Oh so domestic

Sometimes I put on an apron just to feel domestic.

I don't think there is any harm in that really...I mean, it keeps my clothes clean, makes me look cute, and boosts my wife-ly points exponentially.

Here I am being wifely after making my famous Oreo truffles and cooking something delectable in the crock pot.

Feeling an even stronger need to document my apron-wearing-wifeliness, I told Morgan we need a picture of us in front of the tree...so here were are:

(Sorry for the crazy glare...my point and shoot camera broke.)

L'amour

Yesterday we cleaned out our storage closet to make room for a little food storage. I found my bin full of mementos and these little treasures were in there. My wedding shoes and clutch. They made me so happy I couldn't help taking a picture of them. :) 

Let it snow!

This is mostly for my parents who are enjoying 80 degree weather and lots of sunshine. Jealous?

Please disregard my annoying commentary...apparently I sound like a huge dork on camera. Good thing I'm into photography and not videography. Yet. ;)

"Hang in there, you're gonna make it."

Today was a special day for our stake...Elder M. Russell Ballard invited our stake and one other to a special conference on Temple Square in the Assembly Hall. I had never been there before so I was pretty excited. We had already had stake conference, ward conference, and general conference, so it was a special treat to have another chance to be taught by an apostle of the Lord. We bundled up really good because of the 6 inches of snow that had piled up the night before and made our way over to the Assembly Hall. It was a wonderful meeting...full of great talks and testimonies. We heard a lot about gratitude and family. There was a beautiful musical number, and then Elder Ballard addressed us. It was so refreshing to see him in a new context...he was so relaxed and cracked I don't know how many jokes! He spoke a lot about loving your spouse and being strong. He said that he knew this was a hard time of life for many of us and that we should, "Hang in there, you're gonna make it." I loved that quote...it seemed to apply directly to me. The other thing he said that I loved was, "Never loose your capacity to laugh." That really reminded me of my mom. She is an expert at laughing. :) It was nice to be on Temple Square again...the Christmas lights weren't on yet, but you could see everything had been set up! I can't wait to go after Thanksgiving!

(PS: For the next few months I'm putting down my "big girl camera" to take a break from the hectic life of being a photographer. Instead, I'll be using a little point and shoot. It was so nice to just be a normal person again with a normal person camera this weekend!)

A Romantic Get-a-way = One Epic Post

This weekend was my favorite weekend in a very long time. Morgan surprised me and told me on Friday morning while I was heading out to work that he was whisking me away for a romantic get-a-way to Park City, UT. I was so happy! Work flew by and I couldn't stop thinking about how much fun we were going to have. I really needed a little "vacation" and this was going to be perfect!

When I got home, Morgan had everything packed so we loaded up in the car and headed up the Canyon. As we were making the climb up the mountain, we weren't too excited to see the gas light pop on. OOPS! Guess who forgot to gas up before we left? Yep. That would be me. After a few stressful minutes (there aren't many exits on the way to Park City and it's pretty much an incline the whole way there), we found a lonely little Sinclair gas station and we fueled up. Whew! Disaster averted.

We pulled into the hotel parking lot and I waited in the car while Morgan checked us in to the hotel. I was admiring the building and the extensive outdoor heated pool when I saw Morgan walking back to the car laughing. He was also carrying a gallon of water. You can imagine my confusion. When he got back in the car I said, "What's wrong?" Morgan laughed and said, "Well, the good news is there is running water. The bad news is we can't drink it." I stared at him for a minute and then we busted up laughing. This is SO the kind of thing that happens to us whenever we plan little trips. Then he told me that the hot tub was broken, which was a bit of a disappointment. We had our swimsuits packed and everything! Not to worry, I knew we were still going to have a great time.

After settling in to our hotel, we went exploring. There were signs leading us to an arcade...I thought it would be fun to go play a little air hockey or pac-man, so we wandered around until we found it. Wasn't so much of an arcade as it was a single "shoot-em-up" game...it looked like this:

Not quite the "game room" we anticipated, so once again we laughed. After that we hopped back in the car to find something delicious to eat. We drove around for at least 30 minutes before we decided that for one reason or another, Park City does NOT have many places to eat a nice dinner (well, within our price range anyway). I wasn't too excited at first, but we decided to eat at Cafe Rio. Before you get all upset you have to understand that I have never EVER enjoyed mexican food. I was pleasantly surprised though when I took a bite of their yummy pork burrito. It was HUGE. And I scarfed the entire thing.

