early Christmas

Jared and I decided that we couldn't take all of our gifts to Durango with us so we had an early celebration. On Sunday we watched the Bingham Christmas movies and opened most of our presents. (I convinced Jared to save a couple for Christmas morning). We got some great gifts from my parents including most of the Lego Harry Potter sets. We've already built the Hogwarts train and will be moving on to the castle soon. It was a lot of fun opening gifts from each other and trying to guess what was inside. Hopefully Jared hasn't figured out his remaining presents. I have a few surprises up my sleeve. We leave for Colorado tomorrow to start all the Ash Christmas festivities.

the lights

Jared and I really wanted to see the lights at Temple Square this year but he has had to work late every night but Sundays lately. So when my family said they were coming through on a Tuesday to see them I just couldn't pass it up even if Jared couldn't go. We stayed at the Radisson near Temple Square. After walking out to eat at PF Changs we made our way back and checked out the lights. The lights were beautiful as always. Keegan was much more interested in the "train" or the water but Layton liked it for a little while. To keep them all in good spirits we had to promise swimming when we returned to the hotel. Those little fish loved going to the pool and as usual Layton didn't get out until he was shivering. Looks like we'll be swimming a lot in Mexico.


Layton seemed happy to see me, whenever I could steal him away from Dad.


I taught him how to say "expelliarmus" like a true wizard.

no more school

The semester is over and we could not be happier. It is such a relief to have one more chunk of school under our belts. It wasn't exactly a fun semester for us but we both passed all our classes and will be moving on to bigger things. Now our free time can be spent playing the uke and watching YouTube. We may need to find a more intellectually stimulating outlet for the next three weeks. Or we'll just conquer Angry Birds.

too many girls

Keegan loves hanging out at Grandma's house and everyone loves having him there. The only problem is that sometimes his aunts are bad influences...or just give him some cute ideas. He likes dancing along with whoever is playing Just Dance. Its quite dangerous to weave in and out of the fast flying controllers and he has been whacked a few times. We also found him carrying around this miniature purse and when we asked him to pose for the picture he closed his eyes and held it up. I guess he was being dainty.

How could anyone resist this boy?

i love magic...i love you, harry

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1 did not disappoint. We both agree that it went way too fast and when it ended I did not know that 2 hours had passed. It was so much fun. Even though we missed the crazy crowd we would have fit in with that went to the midnight show, we still dressed up. Jared dyed his hair to be Draco Malfoy. Talk about dedication. We drew the dark mark on his arm and dressed him like a true Slytherin. I went as Hermione Granger because it was the easiest choice. I tried to poof up my hair and proudly wore my Gryffindor tie. We got a few funny looks when we went for ice cream afterwards but thats okay. We didn't care at all. We had a blast and I'm glad that we both love Harry Potter so much. Maybe someday my vast knowledge of the wizarding world will come in handy.

six monthiversary

Today was our 6 month mark. Boy time has really flown. It was such a great day too. We went to see Harry Potter last night as part of the celebration. We dressed up as Draco and Hermione (pictures are coming). Then we went to ice cream with Steph and her date. It was a pretty fun night after a really relaxing day. Then today was church in the morning with a very snowy, stay-in-the-house, afternoon. We drank hot chocolate and watched some of our favorite shows. We did celebrate a little with some sparkling grape juice. All in all, not a bad way to spend an anniversary. I am so lucky to be married to my besto. Six months have passed but we still have the rest of eternity to go.

parenting trial run

Saturday Cody and Liz came down to watch an Aggie basketball game and play the alumni card. Since we never get to see the boys we offered to take care of them for the evening. It was a lot of fun. Even with the crazy 2-year-old and the baby puke everywhere. We're not ready to instantly have two kids, but it was fun watching Jared take care of them. He's gonna make a great dad. When Keegan just wouldn't go to bed he sat with him and answered the never ending question, "what was that?" And then he sat with Oliver and listened to MoTab. I was privileged to get the diapers, feeding, and crying children. They weren't too bad though so it wasn't anything traumatic. They are so cute and it was a blast watching Toy Story 3 and reading books.