Jeffrey & Dara : 2012

Sunday, December 16, 2012

The X Factor

A couple weeks ago I got tickets to go to a taping of The X Factor! I had three other tickets so I took Nicole, Maisy, and Eliza. It is safe to say that, out of everyone, I was the giddiest and most immature about it all. I literally got butterflies in my stomach when we walked in. I was within 15 feet of my childhood (adulthood) obsession Britney Spears! Not to mention Jeffrey and I watch the show every week and have our favorites in the competition. It was so fun to go see everything in person and to watch how the show runs each week. It was especially funny to see the rules they had for the audience (No labels on shirt, bright solid colors, no jeans, always smile, clap above your head, cheer extremely loud at all times, always boo negative criticism from the judges, do not ask for autographs...)

They wouldn't let us take our phones in so we didn't take pictures (they literally made us go through metal detectors and had us give them our phone until we left CBS studios) so I didn't get any pictures. Lame! I did, however, photobomb Demi Lovato's instagram, about which I feel very proud.

Oh, hi all of us. Nicole is in the orange, I am in the turquoise, Maisy in blue and Eliza in the cream sweater. (Yes, I did see her taking this picture and I smiled in the background. Not embarrassed.)

Another photobomb smile.

And thus concludes my 5 seconds of self-imagined fame.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

Deck the Apartment Halls

A little look into our festive apartment. I can't wait for the day when I have boxes and boxes of Christmas decorations to use, but until that time we will make do with our dollar store lights and 3 foot tree :)

Thank you to my grandma for giving me this cute silver tea set! I'm kind of obsessed with it.

Thank you to Jeffrey's grandma Donna for making this beautiful wreath for me! Are you serious? You can't buy that perfection.

Monday, November 26, 2012

Finally I Can Listen to Christmas Music

This year we got to spend Thanksgiving with Jeffrey's family. Everybody came from all around to eat dinner at Jeffrey's grandparent's house in Santa Monica (besides for Amanda and Chris who were missed!). It was a huge feast with a huge family, and it was so fun.

Every year I feel a bit like a Thanksgiving grinch. Everyone complains about department stores skipping Thanksgiving and decorating for Christmas on November 1st. I'm silently rejoicing when I see the garland and twinkly lights all over, Christmas commercials, and radio stations dedicated solely to Christmas music. For me, Thanksgiving is merely a filler holiday in between spooky Halloween and magical Christmas. Thanksgiving is just a way to keep your stomach stretched out so you can prepare for Christmas dinner. Jeffrey whole-heartedly disagrees, claiming that Thanksgiving is one of the best holidays all year. Either way the holiday is always more fun than I anticipate and the food is always better. Plus the end of Thanksgiving marks beginning of Christmas music and I couldn't be happier!

Cute mom and son

Maisy and Mike working on her college essays

Coming from a family with one sister, I'm still getting used to the all-sports-all-the-time channel. We watched 3 football games, start to finish that day. And by "we" I mostly mean Michael, Zach, and Skip.

Food coma

Cute brotherly love

These two love their uncle!

Hoping everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Homecoming

A couple of weeks ago Jeffrey's little brother Michael got home from his mission in Chile! All of Jeffrey's family got to the airport at 8 AM and patiently waited to see him. It was so fun to have everyone there. And it was especially nice that Jeffrey was able to come to the airport and not have to be at school! I think Jeanne's quite happy to know that was her last kid to leave on a mission and is loving having everyone in the same state for a little while.

The first sighting and a happy mom about to see her son.

Will seeing his (second) favorite uncle.

Cute siblings. I didn't get a picture of all of us, considering Michael acquired 2 new sisters in law while he was gone. I'll have to steal some pictures off Nicole's blog!

It is never a bad day when I get to see this cute girl and her cute brother.

Welcome home Michael!

Monday, November 12, 2012

96 Years Young

A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to drive up to my Grandma and Grandpa's house for the day to meet my mom and celebrate my Grandpa's 96th birthday! It was great to see my grandparents (they only live 2.5 hours from us!), aunt and uncle, and my cousin Nick and his wife Elizabeth. Nice family fun, even if it was only for a day.

Jeffrey and I like to think about all of the world events that my grandpa has personally lived through. Here are a few we came up with.

Wars: World War I, World War II, Korean War, the Cold War, the Gulf War, the Iraq War, the War on Terror...

Presidents: Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, Hoover, FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, Bush Jr., Obama...

Inventions: Stainless steal, the toaster, the lie detector, the first TV, the car, artificial insulin, penicillin, the polaroid picture, FM radio, monopoly, canned beer, the ballpoint pen (when he was 12), the Jeep, the A bomb, credit cards, bar codes, the computer, Barbie, tape players, CDs, DVDs, calculators, video games, the internet, cell phones, lap tops...

My mom, my mom's sister and her husband

The Drakes

My sister was caught in Super Storm Sandy when it came time to buy a card, so she pulled this beauty together. Handmade, printer paper, markers, stickers. It's the thought that counts, not to mention I don't even think my grandpa noticed.

I'm so lucky to still be able to be with my grandparents after all these years!

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Matt & Kim

This past week Amanda and Chris, Nate and Nicole, and Jeffrey and I went to go see Matt & Kim in LA. I had never heard their music before so I went in completely blind to what was about to happen.

To put it lightly, their concert was insane. High energy, fun music, crowd walking, a guy in a banana suit... It was amazing! We may have looked a little out of place being the only ones sober, not smoking, and above the age of 21, but it was so fun.

I guess they were both students in art school and decided that they should make a band one day. I think it's so cute that they're married.

Here's Kim walking on the fans' hands into the middle of the crowd. She has the most energy of anyone I've ever seen.

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Toy Story Champion

I am so good at Toy Story Mania/Woody's Roundup/ Disneyland in general. Like it's unreal.

Jeffrey and I have played 5 different times; each time I have completely destroyed him.

We have competitiveness in common, so you can imagine how annoyed he gets that his wife is better at this game than he is. And I mean like... way way better.

Check out these scores in chronological order. Take notice of my ever-increasing score, followed by the ever-increasing gap between my score and #2's scores.

First score may be won by a measly 100 points, but a win is a win. I'll take it.

Yikes.

...Oh Yeah.

Ouch. Middle finger in frustration to my outstanding score.

Most recent destruction. Are you kidding me with this score? Just to brag a little more... It was the best in the vehicle.

To be fair, Jeffrey nearly doubles my score in Buzz Lightyear Astro Blaster.

Bush League. Step up to the challenge of Toy Story Mania, A.K.A. a man's game.

Forever #1.

Thursday, October 18, 2012

12 Months of Marriage

Happy first anniversary to Jeffrey and myself! (If you want to skip all the sappy love stuff that really only our mom's want to read, I won't know nor would I be offended.) It's crazy to me that it's already been one whole year since Jeffrey and I stepped out of the temple after making promises to each other to be husband and wife forever. It has been such a fun, exciting, eventful, and happy year. I don't think I've ever laughed so much or had so much fun. He is such a wonderful person and I don't know how I got so lucky to have him as my husband.

I also think we have traveled more places in this year alone than any other year of our separate lives (I may be speaking on behalf of Jeffrey, but I think he would agree). From our TransAmerica Christmas, to frequent Vegas trips, to Belize, to moving from Utah, it has been an amazing year. Here are all of our months depicted via camera phone/Nicole's camera/Randi's camera!