running & i

Tonight Alex managed at Pizza Factory and he invited me to come in and have dinner with him, yay! My family went shopping at Lin's and then picked me after to come over while Alex worked. On our way my mom decided that she really wanted a hot fudge sundae from McDonalds. Well that conversation died real fast when my sister suddenly said Tori, let's go on a run. HA. I am like, the worst when it comes to running. SO completely pathetic. As she continues to try and talk me into running with her my little brother Kaleb has a grand idea. Let's run to McDonalds, mom can meet us there to pick us up and we can get hot fudge sundae's after. Somehow they forced  talked me into going with them. So off we go. Keep in mind this run is less than a mile and a half. Like i said, pathetic. I kept up for about the first half mile, then the distancing began. First they were ten yards ahead, then twenty, then forty, and then as they were about sixty yards ahead of me I pretty much gave up and got my speed walk on. Speed walking, right up my alley. Elliptical, I could go for hours. Running, forget it! Well lets just say I made it and only like two minutes after them which is pretty great for me! But I was definitely not in the mood for ice cream after that.

On a bit of a side note. Duck Dynasty anyone? We are SO addicted and we may or may not have had a party for the premiere of the third season tonight.

pine valley getaway

I may or may not be the happiest girl ever right now! Finals week is over and I survived. My schedule was tough this semester but it feels so good to be done. I am not going to school next semester since I got my associates degree this semester and I have done all my pre-requisite courses for the radiography program. Yay! I have a big break which I am thrilled about. This last week has been a rainy one in St. George which means no work for me! It has seriously been so nice. Alex and I decided we would invite some friends for a little getaway in Pine Valley this weekend and it was so nice to get out of town. We headed up on Saturday, watched the proposal had Papa Murphy's pizza then watched the Jazz game that night! We had Chris and Danica Oviatt, and Taylor and Paige Langston join us up there! We slept over and the next morning we got all ready to go to church but when we got there we saw the sign that said church was an hour earlier. oops. We headed home finished cleaning up the cabin and headed home. The trip was short and sweet but we sure do love going to Pine Valley. There was probably about a foot of snow up there and it was 27 degrees! So cold, but so fun.

NEVER get the 5 meat pizza! It is huge and weird. Just stick with the garlic chicken, its much tastier!

When Alex and I pulled into Pine Valley we headed down our street to the cabin and realized that if we pulled off the street at all that we would get stuck. We ended up tracking down the snow plow guy and I had to convince him to come plow our road for us so we could park!

meet dwight

When we woke up December 1st, Alex and I had a little visitor in our apartment! I saw him at about 6:30 and I decided to wake Alex up haha. He wasn't very happy about getting up but I thought it was really funny and I couldn't stop laughing. Our little elf had zip-lined through the door and had made a mess of our laundry. 

The next morning our elf never came. (Probably due to overtired people who really wanted all the sleep they could get due to finals week coming up.) So when we went to bed that night our elf was waiting for us to hop in bed with him.

On the third day of December our little elf got inside the toilet paper roll and rolled his way all around the house and ended up at the foot of the tree. Since it was family night we went to Benja's for dinner and came up with a name for our family elf. We have been really into "the office" lately so we decided to name him Dwight. 

Today we found Dwight sitting on our shelf in the shower with shaving cream all over his face and Alex's razor in hand. Silly elf. 

