New Years Resolutions

As the year comes to an end, I am reflecting back on all that has happened this year, and I must say this has been a year I will never forget. I got engaged, and MARRIED to the love of my life. That really has been the highlight of 2013. Both my parents got re-married this year as well which has been a big adjustment, but a HUGE blessing as well. I got to receive my endowments and go through the temple, another big deal! We have managed to learn how to combine both our lives and keep sanity! 

                                   

As 2014 begins I have decided to make 5 goals that I want to try to obtain by the end of the year. The chances that I will stay committed all year long are slim, because let's be honest I NEVER stick to my New Years resolutions. Maybe this year I can reflect back on my blog and stay motivated! 

1. Never take anyone for granted. This year there have been so many tragedies In our community, and it would make me heartbroken to lose someone close to me without them knowing how much I love them. I want to make sure that everyone around me knows how much I appreciate them, and care about them. 

2. Attend the temple AT LEAST once every month. Collin and I have been really good at this so far! It makes a huge impact on our marriage in such a good way! I hope life never gets so busy that it consumes our priorities. 

3. Lose ten pounds. I know that's cliche, but I really would like to lose some inches from my thunder thighs. I know if I watched what I eat I could lose the ten pounds easy, but ask Collin... I have the worlds biggest sweet tooth. I would rather eat a pan of brownies rather than have an actual meal. It's a real problem.

4. Learn to be a Kick-A sewer. As I have mentioned before I'm really not that crafty. I WISH I was, but it's never been one if my talents. My awesome in laws got me a sewing machine for Christmas! Did I mention they rock? I hope to get lessons from my sweet Grandma Geddes, and from Jennifer too! If they both have the patience. :) I successfully made aprons for my sister, Hali, and my mom! That's a good start! I'm really excited to learn more! 

5. Stick to our monthly budgets. For those of you that have heard of Dave Ramsey, you might have heard about his envelope system. We took his financial peace university class this fall, and learned a lot! I recommend it for anyone at any age! I want to get really good at sticking to our budget we set up at the beginning of every month. We have been trying to do it, but I know we can be a lot better at it. So this year we are going to stick to our monthly budgets and become pros at the whole budget, saving thing! 

Well there you have it. My/Our goals for 2014! I can't wait to see what this year will bring us! I'm sure we will share moments of fear, lots of laughter, and even some tears. I know that as long as we have each other we will make this the best year yet. 

Much love, 

Andrea 

Christmas As A Roberts!

Christmas 2013 was one of the best yet! It's really not mine and Col's first Christmas together, more like the fourth! But it was definitely the most special one this year being married! 

Christmas Eve day we went to my mom's house over in Malad. It was fun to get to spend the day there! I was feeling under the weather and had a big long nap. That night I had to work for a couple hours, and then we headed to his Grandma Blotter's house for the annual Christmas Eve party! We had fun playing Werewolf (the Smith family got us addicted to the game.) 

 Christmas morning we opened presents from each other at home, then headed to Collins parents house. We opened presents there and had Funnelcakes! They were delish. We had lunch at my Grandma Geddes's house. She always makes a scrapbook of the year as part of our Christmas gift. It's so fun to reminisce  on what has happened during the last year. This year it had my wedding in it! That was cool to see the pages she had created, and pictures she had captured. 

Christmas evening we had my dad and Mary over for dinner with my younger siblings. (Once again how lucky we are to be living in such a nice house to host the dinner. We are forever thankful Louise and Mel! Thanks again we love you!)

We were so spoiled from each other and our families! We are so thankful for all of you that thought of us on Christmas!  

10 Things My Mother Taught Me

In honor of my moms birthday I decided to write a post about ten things that she has taught me. 

1. I am beautiful. She always tells me this, and always has told me this. Even when I was going through my awkward Jr. High. 

2.  Clean your house before any vacation. This was always something we had to do before we left anywhere. I hated it back then, but now I completely understand! It makes things so nice when you get home. 

3.  Music is important! To wake me up she used to come into my room singing "Wake up little Susie wake up!"  She was always playing the piano or singing. She pushed me to play the piano and that is something I will forever be grateful for! 

4.  Kill them with kindness. Anytime someone was being mean, this was the advice i got! 

5.  Be strong and confident. 

6.  If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. 

7.  She taught me to SHOP! Probably the most important thing. ;)

8. Be compassionate and empathetic.

9. It's okay to march to the beat of a different drum. She is always so supportive of my siblings and I, no matter what we are doing. 

