Christmas with David and the Motab!

I'm way behind on the blog so here's my attempt to get caught up! We've had a lovely break with Justin's family in Pleasant Grove and then skiing with my family in Park City. I'll post more on that later.

First though I need to post about David Archuleta!

So I've always been a fan- not quite hard-core enough to call myself an "Archie Angel" but a fan. When I heard he was performing with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for their Christmas concert, I wanted to go bad. I had the whole fam request them through the raffle (not sure if that's allowed or not.. oops) and was lucky enough to get tickets.

Christmas tree at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building

Pretty temple lights

We got there early because we were already hanging around Temple Square and got sweet seats-- 9th row! I've never been that close in the Conference Center. We were in the next section over from President Monson, President Uchtdorf, and Elder Holland (leaders from our church).

The concert was sooo good. I loved seeing David perform. Justin said I looked like a twitterpated twelve year-old but then he was the one bragging that David waved to him afterwards. Basically after every song all the little girls would wave frantically to David as he walked off the stage. It was such a fun night.

More on Christmas and New Year's soon!

First ski day!

For my family, don't be jealous of this post. Justin and I headed out Saturday for our first ski day at the new and improved Canyons! After a few wardrobe malfunctions on my part (as in I forgot that my entire ski outfit and gear were locked up at a storage unit), we finally got going. A big shout out goes out to my mom and dad for taking my early morning phone call and Justin Larkin for still being nice to me when I do really stupid stuff. Also, a big thanks to Sonya who unknowingly let me borrow a bunch of her ski stuff! Hope that's okay girl!

Canyons changed a bunch this summer. The start of the gondola was moved closer to our condo (yay!) and they put in a heated orange "bubble" chairlift. We tried both. They also took off the "the" from their name (seems pretty insignificant to me...) and made a new logo. Look how pretty!

Here's the new start of the gondola.

Justin skiing powder on "The Pines". Can't wait to ski it with you mom!

After a few runs we headed back down to try the orange "bubble" lift. We heard one local calling it the chondola- chair/gondola. That's a pretty good name for it. It has heated seats and an orange cover to protect you from the wind. It was so warm. I think it'll be mom's new fav.

Crazy orange-ness from the cover:

It was a fun first day of the season. I can't wait for all the fam to get here and ski with us!

Thanksgiving with the Ostler and Tenney Clans

I figured I better hurry and put something about Thanksgiving because Christmas is almost here. This was my first Thanksgiving with the in-laws and it was so fun. Justin and I spent the first part of the break with his mom in Pleasant Grove. The Tenney's came up from Las Vegas too so we spent most of our time running around with the cute kids. I think most of my pictures are with Savannah and baby Maverick.

Jana is an AMAZING cook. Check out the huge, pretty turkey...

We also made a quick trip back to California. We saw Brooke's state meet, visited Justin's family in Fresno, and saw a few friends in GB. It was so good to be home. This is the only pic from the weekend trip- Justin and me at Brooke's meet!

Look at my cute house!

So ever since I moved into a house I've wanted to put a cute wreath on the door. Then I looked at prices of pretty wreaths and decided it wasn't quite in my budget.

Then, the other day I was running to grab something at Target and found this beauty! I checked the price tag-- with the word "CLEARANCE" and price of $2.48 I knew it was meant to be. The size is a little small for our big door but I still love it!

This was after the Thanksgiving "blizzard" hit Provo. The house just got a little dusted but thankfully the mountains got more. More on Thanksgiving later....

Jo's Bro's Distraction

So the other night I was hanging out with a cutie little girl at work. We were making play dough out of flour/water, coloring, eating chicken nuggets (her, not me). It was a lovely night at the hospital.

Then, my sweet patient turns and asks me if she can watch the "rudolph" movie. I knew exactly what she was talking about- the classic claymation Christmas one. So I grab it out of our VHS library and am about to start messing with the VCR when I hear this come on....

I hadn't even noticed what the TV was turned to; I was focused on my patient with her sticky play dough hands and cute turkey hat she had made at the playroom. So I kinda hesitate there wondering how long I can leave it on this sweet serenade before my little friend notices....... It wasn't very long.

I could tell she was going to get irritated if I didn't get Rudolph on that screen quick. Don't get me wrong- I love that festive claymation creation. I just also love me some Jo's Bro's.

I settled her in her bed with her movie and walked out to find a housekeeping lady in the room next door watching the same thing. I guess I wasn't the only fan...

Luckily, I found the diddy on youtube. I'm slightly embarrassed to admit I was so distracted. It's so dumb- the cheesy lyrics, silly girl smiling like an idiot and nodding her head, etc. But I couldn't help it.

