Two Years and Counting

This past Thursday, Jan. 19, marked two years since Bryce and I went on our first date. In true Bryce & Emily nerd fashion, we reenacted our first date. (Oh yes, even Bryce going outside our apartment and knocking to 'pick me up for our date').  Conversation went well. (We tried staying in character in the car on our way to the restaurant - only a few laughs from not being able to stay serious interrupted the 'first date conversation'). Bryce took me to Tepanyaki. We went to PF Changs on our first date, but since Bryce gets stomach issues from Mr. Changs, we stuck to Asian food and opted out of a repeat of the 'stomach issues' from our first date.  (Love you, B - and the hard work you put in trying to walk behind me to 'be a gentleman' to hide the repercussions of Mr. Changs when we hiked the Y on our first date, and how I totally knew what you were doing the. whole. time --- I have brothers).

Tepanyaki - Love this place. 

Today was one of my favorite of the recipes I have been trying. I am not a huge fan of Mexican food, but I went to Red Iguana in Salt Lake with colleagues from work and found a gem on the menu. (Tacos De Carne Asada = $10.15). Because I don't want to spend $10 to eat it when I crave it, I decided to add it to my list of recipes to create. Today was the day to try it, and it was amazing. 

Homemade Pico de gallo. 

Recreation complete.

And Jello salad for dessert.

I also made rice krispy treats for the first time yesterday to bring for our treat for our Primary kids today. (I know - weird I haven't ever made something as simple as rice crispy treats before). I love creating something and the feeling of not having to pay someone else for it anymore because you now know how to do it yourself.  

Allen The Family Begins

The time has come to start a blog, so here we go. Since this is our blog together, we will start from the day we began - (May 27, 2011)

Our wedding was the best. day. ever. We had all those we love to share the day with, and we couldn't have asked for anything to go better than it did. We want to deeply thank all of our family and friends for all of the love and support and for helping to make our day as wondering as it was.

 We went on a cruise to the Bahamas for our honeymoon and had a blast. (and a much needed relaxing vacation).

Back from the honeymoon was back to life, back to reality. But skipping forward seven months, December came, and along with it - graduation! (Walking ceremony to be in April). We had our first Christmas together at Bryce's parents' house, followed by ten vacation days off of work.

So we decided to take a graduation trip to New York and check some things off our "Things to do" google doc list. (We made this list when we were dating. We write down things we want to do and keep track of things we have done to check them off the list and see what we have done together). One of those things was to go to New York and do all there is to do there. (Rockerfeller Center Christmas tree, Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, Empire State Building, Wall Street, all of the museums, Central Park, China Town and Little Italy, 9/11 Memorial, ride subways and buses and everything else NY entails).

But above all, the goal was Times Square for New Year's Eve. We waited in Times Square for 10 hours for the ball to drop. We were herded into barricades full of people - standing shoulder to shoulder like cows going to slaughter - with nothing to do but wait. (We may or may not have both yelled at NY cops). There were literally 1 million people and 35,000 NY cops there. (Boy was it an experience).

But SO worth it. New Year's Kiss in Times Square - 2012

2011 for us included:

Eleven states traveled;

Nine airplane rides endured;

Two countries conquered;

A couple of boat rides;

Our wedding;

Emily graduated college and got a job;

Checked many things off our "Things to do" list;

and lots of laughs, happy tears, family and friends.

January started a new chapter in our life with us both graduated from college and just working. We carpool into work together and come home with nothing but free time waiting for us. This is what I have been waiting for, for the last four years. (Free Time!) We resolved to go to the gym each night after dinner and fill our time with things we have been waiting to be able to do and new hobbies and talents. I have started down my list of crafts I have been yearning to do and have started experimenting with the recipes I have been collecting and storing away for a year now. (Graduated life is the best). This week I sat down and made a list of the first recipes I wanted to try. (We have also resolved to eat healthier, so some of the things I want to cook have been put lower on the list). The list this week included: BBQ chicken wraps, minestrone soup, chicken cesar salad, roast and homemade mashed potatoes, taco salad and homemade pizza. (SO fun to finally be able to use the pizza airbake pan we received for our wedding).

Homemade pizza. 

Saturday was craft day for our date activity. We looked through my list of crafts and decided on a wall decoration for above our bed using mod podge. (I have been waiting to use mod podge for over a year now - seems weird, but after only being able to LOOK at crafts for the past four years, simple things make me happy).

This should bring us up-to-date from our wedding to today. With more time and more activities there will be more pictures and more time to post them.

Here's to documenting our life and keeping it All-en The Family.