2014 New Year!

Auld Lang Syne!

Happy New Year Everyone!

What a crazy year the last has been!! We had an amazing Christmas! We headed down to Utah the weekend before, since that was the only time Ian had off work, and got to spend it with friends and family. We stayed with my parents this trip and Frank had a blast with the nieces and nephews.

Not only did we wrestle around the living room, but we also got to take it outside for some good old fashion family sledding.

Oh, and not to brag or anything but totally pulled a Clark Griswold....

I may or may not have had a little bit of help from little Lienna.

We also spent some time with Ian's parents and his extended family. We gave Mark and Marilyn this photo (on canvas) my dad took of us on our engagement day.

Look how small Franklin is! Hard to believe he would eventually become a bull in a china shop...

Ian's parents also started a new tradition. They wouldn't tell us what it was, and kept it as a surprise until the event. You know me... I am crazy about surprises, so I might have roped Ian into brain storming with me about what it could be... the whole ride to Utah.

Boy, were our ideas WAY off...

We were handed a envelope and were told we weren't allowed to open it until we got to the mall. We all chose a meeting spot and were told that we had 1 hour to spend whatever amount was in our envelope. The rules?

*We had to spend as close to the amount as possible.

*We were only allowed to shop by ourselves.

*We were not allowed to spend it on gift cards or any type of food or drink.

We then were supposed to meet back at our meeting spot in 1 hour and whoever had remaining money closest to $0.00, got everyone else's left overs.

Marilyn had $4

Ian had $3

Mark had $1

and I had $0.36.... score!

It was a blast! We had so much fun! We can wait for next year's! Marilyn told me Mark has already been in training to win next year. (Challenge accepted Mark, challenge accepted.)

We also got to attend my Pugh side annual family Christmas party. The family has really grown over the years, but I think it makes it more fun!

We have dinner, white elephant gift exchange, family program, and games. Every year at the end of the party Grandpa personally hands out gifts to everyone. What a selfless guy! He always gives out the best gifts! This year each married couple was given a Food Saver. Love you Grandpa! Thank you!

We headed home the Sunday before Christmas. Which was perfect timing for us since we wanted to get settled back in before we had our own Christmas festivities. Luckily Ian didn't have to work Christmas, so we had a full day of gifts, food, and cuddling.

It was fun to have Christmas by ourselves the first year we've been married. We expect to not have many more one on one Christmas' in the future, which we are completely happy not to have, but we also wanted to take advantage of what we did. 

We ended up getting smaller gifts for each other because the big gift we got ourselves this year was .... Drum roll please....

A new bedroom set! WOO HOO!

We were literally in the furniture store half an hour. I guess it helps when you know exactly what you want and you don't want to wait any longer! Can I say it again? WOO HOO!!

Frank has continued to grow and SHED. Holy cow... I think I could make a separate dog out of the amount of fur he loses. Luckily me and the vacuum have become best friends. 

I'm not so sure about Frank and the vacuum though.

But seriously, this past year has been an exciting and eventful one. 

Here are some highlights of Our 2013.

*We acquired a new furry family member (Franklin)

*I worked at the bird show at Hogle Zoo

*We got Engaged!

*Ian graduated from Pharmacy School!

*We got Married!

*We took a trip to Mexico

*Ian ran a Spartan Race

*I did my 4th Bike Tour

*I learned how to fly fish

*We moved to Boise

*Ian started working for Walgreens

*I certified as a Zumba Instructor

*I realized my cooking and crafting potential

*Ian directed an Ultra Marathon

*We took a trip down to Goblin Valley (For Ian's marathon)

*Made multiple Utah trips

*I changed my name

*We became Sunbeam teachers at church

*We made new friends and explored new places here in Boise

What an amazing year! We can't wait to see what next year has in store for us!

We love you all and hope your 2013 was as prosperous as ours was! 

(My new chalkboard design.)

Christmas Preparations and Cabin Fever

Feliz Navidad Everyone!

Can you believe it is only 11 days til Christmas!? Holy freakin amaze bats! Am I the only one that thinks just yesterday felt like Thanksgiving?! I guess staying busy has really made us lose track of time.

After our trip to Utah for Thanksgiving, we were able to finally get some Christmas decorations up! This is definitely one of my favorite parts of December. It pretty much is the intro to the season.
I may or may not have had this image flashing in my mind while humming the tune while decorating the Christmas tree....

And don't pretend you aren't humming it right now yourself....

I talked Ian into getting a real tree. Let's be honest here.... to me, Christmas is not the same without a REAL tree! The smell, forgetting to water it, the dropping needles, the worry that your dog might pee on it. I mean, what else spells Christmas more than that!?

But anyway, we got the tree home with no problem. The only minor detail was that neither of us had put a tree in a tree stand before. (My dad always did it and Ian never had a real tree before.)

Let's just say, there were frustrations, arm scratches, piles of needles, and a few cuss words, but in the end, it looked great! A bit of a lean to it, but we decided it gave it character and didn't want to risk our lives again by trying to get it any straighter. It was totally worth it!

