One year older

For some reason I was nervous about my birthday this year. I feel like the older you get, the less important the day of your birth becomes. You have more responsibility, other people to take care of, and more/better accomplishments to celebrate than just being born. But I LOVE birthdays. Especially my own. Call me vain, but it's just the way I am. It's my favorite holiday. When else do you legitimately get to have a day that's all about you? 

I needn't have worried, because I was well taken care of. It started out with a fabulous gift to me from ABC. Yes, I mean the television network. They graciously decided to postpone the final season premiere of LOST until my birthday week. Just for me. In honor of the occasion, my sister invited us over for a party.

 

If you watch LOST, you'll appreciate the awesomeness that is this cake. She changed the "23" to a "24," because that's how old I now am. Also, it's a party chip cake inside. What could be better? After dinner, cake, and presents, we settled down and watched 3 solid hours of TV. Always a good time. And the premiere definitely did not disappoint.

The next day, I headed off to work as usual. Landon picked me up at 5:00 on the dot and we set off for an adventure. He first had me open the glove box, which contained a mysterious package - it turned out to be the Sherlock Holmes soundtrack - oh my, was I excited! We listened to it as we drove to Thanksgiving Point, where Landon surprised me by walking up to the front desk and stating "We have a reservation..." It might seem strange, but I have always wanted to go to dinner somewhere that you had to have a reservation. I have mentioned that a few times when we drive past fancy places, and I guess Landon was listening! It was a really fun place.

 

  

 

Also, we were lucky, because the food was oh-so-good, not tiny little fancy food portions of things you would never eat if you knew what they were. :) We sat and talked and ate and had a blast! I felt really special. Then we got back in the car, and Landon had me open the middle console to find yet another gift - $20 to spend on any fabric I wanted at JoAnn's. We drove to the store and Landon patiently waited with me for about 45 minutes while I chose what I wanted to get. Hopefully there will be more projects in my future soon! Then we went home and I was treated to a bubble bath while Landon baked a chocolate cake for me.And then I was FURTHER spoiled with presents!

Our long-anticipated trip to Peru is approaching (hopefully), and Landon got me some luggage to take on our travels so I don't have to use my old soccer bag that is kind of falling apart. He also got me a new coat, The Sandlot on DVD, and the Hannah Montana movie! (don't judge, we all have our guilty pleasures) My parents also gave us a fabulous bench that matches our living room. Thanks to all my wonderful family and friends, I had a fantastic birthday! I love you all!

Can We Build It? Yes We Can!

This is Bob the Builder. His slogan (way before a certain presidential candidate entered the scene, might I add) is "Yes We Can!" I've always thought that was such a great message to bring to kids. That you can do anything if you put your mind to it.

For Christmas, Landon and I received a combined total of 21 books. Yeah, we're THOSE people. I had two bookshelves before we got married that I brought with me. My parents also gave us two particle board bookshelves from the old playroom in their basement. We bought a large bookshelf from IKEA about a year ago. But already we were bursting at the seams, disguising books as decorations in our living room, bedroom and kitchen; stacking them on top of already full shelves in other rooms, stashing them in baskets where possible. But the 21 books we received for Christmas were just not going to fit.

Luckily for us, Landon also received some power tools for Christmas (thanks Mom and Dad)! So, using the good old Bob the Builder mindset, we decided that we would build our own furniture, in the hopes we could find a place for our overabundance of books without breaking the bank.

After Landon drew up a plan we thought could work, his Dad took him to the BYU-Idaho wood shop to cut the wood that we purchased at BMC West for $25. Landon assembled it in our kitchen a few days later with his new drill. As much to our surprise as yours, I am sure, everything fit together perfectly and no one got hurt in the process!

Everything was going so well, we decided to add some embellishments to the sides to make it our own. We designed something we liked on the computer, and punched holes along the outline into some craft tin. We had a ton of fun picking out the designs we were going to use, although our thumbs hurt pretty bad by the time we were done punching the holes.

Landon finished building it, and we tested it out. It worked! We were pretty excited about all of this.

