Bye Bye Brother

 We said good-bye to little brother at the end of March. The drop-off at the MTC was pretty uneventful. We literally pulled up to the curb and then off he went!

A Day in the Life...

Our time in Utah is coming to a close, so here we are documenting our little journey. I snapped some pictures of how my day usually goes.

• Morning commute with my carpool buddy (Daniel)
• Off to the Deseret Book store or to the Corporate offices on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.
• Daniel drops me off and continues his drive up to Layton.
• I work until four/four-thirty each day.
  
• Head home, and if I am feeling ambitious I actually make dinner.
• The end.
  

This is the actually building that I work in. It is on the opposite side of the store as the original Deseret Book offices.


This is the view from the office that the Director of Merchandising shares with me. Not too shabby huh?

I love working downtown and so close to Temple Square. I've met some interesting people and some very important people. I've met Sheri Dew, Ardeth Kapp, Kristen Oaks, Harriet Utchdorf, and other artists and authors that have come in. It has been a wonderful experience and I will be sad to see it end in two weeks.

Where We Are and What We Are Doing...

So...
We now live in Riverton, Utah, temporarily.
Daniel's wonderful Aunt Evon and Uncle Mike are letting us live in their great basement apartment, and it is turning into a extreme blessing. Daniel and I have about a 40 minute drive to work, which really hasn't been that bad. But then it snowed. Daniel had to turn back today and come home because I-15 was so backed up he would have never made it to work in under two hours.
Anyways, I had been working at the Layton Deseret Book, which was a great learning experience for me, but a window of opportunity appeared shortly after we arrived here. I received a call from the manager of the downtown store in Salt Lake with some interest in having me come work for him. However, someone else put the cherry on top that made me decided to move stores.
The director of merchandising called me with some interest in having me work as her assistant while I am here. I am extremely excited to be working in the corporate offices of Deseret Book. One for the things I will learn, but also for the people I will meet. This is a great opportunity for me that I never thought I would receive and I am feeling very blessed. I will be working both in the offices and at the Flagship Store. Go me!
Daniel is fitting in well with his internship and his co-workers. Piece by piece they are giving him more projects that challenge him and interest him in accounting. He has even taken on a customer account to be his own. They are very flexible with his schedule which is also a great blessing to help me get to work when I need to.
So far, I've learned how wonderfully kind people can be. Everyone we know has been so accommodating and so nice.
We are grateful for everyone's helpful hands and we are enjoying our time here.

Christmas 2011

Now that everyone else has posted about Christmas, I thought I'd let the magic linger a while longer! Christmas was a lovely holiday. I worked a lot as usual, but after a long week we made it to my parent's house at nine o'clock Christmas Eve night. We ate some delicious appetizers, shared Christmas stories, and opened some new pjs.
This was Spencer's last Christmas with us for two years! As of today, his mission papers are in to the stake president. We should be hearing about a call sometime soon.

We were well spoiled this year. Daniel got a new jackets, books, movies, a Cardinals shirt from my trip to St. Louis, and other goodies.

I also got some movies, books, clothes, lots of smelly goodies, perfume, and a new wallet.


Daniel's brother Alan and his family drew our name for Christmas and bought us a great blanket from Boston. Thanks everyone!
Did I mention we just just a few movies? 13 total! {8 of which were Harry Potter, which we are now watching in reverse order}

We missed Daniel's parents for Christmas while they were in Arkansas, but after Christmas dinner we had some friends over for games and more delectable food. Mike and Lara and Aaron and Roni came over to celebrate. After games, Aaron, Roni, Daniel, and I drove around to check out Christmas lights. There is a house in Idaho Falls that is synchronized to Christmas music and we sat and watched that house for the entire show. The family that runs it is so sweet, they even brought everyone that was watching their house candy canes!

Christmas was far too short, but we had a wonderful holiday. I always like when we get to go to church on Christmas as well. The rest of the week was spent packing up and moving to Utah!

That story up next...

Magic of Christmas

Daniel's brother Alan has an uncanny gift for cutting some of the most meticulously crafted snowflakes I have ever seen. They drew our name and the first half of our presents were these amazing snowflakes. We just thought we'd share these marvelous pieces of art.

This one was made just for me. Check out that Eiffel Tower and Fleur de Lis!

Shocking, huh? Thanks Alan!

St. Louis

For a long time my mom has wanted to go back to Illinois to visit some family that she has not seen in a very long time, including her cousin, aunt, and her grandpa. Finally, this fall my mother, brother, and I made the trip to visit everyone. They all live just on the other side of the Mississippi from St. Louis.