After eating our delicious meal, Morgan looked at me and said, "So...do you wanna see a movie?" I thought that sounded fun and agreed...and then I realized. It was opening day of Harry Potter! We had previously decided to wait for the movie to hit the dollar theater to save money, so I wasn't expecting to see it for a few months. I even told my sister-in-law that we couldn't go with them (sorry Becky if you're reading this...I promise I had no idea he was taking me!). We got a few snacks at Smith's beforehand and LOVED the movie. It was fantastic. I highly recommend it.

The next morning we slept in until 9:30 (heaven!) and watched some TV. This was a huge luxury since we don't have cable and decided when we got married that we weren't going to put a TV in our bedroom. It was lovely! After we got ready we headed out for a day of shopping at the famous outlets! We looked for breakfast for awhile but finally decided to just wait for lunch. We went to Best Buy to use up Morgan's gift card from last Christmas, and then we headed over to Bed Bath and Beyond because I had a $5 off coupon. This is our extremely awkward picture showing off our loot...all for under $11!

Next stop: Pizza! We spoiled ourselves a little (well hey, that was what the whole trip was about!) and got Papa Johns. It was scrumptious! Eating it out of the box in the car was even better. :) Last stop: Tanger Outlets. I had a coupon for a $50 gift card and I only had to pay $25 for it...so basically everything half off. Morgan found some 20% off coupons...so add that on top of the fact that we were at the factory outlet stores and you better believe we got some amazing deals! We got four really nice shirts (from Abercrombie  & Fitch, and Banana Republic) and a bottle of foaming soap from bath & body works (one of those little luxuries we miss since we're poor) all for $25! Considering most A&F shirts are over $50 a pop, we were ecstatic! I wore one to church today and felt super fashionable. ;)

We ended the day by watching the BYU game (go cougars) and making a giant shopping run (we had no food at home). By the time we got home it was practically blizzarding! There was 6 inches at least!

Attitude of Gratitude.

Morgan and I have been trying to hold Family Home Evening on Monday nights the past few weeks, and so far we are really enjoying it! I'm in charge of planning FHE on Mondays and Morgan is in charge of planning a date night...usually on Friday nights. Since we've started doing this we've really felt happier and closer as a couple...who knew! ;) Tonight we talked about gratitude (original I know...but Thanksgiving is the perfect time to talk about it). We read a talk by President Thomas S. Monson that he gave during this past general conference entitled, "The Divine Gift of Gratitude." (Read it HERE) He talked about so many wonderful things and made several fabulous points...but I think my favorite quote was this:

"A grateful heart comes through expressing gratitude to our Heavenly Father for His blessings and to those around us for all that hey bring into our lives. This requires conscious effort - at least until we have truly learned and cultivated an attitude of gratitude. Often we feel grateful and intend to express our thanks but forget to do so or just don't get around to it. Someone has said that "feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it."

I loved that! To wrap up or conversation on gratitude, Morgan and I each wrote down 5 things we are grateful for. Here are a few of the things we wrote:

Morgan:
"I'm grateful for an ugly car that has always been reliable."
"I'm grateful for good friends that are unselfish."
"I'm grateful for the Savior and his atonement for me."

Cate:
"I'm grateful for my awesome husband who cleans the house so when I get home I don't have to stress."
"I'm grateful for Christmas music because it makes me happy and excited for the holidays."
"I'm grateful for texting so I can keep in touch with friends and family."

A few other things I'm grateful for...in picture form! These were taken over the past year:

The temple:

Beautiful U-T-A-H:

Wildflowers:

puffy, swollen, crack-head eyes

Remember that scene in "Hitch" when Will Smith's face gets swollen and huge?

That's pretty much how I've looked for the past three days. Okay so I'm being a little dramatic, but my eyes have been swelling and PUFFING up...on and off, on and off, and on and off again for three days!

I've tried not using makeup, stopped using my moisturizer, asked if they changed the cleaning solutions at work...anything and everything I can think of...I've tried it. I even tried not touching my eyes at all today...seriously. I didn't touch them. At all. I thought I was home free...but then I got home from work and POOF. Literally.

