Bishopric Visit

Dec 19

The bishopric of our ward has a goal to visit every family in the ward. They tried to meet with us when we first arrived at Vernal, but with Nate's school schedule, it wasn't going to happen. 

Since he had his finals, they made an appointment and came to see us on Wednesday. All were wearing suits and ties while crossing their legs on our couch. It was kinda funny. :)

There wasn't a really set topic to discuss so our conversation was interesting. We talked about football and politics with gun laws mostly. The bishop used to own and manage an arts n crafts store. So the bishop and myself are more artsy and listened to the conversation more than participated in it. It was interesting.

They liked the Christmas atmosphere in our apartment so that was plus! :)

Crafts! Crafts! Crafts!

Dec 17

I recently saw a commercial about Ace Hardware having a craft area in the store. Vernal has an Ace Hardware so I decided to take a look. I had to ask about it, but when I found it, I was FLOORED!

They have canvases, paint (good kind for the beginners), acrylic paint, a few scrapbook materials, crafts for kids, embroidery thread, etc. 

It was like I found my personalized toy store! 

Vernal has a little art and crafts! I may be able to survive here after all. :)

1st Christmas

Dec 15

Since getting our new TV from Emily's genius-ness at finding great deals, Nate has been itching to open it and set it up. I told him he had to wait 2 weeks so that it was actually like a Christmas gift. It's a good idea we decided to open the TV on this day and not any later. Our old TV's speakers blew out this morning. 

 He was pretty excited. Goodbye heavy, old TV! Hello, nice, new one!

We also opened my Dad's gift to us: a portable dishwasher!

Nate loves it because he doesn't have to wash the dishes by hand much anymore. :)

 Later on, Randall really wanted to go skeet shooting. So we hopped in my dad's jeep and headed toward the canyon. 

 Mallory and Randall

 Randall let me shoot his pistol. Of course the kick-back was pretty strong.

 They shot their M22. Mallory is a good shot.

 I'm dangerous!

It was a good adventure for a great day!

Ugly Sweater Party

Dec 14

Our friends, Mallory and Randall threw an ugly sweater party to celebrate Randall's birthday. Nate and I went to the D.I. in search of ugly sweaters. We found this one and immediately thought of Star Trek.

 We ate dinner and played some games including Catch Phrase and Whoonu. And of course while playing Catch Phrase, Nate's explanations always begin with.... "Ok..So..." :) He struggled a little bit with explaining the word 'division', but it was hilarious! (He chose to look at it from the meaning: separation, different views among parties, etc. instead of the other meaning: opposite of multiplication.) Love you Nate! Point for the girls!

 It was good to get to know some of the Dunbars' friends and socialize. Mallory made really good cheesecake for dessert.

 Our hosts Randall and Mallory.

I think Nate's sweater won out of the two of us, but I don't mind. :)

Long Lasting Illness

Dec 2-Dec 18

Somehow or another I got a really nasty cold. It hindered my teaching ability and management for my class, which wasn't that great. It happened for two weeks straight. I finally called in a sick day and lost my voice for a day or two. Nate and I communicated through texting or typing and Nate speaking. It didn't help that I was observed and JPASed the day after.

Unfortunately, I gave whatever I had to Nate. :(

We used up all of the glasses we own and there were tissues and soup bowls everywhere.

Christmas Tree

Dec 2

We decided to decorate our tree and bring out all of our Christmas decorations. We set up the lights and decorations on the tree. 

And we hung up Christmas decorations on the shelf.

 I even made some gingerbread cookies

They tasted delicious!

Brigham City, Bridal Shower, & Brian Reagan

Dec 1
We drove to his parents the night before so we could be rested up for the following activities.
In the morning, Nate and I woke up early to do sealings in the Brigham City temple. Neither one of us have been inside yet, so it was quite exciting. We decided to do sealings to remember our own sealing in the temple a year ago. The temple was gorgeous! I was so impressed by how ornate and beautiful it was on the inside. GORGEOUS!
Afterwards, Nate helped his dad get the smoke fan thing in and I went with Barbara to the double bridal shower for Nate's cousins Tim and Ben. It was held at Aunt Sally's gorgeous house.

 The bridal shower of the Bitner side usually involves quilting a big blanket for the couple. Everybody pitches in and then Grandma Bitner finishes it. This was one side of one of the blankets. Why it is little boy cowboy fabric, I'm not sure.

 Nate's cousins have very different interests, but they both got little boy cowboy fabric.

 The food was delicious!!!

