Hello friends and family,

Merry Christmas! We have not yet reached a point where we actually send Christmas cards, but here is a digital update on our lives, in case you're interested.

First of all, we'd like to show off the newest addition to our family.

Just bought it yesterday and drove it right to Washington.We are pretty excited, not that you can tell from Tyler's face.

Tyler is working in Lehi at Property Solutions as an implementation consultant. He does stuff like implement software. I work at a middle school in Provo as the extended hours coordinator. We moved to a new apartment in Orem and it is about ten hundred times better than our old apartment. Unfortunately I have no pictures of the old one for comparison, but here's a picture of our little music corner. Although due to space restrictions we had to rearrange to fit our Christmas tree. You might notice that I bought a banjo and it is everything I ever dreamed it would be.



 










 Another cool feature is that we have an actual laundry room instead of a washer and dryer in our kitchen (which was an upgrade from our first apt which had a washer and dryer in a very very creepy basement that was lit by a single light bulb and was very likely inhabited by rats and bugs and possible serial killers). I won't bore you with pictures of our laundry room though.


In our free time we like to fix cars. I can now change the starter in a car, although it's questionable if the starter actually is made for the purpose of starting a car. Tyler has gotten pretty good at car fixing stuff though (thank you Youtube) and even fixed our shocks and struts. But then we bought a new car anyways and I am sincerely hoping that we don't have to fix any cars for a while - knock on wood.

And now, here are some highlights of the year in pictures. Apologies in advance because I'm not sure how to line up pictures in blogs.

We went to Tennessee and visited this fake Parthenon.

Neither of us actually like country music but we had to get a picture anyways because it's famous.

Summitting Mt. Timp with Bram and the goats.

Totally kidding, we didn't summit because I'm scared of heights and nobody brought a jacket like they were supposed to...

Here's the top though.

And here's some goats just because I'm impressed with my picture and it's a cute baby goat.

Went to the Bonneville Salt Flats which were way further away than I thought they'd be.

Went to Zion's National Park with the fam where this awesome selfie happened

Went on an awesome water hike

Did not hike Angel's Landing  

Went to Bryce Canyon National Park for our anniversary

Hiked a slot canyon

Got Tyler a longboard for his birthday and he was totally surprised.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Thanksgiving! 

This year we decided to do the grown up thing and make our own Thanksgiving dinner. (Actually, we just wanted leftovers.) We spent Thanksgiving day with Tyler's family. But today (Friday) we had a little holiday of our own. Not gonna lie, it was tough. Luckily we did ham and not turkey because all you have to do with ham is stick it in the oven, and it's pre-cooked. How awesome is that? But I don't think turkeys come pre-cooked. We also made our own rolls and stuffing. Pretty impressive, I know. The stuffing tasted great, but was really mushy. I tried to remedy that by sticking it in a thin layer on a cookie sheet and baking it, but I don't think it helped. And the rolls were supposed to taste like Texas Roadhouse rolls, and they totally didn't, so we're buying rolls next year. I did cut my finger open but luckily nothing that needed stitches. See, cooking is so dangerous how can you justify doing it daily? Anyways please enjoy my picture of our food. Unfortunately I don't have an Instragram account to post it to. Now all the Instagrammers will be deprived of images that prove my ability to cook without getting my blood in the food. 

We also set up our Christmas decorations. We (and by that I mean I) only broke one decoration this year. 

Anyways I am actually still hungry sooo gotta go. Happy holidays to all.

Okay so I seriously have nothing of real value to talk about, but I know some people (mom) like me to keep my blog somewhat up to date.

Let's see. We went to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point, which was on my bucket list so get to cross that off.

Look, me and a fake dinosaur fossil.

Tyler with the t-rex. 

 Tyler and the giant sea turtle. Yes his eyes are closed. Clearly we are really bad at taking pictures.

 Tyler and the supersaurus. Or something of the sort. It's hard to tell what type of dinosaur it is when it's so blurry. 

Honestly, we're not the greatest at museum trips (ironic, I know, considering what I majored in). I do love going and seeing everything, I just am not always patient enough to read everything.

I gave Bram a nice haircut. He did not think it was so nice. Something about bangs being uneven... oh well. Even the most talented of hairstylists are only human. 

I also found what I believe to be one of the fattest birds alive. This bird also may or may not have been in a student's locker. I'm not sure, but it's seems to be the only one sluggish enough to be caught.

UPDATE: Since starting this blog I have gotten distracted by stuff that happened (see, I say nothing eventful has happened and as soon as I say it, stuff happens.) Here's what happened. Our car broke down and we spent about a week car shopping because it would not start. Plus there's something up with the tire rod ends (?) that will cost over a thousand dollars to fix and also I'm pretty sure will cause the whole wheel to fall off at any moment. Anyways, I had to get rides to and from work by multiple people because I am incapable of getting myself to work apparently (here are my options- 1. ride my bike 5 miles. Pros: fastest way to work. Burn calories. Cons: busy, dangerous road. Riding in dark. Possible ice/snow. 2. Bus. Pros: don't have to rely on someone for a ride. Green. Cons: will take literally over an hour one way. 3. Frontrunner. Pros: don't have to rely on someone for a ride. Cons: will also take over an hour one way once I have to walk from the station to the school.) So after days of car shopping and being completely unable to start the car, a miracle happened and just like that it worked again. Huzzah! I should have known our trusty car wouldn't let us down. So that's that. Hopefully this warm weather holds up so that the car will continue to start.