(Oh, don't worry, these are branches that came off the tree while we tried putting the stand on...we improvised.)

We switched out the pic in Frank's stocking.

Not only did we decorate the inside, I recruited the boys into putting up the outdoor lights as well. 

Notice the white lights in the windows? We had alot of extra light strand, so....

We decorated Ian's office desk with them.

Genius.

Ian had a few days off this week, so we also got some Christmas shopping done...

We may have procrastinated a bit on gift purchasing online, so for those of you who don't get a gift on Christmas, hold on to your boots, cause Santa always comes through.... on January 7th, to be exact.

Frank also got to enjoy his first experience with snow!

It's really hilarious to watch him prance around. Ever seen Bambi?

Yeah, that's Frank. 

They don't really plow the roads here in Boise, so the roads can get really slick and icy. Let's just say, my new favorite past time is taking Frank on walks since he is an ice skating freak. 

Watch out Michelle Kwan!

He loves the snow so much, that this is where he sat most of the first day it came down.

"If I put my snow pants and gloves on, can I please go out to play?"

Too bad he is a wuss, and can only last 10 minutes outside anyway.

And SINCE he is a big baby because of the cold (me too), the doggy park, and walks have drastically dwindled. 

Thus, he has come down with a case of DCF.

"What is DCF?" You ask?

Doggy Cabin Fever. 

Lint Roller

Train set signs and Ian's iPad stylus

His own toy

Let's continue with the list shall we?

*A Burt's Bee's Chapstick (this is the 2nd)

*HDMI remote

*TV remote

*Apple TV remote

*Nail Clippers

*Lint from the dryer (he pulls out of the garbage)

*Used Dryer sheets (he pulls out of the garbage)

*My work out pants (which now have nice little holes in the crotch)

*and let's not forget Ian and My unmentionables that he pulls from the laundry hamper.

We now have a check list of things to do when we leave, so that his DCF doesn't flare up.

*Both bathroom doors are closed

*Guest bedroom door is closed

*T.V. is on

*Ottoman has been cleared of anything to chew on

*Hamper lid is down

*He has gone out to potty

Oh the joys of puppyhood. Luckily we have received some good advice to keep this from happening again. 

My angry "I'm asking Santa for a new dog." whisperings to him haven't worked.

So far, we haven't had anymore issues. Let's just hope it stays that way. *Knock on wood*

But when Frank isn't terrorizing the house. He can be kinda cute. 

Notice most of these pics are of him sleeping.

His front paws on the floor, his back legs on the couch, and his head on the ottoman. Freaking weirdo.

Well that's about it for us! We will be down in Utah next Wednesday. We hope to see you all! We love you! Merry Christmas!

"No, no! We're all in this together. This is a full-blown, four-alarm holiday emergency here! We're gonna press on, and we're gonna have the hap, hap, happiest Christmas since Bing Crosby tap-danced with Danny freaking Kaye! And when Santa squeezes his fat white bum down that chimney tonight, he's gonna find the jolliest bunch of idiots this side of the nuthouse!"

-Clark Griswold

(National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation)

*Slightly edited*

A Utah Thanksgiving

Happy December everyone!

Is it just me, or has this year gone by cray cray fast!? Ian and I have been married 6 months in a few days... wow... time flies when you are happily married I guess. :)

We got to head down to Utah for Thanksgiving. Oh, and don't worry, we starved ourselves for a few days before hand because we had 2 Thanksgiving dinners. My parents and Ian's parents. Ok, we didn't really starve ourselves, but we probably should have. Talk about a food baby!

We stayed at Ian's parents this trip and Ian's grandma got to make it up from Fairview. We were excited to be able to have Thanksgiving with her. We don't get to see her very often due to the distance, but we promised her a few more frequent phone calls.

Thanksgiving day travels

Thanksgiving day relaxation

Grandma's dog likes Ian

Franklin's favorite chair at Ian's parents... he barely fits anymore.

Ian caught a nasty cold right before we headed down to Utah so the poor guy was miserable the entire trip. But you can bet we still made it to the U of U game...

We also got to hit up Italian Village for pizza benders with Ian's family... Holy Yum! If you have never been, please proceed to investigate... it will rock your world.

We also had my dad take our family Christmas card pics at Gardner Village. 

My sister had my dad do their family pictures as well, so we got to hang with this little babe...

If you were to ask me what I missed most about Utah, I would say family and friends (Obvi) but I would also say, "This view."

We don't really have "Mountains" here in Boise. They call them mountains, but they really look more like high rolling hills. They aren't the REAL thing.

Well we got home with lots of Nyquil, cough drops, and lemon tea for Ian and Christmas music for me. Ian still had to recover from his cold, so Frank took it upon himself to help out by cuddling....

Then he got bashful.....

(He honestly does this to himself...someday I am going to give him a cover wagon.)

But in reality, the guy is pretty photogenic.

Well that's our recap from the last couple weeks. We will be making it back down to Utah the weekend before Christmas. Hurray for Christmas! We love you all and in case we don't see you this month.....

"Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough."

-Oprah Winfrey