The brides to be, Kaitlyn and Carly Jo. Both of them met their fiances in high school and waited for them while they were on their mission in Brazil.

Ward Buddies!
I know Jessi (far left) from our married student ward in Logan. Turns out that after we moved from Logan, Karly and Nate's cousin moved in. Jessi is Carly Jo's sister. Small world!
It was good to catch up with both of them. Congrats to Karly and Dan on being pregnant! :)
After the shower ended, I headed back to work on my lesson plans for the following week of school. Later in the afternoon, Nate and I headed to Logan to finish up some Christmas shopping and go to dinner before the Brian Reagan concert. We were met by Seth, Brit, Emily, Rob and their two oldest daughters, Marri and Sophie. They were going to see Sara in her play, Christmas Carols.

 The place we ate at wouldn't give us the deal we got the last time we were there and so Nate got a bit aggressive. The managers finally agreed to do the deal and we enjoyed our meal.

After being stuffed with delicious food, we drove over the Eccles Center to laugh our heads off with Nate and Brittney's birthday gift.
Happy Birthday Nate!

The concert was hilarious! Brian Reagan was amazing! He had his friend open the act for him and when it was his turn, he tried some new acts we haven't heard before. I laughed so hard I started crying in the middle of the show. I'm so glad we were able to go. Thanks Seth, for the suggestion!

A Tree of Our Own

Nov 29

Nate really wanted to cut down our own tree this year. After I got off from work, I hopped in the car and we drove up Dry Fork canyon. He had to get a permit to cut one. 

 We hiked down a ravine and wandered closer to the dried up riverbed in search for the right tree. By the time we found it, it was nearly dark. Nate was enjoying himself. I, on the other hand, was a little afraid of getting lost and stuck out there. I wanted to get back to the car to be warm. 

We picked the fullest tree we could find and Nate chopped it down.

Luckily Nate had a flashlight so we could find our way back to the car. Then Nate plopped it on the car and strapped it down.

 We headed back, trimmed it and set it up in our living room.

There are two bald spots in the tree...so I got creative and took the top, split it in two and tied them into the tree. 

Turkey Time!

Nov 21st - Nov 24th

We left after Nate got off work on Wednesday and drove to Salt Lake. We showed up at my parents and enjoyed the time we had with my family, playing a few rounds of our new game Whoonu. Funny stuff!

In the morning, my mom stopped by for awhile. Chloe got to love on Grandma for an hour.

And she brought Grandpa into the hug as well.

After Mike and Jess left for Spanish Fork, Nate and I decided to help my dad out by cleaning the kitchen. It looked glamorous!

It was good to have my mom present as well. She seemed to enjoy herself while she was here. :) 

Over the next 24 hours, Nate obsessed about getting a new TV for our big Christmas gift this year. It got a little annoying, but he was pretty excited. 

Our black friday experience wasn't too crazy for us and we managed to finish most of our Christmas shopping. Huge plus!

I got to see Tania for awhile as well!
That night we drove up to his parents' house in Tremonton to celebrate his Dad's birthday the following day. It was good to see his side of the family. It has definitely been awhile. Nate got his dad a fan thing that vents out the smoke in a wood-burning stove. I enjoyed this little tyke:

Jenetta was really silly all day.

1st Grade Thanksgiving

Nov 19th and Nov 20th

The day before, Nate and I had spoken in church. Nate had told our ward when our anniversary was. One of the members in the ward came by with her husband, giving us a bouquet of flowers and a card. It was really sweet! I love living in our cozy ward, it's got really good people.

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I had told my students about stone soup and how we have to sometimes come together to make something great. At the beginning of the day we added a bunch of vegetables, water, broth and a stone :)

 We made hand-print turkeys with googly eyes and said what we were thankful for.

 We watched the Magic School Bus while eating our Stone Soup

 Seemed to be good since it's mostly gone...
Happy Turkey Day!

1st Anniversary!

November 17th

With our anniversary on Monday and Nate stuck in class most of that day, we decided to celebrate it on Saturday. Nate made dinner and surprised me with a single yellow-red tipped rose. My favorite!

His candlelight dinner was delicious! We listened to tunes and told each other why we loved each other. We defrosted our wedding cake and fed one another a bite, without smashing it one another's face.

Then came time for gifts. We've been a little tight on money, so I got Nate a game that we both wanted--Whoonu. :)

 Nate gave me a digital picture frame with all of our engagement, reception, bridal and wedding photos. Tenderness!

Happy Anniversary Nate! I can't believe it's been a year already!

 And afterwards....
I gave Nate his 1st trim (by me)