Merry Christmas

 Love, Andrew & Krystal

 oh my goodness, I miss him. *tear*

Luckily I can watch him on the kennel's webcam, I am one of those mothers.

(If you would like to be one of those mothers too you can watch him here.)

Aaron and I went snowmobiling for Christmas Eve. This may have to be a new tradition.

He brought 2 of his friends because I can't keep up. 

It's around 6 am here. Why am I not asleep with visions of sugar plums dancing in my head?

I'm still on Cleve time, which means I fall asleep at promptly 8:30 pm and wake up around 6 am.

My Grandpa Gardner and I would get along very well right about now.

Anyways,
Merry Christmas everyone. We love you and are grateful for the most fabulous family and friends.

And let's not forget why we really celebrate...

 Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

If you're having a hard time getting in the Christmas spirit watch this

and go here LDS Christmas website

But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name. John 20:31

Amen

Christmas time in the Cleve

I just got a phone call from Andrew saying that he can't leave school. It took him and Adam an hour to get 3 blocks so they eventually turned around and went back to school to study for another exam. He took his Finance exam today, 3 more to go!!! Almost there sweetie!



We decked the halls and stayed indoors.



Luckily I didn't have work today. If I did, I probably would have quit. It's crazy outside. We got 10 inches today and it's still coming down. Not my idea of a good time. But it is gorgeous and looks like Christmas!

Let's hope Andrew makes it home to sleep in his own bed tonight.

Until next time I'll keep the Pandora Christmas blaring and warm up some cocoa.

One of these nights we're going to see this

if you can't tell that's a leg lamp in the window, the authentic Christmas Story house is a few miles away from us. BUMPUSES!!!

a friend?

meet Bear

"hi Bear"

tonight Adam aka The Army Guy, one of Andrew's good friends in his program, came over to study. He brought with him Bear, a 130 pound Anatolian. I am in love with Bear.

He was not so in love with Kipling.

"How have I been reduced to this?"

The Gentlemen's Club

It was nonstop torture for Bear, poor guy, he was so sweet to Kipling though.

"hey Bear, wanna see my room? wanna play with my toys? I know a really cool game, wanna play? do you want to see my bone? do you like rawhide? I've got like a thousand rawhide bones. wanna see?"

"please get me out of here, I'll do anything."



eventually the homework ended and Bear escaped,

Kipling immediately crashed and is counting the days until another friend/victim arrives.

until then you'll just have to deal with us buddy, sorry.

I would like to see one of these under the tree in about 20 days...sweetie, d'ya get that?

just sayin'

the past bit

The past few weeks have been a nonstop party. Andrew's dad, mom and John came into town for a quick weekend. Since John is going on his mission in 3 weeks (3 weeks!? craze!) they wanted to go to see some church history sights. That is one amazing thing about living here, there is so much rich history so close to us.

Niagra Falls, Palmyra, Hiram, Kirtland

Kipling loves his John and Andrew loves explosions

Sadly, I had to work most of the weekend so I wasn't able to go with them but they said it was amazing.

I did get to go to the John Johnson farm with them which was so fun!!! Even if Mary Yoder's was closed.

We already miss them. It was a good break from school for Andrew and so fun to be with family again.

3 more weeks of the semester!!! You can do it love!

For Thanksgiving we drove to Raleigh to be with my familia.

Kipling did awesome in the car and slept for most of the drive (thank goodness!) while Andrew and I listened to John Grisham's The Associate.

Aaron and my dad flew out from Utah and we just partied (and ate) the entire week.

We played outside because it was still gorgeous weather! I'm moving to Raleigh.

Tyler kept us very busy with basketball, a Turkey Bowl, kite flying and just being too dang cute.

You can definitely tell he's the only grandchild. We spoil him like crazy.

 Jared and Rose made the most delicious Thanksgiving feast ever.

I can't talk about it, I'm really hungry right now.

Then we crashed (dang tryptophan) and played Mario Kart.

And of course no post would be complete without a dash of Kipling.

He is also obviously an only child. I spoil him. I know. Don't judge.

We took him to an amazing dog park by Jared and Rose's house and he got to play with another puppy! They were best friends instantly and wore each other out. It was so cute.

I'm exhausted from all the fun. Time for a nap.

Hope you had a fabulous Thanksgiving!

Cleveland swagger

even when you're dead you got to be rollin' on dubs



This is not the actual hearse I saw but similar. We don't have palm trees here in the Cleve. :(

I was enchanted to meet you

^That's the song I'm listening to right now ^ T-Swift is my boo. I blasted her new album all throughout Maui, It was my theme music for the vacation and so perfect.

I had a wonderful time on my vaca and I feel beyond rejuvenated! There's something in the water there. Sunshine, turtles, fish and sand to be exact.

We celebrated my Gpa's 89th birthday on Wednesday, I snorkeled, swam, layed out, jogged to the Prince every morning, read, slept (a lot), ate at Mama's and Flatbread, bbq'd at Val and Joe's, went to Tia's book signing, shopped with Auntie Val and just had a fabulous time! I want to go back right now.

