Our Little home! (For now...yikes)

I decided that it might be fun to video our cute little apartment.
So here it is!

Just a few little things to add:
- really if you are over 5'10 and try to walk in the bathroom....it just won't be possible haha
-our fridge shelves aren't very tall so we have to lie our milk down...it kind of causes problems cause we always have the leaks. So....we pour our milk in a big mixing bowl and use that!
- that sound in the background is the heater. I really don't know what I would do with out it.

We love this little apartment because we have and are continuing to create memories that will be remembered forever!

PINK!!!

If you will look below you will see that I clearly have some problems doing laundry.

My dear boy has told me over and over to always wash our colors in cold.
This time I forgot.
It was a bad time to forget because I washed our very red rug with all of our clothes.
I am sad because my favorite pair of jeans is now pink.
My cute gray long sleeve shirt is pink, 2 of my pajama pants are pink.
My boy's favorite shirt (apparently he has had it for years) is also pink.
I feel bad....
Mostly for him though
Because I could get away with wearing my new pink clothes.
It might be cute every once in a while.
But for him....not so much. (No offense love)

UNO!!

We would like you to meet this special deck of cardsWe LOVE it!
It has become a special tradition in the Mickelson very tiny home.
We play this game ALL the time. It's rather addicting we think.
We play best out of 3, however, it usually ends up being best out of 11.
I used to win all the time...but something happened.
I wish I knew what
Because
I can't win anymore...sad.
But, that is okay because you should see the smile on my boy's face every time he wins.
It's quite adorable.

A night out for us!

Friday night was a rather unique night for us.
Let me tell you why.
First of all you should know that our bedtime is anywhere from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm TOPS.
We are not night people.
But Friday night, we were!!!!
This is what we did.
We went to see the movie 2012 at 9:15 pm! Yes, we went to see a movie when we should have been in bed.
What time did it get over?
It got over at MIDNIGHT!!
Yay for us!
However, we got a good night sleep that night. Sleeping in until 10:00 the next morning.
But that's okay, because we were spontaneous and had a blast!
I think we will do it again.....really soon!

A must read!

This wonderful man wrote a wonderful talk that I think you all should read.
It is called, "What have I done for someone today?"
It can be found in the November 2009 Ensign or on lds.org.

This may be completely off the subject but I must share:
Only 2 finals left!!!

Our Apartment:

We live in a tiny yet very cute apartment. However, sometimes it is not so cute.
Here are some reasons why:

Sometimes I see a little mouse running around and it just creeps me out.

Our bathroom sink's hot water knob doesn't work...it just doesn't turn off. You could just keep turning and twisting it forever probably, so we had to turn off the hot water. I don't like it because I now have to wash my face and hands in cold water.

I used to think our oven was magical...because it really was! But I think it has taken a turn for the worst. It won't turn on unless you turn it on a very high temperature of at least over 400 degrees. This is a high temperature for our oven considering that fact that at 350 degrees it cooks foods that normally take 40 minutes to bake in less than 10 minutes. But this isn't my only complaint about our "magical" oven...it bent our nice non-stick cookie sheet. Yes, our brand new cookie sheet spent 5 minutes in the oven and came out looking not so new anymore. BUT the weirdest thing happened...after a couple of seconds of being out of the oven it was almost back to its original shape!

Sometimes our apartment just stresses me out. But it is okay because we have some other exciting things going on right now like:
Only 2 more days of classes and 3 Finals and I will be done with my first semester of the nursing program. Yay!!!!
We get to go to the temple on Saturday
AND MOST OF ALL
I get to live with my boy. He is such a sweet one. Just when you think you love someone so much that there is no way you can love them anymore, it happens...you fall in love all over again except this time it is so much stronger. This is what happens everyday, and I LOVE it!

Our Trip to the Rose Bowl!

