Europe trip 2016, where we are going!

London 2012

I love traveling, a lot. I've told Travis from the beginning that if we live in Utah we will be traveling a lot so I don't go too stir crazy. Our big trip this year will be a two and a half week Europe trip in the Spring! I cannot wait! Its been 4 years since I've been to Europe and I've been itching to go back ever since. This will be a first for Travis, I am so excited to show him what Europe has to offer and experience new places together.

These are the current plans, subject to change since we haven't booked anything but our roundtrip flights from the US at this point ($58, I'll tell that story soon).

Here is the itinerary:

London, England: 4 days
Zurich, Switzerland/Southern Germany 2.5 days
Florence, Italy: 3 days
Cinque Terre, Italy: 3 days
Madrid, Spain: 2.5 days

I've been to London, but last time we only spent 24 hours in the city because we stayed with one of my mom's good friends in Cheltenham, a couple hours outside of London, for a couple days instead. I am ready to really explore for real this time. We plan on going to at least one show, soaking in all the harry potter  sites, and touristing it up with our good friends who will be there with us.

All of the other cities we will be visiting are completely new to me, which has me stoked to no end.

Have you been to any of these places? I need tips! Tell me what I have to see :)

My sweet grandma's passing

My grandma Church was one of the sweetest most kind people I have ever met. She was also a talented artist (painting, doll making, sewing, etc) and a wonderful cook. She loved being surrounded by family and always made you feel like you were the most special person in the world. 

Some of my favorite memories:

- Finally realizing that the cereal and the bowls didn't magically make it to the table regardless of the time I woke up, Grandma set breakfast up the night before after we went to bed. 

- Grandmas Epimotus story. Best bedtime story there ever was. 

- Carrying around my Treeco pink blanket that she made for me from the time I could remember till it was literally in shreds

- When I asked my grandma if she could make me another Treeco blanket as my college graduation gift. 

-Seeing grandma and grandpa at all my extra curricular activities in High School, I was so lucky to live so close to them the last 9 years. 

- Attending their monthly fast sunday dinners with all of my cousins- and eating grandmas yummy food! 

There are so many more but these come first and foremost to my mind. 

My grandmas passing was difficult for me, she was the first of my grandparents to pass, and I regret not spending more one on one time with her, but I know she is in a better place away from the pain she has been experiencing the last year. I am so grateful for the knowledge that my family will be together forever and that I will see my grandma again. 

I was so happy to get to see so much of my family. It was the worst reason to all get together but we made the best of it and had a good time catching up. 

All the grandkids and great-grandkids on the church side, only missing a few great grandkids:

My adorable cousins little girl nora. She was my buddy all weekend. We read books for hours and it was the best!

Las Vegas Anniversary

Road trippin!

Our lovely hotel, sorry for the iPhone pics

Best steak I've ever had, and some delicious sides and 9ine

Over Christmas break we decided to take a little trip down to Las Vegas/St. George to get away from the cold, and celebrate our 2nd anniversary! 

We stayed at a WONDERFUL hotel in Vegas, The Vdara. I would stay there again in a heartbeat. Super nice rooms, fancy work out room, and NO CASINO. I hate casinos, so it was a treat not to walk through one every time we can in and out of our hotel. 

In Vegas we honestly didn't do anything too exciting. We went to the gym, watched some movies, ate at some incredible restaurants (9ine, Serendipity, and Javier's) and wandered around the strip. 

On our way back we stopped in St. George to see my Aunt and Uncles new house they were building (the original plan was to stay with them for a couple days, but the house wasn't done until the next week unfortunately) which was gorgeous, stopped for lunch at chipotle, and visited my favorite shop Urban Renewal (I wanted to buy everything).

It was a nice little change of pace from normal life and time to just spend time together. 

French Countryside Inspired

Comforter | Curtains | Curtain Rod | Lamps

I am absolutely OBSESSED with how our bedroom turned out. Like obsessed. I want to spend all my time just admiring the gauzy light that comes through the curtains.

