These are the cute cupcakes that my cousin Brittany Andersen created.  They turned out so cute and tasty too!!  She is so creative and talented and added a nice element to the party. They were a hit with everyone.

 These are the marzipan balls that we created and then covered them in chocolate.  I love marzipan and it is a fun family tradition that I know I want to carry on for many years to come.

 My brother, Sterling showing off his awesome Marzipan creation. It looks a bit realistic if you really look at it.  He surprised us all on what he can create with the Marzipan.

 My cousins, Emily (in the pink), Sam, Heidi (blonde), and Sarah (front) dipping the marzipan.

 All the family gathered around listening to what my grandparents had to say.

Our little nephew, Cole which was very happy this evening!!

 My grandparents opening their gift.  It was pretty awesome and I know it will be used often when we go down to visit them in Southern Utah.

 Here are the cute Marzipan piggies that were offered as prizes to the finders of the almonds in the rice pudding or the buttons in the cupcakes.

We were able to watch Cole yesterday afternoon to give his parents a break. It was such a fun joy to have him over there. We played many games like chase, where's the ball and with bubbles. Below is a picture of Cole playing with Uncle Sterling and a giant stuffed lion.

This is a picture with Cole watching Sam and giggling.
Cole is full of wonder as he is learning about many things around him.
Happy Baby Cole!!

This was taken at Cole's first time at Temple Square. His parents made sure he was bundled up before we all started. I know he won't remember this year, but it will be a tradition that will carry on and will be more memorable for him in the future.

Our First Christmas Together!!!

What a holiday season this has been. I am so glad that I have Sam to spend it with and that we can make it special for each other.

This is our first little tree. We didn't need a very big one, but it does suffice our needs. Sam was so proud when he was able to hang up all the ornaments on the tree. Since this picture we have found a red star for the top and we have a few wrapped gifts under it. (Hopefully I will get a new and updated one before Christmas comes).

We have also decided to decorate our apartment in little ways. One day while I was at Michaels I came across window crayons. Sam and I decided it would be fun to decorate our front window since we both like to draw.

Now before Christmas happens I just have a couple of more things I want to finish.

1) Wrap the rest of the gifts

2) Make gingerbread cookies

Christmas Celebrations

At the Malmstrom Christmas party, our little nephew, Cole was all over the place. He wasn’t really all that hungry, just curious so he crawled around under the table exploring everyone’s feet and trying to grab at the Santa hats that many people were wearing. I blame this on Sam because he first taunted Cole with the idea.

The theme this year was How the Grinch Stole Christmas. We got to dress up in our pajamas and for those that wanted to could come dressed up for the “Who” contest. The Grinch came into the party and handing out coal and disheartening letters to the tables. He also took bites of their desserts and drank out of a few cups. I didn’t want him touching my brownie, so I covered it and hid it from view. Sam thought I was pretty silly, but I didn’t care.

After the food was all eaten and we were all full, the Grinch invited the children up on the stage as he read them the story of how he stole Christmas, he had changed a few details from the original and added some of the names from actual family members (Sam & I included).

As the party was ending and the cleanup was starting my sister, Marietta and Julie wanted to get some pictures because all girls in the family had matching pjs. I think they turned out pretty good.

Cooking Adventures

I admit that I like to stalk other blogs and I realized that I am following a lot of them with craft ideas and run recipes. Over the past little while I have been documenting my own cooking adventures when I cook for Sam. I have made several fun dinners as well as a few desserts. Below are some pictures of what we ate.

On Halloween I created this dish of spaghetti with a red marina sauce served in red peppers. His favorite part was the carved out faces in the peppers.

This was a simple meal, it was just pigs ‘n a blanket, but I made it special with cheddar cheese for me and pepper jack for Sam. I also made a strawberry smoothie to go along with it.

One of my favorite desserts are these chocolate marshmallow cookies. They are so delectable that I wanted to eat more than my fair share. But I took them along with me to school to share with my fellow peers….but Sam was happy too because he got some.

