Lyssa's Wedding and Christmas Time!

 Well the day finally came that these two got married.  Alyssa and I have been good friends for a while and also wrote missionaries at the same time.  It's our sad little bonding saga.  Haha.  Just kidding.  Lys and I were roommates at Utah State and she's one of my very best friends! Let's just say that through it all- her and Jake have been a long time coming.  They were married in the Draper Temple on December 3 and it was a beautiful day!!

Mr. and Mrs. Poulson

(stole this off Felicia's facebook- thanks!)

Keep in mind it was FREEZING this day. Oh. my it was cold. She's in short sleeves!

 Congrats Lys!! It was also really fun to see a bunch of friends we haven't seen for a while! Wedding receptions are great for that reason! 

Also....
Brad and I got our first Christmas Tree!! Woohoo!! We found this cute little guy and knew it was perfect :) Nothing better than the smell of that tree when you walk in your house!
(Cough, Cough BLAKELY!) haha 

 And tada! Now it feels like the Christmas season :)

 AND (this is a post with a lot of great things in it) 

AND we got to go to the First Presidency Devotional last weekend! We were lucky enough to get the invite from our great friends (Curtis & Lindsey and Tim & Tim's date Ali) who we never get to see anymore! So we were very excited to go!

 And yes, Brad and I were freezing so we came all bundled up!

 So much fun! We had a blast!

Sidenote- Brad and I came to the First Presidency Devotional 4 YEARS AGO!! Crazy.  We were not dating then, but I think we both wanted to be :) Here's some throwback pics for the fun of it... 

Haha this picture sums it up- Crazy-eyed Matt and Tai in the background!

How young do we (by we I mean Brad) look? Haha this in 2007, if we only knew...

Now B & I are 5 finals and 3 days away from Christmas break :) Bring it on!

Thanksgiving!

Aw Thanksgiving... A Holiday that our nation can agree on.  Finally! We can still call it Thanksgiving and not some politically correct version (i.e. Spring Spheres instead of Easter Eggs) 

 In a extremely short line or two, I'm unbelievably grateful for all that I've been blessed with. First, and most importantly my husband who is my biggest blessing ever. I love him with all that I have.  My family is wonderful.  I'm grateful for my education, my knowledge I've acquired, and for all the small things that make big differences.  I'm grateful we have a Holiday to be grateful!

And as for the turkey side of it, Thanksgiving around the Schaap house is no joke.  We break out the smoker for the turkey, have a pie contest, and all end up in a turkey coma.  And as good as the meal (and the leftover turkey sandwiches) is, the prep and the quality family time are the best part.  I love the time in the kitchen with my family! Yes, cooking is my favorite hobby, but I love the funny interaction that we have while we are in the kitchen.  There always tends to be funny, irrelevant arguments happening while 20 things are going on.  Makes me laugh! And poor Brad has been thrust into the middle of it! However, I think he likes it :) 

Here's some pictures! 

These little beauties went in my (prize winning) pecan pie!

Brad was taking action shots of all the pies.

And when he wasn't taking pics, he was doing some artwork....

Apple!!

Lemon Meringue- Gpa's favorite

Brad's Beautiful Sour Cream Blueberry Crumble Pie

Yummy....

That's a winner.

Smoked

Roasted

Because everyone needs two turkeys right?

The Lineup.  Mom entered a Banana Cream in there too. As did Costco with a pumpkin.

Thanksgiving was really quite relaxing, amongst all the kitchen chaos.  I loved it and had a great time.  Just missed my little brother! 

 

And Bonus- Brad had a double header that weekend too! 

You tell em B!

Ok, so I'm no sports photographer, but I love to watch him play and love going to games! Great weekend overall!

Now back to studying... Dang it!

Melissa's Wedding

 Happy Wedding Day to Melissa and Zack!

It was a beautiful day at the Oakland Temple and I was so happy to be a part of it :) She looked beautiful and it was such a fun day! I wish I had pictures of the dinner at her house, because everything looked great. 

Melissa and I are sisters.  Well as close as possible I guess.  4 years of living together. Volleyball, Utah State, friends, boys, dances, crazy up-all-night experiences talking and laughing.  These are the years we developed into the married women we are today.  I will probably never know just how much she influenced my life, but I'm sure grateful for it all.  

It makes me happy to see her marry a man she loves and who loves her! Congratulations!! 

And before the wedding, Brad had a game in Monterey! 

(Don't ask me why I don't have any pictures of this)

My mom and I were on the ultra-road-trip, so the day after the game, we headed over to Carmel and our FAVORITE restaurant in the world.  Eggs Benedict is perfect! Silky Hollandaise, perfectly poached eggs, with glorious pepper sauce.  This is truly wonderful. 

This would be the dream: live in Carmel, own your breakfast & lunch restaurant and cook to make people happy, and then golf the whole afternoon.  No, I do not golf or currently have any aspirations of being a golfer, but when you live in Carmel- you golf.  And you love it.

These pictures look verrrrryyy similar to ones taken last year... 

Or maybe these ones from 2 years ago... 

