The St. John’s

These few days off have been relaxing and fun for us as our first Thanksgiving married. On Thursday we were able to spend Thanksgiving with my mom’s side of family at my aunt’s house. We had good food, the guys played some poker, and just had some quality time with everyone.

On Friday we went over to Garrett’s parents house for games and dinner. We had fun playing Partini and Catch Phrase.  Friday night was the time I wait for all year…time to decorate for Christmas! We picked out our decorations and a tree over this last week. Then that night we turned on the Christmas tunes, with hot chocolate and a fire, set it all up, and our house is now transformed for the Christmas season.

This time of year is always my favorite. It’s a great time to spend with family, friends and to reflect on what God has blessed us with. This year we are thankful for our marriage, for time with our families, for our amazing friends, and just the little everyday blessings that God showers on us.

Nicole and I had a great time last night at the Valley Pregnancy Center Gala.  It was hosted at the Palm Event Center over by Ruby Hills.  We were a bit out of our element since there were a lot of older people, but we knew some other people from Cornerstone and from around the Tri-Valley.

I personally was really struck about the reality of abortion in our country (and world).  There were several families that came forward to express their thanks to Barbara Saba and the pregnancy center for helping them heal post-abortion, preventing them from having an abortion, and several kids thanking them for helping their parents avoid abortion.  It was a very powerful presentation and a great celebration of the 20 years that the center has been opened.

Nicole and I really enjoyed it though as well because it was our date night.  We got to dress up and have a nice dinner.  We just really liked being out and being able to support such a great foundation.

Nicole and I hosted our first get together at our house last weekend. It was a lot of fun. We ate appetizers, unhealthy food, and made mixed drinks. Nicole was the chief mixologist and made most of us Lava Flows (she was missing Hawaii).

We also played a few games and just hung out. It was cool to have friends over, but we definitely realized that our townhouse isn’t too large. We rearranged a lot of the furniture so people could actually sit in a circle. No matter though, we had a good time.

Ben and Tiffany’s son, James, came and hung out too. I love that kid, but as you can see…he got the best of me.

For Halloween this year, our friends Brittany and Josh hosted a Murder Mystery party. It was pirate themed and most people had some pretty awesome costumes! Britt and Josh went all out with the decorations and food, and I think everyone had a great time. Here are some pictures from that night….some were polaroids and we scanned them….so not the best quality =)

We are back from our honeymoon, and we had a great time! We went to Kauai and Maui and both were beautiful. Garrett had been to both islands, which was helpful, because I hadn’t. He was able to show me some really cool places. Most of our pictures are of scenery and the famous arms-length self shots, since it was just the two of us, but I wanted to post a few for people to enjoy. Soon I will post some pictures from the wedding for anyone who’s interested!