Salt Lake afternoon...

A while back Patrick and I headed up to Salt Lake to meet up with our friends Hernan and Carolyn. This was our first time doing something the four of us. We ate Chinese food at a restaurant Hernan introduced Patrick to. We ordered off of the Dim Sum menu and everything was tasty. A little greasy in some cases but delicious overall. I was definitely glad I happened to have a spare napkin in my pocket. It was fun to be able to order tons of stuff and split it all. After our bellies were happy we headed to the Natural History Museum. I wasn't sure what to expect but knew there was a chocolate exhibit going on. The museum did not disappoint. We learned all about chocolate, held a tarantula, and saw dinosaurs. What more could we want?

Pong...

As some of you may know Patrick is a ping pong addict. The MBA lounge has a table in it and so he played a lot last year. Then Intel had a table so he played with coworkers in the summer. And he joined a Portland ping pong group for people who work in tech. So he played a little with them. At one point we he had two of his own paddles. If you pull up you tube on his computer you see a lot of ping pong clips. The other day he was in a tournament at school with some friends. While he did not win he had fun and made it pretty far. He is playing in a MBA tournament right now.

Vegas anyone?

Back in the summertime Patrick signed himself and Chad up to go to the Consumer Electronic Show in Las Vegas. BYU has things set up for MBA students to go for free. So we finagled our schedules a bit so we could head down in January. I worked four days in a row and got sick. This actually worked out ok. While Danielle was busy at work and the boys were in Vegas for Wednesday and Thursday I got to relax and watch all of the current season of Downton Abbey (thanks for getting that Chad). When Danielle would get home we would go eat tasty food. Then when the boys got home we would eat some more :) I introduced her to Del Taco chili cheese fries and she took me to Swig. The sugar cookies there are pretty delicious. Friday the four of us headed to Vegas were we walked, ate, shopped! We shared a hotel room and headed back Saturday.

February 14th...

Patrick and I take turns planning Valentine's Day each year and the other person is off the hook and can relax and enjoy the day. This works out great for us. The person in charge can make it as simple or as elaborate as they want. Patrick was in charge this year and he started showing me the love early. I started getting little notes from him with a piece of chocolate each day. Each note had a reason why he loved me. I got 11! The final note was my Valentine Day card on Valentine's Day. We had a traditional day of sorts which we have never done before. Light pink roses were waiting for me when I got home from work Thursday night. Friday we spent all day together. We ate lunch at In-N-Out, went to see Thor at the dollar theater, briefly window shopped at the mall, went out for Italian food, and he surprised me by getting us an awesome chocolate cake from Costco that I am always wanting.

Patrick really out did himself. I had such a great day and didn't want it to end!

Provo Christmas...

For Christmas my side of the family visited. In case you're wondering how 7 adults fit inside a 500 square foot apartment with just one bathroom for a week, I should tell you that my parents and Taylor spent the nights in a hotel after Danielle and Chad arrived :) We had a couple of  days with just my parents and Taylor, a couple of days I worked, and a couple with us all together!

Chad and Danielle got themselves a slack line for Christmas and naturally they brought it with them to test out.

Patrick and Chad had some good times with it.

 We decorated Christmas ornaments with paint markers.

Ate lots of tasty food.

Visited Target for Christmas deals and rug fighting.

Spent a day in Salt Lake celebrating my dad's birthday!

 Temple Square!

 Took pictures around campus.

Went on a hike after dropping off my parents and Taylor at the airport.

Arizona visitors...

Sunny & Spencer brought their family up for a visit just before Christmas! They stayed with some family on Spencer's side and we got to see them during the day for a couple days.

I got this picture sent to me while at work. We ate pizza, visited Temple Square, ate at the Cougar Eat, played games at the apartment while the little two napped, ate ice cream at the Creamery, went bowling, and to a basketball game. It was so fun to see them!

Getting ready for Christmas...

 A close up of the fabric I picked to sew a tree skirt.

Our new skirt in all it's glory :)

We had fun stringing and eating popcorn one night.

Our apartment after the snowflakes were all up.

 My favorite snowflake this year.

 The houses. Patrick rocked his. It was neat and clean and looked delicious.

Mine looked like a school kid made it. Oh well, it still tasted great!

 Some of the goodies made in our kitchen.

 We made Adventure Time tree ornaments to surprise Danielle and Chad with.