Atlanta Trip

On the 26th we flew to Atlanta, GA to spend time with my dad. We spent four days hanging out, going to movies, renting movies, and basically just relaxing. I failed to take any family pictures while we were there. I did get pictures of the amazing Georgia Aquarium we visited. I highly recommend it to anyone who visits the Atlanta area. The first picture is a whaleshark (I think, well either way it's some sort of whale or shark.)
A stinging nettle
A jellyfish

Holiday Highlights

Holding our chubby niece on Christmas Day

Ruby and Chris on Christmas Eve
Visiting Whitney's new puppies, Hannah and Hank on Christmas Day
Ruby enjoying her new bed and reindeer toy on Christmas morning

Yippee!!

Chris survived his first semester of the MBA program at BYU and I couldn’t be more proud… although a bit jealous that he now spends his days skiing.

He has literally worked his tail off this last semester. His daily schedule has gone something like this: wake up at 5:00 a.m., study ‘til 7:00, drive to Provo for studying/class until 6:00 p.m., return home, eat, hit the books again until 11:00, sleep…do it all over again.

He is loving his program and we are excited about the opportunities that are opening up for him. He received an offer to intern with Kellogg (like the cereal) in Battle Creek, Michigan this summer as a brand manager for Frosted Flakes. We’re not sure if he is going to take the offer yet. He went to Michigan to be “wined and dined” and to tour the corporate headquarters. He was very impressed with Kellogg...

...and very unimpressed with Michigan. We’ll see…

One of my first thoughts when he got the offer was:

“If he ends up working for them someday will I have to sever my relationship with General Mills cereals, as in no more Capn’ Crunch and Lucky Charms?( favorites from my childhood that I don’t actually buy- but I like knowing that I could do so without being disloyal.)

His answer was “yes, you'd have to end that relationship.”

Yet More Family Pictures

Many of you don't know my dad's side of my family. This picture was actually taken last year but I felt that I needed a post featuring these very important people in my life... (Pictured: Chris and me, my dad, his wife Tammy, her sons Kurt and Trent, and my sisters Rachel and Lindsey. Not pictured: dogs, Sandy, Tessie and Ruby.)
Chris and I are heading to Atlanta, Georgia on the 26th to see them and can't wait!!

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

I love being up in the mountains, especially in the winter. Snowbird was truly a "winter wonderland", which is one of my favorite Christmas songs, by the way.

Meet Larry the Porcupine

We went to dinner with my family up at the The Steak Pit in Snowbird Resort and were seated right next to a window. As we were eating we looked over to see a round black ball making its way over to the window. The waitress explained that it was just Larry coming to retrieve his daily loaf of bread. He stayed there for over two hours and polished the whole thing off.

Maggie and Ruby

Maggie is Chris' parent's dog and Ruby's best friend. The two are almost inseparable. I love this picture of them just hanging out.

My Little Nieces

These adorable strawberries are my sister Whitney's kids. I'd tell you their names but Whitney, the supermom, is a little protective about me posting their names on my public blog. How cute are they?

Family Pictures

Me and Whitney
Me, Mom and Whitney
Mom and Dad, Backmans and Johnsons (Not pictured: dogs, Willy, Bailey, Hank, Hannah and Ruby)

Thanksgiving 5K

Jeff, Erin, me, Mary and Steve (Chris' brothers, sister and sis' in law) did a 5K on Thanksgiving morning. Don't we look great? (note turquoise headband)

Busted!

As Thanksgiving dinner was being prepared Ruby lingered around, watching for rare moments when the dishwasher door was open so she could lick up all that yummy stuff.

U Game

Here we are at the U vs. New Mexico game. Sweet Chris spent the entire game re-explaining football for me, play-by-play, and making sure I was having fun. I'm not proud to admit that I've never really liked (or understood) football...but I'm working on it.

More Europe pics...

Pretty little vineyards were all over the place in Ravello, Italy
Boat ride to the island of Capri
A plaster-of-paris mold of a body found at Pompeii
The Colluseum, Rome
We trekked all our gear on foot to church one morning to find the building empty-it was Stake Conference.

The pup grows up...

I realize it's very cheesy and a little pathetic to post so many things about a dog...but we don't have kids yet...please humor me. The truth is that Chris let us get Ruby to appease me. I kept bugging him about having a baby...finally one day he said "no, but maybe we can get a dog."

Canyoning

In Interlaken we went canyoning. It's basically sliding down natural waterfalls and jumping off cliffs into pools of water. It was such a rush!! Here we are suiting up.

Interlaken, Switzerland

Chris bungee jumped out of this tram-a 450 ft drop. I valiantly stayed behind to take pictures.

Amalfi Coast

My Dad got married this summer on the Amalfi Coast in Italy-we got to tag along. It was the most beautiful place in the world. Here are some highlights. (photo 1-Chris and Sarah; 2-Infinity Pool; 3-The sisters: Rachel, Sarah & Lindsey; 4-my dad jamming on the drums).

Puppy's First Bath

Ruby rolled in something stinky so we gave her her first bath.

Ruby Sue

This past August we were browsing the internet and came across an ad for lab puppies. We made the mistake of going and looking at the dogs... there was no turning back after that. This is our little Ruby girl on the day we got her. She's the sweetest thing! We love our lil' Ru-bear!

So I've started a blog...

Hello all! I've decided to jump on the bandwagon and start a blog. Chris and I have been married a little more than a year...it's been a blast and a ton has happened-he's back in school, I stopped teaching and got a new job, we moved to Draper, became parents (well dog parents... that counts I think)...to name a few things. This is us on our Italy/Switzerland trip we took this past summer.