Mini-Hamburgers……what a treat. Sam was the cook of the hamburger and we made them each to our liking. They turned out quite cute and fun to eat as a dinner.

This was a fun birthday breakfast idea. My Mom got up early and made these pancakes. She then stacked the pancakes and added a bit of whipped cream. Then came the candles. We all had fun singing Happy Birthday to her before digging in.

I created these birthday cakes for my sister Marietta’s 14 birthday and my sister-in-laws birthday. I thought they turned out pretty cute!! My sister wanted a Barbie cake and since she told me last minute I couldn’t complete her wish so I thought that I could do a simple fix and complete her dream to somewhat of her liking. It turned out she thought it was cute and fun.

Chocolate-Pistachio Pinwheel Cookies. Well they sounded really tasty and since Sam is a huge pistachio fan I decided to try them. I thought the recipe sounded easy but it turned out to be more complicated and time consuming than originally planned. I want to try this recipe again but it was a pretty good first attempt.

Thanksgiving!!

Sam and I had a tough time figuring out which family to go with for Thanksgiving. I knew that when we got married that figuring out the Holidays would be a part of it. Sam wanted to go to his Aunt and Uncle’s house with his family because they had just gotten back from a mission a month earlier. I wanted to go with my family because they were going down to Alton to have Thanksgiving with my Grandparents and to take Julie (she is the exchange student from Denmark) to see Bryce Canyon and the Grand Canyon. Because Sam had never been there either we decided to do that. Well we thought all was going to happen but then we had a conflict come up with Sam’s work. He could only get Thursday off but not for the rest of the planned vacation. And since Alton is about a 4-hour drive from here in Springville, it would not be worth it. So we decided to spend it with my other Aunts, Uncles and Cousins in South Jordan.

We had decided to go up to my parent’s house the night before so we wouldn’t have to travel on Thanksgiving. So on Thanksgiving morning we watched the Macy’s Parade and I looked through all the ads. After the Parade we went over to my Uncle Lance and Aunt Deb’s house. There was lots of food and good company. Sam and I both ate until we were absolutely stuffed. Then before we knew it the pie was already being served. I was still full and could only eat one small slice of pie. We played Mafia for an hour or two and got a total kick out of it when we figured out that my cousin Heidi was out for vengeance for Sam.

At the end of the day we went back to my parents for the night. It was too late to travel back to Springville so we just extended our trip overnight. I showed Sam some of the deals that I found in the ads from earlier. I convinced him that we could get up and go to a couple of stores before going back to Springville and he would still have time to get to work on time.

All Settled In

It seems that we have settled in now and have gotten on a little bit of a routine each day.

--Get up in the morning, where we each get ready for the day. After we eat breakfast and make lunches Sam leaves around 7:40 am and I leave around 20 minutes later.

--Sam works from 8-6pm Monday - Friday and from 8-5pm on Saturdays. Sam sure is excited for his days off.

--I go to school for Education classes from 10-1pm. That will be that way until November when I will start my final field experience before I start student teaching in January.

--When Sam comes home from work I am usually here with dinner started and knee deep in homework.

--After we are filled with my tasty cooking I finish up my homework and we can usually have some snuggle time before bed.

Even through some days it may seem hectic or stressful for either of us, I know that we will always be there for each other and we can talk about anything whatsoever however minuscule or major it may be. I Love You Sam....always and little bit.

Video

Here is the video that I put together showing us while we were growing up and a bit of our courtship. Enjoy and hopefully there will be many videos after this.

Getting Into A Rhythm.....With A Little Fun In Between....

Here Sam & I are 18 days into married life and still loving it. We have a had a few adventures that have been fun. We have moved into our apartment in Springville, UT and are still unpacking a few boxes and still setting up how we want the spare bedroom to be. Most likely it will become an office filled with our books, my crafts and homework, and his art supplies and camping gear.

