Best Evening Ever

For our anniversary, we went to Temple Square and then stayed at the Anniversary Inn.

It was a little bit cold...

We still had fun. But we had to kill a little time until it got dark.

Our scary face in honor of Grandma Marvin--it's tradition. ;)

We ducked into the Joseph Smith Memorial building to see the big tree and thaw out our noses and fingers.

We also stopped in to see the Christus. It was Colton's first time seeing it and listening to the message. (Guess that's what happens when you live mostly outside the states...)

The Macy's store in the City Creek Mall had huge ornaments made entirely out of candy!

We grabbed some dinner at the mall, and then headed back to se the lights.

That's a cute boy!

As always, there is little compares to the beauty of Temple Square.

After Temple Square, we got checked in to our room at the Anniversary Inn. And Colton got another surprise.

What is it???

Some LED candles.

Colton loves lights!

Now for the tour of the Tuscany room. Here is the jacuzzi.

The doorway lead to the bathroom.

Selfie in from of the cool old pump style sink.

Breakfast in bed.

Here we are dressed to go to Tuscany.

Happy Anniversary!

Christmas in Layton

Comet 260

Since Malea is now a working woman, and USAA and DTSI are in opposite directions, it became necessary for us to become a two-car-family. We found a super deal on a 2012 Focus from Hertz. And not a moment too soon, since we flew to Utah the very next day and Malea started her new job the day after we got back from Utah. So this is our newest addition and we call it the Comet 260 (after Cho Chang's broom in case you were wondering).

We also kicked off our Christmas vacation by open the presents under our "Charlie Brown" tree before leaving for Utah.

In Utah...

Us with the poinsettia tree at the airport.

A fly zapper from Armenia--Thanks T!

We did pretty well for Christmas. We also got a super duty plastic wrap box, new drinking cups, a heavy plastic table cloth, a chocolate orange, an Armenian mug, some cool Bryce Canyon mugs, new jackets, a bird watching kit, and a night at the Anniversary Inn along with a Christmas dress (for Malea) and a sweater (For Colton). It was a wonderful Christmas!

We got an awesome Kinder Nativity set.

Opening the nativity. The chocolate around it was about 12 years old.

The chocolate was basically dust.

We also got to talk to T on Christmas morning. It was good to talk to him and he seemed be doing pretty well.

Colton also donned his snow suite and this silly hat to help his dad shovel the snow that fell just in time for Christmas.

On the to the Button Family party, we passed the beautiful lights in Roy.

Colton engineered an awesome train track with the Duplo tracks his mom found at a yard sale.

Malea and Lorain work on the zoo and the people.

We took a drive over to see the newly renovated Ogden temple.

It was cold but beautiful.

Colton and DP

We stopped to see Grandma Brown and visit while she helped me take in my new Christmas jacket.

Did you know that Sixlets make great lipstick?

Meet Jones...the pineapple plant. (And me in my new Christmas dress.)

We had chocolate covered strawberries one night, and Colton got very artistic.

We had a blast in Layton and only wished we could have stayed longer! :)

December Fun!

Dec. 5th

I had a second job interview with DTSI. Then I met Colton at USAA when he got off work to have pizza and watch Planes: Fire and Rescue for an activity with the other BYU/BYU-I alumni at USAA.

Before dinner and the movie, we walked around the grounds. There were several turtles living in this pond.

Yeah, it's easy to forget that it's "winter..."

You lookin' at me???

Sometimes...

You just need ice cream with caramel and crushed Oreos on top.

And you take funny pictures at the ward Christmas breakfast.

Or you just notice a pretty little cardinal chillin' in the bush right outside your window.

Or you may only have a "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree due to lack of storage space in your tiny apartment.

Go Spurs, Go!

Colton was awarded tickets to a Spurs games for being awesome at work.

After much deliberation, we think we could really get use to watching the games from the USAA box.

Time out!

The only downside to the trip was they went into triple over time and then lost by 1 point... :(

Relocation

This is Colton's new work space in the building his team was recently moved to.

Broadway On Tour

The Majestic is a beautiful theatre downtown. The Broadway Lion King was on tour and playing here for about 3 weeks. We decided to treat ourselves to a show for Christmas.

In the lobby waiting for the theatre to open so we could find our seats.

The view from our seats.

Are you suppose to be taking pictures in here??? (Umm... the answer is actually no, but what they don't know won't hurt them right...?)

Finale at Pride Rock. The costumes were absolutely amazing! (Wish we could have sneaked more pictures!) It was such a fun show! And we would totally recommend seeing it if you ever get the chance!

USAA's Christmas Party

The party was held in the Alamo Dome (an indoor football field), and USAA even provided shuttle buses to get us there and back.

The theme was "A Trail of Lights" so the place was decorated with beautiful chandeliers to reflect all the lights. As you can see, there were long tables down the sides filled with tasty food. Then there were table to sit and eat in the middle, but there were so many people it was a little tricky to find a place to sit.

Looking from the balcony.

Some our friends.

Left to right: Serg, Maria, Malea, Colton, Mike, MaLynn, and another couple we just met and can't remember their names...)

The main event of the night was the concert featuring Daughtry!