Saturday, December 22, 2012
Christmas 2012
Hey all!!! This is our Christmas letter of all we have done this year!!! 2012 was a big year for us. We started the year out kinda slow. I was working at JCPenney and Bryce was working at Inside Sales as a QA tester (programming). I went to school that semester (Jan.-April). Pretty boring first part of the year. Bryce took some math classes in the summer semester and I picked up a 2nd job at Novell. I worked for G4S (the contracted security company that Novell hired). I was hired to be the receptionists cover, but the weekend after I finished my training one of the receptionists had her baby and went on maternity leave. I became the substitute receptionist for a very long time! July came and for our anniversary we decided to take a trip!! We spend our first anniversary in Logan at the Anniversary Inn. Its a really fun hotel that has themed rooms!! And we also got to see the Logan car show!!! They had some AMAZING cars! After Logan we started on our trip. We had to go to Denver to get a new passport for Bryce since we lost his old one. We drove across Wyoming to get to Denver and when we left Denver we had drive all the way up Wyoming to get to Billings Montana. Guess who drove both ways across Wyoming. It was not fun. Plus we had a bunch of car troubles in Wyoming so we were in Cheyenne for about 6 hrs. I can live the rest of my life and be happy if I never see Cheyenne again!!! Billings wasn't much fun. We drove around for an hour before we could find a hotel that wasn't full and was affordable. 5 hours later we continued our journey to Canada!!! We went to Innisfail, Edmonton, Fort McMurray and Cherry Grove (Cold Lake area). Bryce says that I have been further north than most people who live in Alberta. After the six hour drive from Edmonton to Fort Mac, with nothing but pine trees, I don't blame them for not going that far! (BTW I do like Fort Mac). We went to the West Ed Mall which is the largest mall in North America! It was really cool!!! Anyways it was a fun trip!! We got back home and Bryce got hired on at Xango. Which created a lot of drama at Inside Sales. Basically Bryce got fired for quiting. But that's OK because he got to start his new job two weeks sooner than planned which means we made more money in those two weeks than we had planned too! In September for labor day weekend we drove down with Bryce's family to New Mexico to attend the baby blessing of our new nephew!! What a cutie!!! I also quit my JCP job! It was nice not to have to work til 1 a.m. anymore!! 60 hour work weeks are not so fun! But because of all our hard work we were able to buy a house in October!!! Its a cute little starter home and we love it!! Oh and Bryce was going to school during all of this too! He just finished his semester a couple of weeks ago. We also got a dog from Bryce's parents. They had her for about ten years and were looking for a new home for her. We had people going in our backyard so we all thought this would be a good solution. In November, within two days of each other, both mine and Bryce's cars broke. We all the sudden had to go get 2 new cars (new to us). We went from no car payments to two payments a month! Wow that was an exciting weekend!!! In December I was finally able to apply for and get hired for the full time receptionist job (the one I'd been doing for 5 or 6 months). I got a pay raise and am doubling as an administrative assistant to my boss!! Good thing he likes me!! Bryce is doing fantastic at his job! He loves it!! Sometimes I think that if I wasn't at home waiting for him, he wouldn't come home!!! Now we are on Christmas break and excited to spend our 2nd Christmas together and the 1st Christmas in our new home!!! Hope your lives are going as good as ours are and that God is blessing you too!! Much love!!
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
Canada Trip
A little back story: A few weeks before we were going to leave on our trip, we discovered that Bryce had lost is passport. We new we had seen it a few months ago, so we searched everywhere we could think of to find it. We had family search as well. Nothing. We went to the passport agency and for them to get us a new one would take longer than we had time for. But we could go to Denver and get it processed it person same day. We decided to do that.
Sat: Bryce got up early and ran our errands while I cleaned the house. Had to buy 4 new tires for our car because the mechanic said that if he had been doing inspections he would have failed all 4 tires. We new we would need new ones before winter came, so at least we got that taken care of. Bryce also got an oil change and the fluids all filed up for the car. We went to Logan to the anniversary inn to celebrate our 1 year wedding anniversary a little early. It was so pretty!! We also got to see the Logan Car show!! Saw some AWESOME cars!! The hotel came with complimentary cheesecake, sparkling cider, and breakfast! It was so much fun!! Loved it!!
Sun: Morning celebrations. Leave our awesome hotel and drive all day to get to Denver.