Wow! I don't even know how to begin. We left bright and early for California on Dec. 31st, because we were going to the Rose Bowl! That's right, the Granddaddy of them all! My very special, sweet, one-of-a-kind mother-in-law made hotel reservations for that night in San Bernardino. The trip there only took about 8 1/2 hours, so when we got to our hotel we unpacked and relaxed a bit and then headed out for a romantic New Year's Eve dinner at Olive Garden. Thanks to our 25 dollar gift card (courtesy of Antone and Kelly Mickelson) the dinner only cost about 8 bucks. After a delicious dinner, we headed back to the hotel to watch a movie, but instantly fell asleep instead, which is probably for the better because we were waking up at 6:00 in the morning to be able to get to the game in plenty of time. When the next day dawned crisp and sunny, I could tell that God was on our side and that it was going to be a special day. We started off that historic day with a luscious continental breakfast at 6:15 am, where we met the first of many fellow Buckeyes we would meet that day. The entire duration of the 50-minute drive to Pasadena found me worrying about the parking situation but even more so, the explosive Oregon offense that Ohio St. would be facing that day. The Rose Bowl Stadium was not hard to find, we just followed the legions of cars decked out in scarlet and gray and yellow and green. My parking worries were ousted when we discovered that the event parking was held on a golf course. Good news for us as there would be ample space to park, but bad news for the many unsuspecting golfers who would arrive the next day expecting to find a premier golf course but who would undoubtedly find instead a five-mile long mud pit. After paying a measly 30 dollars, we were escorted by about 490 Mexicans into our parking spot, only a 5 or 10 minute walk from the stadium. We escorted ourselves around the premises, taking in the sights and sounds and enjoying the perfect weather during the 5 hours we had to kill before game time. As the number of yellow and green jerseys mounted, and as the sound of duck calls filled the air, I grew increasingly worried, and I must ashamedly admit, my confidence in my Bucks was no longer the unshakable steam roller it had been all through the month of November. No, this was a different atmosphere, a foreign environment, especially for me, as my most exciting college football experience previous to this was a BYU-TCU game in 2005. Nor would the Ducks be your average Big 10 foe. No, this Oregon team was the epitome of Pac-10 flair and speed, and they seemed (at least as far as the ESPN analysts were concerned) to outclass the Buckeyes in every dimension. Finally, the gates were opened up to us and we were able to to enter this most sacred of college sports arenas. Tradition and fame swirled around as we gazed upon the pristine, emerald field. I saw the season flash before my eyes as both teams took the field. To our delight, Buckeye fans from all across the nation came out of hiding and took their seats next to us. The throngs of Buckeye faithful grew until numbering almost 50,000 at kickoff. The air was thick with tension and anticipation. Our prayers were answered as Ohio St. rode a dominant defensive performance and a break-out effort from young quaterback Terrelle Pryor to a 26-17 victory. They had done it! They had vanquished the BCS ghosts of Florida, LSU, and Texas that had haunted them since the 2006 season. They outclassed and outplayed the "quicker", "more explosive" Pac-10 teams. The impressively annoying but sure duck calls died down to a pathetic plea as the yellow and green watched their season come to a disappointing end at the hands of the mighty Ohio State University Buckeyes. But, our good fortune does not end there. At the conclusion of the trophy presentation, my lovely queen and I were fortunate enough to find holes in the traffic to be able to quickly put the mayhem behind us and continue our journey southwards toward San Diego, which, of course, was discovered by the Germans in 1904. Unfortunetly, the true meaning of its unique name, San Diego, was lost in translation centuries ago. We awoke Saturday morning to a sparkling blue sky. The most glorious San Diego temple awaited us and we were able to participate in sealings for 45 minutes, after which we spent some reflective moments in the Celestial Room. How fortunate we are to be able to enjoy the company of the Holy Spirit to guide us in our lives! We stopped by Mission Beach on the way back to the hotel, as this beach holds special significance to my Isabella. She would come to this beach with her family as a child and it holds many salty, sandy memories of goodness for her. After we had been walking on the beach for a few minutes, she opted to do some hunting for sea treasures in the surf. After only a few seconds of watching her frolic in the waves like a young seal pup, she ran up to me very delightedly and holding a small sand dollar, which she proceeded to name "Michael". That night we enjoyed some of the fine San Diego seafood cuisine. A fillet of shark to delight our taste buds and it was delicious, delighting our pallet with a most tender seafood melody of goodness. After another failed attempt to watch a movie that night, we drove home the next morning, the dreary reality of snow and classes lieing in wait.

