2014: a year in review!

2014 has been quite the exciting for us!! This year flew by at lightening speed, I still can't believe it is over! Here's our year in review.

January- Freshly married and on our Honeymoon in San Diego where we got to visit the beach, Disneyland, and my favorite california eats! We moved into our awesome little apartment! I started my last semester of my grad program and Travis started his last semester of Junior year!

February- Freezing to death in our apartment where we couldnt control the heat (well I was) Skiing, Valentines day, getting a Job offer with Orca Health.

March- Travis turned 23 and we got him a fish and a frog (the only kind of pets we will ever have).

April- I unofficially graduated and walked with my classmates.

May- Took a trip to Mexico. The hotel and beach were incredible, but we had a few mess-ups with the trip that we learned from. My good friend Xan came to visit from Georgia!

June- I defended my thesis and for real graduated. Lost my job at Orca Health, but got an even better job at Qualtrics!!!

July- Went on Travis' annual family reunion to Island park Idaho. Wicked with my mom and sister, that play won't ever get old. Stadium of Fire with Carrie Underwood and my fan, so FUN!

August- I turned 23!! Horseback riding in the mountains, Real Salt lake games that always decide to pour rain on us regardless of the time of year, and golfing for daysss.

September- Took a trip to Seattle! Started going to yoga at 3B. Went to the circus with our friends Jaimie and Geoff!

October- Free Neon Trees concert in Provo! Worked The Shine Project event at Albion Fit! Avoided halloween like the plague. Took some new photos with my handsome man.

November- Ran a half marathon with my boy! Spent thanksgiving with Travis' family (thought it was about time since he hasn't spent thanksgiving with them in 4 years).

December- Christmas parties, a Christmas concert and A Christmas Carol with the family, Nutcracker with my favorite women, and working our butts off in school and at work! 1 year Anniversary. Christmas with both of our families!

So much has happened this year and its been so fun with Travis at my side! I can't wait to see what 2015 has in store for us!

CHRISTMAS!!

Oh my gosh I can't believe Christmas has come and gone already. It was such a blast!!!

I am so lucky to work at a job that gives us a Christmas break! I worked super hard to make sure I would be able to take the 24th through the 2nd off from work, and it paid off. This Christmas was heaven. Travis and I were so spoiled by each other and both of our families.

We decided this year that we would spend Christmas Eve with my family instead of splitting it like we did last year. We had an incredible dinner prepared by my mom and aunts of turkey and ham and every other tasty thing you could think of! My Aunt Teri made this broccoli salad that was DELICIOUS. I need to post the recipe!

Afterwards my grandma read Twas the Night Before Christmas and then my grandpa read the story of Christ's birth from the Bible. My dad gave a little speech about the true meaning of Christmas and got our whole family a little teary eyed. Afterwards we decided to watch a few church videos which made the tears flow even more. It really brought the spirit to the festivities.

Next we had our favorite christmas tradition, opening jammies!! I got these cute VS ones with names of cities Ive been too :) Travis got a super man onsie that my parents got at a Christmas party in the white elephant gift exchange. haha  He wore it all night!

Then we watched the giver (we always watch a movie as the kids on Christmas Eve). We went home after the movie, which was weird, it was the first time me and my siblings didn't have a sleepover on Christmas Eve.

Christmas day was a whirlwind of present opening with 20 people at our house. At first we tried to be all organized and have everyone go in order of age, but then it turned into straight chaos after about 20 minutes. Also, it snowed like crazy, so we woke up to a White Christmas!

We were so spoiled. My favorite gifts are my new Kindle Paperwhite and this super cute picnic basket from Travis, and my new Fossil purse from my parents!

We also got to talk to my brother Jake, who is on an LDS mission in Malaga, Spain and Travis' brother Quinten, who is on an LDS mission in Mesa, Arizona. It was so fun to talk to them (since we only get to twice a year). I can't believe they will both be coming home in 2015!!!

The rest of break, has been filled with Yoga, reading (on book 3), and just getting a bunch of stuff done before I have to be back at work on Friday!

The Great Gift Exchange 2014

This year I decided to participate in a blogger gift exchange. I have loved blogging this year and really getting into the blogging community! I have so many new friends!

One of those being Oak and Oats.

Elizabeth posted about the great gift exchange on her blog and I knew it would be so much fun to participate! I jumped at the chance of one more fun thing to do for Christmas.

I was matched up with Sarah Gaylor from 702 park project. It was so much fun to read her blog and get to know her! Sarah and her husband bought an incredible house that was earlier in their family, and have been restoring it. It is breathtakingly beautiful!!

Here are some pictures of the package I put together for her:

I tried to include sweet, pretty, fun little items, I hope she liked them!

My secret santa sent me delicious chocolates, nail polish, greeting cards, an ornament with my last name initial, and a lovely new mug with my initial on it!

