Two Years Down, Eternity To Go!

It's true. This week we are celebrating our 2nd anniversary. I don't know when that happened!
To celebrate, we are going out to have an Italian dinner and dessert at our very favorite place. It will be fun!

Here's some pictures from our year together.

Going on our first date all over again!

Checking out the solar eclipse.

Nap time

Playing around with my mom's iPad

Visiting the Oakland temple

Modeling in Idaho

Sleeping under the stars in Idaho

Hanging out in Yellowstone

My favorite part of Yellowstone

Our latest family picture

This year has been wonderful and I can't wait to see what this one brings!

Highlights of '12

On New Year's Eve, Jonathan and I were chaperones for a youth church dance. We had the tough job of guarding some exterior doors. To help keep ourselves occupied, I thought it would be fun to come up with a list of the top twelve things that happened/ we did this year. I'll just share a few with you.

Jonathan had his first experience of going to Disneyland for multiple days!
(I want to go back just to be in Cars Land!)

 I loved our trip to Idaho during the summer especially because all 17 Patterson's were together.

At the end of this month, this picture will be outdated because baby Charlotte will be here!

Jonathan saved my life when I passed out at the temple.
(I'm only being slightly over-dramatic.)

We also were very regular with our temple attendance and
I know that has been such a blessing in our life.

We have a real plan for our future! (And this one really feels like it will stick!)

We survived our separation due to Girl's Camp (which I still have yet to blog about, it will come).
(I loved Camp, just not being away from my Mr. Nelson!)

Our car was stolen! (And promptly returned.)

2012 was our first calender year together!
(And it didn't even feel like it was that long!)

We have a deeper understanding of each other than we did the year before.

Last year was a wonderful year and I have a feeling that this year will be great too!

Last Minute Trip? Let's Go!

For anyone that doesn't know us, Jonathan and I are not last minute people. We plan just about everything out that we can. There are a few times that we make exceptions and this was one of them.

In early January, my cousin and his wife announced that they were going to be sealed in the Draper Utah temple. I asked Jonathan if I was crazy because I wanted to try to be there. He was kind and told me that I wasn't. We quickly figured out that we could take a few days off of work and fly there. So, we quickly booked the flights!

It didn't seem like we were really doing this even when we were packing for to leave the night before. Garrett was nice enough to drive us to the airport (along with my mom). We got the airport more than an hour early, so we were feeling pretty good.

We used a kiosk to print out our tickets and took the little train to the security check point. I started looking at my ticket and it had Jonathan's name on it. I realized that I had Jonathan's second ticket and not my own! A minor panic attack happened as we quickly went back to the kiosk hoping that my tickets were still there. We made it to the machine and sure enough, my tickets were right were we left them! After that, the rest of our travels were pretty normal.

We had a layover in lovely Long Beach. We weren't sure if we really wanted to continue knowing how freezing cold it would be. We went to Utah anyways. As the plane descended, everything was covered in a layer of white. I just started laughing. I do not like "cold California weather" let alone having it be cold enough for snow to stick to the ground. It was cold, but I somehow survived!

We decided to play in Temple Square before heading down to my uncle's house. There was hardly anyone outside. (Probably because the temperature was in the teens.) We walked around the Salt Lake Temple and as we were around the reflection pool, I hit Jonathan in the back with a snowball. (This was our first time in the snow together.) He wasn't too happy and started forming a snowball of his own. I begged him to be nice and not hit me in the head because I was nice and hit him in the back. Well, I turned and walked away quickly and he said something and I turned to say what and you know what happened? Yes, his snowball hit me in the face, but it gets even better. He hit me in my right eye. Can I just say that from personal experience, it is far better to get hit in the eye with a tennis ball than a snowball. Yeah it hurt, but what was worse was that each time I blinked freezing cold snow would get into my eye and melt. Lucky for him, I only brought it up about a dozen times during the rest of our trip.

We headed back to our car because we were both freezing! We were about 5 minutes away from my uncle's house and it started to lightly snow on us. (I was so grateful that Jonathan did all of the driving!)  We got all nice and warm by a lovely fire.

