day, posting all of our engagments, bridals, temple photos and reception photos. It took forever and a day. Apologies to all of those who get bored half way through the albums. Tyler got home from work and we changed into a sunday best and dashed off to the Jordan River temple to do an endowment session. It was my first time back to the temple since I had been sealed to my sweetheart. I love going to the temple… so much! Afterwards, we went to Chili’s… my favorite for one last night out of the year.
Long Lost Love
12292011
Sara and Bob invited us over to their in-law’s house (where they are living) for dinner with Aubrey and her new boyfriend, Kevin. I gave Aubrey her new mustache necklace before dinner. Sara made chicken cordon bleu with some super yummy mashed potato-y things. After dinner we went exploring in the basement. If you recall, Sara and Bob painted us this desk awhile back for our wedding. They brought it here on the moving truck and it became a tad bit damaged. But here it is in all it’s glory. It is oh-so-very beautiful and I cannot wait to have it in our house. The boys then all played nintendo while the girls modeled old/dated wedding dresses that Sara snagged from a friend in Pittsburgh before the moved out here. It was hilarious; our men were just rolling their eyes at how hard we were laughing. We even got loads of pictures of our trains flowing down the stairs. Man, I’ve missed my sisters.
More Mustaches
12282011
Work was a little slow today and my co-worker Heidi brought in some of her clay/sculpted necklace charms. I gawked at how cute they all were and realized that this one had to be bought. But, I feel like my life has been so filled with mustaches as of late. No, this was not purchased for me. The moment I saw it, I knew that this was to be given to my little sister Aubrey. Her birthday was a whole sixteen days ago—what a terrible sister I am. Tyler and I topped the night off with more 30 Rock and some lovely/much desired Cafe Rio.
The Day After
12272011
It was back to reality too abruptly today. Blugh! But, happy dinner to me for Tyler and I went to Rhumbi for dinner tonight. See, I am going back on an Ideal Protein-esque diet come 2012 and Tyler and I are trying to get some good eats in before we wont be eating the same meals. We brought our sweet potato fries and other foods home to eat. After consuming we snuggled under this bad boy of a quilt. My Grandma Bush made it for our wedding but the fabric didn’t come in time, so she gave it to us last night for our one month anniversary. It’s SO warm and I love the little personalized note on the corner with our names and theirs along with our wedding date.
One Month
12262011
Tyler and I have officially been married one month. Crazy cakes, eh? I was very set on getting more done today, since we were on such a roll last night. But this day turned into quite the wonderful day. We slept WAY in and stayed in getting caught up on the newest addition to our show list: Once Upon A Time. Which is beginning to be dear to our hearts as the creators also made magic creating LOST. We ordered pizza and ate it in our pajamas in our bed. It was a nice rebellious day. Towards the night-time, we went to my Grandma and Grandpa Bushs’ house. Today is my Mom’s birthday and it was also the Bush Christmas get-together. As a family, we all got my grandparents a new computer and printer. They were in dire need of them and they were oh-so-very grateful. We played some around the room games here and there and then we dashed home to unfortunately, go back to reality tomorrow.
I Must-ach You A Question
12252011
Tyler and I had every intention to go to our own ward this morning, but we were just so pooped. So we got up and got ready for my parent’s church because my Mom was singing in the ward choir and Aubrey was performing with them on her violin. We had a bit of time before we needed to leave so we decided to open our under the ‘tree’ gifts. I got Tyler Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, The Spongebob Movie, Spongebob season 1 and 3 and a power drill. Tyler got me season 4 of 30 Rock, the new Steve Jobs book, as well as the new Tina Fey book (I adore biographies!) and a painting from his friend Brian that we both dearly admire. After church, we had breakfast for lunch and made these chocolate mustaches. Aubrey got us mustache molds for our late wedding present and we decided to break them in today. You like? Then, it was Christmas present time. My Mom always finds an area in the family room and designates it as ours and then she lays out all of our gifts in such a pretty arrangement. It’s really cool because you take it in all at once and you save on wrapping. Once we got back to our apartment we started going to town on putting things away. We were up very late but we got all of our clothes and shoes put away as well as all of our food put away in the pantry. They seem like small tasks, but they sure did take forever.
REAL Christmas Eve
12242011
This morning Tyler and I went to Kneaders with Stephanie, Megan and the Joshuas for our annual Christmas Eve breakfast, where we chat it up and consume never-ending french toast. We then came home and finished wrapping our presents. We never got a tree this year and we definitely wanted the tomato cages outside, so this was our designated ‘Christmas tree’: my Ikea lamp that I found in the as-is section, 1/2 off, I might add. We then went to my parent’s house for the traditional Chinese food consuming. After our Asian delight, we watched Christmas Vacation because Tyler had never seen it and it is a Duncan Family classic! Oh that Chevy Chase! My Dad gets a kick out of him every time.
