Looking back through 2009

January

We started out the year going to a Warrior's basketball game with our cousins, Greg and Heidi.

I spent Labor Day with my sister-in-law, Heather, and her three adorable children. We caught the ferry to Pier 39 and walked around the different shops. I was even pulled up on stage to help with a magic show. I had to hand him three large knives while he balance on a board and then I had to set his hands on fire...yes it was quite the ordeal!

February

One of my closest friends from Utah, Tracy, came out to spend President's Day weekend with us. We spent the weekend exploring China town, Pier 39, Palace of Fine Arts, Golden Gate bridge, and Stinson Beach.

After several months of begging, Dallas took me to the Japanese Tea Gardens at Golden Gate Park. It was beautiful!

March

Dallas and I spent a fun weekend in Monterey with our cousins Greg and Heidi where we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and played in the endless tide pools.

Thanks to our parents, we were able to see Wicked at the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco with my brother Erik and his wife Heather.

April

We spent a day at the beach with our two nephews, Lincoln and Rulon, and our niece, Ellis, while Erik and Heather prepared for their fourth little one to join their family. Will was born on April 21st and is such a cuddly addition!

May

For our monthly get away Dallas surprised me and drove me down the California coast line. We stopped at the Pescadero light house along the way and couldn't help but fall in love with the scenery.

June

June turned out to be a bittersweet month. It's always nice to start the summer, but not only did I have to say goodbye to an incredible group of students that had been such a huge part of my life the past 9 months, but I also had to say goodbye to my profession, hopefully only for the time being.

July

We decided to celebrate our one year anniversary traveling through Thailand. Dallas hadn't been back since his mission and was super excited to show me around his old stompin' ground. We spent the first part of our trip in the northern regions, Chaing Mai, where we rode on elephants, pet tigers, rafted down the river on a bamboo canoe, and were participants in a cobra show. We then flew down south to Phuket and Kho Phi Phi Don where we snorkeled with tropical fish, fed monkeys on a deserted beach, and literally fried most of our skin off. To finish off our trip we flew to Bangkok where we shopped for hours within the street markets, visited the gorgeous Buddhist temples, and celebrated my 29th birthday. It was a perfect vacation full of incredible adventures!

August

Dallas' little sister, Ashleigh, got married in the Salt Lake City temple to Robbie Brown. It was a VERY windy day and yet Ashleigh remained gorgeous...not sure how she does that!

While we were in Salt Lake we were able to meet up with some of my great friends from my Provo years: Tracy, Desiree, and Abby. I love these girls!

Bradley, my youngest brother, came to visit us in the Bay area the last week of August. We had a blast showing him around, especially Pier 39 where he was pulled up on stage to help the street performer...he was NOT very happy with me :)

September

Mom flew me home for a week to attend the one year anniversary of my little niece, Mara's, passing. There was a community balloon releasing and then we spent the afternoon decorating Mara's grave. It was a beautiful way to remember such a beautiful girl. While I was home Mom and Dad also took my cousin, Gina, and I to Wicked in Seattle.

October

Maren flew up from Las Vegas to visit for a week! We went to a Giant's baseball game, took a tour of Alcatraz, visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and went shopping in the city.

New Zealand Girl's Weekend! Katy, Heather, Lisa, Ari, and I spend the weekend in Monterey, visiting the sites of San Francisco, and goofing off at the beach.

November

My nephew, Lincoln, turned 8 and was baptized. His cousin Max flew from Seattle to spend the weekend to help celebrate.

My close friend from college, Jackie, got married at the Oakland temple. We were also able to see Jill, Alex, Kyle, Tess, and Whitney for the festivities! It was a great reason to have a reunion.

Dallas's close friend from Washington D.C., Mandy, came out to visit so we showed her the sites of San Francisco.

December

I drove down to Santa Barbara to spend the weekend with one of my close friends from my Provo years, Tracy.

I met up with Maren to spend a magical day playing at Disneyland. There is NOTHING like Disneyland decorated at Christmas time!

We spend a fun filled week in San Diego going to the Wild Animal Park, Sea World, Whale watching, Balboa Park, and the San Diego Zoo. Thanks again to Kim and David for taking care of us while we were visiting!

