Happy Valentine's Day!

This Valentine's Day was the first one we've spent just with each other.  Our first one we were still dating and were on opposite sides of the country.  Last year we spent it in Georgia with Jessica and Chelseanne's families.  This year was just us.  And it was wonderful!

I got Nate his traditional gift...a puzzle of a picture of us with a secret love note written on the back.  This tradition started while we were dating.  I had never had a boyfriend for Valentine's day so I had to do something special.  I don't know how I got the idea, but I purchased a customized puzzle from Walmart of a picture of us and then wrote a message on the back.  To do this, I had to put the puzzle together and then flip it over and write the message.  Last year I did the same thing, just with a picture from our wedding.  This year it was harder to pick a picture because we had so many good ones!  Last year he didn't put the puzzle together until August so we will see how long it takes this time....

Anyways, the Friday before Valentine's Day I had to work in Rexburg until around 3:00.  When I got home I was super tired so I decided to take a nap.  We had originally planned on going to the Idaho Falls temple on Friday after I got home from work but with me being so tired and Nate working on a quiz (and for something in the mail I did not know about) we just decided to go on Saturday.  Nate still wanted to go to Olive Garden for dinner though.  He woke me up from my nap to go out to eat and when I walked into the kitchen there was a beautiful bouquet of flowers and box of chocolates.  Isn't he perfect?  It gets better!

I got ready to go to dinner and was going to touch up my make-up but couldn't find my make-up bag in the drawer where it usually was.  I asked Nate if he knew where it was but he didn't.  I thought it was weird but then just didn't think much of it.  We had a great time at Olive Garden.  I ordered a chicken and shrimp carbonara but they forgot the shrimp so they gave the dish to me for free!  Holla!  Even after ordering dessert our bill was only like $25.

We got in the car to come home and Nate drove across the parking lot and parked right in front of a hotel and announced that's where we would be spending the night!  I didn't believe him until he showed me the reservation on his phone haha  He had packed all my stuff and so that's why I couldn't find my make-up bag.  The only things he forgot were a hairbrush, toothpaste (both of which we got from the hotel) and regular clothes for the next day.  He did bring all of our temple stuff and a dress so the important stuff was covered!

On Saturday, we slept in and then went to Smitty's for breakfast/ lunch.  Nate's family used to go there all the time when they'd visit his dad's family in Idaho.  I, however, had never been there.  It was delicious!  Apparently, it used to be a chain store that became Perkin's restaurants, but this one stayed as Smitty's.

Isn't he so cute?!

After lunch we finally made it to the Idaho Falls temple.  It was a fantastic experience and I'm glad we got to go before it shuts down in March for 18 months for renovations and updates.  By the time we got home on Saturday it was almost 5:00.  It was a great Valentine's Day weekend!!!

Christmas Break

Yet again, I'm dropping the blogging ball.  Oh well.

Christmas this year was fantastic!!!  I was able to get three days off work (plus we were scheduled to be off for four days) so we took the red-eye out of Salt Lake City on Monday the 22nd and arrived in NC Tuesday morning.  Chelsea lent us her car for the duration of our trip and it was such a blessing!  We picked her car up in Charlotte and then drove north to Greensboro.

My family just moved to NC at the beginning of November and so everything this Christmas would be new.  They bought a house just a few minutes from my dad's parents and his brother so for the first time in my lifetime, my family is living close to other family!  I loved being able to see my grandparents and cousins this holiday.

Zach was supposed to get home before we did but a job interview held him up in Ohio.  He finally got there late on Christmas Eve.  My family doesn't have a ton of Christmas traditions but one of my favorites is watching "It's a Wonderful Life" on Christmas Eve.  It took some finagling this year for us to all fit in the living room but it was worth it.

Grandma and Grandpa Tucker

 
For most of our visit, we slept at my uncles house down the road but Meredith wanted us all to sleep at home on Christmas Eve.  Since this house is significantly smaller than our last house with less than half the beds, we slept on the living room floor...  We were actually going to sleep in Noah's twin size bed but then just fell asleep watching Everybody Loves Raymond (what else is new) and stayed on the floor.  I'm so glad the majority of my siblings are teenagers or older now and appreciate sleeping in on Christmas.  I used to be a grouch when I was the only one who wanted to sleep in!

