2010 Comes To An End.

“We all have our time machines. Some take us back, they're called memories. Some take us forward, they're called dreams.” 

As the year comes to an end I wanted to use my time machine to look back and see what happened in 2010.

• January 1st  Shawn and I sat on his couch at the Glass Slipper house and he THOUGHT about kissing me but didn't.
• January 7th Isabella Dawn Anderson was born (My best friend Ashley's baby girl)

Can you tell I was excited????

• February 14th  Valentines Day, Shawn and I have our first kiss at 2am, and later that night we made our relationship "official" through text.

Shawn  gave me roses and chocolate covered strawberries for Valentines Day.

• March 14th  That's right I turned TWENTY ONE!!!! Shawn took me to a Jazz game for my birthday (on the 15th) and we got stuck at a trax station in Murray. We had to call one of my friends to come get us. That will, without a doubt, be my most memorable birthday. 

Shawn and I at the Jazz game

• May 19th  My second nephew Braxton was born!!!

My new little nephew Braxton Ryan Peters

• May 27th  Shawn told me he loved me and of course I said it back. Also for the first time I got a kiss that was more then just a peck!!!!
• First of June (sometime)  Shawn and I talked about marriage and both decided that we liked the idea. (Trust me both of us didn't think it would happen that fast.)
• July 4th  Shawn popped the question during the 4th of July fireworks show in Boise, Idaho. I was taken by complete surprise! I didn't know he had the ring yet!



This was the day after. My friend Jessica and I went and got a pedicure before Shawn and I went home.



• July 21st  Westen Paul Knight was born (Shawn's sister's baby boy)

Apparently this is the only picture I have of Westen on my computer! He is so CUTE!!!

• September 25th   I went through the temple for the first time, it was amazing! I was so nervous the entire session but so at peace at the same time. That same night we celebrated Shawn's 24th birthday. We went out to Ruby River for dinner and then went to my house to have his motorcycle cake that I made for him.

Right outside the Jordan River Temple after my session.

Tahhhhdaaahhhh!!!

• September 26th  Shawn turns TWENTY FOUR!!!
• September 27th  My little brother got in a long boarding accident that sent him to the ICU for the night. Shawn and I went to the hospital at midnight so Shawn could give him a blessing. We slept in the ICU waiting room all night hoping to hear the good news that Jake's brain had stopped bleeding and he wouldn't need surgery. He didn't need surgery and is back to normal now. His face healed up pretty fast too, he didn't look too bad at the wedding.
• October 1st  We received the keys to OUR apartment. Started moving everything in that week.
• October 9th  Shawn and I were married in the Salt Lake temple at 8:20 am. The best day of my entire life!! I have waited for that day ever since I was little (even though it came faster then I thought it would).

One of the many pictures we have of our wedding. 

• October 10th   We headed to Playa Del Carmen, Mexico for our fabulous honeymoon!!!

This is on our resort's beach.

These were at a store on the resort and we couldn't resist taking a picture with them on.

• November 23rd  The Blizzrd of 2010.......ummmm that was a little lame (here anyways)
• November 25th  Shawn and I had our first Thanksgiving together.
• December 12th  One year mark of our first date.
• December (sometime during the week before Christmas)  My brother Dane got engaged to my soon to be sister in-law Lindsay.
• December 25th  Our first Christmas together.

And that is my 2010 in a nut shell, hope I didn't forget anything too important.

The Most Wonderful Time of The Year

Christmas is over? What happened? Where the freak did it go? When I was little it seemed like Christmas took forever to get here and lingered longer. Now as an adult it seems as if Christmas is the day after Halloween and only lasts till midnight. Even though Christmas seemed to come and go too fast it was a FABULOUS Christmas.

Since it was mine and Shawn's first Christmas together, everything was new. This year I got to go out with the Sloans for their yearly Christmas tradition of Litzas Pizza and the lights at Temple Square. It's so fun to have two families to do things with! I remember last year when Shawn was going to this and I thought how much fun that would be and now I get to experience it. YAY!!! I didn't take any pictures at Litzas but I got a few of temple square.

