Christmas TIme!

We spent a lot of time with the Woodruff side on Christmas but we also saw my family some also! We went and had breakfast that my dad made with my family! All of Kirk's family was together and we hung out with them while his siblings and nieces and nephews opened presents! I gave Kirk the 12 days of Christmas so he got socks, ties, shirts and Christmas day he got tickets to Supercross with Pit Passes! He liked it! He got me a bathing suit that I wanted, new black and pink Nike tennis shoes and some perfume and lotion from Victoria's Secret! We hung out for a while and later in the day everyone gathered in the living room! Kirk told me he had one more present for me so he brought out this big box and inside it was a small box! I opened it and my ring was in it!! I was so excited! Kirk had a man in Utah custom make it and during the month of December we would look at rings and Kirk would email him things i liked! He got it in the mail on Christmas eve so it was the perfect present!

Oh Christmas Tree

My family got rid of our fake tree last year because it was very sad looking! So they decided to get a real one! We left in the morning and headed up north around the Heber area and drove into the forest to  hunt down our perfect tree! We parked, and walked and walked and walked around searching for a good looking tree! One rule is you cannot top off trees, meaning if the tree is 20 feet tall you cannot cut off the top 8 feet! But usually that is the best looking part! So we looked around and would think we found one but it usually didnt look that good! On our drive out we spotted a good one so we pulled over and walked out to it! Well we couldnt see from the road but it was just the top of the tree that looked good! Soooo we took it! Shh dont tell anyone! By this time it was noon so we stopped and got pizza for lunch! We got home around 5 and Kirk joined us to set the tree up! We put it up, took a step back...and it looked awful! It was so bare! Apparently trees look better in their home in the forest! haha We took it down, my dad sawed it up and we went to Home Depot and picked up a tree! haha It was an adventure!

Engagement

Next step is engagement! We decided pretty quickly that we wanted to get married! I like to joke that all i said during the "get to know you" process was "how many kids do you want?" Kirk "5" Me "ok me too, let's get married" haha It felt that easy! 

Kirk and i were invited up to Sedona to visit (or in my case, meet) his aunt Jean & uncle Bill!

I had never been and during November it was still snowing! 

After arriving and saying hi kirk wanted to show me around town! We went to a few shops then headed to a resort not far from his uncle's house!

We brought bread to feed the ducks and walked around the pretty grounds and by the little river!

At one moment i had this strange feeling and kirk reached into his pocket to grab his..........phone! My heart skipped a beat and i thought to myself "what in the world am i getting myself excited for?"

Then Kirk and i sat down on a bench and just watched the ducks!

After a few minutes he told me how sweet i was and how much he loved being with me! Then...

he got down on one knee...

and asked if i would marry him! 

i was so surprised the first words out of my mouth were "are you serious!?" haha 

but yes he was!

and, of course, i said yes!

After a few minutes kirk started looking around....

i was wondering what was going on so i looked behind me and there were 2 sneaky photographers hiding in the bushes! His sister Kimber and bro-in-law Casey!

Photos courtesy of them :)

He gave me an Irish Clatter ring for my first engagement ring before i got my other engagement ring!

ive wanted one since i was younger!

The Dunes!

I joined Kirk and his family on a trip to the dunes! I was so excited because i had never been to the dunes before! Kirk and his family are veterans there! We went past Yuma! I have been riding quads and dirt bikes since i was little but never on the sandy dunes before so Kirk got to teach me!
We drove together in their 15 passenger van with a trailer of our toys! Logan and Blair followed with the girls in their van! We set up base with a canopy for some shade and a blanket and chairs for the kids to play on!
We spent all day riding, watching and playing in the sand!
I loved watching Kirk be a daredevil on his bike! He would ride so fast up this huge hill they called "Comp Hill" where people would race eachother and Kirk and Logan would jump off!

