November and December CatchUp

The end of 2011 in pictures:

With November coming to an end--so did two other things: ASU football and Nick's nasty mustache. I certainly won't miss one of those-I bet you can guess which one ;)

Seriously--the first cold night in AZ in the last year. It was in the 40's but as Nick likes to point out, I'm never dressed appropriately for the weather. So we left a little early to beat everyone to the light rail--only for ASU to lose at the very end of the game. Here I'm looking cold and irritated that they lost and I can't feel my toes.

For this freezing game they play University of Arizona. And the guy that made this sign behind us had us certainly laughing!

Our good friends the Badger's always come to AZ the week before Arizona. It is always so great seeing them. The girls shopped until we dropped and ate lots of good yummy food for energy to keep hitting up the sales :) Here Michelle and I are at Stax--such great food--must go if you are in Scottsdale.

Also this month a friend of mine taught me her secret family recipe of making bread (okay, it's not a secret this lady has made a ton of money in Utah supposedly). Well since every ingredient in bread can pretty much kill Nick these days, I had every excuse to try it out when Michelle was in town. One hour--start to finish--we got these perfect tasty mini loaves of bread!

Suddenly out of nowhere December happened! Here is it's happenings in photos:

I had a visit from a good friend from the high school days, Lindsay. She lives in San Francisco now (moving on up from good ole' Lodi), and thankfully we are both past the awkward ages of 13. She was only in town for two days, so I was honored that I got her for a whole 24 hours! So great catching up, laughing, crying, and talking about how we can't believe that we are grown-ups. How does that happen!

Yes, more time with the Badger's! We were talking with them about a month prior about how we want to go up to Denver to visit them, see their new house, and TJ and Nick wanted to go snowboarding. So we randomly looked up flights and found them for under $100 round trip. So off to Denver we went the 8-10th. It was so great to see their beautiful house, eat at our favorite spots, and even the boys had some snow to play in. Michelle's parents also came in town because they are always trying to keep up with us young folk--but we love it!

Michelle and I

TJ, John, and Nick

And what is a trip to Denver without a drive up to Boulder to see all the freaks (excuse me, I mean people) sending Washington, DC a message. My personal favorite is the sign that reads, "You can't evict an idea." Yep, pretty sure most of the country has :)

Nick conquering Copper Mountain

Back from Colorado followed a week's worth of work and Nick's finals. Yay! Only one more semester to go! The next weekend was my work Christmas Party. There were 34 of us I think when you count everyone's date. And lucky for me, I had the best looking date there! Our bosses were very generous as always and we had a great evening. Always love when gifts are Tiffany and Co.

I get to work with this good looking group of people everyday!

And I sure do love the other two full-time hygienists at the office-Kristina and Lindsey

And to get in the Christmas spirit-we hosted our annual white elephant party. Being busy being the host I totally slacked on photos, but I at least got this one with some girlfriends before the end of the night. Nick made up his own awesome game that combined Jeopardy, Name that Tune, and the Singing Bee (all in a brilliant excel spreadsheet on the big screen)--seriously I can't remember the last time I was laughing so hard. It is a game that will now have to be tradition! Nothing like seeing people trying rap, humm, and remember what artist is singing!

After everyone left and I had changed into my pajamas Nick says to me, "Jen, we didn't take one single picture of us tonight in our Christmas outfits in front of the tree." I almost considered putting back on my clothes, and then I said, "Oh well, there's always next year!" I'm just lucky to have a husband that likes to take pictures!

So here is our late at night, our only attempt at a picture-Styer Christmas Photo!

Merry Christmas!

So Much to Be Thankful for

Thanksgiving each year translates to the annual trip to Kentucky. This year Thanksgiving was on November 24th, which also happens to be my mom's birthday! It is always great to get to be there to help her celebrate. My parents have recently remodeled almost their entire house (with their kitchen stealing all the attention) and so all the kids pitched in and got mom new dishes (place settings for 18!) for her birthday and Christmas. She loved them and she more then deserves them.

It's also nice to have Nick's dad and his wife, Jo living only 3 hours from my parents. So they came down too for the long weekend and we loved having them there. We all got to chat, play games, run around with the little boys, did some shopping, and ate lots of good food. Sadly, there is never enough to see everyone when we are back. I hate that part the most :(

One thing we did get to do was have a family baby shower for my two brother's wives-Rachel and Becky. Rachel was expecting a girl and Becky a boy. It was so fun to give them gifts and to see their quickly growing bellys!

