Goodbye 2011, Hello 2012!

Well a lot has happened since our last post, with all the holidays and family get-togethers. Unfortunately, we lost our memory card from our camera…we lost all of our pictures from New York and forward. I’m just glad it was the card and not the camera. :)

Thanksgiving this year was really simple and nice. Dallin had a great time playing with his brothers in the 6th Ward Turkey Bowl, where I’m pretty sure they dominated (at least, they seem to come home and say that every year). Then we enjoyed dinner with the Salmon family. After dinner, I spent the rest of the day planning out my Black Friday shopping. I go every year with my sister…I know I’m crazy. This year we started at 8:30 pm on Thursday and went until 7:45am. Good news – we got everything we needed, plus more (which wasn’t such good news to Dallin).

One thing I love about the holidays is being able to spend time with family. We got together with my mom’s family (Andersen) for dinner at a church in West Valley. The kids had a blast running around while the adults got a chance to catch up. A few weeks later, we had a Garlick family party; it was really fun with food and games. We all were told to wear ugly sweaters, which I couldn’t find so I had to make them. Sorry…no picture (which, on second thought, might be a good thing).

Christmas was great, except for having no snow! We not only got to welcome a new baby (Abby) to the Salmon family, but we had a lot of other fun family get-togethers. Tara, Gary, Sam and other new baby Mason came into town for an early Christmas party, to hear Lincoln’s awesome farewell talk (and he really did to AWESOME), and bless little Mason. It was great to have the WHOLE family together, but I always forget just how many of us there are (26 and counting).


During the week of Christmas, we had a great nativity reenactment (which I recorded on my phone, I’ll try to load it). Watched lots of Christmas movies, like “A Muppets Christmas Carol” (a classic) and my other favorite “The Grinch.” We finished last-minute shopping, totally pigged out on every type of food and treats, and enjoyed Dallin having some extra time off.

As far as Christmas goes, Dallin was so thoughtful and sweet, and did a great job on Christmas shopping. He got me some sweet new running shoes, a really cute sign that says “Always Kiss Me Goodnight” with our names on it (in the back ground), the movie “Tangled”, and a jar of pickles. I got him a white shirt, a BYU license plate cover (he told me I “did good”), an exercise arm band for his iPhone, and some shoe bags for when he travels. We set ourselves a budget this year, and it was really fun trying to find things on a really good deal so we could get more for our money. I actually think the budget itself was Dallin’s favorite present of all. :)

We brought in the New Year with Dallin’s family. We did an early celebration for the little kids, and it was so fun seeing all the kids go crazy blowing horns, popping bubble wrap, and dancing around the room to some pop music. We stayed as the Salmons and played games until midnight. It was really pretty low key, but loved it. Happy New Year!





After New Years, Monday to Wednesday was full of family gatherings because Dallin’s little brother Lincoln was getting ready to leave on his mission. Monday, we got up early and did some deep cleaning at Ross & Karen’s (to make an awesome play room for the grandkids), had a great BBQ for lunch, and enjoyed a Utah Jazz Basketball game that night (suite tickets!). Tuesday night we had a nice family dinner before going over to the church so Lincoln could be set apart as a missionary. I’m not going to lie, I cried a little bit. Then Wednesday we had a family lunch at Pizza Factory, said our goodbyes to Lincoln, and he was off. Dallin and I are so proud of him and how good he is, he is going to be a great missionary and the people of Chile will love him. As much as I’m sad he’s gone, I’m really excited to send letters and packages!!!

Nu York, New York

On November 12, Dallin and I took a trip to New York. Dallin was going anyway for Nu Skin’s annual Investor/Analyst Day on November 16, and we decided to make a trip of it. We did the same thing last year, except the difference this time was that my parents came with us! :) It was my mom’s first time ever in New York, and my dad’s first time really being a tourist in New York, so it was really fun.

We did a ton of classic, New York tourist stuff: hung out in Times Square (a LOT!), saw a bunch of Broadway shows (Phantom of the Opera, Mary Poppins, and Addams Family), walked through Central Park, got some frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity 3, went shopping down 5th Avenue, went to the Jimmy Fallon show (my parents weren’t too excited going into it, but we all thought it was a blast – and we got on tv!), went shopping (and haggling – my favorite!) in Chinatown and Canal Street, saw the Statue of Liberty, walked through a Catholic cathedral, visited the Occupy Wall Street protest in Zucatti Park (Dallin and I walked right through the middle of it – kind of cool, but as Dallin said, definitely a bunch of “dead beats”), stayed at the Waldorf Astoria hotel, got on the Today! Show at 30 Rock, ate at a ton of different places, walked through the financial district (saw the Wall Street bull, New York Stock Exchange, etc.), and a ton of other cool stuff. We also visited the 9/11 Memorial Site, and it was a pretty cool/sobering experience. While we were out there, we also went to church in downtown Manhattan (it was the Primary program, so perfect timing!), and we also went to the Manhattan New York Temple to do sealings.

It was an awesome trip, and we loved having my parents there to share it with us. The nice thing about having my mom with us was it helped us remember how cool New York is to see for your first time, so it made the whole trip that much better! And once again, thanks to Nu Skin for making it all possible. :)







Central Park






9/11 (The tree in the last picture is called the "living tree" it is the only plant that survived from ground zero)







Other Pictures

Fall Happenings

Dallin and I have been trying to think of some fun fall things to do, so last Sunday we drove up the canyon and went for a small hike to see all the beautiful colors up close. Dallin had so much fun taking tons of pictures . . . I think he found a new hobby, or at least rediscovered an old one. :)




We watched Brynlee and Haley one night and had a little Halloween Date with them. We ate soup, painted rocks to look like some Halloween creatures, and watched a scary movie (Ichabod Crane and the Legend of Sleepy Hollow – Dallin’s favorite). We always love watching our nieces/nephews whenever we can, and it was fun to do some Halloweeny stuff.


A few Fridays ago, we had an awesome Halloween party with some family and friends, with great food and fun games. We played the annual “Quarters” game (I think we’ve played it the last 3 years) – we played three rounds and Dallin was lucky to win 2 out of 3. The costumes were great and it’s always fun to see how creative people can be. The Boscos were nice enough to let me use one of Robbie’s old jerseys to wear so I could be a football player – way cool! I made my own shoulder pads and we found some baseball pants at D.I. for 3 bucks. Dallin got his costume from a BYU old stuff sale; they had tons of cheerleading outfits but only one old school, which Dallin looks great in. I keep telling him he missed his calling in High School, and I think he’d almost agree with me.  Halloween is probably Dallin’s favorite holiday, and I think this year’s was a good one. Happy Halloween!