Annalee and Phoebe

Kimber helping Casey on the bike

Cherri with Annalee

Kirk with Phoebe

Sam and Phoebe

Kirk and I

Logan and Blair

(Left to Right) Casey, Kimber, Sam, Blair, Phoebe, Annalee, Logan, Whitney, Kirk & Cherri

Halloween

Halloween happened between the time Kirk and i started dating and got engaged and it could have been a make it or break it moment! I HATE haunted houses...i literally go crazy and freak out! Well i got tickets online for mini golf, go carting and a haunted house at Sunsplash basically to impress Kirk! haha We went and had lots of fun...until we went into the haunted house! Kirk had no idea but i tried to play it cool! i started to get nervous then like 15 seconds into it i kinda froze...even the scary lady chased me into a corner and said "um, you have to keep going" haha then i really freaked out! Kirk was being such a gentlemen and protecting me from everything even when i head butted him in the face! Once we finally made it out he said "why didnt you tell me you didnt like haunted houses?" and i told him i wanted him to enjoy it! Well, he'll never make that mistake again! haha

Conference & Park City

So I had been wanting to go to conference super bad! I had never been and finally got 2 tickets! I was way excited but needed someone to go with.....I was a little nervous to ask Kirk cause we hadnt been dating that long but I thought it would be a good bonding moment! So I told him I had an extra ticket and he said he would go! He even told me he had family that lived in Provo so we could stay with them! Which meant...I would meet the family! 8 of them! On the plane ride there Kirk had a packet of questions that we asked eachother and it was fun to get to know eachother! Kimber picked us up and we stayed in Scott and Meagan's extra bedroom! They were all really nice and welcoming!
Conference was awesome! We got pretty good seats on the balcony in the front row! It was a huge building! It was great seeing all the apostles and the prophet!

At the airport in Utah

Kirk and I walking through the park in front of Scott and Meagan's house that we played around in!

And a close up of Tristan

One of the days we were there Scott and Meagan took us to Park City! We walked around the shops, the winter olympic sports museum and went up the ski lift and down the alpine slides!

Pumpkin Carving

I love pumpkin carving! You get to make anything you want, be creative, another excuse to get together with family and friends and its the beginning of a roll of holidays! Ive never been afraid to get down and dirty with the "pumpkin guts"! In high school some friends and i carved pumpkins and i was the only one to stick my hand down in it and grab all the slimy stuff out...everyone else used spoons! So, i threw it at them and told them to stop acting like girls! (they were guys btw)

Anyways, our friends got together and had some pumpkin fun!

Kirk and I tried to make the Salt Lake Temple but it ended up looking more like a haunted house...not quite the look we were going for! 

Austin and Marcie made a classic pumpkin face

Jodi and Aaron worked forever on theirs

And so did Brad and Melisha! 

The Beginning

I think it would be a good idea to start from the beginning! Kirk and i met in December of 2010...we had the same group of friends that always hung out and did fun things together! I always thought kirk was a gentleman and we always said hi to each other! After a few months went by it was May and kirk was leaving for the summer to go sell in Houston! I remember the last time i saw him was at a restaurant with some friends and i was saying bye to many of them that were leaving! Anyways, summer went by, i hung out with friends and worked! In the middle of August i got a phone call from Kirk! He was home and wanted to hang out since we hadnt seen each other in a while! So we got together and talked and just hung out! He was so awesome! A gentleman, easy and fun to talked to, and wanted all the same things i did! I was hooked! It took a little while for me to warm up to the idea but i couldnt stay away from him so we started to date! It wasnt long before we both realized we had found our eternal companion! We were engaged in November and married in March! More on that later :)

Here are some dating pics...

We both enjoy going longboarding

One of the first things we ever did was a Diamondbacks Game

Making dessert

F1 Raceway 

(Kirk has lapped me....many times)

hanging out at my house

 the State Fair on the farris wheel

Halloween

(we had some really cool outfits planned but ran out of time so this is what we ended up with)

the Mesa Temple

the Dunes

(Kirk taught me how to ride on the dunes)

Sedona visiting his uncle & aunt

In the car...for some reason i have a lot of "in the car" pics of us! haha

Supercross!

(we both love supercross)