Christmas '09

Steve and I spent our first Christmas together :) We sure are glad we got married before the holidays so we could spend them together.

We flew to Nebraska to spend the holiday with my family. My whole family stayed at my parents house...snowed in for five days! Five days of sleeping in, eating, playing games, and generally having a good time.

Each of us was in charge of meals for one day while we were there - Steve and I made my grandpa's family-famous crepes on our day.

My family managed to stretch Christmas out over three sessions: Christmas Eve afternoon, the kids opened all of their presents from the family. That night we did our Christmas Eve tradition: Dad read the Christmas story, mom had each of us read a special Christmas story, and we sang Christmas carols. Christmas Eve after midnight (after Santa had come...) we adults stayed up and opened all of our presents :) Christmas morning, the kids opened their Santa gifts and we all enjoyed what was in our stockings.


Thanks to the blizzard of '09, our Nebraska wedding open house didn't go as planned. For one thing, no one had been able to leave their houses for four days prior. The roads were closed and people were still snowed in! A few brave souls were able to get to the reception...You can see from the snowy pictures just how much snow there was! Dad and Henry finally made it outside that Saturday morning of the reception to dig us out :) I think I heard we got 28 inches of snow or something crazy like that. Even though very few people could make it to the open house, the food was tasty and I got to wear my dress again :)


The night before we left for Nebraska, Steve and I had our own Christmas :) The weekend before, we went and saw the Zoo Lights - kinda fun. A few animals were out that night as well. Steve got to pet the zebra... :) We made Christmas cupcakes for dessert that night and were able to give some away for friends and neighbors. The other picture in this collage is the score of Wii bowling - I know it's crazy, but I was uber-excited about my final score :)

Steve got me exactly what I wanted for Christmas - a jewelry box!! We were both very lucky to get to spend Christmas together and with my family. We're so-o-o excited and happy to be married and to have our own family now :)

In the Meantime...

Steve currently describes me as having an "itchy blog-trigger finger" - it's true! I'm finally on Christmas break and I desperately want to make time to create a post about the wedding, complete with pictures. But, alas, we're waiting on permission to use a few photos taken by friends and our professional pictures won't be ready until after the new year. So until then, here's a video our good friend Jeff made of our engagement photos. We're very happy with it :)

Steve And Sara's Engagement Presentation from midiman on Vimeo.

Weekend #1

We did it - we got married last weekend!! Everything was absolutely perfect! The weather...the guests...the food...the pictures...both the luncheon and reception...everything far exceeded our expectations. We couldn't have planned it better if we'd tried! Be on the look-out for a massive posting of pictures and stories in the near future...

In the meantime, we have been enjoying being married for the past nine days :) This weekend we were able to relax a bit, as well as go out and do something fun.

Steve and I realized that our first date ever - back when we were friends - was to a Jon Schmidt concert. That was five years ago. Our first official date when we were in the earliest stages of dating this time around was also to a Jon Schmidt concert, one year ago. Back then, I figured I was the easiest choice of a date. I knew Steve knew I liked Jon Schmidt as well and we were good friends...if he couldn't find a real date, it made sense to ask me as a friend :) Little did I know at the time that Steve had already decided to pursue dating me.

Friday night was our first date as a married couple. You'll never guess where we went...to the annual Jon Schmidt concert :) It was fabulous as always~I think it's now a yearly tradition for us.

We unexpectedly received Phoenix Coyotes tickets for Saturday night - it's a hockey team. Steve's Canadian - he loves hockey! We were lucky to have great seats...for free!

The Coyotes won :)

Yay for fun weekend activities as a newlywed couple :)

11 Days

Guest list - check
Location - check
Dress - check
Cake - check

Guess we're set! 11 days and counting... :)

We can't wait!

Flatiron

Allow me to toot my sweetie's horn for a moment. Last spring, Steve entered a contest through the gym we attend. He set a goal to hike the Superstition Mountains - Flatiron specifically - in a certain amount of time. Not only did he exceed his goal (I think he said he hiked it in under one hour 19 minutes!), he won the contest :) Yay Steve!!

Funny story. I never liked hiking. I grew up in Nebraska - we didn't hike there. Go figure :) I went to Ricks and BYU...could never understand why on earth people went hiking for fun! Hiking was not fun in my opinion. The first time I remember enjoying hiking was on a mountain on the south island of New Zealand. Once I went back to Utah, I did a few hikes and actually enjoyed myself! It was shocking.

When I moved to Arizona, again I became acquainted with hikers. People love it! By this time, I was more open to give hiking a shot. In the past seven years, I've done some major hikes: Four Peaks, Squaw Peak, Grand Canyon rim to rim, and a plethora of shorter and less intense hikes.

Back to Flatiron - Steve invited me to hike it with him last Saturday. Can you even believe we found six hours to do a hike three Saturdays before our wedding?? I know. Crazy! Anyways, on the way to Flatiron, I mentioned being afraid to hike Camelback Mountain in Phoenix. I've never hiked it and always shied away from it because it sounds scary! Steve gently informed me that Flatiron is basically 2 1/2 Camelbacks...wha?? No biggie. I'm always up for a challenge...

(Flatiron is the flat and pointy one in the middle of the mountain range behind me...)

Here are the stats: Difficulty: 4.5 Distance Round Trip: 5.4 miles Trailhead Elevation: 2080 ft Elevation Gain: 2780 ft Avg Time Round Trip 3.5 - 5 hrs
We left at 6:30 AM. Steve had a Camelbak stuffed with trail snacks, the camera, and our hats. I really enjoyed the hike up! It was a challenge, but nothing I couldn't handle :) We set a steady pace and rested when we felt the desire. We stopped to take pictures and just enjoyed the morning! I was shocked how far we'd gone once we made it to the top.

