Adventure #9: Christmas, Colorado, and Family

"Having a place to go is a home. Having someone to love is a family. Having both is a blessing." - Donna Hedges

December 2013 - March 2014

We made it through a whole year of marriage!!! And when I say "made it" I mean we breezed through it! Sure we had a few challenges here and there, but overall our first year together was rather stress-free and just fun! We really did get lucky and we were blessed by family and friends, helping to make our first year of marriage pretty much easy.

Of course our first year anniversary came in the middle of finals week, so we went to Macaroni Grille. The food was really good and we got free dessert! It was chocolate gelato... so ya, I was in heaven. 

We got to spend Christmas 2013 with the Brassell's. It was so relaxing and we were spoiled by both of our families. It was my first Christmas away from home, but we were able to Skype with my family for opening presents. We also watched Home Alone 1 and 2 which helped me feel at home.  :)

Jordan's mom asked for a special Christmas gift: she asked us each to bring a name to take to the temple. It really was incredible to do family temple work with so much of Jordan's family there!

Soon after Christmas, we went to William's baby blessing. John and Mary's newest addition to their family.

Along with having great experiences with family, we have been especially blessed to have such great friends! Our friends Ashley and Austin invited us and other friends to go to Colorado for the XGames. Jordan and I mostly grew up close to the beach, so the XGames were something we had never experienced. I wish I had more pictures from this trip, but my phone died the day we actually went to the XGames so I only have a few.

This was taken from Austin's home in Colorado. His family was so sweet and accommodating. One of the mornings we were there, we went in the jacuzzi on their back porch! We seriously had to step over snow to get in! 

This is the only picture I have from when we were at the XGames. The couple on the right are Lana and Marcus - some of our other good friends who went to Colorado with us.

I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but Jordan and I were freezing! I wore like a million layers, but I guess it wasn't enough. Jordan almost didn't bring a coat, but luckily I forced him to. haha I felt so bad because Jordan didn't have any snow boots and so he just wore some Nike tennis shoes with some short socks. After spending an hour or two outside, Jordan's feet were nearly frozen. We all got some free beanies on the way in, so we decided to put some beanies on Jordan's feet. It worked for a little while, but his feet still got cold. I could feel my feet going numb about the same time. Needless to say, we were outside for about three or four hours total and we couldn't take it any more. We ended up going inside somewhere and tried to thaw out.

The XGames were super awesome to watch, but we'll definitely bring warmer clothes next time!

I just had to show off the flowers that Jordan got me for Valentines Day 2014. They were SOOOO beautiful!!! It was also funny because after Jordan picked them out for me, he looked at the tag and noticed they were from Colombia (where Jordan served his mission)!!! It was fate. :)

My boss gave us tickets to a BYU Basketball game! It was our first BYU Basketball game together. 

Towards the beginning of March my dad and older brother were able to come to Utah for another cousin's wedding. We definitely had a lot of fun while they were in town. We went to Five Guys and played some basketball. My dad took this picture of James, me, and Jordan.

Later in March we were able to go up to Rexburg when Brittany received her endowments. It was a great day at the temple again with so much family.

Rexburg was a beautiful temple. I can't wait to go back. :)