Busy Bodies

So, we haven't gotten around to doing a post this month mainly because we haven't done anything blog worthy. Mike has been busy taking online classes, playing basketball, working out, and selling alarm systems. For the past two weeks he has been in sunny Miami with a group of guys selling. Two weeks is a loooong time to be without your other half. Before he left I got really sick, mainly a terrible sore throat and fever. It was extremely hard to be sick without him there to take care of me. Thankfully we have sweet friends that were so kind to help me out:-) My "sexy" cold voice is no longer sexy, but just plain annoying. I can't sing at church and speak in a sweet voice to babies. I know...that sounds lame but doesn't everyone make their voice a little higher when talking to little babies? Anyway, with Mike being gone I have discovered how much I really do need him in my life. I don't want to get too mushie, but I noticed how much he makes me laugh everyday because I haven't laughed much since he has been gone. I have absolutely no desire to cook if I can't enjoy the meal with him. I haven't done one load of laundry, have only worked out once in two weeks (which is totally not like me), and the car is on E. You are probably thinking I am a total slob but really I have just realized how incredibly happy Mike makes me. Thankfully he is coming home Friday night and as you can tell....I can't wait! Back to normal, happy life.

Besides from my lonely two weeks without Mike, I am trying my hardest to graduate this April. I am only taking 12 credits but I might as well be taking 20, because they are all senior level classes that require tons of time. Its all good though. I am can do this for three more months. There is a light at the end of the tunnel.

A Very Merry Christmas Indeed!

Its hard to believe that Christmas is already gone. It came so fast and furious this year that I wish I would have had time to enjoy it more. Since Mike and I are both from Colorado it makes visiting our families quite convenient. We started off the break by spending the night in Salt Lake City with our friends Aaron and Viv. You simply cannot visit SLC during Christmas and not see the fabulous lights at Temple Square. This year the lights were all red, orange, white, and a touch pink. It was absolutely breathtaking. It was nice to reflect on the true meaning we celebrate Christmas, the birth of the Savior of the World. I love Christmas time but it is easy to get caught up on buying and receiving gifts, and lose track of what it is really all about. The Nativity at Temple Square always brings a warm tear to my eye as a see the humble circumstances in which the King of Kings was born into.





When we were in Littleton at Mike's house, we spent the majority of our time chilling with the family, shopping and eating. Mike was pretty happy because he got to eat Chipotle three times. I was happy because we ate at my favorite Mexican food restaurant, Jose O'Sheas. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.....

I finally met Edward!!! Well, kind of. This is the Sisterhood of the Traveling Edward.

This year we spent Christmas Day with my family. Last year when we were engaged we spent Christmas at Mike's house. At Mike's house they all get up at 7:30am, take a picture of everyone sitting on the stairs with bed head and pj's, and rush to open presents. My house is a little different. We all sleep in (I made Mike sleep in until 10am with me), then all of us sit and chat for a bit in the family room, drink some orange juice, and take about two hours to open presents. It has gotten pretty relaxed over the years because we are all older and our excitement doesn't wake us up at dawn anymore. We were pretty stoked about our gifts because my parents made Mike a huge apple green blanket. We also got a painting that my mom did of pelicans by the water, and I was so excited to get "Mamma Mia" on dvd. Mike is pretty excited about it too....not.



Since my parents only live an hour outside of Aspen we decided to take a little day trip. I really wanted to see some celebs but unfortunately did not. I heard Mariah Carey spends every Christmas there but she must have forgotten we were coming this year. Oh well. A funny thing happened though. Mike and I went into the Ralph Lauren store and some paparazzi followed us in to see if we were celebrities. When he found out we were just "common folk" he bounced.

"A little place called As-pen"

Mike hasn't being snowboarding for about three years, because of his mission and being in school, so we were finally able to go together. Dave and Mike snowboarded while I skied. The original plan was to ski at Vail but we just couldn't see ourselves forking out $1oo per ticket, so we were to Sunlight for $50 a pop. It definitely did not hold a candle to Vail but we still had a blast. Its nice being married to someone who is as passionate about skiing/snowboarding as I am.




One Christmas tradition we do in my parent's house is making tons on sugar cookies. They are pretty much taste like heaven.

Tis' the Season

When we returned to Rexburg after the break, we had a Christmas party at the Village Apt. lounge with a bunch of our friends. We ate dinner, exchanged white elephant gifts, had a girls vs. boys gingerbread making contest (the girls totally won!), and watched the movie "Elf." By the time the party was over it began to snow.

The girl's Gingerbread house. We totally beat the guys.

So typical....but cute.

Darlene and Me

Greg and Darlene Swapp

The girls

Aaron and Vivian Burrup

The boys

Each year the McCabe girls get together and make a Christmas craft. This year the craft was glass candle holders wrapped in tissue paper. I always enjoy crafts when they are simple and functional and this was definitely one of them. First, we painted a thin coat of Mod Podge on the candle holder, then put a layer of tissue paper on it, and finally put another layer on Mod Podge to seal the tissue and make it look glossy.

Austin, Sarah, Lauren, Mam Maw, Me, and Catherine

To kick off the holiday season we went Downtown Littleton, CO where they light the streets the day after Thanksgiving. Mike and the guys decided to stay home and watch football. They missed out!

Lauren excited to see Santa!

