Saturday, December 31, 2011

Christmas 2011

We had a wonderful Christmas. Here is Sophie getting her present early on Christmas Eve.
She's so smart! She unwrapped her present by herself and out popped some toys!
Christmas Eve at Jeff & Michelle's
Spencer putting e-books on their computer for Kayla. Kayla got an Amazon Kindle for Christmas.
The little girls acting out the Nativity scene.

Spencer knows me so well. He thought he would be funny and spell my name wrong on my present. Does anyone else get a little offended when someone spells your name wrong? He makes me laugh.
Spencer got me an Amazon Kindle! I love it.

On Christmas day we went to my Mom's and she gave each of us a hand-made quilt by her! I was so excited when I opened this. We've been asking for a quilt from her for years it seems. She's so talented and has the cutest taste in fabric.
Merry Christmas!

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Surprise iMac

Spencer has been wanting an iMac for so long. I convinced him to wait until after Christmas with no real good reasoning other than that they are expensive and I didn't feel like spending the money right now. (Secretly, I've been wanting one too so I can learn all of the Adobe programs) If we aren't getting one after Christmas then we probably won't get one for a LONG time, Spencer thought, because Terri's so stubborn. I invited him on a surprise date for Thursday, December 15th to celebrate his last final of the semester. I'd been telling him lately that I just wanted to get hot chocolate and drive around looking at people's lights for a date night so he figured that's what we were doing, or going to Temple Square. As we drove downtown, he was trying to be nice and say things like "I thought you already got your feel for the lights at Temple Square this year" because he REALLY didn't want to go. I smiled and said "maybe that's what we're doing, and maybe not"

***
We arrived at The Gateway and wandered through a few stores. We stopped at Starbucks and rewarded ourselves each to a Frappuccino.

We then headed to the Mac store. As we approached the store, Spencer said "Oh, I'll show you the Mac I want!" and I turned to him and said something like "We're taking it home tonight."The smile on his face was priceless. The whole time we were in the store, he kept saying "I don't believe you" or "You're lying to me". How could this be real?! This picture doesn't describe it very well. He was embarrassed I was taking a picture because he didn't want to look like a tourist.

And there is the beauty that I am now typing on.
Best surprise date....EVER!

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Christmas Decorations

I absolutely love this time of year. Spencer points out to me how much I love Christmas lights, and Christmas music all the time. Tonight he came home to me dancing and singing along to blaring Christmas music. I took these pictures minutes before he got home...sorry...no pictures of me dancing though!
This nativity set came straight from Grandma Frandsen's trip to Israel this year.

Went to Temple Square with my sisters-in-law last weekend but my camera died right when we got there. Fun Fact: Learned that the big dipper is on the temple because it points to the North Star and the North Star is always constant. Awesome.

Monday, December 5, 2011

Chocolate Gold Coins

These babies sit in a giant bowl right in front of me...all day long!

Can you say...tempting?

Friday, December 2, 2011

Reflections

I have been bad at updating this month. Thanksgiving went by in a flash and now it's December. I usually don't share personal things on my blog but here it goes.


***

The past week and a half or so, something has changed inside of me. I've had some time to really reflect on my life because of a blog I ran into...www.nieniedialogues.com. Stephanie was featured on KSL and that is how I found it. If you haven't read it, I would suggest you read from August 2008-present, which is what I've been doing. Her blog is beautiful and not only am I stalking her personal life on her blog (sorry Stephanie) but her life is a beautiful story of faith & hardship. She has an incredible testimony of the gospel and is an example to all. She also inspires me. She has the cutest taste in vintage things! Which I love, but can't ever seem to get my hands on because my wallet is constantly glued shut if you know what I mean. (It's my fault though)


A little background on Stephanie; 3 years ago, her and her husband were in a small plane crash. Both were injured and her husband Christian who she calls Mr. Nielson in her blog, broke his back & Stephanie was burned on 80% of her body but they both survived. They have 4 little kids and live in Provo, UT. She has been through so much, I just can't even comprehend. She will have a wonderful reunion with Christ after this life because of her incredible faith & testimony and she will be healed. I know it because of the gospel.


***

The other night I was in our basement with the usual "Spencer on the couch doing homework" and he caught me staring off into the distance. "What are you thinking about?" he asked. Tears started to well up in my eyes and I said "Nothing." The truth was, that I was thinking about my life. I have found myself sorry for challenges I have been through & feeling a "poor me" attitude the past little while. After I read about Stephanie I was certainly reminded of how blessed I am.


