V-day

Not the best pic cause I started talking but I think Nick looks great!

The amazing view from our room! I love, love, love Valentine's Day. I'm totally a sucker for romance, love, flowers, chocolate, you name it I love it. Luckily Nick made it home just in time to celebrate with me. We stayed at the Grand America. Everybody kept making fun of me for staying in a hotel in the city I live but I have to say it's amazing. It's like a miny vacation and you don't have to travel far. You have a great room, you don't have to clean, you can eat in bed, free bathrobes, sleep in, use free soap and tissue, go to the spa and the pool and you've got like a million pillows and towels. What could be better? We had so much fun! And the prime rib buffet was amazing (I highly recommend it). Plus they had about 30 different chocolate desserts. Much to Nick's embarassment I tried almost all of them. I'm so grateful he was home to spend one of my favorite holidays together! Love you sweetie!

The "stache"!

For those of you who don't know Nick is down in Southern Utah for most of this semester. The University of Utah is one of the few programs in the nation who offers the opportunity for their students to spend a year designing a house for a native american family. They then live in Southern Utah and actually build the house that they designed. He is gone for two weeks at a time and then home for a week. This is a bummer for me but it's such an amazing experience for Nick I couldn't say no. He has loved being down there. If you want to see updates from Bluff and see what they are doing you can check out the link on the right called "Blog for Nick's Project in Bluff, Utah". Since he has been so busy down there he didn't have much time to shave so he grew a beard. It was cute to see him with a full beard! I think it was really hard for him since he is such a pretty boy. He says it itched like crazy. I told he better shave for church when he was home and he came out of the shower with a mustache. It was so funny. We didn't have time to shave it all so he actually ended up going to church with it. Our ward is huge and we don't know everyone so I think people who didn't know him thought he was serious, it was so funny! He is also working on growing his hair out so he can cut a mullet with steps. I'll post pictures if he actually does it. I love these pics he looks so hot, I think he should be a model!

Way overdue!

I know I'm super slow posting everything but I thought I would finally post some Holiday pictures. Not very exciting at this point but I feel like I've got to at least post something! Nick and I are way lucky because our families do everything together over the Holiday season so we get to be with everyone all the time. We had a blast this year playing games including the famous peanut game with Maddie loves (Maddie is Nick's cousin, she's the one in the leotard because she performed a ballet number for us, so cute!!). Nick, Toph and Enj had an arm wrestling contest, played some Guitar Hero, Boogle, Pit and we all played a mean game of House of Fire. Gloria made Toph an ugly sweater. It was so funny, I remember how those sweaters use to be so cool! I think the Petersons dog looked hilarious, I think that just might be our Christmas card next year.

My dad was so cute and suprised my mom with a big screen TV for her new living room, dining room and kitchen (they are currently redoing their house). She was so suprised that she almost cried! My dog even got her yearly present, which she managed to rip apart in a few hours. After leaving Logan Nick and I enjoyed our time off together. It was so much fun to relax and get things done around the house. We even finally hung up some pics around the house! Nick made an awesome spread of pictures he took from his travels, it's amazing I love it!! We also went out to eat with Kristin and Kolony and their families. I swear the kids are getting so big, so fast! I love the Holiday season for a million reasons and am always sad to see them end.

Merry Christmas!!!!

In case I don't get to see all of you I want to make sure to wish you Happy Holidays!!! I would put a cute picture like all the christmas cards we keep getting but I'm afraid we don't have one. Maybe some day when we have kids.

Christmas present idea for the ironing challenged

Yes we are still alive. We have been really busy and I'll be honest, not really had anything exciting to post. Poor Nick came to bed at 5:00 this morning and my alarm went off at 5:15. We had 15 minutes of quality cuddling. I've been meeting Nick for dinner up at school since I was on call the last two nights - ahh, kind of crazy! He has yet to come home at a normal hour if at all, I feel so bad - he works so hard! Just a few more weeks of craziness this semester! In the mist of the madness I had to post about my steamer (I know not a very exciting post, sorry, but I keep using it and just have to share). 3 years ago for Christmas my parents gave us a clothes steamer. Now for most people this might seem like a silly present but I almost cried. I do not like to iron. Really do not like to iron. My mom is an ironing manic. She even irons underware, towels, sheets, you get the idea, and everything looks like it just got back from the dry cleaner (my dad is amazing at it too). Apparently the ironing gene skips a generation. Even when we were dating Nick had to iron for me. He would come over early before church and help me. I know sad, I can handle most domestic things but I can't seem to get the hang of ironing. Even when I do iron whatever I iron ends up looking about the same, I just don't get it! Anyway, the steamer must be one of the best inventions ever. My clothes have never looked so good. So for anyone looking for a last minute present for Christma I highly recommend it! If anyone has any other secrets about how to have ironed looking clothes without ironing I would love to hear them!

Europe

We went to Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Lichtenstein. We saw lots of sweet modern buildings (too many to put on the blog), drove through the swiss alps, found my dream car, went to the Mercedes and BMW museum, visited the Olympic stadium and about a million other things (and no that is not beer but there were really men in Lederhosen).

It's over!!

I took my second board exam today. It was 9 hours long and was kind of crazy! But I'm done. It was so sweet Nick figured out how to call me this morning from Switzerland to wish me good luck! I think it was the middle of the night there and he had no idea how he was going to call but he figured something out. I have the sweetest husband ever! Now I just have to wait forever for the results! And count down the minutes until Nick gets home!

Lots of Studying

This is how exciting our lives look right now. I know I haven't posted forever but way too much of our time has been spent sitting at this table studying side by side. Not very glamorous! I have my second board exam next week and Nick is trying to get a lot of homework done before he leaves for Europe on Saturday. Sad, I know, I am going to be an architecture widow again. But I'm excited for Nick to see an amazing part of the world that I love! Things have been kind of crazy trying to apply for Residency and schedule interviews. That and trying to fit every outdoor activity we can think of in before it snows: road biking, tennis, golf, soft ball, long walks, and sitting by the pool, it's been so fun in spite of the many hours we have been studying! I can't believe how time flies. I feel so lucky to have such a wonderful companion to share this sweet journey with. It's so fun to know he is right next to me every step of the way! And I'm amazed by how long he can sit in one chair and stare at the computer screen without getting up!

Legacy Highway

For those of you who don't know already Legacy Highway is now open! My favorite part is the new trail for biking. We love road biking and the more trails closer to us the better! Check it out if you get a second.

My New Favorite Thing

So my friend Anne Marie put this on her blog awhile ago and I have finally gotten around to using it and this is the best thing ever! Instead of using 411 (which we do often to find phone numbers and addresses) you can use the free google version - 800-goog-411 or 800-466-4411. We have saved lots of money! Hope you will all enjoy it as much as I have! Thanks Anne Marie.

The Last Days of Summer

I'm sorry I know this is way overdue (sorry girls) but I kept forgetting to post these fun pictures. These last few weeks have been such a blast, we have been trying to soak up every last minute of summer that we could. Ty and Karli's wedding was beautiful and so much fun (especially watching everyone dance). It was so great to be with all of Nick's friends and their cute wives. Karli's dress was so amazing and she looked so beautiful. We have to do it again soon for sure! We have also spent a lot of time with our families. Nick was Toph's caddy for the Utah Amatuer golf tournament. It was cute to watch the two of them together. We also had a bbq with both our families on the 24th. My favorite was trying to watch Toph hit a golf ball to the country club from my parents backyard (which is very far away), sorry if anyone between here and there got hit with a golf ball that day. Just barely we had our last dinner with Brit before she moves back to New York. It is so sad to see her go! Sorry for the millions of pictures!