Remembering 2011

2011 was a wonderful year for so many reasons! It will forever hold some of my absolute favorite memories and events! Here is an over view of our super fun 2011! 

January 

 I started the new year celebrating with my favorite girls :)

 As soon as I got back to Provo this boy and I spent a lot, a lot of time together!

  Sundance Film Festival with these lovely ladies! 

 I got a job 

I was officially accepted to study abroad in London for Spring term.

February 

 Laren turned 22 !!

 We celebrated our first Valentine's together! 

We made a trip to Oregon and Laren met the whole family! 

He also asked my dad if he could marry me and we officially began discussing wedding plans with my family!

March

 March 5th 2011: 

We enjoyed watching BYU win the conference championship

Laren took me out to ice cream for our 3 month anniversary

We decided to hike Y mountain and to my surprise and excitement he proposed and I said yes!

 Alichelen came to Provo for Springbreak and some dress shopping :)

April

 I made my first trip to Colorado to meet Laren's whole family.

It was quite the adventure and included getting a little stuck in the mud!

 Engagement Photos

I turned 20!

Winter semester ended.

Found a wedding dress

Laren and I said goodbye for 3 months!

I headed to London for 2 months!

May - June

 Taught primary!

 

 Made two wonderful friends :)

Came home to find these beautiful flowers all the way from the U.S.A

Traveled the United Kingdom

Witnessed the Royal Wedding

Showed my parents, sister, and niece around England and Scotland.

Eventually found my way back to America!

July

 The 4th of July was spent at the lakehouse

 Laren and I were finally reunited!

 We spent the 24th of July in Colorado

 lots of time was spent with this little cutie!

I went back to the pool for my last summer in Veneta

Managed the whole long distance relationship thing

August

 Katie finally came to Oregon!!

We took a bridesmaid trip to the beach

 The soon to be husband came too :)

I went through the temple for the first time on August 9th, 2011

We got married!

Everything after this in August is pretty much a blur.. we were just enjoying finally being married!!

September

Ｉ　ｄｏｎ’ｔ　ｈａｖｅ　ａｎｙ　ｐｈｏｔｏｓ　ｏｆ　Ｓｅｐｔｅｍｂｅｒ，　ｂｕｔ　ｉｔ　ｗａｓ　ｆｕｌｌ　ｏｆ　ｓｃｈｏｏｌ　ａｎｄ　ａ　ｎｅｗ　ａｐａｒｔｍｅｎｔ　ａｎｄ　ｇｅｔｔｉｎｇ　ｕｓｅｄ　ｔｏ　ｂｅｉｎｇ　ｍａｒｒｉｅｄ！