We left it like that for a couple of weeks, because we got busy with life. But a few nights ago, we finally completed the last stages: staining and varnishing! Here is the final result:

 

 

What do you think? Our room definitely looks a lot better. We're pretty proud of our self-sufficiency. There is something so satisfying about building something from scratch, or taking something old and sad and making it beautiful. We just might have caught the DIY bug!

Martin Luther King, Jr. Day - who knew?

We have never had this holiday off before. In high school, we didn't get the day off. At BYU-I I don't think we got it off (school may have been out, but I had to work). For the last two years, at ThomasArts, I definitely didn't get it off. Good news though, I now work for the government, and we get all kinds of perks, one of them being all the national holidays that we get off, including - Martin Luther King Day! Let me tell you what, it was an awesome weekend. We could definitely get used to having the day off together.

We kick-started the fabulous 3-day weekend with an amazing date night. We went to Taco Time (our favorite place to eat) and then...

We went to see Sherlock Holmes, which we had both really been wanting to see. We don't often splurge on movies in the "expensive" theater, usually opting for the RedBox debut. But we decided we deserved a night out. It seems like generally, when lots of people tell us they don't enjoy a movie, it ends up being one of our favorites. It turned out to be the case with Sherlock Holmes, as well. We LOVED it. We'll probably see it again as soon as it does come out at the RedBox. Or maybe I'll just buy it for Landon's birthday. :) I am also dying to get the soundtrack, the music was fabulous!

On Saturday, we talked our good friends Jesse and Catherine into going to the temple with us, and then headed out for some much-needed Vitamin D therapy. We both spend way too much time inside, especially me, and were feeling a little claustrophobic. So we went on a hike up Rock Canyon (which is incidentally right behind our house- seriously, we could walk there if we wanted to). We took our new back packing stove (thanks Mom and Dad!), some canned soup, hot chocolate, and yummy corn bread made by Catherine and had a picnic in the snow. It was beautiful, and so much fun! I can't wait until spring, when we can all go on a road trip together.

 

Landon teaching us about Geology

Hooray for married friends!

Sunday, we were invited to dinner by one of my roommates (Annika Howard/Winnings) - we are both from Rexburg, but we happened to be roommates in Palmyra, NY when I did my internship. I had heard all about her husband while we were there - before they were married, obviously - and she had heard all about Landon, who got back to Rexburg right after I did. So it was lots of fun getting everyone together and meeting each other. They have two adorable little girls and we had so much fun playing with them!

Thanks again for having us over! And thanks for this picture, which I completely stole from Annika's blog. .

Monday we decided not to plan a thing. We spent the day sleeping in, baking bread and homemade granola, working on some projects that we never seem to have time for, and getting our house in order for the week. It was such a great day! We love when we can spend so much uninterrupted time together. I've already looked ahead, we have President's Day to look forward to next, and then (another first for me) Spring Break in March! I can't wait for another adventure.

Christmas Time in the Burg!

Sorry this is belated...like an idiot I forgot my camera, so we had to wait for pictures from my very generous father-in-law. :) Thanks!

We spent Christmas with the Burgener clan this year. It was so much fun! This is the first major holiday that we have all been together, since Landon and I were married while Dallin was on his mission. Miles will be leaving on his own mission sometime this summer/fall, so this may also have been the last Christmas we are all together for awhile.
We arrived on Dec. 23, about 3 hours ahead of schedule, just in time for dinner! Haha, we had a lot of fun surprising everyone.
On Christmas Eve, we had a fabulous dinner: ham, potatoes, huckleberries, and chocolate cheesecake! Yum! I'm still dreaming about that ham...

After we were full to bursting, had read some stories and watched a classic movie called "The Very First Noel," we got ready for our Christmas Eve slumber...

It's tradition for all of the kids to sleep in Erin's room. If anyone else gets married, I'm afraid there won't be room for us all anymore. We had to rearrange some furniture as it was. But oh so totally worth it! Visions of sugarplums danced in our heads while Santa was busy filling stockings and setting out presents. About 5 hours after this photo was taken, Wesley woke up somewhat indignantly (we had slept through both of the alarm clocks the little boys had set) and announced that it was time for Chirstmas!