We had so much fun visiting and dining out. My mom and her cousin Laura seem like long lost friends. It is uncanny the similarities between the two of them, even though they haven't seen each other since they were ten!

Spencer and I with Laura's kids: Connor and Claire.

Another part of our visit was to visit my great-grandfather Carl Killibrew. The sweetheart is over 90 years old and still as sharp as a tack! We really enjoyed spending time with him and his darling wife Becky. They were wonderful hosts.

They took us on a beautiful drive alongside the Mississippi on a historic highway known as River Road. We still had some great fall colors on the bluffs. We ended up at a darling cottage called Pere Marquette where we ate lunch overlooking the river. Lunch was delicious. It all seemed very picturesque. I kept having the urge to read Mark Twain or imagined Huck Finn floating down the immensely wide river. They also showed us the house my great-grandpa built and the artillery factory where my great-grandmother worked.

Our last day there we spent in the city center of St. Louis. It is very interesting city. It holds a lot of history of old industrial America. Part of the city seems abandoned from past years of shipping and railroad expansion. It is possibly the least touristy large city I have been to, but still had an amount of Americana charm with its brick building and nostalgia of the American Dream.
Little did I know that the St. Louis arch was actually constructed as a monument to President Jefferson, the Louisiana Purchase, and westward expansion. The trip up the arch is not for the claustrophobic. Five people cram into a tiny pod and are slowly lifted up to the very top.

With few tourist sights to see, we made our main event a late lunch at Pappy's Smokehouse. Yet again, the Travel Channel pulls through with a winning restaurant. We definitely wanted good BBQ while we were there. When we arrived, the line wrapped around the restaurant. We patiently waited for at least an hour before we could order our food. Was it worth it? Yes, yes, yes! The best BBQ I have ever had. Everything was fall apart in your mouth delicious. I couldn't shovel the sweet potato fries in my mouth fast enough. Deep fried corn on the cob is exactly how corn should always taste.





Afterwards, we hit up the mall and forced ourselves to eat another delicious meal at the Cheesecake Factory for mom's birthday.

Although it was a very short trip, I was so happy to be able to do this with my mom. Our great grandpa is such a character. And my mom's cousin and her family are great fun. It meant a lot to my mom to go visit everyone. It's nice to know that no matter how long you are apart, family always turns out to be great friends. {At least in our case} :)

Deadly Ever After

I daresay this was the best Halloween we've ever had. Daniel usually has to work until midnight on the last day of the month, which spoils Halloween and New Years, but this year the weekend before turned out to be convenient enough to throw a party. :)

I'm a big fan of dressing up, perhaps its from my ballroom years, but I always find it fun to dress up fancy for a special occasion or crazy for some party. We decided we wanted to throw a "murder mystery" where everyone could get super dressed up and have a good time. I found a website where I was able to download a party set that gave us clues, character, and directions. Made it all really simple! "Deadly Ever After" was one of the favorite themes we came across and once we selected it the party just came together!

The mystery began with a trivia quiz on all the of characters present. We had Rapunzel & Robin Hood, Evil Witch & The Count, Hamlet & Juliet, Sherlock & Red Riding Hood, Prince Charming & Belle, John Silver the Pirate & his lady, and Alice & the Mad Hatter.

{AKA: Roni & Aaron, Kelsey & Eric, Zach & Gabby, Mike & Lara, Spencer & Jess, Zach & Lizzy, Ashley & Daniel.}

I was so impressed with everyone's costumes. I thought at first we had gone overboard, but everyone looked so great! Daniel's sweet mom made my dress and it was perfect! I really really need to learn how to sew. We pieced Daniel's costume together from the DI, online shopping, and...my socks.
The face paint really adds the extra touch on Daniel.


By the end of round one, everyone was really into their characters. Spencer was yelling out against the accusations that he stole shoe styles from the victim. Daniel jabbered away just like the hatter. And Kelsey, the witch, freaked everyone out every time they turned a corner! Look at that face!

At the end of the night, we discovered that John Silver had in fact killed our victim Scheherazade. I guess she found out that he liked to knit, and the pirate couldn't risk his reputation! {I was certain it was Juliet}


We voted on the Best Costume, Best Character, and Best Food. Daniel won best costume, I won best character (I think the british accent pulled that one off for me), and Gabby and Zach won best food.
Turned out to be a great party. Thanks to everyone who helped. Also, it must be noted that I won monopoly for the first time in my life that night. It's not often I bet Daniel at games like that.