IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!

This year I decided that I would make us gingerbread houses from scratch. It was really fun to decorate, not so much to make the gingerbread. I'll do it next year if someone else bakes the gingerbread!

Ours is the one in the middle, as you can see it doesn't hold a candle to the Tillmann mansion on the left.

Opening my presents from Greg! Muse tickets!

Greg and I are sporting our Christmas Eve pajamas.

I think that it is finally time that I update our blog. November and December have just flown by for us. I swear I blinked and it was Christmas. Our Christmas was perfect. Every year I am just so amazed at what wonderful families we have. We spent Christmas with Greg's family this year, and of course we had an amazing time. We ate good food, received great presents, and had so much fun spending time with family, laughing and playing games. I did get a little homesick for my Chamberlin Christmas so hopefully next year, weather permitting we will be going to Kansas.

This year Greg and I have been extremely blessed. I thank my Heavenly Father everyday that Greg Reese came into my life. He supports me in all of my decisions and overall is just an amazing man. He works so hard for our family! I love him so much! We are so grateful that we have a loving Heavenly Father, that watches over us and our families. Sometimes when we don't think we need help we still get it. He has definitely watch over Greg and I and given us great opportunities this year. We love all of our family and thank them for all their love and support. We hope that each one of you had a great Christmas! We have a wonderful year ahead of us!

Halloween Fun!

This year I convinced Greg that we should carve pumpkins. We had a lot of fun and I think they turned out AWESOME!!!
I also decided that while we were carving pumpkins I would try out this new gingerbread recipe from Kneaders. It is the best recipe ever! We will definitely be using this recipe for gingerbread houses in December. THEY STAY SO SOFT!!!
So Greg's dad decided that he would carve a tomato. I didn't believe that he could do it, but he definitely proved me wrong. He even put a candle in it! We call it Jack-O-Tomato!

Here is the recipe if anyone wants it:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• ½ cup dark molasses
• 1 t. cinnamon
• 1 t. nutmeg
• 1 t. cloves
• 1 t. ginger
• 2 eggs well beaten
• 1 t. white vinegar
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. In a large saucepan, cream together the butter, sugar.
2. Add molasses and spices – mix well
3. Stirring constantly bring to a boil.
4. Remove from heat and allow let cool to a lukewarm.
5. Stir in eggs and vinegar.
6. Sift flour with baking soda into molasses mixture to form smooth dough.
7. Chill several hours or overnight.
8. When you are ready to bake roll out dough to ¼ inch thickness. Cut with a gingerbread cookie cutter.
9. Place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper
10. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until slightly brown on the edges. Do not over bake.
11. Allow cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet before placing them on a cooling rack. Let cool completely before frosting.

Our New Car!!!

So about two weeks ago, our Intrepid decided that it wanted to die. Greg was on his way to pick me up from the airport, when it just decided that it was done. Not only did we get home at one o'clock in the morning but we were out a car. We decided together that our best option was to buy another one. I know it probably sounds silly, but this was one of the biggest decisions that we have had to make together. Neither one of us had bought a car before, so it was an adventure. I have decided that I hate salesmen, but don't worry Greg does nothing without research. After days of browsing online we spotted this gem! Today we went to the dealership thinking that we were just going to test drive it, but we ended up driving it home. We are very excited about this purchase. We now feel like we are officially adults. We went on a long car ride tonight, which is the best thing ever!! And best of all we don't have to rely on other people for rides!!

Why can it not be FALL?!

So I was thinking today as I got in my 400 degree car, that I am totally ready for Fall. Football is starting and it is still hot, what is up with that? I love everything about Fall. It is the perfect time of the year. All of the colors are so pretty. I grew up in Kansas which is a little lacking in the tree area so I love that we are in Utah and get to see the trees change. My mother-in-law got a new centerpiece for her table yesterday that has all the fall colors in it. It is so pretty! I keep waiting for it to get a little bit cooler but I get nothing. I have recently bought some really cute clothes, but cannot wear them until it gets cooler. I have tried but it is way too hot for a sweater. I told Greg the other day that maybe if I start wearing warmer clothes the weather will magically change. I'm not quite ready for the months of winter but I could definately use some Fall!!!

Anniversary Part II

So I don't know if I have mentioned it but Greg is AMAZING. For the second part of our anniversary Greg took me to Park City for the weekend. We have been so busy the past month with moving and working that we really haven't had a lot of time to spend together. We left Thursday night after work and got to stay in Park City until Sunday morning. Our hotel was awesome it had a fireplace, kitchen, and a jacuzzi. It was the jazz festival this weekend so on Friday we got to listen to some jazz music from our balcony. We spent a lot of time relaxing and enjoying ourselfs. It was the perfect vacation. Now back to work and school!

Greg=Hott!!

Enjoying our balcony!