Monday: Went to the passport place. Filled out the papers and found out that Bryces' drivers license was expired. Also they needed proof of travel. Since we weren't flying, and we were going to be staying with people, that was a little hard to do, but the agent was nice and noticed that we were from Utah and had 'traveled' to Denver already so that was enough for her. She told us to come back in 2 hours. We went to Applebees for lunch. The appitiezer took a long time so the manager paid for it!! We then sat in my car to look things up using their wifi. We didn't realize that the car was running on the battery. It was only on that for about 5 min. But it was enough that the car wouldn't start. We had to go back in to applebees to ask if anyone had jumper cables. So the employee came and jumped our car for us. We then went to the passport place. Got the passport and left denver! We drove to Wyoming (again) and filed up with gas. At the gas station guess what wouldn't start again! Thats right. Linda (my car) decided to die again. They guy filling up in front of us had jumper cables though so he gave us a jump. We drove into Cheyenne to look for a place to buy a car battery. We could not find a place that sold them. So we took it to a mechanic who wanted to charge us $110!!! we said no and asked where we could buy one. the helpful mechanic said anywhere. So we told him we were not from around there and needed to know a store name. He said Sams club or Walmart. So we asked where it was. He told us it was on Del Range. then he left. Luckily there was a soldier there who heard the whole thing and gave us directions on how to get to walmart!!! So we bought a new battery and connectors and installed them and were on our way!! We drove through Wyoming again. Guess who drove through Wyoming both times? Yup me. Wyoming is the most boring place to drive!! (sorry people from Wyoming. but it really does suck). We ended up stoping for the night in Billings Montana. Hate that place too. We decided to stop for the night at 12:30. We looked for a hotel that was affordable and not booked for an hour! we finally found a motel 6 at 1:30.
Tues: Left the motel at 7:30. drove to Canada!!! Passed the boarder by Cardston without any problems. Saw the Cardston temple! There was a great horned owl sitting on it too!! Kept driving. In Calgary we noticed our car was making the sound that you get when you have a flat tire. The car was driving fine and nobody was pointing at us so we kept driving. Two hours later we get to Innisfail and pull off for gas. We check our tire and ALL FIVE LUGNUTS ARE LOOSE!!! 3 of them are almost out!! We could have lost a tire!! So bryce fixes that and checks all the others-which are fine. We then go buy some Canadian food and go to Sister Quintons!! Nanaimo bars are awesome btw!!! Met some other people that night and sleep at Sister Quintons in the most comfortable bed I have ever felt!! Love it!!
Wed: Lunch with the Thompsons!! Meet other people. Have fun!!! Had dinner with the Josephs. Sleep in that same wonderful bed one last time.
Thursdaty: Leave Innisfail. Drive to Edmonton. Had fun at the West Edmonton Mall- the biggest mall in North America. Saw a seal show! Ate at Boston Pizza! The best pizza ever!! Drive to Fort McMurray which is so far north, it was not even on our map. Spend time with the Aulenbachs!! Sleep in Larissas bed. It was very nice! but we felt bad taking her bed! We didn't know we would be doing that. It was sure nice of them to let us stay with them.
Friday: Leave For Mac. Drive to Cherry Grove. Saw a bear cross the road!! Meet people. Had dinner with the Hatches. Slept in other Hatches Trailor. Oh and randomly the check engine light comes on in my car.
Sat: Meet other people like Amber. Have dinner at French Bay with people. Stayed with the Hatches in their second bedroom in the manor.
Sunday: Church in Cherry Grove. Met lots of people! Drive to Innisfail to give Sister Quinton back her phone. check engine light goes off after we fill up with gas. Drive to Airdrie to see the Suntjens. Leave around midnight. Drive through the night. See the Northern lights. Get to the Cootes border at 4 am. They were more intense than the other border but we got back into the US without any problems. ( we weren't sure if there would be a problem since my passport is still in my maiden name). Drive all through the night and eventually get home around 2:00 on Monday afternoon!!
Monday: Get home after a 14 hour drive. Very tired!! Get all unpacked and cleaned up. Ate pizza for dinner and watched 2 episodes of psych (I fell asleep in the second one). Decide to take a nap at 7:40. Wake up at 11:40 and stay up for an hour then go to bed to be up and to work at 8 am on Tuesday.
Had a very fun trip! Loved meeting everyone!! Thank you for everything!!!
Sat: Bryce got up early and ran our errands while I cleaned the house. Had to buy 4 new tires for our car because the mechanic said that if he had been doing inspections he would have failed all 4 tires. We new we would need new ones before winter came, so at least we got that taken care of. Bryce also got an oil change and the fluids all filed up for the car. We went to Logan to the anniversary inn to celebrate our 1 year wedding anniversary a little early. It was so pretty!! We also got to see the Logan Car show!! Saw some AWESOME cars!! The hotel came with complimentary cheesecake, sparkling cider, and breakfast! It was so much fun!! Loved it!!
