2012, A review. part 2.

Part two of my review of 2012
In July, we hiked more. And on the 4th, we woke up to hot air balloons in our yard.  Jess finished painting the bookcase as well. We also had a chance to see Katherine Jenkins perform with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir for the Pioneer Day Concert.

 

August came, and we celebrated our 3rd anniversary. We spent a weekend at the cabin, hiked more, and I did a little bit of canning. So far, I have done freezer jams (peach and strawberry), jalapeno jelly, pineapple orange apricot jam, and canned peaches. Also, we got some teenage mutant ninja turtles.

Then, we came to September. We visited my mom in Elko for a weekend. We, as you might have guessed, hiked. And we ate peaches, and we enjoyed the splendor that is the thriving metropolis of Elko. When we were back in Happy Valley, we hiked more... Also, we drove the Alpine Loop one afternoon, just when the trees were starting to turn.

Come October, we took a much needed vacation to Yellowstone and Rexburg. While in Rexburg, we strolled campus, and took a picture in the room we met in, April of 2008. It was so much fun being back, and not having to worry about school one bit. We even had a chance to visit a few of our favorite teachers. We loved going to Yellowstone. It was so peaceful, beautiful, lovely. This trip was great because it was our first gluten-free trip on our own (i.e. not visiting family). We made sure we had enough snacks with us along the way, as well as called ahead to restaurants and looked at menus online to see what we could find. That month, I had a few job interviews, none of which worked out.  That's okay though. 

In November, we almost bought a house, but we changed our mind, again. Also, we voted. Jess's work helped put on a Family Festival at the UCCU center at UVU. I helped out. It was a lot of fun, and it felt great to be so useful. It was a lot of hard work, but totally worth it. We had Thanksgiving on our own that year. It was lovely, delicious, and gluten free. We also saw South Pacific that month at the Hale Center Theater.

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 Finally, we came to December. We made marshmallows, snowmen, cookies. We helped decorate gingerbread houses with some nieces and nephews. We decorated our house for Christmas. We went on winter walks, checked out Christmas lights, and visited Temple Square. We also got a visit from my middle brother and his family. These kids are fantastic. Finally, for Christmas, we went to Portland. That was a fun trip, full of good food, and good times. We went bowling, went to a Blazer game, enjoyed a progressive dinner with the Portland family (which had plenty of gluten free options!), had a good time at the Lego store a time or two, went to the temple, and lit paper lanterns (like in Tangled). Jess's birthday was also celebrated while we were in the area. It was a good trip. We ended up flying back on the last day of the year. That night, we watched Brave with Joseph and Joanie, and ate some of our favorite foods. One of my new favorites is a jalapeno pepper, roasted, stuffed with cream cheese and a li'l smokie, wrapped in bacon, covered in bbq sauce, roasted some more, and devoured. 

The following photos are all from December, but are in no particular order.