My Favorite Niece

I love Ansleigh. I just want the world to know how lucky I am to be an aunt to such a cute little munchkin. Travis and I couldn't get enough of her. I even changed a fresh, poopy diaper. That's how much I love her! haha.

Ansleigh loves the dog. She walks around saying, "Hi Sadie. Hi Sadie. Hi Sadie" all day.

I love that girl so much and I wish I could see her all the time. She is so smart and funny. So now you all know, I am the luckiest aunt in the world.

Our Busy Week

I love Travis's family. They love being active and busy. Last summer I learned how to wakeboard, and over Christmas break, I learned how to snowboard. Wakeboarding came pretty easily to me. I figured snowboarding would be similar. Boy was I wrong. I came the closest I have ever come to purposefully swearing. It was HARD stuff. The first day was crazy. I wanted to scream, cry, throw things, and give up. I actually did do a little of all of the above. haha. But I learned. And the second day was a lot better. I didn't fall as much and enjoyed it so much! I loved it! I wanna do it again soon. It was a blast. And I got to meet Taylor, Travis's brother that just came home from his mission at the beginning of the month.

We spent the first few days snowboarding at Snowshoe Mountain in West Virginia. Then the next few days we were busy too.

We went to see the Christmas lights at the DC temple. They were beautiful! And we also went to a performance in the visitors center. The performance was a bunch of kids playing flutes. It was cute. I also saw my old roommate at the visitor's center. She is a missionary there! That was pretty cool. 

Travis and Taylor. Awwww so cute!

 
We went to see a play at Ford's Theatre in DC. (Lincoln was assassinated there!)

That upper right room was where Lincoln was killed.

We watched The Christmas Carol in the theatre. It was so awesome! Definitely the best play I've ever been to.

After the play, we all went to a African restaurant. Everyone tried the chicken with the special sauce or whatever on it. I'm not brave enough. So I got it plain. haha. It was a yummy plain tasting piece of chicken though.

We saw the movie, Arthur's Christmas. It was super cute. Definitely recommend for kids and adults. So cute. Hopefully it becomes a classic Christmas movie for every family. It was really good.

Isn't the tree pretty?

Spending Christmas break with the Simmons was a blast. I love them so much (even the dog and I bonded this time). It's always an adventure when we're around Travis's family. Travis and I are so grateful for their generosity and love. Thanks for such a great Christmas break! We already miss you all!!

And So We Begin

Travis and I went to Virginia for Christmas this year. It was Travis's mom's year for Christmas. We're going to Washington next year. I thought it would be hard to spend Christmas away from my family in Washington, but it wasn't as bad as I thought. I think I'm getting more and more used to Travis being my family. As long as I'm with him, I'm happy.

We flew to Virginia. We had to ride the Salt Lake Express from Rexburg to Salt Lake at 6:30 in the morning to have time to catch our flight. 














We had layover in Denver. We had two hours to spare between flights, so we walked the whole airport. And I mean the whole airport. Let me try and explain what we did. It's pretty funny. We somehow started this game. We would ride the straight moving escalators. You know, the ones that go slower than the people walking next to them? Well we'd ride them and chill. We had all the time in the world. We noticed tons of paintings lined up along the wall as we rode the escalator things. So we started naming the paintings. We took turns making up a name for every other painting. I'm pretty sure we looked loony. We were riding the escalators, facing the wall, and taking turns shouting whatever the first thing was that came to our mind when we looked at the painting. Many times we ended up laughing uncontrollably. I bet people chose not to ride the escalator thing because we were on it. haha. It was a fun game.

We also sat and watched a football game that was on. It was my first time in Denver. Now I know that Denver has a lot of really nice paintings in their airport. I should write the airport and let them know they did a nice job decorating their walls. I bet the majority of the time they feel unappreciated. haha.

Whaaaaaaat? One Year?

Sunday is our anniversary. One year! Crazy. Every month-iversary has been exciting. I can't believe we're going to have a real anniversary. haha. Marriage is the best. I love being married to a man that understands me more than I understand myself. I love being married to a man that takes his priesthood responsibility seriously. I love being married to my best friend!

