Let it snow!!...seriously.

It's snowing!!!

...FINALLY!

Snow angel.

Potty break?

...oh, guess not. Haha.

Mmm, yummy snow.

And I couldn't be more thrilled!

Bring on the winter wonderland!!

"Today's Tom Sawye"

We officially have a new member of our family!!

His name is Sawyer and yes it was inspired from the TV series Lost. He's an Australian Shepherd-mix. At this point we don't know what he's mixed with but the vet said as he gets older his traits should be more prominent. So for now, like a baby, he's just full of that puppy breath and cuteness!

See what I mean?!

We pretty much love him!

It's been really interesting having him so far. I now understand why people say getting a dog is a good step to prepare for a baby. That being said...I have NO IDEA how I'm ever going to be able to handle a baby. Haha. The first few days Matt and I both seriously doubted whether we were ready to have a dog, even though before we both really wanted one. But we decided we'd keep him for at least a week and then decide if we were ready for the challenge. I'm so glad we did =) Because once we got to know him and he got to know us...we couldn't have gotten luckier!

10 Reasons why Sawyer is awesome!

1. He's incredibly SMART!! You know how some dogs have that glazed-blank look on their face? Well Sawyer does this little head tilt that shows he's really thinking and taking in what's going on around him. You can see the wheels turning in his head. I mean he already know's "sit." And not to bite. Also, he almost has "stay" and "come" down.

2. He's potty trained! How awesome is that?! He has a litter box that he goes poop and pee in...well, that is, he goes pee in it when we get him there in time. Let it suffice, both Matt and I have been peed on! Haha. He's never gone poop anywhere but his little box but for some reason, I don't know if it's his tiny legs and the fact he doesn't lift his leg or squat like normal dogs, but it makes it very difficult to read when he needs to go...but even still we're getting it down. We know he eliminates about every 30 minutes. Talk about tiny bladder.

But that brings me to #3...

3. He knows he's only allowed on the tile in the kitchen and in the bathrooms. Yeah! To prevent any tinkle mistakes on the carpet we keep him on the tile (a lot easier to clean up.) But he knows if we're in the kitchen and walk into the living room (which is carpet) he stops right where the tile meets the carpet. And if he ever starts to get tempted we just have to say his name and he goes hopping back. Haha. And yes, I mean HOPPING.

4. He HOPS!! It's the cutest thing I've ever seen. He hops just about as much as he runs.

5. He goes crazy when he gets treats. It's like caffeine or a drug to him! It use to make training difficult but we've got it down now and use all his energy for good.

6. He dances. He's so mild and sweet, I can totally bounce and swing him around and move his paws in these funny dance moves and he let's me =) In fact, sometimes I swear he's the one bouncing to the beats.

7. He has a thing for skunks. His first night with us we put a stuffed animal (the skunk from Bambi) in his pen. It was the only thing that comforted him and he snuggled with it that whole night. A few days later I found him humping it's guts out...for an hour!!

8. He's super tough. This puppy is BARELY 4.1 pounds and he's fearless. He's jumped from a 4 foot platform onto the hard tile and didn't even make a noise. I think I was more scared than he was.

9. He has speckled paws that I've fallen absolutely in love with!

10. He RARELY barks. I'm pretty sure I've only heard him bark once and that was when I was getting ready one morning. He saw his reflection in the trash can and when he pounced at it, and his reflection pounced back, it surprised him and he started barking at it. Haha. It was cute.

Isn't he a doll?? We heart him.

Apartment Life 2

And the pictures continue...

Entrance to Hallway and bedrooms.

Master Bedroom.

Other view of bedroom with our closets and master bath on the right.

After the his/her closets the master bathroom.

The hallway outside the master bedroom.

In the hallway on the left...laundry place.

Guest bathroom.

Guest bedroom.

Matt's office..and him busy at work.

And that's it! You've officially had the Orem-Bartlett residence tour. Our little sanctuary =)

Ninja's and Stuff

It's one of those nights. I'm laying in bed, next to a sleeping husband, and my brain is going 500 miles an hour. Not in a stressed or over whelmed kind of way. But more of a - is that more of a summer or fall outfit? And - detailed plans, so detailed I'm sure I'm making some of the stuff up, for Matt's birthday and my sisters Christmas present...which then makes me think, if what I'm imagining doesn't exist then why don't I invent it? And then I start thinking about how and what I would need to do to invent it...which is in itself made up because I don't know the first thing about inventing anything!

And you get the picture...

So as I was laying next to Matt, who does this weird thing when he's in a deep sleep. He smacks his mouth. Like when you eat something sticky and delicious?...yeah, like that. When we were first married it scared me because I had no idea what it was but when I realized it was him, I can't help but chuckle whenever I hear it. It's like a suckling baby or something =)

But actually...instead of suckling baby, Matt is more of a suckling war veteran. Not in the sense that he went to war or has seen horrifying things, but in the sense that if you wake him when he's in a deep sleep he reacts like he's being attacked, tortured, electrocuted...any of these work. Haha. I think it must be a Bartlett thing because according to my step mother-in-law and sister-in-law, both of their husbands do the same thing.

