tis the season

for everything fun.

we've loving our first holiday season together.

here are a few of the fun things we've been up to.

{more than half of these pictures are blurry iphone pictures. sorry}

hittin the slopes.

we're lucky enough to have a father (in law) that loves snowboarding.

 and wants us to go up with him all the time. 

first time of the year. the saturday after thanksgiving with all of brian's siblings. :)

messiah sing-along.

a new tradition (for me.) brian's family goes to the messiah sing-along in salt lake city every saturday after thanksgiving. i'm not musically talented enough to really be successful at singing the crazy parts.

but brian & everyone else rock at it.

this would be at dinner before. @ market street grill.

Sunday's in Sandy.

our favorite thing is sunday dinner + a christmas movie with brian's family. after thanksgiving we watch a movie every sunday leading up to christmas. 

we love spending time with them.

(and not having to cook sunday dinner.) :)

we got to help put up the tree.

gingerbread houses.

this is another peterson tradition. and it's my first year being a part of it. brian's grandparents bring stuff over to make gingerbread houses. 

these babies took us an hour to make!

our first tree:

the birthday boy.

brian was pretty spoiled this year. 

he got to blow out three cakes.

we practically celebrated his birthday all week.

first up, his favorite cake made by his mom. 

thank goodness we still live close by so she can make the good stuff.

we opened presents as soon as his birthday started. (at midnight)

which i feel like might happen every year. 

texas roadhouse for birthday dinner.

 followed by cake & ice cream at our house with all of brian's favorite friends.

(of course i got no pictures of everyone else)

it was such a great night.

we finished the week off with a party with 2 of brian's high school friends. they were best friends growing up & celebrated their birthdays together every year. 

ugly sweaters & temple square.

we have a couple of cousins that live in salt lake/american fork/provo. 

we've been trying to take advantage of living close to each other lately.

first we had an ugly sweater christmas party.

 of course this is the only picture i got. in the car, on the way.

but can you see our ugly sweaters peeping through?

the bad news is brian loves that thing.

i have a terrible feeling i'll be seeing lots more of it this winter.

and of course, you can't do december without temple square.

to sum it up, we're having a good time.

& life is only going to get better when the fam flies in thursday. 

woohoo.

23 reason i love this guy.

1. he's funny. oh so funny.

2. he goes to work/school without complaint. ever.

3. he's so smart. school isn't even that hard for him.

4. he's the most patient person i know. seriously.

5. his smile is my favorite thing.

6. he eats everything i make for him. regardless of if it looks edible.

7. he's a fabulous roommate.

8. he listens to me. even when i'm complaining/venting/not saying anything important.

9. he's NOT a cuddle till you fall asleep kind of guy. he just can't. but sometimes he does do it. just for me. :)

10. he doesn't get mad/annoyed with my OCD obsessive cleaning disorder. (yes, i just made that up)

11. when i'm upset, somehow, he always knows exactly what i need.

12. his athleticism. he's good at every sport. & i love watching him.

13. his blue eyes.

14. what a great priesthood holder he is. he takes his calling so seriously. whatever it is.

15. that he loves me even though i am not a morning person. (i try)

16. and...stays up late with me...even when i know he wants to go to bed. 

17. his rockin voice.

18. that he is so easy to get ahold of. (he always has his phone) granted, it's never been an emergency, but someday it will be. and sometimes i just need to chat with him. :)

19. that he loves popcorn as much as i do.

20. he loves me despite my {many} flaws.

21. his testimony & knowledge of the gospel.

22. how he lets me know he loves me multiple times a day.

23. how excited he gets when he's telling me about some engineering problem he did that day.

so glad he was born 23 years ago. :)

happy birthday bri.

happy birthday to me. :)

 my bday this year was perfect.

i woke up to breakfast made by brian. {he even did the dishes too}

& a cute love note on the mirror.

i then spent the day not working, not studying, & not going to the gym.

but doing exactly what i wanted.:)

 unfortunately bri had schoolin/workin until 5:30.

then the party started.

brian had our night all planned, but wouldn't tell me any of it.

he took me to macaroni grill. {italian food is my favorite}

then minature golfing. which i won. fair & square.

right honey? :)

we even played a few arcade games. 

and brian beat all the basketball high scores. what a baller.

then we headed over to where my favorite friends live.

they had a delicious cake waiting for me. yum.

i was also surprised when these showed up for me:

[hehe, funny story. i get a call the afternoon of my birthday (while on skype with my mom) from the flower patch in provo. they said they had a delivery of flowers for me, but that they had tried to deliver them & i wasn't home so they left them with my neighbors in 207. (i live in 208) i get off the phone & tell my mom that brian got me flowers! (who else would they be from??) so i go to my neighbors & ask them about the flowers..and they look at me like im a weirdy. no flowers there. when brian came home i told him "thanks" but i hadn't recieved them yet. and he goes "what are you talking about? i probably should have sent you flowers...but they aren't from me." okay. flower mystery.

the next day there were flowers on my doorstep at about 5 o clock. with a sweet note from my mom, dad & the girls.

then at 6:00 we heard a knock at the door. (another flower delivery for me, with the exact same note as the first) haha....um...weird.

long story short, the flower place realized they delivered the flowers to the wrong apt complex, but couldn't get ahold of the people they left them with. so they just brought me new ones.

then....the poeple they left them with (i think they're in my ward??) brought the other ones and dropped them on my doorstep.

2 flower deliveries for the price of one. good work mom. :)

 a few of my favorite things that happened on my birthday:

-brian making me stay up the night before until 12 just so i could open my present for him. (he was more excited than i was.)

-the voice message my sister in law sent me. of my adorable niece singing me happy birthday. i've listened to it like 20 times a day since. 

-the happy birthday voice message drew sent me, in the nacho voice.

 -skyping with my mom & sisters for about an hour. just talking about girl things. like clothes & hair & pinterest.

-the card rachel gave me. that said. "you're hard to shop for.....{open card}...so i didn't".

-being able to go shopping and buy a few cute things for me.

-the long distance/expensive call my dad made just to tell me happy birthday & that he loved me.

-brian calling me "birthday girl" all day long.

-all the facebook love i was shown. (for those of you who don't have a facebook, that is reason enough right there to get one. it makes birthdays great.)

-sharing my birthday with matty. :)

im pretty glad birthday's come once a year.

thanks for all the love! :)