We spend the holidays in a VERY snowy Casper, Wyoming.

Our Christmas gift to each other; tickets to the Cirque du Soleil show, O, in Las Vegas.

Bucket List

On my first date with Dallas I mentioned that I had made a list of several different things I wanted to accomplish before I died. I had slowly been crossing things off my list throughout the years; swimming with sting rays, graduating from college, seeing U2 in concert, rafting down the Nile river, just to name a few. This is where he got the romantic idea of taking me on a hot air balloon ride on our second official date; thus the theme of our wedding announcement. I have continued to add to my "bucket list" over the years and LOVE the chance to mark off any item I can. Most of my items center around traveling and the endless adventures one can find from not only seeing the sites, but learning and loving the people of that given area. The other day my friend emailed me this link to a youtube video entitled "Where the Hell is Matt." I couldn't help but smile while watching, fully seeing my bucket list played out by some random stranger and his serious bad dancing skills. I hope you enjoy watching it as much as I did!

Las Vegas Adventure

For Christmas we bought each other tickets to the Cirque show O playing at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. We had heard amazing things from our friends and were so excited to see it. We did not plan things too well as far as when our flight from Casper got into Vegas, so we were already nervous about time when we got to the airport. Sadly, as we checked in they told us that our flight was two hours delayed and that would mean we would not make it to the show on time. It is times like these that make me absolutely love Dallas. I of course started crying; the poor girl at the counter didn't really know what to do, but sweet Dallas just held me and immediately started to think of ways to "fix" the problem. Within the hour he had been on the phone with our hotel in Vegas, found someone to buy our tickets to O for that night, and switched our tickets so we would still be able to see it. He is such a sweetheart! That meant that we would be staying in Vegas an additional two extra nights, and would need to find another hotel, but things all worked out! We were able to walk the strip with thousands of other tourists, meet up with one of my good college friends, and take LOTS of pictures in the process. O turned out to be an incredible show. The staging was amazing where it would be a tank of water one minute and then drained the next. I have literally never seen anything like it. Luckily we were able to sneak out of the crazy Vegas area the morning or New Year's eve, so we were not accosted by the numerous drunkards layering the streets. I guess there is only so much of the strip one can take! It was definitely the perfect way to end our three week adventure, though, and I loved every second I could spend with my hottie of a husband!!

Christmas in Casper

We've been trying to get back into a routine, so I apologize for my lateness in posting about our holiday adventures. The reality of busy season is in full swing and I haven't seen Dallas for more than a few minutes a day for the past couple weeks, so it is nice to think back over our holiday break again; when we were physically in the same room!

After spending a week in San Diego, we caught a flight to Casper, Wyoming to spend the holidays with Dallas's side of the family. I knew this was going to be a little difficult for me. It was the first time in 29 years I was not going to be with my family and our crazy traditions.

I am truly grateful for the fact that I absolutely LOVE the Perkins side. It always makes me sad to hear my friends whom don't get along with their in-laws. I must confess there is one Perkins member that I clash with...Kelly. No matter how hard I try, my allergies just will not let me

near their golden lab.

The Perkins are a fun-loving group of people who have a definite talent for amazing cooking, incredible vocal skills, and endless card games...Grandma's got some serious skills in that department!

It wouldn't be Christmas without snow and Casper was definitely not lacking in the snow level! It snowed for four days straight, which was just enough to let me enjoy the absolute beauty before leaving to the warmth of Las Vegas!

Dallas LOVED our photo shoot outside and didn't complain a bit...I hope you can all sense the sarcasm in that comment!

Kristie shows off one of her presents from Dallas and I...can you tell what it is!? Dallas was pretty proud of his wrapping job.

It was funny to see how similar Dallas and his dad, Drew, are. They are quite the duo.

Kelly loved her new toy from her big sister, Ashleigh.

Ashleigh and Robbie brought Rock Band for us all to play. We ended up staying up til 2am playing it on Christmas Eve. Kristie and Drew led with some incredible vocals.

Overall, we had a great time over the holiday break. Yes I missed the Adams festivities, but I am so grateful to have amazing in-laws who made me feel right at home!