I don't know how to describe it other than, in the split second between me saying, "Matt, are you awake?" and touching his arm, his eyes pop open and his entire body jumps a good foot off the bed. He then whips his head around in every direction as if ninjas were doing leaps and cartwheels over his head. It's really startling because, well...last I checked, there aren't any ninjas hiding in our bedroom.

Apartment Life

Well, I've had some requests to post a video or pictures of Matt and I's new apartment and I've finally gotten on top of it.

Here are the Dwellings of the Hubs and I =)

Our Sanctuary.

This is our entry hallway.

Hallway table.

At the end of the hallway on the left, the kitchen!

Close-up of kitchen...and Santa treats jar =)

From the kitchen, the living room.

Christmas tree.

The couch view.

Christmas stockings and Nativity display! Guess who's stocking is who's? =)

Reading nook.

Balcony to the left of the living room (also connected with master bedroom.)

View from living room to kitchen.

Gingerbread man and woman's house.

And I guess blogger wont let me add any more photos to one post. Stay tuned for Apartment Life 2.

Christmas Is Coming and Matt Is Getting Fat!

Christmas is officially 18 days away!!!

But who's counting??

I've only been waiting for this time of year ALL year =)

Things have been busy as usual and as I promised I'm here to catch up and unload the happy and bad of recent events. I've debated with myself, again, about how much to share but because I am the sassy...some might say obnoxious and immature...person I am =)

I'm not going to hold back. ...names will be named.

I'm going to start with the bad because if I don't then it will be on my mind all night, verses ending with the happy, uplifting things then I can focus on those.

The Bad: My sweet, loving and precious sister has an eye for dirt bags. I think it's her giving and loving nature that makes her so appealing to these men because...obviously, people like my sister are the most easy to take advantage. And although she's been with Jose for way too long, after recent events we had a glimpse of hope. She made the brave decision to leave him. This was a huge step because she could finally have some space and time to really think and more importantly HEAL - mentally, emotionally, spiritually. Some very much needed thinking and healing. Time for her to be alone, in a healthy and nurturing environment instead of what she's been exposed to since she's been with him. Unfortunately, to me and my families dismay (at least some of us) she's back with him as of this past Friday.

Now, some of you may be thinking I'm not just obnoxious and immature, but RUDE and INAPPROPRIATE...all I have to say to those of you, what about this situation isn't rude or inappropriate? I refuse to turn my back to it and pretend it's not happening ANY LONGER!! This is me making my stand. Saying it's not right. And I don't like it. If it makes you feel better, think of this as my way of "informing" since apparently that's not bad. Information is power, so all I'm doing is empowering.

Ok. Now onto happier things!

MY BIRTHDAY!

On November 29th I turned 23 and it was pretty much perfection. And not just because Matt gave me a week long birthday full of spoiling, presents and lovin'. But because we did my absolute favorite thing...Christmas Tree Hunting!!

So we cheated a little and didn't actually cut it down ourselves but instead went to Fredrico's Christmas tree Farm and picked one out. But I must say, Fredrico's trees were Beautiful! There were tons of eligible tree's begging us to take them home, decorate and love them but I think it's safe to say we picked the most beautiful tree of all time!

It doesn't look that big but believe-you-me...as soon as we got to our apartment and tried to get it into the elevator (which is a service elevator and can comfortably fit a king size bed) we were laughing so hard! It must have looked so funny because this old couple came out of their apartment and saw us and literally stood and watched us. By the time Matt and I finally realized we had an audience the old man was giggling and said we reminded him of National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. And who doesn't love that Christmas classic!

..so we took it as a compliment.

Once we got it inside our apartment. We got busy taking out all the Christmas decorations and started tackling putting the lights on the tree...which was SO much more difficult that it sounds!

After making 2 Walmart trips and 9 strands of lights and only being 2/3rds done with the tree...we had to decide whether we wanted Christmas or Christmas lights.

Haha. J.K.

Finally after 11 strands of lights (each strand was 87 feet!) and about 2 days of dedicated tree wrapping our tree was finished!! And boy was it worth it!

Fun story, just as I put the star on top I noticed a small spider drop RIGHT BY MY HAND. Being the baby I am when it comes to spiders I screamed bloody murder and Matt came running to my rescue. Our conversation follows:

Me: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!!

Matt: *confused and panicked* What?! What?!?!

Me: SPIDERRRRR!!!

Matt: Where??

Me: AAAAAAAH!! KILL IT!!!!!

Matt: Where? I don't see it?

Me: THERE!!! KILL IT!!!!

During all of this, my Mom sits calmly on the couch...not sure exactly what she's doing...Haha.

Matt: *Hands me a paper towel to crush it* I still don't see it...

I was hyperventilating by this point because my attempt at squishing it failed and as I slowly opened the paper towel the spider crawled out and towards my hand.

Me: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!!!! *Throws paper towel on the ground towards Matt and climbs higher up the ladder*

Matt: *still confused* Is it dead??

Me: *Pointing at the carpet at what appears to be a little black dot* NO! It's alive!! KILL IT!!

Finally Matt smashed it with his finger. After this we had our first "spider discussion." I think I almost gave him a heart attack and we now have a Spider Plan. Haha.

But even though our tree had a spider, I still love it! It's beautiful to the eyes.

And...

This is the wonderful beginning of our first Christmas being married!! My only complaint...Where has all the snow gone?? Come on, Orem! Don't let me down!

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas!