...

1. our awkward grins.
2. Giulia's nasty hair.
3. Giulia's fivehead. possibly sixhead. A plane could land on that forehead- it looks ginormous!
oy vey.

Morning.

So it was pointed out to me that David dearest looks like he's shirtless in this photo (click here, I hope this works because I can no longer find this particular photo on the laptop. strange. it really has disappeared).
And now every time I see that pic, it really does look like hubby is showin' his skin! funny.
But I am here to assure you that he was indeed fully clothed (although I wouldn't have minded if he wasn't).

In this re-take, the shirt is more visible.

Other items of business:
It's 7:30. a.m.
I've been up for hours. HOURS. It's been one of those mornings where I can't fall asleep again after David leaves for work.
My flarties stink. They're kind of reminding me of an old grilled cheese sandwich.
After hours of wishing for sleep to take me, the time has finally come where I think it will. But I don't want to go! I am determined, after hitting 'publish post', to go about the day per usual and accomplish lots of great things. I will not sleep the day away, no! (Because I could if I wanted to. Classes all day on M/W and piano in the afternooons on T/R. So really, I could sleeep my morning away. But I won't. Even though I really love sleeping) And then husband and I can experience being slap-happy tired together when he gets home! Sounds fun!
I will try to be more personable this year. :)
I love my David. My heart really does skip a beat every time I see him.

Oh those blue eyes. 

We've been married for a whole year (plus some). At the same time it feels like we've been married for much, much longer than that (in a good way), and also like the wedding was just a week ago. So sad I'm not sitting in the Bahamas typing this, sigh.

Quick Fact: I cannot fathom why, but David loves my feet and dotes on them frequently. Foot rubs, nail polish (that he picks out himself), shoes. SHOES! Ok, so some of you know that I love my shoes. Some may call it an addiction. whatevs. David whole-heartedly loves my love for shoes. EVERY time we are in a store he steers us to the shoe section. My shoe collection has definitely grown since being married, and I'm not complaining!

After perusing through wedding photos, I present to you some favorite candids [that are not of Team D&G]. Check back next year for more!

Spencer is still just as crazy fun. Just louder, faster, bigger, and you can understand what he's saying now. This was at the dinner Saturday night. Papa was trying to shoot pieces of the rolls into his mouth. 

This one makes me laugh every time I see it. Thanks for all your hard work Joe!

Marriage {with David} is bliss. The end.

It is ridiculous.

"It's ridiculous," my friend Breezy said. "No appreciation!"
I could not agree with her more.
Watching Jane Austen movies (i.e. Pride and Prejudice) or old musicals (i.e. Sound of Music) with the husband is just not the same as watching one with your [girl]friend.

Proof:

David and I after finishing "Emma" (the BBC's 2009 version- it was wonderful! If you haven't watched it yet, I recommend it.) (And no, I'm not pouting because it wasn't superb [did I mention that it was fantastic?], but because David fell asleep on me. Wayyyy before the end.)

"At the end I can just tell that his heart is not glowing like mine."
Well ain't that the truth.

continued: Missed Assignments 2010

We left off at Breezy's wedding. After that was Thanksgiving. We were in Panaca and took no pictures, because we are awesome! Well, we took family pictures, but I don't have any copies of those. But I did take this picture on Felicia's camera and just now swiped it from her blog.

David and Amelia

We had a great time just hanging out with the family- sleeping in, eating, playing games, eating, sleeping, eating, and making Miss Amelia laugh when, of course, she wasn't sleeping. :)

Following Thanksgiving came the end-of-the-semester-madness and finals for the both of us. We survived. In fact, I think I should say we conquered! We both received excellent grades for the semester. Go Team D&G! And, Giulia just found out (like right before I started writing this) that her tuition is covered again for this Spring semester! Oh happy day! Being on the lower end of the income status has its perks- like the government paying your tuition, muwahahaha!

Date Night Before Finals Week

We went to the district to enjoy all the Christmasy fun, window shop, and eat at the Elephant Bar. Then we saw "Tangled" in 3D. We loved it! I think my favorite part was that David just giggled throughout the entire movie. 