I love how this picture turned out! I mean it's not professional but I kind of like it.

I think I love this one even more...

I haven't been to the Chirstus for I don't know how long! 

Awe!!!! Aren't we just such a cute couple?

The funny thing about that night is that I ran into my little brother at temple square. It's funny to see someone you know (let alone them being immediate family) at a random time and place that wasn't even discussed.

Christmas Eve was also a lot of fun, exhausting, but fun. Shawn had to work that day so I was the one doing all the last minute things to get ready for Christmas. I had to bathe Meeko that morning (we were taking him to Marianne's with us so I wanted him to be nice and clean), get something for Christmas for him, and get some sparkling cider and carrots. I got it all done with time to spare, I even went and met Shawn for his lunch. Its amazing what you can do with time if you don't waste it :).

As soon as Shawn got home from work we left for my family's Christmas Eve get together. Every year my mom's side of the family gets together to have dinner. After dinner my grandma will give us a gift. This year she gave us a book with our family history in it. Its so nice to have someone who takes care of our genealogy for us.

Once we were done there it was a straight shot down Bangeter Highway to the Knight's home (Marianne and Jesse's). We got there right as they were finishing eating dinner. Shawn's family exchanges one Christmas Eve gift with the person whose name you drew. I had Dan this year and Shawn had Melissa. We got Dan a Tron light cycle I think it was called (Shawn picked it out) and he obviously loved it. Not quite the number one Christmas reaction but I think he might have been in the top five. Shawn got Melissa an ITunes gift card and she enjoyed that. Steve had me this year and he gave me the movie "Despicable Me". I loved it! I was hoping to get that movie for Christmas and TAHDAH I did. Kate had Shawn and she gave him three movies in a muddy buddies gift basket. Can I just say perfect gift for Shawn? He loves muddy buddies!!!!

Now I would say the second best Christmas reaction this year was Jesse. Mike had him for the Christmas Eve exchange. Here is a little background knowledge before I tell you what he got. All of the Sloan boys have beards, Jesse doesn't. Okay now Jesse opens the box and Addie quickly grabs what looks like a normal beanie and takes it over to her mom and says look. Marianne said oh nice a beanie and while checking it out noticed something that looked like a chin strap. She asked if it was a chin strap and as she asked that Jesse started laughing and said, "IT'S A BEARD!!!" That's right, Mike found these beanies that have a wool beard sown in. Not only does it have a beard  but it has a curly mustache too. We were all laughing so hard. Jesse put it on and Mike proceeded to say, "There now you have a beard." CLASSIC!!

After all the gifts were exchanged we went downstairs and watched a couple Christmas classics. The two that Shawn and I watched before we went home was "Garfield's Christmas" and "Claymation Christmas" I think it was called. Everyone else slept over at Marianne and Jesse's but Shawn and I went home to have our own Christmas alone together.

This is the first year and as such, the first year of Sloan traditions. For Christmas Eve Shawn and I decided that we wanted to open PJ's and read the Christmas story out of the scriptures (which Shawn mentioned that when we have kids we will have to buy a simpler version book to read to them). After reading the story we toasted to the Christmas season with good old Martinelli's sparkling cider. I had made our pj pants, Shawn's are red and mine are green. Then I went to Shopko and found us some shirts that would make our PJ's complete. Shawn's shirt was green and said "I am dreaming of a green Christmas" it had Andrew Jackson's face on it. My shirt was red and said "Stocking Stuffer." I think our Christmas Eve tradition went over very well.

OUR STOCKINGS (Shawn's, Meeko's, and Mine)

What a beautiful Christmas tree don't ya think?

Shawn checking out his stocking (I wrapped everything I put in it).

Dumping out my stocking

Everything that was in my stocking.

What was in Shawn's stocking

 I got Shawn the following: a brown sweater, a brown sweater vest (it's too small), black dress socks, a 12 pack of cherry coke (his favorite), Iron Man night light, a nice blue and black tie, a new wallet, "Zoolander", tie hanger, and as a gag gift "Veggie Tales collection of Silly Songs with Larry". Shawn laughed pretty hard when he saw the Veggie Tales in his stocking. If you don't know what I am talking about you need to youtube our two favorite songs, "I love my lips" and "Oh Where is my Hairbrush?".

