Recap of the Last 3 Months...

OK This is a Recap of What has happened with me and Derek from about Thanksgiving to Christmas! It has been a long time since I have updated this so I hope you enjoy!

We went to Farmington/Mesa for Thanksgiving break and we hung out with the whipple side of the family! We had a great time! It was fun getting to know derek's syblings better because being so far away from them we dont see them as often! the dog in the picture is Titan, Brandon (derek's brother) and his wife Krystal's American Bulldog. He is a giant puppy. really fun. And we both love dogs so it was a good time.

For christmas Brandon and Krystal took us to a Road Runners Hockey game in downtown Pheonix! it was a blast! I have never been to a hockey game before so I really got into it. We even got to see a fight - which apparently is why most people go to hockey games...

Terri wanted to get family pictures taken so this is Derek and I at the Mesa temple. Ahhh, November in Mesa... waaaaarm...

This is one of my favorite family pictures that were taken.

BACK TO REXBURG

This is on a double date with Brandon and christine (my old roommate) We had a good time. This is at the cocobean cupcale shop yum yum.

CHRISTMAS BREAK IN IDAHO FALLS

This is Wyatt - Dan and Sarahs beautiful son. Derek was serenading him onthe guitar.

When we got back from Thanksgiving break, we decorated the christmas tree at my parents house. This was really exciting! it was derek's first time to experience our weird but totally awesome Christmas traditions of disco Christmas music. It was a wonderful time.

Isnt he adorable. I found that most of the pictures on my camera were of my nephew but how can you pass up this face?

We went bowling at the Rex in Rexburg with Dan and Sarah! FUN!

The is me showing off my moves. I probably got a strike or something... ahem.. We totally got to bowl for 2 bucks (for four people) I think the guy behind the counter was confused.

Sarah Showing off her sweet skills... She ended up taking off her shoes and slipping everywhere but it made it a little more exciting.

Derek is actually really good at bowling so he WAS showing off his sweet skills. Ans, he probably DID get a strike or something.

Now onto Christmas Eve. We decorated gingerbread houses that Sarah and I Slaved over (baking) the day before. It was really fun and the next day we found that Santa had put blue ribbons on each of them.

This is the finished product! good stuff eh? It turned out pretty well! We watched Elf while doing it so that really helped boister the Christmas spirit.

One evening Derek and I got the strange notion to go play in the snow. Clarke and Bethany were coming in a few weeks and Clarke really wanted to sled and so Derek and dan decided to start building a sledding hill in my parents front yard. So all four of us labored diligently a couple times and we made it pretty high! Then a warm front moved in and melted all the snow... the end.

before the snow melted, this was what it looked like.

We went to the mall and while we were at Barnes and Noble we found out santa was there! So obviously - with Sarah's permission - we put wyatt on Santa's lap! Awww

Shawn sent us really pretty earings for Christmas... hahaha

My wonderful husband on Christmas morning. Isn't he cuuuute? it was a good christmas. There is nothing better than spending time with family. Derek missed his family terribly but I was glad to have him with me.

Wyatt was in the thick of things... with wrapping paper on his cute little head.

Ok. This is sparkling cider... we all got our own bottle and our own giant glass. I don't like carbonation of any kind and as it turns out, ice makes cardonation stick around. yum.

Derek and I bought these glasses at IKEA while in Mesa and originally we just bought one for my dad but we liked them so much we bought one for everyone. They were only about two bucks.

To Christmas!

Aww me and my little buddy. He is really flexible.

Aww me and my hot hubby :) Derek was in the process of making homemade ice cream. It was delicious. especially with a slice of pumpkin pie. yum yum

I love the Holidays! Now that we are married, we have to trade off every year. So, next year we will be with the Whipple's for Christmas which will be really great. This Holiday season was especially fantastic because it was our first together. I am really excited to have more holidays with Derek and our future kids!

Bahama Mama

Derek and I went on a Royal Carribean cruise over the weekend!!!! We had a fantastic time. It was really hard to come back to cold homework filled Rexburg. We would have definately preferred to stay on Paradise Island with... white sand...clear blue water....warm carribean breezes...sigh.... We want to go back sometime soooooon!!!!

We went snorkling, we built sand castles, we napped on the beach, we body surfed, we got tan... :) Snorkling we saw sting rays, and all sorts of tropical fish including a baracuda!! I got stung by a jelly fish...twice... that hurt pretty good, but its all part of the experience! We walked around downtown Nassau, Bahamas to all the shops they had there....There were multiple activities going on on the ship. There were lots of shows and dancing and FOOOD. yeah, we gained weight. we were even picked out of a huge audience to be players in a Love and Marriage game show! that was fun, and for the rest of the time we had people coming up to us wanting to meet us... haha

This trip was the first time that Derek had ever seen the ocean! At one point Derek buried me in sand and then threw peanuts on me and a whole flock of seagulls came and landed on me and started to pack... haha it was our first experience riding in a car that had the steering wheel on the wrong side!

Here are some pictures of our Bahama adventure! They are out of order but I got the good ones up there.

Labor Day, the Oldham Way

On our roadtrip back from VA we dicided to make a pit stop in Baxter, Minnesota where my Aunt Laura lives with her awesome family. It also happens to be where derek was serving his mission when he started writing me!! We had a BLAST in Minnesota!!! It was an awesome break from the busy lives that we have! The Oldhams are the coolest family ever and we felt so welcome there.

We were there for four days and we did not want to leave. I can't even describe how much we love that whole family. While there we: went miniature golfing, played the wii, made smores on the fire, relaxed on the lake, went fishing, played water volleyball (fuuuuuuuuun), went on a double date with Doug and Laura, spoke at a fireside :), and just had a blast!! All of the kids (Madison, Nick, Oliver, Abby, and Lilly) are hilarious and talented in there own ways so that was entertaining in itself. We decided to make it a tradition, to go to the Oldham's every Labor Day, as long as they'll have us of course...