Keepin' the boy in check:

Mini story about above photo: I do not abuse my husband, despite a very convincing photo above that seems to contradict that statement. This photo was taken during the movie's end credits. Thinking that they looked super fine in their 3D eyeware, they decided to take advantage of the photo opportunity. The plan was to go for a "mysterious spy" look. But as David leaned closer, his glasses got pushed upward. And just as the camera flashed David pulled this face to match his newly made geekware. Giulia looks like an enforcer while David looks like a beat-up scientist. Picture Perfect!

Next up: the annual Robbins Family Christmas Party. Games, games, games, good food, Santa, games, games, games, games. 

On Christmas Eve we took Family Pictures with the Stolworthy's. We drove out to Nelson's Landing and Wurley's Mine, put Ashley's camera on a Tri-pod and did the self-timer thing. We think they turned out great!

Sisters...

Ashley always catches my true colors on camera. Meaning my awkward, cheesy, goofball faces! ugh. I mean, Thanks Ash!

A Prime Example:

awesomeness. 

Later that day we went to Jim and Rita's for the annual Christmas Eve Party. When the fam lived "in the Woodridge house"we adopted Jim and Rita as grandparents. Until my family moved to Henderson, we had always lived close (in the same state at least) to other family. When we got here we were all by our lonesomes.  (That story is my own, original, and possibly not true, version because I was born soon after the move to Henderson, and thus suffer from pre-existant/ infantile amnesia.) Jim and Rita et al have always been good to us. 

Just past the front door a motion-activated singing christmas tree was set up. The boys loved it. Krugh was fascinated with it. 

Christmas Day! EVERYONE stayed at my parent's house and we kicked it old school. Meaning we woke up before the sun to open gifts before Dad had to go for work. I don't know how many times we did that growing up. oy! 

The little boys definitely had the most energy at 5:00 a.m.

check out Dad's dew rag. He pulls it off well, no?

Krugh.

The sticker that found his bum says Jenette. 

A painting for Bishop's office.

The Family Shirts 2010-2011

To be worn at the first annual GAS Family Reunion in August:

For those of you that are confused, GAS= Dad's initials. teheh. ;)

We found out that Keith and Keri are having a GIRL!

I thought David and I agreed that we wouldn't spend too much on each other for Christmas because a) David got plenty on his birthday and b) David spends way too much on Giulia throughout the year anyway. 

So, I got David a wii game- "The Hunt" by Bass Pro, a few shirts, good snow gloves, and new hair clippers. And I thought I went overboard on our agreement of "not too much".

But I was put to shame by husband dearest. He got me a CUTE sewing box/organizer, running pants and socks and headband, a dress, RED SHOES (satiny, ruffly t-straps), a pedicure kit, and a camelback backpack. Stinker. But each gift was so thoughtful and exactly what I needed/wanted. 

In this pic you can see the sewing box and the backpack (oh and the headband too).

And in this pic is Ashley's Tower of Glory built from the wooden blocks the boys got, and in the background we're playing the hunting game. 

Hmm...now what's left? Right. We moved out of our condo. Our contract ended on Dec. 31st. We could have renewed and stayed for another year but A) all our neighbors were smokers extraordinaire and the smoke smell would come through the air vents and it was just gross. We did our best to keep the smoke smell at bay. B) a few of our neighbors had nothing better to do than file complaints on us to the property management about how we left a "red towel on the porch", or how we "toss trash over the dumpster wall instead of walking it in" or.... any other ridiculous thing. C) We could save lots and lots of moolah by moving into David's grandparent's basement, which happens to be a few streets south of where my parent's live. 

Preston came and stayed with us after Christmas. His timing couldn't have been better! haha. Poor Preston. All year he's wanted to stay with us, but we could never get something worked out (or Mom wouldn't let him! ;D ) I'm sure glad he was able to come when he did though! P helped me pack and move all week. We worked all day and then would play all night. And by we, I mean just me and Prest. David was at work all day. When David got home he'd help us pack. But an early start requires an early bed time. Poor David! We'd put David to bed and then stay up all night playing games. We went to sleep right around when David would wake up to go to work. It was a fun week. Thanks for all the help Preston!

