Thanksgiving 2010

Thanksgiving was a welcome break from school and gave us a chance to hang out with family.  It is crazy that a year ago Adam and I weren't even engaged yet - but we were close.  We spent most of the holiday at Adam's house.  We finally met Miss Madison, she is absolutely beautiful and such a fun baby.



Our first event was the Eagle Court of Honor for Lyndon.  Lyndon had promised his dad years ago that he would get his eagle.  And this year he finally did it.  So while in the BYU library brainstorming presents for Lyndon for Christmas we decided that we should hold a court of honor.  We suprised Lyndon on Wednesday night with everyone there.  Adam and Daniel spoke, Elizabeth conducted, Whitney did the slideshow, I did the scouting minute and decorations, Amanda played and sang the national anthem, Platte led the flag ceremony, and Andrea and Heather said the opening and closing prayers - oh, and Belle and Olivia tested the refreshments.  Wearing scout shirts just added to the fun. 

Lyndon was completely surprised as you can tell by his facial expressions.  It was a ton of fun plotting out how we were going to keep this a secret from him.  Our festivities concluded with the eagle's nest.  Whitney even through in a few sticks for good measure.

Way to go Lyndon! 

Thursday came and Whitney and I worked on our extra credit for our floral design class as our Thanksgiving day assignment.  We may or may not have turned it in since we didn't need the points anyway, but our centerpieces turned out pretty good.




Dinner was delicious and afterward we had fun taking family pictures.  Lil' Platte and Madison almost had to be separated once Platte started throwing fists.  We don't worry about Madison though.  She can hold her own.







Friday we hit the shops to find some great deals.  Adam and I went along for the ride and were excited to help pick out presents for everyone.  Most of our Christmas shopping was completed via the internet during distraction spells in the library.  Whitney was the number one distractor, we all are just way to excited for Christmas to come.

Saturday we headed back to Alpine where we hung out with Jess and Ezra.  After Bajio and a movie our weekend came to an end all too fast!

Harry Potter 7 and Oma's 80th Birthday

Adam and I were super excited to get to go see the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.  When you are going with Bellatrix Lestrange and Luna Lovegood who wouldn't be?  Adam had a late intramural soccer game (which his team won) and then we headed home and Adam dressed up as Harry and I tried to dress up - which meant I wore an England soccer jersey.  Whitney had been Bellatrix for Halloween and was set to display her wicked costume for the midnight showing.  Amanda even had radish earrings for her Luna costume which we would have loved to see, it is just too bad that we never made it to the theater. 

While heading north on I-15 in Lehi, all of a sudden a 4 foot long metal rod slammed into our car.  It sounded terrible so we got off at the next exit and decided to take a look.  As our car spewed and smoked we decided that making it to the movie was a little bit out of the realm of possibility.  Come to find out that a rod from road construction in Lehi had pelted our car and rammed up under our front bumper into our air condenser while stopping just short of our radiator - thank goodness.  

Luckily we weren't too far from home and were soon whisked off by my dad to escape the tragedy that had occurred.  We were bummed to miss the movie, but were thankful that we were safe and that the damage was not worse.     

With our car in the shop, the next day we headed up with my family into Salt Lake for a celebration.  Oma turned 80 on November 16th.  The family put on a surprise party for her on Friday the 19th of November.  It was so fun to get to celebrate with her and all of the family. 

Almost all of her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren were able to be there, making it an extra special occasion.  Each grandchild took a turn paying tribute to Oma and giving her a flower.  Adam said that he was grateful that Oma was there to help take away some of the nerves when buying a diamond from grandpa Don! :)  It was fun to see what all of the little kids had to say about Oma.

All of the grandkids sang Because I Have Been Given Much which is Oma's favorite song.  Afterward we took a family picture.  It is easy to see that with this type of family all of us have been greatly blessed.  I know that Oma has had an amazing impact on each individual in her family and we couldn't be more grateful for her.



