Tis the season

Our first Christmas as a married couple= success (:

Since Andy and I met, we have always spent Christmas eve

with grandma & grandpa young.

&Christmas day is spent with my mom & dad.

So the tradition hasn't changed!

On Christmas eve Andy, my father in law, and I worked diligently

on this Nebraska puzzle his grandma bought,

and we ate & opened gifts!

We then visited my dad at Sutter Hospital for a while until he got tired.

The next morning we woke up nice and early and went to my Moms

to open presents.

Santa brought us both a lot of great gifts!

We then went home to open our gifts from eachother.

First time we had our own tree, in our own house, opening gifts

just between the two of us..and it felt great (:

Following that, was some more time spent at Sutter with my dad.

(hes holding in there..)

My mom got Andy and I thee cutest gift! its a little remembrance of our past year together:

Young's vineyard wine

wine barrel ornament

diamond ring

silver purse

silver glass slipper

all held in a sleigh wrapped with garland&lights!

all which reminded her of our special day (:

it was so stinking cute i had to take a picture!!

Us Christmas morning with our

new Santa hats!
Christmas night.

<3

my sisters (:

Christmas 2010.

(:

After a long hard day

I know you cant tell but we actually got a lot done today...

Thankful

I am so thankful for so much these days..

I am thankful for my husband

who is an amazing handyman and can build anything&everything

&is pretty much good at everything else (:

my cousin and best friend who is only 9 months apart from me

(we have been best friends since we were little)

my puppies. who are AMAZING.

my family (&extended family! my husband has great parents)

my mom who is my best friend in the whole world

my dad who is staying strong through his cancer..

(I really didn't think he would even make it to my wedding.. and now 5 months later

still holding on!)

my brother who will be joining the marines in July

&for my job..in this economy I'm STILL able to make some good money (:

my friends.. its funny. i didn't know getting married would change

some relationships i had with friends. but the ones that stuck through it all

are the best ones to have in my life anyway (:

light little snack

It is SO yummy!

&Andy really likes it too! (he tends to be a little on the picky side) (i need a new camera /: these pictures arent the best quality!)
There isn't much to it!
Tomato
Mozzarella cheese
&Pesto sauce
viola!

House arrest

Andy and I (finally) got our little pup fixed.

We put it off for as long as we could, but it was just something that needed to be done.

Although, I didn't realize how much work post surgery would be..

for us!

I have to keep a close watch 24/7 on her so she wont lick the stitches.

She has to sleep with a cone collar so we KNOW she isn't licking them.

The cone doesn't fit in her crate. (she is crate trained to sleep in there at night)

So, Andy has been sleeping with her in the guest room.

I bandage her up everyday so she cant touch it.

She cant jump, run, play, (all of her fave things to do)

poor girl..

phew! Just repeating it all makes me tired all over again!

side note: she wont stay still when I try to take a picture of her with her cone collar..

its kind of cute/sad.

the christmas tree hunt.

So this year I was determined to do the whole cut down your own tree thing!

&&wanted my husband to be the one who did it for me (:

&sure enough.. he did!

&did it good.

This is him post tree cutting.

We (with the company of my cousin & her bf.)

went to Apple hill in search of our tree, because who doesn't

wanna spend the day up in the hills looking for the

perfect Christmas tree.

Well, it turns out we didn't.. So on the way home we stopped by

Slough house and checked out their tree farm & got lucky!

I couldn't even budge on cutting down that tree!

I just love the smell!

(:

this picture cracks me up! it truly says a lot about them!

haha (:

We found the tree! Andy is preparing himself for the big c u t !

getting down to business!

All & all we had a good day.

The Dallas cowboys won (finally)

we had some delicious apple beer&wine.

the weather was amazingly beautiful.

&we got our first tree as a married couple!

Holiday cookies GALORE!

My cousin, Katrina and I cooked some delicious holiday cookies..you know, to get in the

Christmas spirit (:

We made

Gingerbread cookies

sugar cookies with frosting

peanut butter blossoms

&&

snow ball cookies

Although the ginger breads didnt come out so good, but they were kinda fun to make!

Waiting for the cookies to come out in our fancy

Mrs. Clause aprons!


Thee delicious peanut butter blossom cookies!

Brewsky break (:

Katrina thought it was necessary to get proof on me

chopping walnuts!

Frosting time!

