1,000 days

Time is seriously flying...1,000 days of blissful marriage

Dave in his late 20's

Dave turned 28 today!  He's proudly boasting that he's in his upper 20's now and practically 30.

My parents and I got him something he's really been wanting...a nice sleeping bag.  I found a great online deal for an REI 10 degree mummy bag.  It's just in time for his freeze-o-ree camp out with the Scouts.  I made him try it on at work to make sure it fit.

Dave loves those sweet cereals, but I hardly ever buy them.  So I got him his very own box of Reese's Puffs for his breakfast.  Then he chose for us to take a half day at work and go home and play Lego Star Wars on the Wii while eating Reese's Pieces.  He also requested Bratwursts for dinner, which were surprisingly delicious.  Overall I think he had a great birthday, I know I sure did!  

Elder Aswan

We worked it out to land a couple hours before my brother Bryan was coming in after completing a 2 year church mission in Denver.  I have fond memories of landing on Maui and as we were walking up the jetbridge hearing my Grandpa and some of his family or friends singing their hearts out to welcome us.  We were crushed when we weren't allowed to do that anymore, so I wanted to do it for Bryan.  We brought a uke and prepared a song to the tune of the Hawaiian Wedding Song singing, "This is the moment, we've waited for. Bryan you walk as slow as a slug, come give your big sister a hug!"  I did not anticipate how anxious I would get, I was so nervous and excited to see him my heart was pounding out of my chest!  Needless to say, I think we surprised him pretty good (and my Grandma since they connected together in Utah).  He looked great and I loved getting an extra few minutes with him before he was bombarded at the exit by all the family and friends.  Everybody's just so excited to have him back!

We spent the next few days with family, a lot of time over at my sisters house with our cute nieces and nephew.  We also got together a great game of TP dodgeball for all their Fresno friends.  Bryan gave a talk in church on Sunday and my aunt Mimi and all 3 cousins came with their spouses and 2 little kids, it had been so long since all of us cousins had gotten together.  I got to meet little Kirk for the first time and see cute Henry again, we were passing them around all of sacrament.  Grandpa sat next to me and every ten minutes he'd nudge me and ask, "Is that your brother up there?" After I'd tell him yes that it was Bryan he'd ask, "Is he coming or going on his mission?"  I'd explain that he was just returning from Colorado and he would smile so big and so proudly saying his usual, "Ah, he's ok!"  It broke my heart every time he asked, but I loved seeing him so proud of his grandson over and over again.

We went back to the house to have a big family dinner.  Here are some photos of my beautiful family, thanks to Mimi for taking the time to take them! 

A White Christmas

We spent Christmas up in Joshua with the Rodericks. 

We had a blast in the warm weather raking leaves and then letting the kids play in them.  Dave did scare little Caleb pretty good after he took off from across the yard and fell in this pile.  He had leaves everywhere after crawling in them!

We drove into Arlington on Christmas eve to see the famous Interlochen lights.  We had gone before, but this time we put the shell on the pickup and also stuck in a twin mattress.  We rode in the back with Tom & Katie while the kids rode in the truck with Grandma & Grandpa.  It was surprisingly very comfortable back there and what a fun little double date it was looking at all the beautiful houses.  We finished the night with some delicious Braum's ice cream :)

Christmas day we had a feast and enjoyed being together and exchanging gifts.







And mother nature gave us the gift of snow Christmas afternoon, (which I did not ask for)

For my mother-in-law, the day after Christmas is a very important part of the season.  She's taught me the art of hitting up the after-Christmas sales and this year for the first time I really got into it!  I'm sure I doubled our Christmas decor collection, all at 50%-75% off.  I had so much fun with her and I even did a little bit more the next morning back in San Antonio.  She's got me hooked!  

