One Year Anniversary

Last Sunday, we made one year of being married. I cannot believe that it has been an entire year! It has been a wonderful year - one of the best yet. Every day, I have fallen more in love with Blaine. I am so happy that we decided to be sealed forever. I couldn't have picked a better eternal companion!

This is a picture taken the day before we got married. I loved him so much then,
 I didn't think I could love him any more. Little did I know that it was possible!

We started the day by going to church, as usual. Afterwards, we went over to Matt and Nina's to celebrate Nina's birthday. I will never forget her birthday! We cut a cake and sang her happy birthday. I'm so glad that I came out to BYU and roomed with Nina. She has become one of my best friends and a big support to me. I love you, Nina!

Once we were done, we were on our way to The Castle Creek Inn - the same bed and breakfast that we went to for our honeymoon. We even booked the same, exact room! When we arrived, I was surprised with rose petals and candles all over the room and with some sparkling apple cider. Blaine called in advance and had it all set up for me! It was so sweet. We spent the night writing down 100 memories of our first year together. We included important events that occurred in our families, in the world, and in our personal lives. I want to make this a tradition so that when our minds fail us, we can remember how blessed we've been. We also watched Sleepless in Seattle (I had never seen it!) and ate Pei Wei. We had a wonderful night together.

In the morning, we slept in and had a yummy breakfast. The time had come to check out and we were pretty bummed. Even though we were only 40 minutes away from Provo, it's nice to go away for a little bit and not worry about school and work. Before leaving, we checked the guest book to find what we wrote a year ago...

The first time I signed as Mrs. Dawson :)

I gave my fruit to Blaine, but the pumpkin bread was uh-mazing. 

Everything was so good!

We then headed to Fashion Place mall to do some shopping with gift cards that I got for my birthday. For lunch, we ate at The Cheesecake Factory (thanks to Damaris - she gave us a gift card for our anniversary). We also ate at The Cheesecake Factory the day after we go married, so it was fun to do it all over again. We shared an entree and each had our own cheesecake! Blaine had the Ultimate Red Velvet Cheesecake and I had the White Chocolate Caramel Macadamia Nut Cheesecake. They were both oh-so-good. It's one of our goals to try every cheesecake on the menu! We were so stuffed.

As our anniversary gift, we decided to buy tickets to the Heat vs. Jazz game. It's this coming Friday. We are so excited to see our favorite basketball team live! It has been a while for me and Blaine has never seen the Heat play.

We've learned a lot in this one year. Even though I feel that we knew each other very well before getting married, there are still so many things to discover and learn together. I love Blaine very much and I'm so happy that I get to spend many more years with him by my side. Thank you, Blaine,  for all that you've done for me, for our little family, and for being an amazing husband. You put a smile on my face everyday! Marrying you has been one of the greatest moments in my life and the most important decision I've made!

I saw this on Pinterest. Every anniversary, you take a picture together holding a picture of your anniversary on the previous year. I thought it was pretty cool! 

My 22nd Birthday!

Last week, I turned 22! Again, it landed on a very busy Thursday. I woke up early to phone calls from family and breakfast with Blaine. I went to work, attended all my classes, and turned in a project. Throughout the day, I was showered with tons of packages, cards and even flowers from friends and family.

Flowers from the Hoffmanns and the Andrades

By the time I was done with my last class, Blaine picked me up and said that he was going to take me out for dinner. It was about 7:00 PM and he made reservations for 8:00 PM. So we went to Costco to kill time and pick up some things that we needed. While we were there, we found a plush moose that was my size. Blaine thinks it's hilarious that his wife is a midget and took a picture of me with it.

Once we were done, we were on our way to a restaurant. I thought Blaine was taking me to The Communal, a restaurant that I've been wanting to try out. Blaine asked to stop at our apartment on the way there to go to the bathroom or something, and I wanted to drop off my book bag and pick up my purse. Little did I know that Blaine was tricking me. When I walked into the apartment, I was surprised by a living room full of friends, screaming "happy birthday!" I was SO surprised! I never thought that Blaine would ever be able to plan a birthday party for me. I was so impressed! There was cake, pizza, a birthday banner, party horns, and a birthday tiara for the birthday girl :) Michele helped Blaine fool me and put everything together. She also made the birthday cake. Nina and Matt were in charge of picking up the pizza. Everybody who came fooled me. They wished me a happy birthday earlier throughout the day, asking if I had any plans. HA. 