Happy Thanksgiving!

My whole family

The two cutest and funniest little boys ever-Liam and Bennett

Rachel getting gifts for baby girl!

Becky excited to see what baby boy will be wearing

We had such a great trip. It's always to quick. As always my parents are such great hosts and it was so fun to see their gorgeous totally remodeled house. Even my bedroom and bathroom growing up are different--but I guess it was time!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Back in the day

Remember this????

OF COURSE YOU DO!!!

Saved by the Bell was iconic.

Just as the theme song started playing each day we would all be singing along:

"Well, I wake up in the morning and alarm gives out a warning, and I don't think I'll ever make in on time! ...It's all right , cause I'm saved by the bell."

Well, that classic show was the inspiration for Halloween 2011--I mean really, who didn't wish that at some point that they were a student at Bayside High with Mr. Belding as the principal??!!

So we were AC Slater and Kelly Kapowski for the night!

We partied hopped and first went to the Bendixen's annual party. People had such great costumes!! I am already thinking we needed to step up our game for 2012! Here are Nick and some of his friends.

And what is a Bendixen party without playing the $Money Game$.

Nick is trying his luck at winning the cash pot!

Next on the agenda: My boss's Halloween party. This is the "might as well be mandatory" but isn't party each year that is always quite the affair. A band, DJ, mechanical bull, great catered food, dancing, and of course pictures!

A few of the girls I work with!

I must say this years Halloween was a success! A huge thanks to our good friend Brett who is a graphic designer that made our shirts for us! They turned out so great and everyone kept asking, "where did you find those shirts!" I better start thinking ahead for next year considering this was a 48 hour before the parties decision!

Next up: Thanksgiving and a trip to Kentucky! Can't wait :)

Fall

What is it about Fall that is so perfect each year? It seems like the air even smells different. It is not triple digits outside anymore, and everyone is just happier. We spent last weekend with friends (The Jones' and Bentley's) enjoying every ounce of this weather. Pontoon boat and Tempe Town Lake, anyone? It was so nice to relax and enjoy the AZ sunset that we've come to love.

Oh, Fall-if only you could last all year.

Goodrich Girls Weekend

Grandma said we needed a girls trip--so we made it happen! After a few months of planning and deciding where to go we agreed on San Diego! Mom flew to Phoenix to spend a few days with Nick and I before we flew to California to meet up with Grandma, my Aunt Carol, and Katherine (who flew in from Washington DC). We packed as much as you could possibly do into 3 full days and all went home exhausted! Since pictures tell the best stories, here is all that we did in pictures!

Day 1: Friday Sept 30th--Mormon Battalion Historic Site in Old Town San Diego. As always the LDS church does a fabulous job portraying the trek that the Saints took from Iowa to California as they joined the US Army as a way to move the church out west. Click here to see more info about this neat place.

I'm glad I was just an honorary member because I couldn't have handled the real thing!

30 pound gun that the Saints had to march with

A sister missionary teaching Katherine and me how to mine for gold

Next stop for day 1--The San Diego Zoo. I thought it lived up to all the hype. That place was huge! Literally I spent most of my day looking at this thing pictured below!

Katherine and I at the Zoo

Loved seeing the Pandas

So many different types of Flamingos

And these enormous polar bears were out playing

Day 2- October 1st: Balboa Park. It was a gorgeous day so it was great to walk around and look at all the beautiful buildings and gardens. We went to a few museums and the arboretum.

Loved the architecture and the lily pads in the water

Mom and Katherine enjoying all the plants

The next stop on day 2 was Hotel Del Cornado on Cornado Island. We ate a wonderful lunch overlooking the ocean, played on the beach, and help Katherine find shells to add to her collection.

Sisters!

Katherine and Grandma on our 2 hour Harbor Cruise

Mom and I looking a little wind blown

The San Diego Harbor

We drove around that night and came upon this beautiful sunset off the coast of Point Loma

Day 3- October 2nd: A stop in La Jolla to see the San Diego Temple.

In the middle of nowhere was a sculpture garden (I'm convinced only my aunt Carol knows how to find these random places)-so Katherine and I decided we needed to give our best model poses!

Finally back to Point Loma to see the coast line and the old lighthouse

We had such a great time, and by the end of the trip my stomach hard from a combination of eating really good food and laughing so hard with some of my favorite people! Can't wait until next year! Love these ladies.