Our house smelt like cookies for the next 2 days!!

The Best of Sacramento

Katrina and I went to this Annual event held in downtown Sacramento called

the best of Sac!
Its held in a big convention center, with many different

restaurants, wineries, etc.

It was our first time, and we loved it!

Although the floor was cement, so our feet were KILLING us by the

end of the night..

Just had some famous leatherbys ice cream & champagne!

Walked the runway ..

It was really fun (:

First annual Turkey Bowl.

My mom came up with a new tradition for all of us to do

the morning of Thanksgiving.

& That is to play some good Ole fashion, football!

Being as there is 7 of us:

Paul

Mom

Andy

Me

Kelly

Scott

& Bri

My step dad, Paul was the all time quarterback for both teams.

The teams were decided quite simply.. It was Andy, Myself & sister Bri on one team

and My mom, brother Scott, and sister Kelly on the other.

Needless to say.. we dominated (:

Andy was quite shocked on how good I actually was!

(I scored a couple touchdowns!)

The grass was a bit slippery from the rain the night before, (& it was about 40 degrees outside) and Andy had the first kick-off to start the game.

Well right after he ran to kick the ball, he slipped RIGHT off his

feet and flat on his back! I couldn't help but laugh.

(he was okay (: )

It all started with a piece of paper

This is how talented/sweet my husband is.

I have been looking all over town for a sleigh that is big enough

to fit presents in on top of our mantel. But had no luck anywhere.

So my husband took it upon himself to design and make one himself.

& It turned out AMAZING!His sketch of what it will look like.
Drew it out & then cut it!

Put it all together..

& painted it!

It looks SO good! I cant wait to put it to use!

(pictures to come)

Just shy of 5 months later..

I finally phramed the engagement & wedding photos! & Just thought I'd share how awesome they look!

Cradle List.

Andy and I have created a [cradle list.]

(still in the works, actually.)

Cradle list: A list a married couple makes of all their dreams, inspirations

they would like to fulfill before the babies.

I wish I could say we thought of this all on our own (:

BUT we did not.

We watch the show How i met your mother and the married couple on that

show made it up. They said its a bucket list, but the married version.

I thought it was so cute, and started one that day!

Here are a few that are on our list:

Spend the holidays in Nebraska.

Buy a piano.

Go to a Dallas Cowboy game, in Dallas.

Travel to Ireland.

that's all you get for now!

Its about that time (:

I am extra excited for the holidays this year! I absolutely LOVE shopping for Christmas decor, & since its our first Christmas together, under the same house, and married (: I get to start from scratch!I have done a lot of shopping at my FAVORITE store, Pottery Barn.

Andy and I have new stockings with our names engraved on them.

We spent the day today shopping for ornaments that we would like for our tree.

I decided i wanted to stick with the classic look of just red & silver, original

ball ornaments, and a few oddly shaped ones!

Its so fun, because its not like why we have any kids that make homemade crafty ones to put on the tree! So were having fun with the holidays!

We already listening to Christmas music too!

October 23rd, 2010.

And it finally feels like fall!

(Andy and i used the fireplace finally for the first time this year.)

This years holidays will be extra special for the both of us, because it'll be our

FIRST as a married couple (:

So many different things i want to do with my hubby this winter!

thinking of some really good traditions to start.

On thanksgiving we go to my Moms every year, and she decided that

we should all (the fam.) play a game of either basketball or football

at the park right around the corner from her house before all the festivities begin!

(Andy and I being the friends fiends that we are, chose football!)

So Andy is in charge of starting that off!

I really enjoy going up to apple hill to pick out pumpkins, and

drink hot apple cider, and eat delicious apple donuts!

&&This year we are also CUTTING our own tree down (:

possibly in Joe's backyard..but if not there is a fairly reasonable

tree lot in Slough house where they just give you a saw and let you go!

Hope everyone is excited for the holidays as we are!!

We'll take the Newlywed special...

Lately we have started a new tradition.

Wednesday night, date night.. with my mom and step dad!

& of course we chose BJ's to visit the

lovely bartender Joe.

(Andys best man, best friend)

So we get there this past wednesday around 6:30, our normal time

& my mom was already there, chatting with 3 older guys.

Now this comes to no surprise for me because she is very friendly..

So Andy and I take a seat next to her and introduce ourselves to them,

and they seemed like they have already had a couple cocktails since we have

been there.

