.. a little independance day ..

so normally on the fourth of july we go all out. like sleep on the parade route, watch the parade, do the freedom fest (a little local market over the 4th), eat food and then watch fireworks. this year none of us wanted to sleep on the parade route and cody and i decided to run in the freedom run, post to come. so it was a quiet one. we went to balloon fest the day before

 {right after launching}

{a bunch of polaroids we took}

 {driving up to the field}

the next day after the race cody and i took a 4 hour nap, i was whooped. we spent time with family which included dinner and a movie, super fun. then cody and i went to fox field to watch the stadium of fire's fireworks. we did this the first year we were married and it was kind of fun to do it again 7 years later. 

{ the kid in front of us had a glowstick hat, hence the weird globe thing..}

the next night we did family fireworks outside our house..

{ it started like this, all three of them were into the flowers, loved them}

{ended like this, daisy freaked out and couldn't hold still unless she was covered}

{jet took cover in cody's legs, and yes he is winking. i guess things were good!}

hope you all had a wonderful fourth we sure did!

.. 2011 at a glance or a stare ..

well as tradition here is a recap of this year. oh boy was it a year. 

. january .

we hit up a jazz game. pretty much ruled, we got to eat in the VIP room and get unlimited snacks. it was awesome.

. february .

i found out i had TOS {thoracic outlet syndrome} and went through a battery of tests to determine i had a extra baby rib in there. scheduled surgery for august. yep august was the first opening. shoot me. and cody applied for graduation!

. march .

i convinced cody to get a new puppy. we flew to oklahoma to pick up the little pup who was a champ on the plane. he went through about 10 names until we landed on jet. 

. april . 

cody finally graduated {sort of. he walked and still had a class to finish off}. it was a party. and he applied for a job with the air national guard. he did get an interview which apparently is a pretty hard thing to do your first try but was turned down only because his one test score was 4 points lower than the other candidate. 

. may . 

i started to eat healthier and getting my butt kicked weekly , 3x to be exact by my personal trainer. who has successfully tightened me up and helped me loose quite a few pounds. cody still worked hard at school and i just worked. 

. june . 

while working hard cody gave himself a hernia. oh boy. we scheduled surgery for the last day in june so he could have the 4th of july weekend to recover. 

. july . 

our days were filled with work and then taking jet on walks all over provo to enjoy the summer. we also started working out plans for our cruise. it is going to rock.

. august .

we went on a 7 day cruise to the south caribbean and it wast the BOMB. i loved every minute of it, minus being sea sick the first night. i had that baby rib removed just 4 days before my birthday. had my 27th birthday, drugged while laying in the lazy boy and watching football and movies, might have been one of the best birthdays ever. 

. september . 

we decided to get jet fixed after a slightly embarrassing BBQ at cody's house when he proceeded to hump our 6 year old cousin. yep embarrassing. so he got the chop. he did great and was back to himself that night.

. october .

cody went to memphis for a week and got to see the millions of packages, miles of conveyor belts and hundreds of planes in operation at the FEDEX headquarters. he also got to fly in the $8,000 an hour simulator to paris. he was smitten. we also went to thriller, annual tradition. 

. november .

cody went to SEMA, the largest car show in the world held in las vegas every november. he loved it, every minute of it. we got to watch one of cody's brothers get sealed to his sweetheart in the SLC temple, it was a treat. we celebrated 6 years of being 'stuck' together, and cody's 28th birthday.. geez oldy pants. i had my two wisdom teeth pulled. it was smooth, minus the cracking noises. i was healed up in three days and no swelling. we had thanksgiving, great food. and prepped for christmas

. december . 

we got ready for christmas. i helped my mom recover from a knee replacement that happened the middle of november.  jet got to see snow, it is a love / hate relationship. he loves the fluffy stuff hates the slush. he is kind of a pris. oh well we love him.

happy 2011 to you! hope yours was as good as ours!

.. shake it like a polaroid picture ..

lately i have been trying to shoot more film, and just shoot in general. i feel like by the time i get home from work that the night is upon us and the lighting although nice for about 30 minutes is gone short after. so cody and i have been doing things on saturday afternoons instead. a few weeks ago we went down to utah lake to look at the ever growing ice sculptures. the lake had frozen over and when parts started to thaw out they would wave and push huge ice chunks up on the shore lines. it was quite beautiful. so we ventured down there.

we walked out on the dike and took some pictures {polaroid, instax mini and film} and did walk out on to the frozen solid harbor. i was scared spitless to walk on the water, but it was cool.

{ our feet standing on the ice in the middle of the harbor }

so see some more polaroids, click here.

.. goodbye 2010 ..

so here is a recap of what we did in 2010..

january : tyke passed away, spent a lot of time re cooping

february : trip to maui for valentines

march : i went to san francisco with friends for spring break, i got accepted into the bfa program

april : i graduated from college, yikes!

may : we went on a trip to washington dc

june : i am trying to find a job, cody is working hard on his instrument license

july : we had our first game of the annual golfing tournament, celebrated the 4th of july

august : my brother m* and sister k* each got married a week apart, my brother j* had his 16th birthday, cody and i went to maui with his parents to celebrate my 26th birthday, i found a job at american crafts!

september : cody passed his instrument test!

october : i had my art show, we went to thriller, and i got a trainer

november : cody went to SEMA, had our 5th anniversary, cody's 27th birthday, and thanksgiving

december : i started "the list", cody started his multi-engine training, had christmas

great year don't you think? bring on 2011!

.. lion king ..

this year for my birthday with my family, my mom bought my brother and i {who both have birthdays in august} tickets to see the lion king at capitol theater. if you haven't seen it i highly recommend it. it was one of the most beautiful things i have seen. the props are wonderfully amazing and the performers are so skilled! make sure and check it out!

.. gingerbread houses ..

this year we were invited to a gingerbread decorating party put on by my sweet sister in law e*. cody and i in our 5 years of being married have never once made a gingerbread house. we always talked about it and had plans for it but it never really did pan out. this year was perfect. we had a fun night with family and some friends and got the chance to decorate gingerbread houses. we decided to be original and go outside the box and not buy a prefab house. we made our own. we settled on a mobile home. the night before we perfected our designs and i baked the gingerbread. we spent about an hour building and decorating it all up. i have to admit it was pretty great.

we used licorice nibs for the walk way to the street. nerds for gravel, pretzels for the playground, bench, and the broken tire swing. oreos for the tires, a dead pile of them and also the spare on the house. and gummy bears for the little kids and of course dots {my favorite} for the bases of a lot of things.

we won the best gingerbread house of the night, but i think everyone had great houses.. here they are!

.. matson & erica's house ..

.. kevin & heather's house ..

.. kellyn, chris & jarett's house ..

.. our trailer sweet trailer ..

.. side view of ours, notice the spare tire ..

.. the broken tire swing, our gummy children were upset ..

.. the overseeing mother ..

.. kiddies sitting on a bench ..

.. a few kiddos playing soccer by the teeter totter ..

.. gingerbread white trash dad peeing in the snow, yes he did pee matson's name ..

.. the stoplight on the corner ..

.. the path to our front door and gravel ..

.. our kiddie play pen, yes one did fall out cry and pee his pants ..

did you decorate a house this year? any creative ideas for next year?