Santa...I know him!

On Saturday Nick and I went to see the annual Santa Parade in downtown Sacramento. Dad also had the same idea and brought Katie and her kids so we all got to enjoy the parade together. The parade was actually pretty fun. Nick was a little sad because there was only one marching band in the parade and they didn't even play anything when they passed us. However, there were plenty of policemen and firemen which Mason flashed his Junior officer badge every time they passed us. The officers loved it and I'm pretty sure Mason got extra candy from them. After the parade we went to see the huge Christmas tree they have in front of the Capitol. The ornaments are seriously the size of a small child's head...it was crazy. Then we all went out to lunch and then went our separate ways.. Nick and I still had some shopping to do. I think next year we will probably go again and hope that there some more music for Nick.

Santa Parade...

Best Show Ever....

Last week Jenny and I had the opportunity to go down to the new theatre in downtown Sacramento to see the show "Forever Plaid". It was doubly exciting because not only did I get to see a show with Jenny but my cousin Megan works at the theatre and so I got a chance to see and hang out with her as well. The show is INCREDIBLE. "Forever Plaid" is the story of The Plaids, a 1950s all-male singing group who return from the dead to play the gig they never got to when they were alive. The four guys in the play were amazingly goofy and really great singers. I even got serenaded by one of them during the play. Jenny and I both loved it and were really excited that we got to meet three out of the four guys after the show... I have the coolest cousin ever. After the play Megan, Jenny and I went out for dessert at the dessert diner and just had fun catching up a little. If you have a chance to and live in Sacramento I would definately recommend the play. It was such a fun night, I would love to go again and take Nicholas next time.

Christmas Tree!

Yesterday my family took our annual trip up to Apple Hill to cut down our Christmas tree. Since it's Nick and I's first Christmas together as a married couple we decided (well actually I decided) on a smaller tree. However, the trees at the farm are priced according to type rather than size so we opted out of buying one up there and decided to buy one when we got home instead. We had a lot of fun helping everyone else find their perfect tree and eating brunch at Sportsmen's Lodge. After brunch everyone headed back home, but Dad and Mom took us to the fudge factory to get a chocolate caramel apple. We ended our day finding a small, fat tree at a lot near our house and Nick put on the lights last night before I had to drop him off this morning at the airport for his work training in Minnesota. He'll be home on the eighteenth and I'll probably be spending a lot of time at my parent's house and the Langstraats eagerly awaiting his return. I hope everyone is having a great holiday so far.
Nick and I

The Busath Family (including a very grumpy nephew...)

Nick and his favorite girl

Me and Mason

Our little tree!

Oh Nicholas...

I'm super bored and Nick is playing with the Wii so here you go...

1) Where did you meet? In the foyer of the Elk Grove stake center

2) What was the first thought that went through your head when you met? "So this is the guy that Janie has been taking about for months...huh..."

3) Do you remember what he was wearing? White shirt, tie and suit...

4) Where was the first time you kissed this person? In front of my house, next to his car

5) Where did you go on your first date? We went to the crazy corn maze in Dixon and tried to get lost in some corn stalks

6) How long did you know this person before you were a couple? A week...maybe...

7) How did he ask you out? I asked him out on our first date, but we became official over the phone

8) Has this person purposed to you? Yes

9) Do you and this person have have kids together? Not yet.

10) Have you ever broken the law with this person? Absolutely, we speed sometimes...among other things

11) When was the first time you knew you liked this person? When I realized that he was actually waiting for Me on the stairs at FHE the day after we met.

12) Do you get along with his family? Yes, but I don't really get the chance to see them that often

13) Do you trust this person? Absolutely.

14) Do you see him as your future partner? At this point he's pretty much stuck with me forever

15) What is the best gift he ever gave you? The thing that I use the most is my Volcom hoodie but I love when he gets me stupid stuff like a pepsi for dinner.

16) What is the one thing he does that gets on your nerves? It's a toss up between...no...I lied. I hate when he ignores me for any kind of reason.

17) Where do you see each other in 15 years from now? Fifteen years older with some kids playing the Wii

18) What causes the most arguments? I bug him a lot to the point where he gets a little irritated

19) How long have you been together? We've been married for nine months now

20) Are you married? Unless something happened that I don't know about :/

Merry Birthday?!

