November for the Mr. and Mrs.

[PART 1 of 2]

Well unfortunately my computer didn't seem to want to stay working after I "fixed" it so I have not been unable to blog in like 2 months and it still isn't working but I finally decided I have too much time with all my finals done so I am using Ty's computer. {unreliable technology} So be prepared because I will be breaking my entries up into probably 2-3 sections.

NOVEMBER 7, 2011

My husband turned 24 years old! 

yes he is eating the cake before he blew out the candle. gotta love him :)

adorable right? haha :)

You would never guess this guy is 24 right? haha just joking. He is my wonderful, goofy, fun-loving, entertaining and uplifting husband who I cannot imagine life without. Dinner was at Outback, then presents and cake. As you can see above he was very fortunate this year that all his parents, siblings and I love him ;) LOTS of great gifts.

Two weeks later, after a dreadful week of tests/quizzes/getting ready for projects, the arrival of Thanksgiving break was here! You may be thinking: "WOW Nicole. You must really enjoy pounding down some major calories to be excited for Thanksgiving break." Because let's be honest. Although we all love breaks, it gives us time to relax, this break really only gives you Thursday and Friday off from school. Which Thursday is spent eating far beyond your stomach's capacity and Friday is spent either working those mind boggling amount of calories consumed off or shopping them away from your mind {some people love Black Friday? I have never really done any REAL Black Friday shopping. Maybe one day.} BUT food was NOT my reasoning for my excitement. THIS place was:

CANCUN!!

And not only being in a place where I would be getting a tan, relaxing and being in complete bliss BUT I would get do all of the above with:

this guy :) aka my husby.

AND also

these awesome amigos :) aka mi Richard/Tanner familia

Let's just say I had an extremely wonderful time on vacation with my "new" {depends on your definition of new :)} family. LOTS of sun, fun, games, building sand castles, reading, tennis, volleyball and more. I will just let the pictures tell you most of the story :)

Day one of a blissful week :) 

SORRY this one needs a story attached. WELL if you can see in this picture above there is a "car freshener" above my husband. So we had to go to Walmart to buy groceries for the week and Tyler kept telling John he thought they should buy car freshener for the van we rented for the week because it smelled "bad". John and Tyler found a section of car fresheners and started scoping them out. Sue and I decided not to worry with it. I overheard them saying they should just get the cheapest one...should have stayed to monitor this decision.

Once we got in the car Ty said let's open the car freshener. After he opened that monster I was on the verge of vomiting for the next 20 minutes! It was AWFUL. Strawberry?? That was the intended smell. NO WAY. It smelled like those nasty portable restrooms where they "sanitize" the smell to death but the smell left in the restrooms is heinous. Repulsive. It was a fight to finally get them to throw "Jane" out the door. {Erica nicknamed her Jane. It was a her because of the female on the candle. Jane, just because she looks like a Jane haha}

MORAL of the story.

Do NOT buy the cheap car freshener and steer clear of "strawberry" scented ones. yuck.

 nice bunny ears right? guess who did it. NOPE the oldest one: Mr. John Richards, the father :)

  LOVED these pictures :) This was our challenge for the week. To try to figure out how this device actually worked. YES of course we got ourselves on the "hamster wheel" {some of us at least} but it was one flip and you were off, ALWAYS. Here are pics of Ty's adventures on it.

The turtle and the manta ray are friends!

Ty got to "pet"/touch the manta ray. 

Weird right? I see a face haha :)

Before the dolphin show. WHICH was sweet!

bad picture I know. BUT I liked his excitement :) 

Ty and John playing tennis against each other

I legit have NO idea why he is doing this or what this means. Like I said he is entertaining :)

 NEXT STOP: New York City!

WHERE'S WASHLEY?! :)

Fall Festivities part 2

So we left off on my ACTUAL birthday. After the brunch with my mom, I spent the rest of my birthday driving home from STG and with Ty and his parents eating/playing games. But since his family celebrates everyone's birthdays with taking them out, then opening presents and having dessert/playing games we celebrated a different day. We went to Happy Sumo {LOVE that place} No one in his family likes sushi besides Ty and so everyone just got chicken, vegetable & rice bowls. Then I opened presents: I got money from Doris, a bathroom bundle from Grandma and Grandpa Hill, an adorable jewelry box from Johnny, super cute boots from Erica and Matson, a fun new outfit from Ash, my new favorite item-a robe from John & Sue {as well as a very cute top and money towards furniture for our new place} and Ty got me a new work out top, bottom, sports bra, new pants and also the Nike ID's and more work out clothes. {forgot to take pics of the presents...sorry :)} It was an incredible birthday and I am so grateful to all those who helped me celebrate it. Holy COW I am 22 years old! weird.

Erica and Matson. Dorks :)

The wonderful Sue and John Richards :) favorite in laws ever ;) 

my cute husby chompin on edamame

yummy edamame

Ash pretending her water glass is her date :)

:) he is always good for a laugh 

A birthday balloon for me! 

I had to put this pic up :)  

Blowing out my candle on ice cream yum crispy cake :)

This last weekend Erica, Matson, Ty and I went to the Cornbelly maze. We stopped off at a few restaurants and then decided on Scaddy's. {silly boys and their not wanting to watch the BYU game until after. Thank you tivo} It was surprisingly a lot more fun, entertaining and worth while than we all imagined. We took a few pics then decided to go try out this cool blow up blob tramp thing. {amusing to watch Matson and Ty bounce little boys around haha} Then we explored. We went in and out of the corn maze in like 5 minutes. Ty found his way through it pretty quick! Then we watched as Matson and Ty raced ducks in a water faucet slide. Moved onto the scary/"haunted" mazes. I will always be scared of people jumping out at me in dark creepy places. ALWAYS. So we went through "The Creature" and of course I was scared. Then through the covered hay maze....scared as well but not as much. Luckily the line was like forever long for the other one so we just kept exploring. Came across the bull lassoing course and then the tether ball area. I definitely enjoyed myself watching Ty and Matson attempt at lassoing bull horns as well as smack the tether ball into each other's faces. HAHA! Erica and I agreed it would be a great place to take your kids someday. Glad we came across it to add into our fun fall festivity traditions.

I loved this.

We are goofy :)

We break rules. HAHA

the jumpy thing

catching some air :)

Let the duck racing begin....

OH yeah. Sexy tractor :) jk

HAHA

HAHAHA

So Ty informs me that my posts are way too long but I try to break them up. BUT sometimes I have a lot to share and sometimes I don't. I split it into parts sometimes to ease the info :) oh well. I will continue now with the last of our fall festivities {because it is SO not fall anymore. FREEZING!} The following night after Cornbelly's we all went to a couple's Halloween party! WAY fun. Sorry I didn't capture more pictures of the party but it had great food, great games {mofia, catch phrase and another fun game!} great people and all together a good time :) We received the award for "Most Unique Costumes" and we loved it. {took us all day to make our costumes so always good to get recognition haha} Then on Halloween, Ty's mom makes donuts and we have a homemade donut party. YUM! I refrain from donuts all year until this day. I love this tradition they do....we just need to get more people to come from now on! :) Well it's been a wonderful fall....can't  wait for Thanksgiving! :) I will try to update more so they aren't as long but can't make any promises!

DONUT party :)

Ty frying the donuts. Such a good chef!

Mrs. Butterworth and her silly waffle :)

Halloween is so much more fun as a couple :)

“Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind.” ― Dr. Seuss {great guy}