 We woke up the parents, rushed down the stairs, and found a wonder land waiting for us. We were completely spoiled. Landon got me a beautiful new coat, some Arthur movies, a new purse, and tons of books that I am way excited about. He got some Star Wars Legos, a new backpack from the MTC (Thanks Sarah!) and some much-needed clothes. We were also spoiled by both of our families. My parents gave us power tools and Burgeners gave us some fun things for our home. All-in-all, it was a rousing success!

After Christmas, the party continued for several more days. I especially had a blast with Elizabeth and Erin, sewing, cooking and watching lots of girly movies like Sabrina and the American Girl shows. It is a lot of fun having another family - I have been so blessed!

I can't believe how much Erin had grown up since I first met Landon. We always have a good time together talking and being friends.


Thanks Burgeners for making this a great Christmas! It was our third together, and in my opinion, they just keep getting better!

Reflection and Resolution

Well, 2010 has arrived. Ten years ago, we were worried about Y2K and the end of the world. We personally were eagerly awaiting the end of junior high. Five years ago Landon was in Peru and I was gearing up for my trip to Europe. 2009 was the year of surprise. One year ago, this is what we thought 2009 would look like. Boy were we wrong. Here are the highlights from 2009, and our hopes for 2010:

2009 Hallmarks:

• We said goodbye to Grandma Vera - she is still missed.
• We met Dallin at the airport when he came home from his mission to Slovakia.
• We bought a brand new computer and definitely have been loving it.
• Landon took first place at the annual spring research conference.
• Wicked. 'Nuff said.
• We fell in love with a little place called Manti.
• We celebrated the Burgeners' 25th anniversary.
  
• Kylie started a new job at UVU. She loves it.
• We made the big move to Provo.
• We took a fabulous vacation to Disney World with the Jacksons.
• We bid the Bronco a fond farewell.
• The first-ever all-Burgeners-included Christmas.
  
• Preston got married and Josh got engaged!
  

2010 Expectations:

• Landon's graduation will take place on April 22-23. (Party at our house!)
  
• We will be headed in the direction of grad school - the final contestants are New Hampshire, BYU, Wisconsin, and Maine.
• Landon turns 25.
  
• We will attend Josh's wedding sometime in the spring.
• We'll get to meet our second niece in May.
• Miles leaves on a mission this summer. Any predictions?
  
• There will be a trip to Peru sometime in the late summer/fall.

Beyond that, I'm not willing to make any more predictions. Leave that to the physics, I clearly don't have the "inner seeing eye." We'll just take what comes our way and love every minute of it!

Christmas Happenings

Well, now that Christmas is only 2 days away, here's a short recap of a few things we were able to do this December:

We bought our Christmas tree two days after Thanksgiving and decorated it a few days later. We get a new ornament every year - this year, we got a Jim Shore stocking ornament. I tried to find a picture, but I didn't have any luck, so you'll just have to imagine it. As you can tell, we're all set with presents, too. Spencer, there's a box under that tree with your name on it!

We were lucky enough to attend Erin's first concert on temple square. They did an awesome job, and sang two songs that I sang back when I was in Musettes, so that was fun! She looked beautiful (I just have to brag, she's wearing my old choir dress in the above photo, which makes me so happy), and she escaped with minimal embarrassment from Landon, so all around it was a successful venture.

We also got tickets to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert. I had never been before - it was amazing! I love, love Natalie Cole and it's always fun to be in the Conference Center. It was also a great feeling to see and be in the room with President Monson. It's always a pleasure to feel the spirit of the Lord's prophet.

Last, but certainly not least, we have big news! My older brother, best friend, second favorite person in the world, is engaged!!! Congrats, Josh and Candice, welcome to the party. We're really proud of you guys for everything you're doing, and we're super excited for your wedding this spring! Love you!

We are looking forward to heading up to Rexburg today to hang out with the Burgeners for Christmas! Happy holidays everyone!

Jesse and Catherine

I had the wonderful opportunity to take my first set of engagement photos a few weeks ago. The results are finally published on my photography blog. I'm pretty excited about them. I feel like every time I do another photo session, I learn a little more and gain a little more confidence. It has been a fun and rewarding journey. One more session and I will have enough to buy my new camera!

Good luck, Jesse and Catherine! We are so happy for you!