10. To believe in myself. Especially in basketball! She was always my number one fan and believed in me more than anyone!  

Happy Birthday mom! Thanks for teaching me so many important things in life! Hope you have a good 30th birthday!! ;) 

It's the MOST wonderful time of the year

We have been so busy the last week getting ready for Christmas! I am dying of excitement. I know that once it is over I will wish it all would have lasted a bit longer. I love the feeling this time of the year brings with it. 

I felt like making sugar cookies the other night, so whipped up 50 of them and took some to our friends and family! I also got to make lots of delicious treats with my mom. We made caramels, pretzels, toffee and chocolate balls! It's so fun to be older and start our own traditions with both our families. 

We are so close to being done Christmas shopping! Only a few more things to pick up. I am just trying to build the courage to go to Logan. I HATE the traffic at this time of the year. It's exhausting. 

I can't wait to share what I made for my sister and mom! You will all be very proud of me. With the help of my very crafty Mother in Law we are in the midst of finishing some darn cute projects.

We went to Christmas With Juanito Bandito the other night with Col's family. It was so funny! We laughed our heads off. We will definitely be going to that again if we get the chance. Pickleville Playhouse always puts on a good show.

I don't know if it's just me, or if this is how it is for everyone, but it is so overwhelming trying to find time for all our family and friends during the holidays. We have so many and with us being as busy as we have been with work and other things we are always exhausted (mostly me). {I am seriously a baby. If I don't get to bed before nine I'm a baby. I I don't run well on low sleep.}  

We are looking forward to seeing everyone on Christmas and throughout all the Christmas parties. 

Sorry this post was kind of jumpy. I talked about a million things. I guess that's what a blog is for!  

The Forgotten Carols

For those of you who don't know what The Forgotten Carols is, let me give you the run down. 

It is a play/musical that is about Christmas. It tells the story of the Savior's birth. Not only does it tell the story that we all know, it tells the story from the wise man, innkeeper, shepherd, angel, and all the others point of views. It's really cool because you really don't usually think of their side of the story. 

The innkeeper for instance, no one ever talks about him. Sure he was known for turning Mary and Joseph away, but have you ever thought about how he felt afterwards? It really makes you think about things like that. 

The songs that Micheal McClain (the writer and creator of The Forgotten Carols) has written are absolutely AMAZING. I listen to the songs year round because they have such great meaning. If you want to hear some really great songs look them up on YouTube. 

My parents used to take us kids to the play when we were younger and I never really understood it until now. I don't think I have ever felt so touched as I did last night during the production. We often forget the true meaning of Christmas and what it is really all about. 

I hope to continue the tradition of The Forgotten Carols with my family. Any of you that get the chance to go to this production should go.

 Let us all remember the true meaning of CHRISTmas. 

December

December is my favorite month of the whole year! I absolutely LOVE the holidays. I can't think of anything better than Christmas music, buying presents for everyone, hot coco, putting up the tree, and just the feeling you get during the holiday season, "Christmas Spirit".

Everyone is a little bit nicer during this time of the year. Everyone comes together and seems to put their hands in the service of others. 

We have so many things planned for this month we are going to stay so busy! Our first Christmas together is so exciting! I just can't wait to stuff his stocking Christmas night! I don't know why I am so excited for that, but I am! 

Wishing a happy and SAFE holiday season to everyone! 

Thanksgiving Weekend

This has been such a good weekend! It was our first thanksgiving being married. I had to work until two on thanksgiving, but It worked out to be perfect timing because we ate at his grandmas house in Newton at three. The food was great as usual.

To all my family that I didn't get to see I hope you all had a great thanksgiving! It's so hard trying to get around to see everyone on the holidays, especially with three sets of parents. Just know we love you all! I did get to FaceTime my brother and sister on thanksgiving morning! I wish they lived closer!

Last minute we decided to go Black Friday shopping. We got some good deals. I'm not sure how I feel about the super early sales on Thanksgiving day. It was nice to go to bed at a decent time, but it seemed to have cut our Thanksgiving day short. 

Friday afternoon we headed up to Collin's uncles cabin in bear lake! We had a BLAST!

Their cabin is so pretty! We are glad they let us stay there for the weekend! We spent most of our time hanging out, playing games, watching movies, and eating delicious food!

