Christmas 2010 Highlights

An Island Park Christmas Tree

Collin went to Idaho with his Dad and a few brothers-in-law. Brother-in-laws. Whatever. Anyway, they went up there and legally, with a permit, chopped down a couple trees for Christmas this year. Being our 2nd Christmas, and having just upgraded into a normal-sized-ceiling home, we could actually get a good sized tree this year. We also got a bunch of old ornaments from Collin's childhood. Love them.

Couples Christmas Party

We were able to get together with a few of our friends. Cory and Bree hosted this time at her grandparents house in Bountiful. It was so much fun to get gussied up, have a nice yummy meal and play games together. We are so blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives and to be able to spend time with them during the holidays. Love our friends! :)

Nostalgic Anniversary

Exactly 2 years ago, on Christmas day, Collin flew to Colorado to propose. Such a surprise~ I loved looking back on this post and reliving all of those great feelings and emotions. He's always so thoughtful and I am so grateful for that Christmas day back in '08. (That sounds like it was so long ago... we're totally veterans haha...) Anyway, I love Christmas because I get to spend it with my sweet hubs.

A Rothey Christmas

So, 2 years ago, the above happened, and then last year we spent the holidays in Colorado with my family (Collin's parents were in Africa on their mission, so we didn't have to flip a coin or anything to choose one way or the other). This year, we stayed in Utah and headed to Layton with most of Collin's family there. It was fun to see the similarities and differences between our family traditions. We had a great weekend with them. Luckily, we'll be able to spend some time in Colorado next week, also.

Gift-giving

Collin is seriously the best gift-giver. He doesn't like suggestions or hints, and just does his own thing. I love it, because I'm totally surprised and never expect anything. This year was no different. He completely out-did himself. Love that guy. We're also super lucky to have such generous parents and grandparents. They showered us with love and gifts. We're so grateful! My mom did an amazing job creating a book for my Grandpa Lee. She compiled letters from everyone in the family addressed to him, put them in a book with pictures and it is AMAZING! Love it. She also made an awesome bracelet with some of my Grandma Shirley's old earrings. LOVE it! :)

Christmas

I love this holiday. It's a great time of year to reflect on our lives and realize how blessed we are. I'm so grateful for my Savior, Jesus Christ! For his birth. His life. His example. His Sacrifice. His love. He is the reason for the season!

Summer 2010 Recap: Colorado Trip

I LOVE Colorado!

At the end of July/beginning of August, we went to Colorado for a quick wknd trip. My cousin Kristen got married to Brad Pinwell. The sealing was wonderful and she looked spectacular.

I am so happy I was able to make it there for the special party! Mya was the flower girl and Peyton was the ring bearer. Can they get any cuter?

We also got to meet Brody, Jen and Dustins new baby! He is so cute! Along with Emily's twins, I feel like I was taking pictures of the babies all wknd long. I loved it. Again, can they get any cuter?

Aside from babies and wedding, we obviously had to hit up the lake. Can't go to Colorado, during the summertime, and NOT go to the lake! So, we went! :)

The sweetest thing happened. There was a crop duster fartin around nearby fields and he put on the raddest show for us. He started out flying underneath the power lines, and then up super fast. AND THEN he flew the length of the lake super super low.... probably 15-20 ft above the water is all and went right by us when the boat was stopped to swap out wakeboarders. It was amazing. I'm so glad I had our new cam out on the boat!

SLC, PC & UC!

A few wknds ago, we had the opportunity to go down to Salt Lake, Park City and Utah County for a bunch of great things happening. It was full of family, friends and fun! It started out Friday morning with us meeting up with my parents, grandparents and Clay and Jeanie at their hotel. They had come into SLC Thursday night for Daron and DaniBree's wedding dinner. We then went to the SLC temple for the sealing. We hadn't been to a sealing there before, and it was absolutely beautiful.

Kent/Heidi, Clarke/Jo and obviously Nea/Steve were there along with those of us I already mentioned. I loved being there with family, even though noone else from Colorado had come.

We got to hang out the rest of the weekend in Salt Lake and Park City. As was mentioend previously, we stayed with the crew at the Marriott MountainSide, and the reception was at the St. Regis.

The Reception!

About that - this was the most intense reception I have ever been to. It was incredible. So many different things going on. The location was breathtaking. A few posts ago, I said it was a gondolla that you take up to the hotel, but I stand corrected. It was a finicular. Such a fabulous view. Going down was a little scary, but it was awesome more than anything.

Anyway, back to the reception.

I haven't seen a better wedding video than DaniBree and Darons. It was so well done. They each talked about their dating/engagement story and gave their perspective. Then there was actual footage of the proposal. Daron is quite the romantic, and I was so impressed with it all. There was dancing... a lot of dancing. At first, the wedding party danced into the room in couples. Then the brides sibs/spouses, daron/db and anna danced to the Black Eyed Peas' "I've got a feeling." It was super fun and creative. There was also a cute presentation DaniBree's dad did with live butterflies. Apparently her great...great grandma was Native American and he talked about a legend in telling a butterfly your secret, it'll keep it safe and take it to the Great Spirit so that it'll come true. So, there was a bunch of butterflies flying all over the place. It was cool, I'd never seen anything like it before.

The rest of the wknd was great just hanging out with my parents and grandma/grandpa. It'd been a long time since we were able to spend that much time with them. Grandpa's Alzheimers are getting pretty bad, and sometimes I wonder how much he knows/remembers, or even if he remembers me at all. Well, Sunday when we were saying our gbye's, he gave me a big hug and said "Love You, Sweety." Then the tears started coming. Whether he remembers me or not, he knows he loves me. It was so nice to hear him say that. He and Grandma mean so much to me and have been such incredible examples. They've supported me through so much and are phenomenal people. I love them.

After the crew left, Collin and I went down to Lehi for Owen's baby blessing. Ryan and Laura were nice enough to open their house for it. Brett did such an amazing job, and it was so great to be there with Brett and Kristy for this special time in theirs and Owen's life. We are so blessed to have such fantastic people in our lives. Great family and Great friends. This was truly a fabulous weekend.

Happy Birthday, Grandma!

This day, 82 years ago, my wonderful grandmother came into this world. She really is an incredible woman. Everyone I know calls her Grandma Shirley. There are little children who are not even closely related who call her Grandma Shirley. She's seriously unbelieveable. She remember everyones birthdays and makes everyone feel so special. She has influenced so many people, and probably more people than I can even imagine. Here are a few words to describe her.

Teacher. Compassionate. Funny. Christ-like. Honest. Spiritual. Virtuous. Hard-working. Comforting. Interested. Genuine. Loving. Example. Kind. Understanding. Fabulous. Amazing. Devoted. In-tune. Friend. Involved. Fashionable.

Weekend Visit

The Thornton's came to visit this weekend. Cory, Tiffany, Sadie, Jaxon, Max and Ruby came to visit us this weekend and it was such a fun, yet quick trip. Collin and I loved having them in town. They got into town on Saturday with perfect timing, just after I got out of work. We gave them a quick tour and then went to Angie's for dinner. The tagline for the restaurant is "Where the Locals Eat" so we figured we should give them a taste of Logan. After dinner, we drove around town so that Tiffany could reminisce of the time that she was going to USU. We stopped at the University and walked around a bit. Tiffany took some fun pictures (which I managed to forget to snag off her camera chip). The rest of the weekend was full of horseplay, Super Mario Bros Wii, ganging up to tickle Cory's feet, eating and just spending time together. It was wonderful, and I love that they made their first Spring Break stop in Logan. And I wish I would have taken more pictures. Scratch that. I wish I would have taken pictures period.