{Russell wins the award for the most animated face!}

Friday night we went to Adobe's Holiday Party. This was unlike any Christmas party I've ever been to for a few reasons. First of all, it was 80's themed. Huh? I was so confused and honestly really skeptical of what kind of party it would be (foolish Camille, foolish!). Second, when we showed up we saw the Back to the Future car in front of break dancers being watched over by Mr. T. I'm dead serious. You throw some dancing competitions, arcade games, flaming donuts, thousand dollar prizes that you can win by playing rock-paper-scissors (I got really close!!!), awesome "goodie boxes" with 80's movies and treats, and a live 80's cover band and you have one rockin' party. I also got to reunite with one of my old college roommate Erin! Oh I have missed her. Her husband also works for Adobe -- it was so good to see her after way too long! (Her hair is crimped because that is back in style, didn't you know? Just kidding. You could dress up in 80's attire. We were lame and did not).

Since we are party animals and never want the night to end (ha!) we stopped by temple square after the party to check out the lights in the freezing cold. It was the perfect end to a perfect night. We really do love Adobe and are so grateful for Russ's job! They sure know how to treat their employees right. Thanks Adobe for showing us another good time! 

Scenes from the Weekend

This last weekend included a few fun Christmas-oriented activities. Friday night I had a few of my cute friends over for a Christmas craft night. We made Soup Mix jars and ate way too many delicious treats. Oh, and this crock-pot Tomato-Basil Parmesan soup that was oh-so-good. When the temperatures outside are bitter cold, nothing else sounds good but warm, hearty soup. {And who doesn't love another crock-pot soup?!?}

The next night we went out with some of our favorite people -- The Hills {who just happen to be our neighbors/saving grace}. We met one other couple from our neighborhood for dinner and then ventured to the Festival of Trees. I had never been! It's basically a huge organization where people decorate and donate hundreds of decked-out trees, gingerbread houses, wreaths and quilts. There is then an auction for all of the items and all proceeds go to the Primary Children's Hospital. Pretty cool. The first pictures is of us in front of one of my favorite trees of the night -- the Harry Potter tree!!! And the second picture is when we came upon an exact version of our house made for dwarves... or children... or any other small person who wants to live in a blue house.

Other highlights of the weekend that should be noted, for posterity sake of course:

* Learning once again that miracles do happen and prayers really work. Thanks friends for helping my sister out.
* Making my first home-made cinnamon rolls that turned out bomb.com
* Starting to refinish those dang night-stands that I have been putting off for years. Literally.
* Visiting the Collette's in their new home. So exciting!
* Sleeping in till 10 am two days in a row!! Wha???
* Playing Gin Rummy with Russ. We are too competitive for our own good. :)

2 Years & Counting

Two wonderful years ago we were doing this...

... and since it was our two year anniversary yesterday, we did this...

...while overlooking this...

... and it was perfect.

It was my year to plan our anniversary activities, so I decided to take advantage of the accessibility of nature and head into the mountains -- the classy way, of course. We drove the 10 minutes from Russ's work to Sundance Resort, took a relaxing ride on the chair lift to the top of the mountain, and enjoyed a tasty meal at the Foundry Grill. We took the long way home on the Alpine Loop, oooh-ing and ahhh-ing over the aspen trees and jaw-dropping mountain peaks listening to the National's album, High Violets (which came highly recommended, and which I highly recommend). We sure do love music and those mountains.

... oh, and each other of course. I can easily say that it has been the best two years of my life. Life is far from perfect, but everything is a little brighter when you have someone to share it with. We've come a long way even from last year, and I can't wait to see what's in store.

Puzzled

The mister came home to me last night. We had pizza at Florio's and did started a puzzle. I love these kind of Friday night dates.

It took us back to the days when I lived in an apartment with three of my good friends in Utah. Russ and I were dating, probably close to getting engaged. It seemed like us roommates always had a puzzle on the big table, and Russ would come over and help us finish them. It was over those puzzles where Russ bonded with my roommates and I got the official friend approval. Oh puzzles, such an unexpected source of fun.

Anyway, thank you so much for all the recommendations for the night stands. I now have so many good ideas floating through my head (thanks to you), that making a decision may be harder now than it was before! I guess you could say I'm puzzled! :)

A Wicked Date

Russ told me we were just going to spend the night "in" for Valentine's with a homemade meal and a movie from Netflix. Well, silly me, Russ always has something up his sleeve. At the end of the night he pulled out a poem he had written with a few other goodies...