Funny story about these 2 men:
For those of you who don't know...these 2 men are probably Ohio State's #1 &#2 fans. They are CRAZY! (I am sure you can tell). Anyway they are always in the front row of games freaking out. Well we had the privilege of of seeing these out of control fans right in front of the stadium. Of course I wanted to get Michael's picture with them, BUT....he wouldn't let me. Why??? Because my sweet boy was SCARED of them haha. I have no idea why, but he was and no amount of begging or guilt tripping convinced him to even be within 10 feet of them.

A very merry Christmas for us!

Our first Christmas together has been unforgettable.
We are truly blessed to be surrounded by so many people who love and support us.
Anyway, here is a little story of our first Christmas.

We went on a romantic date to Temple Square! This special date brought back many memories of last year. The lights were beautiful as usual, parking was free, and dinner was 6 bucks! We would like to thank the nice hispanic man who randomly gave me a $15 dollar gift card to Chili's.

My beautiful best friend was home with her precious baby Hallie.

We went iceskating!

Neither of us are that good on skates haha. But we chugged a long nicely
UNTIL.....

Michael let go of my hand to "show me something" and fell and hit his head on the ice:( Scary moment for me... However all is well with my boy. Luckily he only suffered a minor concussion. Michael is kind of a crazy boy...but with a minor head injury I am sure you can imagine!

On Christmas Eve we had a cheese dinner (Raclette). It's tradition. I think Michael found it a little interesting. What we do is melt cheese and then put it all over different kinds of foods like: potatoes, tomatoes, pickles, bread, salami, sausage, and pickled onions which are my favorite. I know it's a little strange, but we LOVE it!

My lovely mother gave us matching pajamas. They were interesting pajamas. I am pretty sure I could have fit another me in my bottoms.

Of course we cuddled.

Michael was surprised with 2 tickets to the Rose Bowl on January 1, 2010 in Pasadena, California!

We both love the Twilight series! (Well mostly Michael haha) But here we are with our Edward and Bella dolls! Oh ya, my parents had my bouquet preserved. I don't really get how...but somehow they crystallized the flowers so that they would look real! I love it!

Here we are with our Rose Bowl tickets! I don't think we could be any more excited!

We got matching Ohio State sweatshirts! Michael's face is kind of funny...I don't think we got a serious face out of him for quite some time. I think he was a little too excited about his tickets.

We spent most of Christmas day at my Grandparents house.

This cute little boy's name is Thomas. They really have fun playing together!

Here is the video of Michael opening the Rose Bowl tickets. We kind of thought he would start screaming and freaking out but he did quite the opposite haha!

It was a perfect first Christmas together! We look forward to many more!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas break is finally here! We could not be more excited! The next 2 weeks are full of:
gingerbread houses
sugar cookies
sleepovers
cuddling in blankets with hot chocolate
sleepovers
presents
sledding/snowball fights
cheese dinners
temple square
a special phone call from a brother
family
But most of all we hope to spend some time reflecting on the Savior and His birth. We are so grateful for His birth and His life. We would not be where we are today without Him. We truly are blessed.
As we think back on this year and all the amazing things that have happened. We find ourselves overwhelmed with gratitude for our families and all the support they have given us, each other and Heavenly Father's plan in guiding our paths to so perfectly cross. We know we were meant to be and are so excited to continue creating our own little fairytale. We are grateful for our jobs, the opportunity we both have to go to school, the gospel, our cute tiny apartment, and all the little every day miracles we experience.
We wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

A special date!

On Monday night my boy and I are going to:

put on this

wear these


drink hot chocolate out of this


hold hands

Listen to this
AND

Take a romantic wagon ride through here!
I am so excited!

BEST FRIENDS!