My mom and her sisters along with me and my sisters helped to get everything ready.  Aunt Jenny was in charge of centerpieces and needed some help putting them together.  She had gone out that morning and after getting permission from her neighbors, foraged for goods for the centerpieces.  Jessica and I had a great time putting them together, and they were for sure some of the most unique centerpieces that I have ever seen.  Curly willow, wheat, berries, pinecones, apples and other items created some fun color for the tables.  I'm just grateful we didn't end up with poison ivy or something...

All in all it was a tremendous success.  Although we were without a car and we still haven't seen Harry Potter, life is great and we couldn't be happier - even though Adam's face might not seem so sure, believe me, we're happy.

Halloween

My family loves Halloween, so obviously when Patrick and McKay have their birthdays every year they are Halloween themed.  Grandma Sonntag wasn't opposed to taking part (she turns 80 this week)!

Our house is always decked out for Halloween and this year we even got to go visit both of our Grandpas while all dressed up.  (sorry it's a bit blurry)

Because of our love for Halloween, Adam and I simply had to dress up.  He was a pirate.  I was a witch.  What a perfect match.  We had a blast hanging out with family.



McKay was also a pirate, clearly he is the captain while Adam takes the orders.  In honor of one of the coolest Halloween costumes ever we also slipped in a picture of Patrick from last year.  I just couldn't resist, with his freakishly long legs it almost looks like he is actually flying.

Telos Triathlon

Kristina and I raced in our first Triathlon last Saturday. It was a "Splash" Triathlon--consisting of a 5K Run, 10 Mile Bike, and 350 Meter Swim. As you can see, Kristina did awesome--second in her division! 

She finished in 1:10:23--Run (27:12), Bike (30:44), and Swim (10:07). 

I finished in 1:01:05--Run (20:55), Bike (28:16), and Swim (9:46).

It was a fun race and we look forward to next season!

And we are certainly grateful for all of the support we had from our families at the race! Thanks for cheering us on!

Sonntag Family Pumpkin Party

Every year my mom's side of the family does a pumpkin party complete with paintballing, four-wheeling, pumpkins, cider, and more up at the Brewer's cabin.  This year was a little bit different.  Grandpa Sonntag (Opa) had a severe stroke in September.  He is a fighter and is doing quite well, however his left side is still paralyzed.  Opa is currently in a care center and couldn't make it to the Pumpkin Party, so we all brought the Pumpkin Party to him.

Karlie and Ezra had the coolest pumpkins with their ghosts and planes.

After carving pumpkins in Oma and Opa's garage all of the kids and grandkids and great-grandkids headed to the rehab center to show off our pumpkin carving skills.  Opa was thrilled to have us all there, and as you can see he is even improving on his smile!

We had a great time!

Flying, Trams, Babies, Flowers, and Friends

Just to give a little update on what we have been up to the past little while.

First off- Adam got hit in an intramural soccer game.  A nice shoulder to the nose caused a whole lot of bleeding and swelling.  It started in the bridge of his nose and moved into his eyes.  Can you tell the difference between the two pictures on the left and the picture on the right?  He looked a bit different for a few days.

Ezra got his pilots license last June and after we got back from California, took Adam and me up flying over Utah County and BYU in a little two-seater airplane.  It was awesome.  He even let each of us take a turn steering.  Thanks Ezra for such an awesome experience.  Now we can say that we have been over Utah County in a private plane as well as a hot air balloon!  Can you tell which one is my house?

We liked it so much up there that we decided to head up into the mountains for a tram ride at Snowbird.  The Rickses all raced over the 24th of July and received free passes to take a ride on the tram.  Date-night!  With the beautiful fall colors and spectacular views it was a perfect time to be up the canyon.  Thanks Lyndon and Elizabeth for watching Belle so Heather and Platte could come!

We even did some modeling, but clearly Heather and Platte take the cake with their modeling skills.

All I can say is that it is a good thing that Heather didn't go into labor up there.  But we are way excited that last Tuesday October 5th she had little Platte Preston Nielson.  He is the cutest little boy in the world and we were lucky enough to be able to visit him just hours after he was born.  Then to add to the excitement little Madison Ricks was born just six days later on October 11th as the second addition to Daniel and Andrea's family.  She is just darling and we are thrilled to have such cute nieces and nephew. Congrats!



Whitney and I are both currently taking floral design at BYU.  Needless to say we are both professionals now.  If you are looking for wedding flowers, centerpieces, or just a fun floral arrangement give us a call we're up to the challenge.  Here is a preview of my skills.

But wait, it gets better.  Last night Adam and I had Whitney, Patrick, Jan, Brianna, Sean, and Dan all over for dinner.  Luckily between Whitty and I there were boutonnieres for everyone.  Taco soup, Halloween decorations, and lots of friends with flowers made for a fantastic night of fun!

What a fun start to the semester!

Bear Lake 2010

The week after Labor Day Adam and I headed to Bear Lake.  I have always wanted to bike around the lake and it was finally my chance.  However, this was also the first time that I have ever been up to Bear Lake on my own.  It was just us, and I can't tell you how weird it was not to have fifty billion people up there with us.  But, we still had a blast just the two of us.  As you can see I got a sweet farmer tan from my biking jersey...

 

The ride was stupendous for about the first 26 miles.  We stopped halfway around the lake and found that Adam had a slow leak, I mean Adam's tire had a slow leak...  Which I then turned into a completely flat tire by trying to fix it with our pathetic hand pump... which I might add we had already pretty much ruined on an earlier ride by exploding a CO2 cartridge.  Needless to say we weren't very well equipped with the fixins, but thankfully a car drove by that was following a group of bikers and had a normal pump.  Which we dutifully used and headed on our way - quite thankful that one of us didn't have to ride the last 26 miles alone while the other one waited for 2 or more hours sitting on the side of the road.

It wasn't long into the second half of our ride that I noticed a group of cows on the side of the road.  I started to moo my best moo before noticing that there was also a group of 8-10 men standing off to the side of the cows that I was mooing at.  I couldn't stop laughing as all of the men turned in unison to see who in the heck was mooing at there cows.  

We finally made it back to the condos - 52 miles in just under 3 hours - which doesn't include the hour we sat on the side of the road trying to figure out what to do with Adam's flat tire.  We felt pretty good about our time considering we hadn't ridden our bikes for over a month previously.

 

After eating burgers and shakes from LaBeau's to celebrate our accomplishment we decided to go swimming, play a little tennis and head out for a walk on the beach.  Tennis was a disaster because I was too tired to want to really try to get to the ball and I was losing so badly, Adam has no problem completely demolishing me in sports.  However we had a lovely walk on the beach, setting up self-timer to document our summer visit.  I didn't even notice that the bucket was in the shot, but I think it adds a nice artistic touch... haha.

That night we decided to watch TV.  As we were cuddled up on the couch all of a sudden Adam yells OUCH!! and jumps up.  He explained quite calmly to me that he had felt like something bit his elbow.  I assured him that it was simply just the zipper of the couch that he rubbed against.  There was no evidence of a bite or anything so he sat back down and we continued watching TV.

About an hour later as I was half asleep I felt a nibble on my hand.  I jumped up and screamed.  "Something just bit my freaking hand." Adam was almost as quick as I was to get off the couch.  I immediately ran to the nearest chair and stood on top of it.  "There is something in the couch."  There was no way that I could have gotten bit and Adam felt it too without there being something.

We quickly packed up all of our stuff that was on the floor and prepared for war.  I stood on the chair yelling directions like a army commander while Adam told me to be quiet...haha.  He shot to the couch like a flash and threw off the pillows.  NOTHING.  There was nothing there.  I couldn't take it.  There was no way in this world or the next that I was going to get on that couch again. So we went to bed.

All night long I dreamt of squirrels attacking my feet.  I woke Adam up by yelling in my sleep that something was biting my toes.  He pulled off the covers and assured me that nothing was there, but I was inconsolable.  It was a long night.

The next morning I sneakily crept out of our room into the kitchen area to watch and see if I could spot anything.  Sure enough a little black rodent ran from the couch over to the fridge.  "I saw it, I saw it!!!"  I ran back to Adam and informed him of my discovery.  It was time to take action.