It was nice not wearing these extra layers that I currently have on. But I really do love my cute fall clothes. Plus the weather here is gorgeous! It's probably in the 60's and sunny. Love it!

Any who, while I was doing all of that the boys were bacheloring it up! Party time! Their week consisted of Cheetos, West Wing season 3, Captain Tony's, wrestling and Mexican Cokes. So healthy.

I bought Kipling a rawhide bone before I left and he loved it.

but the mean ol'vet lady told Andrew not to give him rawhide because he might choke. Boo! poor guy, to make him feel better Andrew went to Petco and got him this...

isn't that creepy?! try not to have nightmares

despite the fact that his new toy is possessed, Kipling loves his new little punkin friend and drags him everywhere resulting in the dirtiest, nastiest, creepiest dog toy I've ever seen.

Thank you Petco, I sure owe you one.

wrastling, it's what we do

We (aka Andrew) recently started potty training Kipling and he's doing surprisingly well.

Thank goodness!

We took him to the dog park on Saturday and he was pretty overwhelmed but got used to all of the big dogs quickly. There was a Saint Bernard that loved him. It was so cute! Everyone else at the dog park loved him too. He got lots of love that day.

but seriously, how could you not love those pink lips???

getaway

 in t-minus 24 hours I will be here

but without these fools :(

It's my Grandpa's birthday on Wednesday. What do you get a man who can buy himself anything? I'm stumped.

I packed all of my stuff into a carry on. I'm so proud of myself.

This trip couldn't have come at a better time. I need a break. I've been in the worst funk the past few weeks and I'm in desperate need of some family time. The only thing that would make this better is if Andrew and Aaron were really coming with me. That would make me the happiest girl in the world.

But I have a feeling that I'll manage without them.

What?!

We love Psych, What?!


but now we're watching...

The West Wing

I've been working a ton the past few days so today we have done a lot of nothing today and it feels awesome! I love Sundays. Andrew still does stuff (homework) but writing this is about the extent of my activities for the day.

I did make breakfast though! And it was delicious!

a Pioneer Woman specialty

The rest of our day looked a whole lot like this

you're probably going to get sick of Kipling photos but we still can't get enough of his wrinkly little face. We took him on his first walk this week (he walks like a bear, it's great), the sleeping photos are the aftermath. He loves his little bear and does everything with it. He is currently laying next to me ripping off what is left of his nose. He just learned how to climb the stairs and we gave him his first bath because he smelled like pee. He is really good about going on the wee wee pads but hasn't quite figured out how not to step in it after, that part is not so cute.

We are hosting Andrew's group from school in a punkin carving party on Friday. We also have another Halloween party to go to that night. It's almost Halloween people!!! Get excited!!!

busy busy

The days fly by here in the Cleve. Half of the time it gets to Sunday and I realize that I have no idea what I had done that week. This week we did a few fun things in between Andrew's midterms and my job hunting.
Andrew did well on his midterms and I fell for some stupid pyramid scheme and ended up job shadowing this door to door salesgirl for an entire day. It was ridiculous. No wonder I'm unemployed.
To keep my spirits high I forced Andrew to go to the Botanical Gardens with me. I brought the camera but forgot to bring the SD card (oops!) so all of our documentation is in video form.



I also hosted game night for the girls in the ward. It was super fun even though there were no games played. Although, there was a whole lot of Newsie's being sung.

But of course, our week wouldn't be complete without testing another local restaurant.

We cheated on Captain Tony's and I've never felt so alive...joking. I got the Milanese pizza with chicken, sun dried tomatoes, red peppers, garlic cloves and spinach (yes, all on one pizza!!! I'm in heaven). Andrew went traditional and got the supreme pepperoni. I know what we're eating for dinner every night next week...

Speaking of fabulous we got our pup this weekend!!!

top- left: look at that belly!      right: loving his daddy

middle- a proper gentleman pup

bottom-  left: cuddling with his mom      right: gchatting with Abby and Scot

That night we fed the missionaries and b-lined it out of our apartment immediately after because we were so excited.  His name is officially Kipling, after Rudyard Kipling, and he is a gentleman pup (notice the derby hat). He is 6 1/2 weeks old, 9.5 pounds and utterly adorable, even though he keeps us up the entire night. He loves his daddy more than me and has more rolls than a bakery. He is hyper and happy and loves to bite my fingers and Andrew's toes. He loves cuddling but hates being picked up and goes stiff as a board if you try. We're struggling on the crate and potty training end though. Help me Rhonda.
Since we live in an apartment with no private yard we can't take him outside until his 8 week shots. The wee wee pads just aren't cutting it. But we can't get mad at a face like that.



In other good news I got a job finally. (Not a creepy pyramid scheme job but an actual legit job) I'm the new cashier for the Nordstrom Women's Shoe department. So much for actually bringing home any money. Even after I told them that I'm going to be gone for a lot of the next few months they were still interested in me working there. I got offered a job at Restoration Hardware too that I really wanted but I would have to work on Sundays. boo hoo.