I think I'm still sleeping...

Nate finally got the Ipad he's wanted since before we were married!

Isn't he precious??  Socks, candy and scented candle wax in his stocking.  I'm the best.

We spent Christmas day lounging around and then went to Grandma and Grandpa's for Christmas dinner with the rest of the family.  Why didn't we get a group picture with everyone?!?!

My immediate family hasn't been all together since our wedding so we took the time to get a family picture.  Of course, not everyone wanted to be in the picture but that's what happens with six kids.  We took this picture on the land that they are going to start building a house on.  Next year we could have Christmas in yet another house!

Eli and Meredith decided to have a photoshoot in the field.  I wish I stole some of their pictures but I only have a few of the ones we took on our phone...

Our family gift exchange...I got a baby name book from my cousin.  It's the same baby name book I got him a few years ago and he just had a baby so he told me it was my turn.  He was nice enough to cross off Everett, since that's the name they used haha

The day after Christmas we headed to a cabin 2.5 hours away where Nate's family was staying for Christmas!  What a treat that we got to see both families even though they technically live in different states now!  While there, we went to a gem mine, watched some movies, played some games, went out to eat and just had fun!

View from the cabin.

 Breakfast (which was really lunch).  We found a FANTASTIC place to eat which was totally worth the forever wait.  The kids didn't love it as much as the adults as the food was a twist on regular breakfast flavors.

At the "mine"

We would steal her if we could...

On Sunday we left the cabin and headed back to my house.  We made it just in time for church where I happened to run into one of my friends from the Hill Cumorah Pageant and school.  After church we went to an extended family dinner with my grandpa's brother's family.  It was fun to meet some more of the Tucker clan!  The next few days were spent playing lots of games, watching movies, and relaxing.

Playing Five Crowns.  Obviously I was the only one who knew a picture was being taken...

Playing Charades.

This is how we fell asleep one night.  We're so cute.

One day we went to downtown Greensboro.  While we were there we went to the Civil Right's Museum.  The museum is located in the old Woolworth's dime store where the Greensboro sit-in's took place in 1960.  It was amazing to see this little bit of history and it is so well preserved.  Of course, you can't take pictures sooooooo yeahhhh.  I learned that my dad's middle school principal was married to one of the original college freshman who started the sit-in.  I also had never thought of the fact that my grandma grew up right in the midst of the civil rights movement in the south!  She remember the sit-ins happening and having to use separate bathrooms etc.

Both of the above pictures are from Wikipedia.

Walking around downtown Greensboro...

Meredith with her imaginary boyfriend.

If you're still looking at these pictures...you're crazy.  But I'm going to keep going!

The Monday after Christmas Zach left for Germany (that's a long story...) and then on Wednesday Meredith and Eli left for Ohio.  So with just Nate and I left at home we decided to abandon the family and go visit his family for the rest of the trip.  Back to Charlotte we went!  It was really great because not only did we get to see Chelsea's family, but Jessica's family drove up from Georgia for the New Year so we got to spend more time with them too.

The Smith's traditionally have appetizers on New Years Eve and throw a fun party for friends.  Since it was just us three families, we decided to do our own version of this and buy our favorite appetizers from local restaurants.  We got apps from probably 12 different places and it was delicious!!!  Such a fun idea!

Playing Tripoly to pass the time.

Getting ready for the big moment!

Peter put on a fireworks show for us so we all cuddled under the pergola Nate built when we were in Charlotte last year :)

Annndddd a few more pictures of the cute kiddos to finish the trip off...

Bailee doing my hair

 Just look at this face.  Adorable.

Pumpkin Patch Pickin'

Last night we were able to go to a pumpkin patch with all of our awesome friends!  It was so fun!  I can't even remember the last time I went to an actual pumpkin patch to pick out a pumpkin.  I ended up picking like five or six pumpkins...oops.  In the end I just go three.  One to carve and two to paint.  I'm trying to be crafty nowdays!!

Isn't my husband one hunk of hunkiness?!

None of us had stuff to carve pumpkins with so we went to Walmart and then went to the other Smith's to carve and paint!  Tess and I went the artsy fartsy way while the guys and Caroline carved.  Granted, I did hollow out the guts of ours.  Nate just carved one pumpkin since space was limited.  We have another bigger pumpkin to still carve! 

