Louisville and the Slugger Museum

To back track, We flew to Utah from the Louisville Airport. We found that the best price for parking was to get a hotel room and then park at the hotel. We decided to go the day before and spend the night in Louisville.

We finished up all our finals and then headed to Louisville. We checked into the hotel and then went to dinner. We went to a Eastern chain restaurant called Smokey Bones. It was excellent. I would highly recommend it.

The next day we headed to downtown Louisville to visit the Louisville Slugger Museum. Neither of us are the biggest baseball fan, but I thought it was cool to see how baseball bats are made.

There was a pretty cool museum that you can walk through before you take the tour.

Babe Ruth's bat! The only Baseball player I actually know.

They had life size, wax statues of some of the greats. It was kind of creepy.

Me and Babe Ruth

Not sure who this is...

Or this guy.

Giant baseball glove!

The tour of the factory was really cool. We got to see hundreds of bats being made. They talked about how they have the measurements for the Big League players. They all have bats especially made for them and they can tell if it's even a quarter of a centimeter off. It was really cool, even for people who don't watch baseball like us! We went and saw Money Ball with Nat and Josh when we were in Utah and the whole time I kept trying to notice if the players had Louisville bats!

Trip to Utah

On December 13th we FINALLY went back to Utah for Christmas! I can't even explain how excited I was for this trip and it completely lived up to my expectations. I don't think I even realized how much I missed everyone.

I will do separate posts for the big events like Christmas and my birthday, but we had so many fun, random nights that I want to document.

The first Saturday that we were there, my dad got us tickets to the MOTAB Christmas Concert. It was a wonderful concert!

One night we went to get sushi at my favorite restaurant, Happy Sumo. I love their sushi, Steve says it's only as good as buffet sushi. Agree to disagree.

We went up to temple square one night in an attempt to get Shannon and I into the Christmas spirit. Shannon had heard that there was a Christmas exhibit at the Grand America so we went there first to check it out. The coolest thing there was this giant gingerbread house. Very impressive.

Then we went to Temple Square. Steve's family happened to be going that night too so we met up with them.

My favorite part of the night is when we walked outside of the memorial building and Andrew saw the temple. He pointed at it and screamed "I wanna go in the castle, PLLLEASE!!" He is so hilarious.

We also got to spend a lot of time with my dearest friend Natalie. We watched a movie and went to a movie with her and her boyfriend Josh. The day after Christmas, Steve went boarding with his brother. I didn't want to drive all the way to Springville and then have to drive back to Salt Lake to pick him up. So at 8 in the morning I called Natalie to see if I could come spend the day. She said she was happy to have me! We spent the day sitting on her couch, watching movies, laughing till it hurt and playing with her puppy, Stella.

Isn't she the cutest thing you have ever seen?? (I totally stole this picture from your facebook, Natalie. Please don't have me arrested)

I of course enjoyed the holidays with my family, but some of my favorite days from the trip were spent sitting on Shannon's couch, watching Bubba play the Wii, and playing with Shannon's girls. We also went to the Woods for a movie night and I went out to breakfast with them the day I flew home. I was able to see my friends Megan (who got engaged on Christmas Eve!), Jessica Draper, and Machelle. I loved spending time with those girls. I also got to have a good, old fashion girls night with Nat and Jess. Just like the old days. Thank you to everyone who took the time to hang out with us! I love you all and miss you all already!!

My 25th Birthday Party!

My birthday this year was a big one, the big 25. That's right, a quarter of a century (not half a decade, thank you Dana)! In the past, I would keep almost a daily count down till my next birthday. This year the excitement never really came. Perhaps this is because I am growing up?? Or perhaps it's because I feel like my body has aged one hundred years since turning 24. Either way, I just wasn't all that excited.

I was telling my best friend Natalie that I was kind of bummed because I hadn't had a birthday party in years. She quickly volunteered to throw me a party and I quickly became more excited for my birthday.

Natalie and my other best friend, Jessica Anton (I feel like all of my friends are named Jessica) planned a wonderful party for me! We the party a couple of weeks before my birthday. One of the many joys of having a birthday so close to Christmas is there is never a good time to have a birthday party. Everyone is always busy! So I am very grateful to all my friends who came. It was a perfect party! It was so chill and so much fun! It gave me a great chance to talk to my friends whom I hadn't seen in months.

Arriving at the party! Steve and I were in a wedding that day. It had been a very long day and we were still on TN time. Needless to say, I was pretty exhausted. But once I got to Jessica's and saw all my friends, I woke right up!

My bestie, Natalie, and me! Reunited after six long months!!

Brad, Rachael, and me. I miss them! They are the sweetest couple. And next time I see them, they will have a new baby!

Love my Rachael

My dear Jessica Anton who helped plan the party and graciously let us have it at her new home. I love her and her little boy! She is all grown up now.

With the Woods!

Me and the Duncans!

Next time I see Jess she will be a mommy! She is due in March and is so tiny! I can't wait to meet her little one.

My friend Keelie makes amazing cakes! (She made our wedding cake). Nat and Jess had her make my cake. I LOVED it!!

Thanks again to Natty and Jess!! It was the best party I have ever had!

Jones Family Pictures

The week of Thanksgiving, when Chad and Sarah were here, we got some family pictures taken. It was nice to get some pictures with all of us. It's a real shame that we weren't able to get any good family pictures of either of our families at our wedding. So I am glad we got to get some pictures of the whole family.