Gettin’ In The Spirit
12232011
I only worked a half day today (thank you Miche), but it definitely was a busy one. We have a gigantic project going on at work and I have had zero time to go Christmas shopping for my honey. So I took advantage of the half day-ness and got some REALLY good things! When Tyler got home we went shopping for the last items of business (well what we hope are the last items of business) for our home organization. We bought a shelving unit at Target that we jimmy-rigged to be taller for our food storage in the second bedroom. After that we FINALLY made our porch decorations for Christmas… better late than never, eh? How great did these turn out? Tyler even had these mini glass ornaments that tied the whole thing together so well. You know what else? He also rigged that star on the right to stay on the tomato cage (it was originally this star that had a USB attached that you plugged into your computer and it flashed all sorts of colors).
Whitely Organized
12222011
When I arrived home after work, Tyler had been putting his clothes away that he had gathered from his parent’s house the other day. We really are trying to get our house in order, but it is so hard with us working all the time. We then moved our attention to the second bedroom. That room has been sort of our anything and everything room. In order to organize it, we had to take everything out of it and bring it into the living room. We got it all set up the way that we want it, but now it is just a matter of going through all these piles of junk and organizing them in a lovely fashion. Wish us luck!
Husbands and Nephews and Brother-In-Laws, Oh My!
12212011
I couldn’t get work off today to go and with the family for lunch and take Matt to the MTC… boo radley! When I got home, Tyler had finished our bookshelf that we bought for the second bedroom AND had picked up toys for Duncan to play with at his parent’s house tonight. Isn’t he so great? We watched Duncan for a couple of hours. Duncan is a bit of a Daddy’s boy, so he doesn’t really take well to girls… even his own Aunts. So even though Tyler is brand new to the family, Duncan takes to him like marinara to bread sticks. So I just got out some toys and showed them to him, but he really just loved to play with Tyler and sit on his lap and roll the ball with him. Later in the evening we put on some Sponge Bob for Duncan. I totally fell asleep…oops. Sadly, Duncan didn’t even notice.
Dear Matthew…
12202011
I packed an extra change of clothes this morning to take to work. For when I got off of work I went straight to Tyler’s parent’s house to have dinner and be present at Matt’s setting-apart. He is now a missionary. I cried during the blessing, as did most of the family. I don’t know Matt very well, but this is what I DO know. Matt is a hard worker, even though Tyler always says how much he complains, I’ve seen Matt hard at work and he doesn’t stop until the job is done. He loves pizza… loves loves loves the stuff. He totally reminds me of Napoleon Dynomite—not in a bad way of course… he just has that bit of annoyance in his voice sometimes that replicates Napoleon so well. I can’t help but giggle. Matt has recently picked up crocheting and boy howdy is he good at it. I think he picked it up like a month and a half ago and he’s basically made a blanket. Matt is also a runner and works out A LOT! He sometimes does P90X two times a day just because he is bored. And my most favorite thing about Matt (besides that teethy smile) is that he has enough t-shirts that he can wear one everyday without wearing the same one for like six months. So. Cool.
Little Spit Fire
12192011
After work I met Tyler over at my parent’s house to show them our Wedding photos. My Dad got home early yesterday morning from driving with the Rich’s back to Utah from Pittsburgh. So, we go to see them and little Dunky-Doodle! He is so rambunctious! I love it; how I have missed him so. Sara and Bob asked Tyler and I if we would babysit Duncan this week and we were absolutely thrilled. I now cannot wait for Wednesday!
Good-bye & Hello
12182011
Tyler and I got up very early this morning and he tried to finish up our dresser. Before he could finish we left to go to Matt’s farewell. He did such a good job. We then ate some grub catered by this awesome family in Tyler’s parent’s ward that used to own this Island restaurant. Super good. After all was said and done, we came home to finish this lovely dresser. I actually took a nap and Tyler finished the dresser. When I awoke he helped me put together an art desk that has been sitting in a box waiting to be put together at my parent’s house for the passed six or seven years. It was a bugger of a desk so Tyler had to take over for me half way through. What a good night for putting things together. And now we have this lovely dresser to complete our bedroom.
Fake Christmas Day
12172011
We slept in a bit today and woke up to Tyler’s little brother, Kevin making homemade turnovers. Yum, yum. Then it was time to open presents: we got two huge boxes of groceries from Tyler’s Mom & Dad as well as these matching Mario pajama’s (there’s a matching shirt too). After presents were torn open, it was time to Skype with Tyler’s other little brother, Jason, who is on a mission in Brasil. It was cool to hear his accent and see his face. Once off the phone with him we tore into the package he had sent the family for Christmas. There were some authentic cookies in there that tasted pretty hilarious. After all the festivities, Tyler and I set out to find that stinkin’ dresser that just doesn’t want to show itself. We went to Ikea and lo and behold there she blew… (pictures to come once she’s put together). The Ikea trip was also so that we could meet up with our photographer to gather the CDs that contained our wedding pictures. Can’t. Wait. To. See!