I got some time to read this weekend as well. For those of you that haven't read Outliers I strongly recommend it! It has some really great stuff in it. 

The view from their cabin is stunning! At one point we weren't sure if we were going to make it out of the driveway because of the snow and how steep it is. I was secretly crossing my fingers that we wouldn't. I could have stayed there forever! 

It's nice to be able to get away for the weekend and spend time with family and escape from reality. I was blessed to marry into such a great family!  

Rico

Fredrico [AKA Rico] has been quite the addition to our family. He is an outside cat, but still gets spoiled by us! I am allergic to cats so I can't touch them for very long without washing my hands or else my eyes puff up huge.

Rico has became Collin's kid of some sort. He packs it around like a little baby. I am usually getting after him for bringing it  too close to me, but I have to admit it is a pretty darn cute cat.

Rico came from the one and only Dunes Dairy along with his brother, unnamed. Collin surprised me one day with the both of them because Tosh had gotten ahold of our previous foster cat that we had taken in. We must not be the best cat caretakers because I may or may not have ran over Rico's brother..

Collin has a habit of calling people many names. He calls me Ang, Susan, Little One, and the most common, Squrriel. He rarely calls me Andrea. This habit has rubbed off on the cat. Rico is also known as Charlie, Fred, Little Guy, and Fredrico. 

It's kind of something silly to be thankful for, but we enjoy our cute little kitty.

Fall Comes to a Close

First off, to all you people with nice pretty perfect yards, I look up to you!! It is really not easy work keeping up on a yard. Let alone a big yard.

We have been getting ready for winter the last couple weeks. It has been quite the task mowing, raking leaves, and picking up apples! Collin sure loves getting to drive grandpa Mel's nice lawn mower!

I personally love the fall. I don't know what it is about boots, scarfs, and jackets, but i sure love getting all bundled up in them. It is also this time of the year that i want to buy everything in stores. I just love fall colors. They seem to go best with my skin/hair color. It's sad to say that fall is coming to an end, and we are about to freeze our bums off.

I don't mind snow up until christmas, but after that it just needs to melt away. I remember asking my mom when i was little why everyone didn't just take a blow dryer out to their front lawn after christmas to melt all the snow. Once it starts to melt away and the snow on the roads just has dirt in it, it needs to go. Besides the fact of the cold, i'll be the first to admit that i'm really not a good driver in the snow. I have had numerous times running off the road and getting stuck. Let's hope this winter i'll have better luck!

Since it is november and everyone is naming everything that they are thankful for, I thought I would tell Collin how thankful I am for his hard work that he puts forth for us. He is a hard worker, and I don't thank him enough for that. He reminds me a lot of my dad, who is also a hard worker and always has been as long as I can remember. Collin will be a great example for our kids someday! 

Although November really is the month of gratitude I think it is sad that we only show how thankful we are for certain things during the holiday season. I don't think I am near thankful enough for all we have, but it is a good reminder to be better at that. 

Jackson Hole, WY

Monday of this last week our friend Zack had this idea that we should go on a vacation. The next weekend we found ourselves in Jackson Hole, WY.

Jackson at this time of the year is considered the off season because it is in between their summer rush and their Ski/winter rush. It was nice to have it be a little cooler theire, and to have less people there than usual. There was snow around us in the mountains, but none in the actual city.

We had a blast. Kynzie and Zack have been such good friends to us, we always have a blast when we are with them. Col was good friends with Zack in high school and kynz and i grew up going to each other's birthday parties, so i guess you could say we were meant to be friends.

If you know collin and zack, you know that they love the farming game. We couldn't go without taking it with us. They begged and begged. We stayed up late both nights playing the farming game. If you have never heard of it, it is basically monopoly in farming form, although i hate to admit it, it is actually pretty fun. Might i add that Of the two games that we played, I won one, and Kynzie won the other. Girls Rule..

 

The Hotel we stayed at had a killer breakfast that was included, which is always a plus. It saves so much money to find a hotel that has breakfast included. Otherwise you end up spending twenty bucks or more a day just for breakfast. 

We had such a fun time looking around the stores, of course you don't buy anything in jackson because it will cost you an arm and a leg, but its fun to walk through the cute little shops and town.

I'm grateful for the jobs that we both have that allow us to get to have these small vacations. I'm also grateful for the Carters and for the friendship that has grown between our two families. We always are always laughing whenever we are together. We are extremely blessed.