For our Christmas present, my parents sent all their kids and themselves on a cruise to Ensenada, Mexico. We left on a Wednesday and got home on a Monday afternoon. The ship didn't leave port until Friday, so we decided that we should probably go to Disneyland on Thursday, you know since we were in the area. Nick and I got spoiled and my parents actually bought our hopper tickets for our respective birthdays.

Kids at Disneyland

Waiting for the Toy Story ride...it's a 3D ride

Ensenada

At the Fiesta...

Nick and I absolutely loved Disneyland and California Adventure. The best part was of course being able to lead everyone into California Adventure and being able to ride the Tower of Terror before anyone else that day. We both hadn't been there in a long time so it was so amazing to get to go and be a kid again. The cruise was also a lot of fun as well as Mexico. In Mexico we got a chance to tour Ensenada and attend a fiesta complete with a pinata. I got a fake tattoo and learned a new county line dance on the boat and Nick got a chance to hang with the boys for awhile. Best part of the cruise of course was the food though. Who can hate on 24 hour soft serve? Oh, and also the actually food too. It was such a great vacation and we were so glad that we could spend it with my crazy family.

Halloween!

We had a pretty low key Halloween this year. I had a busy day at work with our annual Fall Festival and a bizillion little kids running around like princesses or superhero, but it was a lot of fun. My favorite costumes were Chicken little and Nemo complete with one regular size fin and one lucky one. Nick and I went over to my parent's house to see the kids all dressed up before they went trick or treating and to make halloween pumpkin pizzas. It's a silly tradition but I still love those pizzas even if they only taste alright. I hope everyone had a good Halloween as well!

Before the oven...

My pizzas of choice!

Happy Birthday to Nick!

This weekend it was Nick's turn for birthday fun. Since I had class all day on Saturday, his actual birthday, we decided that we would do something on Friday to celebrate. Nick heard on the radio about Raley Field's Rhythum and Ribs festival so we decided to invite the Langstraats and get ourselves some ribs. Nick and Chad both devoured an entire rack of ribs a piece while Erin and I tried some bbq sandwiches which despite being a little spicy were delicious. There was also a small vendor section where we bought some cute clips for Brianna and Jill and saw the funniest sign ever...

Nick and his ribs....

On the way to the vendors...

What the...?

Friday was a lot of fun and we were so glad that the Langstraats came to hang out with us. On Saturday Nick opened his presents from me and then on Sunday we went over to my parents house to celebrate with them. For dinner we had a variety of salads and chicken wings by request of Nick...apparently my husband loves some good meat. Thanks everyone who helped us celebrate this weekend!

Labor Day Weekend...

Nick and I basically partied all weekend long. On Friday we went to the State fair with Erin, Chad and Brianna Langstraat. I got everything that I wanted a ride on the Ferris Wheel and cotton candy. We had a ton of fun petting the animals, spotting the mullets and spending time hanging out.

On Saturday Nick, Jenny and I went down to the bay area partly to turn in homework for me and partly to not waste a whole day to drop off a couple of binders. We went to Berkeley and had some of the best pizza ever at Blondie's and then drove down to San Francisco to see the sea lions and get some amazing salt water taffy. Way too much fun for a trip to school.

On Sunday we celebrated my birthday at my parents house and basically never stopped laughing. I'm not sure what happened but everyone brought their A game and we had a lot of fun hanging out.

On Monday we went down to Lake Tahoe to spend some time on the beach for labor day with the Langstraats. We had so much fun on the cold, windy beach and only suffered one causality...poor easy up. Surprisingly we got a little bit sun burned but the boys had fun in the water while Erin and I had fun hanging out on the beach.

Overall the weekend was fantastic and a nice way to end my summer freedom. Starting this weekend I have class EVERY weekend until the middle of November. I'm so glad that we had this time to spend with our family and friends.

Cake Balls? Cake Pops? You decide...

My friend Erin is pretty much the coolest and for her daughter, Brianna's birthday she made the cutest cupcake on a sticks I'd ever seen. I really wanted some for my birthday so I asked for her help. We decided instead of cupcakes to try and make yellow happy faces instead of cupcakes and thus started the adventure...

