Ol' blue Jeans on!

So, anyone who went to high school with me pretty much knows that I'm a jeans and t-shirt kinda girl. I don't remember ever wearing anything but jeans in high school! Well, with the job I have now, I can't wear jeans to work. Today, was a special day because we got to wear jeans in and it totally made my day. So this post is dedicated to jeans and reasons why they're great.
Jeans...

1. match everything...you can wear any color with jeans and it'll look good


2. are comfortable


3. are warm (skirts/dress pants are NOT suitable for Cleveland's winters)


4. can be dressed up...you can wear with a blouse and heels and look fabulous


5. are flexible


6. allow you to move free (you have to watch how you're sitting in a skirt, but not in jeans!


7. can be worn many times before washing and no one can tell (I promise I do wash my jeans though)


8. Jeans can easily be recycled (cut-offs, jean quilts, etc.)


9. It's cool if they look worn (you can't wear a skirt, shirt or khaki's with a hole in it and still look decent)

Jeans make me so HAPPY!!!

A New Family Tradition!

Last night we got together with our friends, Dan and Amber Patty and Tyson and Lauren Fiala, to make gingerbread houses. It was so much fun that I decided making gingerbread houses was going to be a family tradition for us!

Note: Yes, Adam's thumb nail is painted a green/yellow color. I have NOTHING to do with this. He does it on his own accord whenever we go to the grocery store. If you have any questions, please speak with Dan Nelson!

This is a back shot of my gingerbread house. I would put a back shot of Adam's on here, but his looked the same on both sides. As you can tell from the picture of him and his creation, we're not really sure what Adam built. This makes me nervous, and I decided that we will never build our own home.

There were a lot of creative juices flowing and it was fun to see what everyone came up with. Here's a fun picture with the whole group and our houses...

For our friends and family who live far away...these are our friends, Amber and Dan Patty. Poor Dan had a bit of trouble with the skyscraper gingerbread building he was making. It collapsed during the building of the fourth floor. What your seeing in the picture below is the remains of his project. His is the second one to the left in the picture above.
We hung out for the first time last night with Tyson and Lauren Fiala (below). They were a lot of fun, and we hope to do more with them! They both had great gingerbread houses, although Tyson's was really impressive with his two story home.

Dan in Real Life

If you have not seen Dan in Real Life, I would stongly urge you to stop reading this post. I cannot promise that what I write will not spoil the end of the movie for you. This movie is worth seeing; it has many truths and laughs in it that are all too familiar too all of us and our families!

Friday nights are mine and Adam's date night. For as long as I can remember, date nights have consisted of us going out for dinner. Last night we were both in the mood for something a little different, so we decided it'd be fun to go see a movie. Now, going to the movies is not something we do very often because one of two scenarios always takes place:

Scenario 1- We go see a movie Laura wants to see, usually a chick flick or Disney movie. Adam laughs in parts that are NOT funny and doesn't laugh in the parts that are. This annoys Laura a little. Laura places herself in a move when she watches it, so by the end of a good chick flick she feels happy and in love! After the movie she wants to talk to Adam about her feelings and thoughts, and gets little to no response from Adam except "Good movie." This really annoys her, and they both wish they hadn't gone to see the movie together.

Scenario 2- We go see a movie Adam wants to see. Laura drags her feet a little because they're usually filled with some kind of fighting and a story line she can't follow. This annoys Adam a little. Due to the fact that Laura "lives" every movie she watches, the violence eventually gets to her. She doesn't like the way the movie is making her feel and walks out. This makes Adam very annoyed, and they both wish they hadn't gong to see the movie together.

Well last night, after debating between Adam's choice, Beowulf, and Laura's choice of Enchanted, we decided to go middle of the road and see Dan in Real Life. We fell in love with the dynamics of the family. They were so real and deep. Not the kind of deep that you have to analyze to figure out, but the kind of deep that hits your heart because as you watch it you feel the love and concern that exists in your own family. The comedy was there too, and it was so real. None of those silly jokes that make it look like they were "trying" to be funny, but the kind of jokes and funny things that happen in every family.

It was a little coincidental that the two main characters' names, Dan and Marie, were both names that Adam and I have and don't go by. Their love story reminded my a lot of those first few experiences I had with Adam. This first time I met him, I felt a connection with him that I'd never felt with anyone else. He made me feel valuable and safe at the same time, just by the way he looked at me. For a month after that he stayed away from me because his roommate (not brother, liked me...we were not dating though). One Saturday afternoon , a group of us were over at his apartment. As usual, he wasn't saying much to me because of his roommate. As we were all talking, he picked up his guitar and started playing "To Make You Feel My Love." As he played that song, I knew that somehow I was going to have to get him to talk to me, if not date me. Well, our romance unfolded pretty quickly after that. He asked me out on a "non-date," and we talked for hours. Everything was the best with him, and he lifted me up. At the end of the movie, Dan talks about how we always tend to plan our life out, but it never turns out the way we plan. He says that we should teach our children to "plan on being surprised." As amazing and wonderful as my husband is, he is far from the blonde hair, blue eyed, sensitive, rugged person I had dreamed up. But as Adam said, "I was pleasantly surprised."