The next morning was so wonderful and exciting! My cousin Joe and his wonderful wife Courtney were sealed in the Draper Temple on their third anniversary. I've only been to three other sealings (including my own), but this one was by far the most special one. As soon as Joe and Courtney entered the room, I started crying. They were both glowing and overflowing with joy. It will be an experience that I will never forget.

We were in a winter wonderland.

The happy couple!!!

After the sealing, we took a few quick pictures and then had a brunch with all of the family. Jonathan finally got to meet my cousin Kinzie and her children. (He actually terrified her two little boys while we were waiting to leave the temple, luckily they did not scream stranger danger while they ran to their mother.) It was fun seeing my cousin Kurtis's little girl again. She is seriously the most smiley baby I have ever been around and she was even sick! As we were sitting around the table, someone asked how Jonathan and I ended up together. It was fun retelling our story, but I especially love seeing peoples' reaction when they find out that I shot Jonathan down about nine months before our first date. (What can I say, I was 19 and he was 26 when we met!) 

After everyone left, we headed back up to Salt Lake for some fun. We had dinner at the Lion House and checked out Deseret Book and a cool toy store.

22 degrees at that time was considered to be warm...

On our last morning, we went to Provo to visit one of Jonathan's old roommates from college. It's sometimes weird to think that Jonathan had so many years before he met me. Jonathan drove me around showing me some of the old apartments he lived in. Including his first apartment where his parents met for the first time way back in the day.

This trip was very quick, but so much fun! I am so grateful that we were able to be at my cousin's sealing. I am grateful that there are temples on the earth today so we can have eternal families. As I hugged Courtney after the ceremony, I reminded her that now she is stuck with all of us Pattersons forever. She was thrilled and I am so glad that she is part of our family too!

I'm also grateful for my Mr. Nelson for making this trip possible.

A Wonderful Memory

I was working on a few Valentine's Day crafts this morning. They are brand new things that I've never tried before and I must say that they are turning out really well! They aren't quite done, so I'll wait to share them.

This may or may not be a clue to what I'm working on...

As I was working on them, my mind started wandering. I was thinking that about 12 hours before I was sitting in the exact same spot working on Physics homework. I felt a wave of gratitude for having a mind that gets just as much enjoyment out of learning Physics as making cute craft projects. There was a time when I was convinced that I was not capable of making things. I appreciated them, but I didn't feel like I could do it myself. That led me to focus in on my science and music classes. I knew that I could develop myself in those ways. That all changed 3 years ago.

The Single's Ward I was in had a Relief Society retreat and we ended up having crafts as a part of it. I wasn't terribly excited for that part simply because I knew that I wasn't good at making crafts (or so I thought). Sister Brock brought some framed magnetic boards, wooden frames, and cute paper to decorate with. I started out with the wooden frame because it was little and not so intimidating for a non-crafty person. After awhile, Sister Brock was showing someone else how to mod podge the large framed magnet board. She convinced me to try it even though I kept telling her I wasn't crafty. So, I started looking through the paper and being crafty. I could not believe that not only was I being crafty, but it also looked so good!

My very first craft!
(I am redoing it that is why a lot of the paper is ripped off).

I am so grateful that Sister Brock pushed me to try something that I was convinced that I couldn't do. I have had so much fun during the past three years making crafts of my own. I am also grateful that I live in a time where I can be educated and yet still make time to be creative. 

The End of an Era

We have officially moved out of our first apartment. It's exciting to start a new chapter in our lives, but it is still hard to be moving on from where we started our life together.

Our crazy packing mess.

We had so many good times there and lots of normal life times there too. I can't say that I am not grateful for this opportunity my parents are giving us. It is going to be so helpful as we continue on our journey together. My parents did the same thing that we are doing early on in their marriage and I am so grateful that they are willing to do the same for us.

I miss the amazing sunsets we could see from our window and staircase.

I will share some of the crazy stories about where we lived and will soon share pictures of our rooms as soon as we're settled in. (School and work have been keeping us a little too busy to finish getting settled.)

One of our first gifts for our apartment was
my flower doormat.

It's the Weekend!