***

Right now is the time to be grateful to be alive and to cherish every little thing in life. I am trying to not let stupid things bother me; like Spencer leaving his plate of chicken bones in the basement for days because he devoured every piece of meat that was on that thing, or Sophie eating her dinner and putting her messy lips on our bed because she wants to see us. I am trying to be grateful for life and remember that we have a purpose on earth. I desire to live a fulfilling life. I want to be a wife who kisses her husband when he gets home from work everyday because we love each other. Someday I want to be a Mother & remember that when I am a Mother, the dishes can wait because my children will remember me playing with them instead. I want to have a strong testimony of the gospel to teach my children and be an example to others. Those things in life must not be missed. How do I know that? Because Stephanie almost lost everything dear to her, but God preserved her life for a reason and almost that very same reason is why we are here too.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Cousin Halloween Party 2011

Every year we have a cousin Halloween party where we eat dinner, carve pumpkins, & hang out! I look forward to it every year.
"Cheese"

The kids thought the bubbling cauldron was the coolest thing!

Shootin'

We went shooting at Colter's property again, the weekend after Adam's wedding. I didn't get very many pictures but this is Spencer starting a fire for us. There was a huge group of us and when it got dark, we sat around the fire and roasted some dogs.
I was on my way to meet Spencer shooting and I couldn't get through the gate because there were cows herding around me! I've never seen a cow this up close before and I'll be honest, I was a little scared! It was huge, I thought it was going to tip over my car. It rubbed it's head on my mirror.

Friends in Town

Our friend Adam Sellars got married last weekend & so Brady & Brittany from Arizona came down to visit. Here they are at the reception.


Adam & his wife Lexi got married in the Bountiful, UT temple. It was such a beautiful day! They couldn't have asked for a more perfect day in October. Normally, by now it is freezing! The sealing was beautiful as well.
Brady & Brittany
We also went shooting on our friend Colter's property in Draper.
Guns are too powerful for me so I didn't shoot, but I had fun watching! Brady's wife Brittany is pregnant and has been really sick so she didn't come to this adventure. We met up with her later and saw the movie Footloose.
Had so much fun with them while they were in town and can't wait to meet their baby in May!

Shake Night

I had never been to Hires Big H and they had one of the best shakes I've ever had! (Peanut Butter Chocolate, my favorite combination) Had fun hanging out with the girls as well!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Curly Hair

Spence and I have been babysitting for almost two weeks now because his parents went on a 14 day cruise to the Mediterranean! The little girls almost always ask me to curl their hair when I'm staying over and so I did! It only took me 3 hours to do 3 of them haha still fun though!



Salt Lake REAL

I freaking love going to these games!!!
One Republic concert was after the game. Way fun! Thanks Doug & Jamie for coming with us!

St. George

My parents have a house in St. George that they go to once a month and I need to take more pictures of it! But during this last trip, my family and I visited the temple grounds while we were there. I have only done baptisms here but I am looking forward to doing a session next time I'm down because I've heard it's beautiful!

Thursday, September 22, 2011

A Day of Inspiration


Husband is in school with our only traveling computer aka the laptop and so I hardly ever see that thing! Hence, why the blog has been neglected for a bit. Don't worry though, I have pictures on my camera waiting to be uploaded. I decided to do something different on my blog today because I felt inspired to just write.

When I think of inspiration (blog title), I think of things that inspire me, or things that inspire other people. Today I felt like writing about decisions. We all feel inspired to make decisions on a day to day basis. When I made the decision to get married, it was the best one I ever made. Little did I know that it would bring challenges and hardships but a lot of joy & happiness too. I've noticed that there are so many people around me who are afraid of marriage and I'm wondering how I got so lucky to make the leap into marriage without even thinking twice. It is ok to think twice about marriage but really what is holding you back? I think a lot of people are dissatisfied with their current lives. They find one thing to make them happy for a little bit but then when one little thing goes wrong in their lives they decide to "run away" or wish they could just forget about life for a while. Well kids, the reality is this. You'll never be able to run away. You should always learn to face those challenges in your life because if you don't, then how will you ever learn to deal with those challenges when you get married? It's not as though you can just "run away" or be gone for a while in marriage. You have to deal with it. I promise that as you do this, you will be able to learn how to deal with challenges in your lives.

Anyway- that's my little bit of inspiration for today... hopefully I didn't bore you to death!

Sunday, August 7, 2011

Happy Birthday to ME!

I turned 22 on July 31st and I love this age.. Please don't let me get any older! I had a great birthday. I celebrated with my family at the Park.


Spencer's dad and step mom took Spencer and I to the Salt Lake REAL game. We love going to these games because we get free food and it's an awesome venue! We also get to sit in the suite because of Salt Lake Regional Hospital where Spencer's dad Jeff works. I finally got pictures of it.
Jeff & Michelle
The Suite

Watermelon Love

I babysat my cute niece Embree and fed her watermelon. She LOVED it. Sorry Christine for the messy clothes I sent her home with!