So life has been super crazy the last four months and needless to say updating the blog was the last thing on my list. But life is starting to come together once again so I thought I would put an update of all the things that have happened in the last four months (which has been quite a bit).
November
November started out with the leaves changing beautiful colors of yellow, orange, red, etc. I was so amazed with the actual season change. In Utah there is not much of a fall (or at least in the areas I have lived in). Things went really quick from living in summer to dead in winter. So I was really excited to experience a very beautiful fall. I also cut my hair for the first time because I didn't want to spend the money to get it done and it makes me nervous trusting other people I don't know with my hair. I watched a bazillion youtube videos and then took the plunge. I was pleasantly surprised and happy with it, so I have continued to cut my own hair. Thanksgiving came around at the end of the month. It was our first Thanksgiving not being with family. It was really hard for me, but we are blessed to have made great friends in our ward that invited us over and took us in as if we were there own family. That weekend I decided to do a little Thanksgiving with just Clint and I. I have always wanted to try cooking a turkey, so I decided this is the year. I must say it wasn't too bad. Clint and I had a lot of fun cooking it and trying something new. I also made my first pie and it was yummy! It was an caramel apple pie and I would totally recommend the recipe for those that are looking for a twist on apple pie. Caramel makes everything taste much better.
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| My first time cutting my hair |
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| Beautiful fall colors |
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| The weather was so nice that Oreo was just soaking it up |
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| My first time cooking a turkey |
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| Oreo loves turkey, can you tell? |
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| The first time we have cooked our own Thanksgiving dinner |
December
So many things went on in December. We were planning on closing on our house on the 15th so we spent the first couple of weeks packing and getting things ready to move. We ended up closing one day early and then we had four days to get everything moved in before we flew out that weekend to Utah for Christmas. We didn't have a ton of furniture because we have been out here on an internship, so we made many small trips back and forth from our apartment to our home to move everything. That took a long time since we moved about 40 minutes away. Amongst all this moving Clint was still putting in a full work day and I was finishing up all my finals for school. We finally got everything moved out and checked out of our apartment and then moved onto packing all the stuff we would need for three weeks out in Utah. Sunday morning came around and we went to church that morning since we needed to teach our primary class. After church we booked it to the airport and then flew out not long after. We flew into Vegas and my parents were really nice and picked us up there. It was so nice to see family after eight months. We were pretty much going through withdraws and were so excited to see them. We had a really enjoyable time spending a couple weeks hanging out with them. We got spoiled by both Santa and family with many gifts and cards. Thank you to all those who were so gracious and kind to be thinking about us on Christmas. At the end of our trip with my family we spent a day hiking Zions because Clint had never been to Zions before (he is a Northern Utahn that's way). It was a beautiful warm day and we had lots of fun hiking and spending time together. For New Years we headed up to Ogden to spend time with Clint's family. We had a mini second Christmas there where we got spoiled once again. We are so lucky to have great parents, family, and friends that we get to spend these holidays with. Near the end of our stay, we headed down to Provo to pack all of our stuff up at the storage unit. My family, Clint's family, and our friend James all came to help us move. They helped us pack so fast and everything went so smoothly. We are grateful for there help. It would have taken us a long time if it was just Clint and I.