I had sent Russ a not so subtle hint a while ago with some earrings from this shop that I had been eyeing. He then actually went shopping and found a dress that matched the earrings, a cute trench to wear for the cooler evening, and with some help from his sister, some shoes that tied it all together. I was FLOORED. The best part? He had a secret date planned for this Saturday to wear my new outfit to. Let's just say, it was a pretty "wicked date."

First we met our friends Scott and Andrea at La Focaccia, a really great Italian place downtown. Believe me, the wheels were spinning at this point. "...we're downtown... we're all dressed up... it might just be what I'm hoping it is." And sure enough...

...We saw Wicked! I felt like a giddy child sitting in those seats up in the back of the theater. I've been wanting to see this play for EVER, and it was finally happening. (Was that dramatic enough?) I have been listening to the soundtrack for a few years, but seeing the real thing blew the CD out of the water. Or should I say it defied gravity? {ha!} 

Thanks again husband. It was a fantastic night out on the town.

This Weekend I Did the Following . . .

* Bought a new phone on Craigslist. Why did I do that? Let me tell you. A few days prior I pulled the genius move and dropped my phone in the toilet. Luckily the toilet had stopped flushing and did not flush the phone, but it did soak it enough that it would not work. Go team Camille!

* Came home from my Craigstlist deal to a man in a mustache making delicious quesadillas. See below.

If you look behind us you can see my new gray wall! I was so excited to get approval to paint from the landlord (even if it was just ONE wall). Oh, and don't judge me that we don't have pictures in our frames yet. One step at a time people.

* Ran half of a 1/2 marathon. (do I say a 1/4 marathon?) This couple from my church planned a 1/2 marathon on a Saturday (since there are like no races on Saturdays here) for anyone who wanted to run (obviously for free). It was basically a 6.6 mile loop twice. I haven't been training per se, so I opted for just one loop. But now I can say I have run a 1/4 marathon. Don't be jealous.

* Cleaned/organized/weeded/ran errands like a mad-woman on very little sleep. And then I crashed at about 4 pm leading to my first nap in a good 6 month period. It was glorious.

* Went on a date with the mister and friends to dinner, the Riverwalk, and back to Megan and Brandon's cute house for dutch-oven-peach-cobbler and s'mores around their fire pit. A fun evening had by all!

* Made pumpkin pancakes in honor of Halloween before church (click on the link for the recipe. It's worth it). Russ wanted to have "bats" in them... so I added some chocolate chips. yummmmm.

* Have filled the candy bowl and am anxiously awaiting passing out candy to eager trick-or-treaters for the first time in my own home.

Ahhh, the weekend. So short, but so sweet. Hope yours has been just as sweet! Oh! The doorbell has rung...

A Hard Day's Night

This is my first blog entry as a married man. As such, I have to really focus to keep from rambling on about multi-touch screens or other weird things like on my previous blogs, and actually write about my life. So here goes.

This past week we have been house sitting in SLC for some very kind friends. The days consisted of errands, moving out of provo, and Twitter. Yeah I have still been the twitter master for @worldhistory for FamilyLink.com. It was a little slow as of late because of the denial-of-service attack launched mid-week.

So during the down time, I learned all about the Beatles and their revelutionary usage of monitor speakers at the concert in 1965 at Atlanta stadium. It was the first time speakers were pointed back towards a performing band so they could actually hear themselves over the thousands of screaming women. After learning this, I sparked an idea for a fun date with Camille. I found us some tickets to the concert.

I found the set list and made a playlist on her iPod so we could "go" to the concert. I also called Blockbuster and reserved a copy of "A Hard Day's Night", a Beatles movie. The plan was to go the SLC temple, then afterwards pick up burritos from Barbacoa prior to going out to the concert on the Salt Flats. I was really pumped to go out on the Salt Flats and top out the Camry. (Random history fact: land speed record of 662 mph was made out on the Salt Flats using the "Blue Flame" jet engine car). Anyways, after coming out of the temple, we stepped into a massive wind storm that was taking power out in various parts of the city. So we resorted to jamming out in the car, and taking the movie back to the apartment. By the end of the movie I could tell the 4 Beatles apart and identify them by voice in their songs. (Baby steps Camille, baby steps.) Despite the weather, it was a really fun date and it turns out that the Beatles still do perform Rain, Shine, or wind.