October

 Ｗｅ　ｇｏｔ　ｔｏ　ａｔｔｅｎｄ　Ｇｅｎｅｒａｌ　Ｃｏｎｆｅｒｅｎｃｅ　ｉｎ　Ｓａｌｔ　Ｌａｋｅ　Ｃｉｔｙ

 Ｍｏｍ，　Ｓｈａｎｎｏｎ，　Ｈａｌｌｉｅ，　ａｎｄ　Ａｂｂｉ　ｃａｍｅ　ｔｏ　ｖｉｓｉｔ　ａｌｓｏ！

 Ｗｅ　ｈｅａｄｅｄ　ｔｏ　Ｏｒｅｇｏｎ　ｆｏｒ　ｔｈｅ　ＯＳＵ　ｖｓ。ＢＹＵ　ｆｏｏｔｂａｌｌ　ｇａｍｅ

Ａ　ｈｏｕｓｅ　ｄｉｖｉｄｅｄ！

November

 Ｗｅ　ｖｉｓｉｔｅｄ　Ｍａｎａｓｓａ　ｆｏｒ　Ｔｈａｎｋｓｇｉｖｉｎｇ

 Ｉ　ｒｏｄｅ　ａｎｄ　ｄｒｏｖｅ　ｍｙ　ｆｉｒｓｔ　ｆｏｕｒ　ｗｈｅｅｌｅｒ　ｅｖｅｒ。

Ｗｅ　ｖｉｓｉｔｅｄ　Ｔａｏｓ，ＮＭ　ａｎｄ　ｈａｄ　ａ　ｇｒｅａｔ　ｔｉｍｅ！

December

 Ｏｕｒ　ｆｉｒｓｔ　Ｃｈｒｉｓｔｍａｓ！

Ｗｅ　ｓｕｒｖｉｖｅｄ　ａｎｏｔｈｅｒ　ｓｅｍｅｓｔｅｒ！

Ｗｅｒｅ　ａｂｌｅ　ｔｏ　ｓｅｅ　ｏｕｒ　ｆａｍｉｌｉｅｓ　ｉｎ　Ｏｒｅｇｏｎ　ａｎｄ　Ｃｏｌｏｒａｄｏ

Ｗｅｎｔ　ｔｏ　ｍｙ　ｎｉｅｃｅ　Ｍａｉａ’ｓ　ｂａｐｔｉｓｍ

Ａｔｔｅｎｄｅｄ　Ｌａｒｅｎ’ｓ　ｃｏｕｓｉｎ　Ｎｉｃｏｌｅ’ｓ　ｗｅｄｄｉｎｇ　ｒｅｃｅｐｔｉｏｎ

２０１１　ｗａｓ　ｗｏｎｄｅｒｆｕｌ　ｔｏ　ｕｓ　ａｎｄ　ｉｔ　ｗｉｌｌ　ｆｏｒｅｖｅｒ　ｈａｖｅ　ａ　ｓｐｅｃｉａｌ　ｐｌａｃｅ　ｉｎ　ｍｙ　ｈｅａｒｔ。Ｉ　ａｍ　ｅｘｃｉｔｅｄ　ｆｏｒ　２０１２　ａｎｄ　ｗｈａｔ　ａｄｖｅｎｔｕｒｅｓ　ｉｔ　ｈａｓ　ｉｎ　ｓｔｏｒｅ　ｆｏｒ　ｕｓ！

Ｗｅ　ａｒｅ　ｌｏｏｋｉｎｇ　ｆｏｒｗａｒｄ　ｔｏ　

Ｇｒａｄｕａｔｉｏｎ

Ａ　ｐｏｓｓｉｂｌｅ　ｉｎｔｅｒｎｓｈｉｐ　ｉｎ　Ｃｈｉｎａ　ｆｏｒ　Ｌａｒｅｎ

Ｇｒａｄ　ｓｃｈｏｏｌ　ｆｏｒ　Ｊｅｓｓｉｃａ

ａｎｄ　ｗｈａｔｅｖｅｒ　ｅｌｓｅ　ｌｉｆｅ　ｔｈｒｏｗｓ　ｏｕｒ　ｗａｙ！　

Ｈａｐｐｙ　Ｎｅｗ　Ｙｅａｒ！　

Ｌｏｖｅ　ｔｈｅ　Ｈｅｌｍｓ

( Please ignore the switching of fonts.. I am on Laren's computer and hit a button and hit changed my fonts and I can't figure out how to change it back... oops!)

 

Christmas Break Part 1

This Christmas has been the best Christmas ever! Break started off by finishing finals and celebrating to be done with this incredibly long and hard semester! It feels so wonderful to be done and I am no where near ready to be starting up again next week! To celebrate, I picked out a wreath on Pinterest and decided to make it!

 My Inspiration

 Wa La!

 It was such a fun, easy wreath to make! Granted it is time consuming, but a very cute and different Christmas wreath. All you need is peppermint candies, a styrofoam floral wreath, hot glue, and some ribbon. This year's was an experiment, but I definitely know what to do differently when I make another one!! 

After finals we hopped on a plane and headed to Oregon. It was such a great feeling getting on the plane and knowing we had nothing to do and could just enjoy the trip! Unlike normal Oregon winters it was sunny and warm our whole trip! 

Saturday after we arrived we had the pleasure of going to my niece Maia's baptism. It was so wonderful and we had such a great time! She is such a fun little girl and I am so glad she is a part of our family!! I don't have any pictures on my camera, but I will put some up when I get them from my mom!! 

Monday my mom and I got our hair done. I can no longer claim my hair is all natural :( It looks like it is and I am lucky enough that I won't have any grow out issues, but I did give my hair a little boost! Most people probably can't tell, but I'm okay with that :) My hair in the winter decides is it going to be a drab yellow color, rather than it's normal vibrant bright blonde color, so I gave it a little lift and brought it back to life. I love it! It is so wonderful to have nice bright hair, instead of drab dark yellow! And everyone deserves a little boost every now and then :) 

I honestly cannot remember what we did on Tuesday, so probably just relaxed which is something we have not been able to do in a long time. It was wonderful! Wednesday we got up and did a little Christmas shopping and then headed to Corvallis to make Gingerbread houses with Stephani and her family. It was so much fun and Laren and I greatly improved in our house decorating skills!

 This was our terribly awful gingerbread ( but really it was graham crackers) house. 

Our house this year was much better, and much funner to decorate!

 Me with our finished gingerbread house. I was quite proud... haha

 This was very serious business and we worked very hard! 

 Our Wheaties roof!

 Gavin was so sweet the whole time. He was constantly complimenting us on our houses and just been super nice. It was very cute!

 All of the finished houses.

 Front View

 Front / Side View

 Back view. The heart is my favorite! 

We had a blast doing our gingerbread house (well at least I did)! I think it is most definitely going to be a tradition in our family. The little kids were so fun and quite the entertainment. Being able to spend time with family truly is the best and was the highlight of our trip! 

More on the rest of the break to come later!