thankful

As we are in the season of thanks, just wanted to post a quick excerpt on something I've been extra grateful for lately.

Let me start by saying Chris is so caring and thoughtful, and also so sneaky for being able to hide my surprise bday present! For some time now, I've been saving my pennies for a Nikon D series camera. An SLR, and in my opinion, the mother of SLRs. When I shot for the daily universe, I used a Nikon D100, and have been craving one for my very own ever since.

For my birthday wishes, I sent Chris a list of ideas, mostly duvet covers that I want, like this ultra cute one below..

{west elm I adore thee}

So when he gave me my present on Nov 6th (a day early, to heighten the surprise?) I was expecting an array of cute sheets and linens. Nope, a fancy new camera already shooting a video of my reaction. And let me tell you, no one will ever see said video. I balled. Over a camera, ridiculous I know. So as of late, I have been trigger happy shooting glamour shots of miniature items and overdocumenting all family events. 

Yay aperture, shutter and iso!

bday bash

       evidence: trigger happy ridiculous glamour shot

Alive and kickin

Oh little blog. How I neglect thee.

Howdy! Turns out, my blogging capabilities are slipping under par. Not sure what par should be, but probably not once every 4 months. Here's to improving my par. What? 

Chris-ah and I have been well, crazy busy, always on the go, but well. Last week we had our annual trip to the San of Diego. It was glorious. Due to Chris's brother being sick, we spent the first three days on our own and they joined us mid week, and we were so glad they were able to. Because let me tell you, my nieces and nephews are cute. Boy howdy. 

Here are some of my favorite gems of the trip:

On our way down, stopping to hang with Trina and family (chris's sis in Las Vegas) checking out the new Hoover Dam bridge of insanity.

Hiking the Torrey Pines in SD. Possibly our most beloved SD locale. 

La Jolla seals! Though they prettymuch looks like slugs in this shot. Cute little slugs.

And our own little cove at La Jolla, we were the only ones brave enough to risk getting wet. Which we did.

In the Kelly family (read: Amy's family/maiden name) we love us some Food Network. This trip we decided to try some of Guy's "Diners, Drive-In's, and Dives" restaurants. We tried El Indio first, and let me tell you, it delivered. Not physcially, though I think perhaps they do deliver, but probably not to Utah. Shame. 

 

We also tried the ultra hip: Pizzeria Luigi. . and man. That was some serious calzone/pasta/pizza divinity.

We finally got to go to the SD Temple, after many trips of being thwarted at our attempts. 

Gor-geous. Definitely a top contender with the Portland t. 

Brody with some serious sand business

Grant pulling his ninja skills on the waves . . 

Ally and Grant collecting some precious rocks..

And then. . without the men, we braved Disneyland. .                                                                                                                                                                                       

                                                                Brode's Fave: Tiki Room                                      

A Bug's Life, posing with a pile of dung I believe . .

Faces before Splash Mtn...

And a picofapic after. .

And . . the World of Sea:

With some crazed-out sea lions.

We ended our trip with a night walk on the beach (withheadlampsbecausewearenerdy):

And lastly . . if you had to choose between two cute costumes, which would you pick:

                               Nemo. . .                                                                

Or Chicken Little . .

?

Downhill slope to 30

Yup, Chris has caught the train on the downhill slope to 30. . I guess that would technically be 26 

(yikes, only a couple more months for me then) but he just turned 27 today, huzzah!!

We celebrated with a trip to the Johnson Mill bed & breakfast in Midway.

Notice the two bright squares in the middle of the bed... there were square windows at the
 top of the room emitting the BRIGHTEST breaking dawn (not to be confused with vampires..)
you've ever seen . . . we were wide awake by 6am. Hello people, it's called drapes.
Our eye masks (yes we're old) didn't even shield the brightness.

The gazebo on the lake/pond. We took that paddle boat all around that bad boy

... And almost got attacked by some swans. 

Outside view. . so pretty.

Chris making friends and sneaking up to the Rockchuck on the right 

(ten points for anyone who can guess what a Rockchuck is)

And there you have it, a fun adventure to start the downhill slope.

 Haaaaaaaaappppy Birthday, Chris-ah! 

{And I hereby vow to stop taking picts

 solely with the iphone...blurrrrrrr}

Some great vids

We caught part of the pre-world cup concert and thought it was pretty insane.

Brode-meister, however, thought differently.



He was grovin to the beat!

And a great vid of my Mom on KSL sharing a yum-o-licious quesadilla recipe.

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

mmmmmm....can't get much better
than smothering something in gouda. 

For anyone who has ever watched LOST . . .

Please be directed to this amazing video.

This is exactly how I felt after watching the finale. Except I don't want to watch V. 