Last night, Travis and I were talking about what we've learned this past year.

Travis has learned:
- He needs to be sensitive and patient.
- When I say "leave me alone" I mean "hold me closer". haha.
- By small and simple things are great things brought to pass. Every day it's important to do the little things that mean you love your spouse.

I've learned:
-When Travis is losing his temper, I just need to be quiet and let him get over it. haha
- Love is not only a feeling, it's an action.
- Marriage is all about being selfless and serving your spouse.

We've learned a lot. Way more than the list above, but I can't remember what we talked about. I love my husband more every day. I appreciate how hard he tries in school. He is focused and doing his best to provide a future for our family. I love him so much and am so thankful for him in my life. People have always told us that the first year is the hardest, but it's been the easiest thing ever for us. Yay for love!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree...

Travis and I are going to Virginia to celebrate Christmas with Travis' family this year. We decided that we wouldn't invest in a tree, since we won't be here for Christmas. All of our friends have big, beautiful trees, so I've been feeling kinda left out. So I splurged and got a tree. Except our tree is a little different. I made it..... haha.

It's only about a foot and a half tall. But it works, right?

I made it out of construction paper and paper towel tubes. I already had that Santa bucket, so I just stuck it in there and surrounded the paper towel tube with tissue paper. Now Travis and I are feeling the holiday spirit.

My Kankle: A Blessing in Disguise

I sprained my ankle on Monday. It was a DUMB thing that I did. I walked off a elevated place without thinking I was stepping down. So... I landed on my ankle and it seriously bent 90 degrees. I heard a lot of popping so I was scared that it was broken. But luckily it's not. And it hasn't been too painful. I couldn't walk on it for a day or so, but we found crutches at the D.I. for $4! Boo yah! And I've been walking on it since Tuesday afternoon. I actually liked having an injury. I've never really been this injured before. It was kind of exciting.

I took pictures of my ankle every day or so. Wanna see how it looked throughout the week?

This picture was from Day 2 of having a bum ankle. You should have seen the first day! It was HUGE!

Wednesday: Starting to bruise! 

Thursday...

Today: From above my ankle to my toes is a big bruise!

So it doesn't hurt too bad. I can walk fine and I'm hoping it heals all the way quickly so I can snowboard with Travis' family in a couple weeks. I've never snowboarded before and I can't wait to try!

It's been good having all these things happen to me lately. I've had kidney stones, a cold, and a sprained ankle within a week. Travis has been in training. I've been teaching him how to be patient and sensitive to someone that doesn't feel that great. haha. He's been so good to me. Now he's all trained, so when I'm pregnant he'll be a perfect, sensitive, and patient man.

Curse You Kidney!

So... the doctor's office called me back and said that they noticed some things in the cat scan of my kidneys that weren't normal. They sent me to a urologist. When Travis and I were in the waiting room, I noticed that we were very out of place. The other patients there had walkers, hearing aids, canes, etc. They were all stinkin old! haha. Here I was, at 21 years old, in a doctor's office specialized for pee problems. Of course I'm going to be surrounded by people that are super old! I wonder if their problems were worse than mine. I can only imagine.

So when the doctor called us back, he told me to change into the little night gown (which I have never done before... so I admit I was a little excited to do). He then pushed on my stomach and my back and told me to tell him when it hurt. He pushed on my bladder area a lot. He says my kidney stone might still be there. Trust me when I tell you it was an interesting experience having an old guy push on my bladder area and stare deeply into my eyes. He was trying to see if I was in any pain, but I wish he didn't stare to intently into my eyes. haha

So he told us that I have a few more kidney stones and that I also have cysts in my kidneys. He says they're most likely benign cysts, but he wants me to get my blood tested to make sure. He's also wants me to try and save my kidney stone if it comes out any time soon. He says we can figure more out if I can get a kidney stone to analyze. Easier said than done. He gave me a funnel with a screen to pee in when I'm going potty. Travis thinks it's hilarious watching me pee all over myself. Sorry if this is gross. But I hate it. Anyways, I have cysts in my kidneys and more kidney stones to look forward to. The end.