Thursday, December 22, 2011

Life so far


When I started this post I was only going to post about the fall semester, but then I procrastinated (big surprise) and now it's the end of the year. So now you get to see my entire year in recap. Get ready for a lot of pictures.

2011 started off great. Jeff and I got to watch little sis Michee dance as a Lone Peak Chevalier. It brought back some crazy memories seeing her at state :)


Ya, we're really good dancers, as you can tell.

Then more reminiscing and more dancing. I got to finally sit in the audience and watch the Cougarettes in Concert. It was a little weird watching and not dancing, but kind of nice to just show up and watch instead of working for months and months and being ridiculously stressed out. And the girls were absolutely stunning, of course.

And since last winter it snowed like crazy, my family and I found ourselves frequenting the cabin. Here are a few pictures of our escapades.



Memorial Day weekend was great, too. We visited Spring City where mom bought some art at the auction, and then we rode our bikes to Ephraim which was tons o' fun!

Summer rolled around and Mindy came out to visit, so naturally she got all the siblings together for a little evening up the canyon. Please don't be jealous of me and my sisters' photogenic qualities.

We also got up to the cabin for a Dalton family reunion in the summer. Quite a different experience visiting the cabin in the summer rather than the winter.



The girls and mom also found a weekend for a girls night out up in park city. That was almost too much fun. Hopefully mom will let us do it again next year :)

One of the highlights of the year was when Tyler came home from his mission. It had been a little too quiet at home without him.

Gifts from Tyler from Russia. 'Nuff said.

Each summer I get to work at Basic Dance Training, and these are some pictures of the girls I was a "mom" for. Loved my baby girls, and I'm so glad I get to stay involved in the dance team community.


For our second anniversary Jeff and I went to Culebra Island and San Juan in Puerto Rico. It was crazy beautiful and so much fun to play in the ocean and hear Jeff speak Spanish.



Best breakfast/pastry shop ever.

Our 10 seater plane that took us to Culebra Island. So cool.

Our Hotel in San Juan!

After we got back from Puerto Rico Jeff and I made it out to Florida for little Cole's baby blessing. We hadn't been back since our wedding so it was good to go and see Jeff's family.
Part of the time we were in Florida we stayed at a beach house at Flagler beach. One morning Jeff and I got up really early to watch the sunrise. This picture doesn't do it any justice, but it's better than nothing. Jeff actually proposed to me early in the morning long ago and was hoping for a sunrise like this, but in Utah with mountains in the way it's harder to get a really dramatic sunrise, the morning just gets brighter and brighter with no actual sun. So it was fun to finally get our sunrise like he wanted :)

Before summer was over we made it out to California to visit Lauga and Blake over Labor Day. I love that picture of Lauga directing Blake and am so lucky for friends who live in fun places :) Thanks again, Lauga and Blake.



Then school started. I finally got to watch a football game instead of dance at one, haha. And Jeff and I finally got some BYU shirts that don't have Cougarettes written all over it.

Fall on campus is my favorite, and with this being my last year at BYU, (FINALLY) after stake conference on campus we strolled around and took some pictures of the leaves. Doesn't Jeff look good?

With fall comes birthdays, and since Clint and I have birthdays 4 days apart we end up sharing our birthday dinners at the house. Clint and I tried to blow out candles together, but I couldn't blow out a particularly stubborn candle, so Michelle blew it out for me, and Clint then joked about my struggles. I love this picture because it captures all of that at once.

Thanksgiving rolled around, which means, MORE CABIN! haha. This time we went up with Jeff's family, who had come in from Florida. Pictured is sassy Olivia, finally smiling (kinda) for the picture.

And of course, more dancing :) Michelle competed a solo this year and won 1st place! I was extremely proud/thrilled/excited/happy for her. She is a beautiful dancer and I love getting to watch her.

With Christmas time comes another bird ornament. This year Jeff and I found this little blue bird and we affectionately named him Lloyd (the name is stamped on his bum, must be the artist or something). I'm really excited about this tradition we have going and can't wait for our tree to fill up with birds.

Miss Autumn Nelsen became Mrs. Autumn Hewlett and was the most stunning bride. So fun to see her so happy.

That same night we headed over for a Christmas party at Stacey and Andrew's. So great to get together and see friends.

Christmas Eve I made an apple pie. Yes, I actually made something and it tasted good. Crazy.

We finished off the year seeing lights with the family and I can't believe how cute Mindy's kids keep getting. Love little Finn and Nico.

Well 2011, you were great. Thanks for the memories. Can't wait for 2012! It's gonna be awesome. (Hopefully as awesome of this video of Finn dancing!)