It was so fun participating in this blog exchange, I loved getting to know some new bloggers because of it!

One year of bliss!!

I can't believe Travis and I have been married for a whole year already. It went by so fast!!! We have had some big things happen in that year!

- I graduated from my masters program
- Travis completed an incredible internship
- I got my first job with Orca Health, and lost it
- I got my incredible job at Qualtrics
- Travis started his Senior year at BYU (only 4 months to go)

I love my husband more today than the day that we got married. I love looking back on that wonderful day, but it was only the beginning of our love story. We love each other so much better, and have learned so much about each other over the last year.

Click here to see our wedding video.

Here are some of my favorite shots of the day!

Sicky weekend

I have been sick since last wednesday. Not fun. This weekend I was a lot better, to the point where we actually did some fun stuff!

Friday night I came home from work and we headed out to finish up some holiday shopping, get some delicious peppermint shakes from Chik-Fil-A, and come home to watch Elf and wrap the rest of our gifts!  It was VERY festive :)

Saturday we started out with sleeping in and going to Travis' computer lab so he could finish out something for his capstone class and I could finish up some work. Then we rushed to watch the last Hobbit with Travis' family. Afterwards we had an hour to kill before some laser tag (OH YEAH!) so we did some more shopping!

We went to Lazer tag and buffalo wild wings with travis' brothers and some stragglers. It was fun, but I sucked. haha When we came home we baked some chocolate chip cookies and watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas!

Sunday we also watched the Santa Claus. I wanted to get in all my favorites before Christmas. Its been so busy with work and being sick that Christmas came so fast for me! I can't believe its in like two days! Crazyness. My last day of work till the new year is Tuesday and I can't wait!

Also, It snowed today, so it looks like we will have a white christmas (the one day a year I can appreciate snow).

Guest post: Fashion Fits Everyone

Yesterday guest posted on a series called "Fashion Fits Everyone" on Diedreemme.com. Check it out. I am talking about my journey to confidence, and being myself when it comes to makeup and fashion!

Our first Christmas: Decorations!

Its our first christmas in an apartment together. I was beyond excited to buy Christmas decorations! We are also super lucky that our landlords had a 6.5 foot extra tree to let us borrow. Im so in love with it! 

Red and gold tree decor: Target

Decorative Christmas tree plate: Thai Pan Trading

Vintage Santa Claus: Thai pan trading

Merry Christmas glitter sign: Thrifting

Knit stockings: Thai Pan Trading

Those moments when I realize I am exercise crazy

1. Running in 40 degree's and pouring rain and loving it.

2. Waking up at 6 am on a work day to go to a spin class.

3. Using my free time to attend some kind of exercise class after work instead of watching tv.

4. Waking up early for yoga on a saturday.

5. Getting new long yoga pants and a sweatshirt from my work and my first thought being, "I want to try these out running outside in the cold."

I don't know when I became this crazy person, but here we are. Its even worse now that I work full-time sitting at a computer 50+hours a week. My body craves exercise!!!

Also, I loved these treadmill tips from HRG this week!

The Qualtrics Holiday Extravaganza

Where do i even start? Qualtrics knows how to throw a holiday party that's for sure. It was a night of decadence. The venue, decorations, food, music, and entertainment were all incredible!!! I seriously don't think I have ever been to a fancier party. I also loved the 1920's theme, the epitome of overindulgence. 

I got off work as early as I could to get ready (after receiving an unexpected 1K christmas bonus and some incredible Qualtrics Swag, seriously they outdid themselves this time). I threw up my hair into a twisted bun, had to shorten my hair to fit the theme! I loved how it turned out, and it stayed all night! Then we left for the party with our friends Chelsee and Issac. We managed to find an amazing parking space and we entered the convention center where the party was being held. I was BLOWN away when I walked into the venue. It was completely decked out. Not a sliver of wall/table/or ceiling wasn't decorated. I think Gatsby himself would be proud. 

We got our amazing dinner with a choice of chicken, steak or salmon. I of course chose steak, it was mouthwateringly delicious. There were 10+sides to fill up our plates and a bunch of dessert choices that were all equally delicious. 

Once we finished dinner, our CEO Ryan Smith talked about the growth of the company and where we are headed. It made me so proud to be apart of Qualtrics. Then the entertainment for the night was announced. We got a private concert from Brian Mcknight! He was hilarious, and has one of the most incredible voices I have ever heard. 

After the performance some tables were moved to make way for a dance floor. We danced for a while and it was a blast!!!! Dancing crazy with Travis is one of the best times. We were just cracking each other up. Also, Its so fun to have so many friends at work with me now :) 

Our new friends Chelsee and Issac

 Brian Mcknight was seriously incredible

 So fun having my friends working with me at Qualtrics

Martha, Me, and Ali all graduated from the same masters program together, we figured deviating from our field to the same company together would be a good idea! 

Dancing our little hearts out