More Thanksgiving...

Since we recently were able to see Danielle and Chad we have more pictures from Thanksgiving!

Our Tree...

We always pick out and cut down a tree but this year was different. Our apartments don't allow real trees so we have a fake one. We spent an evening putting it together, decorating it, and stringing popcorn as we watched Elf. The popcorn was extra small and hard to string so our tree just has popcorn garland on the top half :)

Patrick getting the star ready.

 

Attaching the star. It kept wanting to fall over.

Each year we pick a new ornament. This is what we chose. We bought it at Bronner's when Patrick's mom was visiting us over the summer. We've had our eyes on it for while.

 Sometimes we pick more than one. We try to pick something to help us remember the year and thought this was fitting.

Our tree!

"Elfed"...

Earlier in the month we thought it would be fun to spread some Christmas cheer in our quad. So we put together a few goodie bags and "elfed" our neighbors. It's just like "ghosting" or "booing" at Halloween. You drop off a snack, poem, and sign for someone. In turn they pass it on by making two goodie bags and dropping them off to two neighbors and put the sign on their door so everyone knows the elf has already visited them.Then it just keeps going around until Christmas Eve.

We put in macaroons, Christmas candy, candy canes, and hot chocolate mix in the goodie bags we dropped off.

 

 The bags ready to go.

Patrick getting ready to drop off the goodie bags.

We randomly picked people to elf. We had fun running around in the dark and hope that our neighbors pass it on.

Thanksgiving in California...

This year we packed up and headed down to California for a few days to celebrate Thanksgiving with Patrick's mom. On our way we stopped in St. George to pick up Danielle, Chad, and their dog Rukia.
Danielle and Chad took a ton of pictures but we forgot to get them before we left. So here are a few pictures from the trip we took with our phones.

 Patrick and Chad helped Linda pick out a new computer. Then they set it up for her.

 Danielle loved Linda's dogs, especially Noki. I think she wanted to take Noki home.

 The boys played with the BB guns in the backyard.

 We took a trip to the beach.

The vegetarians decided to eat turkey because it was a holiday. So of course I had to document it.

We had a great time. We had Thanksgiving dinner with Linda, Stephanie, Scott, baby Braden, Patrick's uncle and aunt, a set of sister missionaries, and some other friends of Linda's from the ward.

Christmas is coming...

I listened to Christmas music all day and started to pull out some decorations. The wreath was a little damaged from moving but with a little hot glue it was good to go. I also bought a tree! I can't wait to decorate it this weekend with Patrick!

Surprise from Patrick...

We both always have Fridays off. Patrick typically spends the first half of the day studying with his group in the business building and most of the rest studying solo. He mentioned that his group wanted to get together for lunch with their families this past Friday. I was excited because we haven't done much with his group. Thursday night he told me they still hadn't decided where to eat so he planned on swinging by the apartment to pick me up around noon the next day. So Friday I made sure I was ready and had all of the things around the house done that I wanted to before noon. To my surprise Patrick got home and told me we were going to Park City for the rest of the day! And we'd spend the night! I was so excited!

So we quickly packed a suitcase, grabbed lunch, and headed to Park City. We stayed in The Chateaux Deer Valley Hotel.  Patrick bought an online deal for it earlier in the summer to save as a surprise.

We were not quite sure what to expect but the room was very nice. It had a fireplace!

It also had a frige, microwave, toaster, set of two dishes,and other little touches. We made ourselves hot chocolate and hot apple cider Saturday morning. Although it's not pictured there was a small container housing cotton balls and q tips packaged in little sets together. This is how Patrick knew it was a classy hotel. Don't worry I took a few sets to put in our 72 hour kits.

The heated towel rack was a nice touch. The room also had a big tub with jets :)

We spent some time checking out the downtown area before dinner on Friday.

It was a little cold so we were glad we packed warm and both wore boots.

 We had a hard time picking where to go for dinner. We could go a more practical route or live it up and go to a fancy place since many were having specials. We went big and headed to the Glitretend. This is a picture of the amuse-bouche we were served.

We decided that we should order an appetizer and I had Patrick choose. They split it for us so we each got our own plate. It is braised pork belly. It was served with apple potato pave, cider reduction, and cider air.

Those who have been out to dinner with us before know that we like to split things. This was no exception and we split the main courses. This is kobe pot roast  served with vegetables, creamed potatoes, and horseradish.  It was good and I really liked the potatoes.

 This is double r ranch beef tenderloin with crispy yukon potatoes, baby tomatoes, chimichurri, and balsamic. We both liked this best. The meat was the most tender we have ever had the privilege of eating. It was amazing! We loved our fancy dinner and were glad we splurged on it.

We  spent the whole time just the two of us. No computers or school work for a full 24 hours!

Here I am on our way out. We stopped for breakfast and to walk around an outlet mall before heading back to reality.

It was so nice to have a break and to have such a nice surprise from Patrick. We enjoyed relaxing and loved our time away together.

Being a "Big Girl"

Whenever I do something that I feel like a responsible adult would do I call it being a "big girl" or a "big girl momement". Yes I know I'm 25 and should be used to doing some of this but I still have these moments. And then I tell Patrick about them. And then tell him again.

Around the time that we moved I felt like I was having a lot of them. I was calling our different insurance providers so I could get one last appointment with my dentist, eye doctor, and more. Working in the temple made me feel like a big girl too. With working in a small temple I was able to be involved with many different ordinances and I felt like I learned a lot and got to do what usually only older adults get to do. Then after we moved interviewing for jobs and  then setting up health insurance through my work for the first time felt pretty good. Getting a paycheck where I make a nurses income was a definate big girl moment, only to have it followed up by setting up direct deposit and seeing an overtime check magically appear in our account.

This week I've had another. I can never seem to get out of work on time and have had some complaints about work. Patrick has been patient and willing to hear my every concern and complaint. He suggested that I just start making a list and set up a time to talk with my boss. So after some reminding from him I did it. And I met with her today. Although I see some problems with my work my boss is not one of them. She is very nice and approachable. She happily listened to my list, made suggestions, said she would fix some of the things she could, and is going to follow me around on Thursday so she can give me some advice on how to be more efficient with my time. While I'm not exactly thrilled to have my boss follow me for a day, I'm glad that she is going to and offer me suggestions. I think it will be worth the added stress in the long run.

While I'm not allowed to take pictures of my work  I found a few on the internet so you can imagine me at work better. I work in the new section of the building where the short term patients stay.

 This is not the nursing desk on my floor but it looks pretty similar. Usually you find everyone else but me behind it. I typically have my medication cart parked on one side.

 Here is a typical patient room. It looks pretty nice and is private. It is at least double if not triple the size of what you see here. It also has a bathroom.

 One part of the PT/OT room on my floor. All of the short term patients do rehab here.