SO then my mom goes on to telling them we are newlyweds.

ding, ding, ding

That indeed was the winning saying for the night!

Out of those 3 guys, they kept our drinks full throughout the entire night!

"buy the newlyweds another round!"

Andy was never without a cold beer in his hand &

We never pulled out our wallets once!

it was indeed an awesome experience.

Gotta love friendly, rich, drunk men (:

Tis the season to eat chili!

This weekend Andy and I went to the Wilton annual chili cook off.

I wish i took pictures!

I was telling Andy as we were walking up from the parking lot that i feel so country like when we go to these types of things, like we live in Oklahoma? (why i said Oklahoma, i don't know..)

Literally as we are walking up there are people in cowboy/cowgirl gear (in 96 degree weather) and hearing a live country band singing inside!

There were a few animals, and hay stacks as well!

There were a bunch of booths selling really cute homemade types of things, and then of course the chili booths! Now Andy and I unfortunately did not get to taste any of the chili due to our short time frame we were put in.

It was very hot outside, so i don't know how enjoyable chili would have been for me at that moment anyway!

We did of course get a brusque at the beer station (:

Helped with the hot weather we were suffering!

2 month mark!

I cannot believe it has already been two months! & guess what? I am officially

past the wedding stage!

I dont miss is, i dont wish i could do it all over again..

I LOVED every minute of the wedding experience, but have

accepted that Andy and I are on to our marriage, and marrige life !

its a wonderful feeling (:

Is it holiday season yet?

I absolutely LOVE decorating for the holidays! I realize its only September but i have definitely gotten a kick start on the fall (:

Pumpkins galore! I loooove walking in and smelling the harvest smell.

Brings a smile to my face!

The Bridesmaids.

Due to overload of wedding pictures, and technical difficulties with computers these days, i will slowly blog about the wonderful wedding.

This is Jennifer, my new sister in law and her beautiful kids. Our little ring barrier, Trevor is so lovable to his little sister. Always giving kisses for the camera.

These are the other girls! (from left) Ashley, Ash, Kelley, [me] Katrina, and Megan.
Ashley I have known since 2nd grade where she was my buddy that was in the 6th grade class! Her sister Kelley is one of my best friends who is on the left of me.
Ash is a good friend of mine who worked at the diner for a little bit with me.
Katrina, my M.O.H is my cousin, we are attached to the hip (:
Megan i met during beauty school and happened to live not too far from me, so we bonded over long carpool rides to school!

Let it be fall!

Going to Nebraska was a sweet taste of the weather to come.

It wasn't deathly hot like it is in California, the highest temp i believe was maybe 80

and then became quite chilly once night time hit!

I want the leaves to fall.

[ANDY] wants football season!

I want jeans & sweatshirts.

I want to sit next to my hubby in front

of the fireplace, with some wine (:

Doesn't that all just sound amazing? And to think its just around the corner! CANT WAIT!

I love the cold. I cannot wait until Andy and I get to Colorado one day, the weather there is so perfect. Don't get me wrong i like to TAN in this nice h o t California sun, but i think of myself as a more woodsy, ugg wearing, hat kind of girl (:

Sunday Funday!

I unfortunately did not get any pictures of this blessed event.
Andy and I were generously given the opportunity to be Charity's sponsors.
We accepted, of course.
It was a beautiful service. Charity handled it like a champ. I believe it resembled her bath time, so she was cool with it. She had thee most adorable outfit to top it off! (and the finishing piece was of course a flower headband i bought for her!)
After the ceremony we all went back to Andy's (and my sister in law) sisters for a BBQ.
So much family showed up, it was really fun.
We unfortunately could not stay as long as every one else, because we had to hit the road on back to California. And let me tell you.. that was a looong ride.

as you can see...

Go Big Red!

So of course we witnessed thee FIRST corn husker game of the season..

I was threatened that i would never be able to come back to the state of Nebraska if i witness another loss.. Ive been to 3 now.. BUT i think my plate is cleaned (:

Ever since Andy and I got married, my luck has changed for the better! So much red.

So amazing.
Before the game down at the field.

Lover (:

While walking to the game I LOVE to walk down by the sorority houses, and

this one was my fave!

Cuddle time before & after the game!

Even little Charity was decked out for the first game!

She brings good luck as well (:

the 7 dwarfs.