For the record, I've never actually seen Camp Rock. (but now I'm thinking maybe I should?) You might remember when we got to see them live....

Cutie Roomies

So these pics were taken a few weeks ago but I thought I'd show off my roommates! These were taken the first Sunday I was able to go to my ward (which was two months after moving in... such is the life of a nurse).

This year Bree left us for a change of scenery but she's still a roomie in our hearts. We made her get in the pics too. Aubrey was one of Katie's friends from AZ and we loved her from day one! I feel super blessed to live with these lovely ladies.

Bree, Trish, me, Aubrey, Katie

In other news, I'm starting wedding plans! Advantage of a forever-long engagement is that I didn't really have to start planning until a month after we got engaged. Current issues are figuring out how to get my dream dress without spending obscene amounts of money and picking colors. I know after reading a library of wedding magazines over the last few years (thanks mom! and yes I said years...) I should already have some things figured out but I don't. Also I'll have more on Halloween later... oops.

Nurse Dorothy

So I'll post more on Halloween later but here's a little about my Halloween at work with the kids! I scheduled myself to work on Saturday so I could experience the Halloween festivities at Primary. My coworkers told me everyone dressed up for work that day and the kids sometimes wore their costumes too. So I hurried and asked my mom to mail me a costume. Pretty sure my 2nd grade Dorothy costume made by my dear Grandma Olson still fits! Before you get too amazed by that I guess I should say "fits" is a loose term. If I want to inhale any oxygen while in costume the waist zipper has to stop about halfway up. I threw on a long white shirt to maintain modesty and I was set.

I got up extra early to braid my hair, tie a ribbon on Toto, etc. By the time I got up to Primary I was pumped. However, my excitement dissipated pretty quickly when I started walking in. Everywhere I looked there were older nurses dressed in plain, old scrubs! They smiled at me like "Aw that's sweet a little naive nurse in her silly holiday get-up." I remembered my scrubs I had thrown in the back of the car and came pretty close to throwing in the towel. Luckily, I decided just to sprint-walk to my unit to see if anyone else had any Halloween spirit or if I would feel like a fool all day.

I showed up and found almost all the nurses and techs dressed up! At lease one new nurse embarrassing moment was avoided. Here I am with allmy festive pals.

I think my patients' parents were more excited about my costume than my patients. Granted I had three little boys... I don't think they knew or cared why the heck I was in a blue plaid dress caring around a stuffed animal dog in a basket. However, when I bribed the "Batman" nurse to visit them I got a few points. I've never seen a little boys eyes light up like one little one did when he saw those pointy ears and ripped foam chest. Maybe Wonder Woman next year??

ps just a little shout out to my Grandma Olson. She's the one who made the cute dress (and all my other cute costumes from back in the day) and also the one I received the middle name "Joyce" from. She's one of the most wonderful people I've ever met and I love her so much! Here's a picture her, my mom, and me a few years ago. Isn't she cute?

I've got the magic....

The week after the big proposal my roomie Trisha made plans to go to a B.o.B/Jason DeRulo concert at UVU. She said it could be our girls night engagement celebration of sorts. Luckily there were still tickets available the day of! It was so fun and surprisingly, they both were actually pretty good live.

On my long drives to work I sometimes resort to listening to the radio to keep me entertained (or awake...). Most of their songs are ones I've heard over and over this summer and fall. :)

Trish and Badash

B.o.B

Ash showin off some MDT moves and Lisa the creeper!

Ash and me

These girls keep me young :)

Here was my favorite from the night...

We're engaged!

This is quite possibly the most exciting post I've ever written. Justin and I are engaged! He proposed last weekend in Park City and I said yes! Crazy right?

Here's the story.....

Justin told me we were going to visit his roommate

who was staying at his family's cabin in Park City.

He handed me directions that said the cabin was on "Memory Lane".

Following the directions, we turned onto a street that overlooks Park City

and just happened to have a temporary sign, "Memory Lane" posted on it.

At that point I kinda suspected something. :)

Here are some pictures of the view of Park City...

and "Memory Lane"

At the end of the cul-de-sac, Justin had set up a projector

to watch a video of all our dating memories

and pictures from the last five years or so.

Then he told me there was something across the ridge he wanted me to see.

Down in the valley I saw an area lit up with Christmas lights.

I later found out Justin and Ashley had had a busy and cold afternoon getting this contraption ready. A couple hundred feet of Christmas lights, some bamboo sticks, and a few rolls of aluminum foil later...

I turned back and Justin was on one knee. He popped the question and I said yes!

We are such zoobies in our Cougar blue!

We celebrated afterwards with dinner down on Main Street in Park City and then headed home for a photo shoot courtesy of Mom and sparkling cider!

I love that now we both have new accessories on matching fingers.