Here are some pics of our place (where we no longer live)

David and I want to be good at taking pictures of where we have lived, do live, and where we will one day reside, because we both love looking at our parent's old photos and seeing what their living quarters were like. :) And we think that our children might like seeing these. Top: my favorite part of the home. The piano and our awesome wall. Bottom left: the entertainment center, perpendicular to the piano (excuse the random chair and dress hanging from the pull-up bar, but please notice the mistletoe hanging from the door frame. David put it there! I sure like him). That door leads to the bedroom, which I failed to get pictures of, which leads to the bathroom and closet and washer/dryer- which I also failed to get pictures of. We're off to a great start with this whole "documenting our homes" thing. Bottom right: the dining area, porch doors, and kitchen is to the right.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Christmas tree, oh christmas tree! We had a lot of fun with you! You can't see them in the pictures, but several bungee chords are keeping that thing together and standing up straight. haha. And the only decor I bought for the tree was the tinsel (to fill in the gaps where there wasn't enough tree) and the icicles. All the glitter balls are from our Wedding Luncheon. I think everything turned out nicely. :) I'm excited to decorate for Christmas next year. 

New Year's Eve. No pictures- what a surprise! But we partied hardy with family (what else do we do on the holidays?).

...And I think that wraps up 2010 for us. Here's to being a better blogger in 2011! 

Missed Assignments 2010

I finally uploaded all our photos and can now blog about them. Prepare yourself for an oversized post of what went down in Hendertown during 2010 that has not already been shared (and that I actually have pictures of. Plenty else happened, but this is all we have to document). Here goes:

D&G show off their matching PJ's from Christmas. 

Each year my mom gets the whole family a matching something or other (shirts, aprons...and for 2009 it was scrubs).  It was the "off year" for Christmas- meaning all the chilluns' was elsewhere. D&G were in Panaca. We usually get a fam pic of everyone in their new duds, and because that wasn't possible we decided to take this one for Mom (after the wedding, honeymoon, and once we were all moved into our cute little condo). So hereyago Mama- I really have been meaning to get this to you for a while. :)

We went to "Hawna's" (Zach in real life, Hawna on a baseball field. ?)games all throughout the year. This tournament in particular was at a brand new complex in Vegas- Big League Dreams.

The complex is designed to mimic major league baseball stadiums, scaled to smaller dimensions, such as Wrigley Field (Chicago), Fenway Park (Boston), and the Yankee Stadium in New York. It was fun to just walk around and look at everything. 

We had numerous photo sessions where we try to look as ridiculous as possible.

(or...is it only me that looks ridiculous and David is super suave...story of my life. hmph.)

Homemade Pizza Nights! 

We started this when we were dating and it's been fun to keep it going. I'm thinking it will become a weekly tradition when we have kids.

Date Nights!

Nothing screams date night like wearing your matching camo hoodies, going out for some frozen yogurt, and makin'out at the car wash. ;)

Sweet Surprises

I must say I have the sweetest husband. There have been countless times when I come home to roses and sweet little love notes. These ones were hiding in the fridge with coupons stuck everywhere: "evening of dancing", "weekend getaway", "candlelit dinner", etc. One of my favorite sweet surprises was when I got out of an evening class to find 2 dozen roses in my car! He is a sneaky one! Love him.

Paparazii Shots

David thinks it fun to be my personal paparazii. And okayyyy, I do it to him too. But he always looks good in any photos so it's not fair. This one however is share-able.
And this is worth mentioning: I have a piano!!!! On loan. :) David's mom sent it down knowing that it would be played and thus made more useful than sitting at her house! Thanks Mama!!!

Camping

We both enjoy it, and it was something we could not wait to go do together when we married. The first year of our marriage was flying by and late October we realized that we hadn't gone (besides the several family reunions throughout the summer...which we have no photos of- woops!). On a spur of the moment we decided to finally go camping. While I got the food supplies together, David was in charge of getting the gear. When we got to a spot we liked (we just went out to the lake), David pulled out a brand spankin' new tent! Not a 2-man or 4-man, but 6-man. What??? Was my first response, but it's nice having so much room. We're excited to get our money's worth out of it.
Saturday morning we went "exploring". Just hiked around and walked by the lake. On the way back I found the most disgusting coolest mud pond. At one point it was clear that where we were walking is where the lake used to stretch not so long ago. David was leading the way when we came to a spot that looked really if-y to walk on so he stopped. Dryer land was only 6 more feet away, and you could either take your chances or walk around an extra hill and mess of bushes and weeds. And what does Giulia do? She plunges right for the questionable land. And subsequently sunk 6 inches in mud. It was greattttt. :) David somehow managed to find one spot that wasn't a sink-hole and ran, hopped, skipped and jumped his way to the other side. Whatever.