My husband, and his best friend Joe's belief on the names of the 7 dwarfs:Dock

Grumpy

Sleepy

Bashful

Creepy

Droopy

&

Smelly

I guess they need to brush up on some Disney (:

Roadtrip to Nebraska, thats right.. I said ROADtrip..

Andy and I, and our friends Joe & Katrina went to Nebraska for the weekend.

Via Road.

We went through four states to get there.. and within those four states you bet there are a million stories to tell!

California --->Nevada..

Andy's car starts to shake while exceeding a certain speed. This isn't a good sign, we haven't even made it through our first state before car trouble starts up!

Thank goodness we discovered nothing wrong.

Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska..

Now i was in a car coma at this point so cant remember our exact location was

while these crazy things were happening.

Katrina brought a game along the way called "Battle of the sexes".

It worked out at the time that Katrina and I were in the backseat and Joe and Andy were

in the front seat, being as how you play the game is BOYS VS. GIRLS.

So we are playing the game, answering questions, and one of the question for the guys

was: "where on your body to put a bindi?"

guys being guys guesses thigh.

The answer was forehead.

Joe: "well why would you say where do ya putta bindi?" in Hindu accent.

NOW, keep in mind we are all going borderline insane from being in the car for so

many hours, so needless to say we almost had to pull over we were laughing so hard!

For the rest of the trip "bindi" was the official word we used.

NOW. A couple hours later it was us girls turn to drive. So the boys switched to the back

and were SUPPOSE to be sleeping to rest for there all night drive. But were in a i

guess you could say hyper mood, and decided to sing every song that came on

the radio, at the top of their lungs.

Andy even started doing cheer leading chants. (don't ask)

needless to say, 23 1/2 hours, 2 smelly boys, car comas, bindi jokes, 8 million gas station stops later...

We were in Nebraska!

is there an echo?

Ohhh the questions i am often asked.

hows the married life?

when are you guys planning on having kids?

is the honeymoon phase over yet?

etc. etc. etc.

Well, to answer a few.. married life is everything i could ask for, if not more. Just yesterday i planned my day around CLEANING. It takes me a good half a day to get alll my cleaning done. I often think how people do it with houses bigger than ours! I enjoy it for the most part, i have a process so its not so bad. Andy got off early that day and was planning on going to Grandma & Grandpa Youngs house to paint. But being the thoughtful husband that he is saw that i was doing my weekly cleaning of the house, decided to stay home and help as well. So he did of course all the stuff i dont really love to do (: Which is of course the bathrooms/toilets, and scrub the kitchen tile.

side note: I ONCE AGAIN found myself portraying Monica from friends... I actually hesitated on his help at first, not knowing if he could do it right.. got over that feeling fast though!

Andy and i have had MANY discussions on kids.. We love them, we want them, but not for about four years. I notice since we talked about it the first time the years have gotten smaller, BUT im sticking with f.o.u.r years!

Whats the rush? We got married at a "typically" younger age, why not embrace our marriage with just us two? I have many plans for the two of us! We have the rest of our lives for babies. In the mean time we can spoil the crap out of our adorable neice & nephew! (and puppies of course)

As for the honeymoon phase.. thats just stupid (:

Its Andy we are talking about, who is always romantic & sweet. pshh.

(not sarcasm by the way!)

I am here to answer ALL questions! (: so ask away!

The married life.

This is our new best friend (:

it does all of our communication via bills! My mom & step dad have the same method, and fell in love with it right away! I feel slightly geeky for even posting it but it got me all excited! Its a very simple yet perfect way to control the receipts that come in from our debit card! (and by simple, i mean Andy understands the process! haha.)

Since the wedding, i believe Andy & I have planned four vacations already.. all this year!

• Nebraska for our little niece/god daughters baptism & and of course the notorious Nebraska college football game!

(side note: my mouth is watering just thinking about going to an amazing little fast food place called: RUNZA! they are so amazing, i NEED to learn how to make them )

• DISNEYLAND! yes, we are going.. again! For my dads 55Th birthday! there is a lot to celebrate there with him (:
• I am taking a girls trip to las Vegas! for Halloween, never been for Halloween so I'm stoked!
• While I'm in Vegas, Andy will be returning to the great state of Nebraska for the weekend, for another game, and to visit his family!

So we have our hands full for a while, I'm thinking we will save up a little more for a one year celebration in July.