It was nice to be surrounded with friends on my birthday. It made me feel so special and loved! A big thanks to everyone who came and for those far away who sent me birthday wishes! It was a great day! 

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day this year was really nice. I made Blaine wake up earlier than usual. We're not morning people and we rarely get to eat breakfast together. I enjoy eating with someone, especially if that someone is my best friend. I hate watching people eat alone. I think it's so sad! It's one of my least favorite things in the world. So anyway, Blaine woke up to a room full of Valentine's Day balloons and heart-shaped cinnamon rolls for breakfast. The rest of the day was like any other Tuesday, busy with work and lots of classes to go to. When I arrived home from work, I found roses from Blaine. I left him a heart box of chocolates, a card, and 2 cannolis (we found a place that makes them amazing and now Blaine is obsessed).

Last year, due to all the crazy wedding preparations, we had a small dinner in our apartment. This year we opted to go out for dinner. We have this groupon for Spark and decided to use it for our v-day dinner. Well, we got ready and arrived at Spark, hungry and ready to eat! When we got there, we found out that there was a set 5-course meal and that it would be $50 per person. So we were pretty bummed because #1 Blaine and I don't eat that much to have a 5-course meal and #2 we weren't planning on spending $100. So we were faced with the horrible situation of trying to find a restaurant at 7:30 PM, Valentine's night, in date-crazy Provo. After several phone calls and rumbling tummies, we realized that California Pizza Kitchen would have to do it. And we had a great time! We shared our favorite appetizer and our favorite entree (which we could barely finish). When we go out to eat, some waiters look at us like we have problems. Anyway, we had a great time. We talked about how we met, how fast time has passed, and what we were doing this time last year. It was fun reminiscing. 

So I realized that we don't have any pictures together on our 1st
 Christmas and Thanksgiving. How horrible! I've been slacking.
So here's one of us after dinner. 

It was a lovely Valentine's Day and we learned several lessons: next year we have to make reservations if we  don't want to wait 2 hours for a table or eat out on another day, and that no matter where we are or what restaurant we end up in, we can have a wonderful time celebrating the love we have for each other. 

Hope everybody had a wonderful Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day Decor

I love Valentine's Day...probably because I associate all the roses, balloons, and teddy bears in the stores with my birthday (it's 2 days after Valentine's Day). I also love it because growing up, I didn't see it as a day that was important because boys liked me or not. My mom and family did a great job at making it a day of love, period. It was a day of love between family and friends. My mom would always give us something small and make these delicious heart-shaped cream cheese brownies. It was always a good day, regardless if I had a boyfriend or not. So in celebration of Valentine's Day, here are some pictures of little apartment decorated for that special day.

The quality of the pictures aren't great, but there you go! I made the heart garland out of felt and yarn. They were really easy, cheap, and fun to make. The rest of the decorations literally cost me a dollar each at the dollar store. I love glass vases. You can put any little seasonal thing in one and it turns into an instant decoration! Another easy and cheap decoration are printables. I have a frame and it always has a seasonal print out. Here are my favorite ones for Valentine's Day. 

I'm excited for this week. Neither one of us have any midterms. Tuesday is Valentine's Day. Thursday is my 22nd birthday and Sunday is our 1-year anniversary! AND we have a long weekend to celebrate it all! I've already received several packages with gifts from family in the mail. The only thing that I'm not excited about is that it finally snowed a lot today. It's going to continue to snow throughout the week :/ But it's OK. I'm glad that the snow has held out this long! 

I'll keep you guys posted with all the celebrations! Have a Happy Valentine's Day! 