I know Elf on the Shelf is supposed to be for little kids, but in the book it says that elf on the shelf is a family tradition, so I thought why not start this tradition our first year of being married? We love you Dwight!

we gave thanks

Our thanksgiving break was a much needed break and I am so sad to say it is over. I had big plans to study, craft, and put up Christmas over the break but the first of the three was replaced with a whole lot of family time (FT) which was just the best. Alex and I worked a ton over the break which was kind of a bummer but it was nice to get a few extra shifts in and since our coupon books are on sale at Freddy's I have been making thirty+ dollars an hour when I count in my commission. Not to shabby. The day before Thanksgiving we had dinner at my Uncle Mike and Aunt Wendy's house. Everything was so good, my grandpa pulled a few little stunts and we decided we should just be grateful to have him here while we do even though he does some crazy weird things! Then we headed to my parents house to watch the movie "Arthur Christmas." If you haven't seen it yet, I highly recommend it, it is one of the cutest Christmas shows! On Thanksgiving day we woke up and helped prepare food for both my family and his and then we went upstairs for the Esplin family Thanksgiving lunch! Everything was so so good and we stuffed ourselves silly. Then we went to my Grandma Gates' house for dessert and then to the movie "Rise of the Guardians," with the whole Gates clan. I actually really liked the movie, one part made me jump and Alex was totally embarrassed and mocked me the rest of the day ha. After the movie we went over to Alex's parents and Mormon Bridge. One of his cousins in Idaho even played with us over facetime! That night we decided to do a little black Friday shopping, we didn't have anything in mind to buy but we thought it would be fun just to go. We started at Wal-Mart which surprisingly was soo organized, we didn't buy anything, but it was fun anyways! Then we headed to the outlet malls where we just shopped around, filled up on hot chocolate, and had a good time. Then we went to Dick's sporting goods and we got Alex some Nike sweats and an Under Armour hoodie HALF PRICE! It was nice for me, because I was planning to get up and head to Big 5 at four AM. yes please. After Dick's we went home and went right to sleep. Alex went to Staples at 5 in the morning and I went to CAL ranch store at 6. Neither of us know what the other one bought ha but we do know what stores the other one went to. I am mostly done with Christmas now too which rocks! The next day I worked 8-5 which was super long since I was so sleepy. Then I went to my parents and worked on a Christmas banner while Alex worked! The next day I worked 8-5 again and then I met my family for dinner at PFE which was nice because Alex was able to come eat with us while he was working! Then my mom and I went to see the movie "Pitch Perfect." There was a little girl sitting next to me that LOVED to talk to me during the movie. She would say things like, "Hey, just so you know, they end up winning my mom has seen this before," or "I hope fat Amy rips her jacket off in the next song, I loved that." Then she asked me where I was from and then continued to tell me she was from Las Vegas, Nevada. Everytime I laughed, she would look over at me then bust up laughing, otherwise, the movie was pretty good. After the movie we headed over to the Boyce's for the Jazz game and OJ's by Cindy! We love you Cindy and your yummy treat! Sunday we just relaxed, we had a long week and we were tired. We had lunch at my parents house, and then my family came over to help us put up Christmas and we watched out favorite Christmas movie of all time, Christmas Vacation. It never gets old! 

Laikenn and I love chocolate pie

Our house is officially ready for Christmas, and a post is on its way... one of these days:)

the last three weeks: week one

The last three weeks have been completely crazy for me, to say the least. Tonight I am feeling so blessed to have such a wonderful husband who always keeps me positive. I have been so busy and I have had so much on my plate. Alex is finding out he married someone with an endless supply of tears. The last couple weeks they have come oh so easily for me, even the silliest of things makes me cry.

week one:

monday: class 12-2, work 2-7, physiology quiz after work
tuesday: class 9-12, work 2-7  

wednesday: i drew blood at the senior games from 7-4.
When I signed up for the phlebotomy program this semester I wasn't doing it because I wanted to be a phlebotamist. I have honestly grown to love it so much though. The senior games gave me such great experience. I had 72 successful draws at the games, and even though I spent the whole day there I didn't want to leave when it was time to go. I wish I could just be a phlebotomist and be done with school, but I know I need to go farther than that, I really enjoy it a lot though. 

after I finished at the games Alex picked me up and we headed to Snow Canyon to watch my sister play at one of the state games! He even brought Durango's for us to eat while we watched, what a sweetie.

thursday: I drew blood at the games 7-4, and then headed over to the Santa Clara Town Hall for Chris and Danica's wedding dinner. We love them and it was such a fun night!