Our hotel.

We love vacations!!!

The view from our room.

Our hotel room was really long!

The Jacuzzi! We spent almost all of Saturday in Jacuzzi awesomeness!

Our front room!

Our bathroom which included a gigantic tub!

One Year!!!!

This year has flown past for us. We have loved every minute of it. I am so thankful for Greg and for everything he does for me. Even though we have only been married a year I can't imagine my life without him. For our anniversary Greg suprised me once again. He took me to the Tree Room at the Sundance Resort. It was so good and I loved the atmosphere. Greg ordered elk meat and I had wild boar, it was delicious. He also picked out a beautiful necklace with my birthstone in it. I am so glad I married someone with great taste in jewlery! My present to him was a Neal A. Maxwell quotebook and a Playstation 3 remote keyboard. The next night we enjoyed going to Cirque Du Soleil with Greg's family. It was AMAZING!!!! We enjoyed spending time with everyone. Thanks Jim and Marilee!!!


I love how much Greg and I have grown this year in our friendship and love for one another, and I can't wait for the rest of eternity!!!!

At The Tree Room

Sundance

My necklace (it makes an eight!)

Our cake!

Our cake was dry but still good!

San Franciso!!!

Greg and I had the opportunity a few weeks ago sto take a road trip to San Franciso with Wes, Kristin, and Tiffany. We had a blast. Greg and I have decided that we love San Franciso. It was definately one of the best vacations of the year. The seafood was AMAZING!! There was so much to do and definately not enough time. Greg and I will definately be going back! Thanks Kristin, Wes, and Tiff is was so much fun!!!!!

The view from Alcatraz
Greg and I on our boat tour. (you can ignore my hair!)

We took a tour of a historic WWII submarine on D-day is was really cool.

On Alcatraz

Again on Alcatraz

On the boat to Alcatraz

Cleveland

Cleveland was awesome!!! We loved every bit of it. We loved spending time with Kristin and Wes and of course the kiddos. Let's just say Kristin is the best tour guide ever. We had loads of fun playing with Lucy and Reese and seeing the sights and of course I got a cavity filled by the best dentist ever!!!!!! We just want to say thanks for a great week Kristin and Wes!

Greg thought this was funny....I don't think Reese did.

Kirtland!!!

GO SOX!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

KANSAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We had a blast in Kansas!! It was great seeing the family. A week was definately too short. Here are some of our adventures.

On Thursday Greg and I drove to Hays to visit Annie and Kevin. They took us to the Sternberg Museum. It has different dinosaurs that were found in Kansas. We LOVE Annie and Kevin!!!!

On Tuesday we got to celebrate Kaytie's 1st birthday at Pizza Hut with the whole family!

Updates...

After much deliberation I have decided that I am going to start blogging again. So here is and update on the Reese family. Greg and I are both still working our little buns off. It seems to take up most of our time and we don't like how is keeps us apart most of the day, but it is helping to get us through college, which is always a good thing. When we are not working we love spending time with one another. At the end of the day we love just relaxing and watching movies together. It is definately my favorite time of the day! I look forward to the time when school is over and we have time together during the day. We can't complain though life is pretty good we are still as in love as we ever were, and we are living comfortably in this economy. We also are really excited for April to come!!! It looks like it is going to be a pretty exciting month for us. The first week of April we are taking a trip to Kansas to visit my family. With our wedding and everything that has gone on this year we haven't been able to go home. My family was here during the wedding but everything was so busy that we really didn't have a lot of time together. I am so excited I can't stand it. A week is so long to wait!!! Every time I call home my dad gives me and update of the countdown. Also at the end of this month Greg and will be visiting Cleveland. Wes graduates from dental school at the beginning of May. Lucky for me I have a lot of cavities so we are flying out so that I can be his patient for his state boards. We're really just excited to go to Cleveland cavities being filled are just a plus. I have never been to Cleveland, so I am excited to see the sights!!! As soon as we get back I promise I will get pictures up and blog about all of our adventures!

These are our awesome 3D glasses. On my birthday Greg took me to my first 3D movie. Let's just say it was AMAZING!!!

BYU VS Wake Forest

For Christmas this year one of our gifts was tickets to some of the BYU basketball games. Yesterday we had the opportunity to go to the first one. BYU was playing Wake Forest. It was suppose to be a really good game...which it was. The game was pretty close the whole way through which makes things fun. It was also the second largest crowd that BYU basketball has seen. Our seats were with Charles, Valerie and Sydney. We had fun watching Sydney cheer and dance all through the game. She is so dang cute!!! Although the night was fun, BYU did lose.

Ps. The Utes did, however, win the Sugar Bowl...Greg is so proud!

The view from our seats

Charles, Valerie and Sydney

Another shot of the court

Greg's deer in the headlights look