February 2016

I cannot believe February is almost coming to a close! This month has flown by which is crazy, but also makes me happy. I am so ready for warm weather and summer events, plus March is my birthday month so obviously, it’s the best.

But to reflect on February.. It wasn’t quite as busy as January but eventful nonetheless. At the beginning of the month, I decided that there’s no point trying to be a brunette. Blonde is better! …And since I’m a natural blonde, my hair refuses to stay dark, so why bother fighting nature, I’m clearly blessed to be blonde ;) So Tricia highlighted me to a caramel blonde, and I’ll be all the way back next month!

February 6th, we had a huge birthday party for Brian’s Grandma Baldwin’s 80th birthday! She is such an example to all her grand and great-grand children. She chose to have her party at Syracuse Rush, where we rented out the entire aquatic center and she spent 2 1/2 hours swimming with her posterity. It’s a pretty fun place with water slides, kids jungle gyms, and a lazy river. We had a pot-luck and I made my new favorite dessert: No Bake Nutella Cheesecake. 

It was incredible, to be honest.

The following week was agonizing while we impatiently waited for the weekend and our time in Las Vegas with family. Wednesday night, we met with our second counselor from church and I got a new calling! Previously I had been a relief society teacher, as well as the young women’s assistant camp director. Now, I have been released from said callings and am the new Beehive Advisor! I am super excited to be in young women’s full time and teaching twice as much each month. The girls are so great and I know they will teach me a lot!

February’s new event was a double-event. Friday the 12th, Brian and I took off work and headed to sunny, 75 degree Vegas! That night we went out with Kevin & Amanda to a yummy Mexican dinner, then headed to Fremont Street in downtown Vegas to do the Fremont Slotzilla zip line! I got part of it on GoPro, and I’ll try to post that. Here is the website for more photos and videos: http://vegasexperience.com/slotzilla-zip-line/

Saturday, we went to the Hoover Dam and went on the Power Plant tour! It was pretty cool, and I didn’t realize how big the dam actually was. Plus the history of it is neat and it’s just cool to add it to the list of important places I’ve been to. Later that day, we went to Braxton and Corbin’s basketball games which was cute and had me seriously reminiscing about my own youth games and got me super excited for when Brian and I have our own kids.

Sunday was the big voodoo holiday: Valentine’s Day! We had the best Valentine’s Day together. Kevin & Amanda’s church starts at 1 PM, so Brian and I slept in, went hiking together, stopped at the skatepark so he could get in some board time and I could lay in the sun, then went to church, and had a yummy dinner outside with the family. Brian got me a diamond bracelet and new workout pants I wanted! I’m the worst wife for not getting him anything because I thought our trip was our gift, but whatevs, he forgave me haha. Our trip back on Monday was long because of holiday weekend traffic, but it did validate my reasons for marrying Brian since we didn’t want to kill each other after a 7 hour car ride :)

The following weekend we went to the Provo City temple open house after Sabra and I did some damage at JoAnn’s and Michael's. I basically have decorations for every holiday of the year now…. Anyway. Thanks to Annalise, she gave us 4 tickets she wasn’t using and we didn’t have to fight people who didn’t have reservations this time, which was a good thing since the waiting like was a bajillion times worse. Glen and his friend Carly came with us, then we went to Station 22 Cafe for a late lunch and I got yummy chicken and waffles. 

That Sunday, I finally got to hug Elder Tom Nilsen when he got home from his 2 year mission. It is so crazy to think it’s been two years since he went to Florida and began teaching me. Brian and I went to his homecoming talk and I was sitting in the audience sobbing haha. He mentioned me in his talk and told everyone I was there, so more than a few people came up to me and asked if I was the Jess from his story, since I was the only crying girl in the audience. Guilty! 

The weather here has been really nice which gives me hope that Puxatawny Phil was right on Groundhog Day in his prediction of an early spring! Brian and I have gotten in a few more nights of snowboarding and I’m loving that my knee is getting stronger again. 

I’m so excited for all the fun things to come in 2016 :)

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New Year's Eve 2015

We went big for NYE '15. We decided we wanted to do something special that we haven't done before, so three weeks in advance, we made reservations for The Roof Restaurant on top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building.