Hopefully, though, he gets to take his off soon.

Here are the fruits of the photo shoot! Justin was a good sport.

More pictures Mom took...

Naturally, we used the reindeer glasses for our celebration with the family.

Ash was Justin's accomplice the whole day setting everything up.

We owe her big time!

It feels crazy to be engaged after dating for so long. Marrying Justin was always in the back of my mind but now I just feel like I'm letting everyone in on the secret. Plus I have a pretty, shiny something on a finger! If you had told seventeen year-old Allie, drooling at "math boy" in AP calculus that I was going to marry him, I would have died of happiness. He was my dream boy then and he's still my biggest crush!

Tonight I'm celebrating with my girls... Jason DeRulo and B.O.B. concert at UVU!

PS Thanks to Mom for letting me steal her blog post :)

Football and the moonlit ride

So the cougs' record may not be too impressive this season but I'm no fair-weathered fan. The games have still been fun even though they are having a rough time. I'm glad the Washington game was at home so we could see them win! Here's some pics from that game and the not-so-lovely Nevada game.

We look like such zoobies in this one! But check out my sweet alumni t-shirt...

In other football news, Justin started playing on an intramural flag football team with some friends! Being the good gf that I am, I showed up with fruit snacks and animal crackers for the whole team. After a few plays, Justin comes over to the sidelines and says "I think something's wrong with my finger". Being a good nurse, I quickly assessed the inflamed, distorted finger. A trip to the local instacare and an xray later we find out he broke the tip of this left ring finger. Amazing how he played six years of tackle and never broke a bone but ten minutes of intramurals did him in. I guess his intramural football career just wasn't meant to be. So now Justin is sporting a lovely new accessory- a fatty finger splint. Luckily this poor boy had a sweet nurse to administer ibuprofen and change his splint every few days!

I don't think I have any pictures of the splint but don't worry I'm sure it'll make appearances in future photos. It's hard to miss!

Totally unrelated but the other night we went with Trisha and Brent to do the moonlit ride at Sundance! Ty and Sonya did this for their first date and Trish and I have been itching to go for a while. It was soooooo cold. Seriously. so. cold. There was a long line and I was really wondering if it was worth it. Don't worry, it was. It was strange to be riding a lift with no snow but pretty in the mountains with the full moon. Made me excited for ski season... and wearing my warm ski gear.

Summer update because it's already fall...

So I officially started my job as a nurse! I am almost done with my training and will have my very own patients soon! The drive up to SLC is not my favorite but once I am there I love it.

Summer was lovely. Here is a recap of events:

Ty got married!!! Thanks to yours truly. Well at least I did some of the introducing then Ty worked his magic. I love Ty and Sonya so much! The wedding was beautiful and so fun. You can now get updates on these Okie lovebirds at their very own blog (don't worry they are much better at updating than I am!).

The "Holt girls" just missing our newest addition!

I went on a pioneer trek!! Yes you read that right. I never got to go as a youth so I was pretty excited when I heard my BYU ward was going to do a trek. Then, I was asked to be our ward's first aid person and I knew I had to go. I couldn't turn down a chance to live out my childhood dream of becoming "Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman". Each trekker was given a pioneer name and mine was Dr. Quinn, naturally. Unfortunately we didn't run into any rugged, indian-clad men a la Byron Sully....

The Macobinson family!

Here we are after a day of trekking. A little less enthused. My roomies will probably die when they know this pic is on the world wide web.

Other summer activities: picnic with the bffs

Celebrating the 4th with Carrie

Hikes with spotting scope in hand...

Timp caves

So I had this goal to celebrate one Pioneer Day 100%. I was a tad fanatical about it. I promised Justin this would be the only Pioneer Day I would celebrate. I figured I had to do it once while living in Utah. The day's activities started out with an early morning drive to SLC for the Days of '47 Pioneer Day Parade! It was a little hot but otherwise a lovely way to get into the pioneer spirit. Next up I dragged Justin over to a pioneer museum in Provo. We watched a blacksmith, looked at a pioneer schoolhouse and home, and then got free pioneer candy! He was a good sport. :) To top it all off a group of us went down to Spanish Fork for a fireworks show! Quite the Pioneer Day. I'm kinda relieved I don't feel the need to ever celebrate that holiday again....

Such a good bf supporting my pioneer day obsession

Helping all the parent-less Utah children play with dangerous years-old stilts- now that's the pioneer spirit!

Roomies at the fireworks

Bobsled ride in Park City for Mommy's birthday

Roadtrip to CA with a car full of boys for Caitlin's baptism!

Outdoor movie at the state capitol

More hiking- this time Stewart Falls.

I think that's it for summer! Next time I'll try updating more than once per season. :)