Here are a few pictures that we have gotten thus far of our apartment:

While our rhythm is somewhat consistent with him going to work each day, and me spending the day at home working out, running errands and cleaning we do have our adventures and moments.

Some of the adventures we have been on is shopping and dinner at Sam's Club with a redbox movie afterward, trying out a restaurant that neither of us had been to before, making S'mores while sitting on our kitchen floor while watching the finale of the "Bachelorette", and then driving up a canyon to meet up with his family for a hot dog dinner.

First off, Sam's club. Sam wanted to take me to Sam's club to get a few groceries and perhaps dinner.....I later found out it was also because he was craving a churro. We ended up getting our groceries and then headed over get dinner. I ordered the chicken sandwich and he got the pizza. We also ordered a churro and a slushie. Shortly after our order was taken we found out they were all out of churros, so we ended up getting a soft pretzel. When the worker asked what kind we wanted I said, "cinnamon sugar" and Sam said, "Salt".....I was surprised that our answers differed, but then he also piped up, "Let's do cinnamon sugar." What a gentleman. Next time, we'll get a churro or a salt pretzel. After that we headed over to a redbox and got "Unknown". While watching the film, it seemed that I got more into the story and plot than Sam did, even if he was the one who really wanted to see the movie. But in the end it all worked out and was a fun date night.

Second, the "Bachelorette" Finale.....I had been waiting weeks for this and wanted to see who Ashley would pick and Sam allowed me to watch and see what happens, even though he would of much preferred something with a little more action. But the night turned out great. I pulled out our new S'mores maker and we decided it would be fun to make S'mores as a dessert. Sam started the little fire and I got all the graham crackers, marshmallows and chocolate together. We sure had a lot of laughs as Sam kept putting his marshmallows on fire while I carefully got mine just to the right browning stage.

Next, one day at work Sam was talking to a co-worker and I guess he got to craving pizza because he called me and said that he wanted to go out and try Pier 49 Pizza. I was up for it because it was a new place, and I didn't have to cook dinner that night. At the pizza joint it was really dead. There was only one other couple in the place. We ordered dinner and found a booth. We had a nice conversation while we ate, but I can say that it wasn't my favorite pizza even though I am a big fan of Hawaiian. I think the dessert pizza was the best thing of the night. Maybe next time Sam gets a craving for a particular kind of food we can try another new, yet less expensive place.

Last, Friday night Sam came home from work and I had just started dinner when he walked in and asked if I wanted to drive up a canyon and meet his family for dinner. I was a little hesitant, but I finally agreed and so while Sam showered I finished cooking our dinner and the put it in a tupperware container for the meal the next day. We packed up the car with our folding chairs, roasting sticks, giant marshmallows and a lantern. So our drive began.....it seemed like we just kept driving and driving, at one point we started questioning at what point if we can't find his family do we turn around and give up. It was a few minutes after that that we spotted his family just pulling into a campsite. So we pulled in and parked. Our first task was to help find kindling for the fire. Ren (Sam's brother), Sam & I looked around and found a few twigs and small pieces but they didn't last long. The fire seemed to just keep struggling and it seemed to get large in spurts. I would fan it every so often to try to keep it going. When it was time to cook the dogs Nan (Sam's Mom) realized that the roasting sticks weren't in their trailer.....so Sam & I came to the rescue and pulled out the ones that I had packed, just in case. So the men roasted the dogs while Nan and I got the rest of the food ready. The hot dogs were really good and the whole meal hit the spot. After that I pulled out the giant marshmallows and Ren, Sam & I roasted just one (we could only do one because they were so big and rich......yum!). By that time the fire had died down and it had gotten dark, so Sam decided that we should go. On the way home we listened to "The Backstreet Boys." It was fun to rock out and sing together and I'm thankful that we made it home safely.

Thanks Sam, for having these adventures thus far with me. I Love You!!