This place is a total cliche for dating couples, especially during the holidays. It's known as the "engagement spot" where everyone goes to propose to their girlfriends. The night we went, they said they had already had a ton of proposals. I told Brian since we're married now, we could go with no pressure to him. (No pressure meaning if he had proposed in the most cliche location of Utah I may have said no.... Ok probably not but I would have been mad haha). 

So this place totally lived up to it's reputation. It's a fine dining buffet-style, and I think I ate my weight in king crab legs. Brian probably did the same with prime rib, bacon wrapped filet mignon, salmon, and the works. They had a beautiful pianist playing during dinner with an occasional violinist, and at 10 PM (12 PM EST), we had a toast. It cost us two months worth of our monthly "fun money" since it was NYE, but it was 100% worth it.

I'll include some photos of our view overlooking the Salt Lake Temple and us all dressed up spiffy! Happy New Year everyone!

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It Was the Week Before Christmas...

The last full work week before Christmas was a tough one. It was full of meetings, delivering gift baskets, taking clients to lunch, and Christmas parties, but what made it difficult was the inability to focus on anything other than the fact that Christmas is so close!

Last Sunday, Brian and I went down to Provo after church to see my wonderful cousin, Christy, her husband Matt, and their two girls Maddie and Lucy. We had a wonderful time socializing and making dinner, as well as playing with the girls. They’re getting so big so quickly!

Tuesday night after work, Brian and I got a fattening dinner of Five Guys before going to a session at the temple. It’s always nice to take some time and go to the temple because it’s like escaping from the real world and actually getting your thoughts in line. Brian and I are in the midst of lots of planning for things, so it was nice to have some peace to think in clarity.

Wednesday night, we decided to be kids with Randy and Sabra. Brian went to take his last final after work, then we celebrated by sledding behind the four wheelers. It was a beautiful night and the snow was still coming down, so it was fun to get bundled up and go sledding— big kid style.

Thursday night, Tricia dyed my hair! I went over to the dark side, just in time for Star Wars haha. For those of you that know me well, the only time I can dye my hair dark is the winter time. I’m such a natural blonde that as soon as I walk outside during the summertime, it seems as though I’m platinum blonde after an hour in the sun. I guess I’m ok with that though, blondes really do have more fun. ;)

Friday night as I was leaving work, I passed one of my bosses (the founder of the law firm) on my way out. A few minutes later as I was leaving the parking lot, he called me and asked if Brian and I had any plans for the evening. My plans had consisted of laying around in my pajamas with hot chocolate and Christmas movies, so honestly I did not have plans, so he asked if we wanted 2 tickets to the MoTab Christmas Concert at the Conference Center in Temple Square. Ummm of course we did! The concert featured Laura Osnes, a relatively famous Broadway star, and Martin Jarvis, an old British film and drama actor. It was a great performance, and it was neat for me to be able to take Brian. I got tickets to last year’s event randomly through a ticket lottery so this was my second year, but Brian had never been. Christmas time in Salt Lake City is a disaster, especially with the big City Creek Mall downtown, but it sure is beautiful.

Saturday morning, Brian and I cleaned the house and then went to the Megaplex in Ogden for my company’s client appreciation event! We reserved an entire theater for a showing of Star Wars at noon, and it was awesome! It was fun to see coworkers outside of work and get to meet a lot of clients that I’ve only interacted with over the phone. Plus, the movie was pretty sweet.

Saturday evening, we hosted our first annual Baldwin Christmas Bash! We held dinner at our house first, which was interesting to say the least, then we packed hot chocolate and headed to Salt Lake City again. We walked around downtown and saw the lights on temple square, then went ice skating at the Gallivan Center which was a blast as usual! The city is so beautiful at this time of year and there were lots of street performers playing Christmas tunes which added to the atmosphere. When we got back to our house, we had a gingerbread contest that Kate and I definitely won hands down… It was so fun to hang out with friends we don’t always get to see a lot and enjoy the holiday season!