Shawn's reaction when he opened the Veggie Tales DVD

Shawn did a very good job with me. He gave me the following: an ipod dock, a nice cozy robe, two pairs of cozy socks, earrings, black dress socks, perfume (I had a gift card to Victoria secret from the wedding), lip gloss, and a new back for my phone. The funniest thing he got me is the ipod dock. It has this shaker thing attached to it for the alarm. Shawn's understanding about it was that when the alarm went off you would just shake this circle thing and Wahlah your alarm would snooze. He was totally wrong. This little item is called a Bed Shaker. You place it on your bed (I put it under my pillow) and when your alarm goes off it vibrates and scares the crap out of you. It makes me giggle though because it doesn't scare me enough to fully wake me up, just enough to hit the snooze a couple more times before I ACTUALLY have to get up. Poor Shawn, thought he was helping me out but in reality just made it worse for himself hehehehe SO FUNNY!

After we got done opening our gifts it was time to head to Marianne and Jesse's again. We wanted to get there before everyone got up so we didn't miss any of the Christmas morning excitement. We got there at eight and guess what? Nobody was up except for Marianne and Jesse, not even Addie, the 2 1/2 year old who I assumed would be up and going through presents. As soon as everyone woke up the excitement started. Shawn and I watched everyone open their gifts and that was quite entertaining. It was fun to watch reactions and to watch Addie get excited present after present. So now this is when we had the number one reaction for Christmas......dumroll please...the award goes to Kate Sloan.

"SHUT UP!!! NO WAY, SHUT UP!!" Kate buried her face in her hands as everyone turned and looked at her to see what she got from Steve. "ARE YOU SERIOUS?" Kate's eyes started tearing as she lifted up her head and looked at Steve. Steve had started laughing along with everyone else. Kate finally helped up what Steve got her. Someone called out "Footy pajamas? That's awesome!" I was laughing so hard that I started tearing up just like Kate. By far that had to be the best Christmas reaction of the season! GOOD JOB KATE!

Anyways after all the presents were opened and we cleaned up all the trash we took naps while Jesse made a yummy breakfast casserole. It was a great Christmas morning with the Sloans. (Sorry I didn't take any pictures for some reason.)

We hung around a little longer and then Shawn and I headed home. I was so tired all I wanted to do was take a nice long nap but we needed to be leaving for my moms in a couple hours so I spent some time getting ready. I was so excited to go to my moms and have yet another moment of opening gifts. When we got there we were one of the firsts. I helped get dinner finished and then we ate. We had 17 people eating dinner and its funny because they are all immediate family haha. It's my siblings and their significant others and kids. The only problem with having Christmas Eve with one side of  the family is that everyone is tired. We were all exhausted from going everywhere else that morning that people were some what grumpy. Well I should specify, the little kids were grumpy. They were playing and having a good time together but were fighting a lot more than they normally do.

With my family we do our sibling exchange on Christmas day. Shawn had Dane this year and gave him a gift card. I had Brady, I gave him gym clothes. Matt had Shawn and he gave him "Iron Man" the movie (my suggestion because he had the second one not the first). Sarah (Brady's girlfriend) had me for Christmas and she gave me a Pilate's DVD and a Pilate's mat. I am so excited for it because it is fun to do and it really works my body. I did the work out a couple days ago and I am sore :).

Oh Shawn!!!

hehehe wacky faces

Dallon (he is Dane's stepson)

Everyone waiting to open presents

Meeko was curled up by Shawn so I had to take a picture

Cute little family. Lindsay, Dane, and Dallon

The Hoges: Hans, Chelsey, and Arlee

The Sloans: Shawn and Shawn (what my mom and dad gave us)

Brady with the gift that I gave him

Shawn opening his gift from Matt

Jake, Abbie, and Matt waiting to open gifts

Shawn and I also got a gift for each niece/nephew of ours and our parents. ( I feel so bad that I don't have any pictures of Shawn's family). Braxton and Jayden I don't have a picture of what we gave them since they live in Denver, Colorado.

