The Most Important Day of the Year

Today is the most important day of the year, for on this day 22 short years ago, the one and only Alyssa Grace E. was born and the world has never been the same since!

She brightens the lives of everyone she meets, brings laughter and excitement to our family, and inspires others to try to keep up with her.

Here's to you, my best friend, my big sister, Alyssa!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Christmas Vacation

I've been so busy having fun here in Washington that I haven't had time to blog!! But here is a short recap of our vacation thus far:

The arrival into Seattle with beautiful Mt Rainier in the back

Brotherly Love

We went to Sluy's Bakery in downtown Poulsbo

On Christmas Eve we made a gingerbread house

It was quite the process....

...but it turned out ok!

On Christmas morning, we opened presents

Some highlights:

I got one of Cindy's old cameras, which is awesome to help me start my new career in photography, but not to be used for our high-adventure activities like our other camera! ;)

Tyler got a new heart rate moniter to assist him in his constant training for the Ironman!

We both got lots of other great gifts, too numerous to be named, but thanks to all you special Santas!

For more detail (and better journalism) see the famous REDD EMPIRE blog authored by my very talented mother-in-law, Cindy, at www.reddempire.blogspot.com

Christmas Eve #1

We wanted to celebrate Christmas eve the traditional way we do in my family, so last Saturday night we went all out:

We had cheese and crackers and Sparkling Cider


We all enjoyed it....


Every year for the past 20 years my mom has given each of us an ornament that somehow represents that year in our lives.

"We Three Kings"

A Truffle Tree

An Angel of Peace for Alyssa

Then we opened everything from each other,











My goal was to make you feel like you were actually there with us, so hopefully you all enjoyed all those pictures!

It's Beginning to Look A Lot Like Christmas!!!

I just finished my semester!!! Finals were slightly hectic, so here's a quick recap of what we've been up to the past couple weeks:

Tyler learned how to crochet!


He crocheted this beautiful potholder!


We've been riding our bikes to school in the snow and negative temperatures!



To give you an idea of how to stay warm when it's -13 outside, here is a description of what I wore that morning (not pictured): soccer socks, regular socks, leggings, jeans, T-shirt, long-sleeved T-shirt, sweater, puffy jacket, small gloves, ski gloves, fur-lined hat, ski goggles, and a scarf wrapped around my face. The snow/ice can be a bit of a challenge as well. I wiped out on my way to school one morning, right in the middle of the road, but luckily I was so bundled up that it was like landing on a pillow as a slid on the pavement!


We finally took lots of pictures of our Christmas tree and other decorations! Last year we bought the tree and couldn't afford anything else, but this year we bought ornaments!! I love the green and gold together!





I made a bouquet and boutonniere for my friend's wedding.

Dec 8...Two Years Ago Today

This day, two years ago, is a very special day in history:
Exactly two years ago, my wonderful boyfriend, at the time, took me here:

to go snowboarding for the first time, which I was not good at!

However it turned out to be one of the best days of my life because this happened:

It's amazing that it was just two short years ago that we decided to spend the rest of Eternity with each other!

And to top off the wonderful day, in the evening we went and saw this:

Oh, what would I do without my amazing husband!?

A "Mormony" Day

Here are all the Mormony things we did yesterday:

I made cranberry sauce. I know it's a little late for Thanksgiving, but I had a bag of cranberries!

We made a DELICIOUS apple pie!!
Step-by-step pictures:




And, lastly, my beanie! Well, Tyler's beanie...

I have been working on this for awhile, it started out a little rough, but now that it's done it doesn't look so bad!!

The beanie is gonna be Tyler's Christmas gift, but I needed to check it for size...



PS Did you notice my new bangs? :)