Sunday at church I taught Relief Society for the first time in our new ward! The lesson came from Ezra Taft Benson’s book, chapter 24, A Christ-Centered Life. It was the perfect lesson for the week before Christmas and we had a lot of great discussion! Sunday night we had dinner at Brian’s parents house, watched some home videos of Brian as a little kid which were hilarious, then went to visit his grandparents and saw a few aunts and uncles. 

We are so excited to have Kevin & Amanda and the kids come in for Christmas this week and celebrate the holiday season! Brian and I are looking forward to spending our first Christmas together in our first home. And I’m dying to give him his Christmas presents because I don’t know how much longer I can wait! I’m sure to win best wife award this year ;)

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1 Month Married

Life has been crazy post honeymoon. We got back and worked three days and then we had off 4 for Thanksgiving break. Our first Thanksgiving was spent in Utah (and Christmas will be as well). 

We woke up on Thanksgiving morning and SURPRISE! White Thanksgiving with the first snow of the season! We made a pumpkin pie to take to Brian’s grandparents house. The two of us, Brian’s parents, his Uncle Mark and Aunt Shar and all their kids all spent Thanksgiving together at Grandma and Grandpa Baldwin’s house. We shot some clay birds with shotguns after dinner and played a few games. It was a great time! 

The next day, Black Friday, Brian and I got the courage to do some shopping (at a sane hour of 10 AM) and surprisingly the stores were pretty empty of shoppers at that point. We got a lot of Christmas shopping done that day and then made our first holiday tradition: getting our Christmas tree and setting it up the day after Thanksgiving!

We went to North Pole Pines in Farr West where you can go and pick out your own tree and cut it down. We picked one out, Brian chopped it down, and we had it set up in our house an hour later! Last year, my grandma in Florida gave me a bunch of ornaments she had saved for me, so we had some beautiful, old ornaments to decorate our tree with mixed with some newer, more generic looking ones. She has saved ornaments and her old antique miniature North Pole village that she used to put up every year and distributed it to myself and all my cousins! We are so lucky to have these treasures and I’m very excited to finally be able to put up my village this year, since we have our home and I’m not in my little old apartment.

That weekend, Brian and his dad built a workbench in the back of our garage for Brian’s tools and it’s already been a great space saver! When my family came out to Utah for our wedding, my stepdad and Brian’s dad cut out and installed a new back door in our garage, so we’re loving that! So many renovations are happening outside now and I’m loving it. I can’t wait to do some landscaping in the spring!

That same Saturday, the 28th, Randy and Sabra and Brian and I went to the Christmas parade and Christmas Village opening and lighting ceremony in Ogden. There are thousands and thousands of Christmas lights and miniature houses that they decorate in a park in Ogden, and they had a Christmas concert and fireworks for the lighting! Afterwards, we cooked dinner at our house and the boys played video games (like usual haha).

Since then, we’ve just been finishing getting ready for Christmas, working hard, and Brian has been finishing his semester of classes and is halfway through his finals. I am so proud of him and how hard he has worked to get incredible grades this semester while renovating our home AND planning the wedding with me. 

Last Friday, Randy, Sabra, Brian and I went to see The Forgotten Carols in Ogden at the Dee Events Center! For those of you that don’t know what that is, it’s a Christmas show/musical that tells the story of a nurse who goes to take care of a man in his home who tells her all these stories and sings her carols from the forgotten characters from the story of the birth of Christ, like the innkeeper, the woman who held Jesus after Mary had him, and others. It was a pretty neat experience!

We put up our outside Christmas lights last week once the last of Thanksgiving’s snow had melted, and just in time because it’s snowing hard again! We woke up this morning and had 4-5 inches and it’s still coming down steadily! It’s supposed to snow constantly through Wednesday night! :) 

Work is busy for both of us, but especially for Brian since he’s the only one in his office that really does healthcare, and since the medicare open enrollment ends soon, he’s been slammed at work and has had to work late most evenings. I’m really happy we’re already married for this part of the year so that even when he does work late and then comes home and starts studying right after dinner, I still get to see him and spend time with him. I feel so blessed to be married to someone who still makes so much time for me with all the other craziness going on in his life!

I think this is the end of my catch-up post, but I’ll include a few photos! I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season! :)

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