Christmas Traditions

Hannah Banana Marshmallow Creme

These are my cute nieces and their gingerbread houses we decorated this weekend. Every year my mom and her sisters get all of their grandkids together for this event. No parents are invited, (although this year Wendee and Sylvia found a loophole...maybe because their little ones are too little to do their own decorating) but I usually am allowed in because I am an aunt with no children of her own. I brought two of my nieces from Jared's side--Maysie and Malan.

Sylvia, Macy, Tori and my mom

This isn't one of my prouder moments, but I think Malan enjoyed herself. A few things of note in this picture: Yes, there are TWO (2) sucker sticks in her mouth; there used to be marshmallows on the roof of this house; and if you look closely, you can see the turquoise spot on her right knee. This picture was taken right before I dropped Malan back off at her house. We had done so well! Decorating, candy, and lunch at McDonald's all went smoothly without the slightest drop of spillage. However, I failed to inspect the Happy Meal toys before I opened the bags and jumped in the driver's seat to take the girls home. When we dropped Maysie off at her house, I noticed Malan's fingers were turquoise, and it didn't come off with a wet wipe. Then I saw the spot on her pants. Stumped as to where this had come from, Malan and I got back in the car to head to her house. That's when I found the culprit....the Happy Meal Toy was a self-inking stamp!!! I hope I don't lose my favorite aunt status over this one!

Hero Worship

This is Jared and Andrew, my BYU roommate Becky's son. We spent a weekend in Idaho visiting and went to a corn maze with all the kids while we were there. Andrew knows me as "the lady who made his blankey" (I crocheted around a couple of flannel blankets for Becky's twins when they were born, and even though they are now 3 years old, the blankets seem to be a permanent fixture in their lives). It takes a little bit for him to warm up to me each time I visit, but we always part buds. As you can see, he took to Jared pretty quickly. I can't say that I blame him!

The day FINALLY came!

And.... it went! Now that I am no longer in planning and survival mode, hopefully I will be a more faithful blogger than I have proven to be so far.



Jared and I were married in the Bountiful temple in an amazing ceremony performed by my great-uncle Ron Halverson on 09-09-09. (Guess what my new favorite number is!) The day went rather smoothly from my perspective...although I think Wendee, Julie, and Kelsey might have a few words to say to the contrary. A GINORMOUS thank you to the gals who saved the day and let me kick back and enjoy what was truly a memorable and wonderful day. Another huge thanks to all the family and friends who pitched in to make it fabulous, and to everyone who came to show their love and support. We are well on our way to a happily ever after!

Pictures and details to come....

Our Story

So, how did you two meet?

The short answer: Blind Date

The longer version: Jared is my friend's hairdresser's brother-in-law, and they set us up.

The whole story:

"For a single man of good fortune must be in want of a wife!" Jane Austen

Jared suspected his sister-in-law Amanda had made it her quest to find his soul mate. She is a cosmetologist and therefore has quite the network of clients to draw from. My guess is she regularly asked each one if they knew anyone to set her brother-in-law up with. Jared was a good sport, dutifully calling each number she presented him. I was number 2 on a list of 3 she gave him at the end of last year. Needless to say, #3 never got her phone call.

"Judge a tree from its fruit, not from its leaves." Euripides

I had been divorced for about 6 months when Julie first told me about Amanda's brother-in-law. I'm sorry Amanda, but the description I got wasn't very appealing. A never-before-married 33 year-old super-religious bachelor with 2 cats. My limited experience in the dating pool for the second time had taught me to be leery of never-before-married. I'm pretty religious, but super-religious? And I am deathly allergic to cats. It looked like three strikes to me, so I was out. But the seed was planted and a couple of months later, I found myself willing to give even a never-before-married 33 year-old super-religious bachelor with 2 cats a chance.

"You can't blame gravity for falling in love." Albert Einstein

Well, it wasn't love at first sight, but the first date was definitely a hit. By the end of the date, Jared had asked me out for the following weekend. We decided that Saturday would work best for both of our schedules, and then realized the following Saturday was Valentine's day! We decided to go ahead with the date with a warning from Jared for me not to expect anything romantic seeing as it was only the 2nd date. Maybe it was my low expectations, but date #2 had some definite romantic elements, and I was definitely interested. Apparently he was hooked, too because he called me the next day fishing for an invitation to come over. I bit, he came, and we were falling faster than either of us ever would have expected from a blind date.