Between finishing up moving, starting a new semester, and work, I am ready for a break! Too bad I still have lots of homework to do. Oh well!

I just read on one of my favorite blogs Nienie Dialogs that this month is lovers month. I was already planning on doing some cute things, but now I feel more justified! I'll share more of those things later this month.

Last night my mom and I threw a baby shower for my sister who's having her second baby and first little girl. She got tons and tons of darling dresses for her little Charlotte. Here's some pictures of the decorations. (I took them this morning).

 

 

  I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Christmas Projects

I feel kind of lame for writing about Christmas at the very end of January... oh well!

No surprise, my Christmas was filled with different projects. The biggest one by far was our Christmas tree. I know that most everyone buys a tree, but I saw an idea on pinterest (shocking) and wanted to do it! I saw a plain, cardboard Christmas tree. I loved it and wanted to tweak it into a creation of my own. Thankfully, Jonathan was able to get refrigerator boxes for me to cut out our tree. I painted the cardboard with green poster paint and then punched out little holes so our Christmas lights could poke through. It was magical!

Jonathan & I already have plans to make next
year's cardboard tree even better!

I made drawstring bags for the little girls, Lyla and Clara. I'm grateful my mom has a huge stash of fabric and that they fit each of the little girls' personalities so well.

For my sister's baby that's due the end of February, I made a couple of hot pink polka dot onesies. It was seriously, so much fun!

For all of the toddlers in my life, I found another idea on pinterest and that's shaped crayons! You just take your broken crayons, oil up a cupcake tin, and bake it. I found a great bug cupcake tin and knew it would be perfect for this project. It was so fun, but the worst part was taking the wrappers off of the crayons.

To go with their crayons, I sewed little books of blank paper for each of the kids. (Mercedes was definitely my favorite!)

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas with lots of family. We sure did with bouncing back and forth between our two families.

You might not see it , but there really are 5 little boys in this pile.

A Silly Three Year Old

Garrett had his 3rd birthday two weeks ago. Jonathan and I went over to his house to give him a gift. When we got there he was still having dinner with all of his grandparents. He got distracted by us and played with balloons.
My sister put streamers in front of his doorway and Garrett said it was a car wash. I asked him to show it to me and as Jonathan was coming through it, Garrett yelled and told him to stop. Jonathan started chuckling and tried to come through it again but Garrett would not let him. He even shut the door and quietly said, "We'll be safe in here."
What a silly boy! He really does like Jonathan, but doesn't want him in his room.

It's Seriously 2013!?

I feel like I've really fallen behind the times! Christmas and New Year's have already come and gone and I feel like I'm still stuck somewhere in September. Well, needless to say I have some catching up to do with all that we did last month, but I will save that for later!

We've already been very busy this month and it's only the 12th!

The reason we've been so terribly busy is because Jonathan and I are moving. This last summer my sister and her little family we're living with my parents and after she moved out my parents offered to let us move in to help us save some money. Jonathan and I discussed it and we felt that it would be better to move in January rather than in the middle of a semester. So, that's what we've been doing. This week was our painting week. My mom has been dying to paint the orange room and the pink room for a few years now and this was her chance of it finally happening!

No more orange walls and ceiling! I was very adamant that we needed to prime the orange room because I knew it would drive me crazy if I saw even a little bit under the new color.

The residual paint after priming the ceiling. (Can I just say that I HATE painting ceilings!)

At least I had a hot painting partner!

It's unreal to think that we are actually moving. We have been in our apartment for almost 2 years and it is our home. We slowly started telling people that we were moving and somehow random people at church were coming up to me and asking about our move. It's going to be hard to leave our wonderful ward. I've loved being there. A couple of weeks ago at church, a group of girls came up to me and started talking about girl's camp. I had to tell them that I was moving and wouldn't be going and they shunned me for the rest of the day. (Luckily, a couple of them have forgiven me!) I feel like we've been so blessed to be part of such a wonderful ward. I can't wait to be part of the ward I grew up in again, but I will always remember how wonderful our first ward as a married couple has been.

We still have a lot more to do before the month is over! I'll try to share more.