Sun: Morning celebrations. Leave our awesome hotel and drive all day to get to Denver.
Monday: Went to the passport place. Filled out the papers and found out that Bryces' drivers license was expired. Also they needed proof of travel. Since we weren't flying, and we were going to be staying with people, that was a little hard to do, but the agent was nice and noticed that we were from Utah and had 'traveled' to Denver already so that was enough for her. She told us to come back in 2 hours. We went to Applebees for lunch. The appitiezer took a long time so the manager paid for it!! We then sat in my car to look things up using their wifi. We didn't realize that the car was running on the battery. It was only on that for about 5 min. But it was enough that the car wouldn't start. We had to go back in to applebees to ask if anyone had jumper cables. So the employee came and jumped our car for us. We then went to the passport place. Got the passport and left denver! We drove to Wyoming (again) and filed up with gas. At the gas station guess what wouldn't start again! Thats right. Linda (my car) decided to die again. They guy filling up in front of us had jumper cables though so he gave us a jump. We drove into Cheyenne to look for a place to buy a car battery. We could not find a place that sold them. So we took it to a mechanic who wanted to charge us $110!!! we said no and asked where we could buy one. the helpful mechanic said anywhere. So we told him we were not from around there and needed to know a store name. He said Sams club or Walmart. So we asked where it was. He told us it was on Del Range. then he left. Luckily there was a soldier there who heard the whole thing and gave us directions on how to get to walmart!!! So we bought a new battery and connectors and installed them and were on our way!! We drove through Wyoming again. Guess who drove through Wyoming both times? Yup me. Wyoming is the most boring place to drive!! (sorry people from Wyoming. but it really does suck). We ended up stoping for the night in Billings Montana. Hate that place too. We decided to stop for the night at 12:30. We looked for a hotel that was affordable and not booked for an hour! we finally found a motel 6 at 1:30.
Tues: Left the motel at 7:30. drove to Canada!!! Passed the boarder by Cardston without any problems. Saw the Cardston temple! There was a great horned owl sitting on it too!! Kept driving. In Calgary we noticed our car was making the sound that you get when you have a flat tire. The car was driving fine and nobody was pointing at us so we kept driving. Two hours later we get to Innisfail and pull off for gas. We check our tire and ALL FIVE LUGNUTS ARE LOOSE!!! 3 of them are almost out!! We could have lost a tire!! So bryce fixes that and checks all the others-which are fine. We then go buy some Canadian food and go to Sister Quintons!! Nanaimo bars are awesome btw!!! Met some other people that night and sleep at Sister Quintons in the most comfortable bed I have ever felt!! Love it!!
Wed: Lunch with the Thompsons!! Meet other people. Have fun!!! Had dinner with the Josephs. Sleep in that same wonderful bed one last time.
Thursdaty: Leave Innisfail. Drive to Edmonton. Had fun at the West Edmonton Mall- the biggest mall in North America. Saw a seal show! Ate at Boston Pizza! The best pizza ever!! Drive to Fort McMurray which is so far north, it was not even on our map. Spend time with the Aulenbachs!! Sleep in Larissas bed. It was very nice! but we felt bad taking her bed! We didn't know we would be doing that. It was sure nice of them to let us stay with them.
Friday: Leave For Mac. Drive to Cherry Grove. Saw a bear cross the road!! Meet people. Had dinner with the Hatches. Slept in other Hatches Trailor. Oh and randomly the check engine light comes on in my car.
Sat: Meet other people like Amber. Have dinner at French Bay with people. Stayed with the Hatches in their second bedroom in the manor.
Sunday: Church in Cherry Grove. Met lots of people! Drive to Innisfail to give Sister Quinton back her phone. check engine light goes off after we fill up with gas. Drive to Airdrie to see the Suntjens. Leave around midnight. Drive through the night. See the Northern lights. Get to the Cootes border at 4 am. They were more intense than the other border but we got back into the US without any problems. ( we weren't sure if there would be a problem since my passport is still in my maiden name). Drive all through the night and eventually get home around 2:00 on Monday afternoon!!
Monday: Get home after a 14 hour drive. Very tired!! Get all unpacked and cleaned up. Ate pizza for dinner and watched 2 episodes of psych (I fell asleep in the second one). Decide to take a nap at 7:40. Wake up at 11:40 and stay up for an hour then go to bed to be up and to work at 8 am on Tuesday.
Had a very fun trip! Loved meeting everyone!! Thank you for everything!!!
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