It's That Time of Year Again

We LOVE Christmas!! On Wednesday we bought a Christmas tree and decorations. We couldn't even wait until after Thanksgiving before setting it up. We couldn't figure out how to get the pole to stick in the stand for the longest time, but luckily Eric used his brain power and got it to work.


The tree is growing!! (Ignore the birthday balloons coming out of Eric's head. They like to follow him around the apartment)

Eric started putting the lights on the tree...

and then I took over because I'm such an expert!

After the ornaments and candy canes were hung on the tree, Eric topped it off with the star.

Here's the tree all lit up. The star flashes green and blue. We're not quite sure why it doesn't flash green and red...but whatever.

We love our very first tree!!

The Big 2-4

That's right everyone, Eric is officially 24 years old. Last Monday was his actual birthday so we spent the evening with the family eating dinner, having cake and ice cream, and opening presents. His birthday request was to have funfetti cake!

Here's the birthday boy ready to take on the world!

All the siblings checking out the Noah's Ark puzzle that Eric got for his birthday.

He got Monopoly City. It swipes credit cards instead of paying with cash. If anyone wants to play it with us then give us a ring!

Eric's been talking about Nutcrackers nonstop so I had to fulfill his wish and get him one. I made sure to get a green one since that's his FAVORITE color.

And last but not least, he got Super Smash Brothers. He's wanted that game for quite some time. He wouldn't stop playing it the next few days.

GREAAAAT News.

The other day Eric was opening his mail and there was a letter from the chiropractic college he plans to attend. What did this letter say? We get free money!! Not actual money, but Eric got a scholarship! What made this even more surprising is the fact that Eric never applied for any scholarships. He was recommended by his admissions advisor (who just loves us because we're so lovable, right?) and the scholarship will be covering a quarter of his tuition. I don't know if all of you devoted readers understand how big of a deal this is, but that's over $24,000!! We are pretty dang excited.

Needless to say, Eric is definitely going to attend college in Kansas. We plan on moving after he is done with his summer semester at BYU (at the end of August). It looks like everything is going perfect. Let's just hope Eric passes all his classes!! :)

New Moon!!

Eric's birthday is today!! Yay. He is getting pretty old...24. My big surprise was a party for Eric with all of his friends on Friday night. For the surprise, I told him we were going to see the new movie New Moon with our friend Taylor. The original plan was we would go to his parents house to pick up some candy and soda, but his mom had a better scheme. She told Eric her work had free tickets for the movie and he could pick up the tickets before the movie on Friday night. He totally bought everything we told him throughout the week, but once we got to his parents' house, we couldn't get Eric downstairs where all his friends were waiting to yell "surprise!" I asked him to get us some sodas for the movie but he was being very difficult and told me to do it. His mom was searching the entire house looking for fake tickets to give him and Eric was joining in on the search. After what seemed like forever, Eric went downstairs...

I completely forgot to take pictures during the party but we had a lot of fun. There was excellent food (thanks to Eric's mommy), poker, wii, pool, and Jenga. Thanks to everyone who helped out and showed up!

Eric was very excited and extremely surprised about the party, but a little sad that we weren't going to the movies. I was sad too. But not to worry, we made it to New Moon the next night with Blake and Kim. It was Eric's birthday present from them :) How sweet!! Thanks you guys! And yes, the movie was AWESOME. I will be adding to my collection once it comes out on video.

Eric and I doing our "excited to see New Moon" face.

Blake and Kim's excited faces!!

What Happens in Vegas...

A little over a week ago Eric and I had the opportunity to meet up with my sister Audrey and her friend Derek in Vegas! How could we pass that up? It was my first time in Vegas and we had a blast on our little weekend getaway!