Brianna eating the leftover cake we didn't use...

Feeding me the cake...she is such a good sharer.

The one's that survived.

My favorite one.

We had some problems along the way with actually keeping the cake on the stick and melting the chocolate and pretty much anything that could go wrong did. However in the end they tasted delicious and it was really fun.

You wanna play steak?

On our last grocery shopping excursion we splurged and bought a steak. I know... we're big time. Well, we finally made it yesterday and it was just incredibly delicious and a nice change from chicken and pasta. We even made it into a real life meal with a vegetable and everything. I was a little bit excited about it so I took pictures...

My amazing kitchen table and our STEAK dinner...

Nick so happy to not be eating chicken...

I'm a carboholic....

Best Dinner yet.

Why is my husband crazy?

This was all Jenny's idea and because I love her I'll refrain from posting the pictures of her.My Favorite.



Crazy Eyes


You should see the other guy?

How can I have some more when I haven't had anything yet?!

Last Friday Nick and I decided to have a date night. One problem we are trying to save money so coming up with something got a little tricky. I suggested that we camp out in the living room and make smores over the bbq. If you know Nick you know that all I have to do is offer treats and I can convince him that anything is a good idea... :)

"When the mallow is flaming...."


Best Idea EVER.

Nick in smore heaven.

Who We Taking About?

So I know that it's been a long time since the last post but I have excuses if you want them. I won't bore you with them but just know that they're there. Here's some of the things that we have been up to in the last couple of weeks...

Nick and his friend Chad went to Yosemite to take on Half Dome. One was successful and one made it to a really cool waterfall....I'm not telling which did what because I might get in trouble for ratting them out.

On June 19th we celebrated Jill's first birthday with all of my family over at Andi's house by the pool. Of course Jill made out like a bandit and we all had a lot of fun.

Jenny and I went to the Brad Paisley concert! The weather was surprisingly not horrible for June in Sacramento. There were three opening acts and Brad went non stop for over an hour. We had so much fun.

We spent the Fourth of July over at my brother in law's sister's house lounging by the pool. It was a really nice day and fun to hang out with all the family, watch fireworks and especially watch the little kids play with the sparklers.

Finally, a couple of days ago we had some great news come in the mail for us. Nick past the CHP written exam!

Tide Pools Are Not For Swimming...

I feel like the slacker of the family, seeing as how both Andi and Katie have already posted pictures of the annual Santa Cruz trip and they both have little kids. As most of you know every year my family heads up to Santa Cruz to go camping and every year it gets a little bit harder to convince my dad it's a good idea. This year was a bit different for me. Not only did I leave for the day on Saturday to go to school but I also had a boy sleeping in my tent with me! Thanks to my work we had our very own tent too. Nick wasn't able to make it up until Friday night. I didn't want to wait so I went up on Thursday with my family and spent Friday at the beach with Mason playing some wave tag.

Nick spent his first real day up there hiking with everyone up to the Observation Deck and having as much fun at the beach as they could on an overcast day.

Hiking to the Observation Deck and stealing Sam and I's
fish face pose...

Sunday we went to the tide pools and had a lot of fun looking at the mussells, star fish, crabs and sea anemones. We even convinced Lucas to touch a star fish! We had a lot of fun and I was glad that Nick and I actually got to spend a least one day together. Unfortunately, and I'm fearing it might become a trend, I got sick with the flu the night that we got home. I'm glad it waited until after all the camping though. Hey, it gave me another day off of work!

Touching a star fish at the "tadpoles"

Looking for something good...


Jill and I at the beach on Friday

Tide pools.

Hey its a male plane...

Marianne & Jenny May

Bubba

Sam and Jenny May Hittin The Bottle...

The one time i didnt take a serious picture and Marianne does

Sam, Bubba, Me and Grow

Sam Shoving a Brownie cookie and a churro in at the same time now thats talent.

Last night we we had a Cinco De Mayo celebration. It was a ton of fun. Marianne, myself, Jenny May, Sam, Bubba and Grow watched The Three Amigos. Jenny, Sam and Bubba had never seen it before so we all got a kick out of it. We also had a lot of beer (the root verity) chips and salsa and some really good quesadillas. Despite one casualty it was a really good night.