10 TV Shows I Love to Watch:
1. John and Kate Plus Eight
2. Real Housewives of OC, and Atlanta. The wives from NYC were a bunch of narcissistic snobs.
3. The Office
4. The News....only because I feel like I have to
5. .......
6. ............
7. ................
8. ...................
9. ......................
10. That's about it although I do occasionally watch Animal Planet, but not religiously.

10 of my Favorite Restaurants:
1. Zuppa's
2. Bajio.....really any quality Mexican food is high on my list. Bajio is just really fresh and I don't
feel fat and bloated if I have their salads.
3. Mike loves Chipotle as do I....only he could seriously eat it everyday. In high school he used to eat Two burritos for lunch! WOW!
4. Millhollow
5. Cheesecake Factory
6. Pita Pit
7. Olive Garden or Johnny Carino's.... its a toss up. The only thing is O.G. has amazing salad. Either one is cool with me though.
8. Ten restaurants is really a lot.
9. We try to not eat out so much because its expensive and unhealthy, but whenever we do its a real treat.
10. These restaurants are in no particular order either.

10 Things that Happened Yesterday:
1. Woke up at about 8:30
2. Took Mike to school since we share the car
3. Read for an hour
4. Got ready, cleaned the house
5. Went to campus to sort out some things for graduation and student teaching next fall
6. Hung out with Lindsey M
7. Picked Mike up, had dinner together and the FHE
8. We went to the gym
9. Went to visit his sister who lives in student housing
10. Played games with three other married couples in the apartment above us until 12am

10 Things I am Looking Forward to:
1. Thanksgiving Break
2. Seeing the girls this weekend
3. Shopping at Park Meadows Mall in Denver with Mike
4. Seeing both of our families
5. Graduating in April
6. Having two cars
7. Going to Hawaii in the near future
8. Skiing with Mike this winter
9. Being able to put my hair in a pony tail without ten bobby pins, using hot rollers, not having crazy bed head in the morning.......Basically I miss my long hair.
10. Our first Christmas as a married couple

10 Things on my Wish List:
1. Seeing the world with Mike (London, Paris, Italy, Greece, etc)
2. I want to someday have a little girl so I can dress her up and have her as my little sidekick. For some reason I feel like I am going to have boys....Please Please just give me at least one little girl!!!
3. That it wasn't so windy in Rexburg during the winter.
4. That I could eat whatever I wanted
5. That BYU-Idaho had a better gym
6. That my computer wasn't falling apart.
7. Overall though, I am so thankful for my life right now. I really couldn't as for more!

Fall Festivities

Mike and I have really enjoyed Fall in Rexburg as newlyweds. We absolutely love our new apartment and have made lots of new friends in our ward and on this side of town. Rexburg is no doubt different as a married couple, but we both agree that it’s better. No more curfew, no boys out, and no nagging R.A's. The only trade off is paying bills that we didn't even think of when we were single, like electricity and gas. It’s worth every penny to share a home and be married to my best friend.

Halloween was a blast for Mike and me. At the last minute my friend Breanne gave us the idea to dress up as David and Victoria Beckham. Mike wore Beckham's jersey and sleeve tattoos and I tried to dress like Posh Spice. Without him I just looked like I was going out on the town. We got together with about ten married couples and played games and ate junk food. Pictured here with us is Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth, a.k.a. Miles and Chelsey.

Mike's family spent the weekend with us and we had a blast. I feel so blessed to have the in-laws that I love and enjoy spending time with. Catherine, Mike's mom, treated us to Texas Roadhouse when she came up for Mother's weekend. Mike's brother, Matt, his girlfriend Lindsey, his son Jaxon, and Mike's younger sister Lauren stayed at our house. It was a big slumber party and we loved it.

I was able to get reacquainted with my really good friend, Mellissa Hill, when she came all the way from Las Vegas for her baby shower. She is having a baby boy in about a month and I am so excited for her and Curtis. Her shower turned into a reunion for all of the girls I used to live with at Tuscany Apartments. We ended up having a girls night at my friend Paige's apartment and stayed up late together and chatted it up. It was so fun to catch up with all my friends and have some girl time. Pictured from left to right: Me, Paige, Bre, Tara, Mel, Brit, and Stacey. Love those girls.

Mamma Mia!

Since I was in high school my mom raved about the play, Mamma Mia that she saw with my dad in NYC. She was like, "I know you aren't a fan of musicals, but you would seriously love Mamma Mia. Every song is great and the story line has energy and is fun!" Well, I didn't take her word for it until she convinced me to see the movie last week. As it turned out mother's really do know what's best, because I absolutely loved it! I tried to convince Mike to take me again to see it but he said he was still burned from the musical Hairspray. I ended up seeing it again with my friend Brittney and loved it even more the second time. And yes I will be purchasing the dvd when it comes out, because I know Mike won't dare to get it for me for Christmas.

If you look on my playlist I have downloaded some of my favorite songs from the movie by Abba.

October 7th- A day to Remember

Well another birthday has come again. It really is true...the older you get the faster time flies. I am embracing getting older...even though I still feel like a little girl. This year's birthday was exceptional. I took Mike to school, worked out (always a great way to start the day off), got ready, was treated to lunch by my pals Breanne, Aubrey, and Lindsey at Millhollow, went Mesa Falls with Mike, opened presents, and had a softball game- the other team failed to show up so we didn't have to play. Overall it was a great day. Thanks for all the Happy Birthday wishes. Oh yeah, I am now 23 for those of you who have lost count.- not that it would bother me.