lots of updates :)

I haven't blogged for a bit so this is a long one with a bunch of random things we've been up to! Andy and I just got back from a weekend getaway to Vegas! (Sorry, these were all taken with my phone, so not the best pics!) We ate lots of yummy food, walked, window shopped, walked some more and just enjoyed our weekend together!

Fancy shoe in the the Cosmopolitan Hotel! :)

My sweet hubs :)

I have always wanted to eat at this cute little crepe shop in the Bellagio, so we did! It was so yummy! We got the Nutella crepe! It did not dissapoint! They know how to do it! It was so so rich and yummy and only took us 1 min to devour it. We love crepes! On our honeymooon we ate 2-3 crepes a day on the cruise ship.....dangerous.

Chocolate fountains at the crepe place!

And all sorts of yummy goodness

Visiting the gardens and this massive pumpkin!

 I have mixed feelings about Vegas....by the end of the day we felt like we smoked a pack of cigarettes (yuck), and we saw way more skin than anyone should see, haha, but it was so fun to have a spur of the moment trip, see sights, eat yummy food, shop, and the best part was just spending time with this guy!

School has already been is session for a while now but here is a pic of Carters very first day of 1st grade! I can't believe it! 1st grade was a HUGE adjustment for me with lots of mixed feelings. It was hard for me to let him go to school ALL DAY! From 8:30 till about 3:40. He's my only kid and that's my job....being a mom. It's so quiet around here now...I've been trying to fill my days with crafts, cooking, and piano/lessons but it sure does feel weird not having this little dude around the house. :( Hopefully the rest of the Petersen crew will get here sooner than later :)

I love this picture of him. Lining up for school!

And here's some of the things that have filled my days....APPLES! I have a love/hate relationship with our apple tree. They are MESSY! They fall all over the place! However, that provides an awesome chore for Carter. He has been so great and willing to go pick up apples when we ask! I am a wanna-be cook and baker! Over these last few years I have LOVED finding new recipes and attempting to be like Betty Crocker :) Here was one of many sink filled apples getting washed.

My friend Shelly let me borrow her dehydrater, along with her awesome apple peeler thingy that also takes out the core and cuts it. It made dehydrating apples a breeze! It was a lot of fun and our house smelt so good!

I dehydrated apples, made apple bars, and made my first ever apple pie! I've always been intimidated by pies and crusts but I did it! And it turned out great!  I'm sold!

Next on the list to fill my void of not having Carter home during the days......Meet this sweet little gal! Isn't she cute?! Andy and I had been talking about getting a cat, but I just wasn't sure if I could commit. We got a bird when we first got married and I hated it! It pooped every 5 seconds! I hated holding it cause thats all it did was poop!!! (NOTE: Dont get a bird as a first time pet!) Anway, we ended up getting this sweetie off of KSL for free and I'm in love with her! We all love her! Her name is Shoogz (AKA Shoogies or The Shoogie Babies) :)

Isn't she sweet?! :)

Crafts!!!! So....I got this dresser for free from my Grandma! I've wanted to learn how to refinish furniture but was nervous to take the plunge. My friend Jenn (She's a crafty one, that girl) was so sweet to help me with the project and let me ask her a BAZILLION questions, and re-ask them a bazillion more times!

Heres the before shots.....

And heres the after! I love it! I made it white and distressed it! The distressing was my favorite part! I still have to get hardware to put on it but it was such a fun project! Now that I've tackled a beast this big as my first project, I'm ready to take on more! I really loved doing this!

And last...Andy's sister snapped some pics of us! I needed more pics of this little guy. Love these :)

Our family!!!

Tomorrow is our 1 year anniversary!!! I seriously cannot believe it's already been 1 year!

See this picture? This was the very first day we met! We only new each other for about 1 hour here. So fun to look back at these pictures. We had no idea we would be spending forever with each other in this photo :)

Here we are on 9.10.11! Best day of my life! This pictures pretty much sums us up. I think we are pretty dang good together :)

We got to celebrate all weekend long! Andy took charge this year and surprised me! He wouldn't tell me anything we were doing until we actually got there :) I have a hard time with surprises...I absolutely love them but I can't shut up with the guessing games. Andy got a real kick out of it so he dragged it on as long as possible, not telling me until we got to the destination.