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| We have keys! :) |
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| House warming gift from our Realtor |
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| The view from our front window. I love all the trees. |
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| Isn't it beautiful? |
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| Our really long driveway |
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| The house from the back |
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| Misty's Christmas choir program |
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| Cute :) |
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| I think the dogs like us |
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| My two favorite boys |
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| Hanging out with the family |
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| At the movies |
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| Tink and I hanging out |
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| She doesn't like Clint at all ;) |
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| Crazy Larsen nativity night |
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| Behind the scenes staff of the Nativity |
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| Oreo's Christmas gift from Santa |
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| The new pots that I have wanted for awhile |
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| Tink loved her bone, even though it is practically the same size as her |
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| Wonder who my Secret Admirer is ;) |
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| Think we have enough dogs? |
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| Oreo got something stuck to his nose that looks like a heart |
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| Our first Christmas together with Oreo |
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| Oreo's first Christmas. He looks totally enthused. |
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| Coby's call home! It was so good to talk to him. |
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| Merry Christmas! |
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| Oreo and Dad bonding |
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| We are kind of goofy, except for Dad of course. He is good to put up with all of us. |
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| Got to play train. It is a tradition. |
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| A little scary, I know! |
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| Zions National Park |
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| Oreo loves drinking out of water bottles |
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| Clint and Misty |
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| Being our goofy selves once again |
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| Beautiful overlook at Zions |
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| I thought this was a really good picture |
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| Pretty river flowing through Zions |
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| Candid moment between Misty and Oreo |
January
We started out the beginning of the year driving across country the second time. It was quite the experience driving a huge Uhaul all the way across country in five days, but we did survive. It wasn't as fun as last time because we just wanted to get home whereas last time we made it into more of a sightseeing trip. When we finally pulled up we were ready to finally enjoy our home. In December we only stayed in our house like four or five days before we flew out. We got all of our stuff unpacked and set up the bed immediately. Sleeping on the floor for eight months made us gain an appreciation for our bed. We got a great nights sleep that night. Our first week back home we got the itch to start home renovations so that is what we did. Clint started tearing out the cabinets and re figuring them how we wanted them. We installed the new stove that my parents spoiled us with for Christmas. (It is absolutely amazing by the way)! Clint was so ambitious that one night I feel asleep early and when I woke up he had tore out the wainscoting on the one wall. I told him it isn't safe for me to fall asleep anymore. Who knows what I would wake up to next? So the kitchen became our project the last couple months. Clint tore our all the wainscoting (we aren't much into the country look) and spent a week putting up joint compound to try and smooth out the wall. Then we got busy painting EVERYTHING!!! And I mean everything. We don't like the natural wood look so we painted all the moldings, doors, and windows in the kitchen. We also painted all the walls grey. This took a long time because we didn't know that with dark colors you have to do MANY coats of paint. We also changed out all the electrical outlets to new white ones since the previous owners painted over theirs and it just didn't look good. We are currently painting the heating baseboards as well, which will hopefully get done this week. Oh, we also painted the sealing which we no fun. We both had kinks in our necks for a couple days from staring straight up for a couple hours. We finally put it all back together this week and now I am ready to decorate it! :) We had our first real snow of the winter as well. It was so deep Oreo would basically disappear in it when he jumped into it. We had fun playing in it and then we were ready for it to melt and go away.
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| Happy New Year |
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| Oreo peed right on time. Happy New Year to him! |
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| On the road again |
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| I love seeing these |
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| Pretty sunset |
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| He was pretty bored with driving 8 to 10 hours a day if you can't tell |
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| Our first time being in Nebraska |
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| Thank goodness we had our Christmas candy to keep us energized |
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| Oreo loves putting his face by the air conditioning |
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| He likes being Clint's right hand man |
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| Second time driving over the Mississippi River |
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| Oreo loves licking the remains of Clint's DQ strawberry shake (see video above if you don't believe me) |
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| Yes, we drove through Scranton, PA!! The Office all the way baby!! |
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| Ready to play in the snow |
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| It snowed a lot!! |
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| Isn't our home beautiful with snow on it |
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| He loves the snow |
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| Clint tried sledding on our hill in the backyard. It wasn't very successful. |
February
Not a lot has happened this month. We basically have been just working on home renovations every free hour. We did have a good Valentines day though. While Clint was at work he had a delivery company drop flowers and a bear off to me at home. He is so good at remembering what I like. Lily's are my favorite flowers so he got a dozen of them for me, but then went even farther and had them mixed with a dozen red roses. We had a fun night going to this fancy restaurant called the Mill on the River. It sits right on the Connecticut River and has some beautiful views. It was fun to get dressed up and go spend some well needed time away from the house. Down below I posted some of our dinning room renovation pictures. I am sooo excited to finally have some of my own before and after pictures like all the blogs I have been spooling over for months now. :) More to come...
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| My gift to Clint |
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| The beautiful flowers Clint got for me! |
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| We changed out the sink faucet! I love my new one. |
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| Before ripping wainscoting off |
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| After ripping wainscoting off |
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| A ton of joint compound later |
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| The finished paint job!! Now onto painting the baseboard heaters and decorating and then it will be done! |
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| My new little yucca plant I bought. It is my first step in starting to decorate the room. |
That was more than just an update. That was a complete book. Sorry about that. Hopefully that gets me caught up though for the last few months. Thanks again to all those who have been so great to us. We love you all and hope every thing is going good in your lives!
