First Anniversary

Today Connor and I celebrated our first anniversary.  Yay us!  To celebrate we stayed at The Grand America last night, and went to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for dinner.

Connor wanted to surprise me for our anniversary.  The deal was, he would plan our anniversary, and I would plan Valentine's Day.  However, I don't like surprises, so I convinced him about 2 weeks ago to tell me where we were going.  I couldn't have planned it better myself.  We stayed at the Grand America last year on our wedding night, so that was very fitting.  And Ruth's Chris was sooooooo good.  Incredibly expensive, however.  The most I've ever spent at a restaurant.  Most likely the most I will spend at a restaurant in a very long time.  But it was so worth it.  I got the filet and Connor got the stuffed chicken and it was all amazing.  It doesn't hurt that they bring everything out smothered in butter, which is still sizzling when it gets to your table.

This dessert was amazing.  Everything was amazing.  Notice how part of the "H" is missing?  

Someone just couldn't wait.....

Connor with his bread pudding.  

The Grand America was as luxurious as ever.

 We ordered room service in the morning.

 

We didn't save the top of our cake from last year to eat so we did something else.  

When we got married, we had a bunch of cupcakes.  Tonight we went out and bought some cupcakes and ate those instead.

Happy one year to us!  It's hard to believe that already a year has gone by.

Ah, memories....

Happy one year anniversary!

Sad

Stories like this and this make me really sad.  Whenever I hear a story about someone killed in a car accident I first think about the poor person who died, and then about the poor person who was involved in their death.  I think about how awful it must be to have to live with that on their conscience for the rest of his or her life.

Reflecting on my own experience, I don't often think about the person who hit and killed my dad, but when I do I feel sorry for her and I hope that she's been able to live a happy and fulfilling life.  As sad and as hard and as tragic as it may be, it was my dad's time to go, just as it was for that little 2 year-old, and for the teenager as well.  My thoughts and prayers go out to all of those families involved.

St George / UFDA

Last week Connor got a call from his boss.  He asked if we wanted to go to St George for the Utah Funeral Director's Association (UFDA) Mid-Winter Meeting.  An all expenses paid trip?  Sure!  So on Thursday we headed down to St George to the Lexington Hotel (formerly the Holiday Inn).  It was really great.  We got there later than we planned, and ended up missing dinner.  Partly because we were late, partly because the hotel had no sign so we drove right by it.  So instead we went out to dinner (which was paid for), then went back to the hotel and relaxed a little.

The next morning Connor had meetings so I went and got some breakfast, lounged around the hotel room, and then went to a luncheon for the spouses of the funeral directors.  That was fun.  It was nice to meet some people and I won a gift card to the Olive Garden!  I heart the Olive Garden so I'm pretty stoked about that.  Then we had a few hours to go sightsee.  I had never been able to really see anything in St George before.  When I got home from my mission, I went with Eric and Kari on a trip and we went to Tuacahn where we saw Annie.  But that's pretty much all I saw.  So we decided to go see some church history with the little time that we had.

First we saw the Jacob Hamblin Home, which was pretty interesting.  We actually were there with some descendants of  Jacob Hamblin so the guide showed us a room that they don't normally show to people.  After that, we went and saw Brigham Young's Winter Home, which was pretty cool too.  It was pretty interesting to learn more about the history of St George. (As a side note, the photo in that link of his home isn't really accurate.  This one is what it actually looks like.)  After that we went back to the hotel and got ready for the banquet that they had, which was also really nice.  They had a raffle there but unfortunately we were not lucky enough to win a quesadilla maker, or a shop vac.

Saturday morning Connor had more meetings, and then we checked out and went to the beautiful St George Temple and did a session there.  It's a really beautiful temple and designed differently from any that I've ever been too.  Interesting factoid, the land that the St George temple is built on was actually a swamp.  So the pioneers packed it with volcanic rock.  (Read about it here and here.)  Pretty interesting, huh?



After our session we changed at Metcalf Mortuary.  (Apparently that's where you go when your husband is in the funeral business.)  I met the man who worked a funeral just a little while ago for a family friend who passed away.  He was very nice.  Anyway, after that we drove home with a stop in Provo so I could buy some jeans because I just noticed that my jeans have a huge hole in them in a very inconvenient place.  And for some reason, I only have 1 good pair of jeans.  I really should buy another pair.

P.S.  We forgot our camera, hence the lack of photos.

Feliz Navidad!

This year was our first Christmas as a married couple and it was definitely a memorable one! We definitely spoiled each other, and had a really fun day. Until we got sick, that is. Connor wasn't feeling too well on Christmas eve but he was okay during Christmas day. It was the day after Christmas that we both got sick. Connor with the stomach flu, me with a cold. No fun. But regardless, Christmas was a fantastic and memorable day. Merry Christmas to us! (And to you all too, whoever reads this.)

Underneath the tree on Christmas Morning

Our Stockings. I LOVE Whoppers!

Connor LOVES detailing cars so I got him a professional car polisher.

Apparently I forgot to get the pads (or something) though, so he can't use it yet.

(How did I not know! haha)

We got a Wii! So fun. We've already spent many hours playing.

Particularly Super Mario Bros. A classic.

Happy Birthday, Baby!

This month we celebrated Connor's 27th birthday! I asked Connor what he wanted to do on his actual birthday, but he said nothing. I convinced him we needed to do something, so per his request, I got a mint and chocolate cake from Leslie's French Pastries. So good. We celebrated with just us and our friend Ami Jo. It was a fun little night!

All we had was a 2 and a 6 from my birthday so we just used the 2. Good enough. :)

Doesn't he look thrilled? :0)

Disneyland Top 10

This week Connor and I went to Disneyland (for the second time this year) to celebrate his birthday! Here's our Top 10 of what we enjoyed most.

10. Seeing the beautiful Christmas decorations.

(This picture came out kind of blurry.

I guess I have to be pickier with who I ask to take photos...) :)

9. The perfect and beautiful 70+ degree weather.

8. The delicious Dole Pineapple Stand by the Tiki Room. If you haven't had it, you must.

7. Going on the matterhorn. It was closed when we went on our honeymoon.

6. The World of Color and also the fireworks show. So cool. I especially loved the Disney snow.

5. Seeing Santa's Reindeer.

4. Joe's Italian Ice. Amazing. We got the Joe Latti (italian ice with soft serve in it). I'm wishing we had gone back another time before we left. Next time we're there, we are definitely going back.

3. Our super crappy hotel room. Ramada at Anaheim Convention Center. We got a really good deal, but still not worth it.

2. Deciding at the last minute to leave Disneyland a little early and drive home all night long because we couldn't take our crappy hotel room any more.

1. Celebrating Connor's Birthday, of course! Happy Birthday!!!

(I made him wear that button all day, which he was thrilled with, of course. Haha.

He did get quite a few "Happy Birthday's" from Disney employees

and a couple of others. But he was more excited about getting compliments

on his Senfeld shirt.)