We started Friday by going to the fair and ending with ice cream! Good ol' summer fun!

Then on Saturday Andy drove me up to Park city and we got to stay all day and play and stay in an awesome hotel! We had fun walking around and seeing all the shops on main street, outlet shopping, eating at a yummy pizza place (which had the best margarita pizza ever!!!) and he ended the night by having a movie ready for us, that I really wanted to see, and bought me all my favorite candy!  We didn't get a lot of pictures, but here we are getting ready to play some card games (see all the yummy snacks?!)  while we pigged out! Such a perfect night! I loved it!

I'll spare all of you the mushy gushy stuff and leave that for Andy :) ...but this guy makes me feel like one lucky girl! I feel so blessed that we finally found each other and that I get to spend forever with Andy! Happy one year anniversary to my best friend and love of my life!!! I love you!!!

Timpanogos caves!

My family all got together this last week! Including my sisters from Switzerland and Washington state! The only sister we were missing was Megan, who is still on her mission in Portugal! I love getting to see everyone! We all went to the Timpanogos caves! Lots of fun, its a cool cave! :)

Here's the spelunking crew! Have you heard of spelunking? Cause I never have. Apparently everyone else knew what it meant but me, haha.

                                                      Sisters!!!

                                          My Dad and my hubs!

                                           Andy and I in the caves!

                                                Awesome caves!!

            My sister Amye and I cheesing it up for the camera, inside the caves!

       
                                   Have I said how much I love this guy?!!!

                                           On top of he world!

 And I had to throw in this picture! Andy's new toy! A Lathe! I had never heard of these things, but they are pretty awesome! Andy really likes working with wood and we found a great deal on KSL for this! You can carve table legs and all sorts of cool stuff with it.

Here's the baseball bat he made with it. Isn't that cool?! I love it! And he now has a list of things I want him to make for me :)

Minnesota!

 Andy and I just got back from a trip to Minnesota where we got together with all of Andy's family for his Grandma's 90th birthday! We missed our little Carter, he would have loved it! but he's gone half the summer. :(

I had never been to Minnesota before and that's where Andy grew up!  Andy always talks about all the trees and how green it is, and it definitely is! I loved it!

     Here is a pic of the dock right off the family cabin! So fun!

             Andy and his brother/bro-in-laws messing around with the fishing gear!

                                           Playing some games!

 One night we drove into Minneapolis and went to a Twins baseball game! Andy loves the twins...watches them all the time at home, so it was so fun to actually be there. Awesome stadium and Andy's brother was able to get us front row seats!  So cool!

They hit a home run and the guy next to us caught the ball...but Andy and I missed it cause we were buying a pretzel! Bummer!!!!

                                                             
                                            Hangin out at the cabin!

I had never been fishing before! I didn't catch this little guy but it was my first time holding a fish. Can you tell how I felt about it? Andy told me to hold the fish by the lip.......ewww.

          But it grew on me! I think I could get into this fishing thing :)

The sunsets off of this dock are amazing! Andy and I took the Kayaks out one night and watched it, it was so beautiful, one of my favorite things we did!

                                                                 
                                              The Petersen fam!

                                    Andy's mom and siblings and grandparents!

                                Andy's grandma! Isn't she so cute?!

Andy's brother that lives in Minnesota hooked us up with all these toys! So much fun!

                          Breakfast for a crowd. So yummy!

                    Andy and his brother Chad! Their nicknames  :)

                       Andy having a good time with his brothers!

A few highlights of our trip:
*Riding the golf carts into town and getting yummy huge ice cream cones!
*Going out in the Kayaks, playing on the lake!
*Spending time with family
*Fishing for the first time
*Shopping the little town with the girls
*Getting to see where Andy has spent his time all growing up, so cool!
*Experiencing a Twins baseball game!
*Spending a week vacation with my love! :)