I had quite a few firsts on this trip. It was my first time:
1. going to Vegas
2. gambling (shhh...don't tell my parents)
3. going to Cirque du Soleil (very cool)
4. to the top of the Eiffel Tower (it was freezing but an amazing view)
5. seeing the water show
6. getting a 400% return on an investment (at the penny slots!)
7. seeing Elvis in person
8. watching Eric try on jewelry
9. seeing such a happy tree!
10. riding in a cab (some of the drivers are really creepy)

That's all I can think of at the moment. Enjoy the pictures from our trip!

This is HALLOWEEN...

The Sunday before Thanksgiving we carved pumpkins at Eric's parents' house. Then we got sick and have had a bunch of midterms so I haven't had time to blog this yet. Better late then never!

This is Eric carving his pumpkin.

His mom helped him put ears on. Yes, his pumpkin has ears.

Lauren and Mark. There's Holly in the background! Eric's dad was sick with the swine flu :(

The finished product! We are excellent carvers.

Note: Eric's expression is like his pumpkin's.

My pumpkin.

Eric's pumpkin all lit up. The teeth looked awesome!

My sad little pumpkin didn't have a real candle in it so it wasn't very bright.

And then my camera died so that's all the pictures I have!

We'll Miss You!!

On Wednesday Julie, one of my very best friends, entered the MTC to serve in the Armenia mission. You always have those few friends that you actually keep in touch with after college, and she is definitely going to be one of mine. She is one of the two people that had to approve of Eric before I started dating him exclusively (as you can tell, she approved). Julie has always been there for me 100 percent, helping me shop for my wedding dress, throwing my bridal shower, and being a wonderful bridesmaid at my wedding! I'm so proud of her and I wish her the best of luck as she serves her mission!

We love you Julie Crego!!

I Guess I'm the Bread Winner...

Last Tuesday Eric and I went job hunting on a whim. We figured we might as well get a job since we have no friends anymore because we're married. Okay, that's not entirely true, but kind of. Anyway, we took a stroll along the stores across from Provo Towne Center and we entered this store called The Quilted Bear. I had never been inside the store before, but I figured it was worth a shot. The very next morning I got a call from them asking me to interview, so I did that afternoon. Seven other people were interviewed before me, but I GOT THE JOB!! Everything happened so fast that I'm not sure if I should be happy about having a job or not. I'm hoping I can utilize my time well so I don't get too stressed out.

Today was my first day on the job. I didn't work the register or anything because my boss just wanted me to watch, but I got to know the store a little better by putting things away. I definitely think it will be better than other retail jobs I've had because the store is so big that I'll always be working with someone else and have someone to talk to.

If you decide that you miss me and want to see me more, just come into The Quilted Bear on weeknights or Saturdays. Plus, the store has all kinds of fun stuff to check out! Especially really cute baby headbands!

I'm not sure how serious Eric is about the job hunt, but I'm sure all his Chemistry and Spanish classes will keep him busy. He's taking a Chemistry test right now so pray for him!! :)

!!!Disneyland MANIA!!!

Last weekend Eric's parents were SO generous that they took the entire family (plus a friend for Holly) to Disneyland and California Adventure. We flew out Thursday night, spent Friday and Saturday at Disneyland, and flew back early Sunday morning just in time for Eric's dad to be ordained a high priest and set apart as the 1st Counselor of the Bishopric. We had a TON of fun while we were there, as you can see in the slideshow. I don't really have pics of all of us, so you'll just have to stalk someone else's blog for those.



We were at Disneyland on the first day of the Halloween decorations for the year. Space mountain was all decked out and the haunted mansion was transformed into The Nightmare Before Christmas. I haven't seen that movie yet, so I recommend seeing it before you go. There were pumpkins and candy corn everywhere!! Candy corn is Eric's favorite, which is why there is a picture of him hugging a giant candy corn.

The firework show was the coolest thing ever. Eric and I didn't get a good view the first night, but thanks to his mom and Lauren saving spots for 3 hours, we had the best seats the second night. This is part of the show. We were so close I couldn't get video of the whole width and everything.



Thank you so much to the parentals for taking us! We love you.