 Hmmm.... There seems to be a trend here...

 Whoops! How did these ones get in here!!

Good times :) 

Happy Thanksgiving tomorrow!! I'm off to make pies!!

Bridal Showers and Make this!

I don't know if you knew this or not, but last Saturday was Bridal Shower Extravaganza day! 

Yep.  2 of my best friends had their bridal showers that day and yes I kinda was involved with throwing both of them... Which is great! I was sooo happy to help!

We started with Alyssa's in Logan at noon and I have no idea why I didn't take a picture of this one.  Hopefully I can get a copy of the pic we took because it was a cute one of all the girls (and Lyssa's new present). We had a lot of fun!! These girls are high quality company and we have a good time together! I love it!

Then, I drove back home and scrambled to get everything ready for Melissa's Bridal Shower at 4:30pm.  This was a little crazy, but luckily, I am beginning to think like a caterer and had everything pretty much ready beforehand.  Bless my sous chefs that helped me that day.  Here's the spread: 

 

Veggies w/ my favorite Spinach Dip

Crunchy yummy roasted garlic bread and whole grain bread

My version of Greek Salad

Chinese Chicken Salad 

Chicken Caesar Salad

=Success! 

You know I've actually helped a few people "cater" some little parties, and I absolutely love it! So, if any of my family/friends are reading this- please let me do what I enjoy and call me to come help you! 

I don't know if you noticed the sneaky little dessert in the back of that picture, but let me tell you these were a HIT! Who knew sugar cookies could be so funny/embarrassing/awesome! 

Here they are before..... "naked" cookies. Pun intended.

 

 And here they are all Bridal Shower ready! Hahaha these were definitely appropriate for the occasion.  Hilarious and I've been looking forward to making these for weeks now!

 

The best (worst?) part about it was that a lot of Melissa's mission friends were in attendance at this party, and were completely mortified and wide-eyed at these cookies.  Haha, and I (and Blakely) enjoyed every second of it! It was hilarious....

Anyway, both Bridal Showers were a success and I am so excited for two of my best friends!! Being married is the best!! 

Bridesmaid twice in 2 weeks... more pictures to follow.  

In the meantime, make this little morsel. 

TONIGHT. 

BLATCE

Bacon*Lettuce*Avocado*Tomato*Cheese*Egg

=Yummmmm!

Glad :)

2 things today: 

1. I'm so happy Brad is home! 

This is my optimistic way of saying I really, really miss him while he is gone on basketball road trips.. Really, really.

2. Yesterday was a good day for me! I was offered an internship that I am very excited about!

It is crazy how getting married alters your (my) thoughts.  Between school, life plans, daily routines and sleeping schedules, etc. things are different now! They all revolve around both of us, and I love it! But these road trips are throwing me for a loop... it's just me again for a few days. I don't like it! Luckily I have a wonderful family who takes me out to dinner while I'm husband-less! Brad & I went through a basketball season last year, but this year it seems so much longer! And they've only been playing for 3 weeks so far! I need to get a hobby.  Studying corporate strategy while my husband is on a road trip doesn't exactly make time go by quickly... But, he's having fun, so I'm having fun? Haha, but I AM excited to go to Westminster's first home games this weekend!

Secondly, talk about unexpected! I am extremely excited to be offered such a great opportunity! This is a big blessing for me and my career. I will be working along with finishing my last semester of school, so that makes life kinda complicated, but it's worth it.

Anyway, life is good.  Life is complicated, crazy, fun, unexpected, weird, wonderful, hilarious, and breathtaking at times. And Good.  I'm grateful for today! (And for yesterday :) )

A Fallish Weekend

This past weekend we tried to take advantage.  

The weather has been unusually warm lately, so we figured we better get up in the mountains!! The colors are unbelievable and the hike is one of our favorites! Only about 10 mins away from our house :) And it is even still enjoyable when we both are incredibly sore and our behinds are screaming at us the whole time! haha. 

Hello Fall! 

 Thank you for being 75 degrees and beautiful so we could enjoy what you have to offer!!

Gosh I wish it could just stay like this and leave all that cold white stuff up at the ski resorts.  However the soups, fireplace, chili, donuts, and pumpkin bread have been a 

welcomed perk of Fall!

AND

of course, you have to carve some pumpkins!!

According to my mom- I must have carved the "Princess One"........???!!? 

Haha- love you mom- you are crazy!!!

**Clarification: Brad carved the spooky cat and Dani carved the BATMAN (not princess)

Conference!

What's not to love about conference weekend?? 

Wonderful words of wisdom/inspiration to get us through 6 months of life's ups and downs.  I love it.  President Monson brings a wonderful spirit and a feeling of optimism worldwide.  I'm grateful for his inspired counsel and reminders.  And for all of the talks given this weekend.  Brad and I thoroughly enjoyed ourselves while relaxing, listening, breakfasting at Blake and Spence's and munching on these yummy snacks. 

PS- yes we baked them after this picture, and yes they were made Brown Family style.  

Aka LOADED= more stuff, less roll.  :) Meri- I'm learning!