The Birthday Boy

We were in Utah the weekend before his birthday. Knowing that we wouldn't have time to celebrate much the day of, we spent a good 4 hours at Cabela's. He was in man heaven. Oh what treasures Cabela's has to offer! :)

After showing me the fish aquarium tunnel, David pulled me into the trophy room. We looked at all the animals and then David said, "Now guess which one is my favorite mule deer." I told him I had no idea and he excitedly pulled me over to this guy. If I remember right this one is the first one you'll see when you're entering the room (not in the middle display, but the display beginning on the right wall). It's on his list of favorite things because of the buck's "cheater points"- the antlers on each side that are coming towards you, instead of pointing up like the others. (...or something like that...) You can see it in the pictures.

After looking at everything (seriously, I mean everything) in the store, we found this bad boy and David just had to have a picture. Every time I look at this I imagine David's looking up at the moose and thinking, "I can't wait to have a real one of these in my trophy room..." As he stood up he knocked over one of those mugs, shattering it. Woops! A nice worker told us not to worry about it- I guess Cabela's doesn't have a strict 'you break it, you buy it' policy- whew! After that we figured it was time for us to go.
That night we stayed at his Uncle and Aunt's gorgeous home. I can't remember which city it's in, but I do know that it wasn't far from Cabela's. The next day was his cousin's, Bradon, missionary farewell that we no longer call farewells. :) Elder Salazar is serving in Korea!

Our drive home:

The Birthday Boy's Stash

David raked in some pretty sweet stuff, the most beloved items being Under Armour cold gear. Happy Hunting in 2011!

My Breezy is Wed!

At the Bridal Shower (part of a Utah trip for Giulia in October which included the shower, girls night, Steven's funeral, volleyball games, and family time)

Your Basic Girls: Jenny, Breezy, Me, Nicole- Pretty sure I was supposed to be born two years earlier and graduate with these girls. 

Nicole was the bride's personal hair-dresser, while I played the role of make-up artist. The three of us had a delightful morning of getting the bride ready. And then Nicole and I rushed to get ourselves (and our husbands) presentable and to the temple on time after we got Breezy out the door. 

After the ceremony, Nicole and I waited for Breeze to come back to the bridal room to help her change and re-vamp before heading outside again. Breezy's attendant was amazed that the bride's "beauty team" was endowed. Go us! And go Breezy for having awesome friends! 

After the temple, we headed to Cici's Pizza where we filled our bellies beyond capacity. 

Not wanting to go home and then go back to Vegas for the reception, David and I went and saw Harry Potter between venues. It was fabulous!!! Breezy, I must thank you for giving me an all-day date with my husband. Temple in the morning, lunch to follow, Harry Potter in the afternoon, and then a party filled with delectable goodies and music...

...where we danced the night away!

...see what I mean about paparazzi/candid photos of me? They just, sigh, are not pretty. Note that David looks marvelous in all of them. 

However, it is fun to add your own captions to the pictures. My funny faces make for great comments! For instance: bottom row, left: Giulia- talking nonsensically and singing along with the music. David- "Just shut up and kiss me woman!" 

May I add that my husband is super awesome and will actually dance with me instead of sitting on the sidelines looking at everyone else dance and thus making their special ladies do the same? We won't name names, but there were plenty of people at this party that could have been dancing! We don't really even know what we're doing out there, but we sure have fun!

...and problem! Blogger isn't letting me load any more photos. I think I hit the max, no surprise there. So, I'll finish this ugly beast in a different post at a later time. Because, it's 2 a.m. and David's alarms to wake up for work just went off. Time to rise and shine and get hubby off to work with a cooler packed with two breakfasts and a lunch! We made it to Friday, people- oh happy day!