Any ideas?

The necklace.

Morgan proposed on November 17, 2008.

It was cold that night. I didn't put on a coat or a cute scarf or any of the necessary winter garments because we were, supposedly, hopping in and out of a warm car to get to FHE at our Bishop's house. Morgan opened the door for me as usual and I huffed and plopped in the seat, making it painfully obvious that I was unhappy. As I was busy sending negative vibes and annoyed glances, Morgan abruptly pulled the car over and cut the engine. He gave me a sheepish grin and kissed me on the cheek. And then he blindfolded me.  

Once I knew what was going on, I couldn't stop smiling. Morgan opened my door, lifted me out of the car, and carried me towards the proposal location (a park in Orem). I was freezing but I didn't care. I was about to get engaged! When he finally removed my blindfold, I saw it. The table was beautiful...there were candles, roses, fine china, and of course pizza. (Have I mentioned we are perfect for each other?)

Fast forward through a beautifully composed and well written song on the guitar, a near attack from a runaway German Shepherd, and lots of starting into each other's eyes, Morgan prepared our dinner. That was when I noticed the necklace. It was draped over the tablecloth by my glass and glimmered in the candlelight. It was simple. A pearl. A few little crystals. But I instantly loved it.

As I rushed to get ready for work this morning I thought of the necklace. I hadn't worn it in months and needed something to jazz up my outfit. After fighting the tangles and knots that is my jewelry box, I pulled the necklace out and put it on.

Turns out today is our 18 month anniversary. Oh how I love my Morgan. And my necklace.

I more than sort-of-love the holidays.

We love Christmas.

Our house smells like cinnamon. And pumpkin spice.

There are twinkling lights in every room.

Peaceful music is playing in the background.

It snowed today.

Tempus Fugit/Time Flies

Whoa!!! How has it been almost six months since I last posted? I guess time flies when you're busy working like a crazy person and forget to write down all your most memorable experiences like:

1. Moving to the University of Utah (don't worry, we're still die hard cougar fans).
2. Living in an even SMALLER apartment than before (in 1 1/2 years of marriage, we've lived in three apartments...each successively smaller than the previous)...amounting in 530 square feet of fun.
3. Photographing and editing 15 weddings and countless family/engagement/bridal sessions.
4. Supporting Morgan through his first two semesters of graduate school by helping him memorize anatomical terms, being a fake physical therapy patient and letting him test all my reflexes, range of motion, etc.
5. A fun trip to our Bishop's property = horseback riding, hiking, s'moresing, etc.
6. Adventures with bread machines...the first one died after three uses (Morgan bought it used on KSL) and the second one had water poured all over it from the vent in the pantry.
7. Baking and cooking up a storm...here are some of our favorites from recent weeks (and pretty healthy too!):

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Zesty-Slow-Cooker-Chicken-Barbecue/Detail.aspx

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Slow-Cooker-Beef-Stew-I/Detail.aspx

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Banana-Banana-Bread/Detail.aspx

8. Discovered a love for Chili's (not so healthy).
9. Celebrated our birthdays in high fashion...(Morgan took Cate to the Roof for dinner where they saw Elder Oaks, watched the sunset over temple square, listened to the Pianist serenade them with "their" song, and ate amazing food. Cate wasn't quite as creative but did decorate the house with streamers and balloons, gave Morgan lots of coupons to redeem for things like a homemade dinner of his choice, an hour of playing football together, etc.)
10. Decorated for Christmas on November 6th...which was an improvement on last year's November 3rd. I just can't help my intense love for the Holidays!!
11. Almost forgot to mention...I started working at and insurance company as a receptionist and am loving it. Full time, full benefits, great company and coworkers...we are certainly blessed to have this job. Things were getting tight there towards the end of the summer! Morgan isn't working right now because of his crazy workload, but he might try and find something small in January. For now he is studying like crazy and helping me stay sane by making dinners most nights and doing a lot of the housework. He's my favorite. :)

One of the things I have not been good at is taking pictures of ourselves...I have a lot of other people and their families, but not the two of us. We recently went out and took some fun family pictures for our Christmas cards this year...here is a sampling! If you would like a Christmas card this year, leave a comment or shoot me an email! :)

We are still crazy in love, in case you were wondering.