Our First Christmas Tree

This is going to be our first Christmas together! While my family was here, we went and bought our first Christmas tree! We bought a real one this year with the plan to buy an artificial tree when they go on sale after Christmas. Although, I've enjoyed the pine smell so much that I might ask Adam if we can do a real tree every year. I started putting the lights on, and then Adam did the rest. It was funny because our idea of Christmas lights on a tree was very different, and you could see it on our tree. My lights were spaced out pretty far, and Adam likes them concentrated. Our tree looked so goofy that Adam had to fix the part I did so that our lighting was consistent.It was fun decorating for Christmas, but I am definitly looking forward to the collection of Christmas decorations through out the years. With it being our first Christmas, we don't have a lot to decorate with. Luckily, we got married in December and used ornaments and lights as decor at our reception so we did have some stuff!

Kirtland

While my family was visiting for Thanksgiving, we took a drive to Kirtland, Ohio. It was the first time my family had been together to visit a church history site (excluding Temple Square in Salt Lake City). We started our tour at the Kirtland Temple and then went over to the LDS visitor's center and N.K. Whitney Store. We had a nice little surprise at the visitor center because the video they were showing was different than the one they usually show. Instead of one about old Kirtland, they showed the new Joseph Smith movie that originally played in the theatre at temple square. Adam and I had already seen the video in Rexburg, Idaho, but my family hadn't seen it and wouldn't get the opportunity in Georgia. My mom was so excited when she found out what video she was about to see. The movie is so good and always helps me appreciate the wonderful blessings that the gospel brings to my life. I am grateful that I know that Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost are three seperate beings. Because of this, I am able to have a personal relationship with each one and understand the important role of each in my life. I hope that I will be stong enough to make the sacrifices needed in my life to instill a love and understanding of the gospel in my future children.

I love this picture because of Dallen. It had been a really long day for the little four-year-old who had to watch historical movies he didn't understand. He fell asleep, and we woke him up for a picture. You can tell he wasn't too happy about it!

Thankful for Family!

This was Adam and mine's first Thanksgiving together as a married couple. We got to have the wonderful treat of hosting Thanksgiving for my family at our house. They drove all the way up from Georgia to share the holiday with us. My mom is such a good cook, so it was nice to have her help in the kitchen. Adam made his delicious mashed potatoes (oh yes, he makes the best!), and he got to use his dissecting skills from podiatry school to carve the turkey.

It was nice to have my parents and four brothers around. At the holidays I always miss chaos since I grew up in a big family with a lot of noise. I must say that for those few days they were here, there wasn't a quiet moment.

Coming from Georgia, my family doesn't see a whole lot of snow. Dario prayed that there would be snow while they were here, and...

You can see that it snowed...

enough for the boys to play in the snow! It was such a fun day for everyone. I was so glad that my family was able to spend the holiday with us.

Brasa Grill

Last night Adam and I went with a bunch of our friends to eat at Brasa Grill. It was so much fun going downtown and having dinner with our friends. We have been blessed with fun people to hang out with here in Cleveland. The restaurant has more meat than anyone could ever really want.

As you can see from the picture, they come around with big skewers that have meat on them. It's cooked over and open flame in is so delicious. You definitly have to pace yourself because there are serious consequences for eating too much (Adam is still getting over it). I always like going to these kinds of restaurants with Adam because he feels like he's on his mission again. It's so much fun to see him talk to the waitors in Portugese. There was a Russian waitor there and Adam said the only thing he knows how to say in Russian, "Don't touch my butt." It took the waitor of guard. I just about died, but I must say I am getting more used to Adam's occasional outbursts! The service wasn't the greatest...we were there for almost three hours. It was fun being with a big group though. We've been so blessed in having wonderful friends here in Cleveland. We all come from such different background and places, but it brings so much color and personality into our get togethers!

Mysterious Ways

Adam and I decided to take advantage of the Veteran's Day Weekend sales and went couch shopping. The couch we had was functional, but we just didn't have enough sitting spaces for when we have company over. So, we decided it was time for a new couch and loveseat. Our search was successful at the third store we went to that day. We found some comfortable couches that were on sale and right in our budget. A little problem did occur...we were sitting on the last couch that they had...so if we wanted it we had to use the floor sample. We ended up getting a price cut because it was the floor sample. The love seat was going to be delivered on Friday.

We needed someone to be at home when the love seat was delivered, so Adam stayed home on Friday. When no one called to give us a delivery time window Adam called the company only to find that it wasn't going to be delivered until next Friday. This was so frustrating because we're celebrating our Thanksgiving on Friday because my family can't come in until Thursday evening. I really didn't want to have to worry about getting furniture on that day. Well, everything ended up working out even better than expected. The store we bought the furniture from told us that we could have the floor sample love seat and that they'd knock $100 off and we didn't have to pay a delivery fee. It amazes me how sometimes little inconveniences turn out to be blessings. My mom used to tell me, "Complain less and get more blessings." I don't know that we necessarily get more blessing for not complaining, but I do know that our attitude is adjusted tobe able to notice the blessings.

Well, I love our new couch and loveseat. They are so comfortable. Adam loves that they recline (that was his selling point), and I love that you can rock in the love seat (it'll be good for the babies we'll have someday)! Mostly, I love that Heavenly Father is aware of all his children.