Ours looks pretty good all lit up!

4th of July Weekend

This year we decided to go down to Utah for the 4th.  I have had to work Saturdays so we haven't been able to go anywhere on the weekends.  Somehow, I got Saturday the 5th off so Friday night we headed down.  I had to work at Broulims until 6:30 so we didn't leave until 7:30.

I was really sad we weren't going to be able to go to an actual fireworks show but it worked out that we got to Tremonton around 9:50 and was able to watch fireworks all down the highway to Provo.  It was amazing!  There were some points where we could see probably 10 different firework displays at a time.

We didn't get to Provo until 11ish and our first stop was to pick up my brother Eli from his apartment.  We then changed our plans slightly and ended up getting a hotel in Provo for the night.  Well, we tried finding one in Provo but they were all booked solid because of the Carrie Underwood concert so we got one just outside of it.  Once we got there, we realized we were all hungry so back out we went (it's now 1:00am) to find food.  The only places open were Del Taco and Taco Bell...so we went to both!  We never had Del Taco before so Eli and I wanted to try that.  Nate didn't want to try something new so he wanted Taco Bell.  Eli and I also ended up getting stuff at Taco Bell too, just in case Del Taco was bad.  Since the food was so cheap, it didn't matter!

When Eli worked at the gas station back home he developed the habit of walking over to McDonalds after his shift to pick up dropped change from the drive-thru....so he hopped out of the car at both places and found some.  I think he made a whole 45 cents or something.  (Excuse our very dirty windshield).

Eli posted this picture on twitter with the caption "Third Wheeling Level 100"

On Saturday, we took Eli to run a few errands since he doesn't have a car.  First, we went to DI to buy him some kitchen essentials that he was so lacking.  I happened to find a mini muffin pan which was nice because mine has gotten lost at some point during my college career.  Next, we went to Super Walmart to buy food because he'd been surviving on Saltine crackers for the most part.  He spent over $100 which was definitely the most he's ever spent in one trip on food.  Thankfully, most of the stuff he won't need to buy again for a really long time (flour, oil, salt, rice, potatoes etc.)

Last time Nate and I were in the area we discovered an outlet mall that we didn't get to spend much time at so we went there next.  The boys enjoyed looking around the Nike store (which bores me) but then we went to J. Crew and Gap.  Outlets are a fantastic thing, I might add.  They make stores like J. Crew have prices in a range I can actually afford...since I can't be buying $50 pairs of shorts and $70 shirts!  But I ended up getting a pair of shorts and a shirt and Nate got some shorts and shirts as well.  At Gap I found a pair of jeans (which is good since I've basically been wearing one pair for the last year...I need some variety) and two really cute shirts.  It was a great trip all around!

In my new Gap jeans and shirt, with Eli right before we left to go back to Idaho.

After shopping, we met up with Nate's brother Brandon's family for pizza at Pizza Pie Cafe.  We have one in Rexburg but rarely go because Nate doesn't really like it.  I was glad it's what the kids picked because I hadn't been there in so long!  Sadly, it wasn't as good as I remembered :(

These kiddos are hilarious!!

To our excitement, there were fireworks planned for the night in Spanish Fork, where Nate's brother lives.  Apparently, it is just some guy that puts a show together because he loves fireworks.  Sounds like not a big deal, but it was legit.  It was set to music and had huge fireworks and everything!  Since our expectations for it were not really big, it was far more exciting than we anticipated haha (and I never got a picture of a big firework so this picture will have to do...)

On Sunday we went to church with Brandon's family and they fed us a delicious dinner of steak, potatoes, and pineapple jello salad!  The girls wanted to paint nails before I left so we went onto the porch outside to do that.  They painted mine first (a wide variety of pinks, reds, oranges and one blue) and then it was my turn to paint theirs.  Well, me being a total klutz, dropped the paint bottle and spilled silver nail polish all over my brand new jeans which I had been wearing for literally 15 minutes.  Brandon was a lifesaver and scrubbed it out using nail polish remover and after washing them when I got home you can't even tell it was there!

Overall, it was a fantastic weekend with family.  I especially enjoyed visiting with Eli and meeting some of his new BYU roommates.  It was a fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants weekend, but that's how we like it :)