I have come to the conclusion that being married is like always having a best friend around
Someone you can laugh with and laugh at and never have to feel embarrassed about anything
Someone you can hold hands with, hug, and kiss as much as you want
Someone who knows you better than anyone else
Someone you can talk to about everything and anything
Someone that will protect you and take care of you
Someone you can play silly games with like "Gotcha last"
Someone who will listen and understand
Someone who will tell you you're beautiful even when you feel your not
Someone you can share food with and not get grossed out
Someone who will just hold you and not say anything
Someone that will press the snooze button in the morning just so you can cuddle longer
Someone that brings you home surprises
Someone that you know would do anything for you
Someone that loves you just as much as you love them
AND
Someone you know will always be there for you, side by side, hand in hand FOREVER
I am so glad I married my best friend

Thanksgiving, a birthday, and Reptiles!

My boy and I,
We do lots of cool things together
Here are a few of them as of lately!

Thanksgiving with the Mickelsons!

Thanksgiving break went by WAY too fast:( However, we still had an amazing 4 days in Yakima, Washington. We made the LONG drive in 10 1/2 hours...including a 1 hour stop to eat and visit Michael's mission companion. That was nice. I think Michael and I really have the best families in the world! We had tons of fun with everyone. We ate, slept, played lots of golf on Playstation (I won most the time:), printed off wedding pictures, watched Matthew's amazing basketball skills, played lots of marbles with Sarah, saw Blindside, laughed and goofed around a lot, watched movies, talked, and got some new movies and windshield wipers. On Thanksgiving Day the Mickelson's have a tradition of going around and saying something they are thankful for. I really like this tradition. I spent most of the day thinking of how blessed I am. I am particularly grateful for meeting Michael, getting married in the temple for forever, and becoming a part of his family. I LOVE his family. I really don't think I could ask for a better one. On the way home, I told Michael that I wished we could have stayed there for 3 weeks and not have to worry about anything else. I wish they lived closer because I already miss them and I know Michael does too.

Look how beautiful Rachel is!

One of the funniest boys, I think he gets it from Michael

Michael's 23RD Birthday!

Sunday isn't a very fun day to have a birthday, so Michael decided that the night before we would go to Tucanos for dinner! Well....sadly I ruined that. I was sick with the flu. So Sunday (his birthday) we played and relaxed pretty much the whole day. It was really nice. Michael opened his presents from me...a scrapbook for mission pictures, gum (because he always steals mine), an i tunes card, AND the best gift of all a Terrelle Pryor Jersey! GO BUCKEYES! We made a chocolate cake, just chocolate, no sprinkles. Michael doesn't like sprinkles, I don't know why cause I think they are amazing. We went over to my parents house and had a little birthday party! My mom made Michael shrimp, rice, and beans. We had cake, and Michael blew out all his candles! And then he opened more presents! He got New Moon chocolate haha, money, a cool new uno game (I think I am more excited about that!), cards from the twins and Harrison that were covered in Go Ohio, and Buckeye stuff, and Transformers 2 in a special transformer guy case!
Now...Michael is a lucky guy...he got to celebrate his birthday again that following Saturday! We went to New Moon. I don't think Michael could have been more excited, he has had a countdown on face book for it for a LONG time. We loved it! I think we'll see it again soon:) We then went to Tucanos! Tucanos is AMAZING! We both ate a lot. Michael ate quail eggs...i don't know how i feel about that, I think i'd rather stick with the pineapple! I can't believe my boy is 23...he thinks that is old haha, I wonder what he will say 25 + years down the road:)

The REPTILE Show:

For a biology lab, Michael was assigned to go to a reptile show at the Bean Museum. It was fun...but I hate reptiles. I just think they are creepy. We learned a lot, or I guess I learned a lot. Michael already knows everything there is to know about reptiles. She let us touch a python, a giant iguana, and a turtle. The turtle was cute...I think I want one someday, but the others scared me to death. They have lots of animals at the Bean museum (mostly dead luckily!) My favorite was the elephant. I LOVE elephants...someday I want a baby one and I will name it Daisy and feed her peanuts and sugar cane all the time! Michael liked the Liger....and the grizzly bear. It was a cool Museum...the only thing that could have made it better is if they had "Shamoo" whales there:)

Michael and the Liger...he thought she was cool

Don't look at the lions, just the elephant. I want her...but a newborn baby version of her!