Being the end of the summer season, we knew we needed to take care of the little pest before he invited his friends and family to take over our condo for the winter.  After church we stopped by the KOA in Garden City and picked up a trap.  However, they did not have the normal traps, but instead just the sticky glue sheets.  We were skeptical as to whether or not it would work, but it was our only option.

Adam went in to set the traps and saw the furry critter by the back door.  He strategically placed the traps where in both locations that we had spotted the mouse.  We were hopeful the traps would work.

After everything was set, Adam and I sat by the doorway watching the family room/ kitchen area.  Sure enough the little mouse came scurrying out.  I don't know what this mouse's mental capacity was, but if you could see and hear people wouldn't you not want to come out and get killed?  Seriously, what kind of mouse climbs up on a couch and bites people?

The little guy scurried away again, and Adam went next door to get cleaning supplies while I was doing dishes in the kitchen.  Next thing I know I turn around and there is the little mouse again right next to the glue sheet.  He sniffed around curiously, nibbled at the edge of the sheet and proceeded to run back under the couch.  

Adam came back in and we stood in the doorway once more.  The mouse came out from under the sofa and started coming toward us.  I got scared and yelled at Adam to scare him away so he didn't come toward me.  My yell scared the mouse and he went running - right over the glue pad.  He fell.  Little legs stuck fast to the glue.  He wasn't going anywhere.  

I'll spare you the details, but we caught our overly friendly nibbling mouse and discarded him.  I don't suggest using glue pads - some people may say they are more humane by not using poison or other methods, but I can assure you that this method of death was worse, much worse.  

However, next time you go to Bear Lake you can rest assured that there is one less mouse to nibble at your feet.

Yosemite and Company

A few weeks ago, we were lucky enough to have our families come to visit!  First, the Taylors (Alan, Paula, Ezra, and Jessica) came to visit.  We had a great weekend seeing the sites and going to Wicked!  The next weekend, my family (Lyndon, Elizabeth, Whitney, and Amanda) came!  We got to go to a Giants game and to Peter Pan!  It was so wonderful having our families here to visit!

Then this last weekend we got to go to Yosemite!  What a beautiful place!  We hiked for about two hours to get to the top of Mariposa Grove, where we saw many of these huge trees! (This is self-timer at its best!)

  

  

I'm not really sure what we expected from the redwoods, but I'm pretty sure that they exceeded our expectations anyway.  I mean...this is Kristina sitting inside a fallen tree.

We like this picture because it looks like we are glowing! 

Here is a picture of the valley of Yosemite, with Bridal Veil Fall on the right.  It was so neat driving around the valley.  It is such a pretty area.  After wanting to go the whole summer, we finally made it.  We are glad we made the trip!  Hopefully someday we will be able to camp in Yosemite.  With our car as full as it is, there was no way we could have brought our tent and sleeping bags.  I guess we will just have to come back!

Home Sweet Home

No, we aren't back in Utah, and no we still don't have a home - but for the Fourth of July we went to Southern California.  Adam was nice enough to humor me and drive by my old house and elementary school in Yorba Linda.

While it was fun to see it has definitely changed a lot and isn't quite home sweet home, and it didn't mean quite as much since I don't know anyone there anymore.  But, Adam still got a taste of my childhood which was great.

Luckily for Adam though, this was not the purpose of our trip.  Instead, we went to visit our friends Laura and Blake Collins.  We celebrated Adam's birthday by staying in Thousand Oaks California where Adam got free breakfast at Denny's and then made it to Lauga and Blake's.  That night we had In N' Out Burger and then headed to the theater to see Toy Story 2.  What a fun day!  I felt so lucky to get to spend the whole day with Adam on his birthday in order to celebrate.  We even topped it off with a quart of Coldstone Founder's Favorite ice cream.

We had a blast at the Oceanside beach boogie boarding, and then at Laguna beach watching the surfers, eating gelato, and just hanging out.  It was so much fun and we loved getting to spend the holiday with friends!