Steve brought tortillas for us to toss off the edge :) Trust me when I tell you he's better at tortilla-frisbee throwing than I am...

Ready...
The hike down was fun as it sprinkled from time to time; it made the rocks and steep waterfall section very slippery!!

We made it!

Engagement Photos

Our photographer is Katrina Larsen. She and Steve have been friends for years - we're so-o-o lucky to have a good friend (who is also extremely talented!) doing the photography for our wedding! Here are a few of our engagement photos. They are all so great, it's hard to choose which to display!

Our Story

Several of my loyal readers have requested "our story" - mine and Steve's, as well as the proposal and pictures of my ring. I'm happy to oblige...

Our Story:

Five years ago, I moved to Tempe, AZ and found a teaching job. I moved into a condo with a few other girls...Steve lived in the same complex, just a few doors down. We were in the same ward and became good friends. For the past four years, we've been good friends. That's it.

For the past four years, we've each dated different people and moved multiple times, but our friendship has been constant. About a year ago, Steve got a really great idea: Hey, what if I date Sara? She's fabulous! It took me an entire month to figure out what was going on...but I finally did :)

In a nutshell, we started off as friends and fell in love :) It's been an amazing ride! I'm so lucky to be marrying my best friend - literally! We know each other so well. I can't wait to marry Steve :)

The Proposal:

A week ago last Wednesday, Steve and I had a date to go to the temple. After the session, while sitting in the celestial room, he popped the question! It was very sweet :) We ring shopped for three days. Then Saturday, when we got our engagement pictures taken, Steve asked our friend/photographer if we could do a proposal picture. When she got ready to take the picture, Steve got down on one knee and pulled out the ring!! I was thrilled, of course :) He had spent that morning re-visiting the places we'd shopped for rings and picked one. I feel so-o-o lucky to have snagged myself such a thoughtful fellow!

And my ring...

U2

Steve's Birthday - Part V

Steve's birthday present from me was U2 concert tickets. Lucky for me, he invited me to be his date for the concert :)

Tuesday night, U2 came to town!! Blacked Eyed Peas opened for them. BEP were good, but U2 was AMAZING!! It was an experience like none other.

Steve with our tickets

Us with the stage in the background...and far, far below

The stage

Black Eyed Peas

More BEP

Bono!

U2

As far as concerts go, I imagine it would be hard to top U2...

He Loves Me...

...and last night, he proposed! I said yes :)

December 4, 2009 Mesa, AZ

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

Monday was Canadian Thanksgiving. As I'm dating a Canadian, it was important we celebrate :)

This is us. We attended a rodeo last weekend. This picture has absolutely nothing to do with our Canadian Thanksgiving celebration...I just wanted to show ya'll how we clean up for a rodeo :)

Back to Canadian Thanksgiving...

It was a convenience-based Thanksgiving dinner, including instant mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, veggies, and rolls...as well as a rotisserie chicken. We do what we can :) And for dessert, soft gingersnap cookies! Yum.

Just us

I bought these plates with the intent to color the leaf red...the sad part was learning I had no red magic marker anywhere in the house. So instead of being a Canadian maple leaf, it's just a fall leaf on a plate.

I liked the decorations :)

But my favorite part was finding this little gem on my camera when I went to upload the photos to my computer...

What a sneaky trickster! Love it...

I've Got a Feelin'

Someday...someday my dream of performing in this type of synchronized dance routine will come true...

Birthday Fun

Happy Birthday to Steve!! It's been a four-part birthday week for Steve thus far...and there's still more fun to come :)

Part I: It started conference weekend with a birthday celebration from his nieces and nephews in Snowflake. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera that weekend...

Part II: His actual birthday was last Thursday. We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner that night. Gotta love a cowboy on a saddle! I made a gingersnap/ice cream cake that was tastier than it looks in the picture. That night we played the night away at Gameworks - wow, what a fun time!!!

Part III: Friday night was a celebration with friends. For this party, I made chocolate mint brownies and was quite pleased with how tasty they were! (Recipes soon to come...) It was fun catching up with friends and having treats...and especially celebrating STEVE!

Part IV: This morning I made the Storer-famous crepes for Steve's birthday breakfast. I have the week off, so it made sense to do it a few days after the fact. Who can resist the taste explosion that is crepes, link sausages, sour cream, frozen strawberries, and powdered sugar?? I'm happy to report that Steve liked it :) And just as nice is the fact that HE cooked up the sausages for me...what a sweetie.

Part V: Hasn't happened yet...but I'll give you a hint of what's to come. Think *Ireland*Band* and some well-known lyrics..."See the stone set in your eyes...See the thorn twist in your side. I wait for you."

Elvis!

Life is crazy...busy...and oh-so sweet...I lost that itch to blog for a time, but I'm back :)

As a quick update:

Elvis was in town - as a fan, I was lucky Steve invited me to go to his concert :) Since it was at a casino, we thought we'd try our hand at a slot machine. Neither of us had played one before...Steve was luckier than me. He won a whopping $2.20 where I won a quarter.

Big winner

Little winner

And other moments of fun...

Beautiful flowers - I'm so lucky :)

Dressed for a corn-parade and rodeo with Steve's niece and nephews

Homemade pazookies - I bought these adorable spring-foam pans for half-baked cookies topped off with vanilla bean ice cream...heaven in a bowl!