friday: friday morning we got up and it was a rainy day. Chris and Danica had planned their wedding outside, but mother nature had other plans. They ended up moving the wedding ceremony inside her house and it was GORGEOUS. Their house was beyond perfect and the wedding was beautiful. After the ceremony and pictures we headed over to Pete's Irmitas. Alex and all of his friends used to go there in high school and Pete LOVES them. The best part about it was that he calls Bryson Smith, Romeo haha too funny. Lunch was delicious to say the least, then Alex and I headed to the mall for a little bit. That night we went to their reception. They had a photo booth sign in book, and all kinds of grilled cheese for dinner. my favorite! I also had WAY too much hot chocolate, but it was cold and tasted delicious. After the reception we headed up to Pine Valley to Bryson's cabin. We though about spending the night, but we both worked early the next morning so we decided against it. We played Just Dance on the wii, rummicub, and watched football. It was such a fun night... until we got home! When we pulled up we saw something weird in the headlights by our garbages. THERE WAS A SKUNK. I panicked. I was going to be so so mad if that thing sprayed my car, the smell would have never left! We sat in the car for maybe ten minutes, then it finally ran off. SO SCARY!

saturday: hmm. saturday was interesting to say the least. I was in charge of a ward party that day. It was a chili cook-off and even though I wanted no part in the contest I needed to bring chili anyways. I got up at 6AM and headed to the grocery store. Came home, and got cookin'. I love this chili recipe my aunt Mary Dawn gave my mom, but I had never made it before. My mom told me to cook the bacon, then cook the onions and hamburger in the bacon grease, apparently, that's what makes it so good. So that is exactly what I did. After the bacon cook, I went to put the hamburger in and as I was flipping it over my hand slipped and that big, fat slab of hamburger popped right into that pan full of grease. The grease went all over me. My face, hair, EYE, shirt, pants, and shoes. It was AWFUL. My face had a nice little collection of burns and my work clothes were covered in grease and so was my hair. but guess what, I was already late so I went as is. I had to work 8-2 and boy was it a long day. My face was on fire, and my eye was bright red. After work was finally over I headed home. To my surprise my chili was burnt. Seriously worst day ever. Alex got home a little later and I seriously was a mess. I felt so crappy, I had burns on my face, and my chili was burnt, but I was suppossed to be settting up a ward party right then. Alex made me sit down for a minute and he just held me close and let me cry. A couple minutes later he took me on a tour of our house and held my hand the whole time haha. He has weird ways of making me laugh, but it worked. I sure love that boy. Abbey came over and we went to the ward party together. There was plenty of chili there and the turn out was great. How about a week. I was SO happy for it to be over, seriously such a hard week. I am so thankful though to have such good parents, in-laws, and husband though. I seriously couldn't have done it without them!!

 {i was in charge of the homemade rootbeer at the ward party. Abbey and I found this in the bottom when we went to clean it out. so gross. so funny.}

{Alex left me this note the other day, word of advice: if you ever want and/or need new decorations. Just leave your fourth of July decorations up for four months! Works like a charm haha. I think I just found a dang good guy actually. love him.}

the loveshack

After our wedding day was over we headed up to my grandmas cabin in Pine Valley Mountain where we were greeted by our house full of decoration! The best thing about it is that we totally thought my grandma had done all the decorating and we thought it was so dang funny. We found out later that our friends had come up and done it for us but we loved it so much! We just got to relax the whole next day which was the greatest thing in the world, I was so happy to be stress free! No more wedding, no more school, and a big break from work! Yes please! It was much needed, I was desperate for a break!

Thanks to everyone who came and decorated our "loveshack" for us! We loved it, and we love you!

our wedding {according to instagram}

the temple

the luncheon

the reception

Thanks to everyone who helped document our wedding day for us! It really was the best day in the world, and I am so happy to be sealed to my best friend!