Ugly Sweater Party...Round 2

Healthful Living
'Tis the Season to Rock Ugly Sweaters.....and WE DID!! 
Here are some pictures from our 2nd Annual Ugly Sweater Party!! We'd like to thank Goodwill, the official sponsor of Ugly Sweater Parties everywhere. :)


Didn't Darren do an amazing job on the veggie Christmas tree?!? I love when ideas are executed according to plan (which is not always the case when Pinterest is involved...haha :)


Grinch Kabobs


our penguin army...aren't they cute?



Christmas photo booth


Todd and Kara Callan



Staci and Stephen Stender



um...not sure? haha :)


Eric and Jessica Roberts


Justin and Kylee Greer


Chris and Leigh Wheatley




Our faux fireplace from last year with a little embellishment. I think it looks pretty legit.


if we had made this into a contest, Kylee would have won with her 3-D version. Awesome!!



this was part of Eric's white elephant gift. We all had a good laugh while reading some of the entries inside. Hibernating rattlesnakes anyone? LOL!




That sweater is definitely U-G-L-Y!! Or should I say UGLIEST. Congrats on the trophy. It's going to look great in your trophy case :)


The Top 3. Great job on the sweaters!! You definitely deserved to win.


We didn't think we could top last year's trophy but I think we succeeded. Watching Darren dismantle a beanie baby to provide a sweater and hat will haunt me for some time. :)




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Thanksgiving 2013

Healthful Living
For Thanksgiving this year we went to my cousin Amber's house in San Tan Valley. She is an amazing cook! It was so sweet of her to invite us. We got to meet her daughter Mackenzie plus see these two people (Aunt April and Uncle Rick) whom I haven't seen in forever:


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Birds Flyin' High...

Healthful Living

The weekend before Thanksgiving, Darren surprised me (yes...another surprise) with tickets to see this guy:


We had a lot of fun at his concert. Thanks babe for always thinking of me, even when you know you'll have to share my attention for one night :)

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Better late than never

Healthful Living
Darren and I had a fun idea to take a day trip to Mt. Lemmon outside of Tucson to see some fall colors. Well...it didn't turn out so well. The only leaves left were on the ground. Bummer! Oh well, it was still fun to visit a new place. Next time we'll call the ranger station first. :)


But after our drive down the mountain, we had dinner here. It was so yummy!! We have since found the tamales at our local Wholefoods Market. We have definitely splurged more than once :)

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Fantastic Fall!

Healthful Living
Fall is such a fun time of year, in fact it may be my favorite time of year. What made it even better this year was spending time with family and friends.


Darren and his dad home from an ASU game. They had a lot of fun (as if you couldn't tell) :o)


grandma and grandpa with the grandkids at Schnepf Farms


Hendrix loved the mini golf


this guy was totally legit


Off to the corn maze. And I never get to see the back of my head. It's definitely time to cut my hair.



I think Uncle Darren had more fun than some of the kids :)


Pumpkin Carving Party!! Congratulations to the Callan's for the most creative pumpkin




Waldo and Wenda had fun dressing up for the ward fall festival. In case you don't know who Wenda is, she is Waldo's "current" girlfriend. She replaced her twin sister Wilma who was the previous "current" girlfriend. Maybe Wilma is the one who penned the term, "Where's Waldo?" haha "Um...he's with your sister." :o)


I think we pulled it off pretty well don't you?



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Road Trip

Healthful Living
Darren had a few days off from work so we decided to take a road trip to celebrate our 5th anniversary.

 
 
 
Hoover Dam (and crazy, frizzy hair from trying to sleep in the car)
 
 
We had both been to Vegas before but not recently, and never together, so we thought it would bea fun trip.

 
Our hotel: Wynn Las Vegas
 
 
Our room at the Wynn
 
 
 I love how everything was controlled by a remote, just push a button on the phone by the bed and the curtains open and closed. Nice! The lights and temperature were controlled this way as well. I know it would make me super lazy but I would love to have these features at home :)
 
 
We forgot to take a picture of the view at night but this is what it looked like.

 
Our show of choice in Las Vegas. It was really good but I honestly enjoyed Cirque Musica better (the one Darren took me to for my birthday...see earlier post)

 
The Venetian Casino...it brought back a lot of memories from our trip to Venice in 2010
 

 


 
The faux St. Mark's Square...sorry to be a travel snob but the original is SO MUCH BETTER!
 
 
volcano erupting at The Mirage
 
 
I sure had fun being with this cute guy :)
 
 
A sculpture in one of the lobbies at the Wynn: Tulips made from polished stainless steel and colored coating. It was really cool!
 
 

 
The main lobby at the Wynn. Everything in this hotel was very colorful and whimsical



 

 
upside-down parasols hanging from the ceiling at the Bellagio

 
The main lobby at the Bellagio contains the Fiori di Como chandelier, comprised of 2,000 hand-blown glass blossoms. Very cool!

 
The Bellagio fountain with the "Eiffel Tower" in the background.


 
inside the Paris Casino
 
 
The night before we left Vegas, we decided to do the touristy thing and eat at a buffet. The Wynn buffet boasts having more vegetarian/vegan options than any other buffet so we decided to give it a try.
 

 the interior décor
 
 
the food stations just kept going and going
 
 

 
 
The incredible dessert bar. We sampled a few :)

 
A quick stop in St. George, Utah to see the temple

 
 
 
Our final destination: Brian Head, Utah. Darren and I, while dating, came here with a group of friends from our YSA ward to go skiing/snowboarding. We thought it would be a great place to relax for a couple of days before heading back to Arizona.

 
 
 
We stayed in an awesome condo at the Cedar Breaks Lodge. Hopefully we can come back someday in the winter. Darren was drooling over the ski's he found in a hall closet. :)
 
 
 

 
Cedar Breaks Monument overlook. It was so windy and cold!


 

 
Our first time to the Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City, Utah. We had a great time watching Peter and the Starcatcher, the prequel to Peter Pan. The cast had us rolling with laughter.

 
After leaving Brian Head, we drove the 8 hours back to Arizona with a brief stop in Flagstaff for a late lunch. While eating it started raining...HARD! After stopping next door for a few pieces of sugar-free chocolate, we ran 3 blocks in a torrential downpour (thus the wild, disheveled look...haha :)
 
 
Another fun adventure with the man I love!!
 

 

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