So this happened...

haha! It's so funny to me. I had just got these jeans from DI for work.  I put them in our washer and they came out with the butt completely destroyed. haha what a silly washer.  We can't figure out how it happened, just a freak accident. Good times though.  Luckily Mark (Justin's dad) was there to witness the whole thing and he bought me some new, very nice work jeans that are much warmer and thicker. Thanks Mark! He also got me some amazing thermals that have saved my life.  Work has been very cold lately (well in the negative numbers).

1 Year!

I was so excited!

For our 1^st anniversary we had an impulse buy and bought tickets to a George Strait concert. It’s not until January 25^th but we are very excited! It’s his last tour before he retires so we decided to just go for it. 

On our actual anniversary day we spent the day in St. George.  We went out to dinner at Red Robin and then went and saw Les Mes!  I loved it and Justin just liked it.  He’s not a big musical guy and had never heard the music, so he wasn’t as into it as I was.  But he is so sweet to be willing to go and watch it with me.  We also stayed at a Best Western for the night so we could just relax and be by ourselves.  I’m so thankful to be married to such a wonderful man.  He is so sweet to me and gets sweeter and sweeter with every passing day.  Everyday I fall more and more in love with him.  He is so handsome and loving. I love everything about him and I’m so lucky to spend all of eternity with him. What a great year!    

Things I love about him:

• I love how handsome he is
• I love when he dances
• I love when he holds me
• I love when he makes me laugh
• I love when he sings made up songs
• I love how protected I feel when he is with me
• I love that I can’t sleep without him now
• I love that he is a perfectionist and has OCD about some things (like having all of the light switches in the same direction). 
• I love how passionate he can be about things (like hunting and getting all A’s). 
• I love that we both don’t like onions so I just take them out of all the meals I make 
• I love that he loves cheese so much – we go through it so fast now.
• I love that he always needs his back scratched.
• I love how fast he falls asleep – as soon as his head hits the pillow (and I’m a little jealous of that talent)
• I love that he always pops my back for me
• I love that he is always in shorts and a t-shirt while I wear so many layers
• I love that he will do anything that I ask him to – he’s so willing to serve me
• I love that he has a hard time eating the last of anything (for instance: if there is one Gatorade left he has a hard time drinking it)
• I love that he can cook any type of meat really well (steaks, chicken, etc. His quesadillas are my favorite!)

Part II of Christmas Vacation: Caliente, NV

Our next stop was Nevada to spend the rest of our vacation with the Holt’s.  I was very sick at this point and Justin was also getting sick.  I had tonsillitis and a fever and all of that fun stuff.  Mama Holt took good care of me.  The drive down was a little sketchy because it was snowing and the roads struggled – but we made it safe and sound!

Christmas for me was a little different this year because they have different traditions than what I grew up with, but it was still fun.  We slept in this Christmas because it was just Justin and I and his parents.  So we slept in, ate a good breakfast and then Chantel and Eric (Justin’s brother) and their two kids came over and we all opened presents.  Justin got me an awesome .22 target shooter that we set up the next week and had contests shooting.  Justin also got me another wild rag  (blue) that I was needing to help keep me warm – I love my wild rag! I got Justin a sweet gun case that holds two guns with scopes and a card game that he actually likes to play.

Other highlights from the trip:

•        Justin and Mark taking turns to build me a fire to keep me warm each night
•            Snowmobiling up in the mountains.  We only had about 1 ½ before it got dark, but it was very fun.  Then we fixed Chauncey’s truck, which took a long long time and I almost froze to death but then my awesome rugged husband built me a fire so I didn’t freeze.
•          Playing our new card game (Five Crowns) with Justin’s parents
•         Justin really enjoyed fixing the snowmobiles with Eric
•          Justin and I had a shooting contest with my new target. It was so fun! I beat him 2 out of 3 times with my new .22 rifle that my amazing parents had just gotten me for my birthday.
•          Being able to look through the amazing wedding albums that my mom made for us and shipped out to us. Incredible! They will last forever and it is just the most beautiful gift!
•          We got to play basketball with a bunch of Justin’s friends one morning
•           Delicious and endless amounts of food and treats and snacks
•           Being with family
•         Just hanging out and relaxing
•         Football games and western movies
•         Naps and snuggling by the fire

New Year’s was also very different and very chill.  I wasn’t able to bang on pots and pans (a Goodson tradition) because there were some sleeping children in the house.  But Justin and I did watch the ball drop and then watched a couple of Twilight Zone episodes to help me keep some Goodson traditions alive.

Justin is so excited

His new awesome gun case

Here we are on Christmas Day

The crew that came to open presents with us

Same picture as before but this time with Mark

Part I of Christmas Vacation: The Rusts

This year we went to Caliente for Christmas.  I was able to get 2 weeks off of work, which was amazing and very needed. Although I got tonsillitis again, it was still a wonderful vacation.  We spent the first few days of our trip at Ashley and Jake’s. It was so great to be with family. I love those guys.  Cameron and Taylor are getting so big.  It’s so fun to play with them – they are very different little personalities. Taylor is a girly girl but isn’t afraid to stick up for herself when Cameron is giving her a hard time; she can be feisty.  But she is a sweety and LOVES to read books. One night we read all of the books that she could find at least twice.  Cameron is so fun to play with – he has an amazing imagination and loves his dinosaurs and action figures.  We had them for Christmas so they opened the gifts we got them while we were there.  Cameron loved his Ironman action figure we got him.  We got Taylor a little red purse and some bracelets.  We gave Jake a golf ball retriever that extends really far.  We gave Ashley The Hunger Games movie and a toilet bowl cleaner and some earrings.  It was fun to shop for them and get to see their faces as they opened their gifts.

We were all so surprised that when we first got there none of us were sick.  That seems to be the tradition – one of us is usually sick when we visit.  But then Cameron got pink eye and my tonsils started to swell…tradition is still kept alive. Awesome.  We also all went to see the lights at the Temple Square in Salt Lake.  We took the train in, which turned out to be an adventure. ON our way back we had to wait at least 40 minutes in the freezing cold.  But it was fun to see all the pretty lights and enjoy a romantic evening with my sweet husband.  It was wonderful to just hang out and relax and be with family. 

Waiting for the train

Cute Taylor 

Cameron and Justin 

Those are Cameron's hands in the corner :) silly boy

We went and looked in the Tabernacle 

How romantic