Thanksgiving Weekend

Thanksgiving is probably one of my favorite holidays.  I love this time of year in general. It starts with Halloween, where I get to deck out my home in creepy crawlies.  Specifically skulls galore this year, as we are building up our Halloween decor and skulls seem to be what I am drawn to each year. 

Then of course, we've got Thanksgiving.  The leaves have changed, there's frost on my car in the morning, and there's really nothing better than a good turkey dinner with family.  This year, we are flying out to Arizona to spend Thanksgiving weekend with Trevor's grandma and grandpa.  I'm really excited because this will be the first time I've met most of his extended family on the Evans side.  Also, we're flying, and that means we get some airport time, which I LOVE.  There's nothing better than the hustle and bustle of the airport.

Even though I'm loving the holidays, I am so ready for November to be over.  It has seemed like each week we have plans after plans after plans, until we are all planned out and just want to lay in bed.  The day we get home from Arizona, trust me, there will be a major winter's nap occurring!

*Also, has anyone ever checked out the Smitten Kitchen blog?  Deb is my hero. No, really, I idolize her.  And she's been posting some great Thanksgiving recipes lately.

Homemade Green Bean Casserole?  From scratch, homemade crispy onions and all?

Oh yes, please!

 

A Love Letter.

Dear Trev,

Always yours, B

Weekend Snapshots and Gratitude

We always look forward to weekends at the Evans house.  I mean, really, who doesn't, but we REALLY look forward to our weekends.  It's when we get to catch up on laundry from the week, dishes that have been sitting in the sink for a day or two too long, and of course when all the work is done, it's time to play! 

This weekend was no different.  As soon as I got off work this Friday, I headed down to Spanish Fork, taught a piano lesson, then picked up my three youngest siblings for a sleepover.  We picked up a bake at home pizza at Walmart, a Redbox movie, and headed home for a cozy night in.  It was a blast, and if you haven't seen the Croods, you really, really need to.  Plus, the voice of Eep, the leading lady, is my number one chicka, Emma Stone.  Doesn't get much better than that!

Saturday, Trevor headed to primary program practice, while I taught Zach and Addie lessons and we watched lots of Arthur. It was the perfect Saturday Morning... plus, we had pancakes for breakfast.  Delish!

For the last big event on Saturday, we took a wonderful Ikea trip and purchased a bed frame, FINALLY.  No more slumpy mattress for us.  It's been great so far, except the gigantic bruise I have on my hip from running into the footboard.  It will take awhile to get used to, but we are definitely classier people now. 

Phew! I think those are all the updates from this weekend.  It was an eventful couple of days, but we loved it. 

I thought today, since Thanksgiving is just around the corner, I would share a few things that I am thankful for. Since I'm not a huge fan of "one a day" gratitude posts on Facebook, I'm sharing a few here. Because I am grateful, just not on Facebook. K thanks.

First and foremost: I am of course grateful for my husband.  I have to start there, because I have a million reasons to be so thankful for him.  He works so hard, even when work is tough and unfair.  He is so patient with me, even when I'm mean and unfair. And really, he's the funniest person I know. It's ridiculous how many times a day I have to say "STOP! I can't breathe!" in between laughs.

Next, I'm grateful for our home & neighbors.  It was scary buying a home, especially in an area where we really don't know anyone.  But so far, the experience has been more than we could have asked for. Our ward is great, and already have us very involved in callings.  It's great to feel needed and to be around great people, and we are definitely surrounded.

I'm grateful for my family. Both my immediate family, and the inlaws.  You always hear about people complaining about their inlaws, but Trevor and I are always talking about how much we both lucked out.  We have great families, and they're our best friends.

I'm grateful for a body that is healthy and happy.  There have been so many things lately which have really made me grateful for mine and Trevor's health. I am constantly praying for others who may not be so fortunate, but it does help me to keep things in perspective of how blessed we are to not be struggling in our lives at this time. 

And lastly, I am grateful for the love of Jesus Christ and my Heavenly Father.  I am grateful for our temple marriage, and that we were able to make the decision to be sealed there this past August.  God truly is great, and we have felt quite the outpouring of blessings and love since our decision to make it to the temple together.

I hope everyone has a great week counting their blessings, and being grateful for everything we have to enjoy this season. What are you grateful for?

Blog Update | A Change of Pace

Dear Family & Friends,

I have been blogging on and off on this personal blog, covering my favorite products, a few random goings on in my life, and to be honest, have found it very dull and boring.  I was trying to be like those other bloggers with their perfect lives and well thought out posts.  But really, it wasn't too interesting to me. So, here I am again, with another blog attempt, but this time I'm going to be talking about things that I am much better at talking about... myself!  Well, myself and my best friend, Trevor.

To give you an update post-wedding, we are living in the most perfect townhome near Thanksgiving Point.  It's perfect for us, but it is far from being truly perfect.  It's perfect in the sense that it has a lot of potential, so we have been spending a lot of our time daydreaming and putting into action various projects around the house.

After numerous trips to The Home Depot, Ikea, and Target, we've been able to get our main level pretty well homey.  With this year's coming tax return, we will be replacing our tile and carpet with engineered wood flooring, and then all that will be left is the finishing touches to make it truly homey.  Our basement is a completely different story, and will be a huge project for us this coming summer, but we are beyond excited for the potential there.

We are both going to be starting school this Spring.  Trevor has taken two semesters at UVU, then put his schooling on pause as he got his new job at Fidelity Investments in September 2012.  The few months between September and January were spent religiously studying for his brokerage licensing exams, then of course our wedding was on the horizon.  So, long story short, he will now be picking up where he left off and delving into his finance degree at UVU.  His educational goals include getting an MBA eventually with an emphasis in finance... I think. Fidelity will be paying for 90% of his tuition, so we are feeling extremely blessed.

As for me, I will be attending SLCC (it is WAY more affordable than UVU) and focusing on music. FINALLY.  This is something I have wanted to do for so long, but have never really thought it was a practical dream. However, nothing else has seemed right, and after prayerfully thinking through my goals and priorities, I've decided a piano performance degree would be the best fit for myself.  I am beyond excited, and we just purchased a piano of our very own.  It needs a little TLC, but it's full of character.  Photos to come.

We have also been very busy with our callings in church.  We were both called as primary teachers, and have been teaching a class of eight very energetic, but adorable, 6 & 7 year olds.  It's been a blast, but didn't last too long, as I was just called as the Primary Secretary.  There are 240 kids in our primary, and I am feeling the pressure, but I know that the Lord will help me to stay organized and the presidency is fabulous as well, so I am extremely excited for my new calling.

All in all, things have been very good as we have been enjoying the process of settling into our own life together, and we are so excited for the next several years as we plan for changes to our home, careers, and family.  Love you all!