Happy Anniversary, Jakey!

December 27th was our 2 year anniversary. This year we stayed in St. George for a few days on our way home from Las Vegas. We had lots of fun playing tennis, going out to dinner, watching movies, hanging out with family and friends, and just being together!

It's hard to believe it's already been two years since we got married! It feels like it was just yesterday. Jake and I always joke about how everyone says the first year or two of marriage is the hardest--if these were the hardest years, then we are home free! It can't seem to get any better. Jake is the best husband in the world! I couldn't have imagined a better guy for me. He is so patient, fun-loving, handsome, Christ-like, easy to talk to, fun to be around, helpful, loving, forgiving, optimistic, hard-working, etc. etc. etc. I could go on and on but I'll spare anyone who's reading this. I just want everyone to know how much I love and appreciate him. I always wonder how I tricked him into marrying me because I definitely got the better end of the deal! I love you, Jake!!

Christmas in Vegas

We spent this Christmas with Jake's family down at the Hackman's home in Las Vegas. Misty and Vernon weren't able to make it this year (and we missed them lots!) but everyone else was there. Jake and I stayed about a week and we had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas with his family! Here are a few pictures we wanted to share:

Here's a picture of Jake and the boys during a wrestling match. Something that was fun for me was being able to be around so many boys! We have three nieces on my side of the family so hanging out with three nephews was a fun experience. I'm used to playing dolls, having tea parties, painting nails, etc. With Braxton and Kobee there was lots of wrestling, tickling, jumping on the tramp, tackling, and running around. It was definitely tiring but it was sure fun getting to spend so much time with them!

Here's me, Braxton, and Kobee on the trampoline playing colored eggs, crack the egg, or jelly bean. The weather in Las Vegas was so nice! I'm not used to being able to play outside in December without all my winter gear on.

This is a picture of Kobee making the chocolate chip cookies for Santa. Kobee is the funniest little guy! He loves to make people laugh and he doesn't take "no" for an answer. Jake and I loved how he would talk us into doing whatever he wanted us to do by saying "Oh, please!" and "Come on!!" Whenever Jake and I want something from each other now we quote Kobee: "Oh, Please, Jake! Come on!!"

In this picture we're having a fondue party. Brandy was such a great hostess and had fun treats for us to eat! Jake's favorite treat is his mom's homemade Divinity. He made sure she made him some while we were there with her. She was nice to make it for him and it was delicious!

I took this picture on Christmas morning before all the presents were unwrapped. Look at all those gifts! We are sure blessed to be able to give and receive like we do.

Braxton got a wii for Christmas and we had a fun time playing it. These are some pictures of the characters they made of themselves. I thought they looked just like 'em! I hope James doesn't mind that I put his on here too. His almost looked like a photograph and we all got a good laugh out of it!

Thanks for the terrific Christmas Hackmans and Nielsens! We sure had a lot of fun! We're grateful to have such an awesome family to belong to.

Christmas time!

The Saturday after Thanksgiving was our big decorating day. Jake and I went out and bought a grand fir Christmas tree and finally got our Christmas lights. I wanted a very specific kind (red, white, and green ones) and apparently they don't exist--at least in Logan they don't. So Jake, being the amazing husband that he is, decided to buy red strands, green strands, and white strands and when we got home he proceeded to unscrew every light bulb and put them back in alternating red, white, and green just the way I wanted them. How did I luck out to get such a great guy?!

Our Christmas tree before...

and after!

Jake unscrewing all the light bulbs...

and putting up the Christmas lights at 10:30pm

Thanksgiving

We had a fabulous Thanksgiving day! It started out with some tennis with my dad, Jake, and I. Jake loves tennis so much that he'll play no matter what the weather is. It was 28 degrees when we started. He begged me to play so I bundled up and warmed up real fast once we started playing. I hate to admit that I lost both sets but the next day I won two sets of cut throat and my dad and Jake didn't win any. Poor guys, had to lose to a girl. :)

We had dinner with the Smith's this year and ate at a ward building since our family is getting too big for anyone's house. There were some advantages and disadvantages to this--it was fun having a gym to play in after dinner but there was no place to take a nice Thanksgiving nap! The Smith's are wonderful cooks and we had a fantastic feast! (I had my camera with me but for some reason I didn't take any pictures so that's why I'm not posting any from this dinner.)

Next, it was on to grandma Hart's house to have more pie and visit with the family. Janna and Luke and their boys were in town so we got to hang out with them and finally meet little Van. He is such a cutie! I made sure to take some pictures so the Lees could make it on our blog.

Janna and Luke

Little Van

Stone

Rusty

I love Thanksgiving! It is THE best holiday ever invented. You don't have to buy gifts for anyone, you sit around all day with your family, and you stuff yourself silly with the best food in the world! What could be better than that?

I am so grateful for so many things to list them all would take hours! I'm so blessed sometimes I get overwhelmed by all that I have. I love my family so much! I have such a wonderful husband sometimes I wonder how I got so lucky to get him to marry me. He is so good to me. I have the best parents, siblings, in-laws, cousins, aunts, uncles, grandparents, friends, nieces and nephews in the world! I hope you all know how grateful I am to have you in my life.

Disneyland!!

Brooke, Laurel, and I got to fly down to California over Halloween. We met Kathy at Disneyland and spent two days there. Then we got to go down to San Diego and see Ty and Kath's new home and go to Sea World. It was a blast!

Happy Birthday, LynnAdele!!

Today is our mother/mother-in-law, LynnAdele's birthday. We wanted to wish her a happy birthday and let her know how much we love her! We wish we could have celebrated with her but since she lives in Indiana that wasn't possible this year.

Thanks for being such a wonderful mother! We sure love you and appreciate all you do for us!!

Happy Halloween!

Here we are in our Halloween costumes this year. Don't we look spooky? Even though Jake and I weren't together on the actual holiday (I was in Disneyland) we did manage to go to a few Halloween parties with our family and friends. Jake was a good sport to let me dress him up and do his makeup like this!

Summer Vacations

In August we got to fly back to Rhode Island with Brooke, Laurel, and Jim to visit Ty and Kathy. We were able to do some fun sight-seeing. Jim and Laurel flew home but the rest of us drove across the country to help move Ty and Kathy to San Diego. The drive was long but fun since we got to stop at so many cool places! We were also able to stop in Indiana for a brief visit at Jake's parents house. They were so kind to feed us a real meal and let us all crash there for the night!

A beautiful sunset in Rhode Island

Niagra Falls was amazing!

Kirtland temple

Newell K. Whitney store in Kirtland

We stopped by Mt. Rushmore on the way home!

This place was awesome! If you're ever in the area
definitely stop by.

Here we are at the Cheers Bar in Boston

Outside our summer home in Rhode Island!

Jake and Ty outside the Sacred Grove

More Sacred Grove pictures

This one is cool huh?

Picnic on Cumorah's Hill

First blog entry ever

Well, I finally gave in and joined the world of blogging. It has been fun looking at your blogs and seeing what everyone is up to so hopefully you'll all enjoy our blog as well. We'll see if I'm technologically advanced enough to be able to figure this out huh? (This site is currently under construction)