Super Bowl Sunday

I like football (now that I've married a man who is obsessed). But growing up, I never really watched football and neither did my family. Football isn't really big in Hispanic culture. Blaine doesn't comprehend the fact that I did not watch the Super Bowl every year. Now that I've assimilated to the American obsession of football, I've watched many, many football games (due to our family fantasy league). Even though we didn't necessarily like any of the teams playing this year, we watched the game.

I rooted for the Giants, even though half way through the game I felt bad for the Patriots. They were playing in memory of the owner's wife who passed away earlier this year. So then I wanted the Patriots to win. My loyalty can be easily swayed when there's a good sob story. Anyway, I didn't think the commercials were great this year and I didn't think it was a great game. It was OK. What made it fun was watching it with friends and yummy food! 

We had the Conks, Slaughs, and Bubba Jordan over. Kailyn made a ton of food! She brought a fruit dip with apple slices, sausage dip, and those yummy pretzel-kisses-m&m dessert. I don't think they really have a name. Blaine got ambitious and made finger steaks. They're like chicken fingers, just with steak! We stole the recipe from Aunt Jan. They were so good. I made a cheeseball-like peanut-buttery dip for pretzels and mini spinach bacon pinwheels. They were both random recipes that I found and had never done before. But they were both a hit! I think I'll make them a tradition for the Super Bowl. They were fast, easy to make, and delicious. Also, they were cute :)

I found these cute printables here. 

This lady does it for every Super Bowl! 

The pictures aren't great and it was all very last minute, but we had a great time. I'm looking forward to next year's season. 

Congrats to the Giants on their win!

Gatlinburg Tennessee: Where Floridians Go for their Winter Experience

After Christmas in Delaware, Blaine and I hopped on a plane the very next day. We were meeting up my family in the touristy town of Gatlinburg, Tennessee this year, instead of going down to Miami. My aunt has been visiting Gatlinburg every year for New Years for the past 6 years. For some while now, she's been trying to get the whole family to go with her. We finally made it happen this year. We had a great time. The cabin that we stayed at was super cute. It had a very cozy feel and was very spacious. I don't remember exactly what we did everyday in order but here's some of the things that we did:

• Visited the Smoky Mountains

• Had Krispy Kreme donuts everyday (yes, we have a problem).
• Rode the Alpine Slide

The Alpine Slide was a lot of fun. Damaris went first than me in line and she was going extremely slow so that I could catch up. I was laughing the whole time. 

• Ice-skated

• Made s'mores using a fireplace

• Ghetto stockings. I say ghetto because we had to use Christmas hats as some of our stockings. We forgot to bring enough for the whole family. Also, this is the first time that my family did stockings. The whole thing was pretty much Damaris and I trying to force the tradition in our family. It's not a Hispanic thing. But we love the idea of stockings!

• Mini-golf
• Laser tag
• Glow in the dark mini-golf
• Go-kart racing. This was a lot of fun. Even Tia joined us!
• Laser maze. Ok, so all the boys in the family did the laser maze. No big deal. Before Blaine went I told him "Be careful. Don't get hurt!" I was kinda joking, since Blaine always gets hurt doing anything. But I honestly didn't think anybody could possibly get hurt in a laser maze. He went inside and was going super fast through the maze. He was trying to beat Papo's score. All of a sudden, we heard a loud thump. When Blaine came outside, he was bleeding from a rug burn on his forehead and was worried about his teeth. Luckily, his teeth were fine. BUT he did get a concussion. For those of you who know Blaine, this is concussion number 11. Yeah, 11. So we were all pretty worried. He hit a wall while diving through two lasers and since the room was all black, he had poorly estimated how far the wall was from him. Anyway, Papo took us back to the cabin and was really helpful in making Blaine feel better. I think Blaine should just walk around with a permanent helmet from now on.

This is Blaine fully recovered a day or two after the concussion. 

• Walked around downtown....a lot and ate really yummy sausages

• Visited Ripley's Believe It or Not! Museum

• Went to Olive Garden & celebrated Papo's 17th birthday!