It seemed like as soon as we were done exchanging gifts everyone started leaving one by one. I was exhausted and wanted to go home but we stayed longer because I wanted to spend some more time with my family. We were only there a total of four hours but I guess that's what happens when everyone is exhausted.

"I'm so sad," Shawn said as we were pulling into the parking lot of our apartment complex. "Christmas is now over."

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas and hope you have a Happy New Year!!!

The Sloans at Christmas time

 We might be small in numbers and one of us might be a little hairier than the others and one might be a dog, but we are a family.

This was taken on the one year mark of our first date...Dec 12, 2009

                             OUR GINGER BREAD HOUSE!!! Not too bad, not too bad.

Traditions Start at The Beginning

Once the door bell rang my heart started pounding. Finally after 13 days of talking through text messaging I was going to meet him. I opened the door to a tall dark and handsome man standing there smiling. That night started everything. It was a cold winter night on December 12, 2009 and we were heading out on our first date. The plan was to go sledding with a group of Shawn's friends but first we were going to meet at someones house. We didn't end up going sledding but instead made ginger bread houses and watched Will Ferrel's "Elf". It was a night of nerves, giggles, and fun.

That date is our first Sloan tradition. We decided as soon as we got engaged that on the year mark of our first date we would relive it. Even though it was just us two instead of the original people we did it with, we had a blast. We actually bought a ginger bread house kit instead of doing graham crackers and frosting. Even though we had the kit we still had a heck of a time trying to get the walls to stand straight up and the candy to stay on the house. Our house turned out perfect regardless of the drooping frosting and the lack of candy actually on the walls. While watching the movie and making our house Shawn said to me, "We are making some fun family traditions." 

Its exciting to start family traditions all by your self and I absolutely can't wait until we make more Sloan traditions.

(Pictures will soon be included in blogs....I just need internet at home :)

Time is flying by.....

The saying "You don't really know someone until you are married to them" is so true! Shawn and I will have met a year ago on the 12th of this month and thinking that I have learned more about him in the last two months than I did when we were dating is kind of funny. I've learned what makes him mad (if he ever does get mad), his getting ready routine, the simple things that will make him smile, and many more. Not to say we didn't know each other that well before but it's the things people do without thinking about it that you learn when living together.

One thing Shawn has learned about me is that I tend to hit the snooze button more than once. The first couple of mornings that my alarm would go off, Shawn would roll over and give me a kiss while saying "Good morning" in the most happy early morning voice he could get out. I think he soon learned to realize that it's best to just let me get up on my own. He will live longer that way.

One thing I have learned about Shawn is that he is a hoarder, pack rat, or whatever else you'd like to call it. He isn't as bad as most under those categories but still has a slight problem. If you know me at all then you would know I am the biggest NON pack rat person. Lets say I found a box and I don't know what is in it. First thought is "Hmmm looks like I don't need this." Second thought, "Lets just see what's in it." Third thought, "I could use this." Fourth thought, "Obviously if I didn't know it was here then I am fine living with out it. Trash it." That's how it goes when I clean out a closet or clean out under the bed. If it doesn't have significant meaning and I didn't know it was there.....TRASH IT! TRASH IT! TRASH IT!

We haven't only learned what seems like negative things about each other but positive things as well. Shawn loves to sing in the shower and has a tendency to get songs that I have never heard of stuck in my head!

"Who do you think you are

Running 'round leaving scars
Collecting your jar of hearts
And tearing love apart
You're gonna catch a cold
From the ice inside your soul
So don't come back for me"

That's right Christina Perri's Jar of hearts was stuck in my head every day for days and I had never heard it.

I have to tell you that I love being married. There is something so magical about always having someone to come home to, having someone to share your fears and joys with, having someone tuck you in bed after you have fallen asleep on the couch, having someone to take care of you when you are sick, and most importantly waking up and seeing your best friend every morning sleeping by your side. I guess from this paragraph you can tell I am still in the honeymoon phase and I have a feeling it will be here for eternity because I have found my better half. You may now go gag on a spoon :)