Oh and just fyi after church today we were all barricaded in the church parking lot only to be informed that the Presidente himself would be driving past along with his small posse of 100 other official vehicles. I got video footage on my phone but don't know exactly how to post it on here.

Our Weekend

Autumn here is amazing. Crisp morning air, warm afternoons and cool evenings.

This weekend has been a busy one. We had dinner with friends and the missionaries, bought a crate for Kipling, saw The Social Network, I went for a long overdue autumn jog while Andrew slept in, weekly Farmer's Market, autumn drive to Amish country and dinner with friends from Andrew's program. Overall it was successful and I managed to put off cleaning our apartment once again. That's just how we roll.

Farmer's Market

top: our strawberry/chocolate/amazingness bfast, our apartment, us @ said market

middle: dahlia's, love them!

bottom: humane society booth with kitties, punkins!, Andrew and his apples

 our loot

then we hopped in the vehicle and drove

if you look close in the bottom left photo there are two Amish girls playing in the back of the buggy,

I want one

We drove about 2 hours south of Cleveland to Holmes county where there were rolling hills filled with corn stalks, pastures and autumn trees.

We ate at the Amish Door restaraunt which doesn't even compare to Mary Yoder's.

No cranberry sauce for Andrew's turkey dinner, sorry love.

We also went to an antique store and a used book store.

we love books

I recently purchased another bookshelf for our addiction.

Andrew just bought the online NBA package so we can watch all of the Jazz games, get ready people...

tis Autumn

If we were back in Utah we would probably be doing a lot of this...

and this...

before it gets too cold and we have to resort to doing this...

but for the moment we have to be content with this...

Andrew studying for midterms, boo!

and this...

Come soon fall break, come soon.

stealth

Don't fret, I'm still not done with the summer vacation photos... I know you're too excited!
This will be quick.
After the cruise Andrew and I along with 3 brothers, 1 sister and 1 brother in law parted ways from the rents and took off into the great unknown all by ourselves. We each had one large backpack (or side bag in Phil's case) with supplies to last us 10 more days. We were stealth. I felt like the packing queen when I had extra room in mine. Who would have thought?
Any who, We started in Rome where we found out that our train to gay old Paris was booked. We were stuck in Rome so decided to take a train to Milan, stay the night and catch the first train to Paris. (We really wanted to go to Normandy) First of all, it was July. Second of all, the train ride was 7 hours. Last but not least...no A/C. It was a great train ride.

So we got to Milan, found a cheapy hotel (with no A/C), ate at a pizza place/discotecha, I got 9 mosquito bites in about 2 hours and couldn't sleep because our hotel room was so bloody hot. Lovely.

The next morning we all gathered with bags under our eyes to discuss our next step. We decided to ditch the 9 hour train ride to Normandy and head to where you may ask?

SWITZERLAND!!!

That was possibly the best decision that we have ever made. We stepped off of the fully air conditioned comfortable train into this

It was still the best decision we have ever made. I think we shed a few tears of joy at that point.

Here are a few things we did in Svitzerland

Interlaken
stayed at the Funny Farm (they had the cutest Saint Bernard), ate at the Coop every morning, met up with Dennis and Martsie to celebrate Andrew's bday, went to a chocolate demonstration conducted by Chef Jean Pierre of France (he's so legit), wrestling, tight rope walking, sits and journal writing.

Gimmelwald
gondola ride to mountain hostel, journal writing, more wrestling, little hike, chickens, cute swiss homes and cow bells everywhere.

Grindelwald
train ride to Grindelwald, gondola ride to alpine slide, great sit, sviss cows, shopping and 2 incidents: Abby spilled Coke on Scot's crotch and John stepped in fresh cow manure. yummy

 

Grimsel Canyon

canyoning, you don't know what canyoning is? Neither did we.

Pretty much you put on neoprene suits and helmets and jump off of rocks into a river. They also had zip lines and repelling. It was 2 hours of adrenaline and water up my nose. We were feeling it the next day that's for sure. The guides kept telling us not to eff it up or else we'd die. Thanks guys.

Verzasca
largest bungee jump in the world, featured in Goldeneye, all of the boys had great form, I'm so proud.

After the glorious bounty Svitzerland provided us with we felt rejuvenated enough to rejoin the bustling cities of Italy. Did I mention that I want to move to Svitzerland. I even adopted their accent to fit in better. (change your w's to v's) I'm just that cultured.

Any who, back to...

Italy

Siena
I did a study abroad in Siena and ever since I've been dying to go back. The terra cotta rooftops, Piazza del Campo, the Duomo, the shopping, pizza, pasta and gelato, my old school and just the memories. I mean it's Tuscany, seriously.

Florence
shopping, museums, walking around, eating amazing pizza and everything else you do in Florence!

I want to go back right now.
Cleveland vs Tuscany...tough decision.