the very most wonderful time

it really is. i love it, everything about it, the decorations, the music, the shopping, the smells, the food, the wrapping of presents, the crowded stores, the family gatherings, the endless searches for the perfect gift. every bit of it i love.  we got our decor out and our tree up a week or so a go. okay, i got the decor out the day after halloween which is also the same day i started listening to christmas music. i figure if target can do it so can i.=) here is some of our holiday cheer....

{our tree hunt}

 {our tree find. i love our tree to be perfectly imperfect. i like it spacey and a little uneven and to look like it was last tree picked from the lot.}

 {waiting for markus to chop it down.}

 {mad was going to just karate chop it down but he got tired.;)}

 {my frosty little lovers <3}

 {the boys are so proud of the tree they decorated. we love to just hang out by it and i will most certainly cry the day we take it down.}

 {my very favorite christmas decoration. it was made for my mom by my aunt becky, who passed away almost 10 years a go. she made my mom something every year for christmas before she passed and my mom has started to pass those things down to us. i love my puzzle nativity, it is truly one of my most precious possessions.}

 {to get the boys in the holiday spirit...as if they needed it.;)}

 {he was so darling putting his tree together. he is done here and told me all the pieces on the table were just extras.;)}

{we went looking for moose the other day and mad had saved his picture he colored a few days earlier and said, "if you think you see a moose just let me know and i'll tell you if you're right because i have a picture of it." haha! we didn't see any that day but we saw 3 the week before.=)}

{someone in murray goes to a lot of trouble to sync his christmas lights to music and we are glad he does. the boys loved the faces on the trees.}

adieu, adieu to U and U and U

the last home game of the ute's season was the end of november.=( we hate to see it go but we're glad it went out with an angry pair of nostrils and not some angry eyes. ;) what a game! go utes!!!

 [cold, cold, cold]

 [fun, fun, fun. thanks for holding on to that beanie from 1986 for all these years, babe.;)]

 [pops and markus....SO happy!]

 [kalan and mark....even happier.=)]

 [the sitakes. toa could not show her face. we both were a mess watching this game and the tears just came when they blocked that kick.]

[sushi with the shlitakes to celebrate.]

 [even keke was in a celebratory mood. <3 that fatty!]

note: i still have a little soft spot for "the b-y-utes", as mad would say, especially now since our darling cousin, brooke, is dating jake heaps. we are very proud of him also. ;)

many thanks(givings)

it was thursday. we had three thanksgivings to go to. we made it to two (not counting the one we had with andy and  jake on friday because we felt like making and eating everything again.=)),  mark's parents with all his brothers and sisters and my dad's side. my grandparents and aunts, uncles, cousins came up from arizona and had a big thanksgiving which was really cool because i haven't seen a lot of those cousins since i was very little.  we didn't make it to the dortch's, which is my mom's side, though.=( if only next year everyone could try and work their times around our schedule.;)

the friddle's feast....

[grandma friddle and angie]

 [my mama, who came up for thanks giving, and me]

 [the feast]

 [mad, his great-grandpa and me]

 [kenna and some kousins...(i'm gettin' crazy dee, stop me!;)]

 the pitts gathering....

 [what max did instead of eat.]

 [pretty nieces (and boy friend)]

 [sisters and pie]

 [boys with grandma and grandpa "in heber";)]

  [gramps' rule=)]                                                                  

[love this boy<3]

[and this one with his darling hat that he was oh, so proud of.=)]

chi-town

mark and i spent an extended weekend in the windy city two weeks a go for our anniversary.  it just so happen to coincide with the utah vs. notre dame game....purely a coincidence.;) but really, it worked out wonderfully since chicago and notre dame both are sentimental to me.  for these reasons:

1. when mark and i began dating the very first gift he ever got me was a chicago t-shirt that he brought back from one of his trips.  (yes, all it takes is a t-shirt to make an entire city meaningful to me... it's this sentimental heart of mine.;))

and 2.  mark used to have a pair of notre dame sweatpants that i used to wear all the time and loved. (they have since disappeared and i'm sure were probably left in some hotel room, in a random city along with a countless number of toothbrushes, cologne bottles, phone chargers, etc.;))

minus the 100 bucks that was spent on toll roads, i REALLY loved this city and would definitely rank it in my top faves.  but they did have their christmas decorations up and i adore the feeling of a big city around the holidays when it's cold and the store windows are decorated and everyone is bundled up. it wasn't just that though, it is a beautiful city. architecturally. and has such a cool history (i know this because i got excited before we went and read up on it.;)) our good friends, cipp and chantal, also made the trek to chicago so we were able to have some fun with them at the game and sightseeing in the city.  and it's a good thing they did or i would only have 2 pictures to show for our trip. thank you, chan for taking pics for me and reminding me to take pics for myself. (i get so caught up in my moments i forget.=)) i can't wait to go back. there is so much to do and see there it was impossible to do all i wanted in 3 days. we had such a great time and are so thankful for andy, jake and laur for staying with the boys and for deann and crystal for helping out with the boy watching.  love my family and friends.=)

 [i rented our car and drove to get mark since he was working up that way that week. mark said i will never be in charge of renting the car again. he did not want to get with this.;) ha! i loved it. it was fun to drive and i felt like i was in a dr. seuss movie.=)]

 [i got to meet up with my dear lea, who now lives there, for dinner.=)]

 [strolling the city]

 [the best place we never ate at. it was closed but we got a good 2 hour tour of the ghetto trying to find it where we tried to live like the locals and went shopping in a mercado and also, spent a little time looking very out of place at a wal-mart.]

[lot of time and money was spent doing this.=)]

the architectural tour, which was definitely all our favorite out of our sightseeing adventures...

 [marky and i on the skydeck of willis tower or the formally known as sears tower.]

 [just 103 stories up]

 [such scholars;)]

 [waiting in the line for an hour.]

[looking through our feet down at the city.]

 [the bean and i...]

 [hanging out in the hotel with our delicious lou malnati's pizza]

[markus and i very tired waiting for our very early flight home.=)]