• Ate at Texas Roadhouse on New Year's Eve
• Ate the most delicious donuts (on top of our Krispy Kreme dose) and the most amazing hot chocolate ever at The Donut Friar on New Year's Eve. Seriously, if you ever go to Gatlinburg, this is a must-go-to place.

Gatlinburg was really nice. I loved it. You can get the cabiny, mountain feel but also have tons of stuff to do. It's not like you're in the middle of nowhere. The shops and restaurants in downtown Gatlinburg were endless. There were also a ton of attractions and things to do. I would definitely go back. It'd be a nice place to go for a summer vacation.

While we were there, Blaine couldn't believe how many cars had Florida license plates. As a result, there were also a good amount of Hispanics from Miami in Gatlinburg. Every year my aunt goes, she runs into someone she knows. I think it's funny that it's the winter getaway for Floridians. Gatlinburg was pretty packed. But I don't mind that. I like going to places where there are a lot of people. Anyway, the poor Floridians didn't see a lot of snow this year. If you wanted to see snow, you had to go up to the Smoky Mountains. My aunt said that this was the first time in her 6 years of going where the town hasn't been completed covered in snow.

Mami was intent on making a snowman.

It was so great to spend time with family, even though it was only for a week. We opened our Christmas presents from my family. I got a Kindle Fire, Flowerbomb perfume (best perfume ever), a Tiffany & Co. heart pendant, and a NorthFace Apex jacket. Blaine got a matching NorthFace Apex jacket, some seriously delicious cologne (best cologne ever for men), and a Miami Heat cap. We absolutely loved all our gifts. But we enjoyed our family's company more than anything. Bruce didn't join us till Friday evening so we didn't get to spend too much time with him. That was the lamest part of the trip. We love Bruce! Now, unfortunately, my sister's camera with all of the beautiful pics of Gatlinburg was stolen. I didn't take many pictures. The only pictures that I do have are from Blaine's little sport camera and my iPhone. It does no justice to how much fun we had and how beautiful Gatlinburg is. We definitely have to go back and do it all over again! One thing that we didn't do was have pancakes. Apparently, pancakes are all the rave in Gatlinburg. I've never seen so many pancake restaurants in my life. On their drive back down to Florida, my family went to one and had a pizza-size pancake. They said it was the most delicious pancake they've ever had. So yeah, now I really want to go back.

I really enjoyed just being with family. It was nice feeling the comfort and love that comes with family. We laughed, talked, ate too much, and just messed around. Mami did my hair almost everyday, just like when I was elementary school. Ulises didn't stop talking about food and Krispy Kreme donuts. Uli and Yuyo didn't leave Blaine alone. Papo was his usual funny and hyper-self. The girl talk with Tia and Damaris was endless. Something's never change!

Blaine caught us both on the phone. He said now he knows where I get it from.

New Year's wasn't our typical Hispanic New Year's. There wasn't crazy dancing and yummy food. We were all dead tired from walking around so much and just watched the fireworks from the cabin. We fell asleep pretty early, especially since we were all traveling the next day. The only thing that we did do was eat the 12 grapes within the first minute of 2012. It has always been tradition to do that. Each grape represents one month of the new year. If you can eat them all in one minute, you are guaranteed to have good luck throughout the new year! Another crazy tradition that we do (but didn't do this time around) is taking luggage and running around the block. If you do this, you will travel a lot in the new year. Our first New Year's together, Blaine participated in all these crazy traditions. He said that he believes in the traveling one cause we did travel a lot in 2010! Haha. But anyway, we had a great time celebrating New Year's with my family. Now I'm just waiting for the next time I see them. Hopefully, it'll be this summer! :)

Groundhog Day

Groundhog Day has never been of any importance to me until I moved to Utah. In Florida, winter is nonexistent so the outcome didn't really affect us. 6 more weeks of winter Mr. Phil? Really?  I'm not happy with that groundhog. I wasn't expecting anything different since we haven't had much snow here in Utah, but I was still hoping the outcome would be different -_- And I don't know how accurate this guy is, because it randomly snows in the middle of April over here. If he's correct, winter should be long gone by mid-March. Pft. Right.