Belated Happy Holidays

Where to begin? For the last two weeks, Rod and I have been with family and/or friends non-stop (except when we are sleeping or on an airplane between families). The last of our family (my adorable little sister) left this morning. The ornaments have all been returned to their resting place under the stairs. And I billed six hours today. The holidays are officially over :(

We started our adventure in Louisiana. I have been there many times and spent one Christmas there, but this was my first time there as Rod's wife. I was sad that I didn't get be with my family on Christmas until my Grandma pointed out that Rod's family is my family now. Rod's family has always been very welcoming, but my grandma's observation made me look at it with a new perspective. These are people that will be connected to me and my family for the rest of my life. Boy am I glad that I have such great in-laws!

Our time in Louisiana included several family gatherings:
Melanie's Birthday celebration at Aunt Patty (Rod's mom's sister) and Uncle Gerry's,




dinner at Mike Anderson's with the Abernathys (Rod's stepdad Sterling, his "Third Grandmother" Ms. Caroline, and Rod's stepbrother Benton), Christmas Eve Eve at Aunt Jumy's (Rod's dad's sister Judy and her husband Jimmy),






Christmas Eve at Aunt Patty and Uncle Gerry's and at Marshal Anne and Nelson's (Ms. Caroline's cousin) with the Abernathy's
before Christmas Mass with Mr. Pete (Rod's Dad), and Christmas Day at Aunt Terry and Fred's with the Dewailly's (Rod's mothers family: Maw Maw, Paw Paw, Uncle Eddie, Patty and her husband Gerry, their daughter Melanie, her husband Jonathan, their girls Ellery, Hailey, and Avery, Terry, Fred, their son Cole)



and at Chris and Lee's (Rod's cousins),

and the day after Christma barbequeing (seriously! It was 80 degrees) at Rod's brother Stephen's house.



Whew! That is enough for tonight. Stay tuned for details about our trip to New Orleans tomorrow.

Weddding Wednesday: Zuma Photos

Now that the Christmas presents are all wrapped and Christmas cards are in the mail, I can share with you one of my favorite parts of our wedding: the photographer. Mitch at Zuma Photo is truly awesome. We loved him from the first time we viewed his online portfolio. We met him for lunch to see if our personalities clicked and from that moment on he became my de facto wedding planner. Every time I had a question about whether I should do something, I would call Mitch. I'm sure by the end he wanted to throttle me, but he would never let it show.

Click here to view our online photos. The password is Liberty.

He is in the process of creating our wedding album (we asked him to wait until after the Christmas rush). I cannot wait to see the final product.

The only regret I have is that I did not give Mitch a shot list. His style is very much photojournalistic, which is why we picked him. But if you have to have a posed shot with Aunt Bertha, you better let him know. That said, he took so many pictures we got most of what we wanted and were ecstatic with the results.

Christmas Letter 2008

Friends and family:

Whirlwind. That is the word that best describes our year. We spent the first seven months of the year planning our wedding. It took a lot more time than we ever imagined. All that work paid off, though. Our wedding day was PERFECT. The location, band, flowers, weather, stationary, food, cake, and company could not have been better. The only thing we would have changed was that we wish we had more time to spend with everyone. We were overwhelmed by how many people came from so far away to celebrate with us. We felt like the luckiest people in the world to have each other and the love and support of so many family and friends. After all that planning, the day was a blur and over too soon!

©2008 ZumaPhoto.com

©2008 ZumaPhoto.com

©2008 ZumaPhoto.com

We wasted no time heading off to our honeymoon destination: the Yucatan peninsula. It was two weeks of exploring Incan ruins, scuba diving, snorkeling in the cenotes, sampling local cuisine, wandering around colonial cities, and, of course, enjoying each other. Jen turned 28 while we were there and, as a present, Rod took her on an excursion swimming with the Whalesharks. This was Rod's first "real" trip out of the country. We don't count his lunch in Tijuana, illegal border crossing near Yuma, or trip to Cabo San Lucas (where they speak English and use dollars). Like the wedding, it went way too quickly!





When we got home, we got a new addition to the family: Rumba. Since Rumba was a wedding present from Rod to Jen, it seemed only fitting that we name her after the dance Rod was supposed to learn for the wedding. Rumba is a five-year old chow/retriever mix, who couldn't be sweeter. She and Ani get along (most of the time). We love our furry orange children.

Other notable events of our year include an unbelievable amount of weddings--no less than thirteen in addition to our own. All of them were lovely and unique. It was so fun to be going through this exciting time in our lives at the same time as so many of our friends. As part of this crazy schedule of weddings, we spent a weekend in Cabo San Lucas to witness the nuptials of Jess and Sarah. While we were there, Rod tried his hand at surfing. He almost got it.




We also went to a wild and crazy wedding for Sam and Erin in Cheyenne, Wyoming exactly one week before our wedding.


The spring was very busy. Jen took her annual international trip in March. This year she went to Honduras, where she met up with her friend Regina. Regina and Jen met in the Bolivian jungle a couple years ago, and they had such a good time traveling together that Jen decided to visit her where she was doing peace corp work in Central America. Jen's trip just happened to fall over Easter so she got to witness some amazing cultural celebrations (she fit in some time for diving and exploring too).




Rod received the Solicitor's Excellence Award in May. We went to D.C., where the award was presented. It was nice to catch up with friends there. Also in May, Jen's best friend (and Maid of Honor) Mindy threw her a very tame and innocent bachelorette party in New York City. :)

The fall was much more calm (at least in our social lives). We stayed closer to home, leaving only for a weekend trip to Louisiana for the disappointing LSU/Georgia game. Jen also went on a girls road trip to Zion's and Bryce National park. They had the misfortune of staying in a hogan on the same night that it snowed. Brrrr. . .