One more down, eternity to go

We celebrated our fantabulous anniversary yesterday.

You know it's a good day when you get amazing Thai food, a cute little number, and get to eat yummy icecream shakes while watching a hilarious movie at the drive in with your bff.

~ I am so loved ~

My attempt at getting a couple shot. Not quite workin out for me.

Had to make it larrrrge. He's just too cute.  

:)

Looking forward to many more years!!

I did it. .

PEOPLE:

I cut the hair.

From this -

  

(with my illegally cute nephew  brode)

To this -

Not quite as short as I've vowed to go, but a much greater effort than I've been able to do in the past!

Here's to not chickening out and going with a trim!

Huzzah!

{and our st. patty's was lovely, quite lovely,
  as you can see from my outfit}

Five years ago...

February 25th, 2005, Chris and I were watching this horrible movie.  During this horrible movie, we held hands. For the first time. Hence, we now celebrate our Dateiversary every year on this day.

During that early dating phase we ate some frosties at a freezing cold park in Salt Lake. .

And reenacted it again this year . .

And we also ate some yummmmmolicious Indian food at Bombay House to celebrate the occasion.

                                                

Another successful dativersary! Can't wait for the next five dativersaries with Chrisah my love!

----------------------

Also this weekend, my friend Karl went with us to stake out a spot to get some Lion King tickets for September! We were 54th in line (seeing as we got there at 4:45am), and the first 100 people in line got free soundtracks to the musical and Lion King beanies! The incredible earlyness was worth the wait!

                          

Celebrating our ticket achievement at Eggs in the City (sooo good by the way, try the Benny). Sporting my cheesy cheese fest Lion King hat. 

                           

(picts taken with iphone..hence the poor res)

Good News and a Ski Trip

Let's start with the good news (who doesn't like good news?). I got a job offer! Praise the heavens. And it only took 6 months of applying to several jobs a week. Yikes. I am gonna be an out patient specialist at the Neurology clinic at the University of Utah hospital! (and I'll get a pay increase and benefits-health, vision, dental, disability, retirement..whoa) I guess the last six months was worth the wait. I start on Monday, March 8th and couldn't be more excited!

Also we took a ski trip with our friends Ash and Chris at Canyons...yay for Ash working for Summit County (free skiing!). Maybe I shoulda held out and worked for Summit County...hmm.

And randomly...just incase you needed a good laugh. Here is me in actual freight of getting hit by a passing trolley in SF. Hanging on the side is a scary way to travel!

And there you have it. Good news, good trip, and a good laugh.

Love & Life in two cities

Oh blog. I'm sorry I neglect you. 
For Valentines Eve (today!) we decided to celebrate our love by doing something reckless. Snow mobiling. Turns out it is very, very fun. This is the first year I've tried it, and our first experience didn't go quite as planned (snowmobile tipped on us, spraining my ankle..lots of screaming...more horrific than hoped for). However, I mustered up the bravery to give it another shot. 

We also went to Biaggi's in SLC..truly to die for. (especially the chicken cannelloni...or the stromboli. . mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm).

Also to die for . . a special treat we tried tonight... The Cocoa Bean. 

Life in two cities is getting pretty crazy. We like to say we sleep in Salt Lake, but we live in Provo. I commute to Provo daily (@ aprx 4:40am), return to SL to sleep...usually come to Provo on either Friday or Saturday, and usually on Sundays. If only we had chosen to live in Lehi. Sweet, sweet Lehi. Or just stayed where we were and had Chris-ah (his adoring nickname) commute since it would only be Mon through Fri at a reasonable hour (meaning: sometime significantly after 4:40am). So if anyone knows of a job opening up in SL, send the info my way. Just putting that out there. The endless hunt.

Despite living in two cities, life is so great. I hope you all have a loving Valentines day, whether you have a special someone or  not. or that you at least share an awesome valentine. like these..

                                       

                                                                                                via alma

No, it's not what you think.

It's not baby time yet for the Welsh fam, but I thought I'd give all my friends who are planning to be parents in the next two years a heads up.

Aflac (supplemental maternity insurance) is pulling out of Utah! Too many babies apparently {shocker}. As of February 12th ((<--- updated!)) they are no longer covering Utah clients, so if you ever wanted supplemental insurance (and to be paid 3-5k) and you're planning on having your baby in a hospital..I'd get on it. Just a heads up.

Head here for Utah supplemental plans.

Or here for Utah maternity insurance.

Mom's Blog Giveaway!!

Hello all my friends!!

I know that everyone loves KitchenAid Mixers.....and who wouldn't want the 90th Anniversary KitchenAid mixer?
Mom and sis Anne are giving one away on their Fabulous food blog! Go check it out, definitely worth it. Very worth it.