Cross Country Ski trip

So I figure since Matt and I are living in snow country I might as well take advantage of it. The school offers so many activities to do in the snow and one of them is cross country skiing. When my family and I lived in Pocatello, Idaho my mom would take Scott and I skiing every once in awhile and in elementary school I went cross country skiing too. So I decided to try it once again. I got one of my good friends Justina to go with me. We went up by Targhee at a place called Harriman. We had a BLAST! It was so fun (a workout let me tell ya, I am also a pro now at getting up after falling)! There was so much snow!!! It was so nice to be out in nature, we saw moose, and ducks. It was so nice to get away and realize how grateful I am for Heavenly Father's beautiful creations. The trees were covered in snow, it looked like a winter wonderland. It was also fun to have some girl time.

Matt totally cracked up when he saw me in my sexy ski bibs, I know I look like a dork but hey they kept me warm and from getting wet!

My Birthday

So I am a little late but January 14 was my birthday. I turned 22. I can't believe I am that old. It just feels like yesterday I was getting my divers license. Matt was really sweet, he got up made me a fruit smoothie and blueberry muffins. He then was so excited about my presents he made me open them before he had to go to work and I had to go to school. I received a cute sweater and an exercise ball with a workout dvd. Christa and Michael were kind and gave me a fun winter skirt with a sweater. My family gave me a belt with a cute blue jacket. My sisters were sweet and gave me fun Valentine Place Mats with hearts on it. Then when Matt got off work we went to Applebee's for dinner. We had to rush a little bit because I have a 7-10:00 (I know shoot me!) class every Wednesday night. When I came home to my surprise Matt had gone to DQ and got me a Reeses Cup Ice-Cream Cake!!! It was so delicious!!!! I had a wonderful birthday and am so blessed to have a good husband!

Christmas in Kansas

My family has the Wii and so for Christmas they received from Santa Wii Fit. One of the fitness activities is doing the Hula Hoop. I am here to testify that after doing it for a minute you are tired! You have to go as fast as you can or you loose!
Here is Katie, she looks like she is raising the roof, go Kate!

Here is my mom, she is probably going to laugh when she sees this, but I thought her family might get a kick out of this!

I love her! She makes me laugh!

Here is Brett
Sorry the order got messed up, for more laughter, scroll down!

Christmas Day at the McKendrick's home. At the last moment Angus decided he wanted to be in the picture. Katie and Sarah are my sisters.

Ha Ha, I love this picture of my babe. He is really swinging those hips!

Here is Greg

Here is my dad

The Sunday night before we left, we had some friends come over. Here is Matt's mom Christa playing Catch Phrase.

Katie, Matt, and Greg

Brett trying to get his team to guess the word!

Brett's friend, Sarah, and my mom

Even though Matt didn't go to the ballet (he was heartbroken) I grabbed a picture with him

Cute House my mom and Sarah made.

After the ballet with Grandma. It was wonderful!

All the girls that went to the Nutcracker Ballet!
Sarah, Me, Katie, My Mom, Grandma Tietjen, and Christa

More pictures are soon to come they are on Matt's camera and its currently dead.

Christmas Break!

For Christmas Matt and I got to go home to Kansas!!! It was so nice to get out of Rexburg. I loved spending time with family and just relaxing. After traveling down to the airport, Matt and I have come to the conclusion that we NEVER want to live in Idaho again!!!! We left Monday, December 22 at 5:30 in the morning thinking that would give us enough time to catch our flight at 10:45 a.m. However the roads weren't plowed in Idaho (but they were in Utah) and we ended up missing our flight. We usually can make it to SLC in 3 to 3 and 1/2 hours. However it took us forever, a couple of times we were in a white out. However the airport was great and we arrived in Kansas around 9:30 p.m. that night. We decided to break it up and spent the first week with my family and then the second week with his family. Tuesday night the girls got to go and see the Nutcracker at the Music Hall in downtown KC. My mom's Aunt Catherine had the great idea for all the aunts, and girl cousins to go to the ballet. So everyone in Arizona went and all the Tietjen girls along with Christa (Matt's mom) went. It was AMAZING!! Time flew by, we all throughly enjoyed the ballet. Its amazing how they can stand on their toes for periods of time. For Christmas Eve Matt's family have the tradition of going out for Chinese Food. Then we came back to my house and watched the movie, "Joy to the World." My mother gave a beautiful testimony along with my grandmother, dad, and Matt's dad. The spirit was so strong and it was wonderful to be with everyone. This was probably our last Christmas together since my brother Scott will be going on a mission this coming year. Then we all got to open one present. Then my family has the tradition of all the children sleeping in the same room, so we can all wake up together and open presents. However Matt wasn't totally thrilled with this idea, so we slept in the basement. Christmas morning was fun, we opened presents, and had my mother's famous breakfast. Later that day, we went over to Matt's parents house and opened gifts. Then we all got back together and had a big Ham dinner. I am so grateful our parents live so close to each other so we can spend the Holidays with my parents and Matt's parents.
We had a great time in Kansas, the weather was beautiful, in the 60s. We got to go out to eat at the Peach Tree and see Matt's aunt Erin and her family. We also got to see some old friends and have a great time playing games. Matt and I flew out of Kansas Tuesday and arrived in SLC 12:00 that night. It was 4 a.m. when we arrived in Rexburg and I had my first class at 10:15 and Matt back to work. Back to real life. Pictures will be posted soon!