Basketball Shoes

I know it sounds pathetic, but sadly I had to say goodbye to my favorite basketball shoes this past month, our team shoes from my Junior year of high school. I've literally played hundreds of basketball games with them; high school, intramurals at BYU, pick-up games in Utah and Wednesday nights here in San Antonio.  I was crushed when the shoe started separating from the sole and insisted that I tape them instead of buying new ones.  Finally, the whole front of the shoe came up and I had no choice.  After trying on literally every womens and mens basketball shoe in North San Antonio, and despite my left foot being bigger than my right, I found the perfect pair...almost identical to my favorite pair from 9 years ago :)  I love them!

1/2 Birthday

I couldn't be happier with my sweet husband, he makes me so happy!  It's mine own fault for mentioning that the next day I would be exactly 26 and 1/2.  I woke up to half a donut and this cake.  We had a fun day and we love and kind of reason to celebrate.  I can't wait til my full birthday!

Thanksgiving (at our own place)

We kicked off the season by helping put together the Ward Thanksgiving Dinner.  It was a success.  It was a good opportunity serving everybody food, despite how hungry I was.  We decided to have a pie eating contest, the winner's table got to get in line first.  I guess some of our predetermined contestants declined, so I got called out of the serving line by Bishop to be a good sport and do it.  It would've been nice if I liked pumpkin pie or whipped cream!  The competitive side of me went for it and I came in a close 2nd.

(Dave affectionately captions this photo "The Conquistador" and loves my white facial hair)

 The next day my family flew in to visit us for the whole week!  Our new place is right across the street from a big shopping center with a nice hotel, all within a 5 minute walk.  My parents stayed there and my little sisters bunked in our living room (as tradition has it)

Our week was filled with beautiful weather, tennis, racquetball, board games, and shopping to decorate our new apartment. We also showed them our new office, went on a temple date with my parents, played TP dodgeball with some fun familes, decorated the walls of our apartment, took my family to their first horse race, brought them to our amazing race party with our group of friends.

Thank goodness our new place has a much bigger kitchen!  Thanksgiving dinner was delicious and it was so nice having my mom there to help with the cooking.  We all were in charge of a dish.  We have soooo many leftovers to eat now.

My dad was doing his best to contribute.  It's so fun having my family in town, oh how I wish they lived closer!

We've Moved!

We did not realize the apartment process before we moved down here with all of our belongings in the back of our 2 pickup trucks.  There were so many preparations, applications and fees.  Luckily we found a place that could get us in that day.  Sunset Canyon sounds luxurious, but it's not.  It was cheap, quiet and we had plenty of parking... but it was old and run down.

After 2 years of putting up with the big stains in the carpet and an AC that didn't work, we decided it was time for a change.  We decided to call in one day and just give our 60-day notice, then I started a crazy hunt for a new place.  We moved in during a tropical storm, so of course the day we move out there was also a rainstorm.  Luckily, we had lots of friends that were still very willing to help!

We found an awesome place, income based housing down the street that was new and nice!  And the coolest part is that we were in our own stand alone building and did not share a single wall with a neighbor, just 3 garages underneath us.  So many windows, meaning lots of fresh air and natural light!  The current tenant was being evicted, but they assured us that they would be repainting, recarpeting, redoing the counter tops and anything else it needed.  The new carpet really sold me!

So we thought it was the perfect place...  It smelled very strong like paint and glue when we moved in and after a couple days that faded and I just smelt smoke.  They came in and agreed to clean out our air ducts and also replace all of our appliances, getting rid of any possible thing where smoke could be lingering.  It didn't work.  I'm very sensitive to smells, so I was not happy!

They moved us into another apartment for a week while they repainted again with a special sealant and redid the carpet again.  We camped in the living room, Dave on the floor and me on couch cushions. We just brought the essentials, but went back often to check on the progress.

After all that, the smell just came right back.  I was miserable and even our clothes smelled like smoke.  It had been a tough month!  They offered us to moved into a bigger apartment and threw in a garage at the same price, but that would be available in 3 more weeks.  Management had been great and I really wanted to stay, but I couldn't wait that long.  They let us out of our contract and I found another great place a couple miles away.  It smells great which is all I really wanted.  I'm hoping we won't be moving again for a while!