Now, Christmas is less than a week away and our Thank You cards are just barely out the door. Hopefully they will beat the Christmas cards! We are looking forward to a much more peaceful year ahead.


We hope this letter finds you and your family well. May you have a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Happy Holidays!


Jen, Rod, Ani, and Rumba

'Tis the Season . . .

Like every December, this one has been obnoxiously full of holiday parties. Since I am too busy attending them to really write about them, here are some pictures from a few of them. The Salt Lake County Bar Holiday Dinner My attorneys and spouses only work party at the Marriott

I didn't take any pictures of my attorneys and staff party at Little America, but here is the skit that the associates produced this year.


As you can see, we had a lot of fun making it. But I will not miss this holiday tradition next year when (fingers crossed) I am a partner.

And, last but not least, our annual Egg Nog Bash. This is a party Rod and I put on every year for a small group of law school friends. This year we did a cookie exchange. Yummy!

Eggnog!

The tins for the cookies. New Baby Sophia Lily The Gabester

Giving Thanks!

This Thanksgiving was not a typical Thanksgiving Day. In fact, it was objectively a bad Thanksgiving Day. But to me, it was the kind of day where all the reasons to be thankful were very apparent.

Shortly after waking up, my Grandma got up and told us that she did not feel well. I helped her into the bathroom and rubbed lotion into her back to make her fell better. She wasn't able to get back up without my Grandpa. She was so upset that she didn't feel well. She had been looking forward to having us home and to spending the day with our family, but that morning all she wanted to was go back to bed. We decided to let her rest for awhile to see how she felt. By noon, we had decided that we were not going to make it out to Dennis and Brenda's for dinner. Instead, Rod and I went out to pick up plates for everyone. Dennis and Brenda made sure we had full plates for dinner (and dessert).

When we got back, Grandma felt well enough to eat. We sat down to eat just the four of us (and Rumba). It was less hectic than most Thanksgiving meals. I was so glad that I got eat with Grandma. Ever since her close call this summer, every minute I have with her is a gift.

Right after dinner, we helped Grandma get ready and headed to the ER. She could not feel her legs and was lethargic. We stayed with her while they got her checked in. Then we made a quick trip out to Rigby to see my Mom (Dena) and siblings before coming back to the hospital. Jayde was home from college and Daniel and his family were out visiting. We had pie and played Cranium. Jayde and I were on a team against Mom and Jordan, Daniel and Brittany (and Bradley), and Rod and Ryan (Jayde's ex/current boyfriend). Jordan and Mom kicked our butts, but we had a lot of fun on the way. There was a LOT of humming. Apparently I'm good at charades, sculpting, and drawing with my eyes closed, but horrible at humming. :)


Over the next few days, we spent a lot of time with Grandma at the hospital. Fortunately (depending how you look at it) her problems were caused only by an overdose of calcium. It was so frustrating because she had just had her dosage increased by her doctor the week before. She got to come home on Saturday (after the calcium cleared out of her blood) and is feeling much better now.

The rest of the weekend is a bit of a blur. Jayde and I got to spend some alone time getting pedicures (and giving Santa our wish list). We spent a short while visiting with Great Grandma Sauers, who will be turning 92 this week. Rod and I took Jayde and Ryan out to sushi. Yes, sushi in IF. It was against our better judgment. It wasn't bad. It wasn't great, but it wasn't bad. Saturday we had Pizza at Leos, a family tradition, with Dad, Amanda (his girlfriend), her kids, Mom 2, Jayde, Jordan, Daniel, Brittany, and the boys. It was a madhouse, but so fun to wax nostalgic about which one of us threw the worse tantrums as a child (Daniel, definitely Daniel). We brought some pizza home to Grandma, which she generously shared with Rumba. Rumba was her faithful companion the rest of the weekend.

Sunday morning we said our goodbyes to Grandma and Grandpa, met Wade and Terie for a quick breakfast at Smittys, and headed home. On the way home, being the cheesy person I am, after Rod reached for my hand, I asked Rod to pinch me. Then I told him that I couldn't believe I was so lucky to have such a hot, smart, sucessful, generous, and caring husband. He smiled at my and humbly said "You forgot something". "Oh really?" "Yes, I have you." Heart melting! He's SO wonderful!

Yes, this weekend, there was a lot to be thankful for.

Body Worlds

This has really been an amazing year for Salt Lake culture wise. Not only did the UMBA have the Warhol Show and the Monet to Picasso exhibit, but now The Leonardo is hosting Bodyworlds. It was so real it seemed unreal. Does that make sense? It is an exhibit made entirely of plasticized human bodies and body parts. The bodies are arranged in very dynamic poses and sliced very creatively to best exhibit specific qualities of the human body. It was absolutely fascinating. The real parts look nothing like what you would imagine from all those diagrams in your biology books.

My Computer is Back!

I just got my computer back, but I still have a lot of work to do to get it back to where it was. I have to re-install all of my software! It will probably be awhile before I feel up to doing a proper post, but I am a couple weeks past due on a tag from Kristine.

Here is how it is supposed to work: Post the fourth picture in your fourth file.



It's not the best photo. I took it with a self-timer. It is all of Rod's family when we went home for the LSU game last year.

Now I tag Carley Anne, Mindy, and Rachel Ann.