My First Slideshow :)

After discovering a program on my computer I made this little slideshow. It's from before we were married, hence all the engagement pics. Enjoy!

P. S. I LOVE this song.

Due to Popular Demand (aka Lindsey)

Eric and I have been VERY busy with school these past few weeks. We're starting the semester off strong in preparation for the anticipated loss of momentum that will hit pretty soon. It's been crazy; I've actually enjoyed learning! AND what's even more surprising, Eric is kind of liking his Chemistry classes.

A couple weeks ago we went to an Owlz baseball game with Spencer and Sara. The Owlz didn't do so well...but we really liked playing bingo! Eric was so close to winning.

Eric and me. I accidentally wore the other team's colors. Whoops.

Sara and Spencer being their hot selves...

It's not a trip to UVU without imitating the statues now is it? I know you've all done it.

Eric's attempt was not so successful...but we still like him :)

Oh Spencer...that's all I can say.

Our next wonderful game experience was BYU's first home game of the season. Not because of their amazing performance, but because we were in the front row AND I won a computer.


Sad day for BYU.

But happy day for me! That's me in the middle on the big screen. Basically, a guy came to the front row and asked who needed a new laptop. Eric volunteered me so I went to the field. The guy told me to hold up the number one when the camera was on me and then the computer was mine. Easy huh? Two days later I picked up the computer. It's an HP mini. Not my ideal choice, but free is free!

A Little HGTV

Last week we finally found an apartment at a good price WITH a dishwasher. We weren't able to move in right away so Eric and I decided to shop for furnishings and whatnot. Who knew that the most plain bar stools you could possibly get cost $15 a piece!? We decided to look at garage sales for cheaper stools.

After going to many houses and almost giving up on the search, we came to our last house and found these stools. Eric and I have been watching a TON of HGTV lately, so we thought it would be fun to do a little project and fix up the stools. They were only $1 per stool!

BEFORE:

First we took the seat off.

I pulled off the seat covers so we could replace them with something that wasn't ripped and looked cuter.

Eric spray painted the bottom red to go with our red, black, and white theme.

He did an excellent paint job! It's not as easy as it looks to make the paint even.

We forgot to take picture of us reupholstering the stools...but wah lah! All done.

AFTER:

They look great in our apartment. We'll post pictures of the apartment later. Moving in is taking FOREVER because we have soooo much stuff.

Color Me Mine FUN!

All summer Eric has been wanting to go to Color Me Mine, so what do we do the day after we got back to Utah? You guessed it!

This time around we decided to work on a piece together (because Eric's always turns out better than mine and I get jealous). We chose a vase so we could use it as a decoration in our new apartment.

We brought a few cans of food to waive our studio fee AND there were free doughnuts. What could be better than that?

Our vase took a little longer than anticipated because it was all free-hand painting and we did 3 coats of each color, so we had to go back the next day to finish painting it.


Here is the finished product after MANY MANY hours of painting!!

Cleveland Chiropractic College

Two Sundays ago Eric and I left South Carolina to start our drive back to Utah. 15 hours later we arrived in Overland Park, Kansas, home to Cleveland Chiropractic College. It's about 10 minutes away from Kansas City for all of you who don't know your geography (me included).

On Sunday night we stayed in a hotel for free, compliments of CCC. Then Monday morning we toured the campus. I haven't been to too many college campuses, but I definitely was not expecting anything quite this small. This building is the whole college (plus another building with a daycare and gym). There are 500 people at the college, so that building is all that's really needed.

The students were on break so we weren't able to see any of them in the school environment, but we got to see the classrooms that Eric will be spending over 3 years of his life in. He got really excited seeing the adjustment tables and is ready to be graduated and on his way to become a chiropractor!

This is Eric's model pose. Note: the cheesy face.

Because we started Eric's application when we were there, the fee was waived. He's halfway done with the application process. Our plan after BYU is for Eric to start school at CCC either next fall or January 2011. The exact date depends on when he will graduate from BYU. We will keep you posted!