I honestly wasn't expecting to finish up our bedroom as quickly as we did. It was not my number 1 priority for rooms to decorate in our house but things just fell into place. It started when I found this gorgeous bed frame, which I got for my birthday! Then on Black friday I found my curtains 45% off with free shipping and I couldn't help it. Our curtain rod was also only $20 and its huge!

Then we found a cute little table on KSL for $10 and DIY'd it see that post here! I had to wait just a little bit longer to get our lamps for Christmas from my in-laws, but they were worth the wait. I love them!

It came together exactly how I wanted, I love my little taste of the french countryside.

It was a white Christmas!

It dumped snow the entire week of Christmas. It was beautiful and I can accept the snow for the christmas festivities. But now its Jan 3rd and it needs to go ;). I didn't actually take any pictures of the snow but you get the idea. Christmas Eve we spent at Travis' grandparents house with his whole extended family at their yearly party. We ate good food, there was a program and we all caught up. Hid grandparents announced this would be their last Christmas Eve party, Im glad we got to go! 

Christmas day we got up early and trudged through the snow from our house to my parents to be there by 8:30. We opened presents and rushed to Travis parents to meet all of his siblings to open presents at 10:30. We were SO spoiled. Travis and I even put a spending limit on each other this year and still there were so many gifts. Our families are both so generous. 

We got some sad news about my grandma on the 23rd of December (I even rushed home from work halfway through the day). She had been in the hospital and things were not looking good. Its been very up and down since then and basically we still don't know what is going on. We visited her almost every day that week and it was so good when she was well enough to chat with all of us. Hopefully they will be able to figure out what is going on soon.

I hope you had a great Christmas! 

Yearly goals: 2016

Im not one for "resolutions." To me that word has a certain breakable connotation to it. I like the word "goals" much better. I love the new year, as it marks a metaphorical new beginning, a time to reflect and redirect. In 2015 I set new goals every month, and while that was a great start to really working towards something I felt like my monthly goals lacked direction.

In 2016 I want to have more overarching goals that I can be working towards the whole year. I want my monthly goals to all come back to these overarching things so that at the end of the year I can really see my progress.

My 2016 Goals:

Spiritual- I want to finish the book we have been reading, "Jesus the Christ." And re-read the Book of Mormon. Overall I want to come closer to my Heavenly Father and Savior, and work on the things that will bring me closer to them.

Physical- Being from a public health background health has always been super important to me. I believe you create the habits when you are young that will follow you later in life and determine your quality of life. I want to continue to exercise regularly and cook delicious and healthy meals!

Financial- We are so very lucky to be in the financial position we are in at this point in our lives. I want to work to get completely out of debt (outside of our mortgage) we only have two small car loans, have a good emergency fund, and start paying more off on our mortgage this year. I also want to give more this year to organizations and causes that offer sustainable solutions to those in much greater need than myself!

Personal- I'd like to keep better records of our lives. There are three ways I can see us doing this: taking more pictures (I am perfect at always forgetting to pull out the camera, its especially bad on Travis' side of the family, because no one else does either), Writing in my personal journal and our couples one line a day journal, and keeping up the blog.

Talent- This year I want to develop new talents. I want to learn to read music and play the piano. We are so lucky to have inherited my grandparents piano this past month. Travis is a really good pianist but I quit a couple years into lessons because I got so down about learning to read music and not being perfect at it from the start. Travis has agreed to teach and help me learn and I am so excited!

Heres to growth and making 2016 my best year yet!

2015 Year in Review

2015 was one of the best years of my life. It was full of adventures, excitement, and filled with love.

Travis graduated from college and got his dream job

We bought our first home together

We went on a life changing trip to the Philippines (Hello travel bug)- that water though!

My brother came home from his 2 year mission in Malaga, Spain

We celebrated our 2nd wedding anniversary!

In 2015 we learned so much about each other and more about ourselves!

We travelled to:
St George, Utah (x2)
Anaheim, California
Philippines
San Diego California
Island park, Idaho
Huntington Beach, California
Atlanta, Georgia
Las Vegas, Nevada

I can't wait to see what 2016 has in store for us!