Fall is one of my favorite seasons. It's so pretty and I love the pumpkins and the colors and the leaves and the candy and the apple pie and the pumpkin pie. The only thing I don't like is that it means snow is coming. (For the record, my other favorite season is summer because I love the sun and the heat and the vacation, and after that is spring because it means winter is over and summer is coming.)

In celebration of my favorite season, we went hiking in the mountains to see all the fall colors. It was gorgeous. The colors were so bright and the trees almost glowed in the sun. Here are some of the pictures we took.

And just for fun, here's a picture of Jett that I found. I especially like the giraffe and orange juice in the background.

I have most exciting news to share. You are looking at the proud new owner of a Banjo!

I made the leap this afternoon. I was debating whether to just buy one online, but decided it would be better to just buy it in person so I could play it first. I mean, I'd never buy a piano or violin without playing it first. Of course, I have no banjo playing experience and I wasn't spending a ton of money on it, but still.

Here it is, just me and my banjo. 

It's beautiful. I love it already. I'm sure I'll love it even more once I learn how to play it.

And here is our newly improved music nook.

The electric guitar is Tyler's from like 10 years ago. He's going to learn how to play it once we replace the strings. 

Updates to come as we learn how to play our collection of instruments.

I just wanted to take a moment to share the latest dinner disaster. I was making Tyler's favorite sweet and sour chicken as a late birthday dinner and I burned the sauce. It's a sugar based sauce, with vinegar, ketchup, and soy sauce so it's imperative that it's cooked thoroughly because it smells vile before the flavors all combine (actually I have no idea what makes the flavors better after it's cooked). And of course, I overcooked. And I mean really overcooked. It smelled like burnt plastic and I'm almost positive that I destroyed my pot. Here's a picture of the sauce.

That sauce is now coated to my pot and I'm not sure if anything will get it out. I'm currently soaking it, but idk what else to do with it.

On a more cheerful food note, here are some cake pictures.

Here is us on Bram's birthday with the longboard cake.

The next picture is a little more exciting. Here is us eating our wedding cake.Which is exciting because it's over two years old. And guess what? It's actually pretty good still.

Okay, now for Tyler's birthday.
Here is us celebrating at his parent's house. Also pictured, my controversial haircut. 

Here are Tyler and Eleanor modeling birthday presents. I don't know why, but she refused to take a picture without sticking her tongue out. Idk where she learned that.

Here is Tyler with his brightly lit birthday pie.

Here is Tyler with his birthday present. Okay, I know this post is supposed to be about Tyler, but I just gotta hog the spotlight for a minute because I am seriously proud of myself. 

I have the reputation of being literally the worst with surprises ever. I hate surprises if I know they're coming. I am terrible at keeping surprises. I'm an awful liar. I have never given Tyler a present that surprised him in our whole short history together. There are many reasons for this. One, if there's is something I want, then I will ask for it, so it's not a surprise. Two, I'm not going to waste money buying a present that I don't know if someone will like, so I will ask what they want, and then obviously it can't be a surprise. Three, we share money, so he knows if I buy something. (I'd know if he bought something too if I ever bothered checking.) Four, bad liar. Five, I get too excited to give the present. It's just so tough. So the fact that I somewhat surprised Tyler with this was like monumental. It was close. First I asked him to get me a bunch of cash (Idk why that didn't tip him off). Then I took Bram longboard shopping with me, and Bram was texting Tyler a bunch of fairly obvious questions such as "I'm going to buy a longboard, what kind should I get?" "What is your favorite kind of longboard?" "If Landan were going to buy you a longboard right at this very moment, what color, model, and shape do you want?" Then I had to hide the longboard, then wrap the longboard and hide it, then get it in the car without Tyler seeing, all while keeping it a secret. It was very difficult. 

It was also hard to wrap. 

Yes, that is various prints of leftover wedding paper held together with Batman tape.

But he said he was surprised! Once he saw the present he obviously knew what it was, but he was surprised that I got it for him. That is likely the only surprise present I will ever give.

Anyways, happy birthday Tyler! I love you.

This weekend was Tyler's birthday weekend. On Friday, mom got here and we had a delicious dinner made by myself and watched Star Trek. Saturday was pretty eventful. We hiked Squaw Peak, which was probably the hardest hike I've ever done (a fact I'm slightly embarrassed to admit). Me and Tyler hiked Squaw Peak once before when we first started dating, and I guess we must have got super out of shape since then because it was like a million times harder than I remember. But here's the thing. Mt. Timp is supposed to be so long and  challenging, and it wasn't. Squaw Peak is supposed to be the hike that everyone does (I guess lots of people do Timp too), but it's short and low and we'd done it before. It was so difficult. I had to stop like ten times to get up the mountain, and it wasn't even a tall mountain. In fact, I don't even know if it can be classified as a mountain. Basically it just killed and I promised I'd never do it again.

 

After summitting the mountain, I got a hair cut because for some reason if I ever cut my hair it has to be a drastic, impulsive action. I just don't see the point in getting trims, if I'm cutting my hair then I'm cutting it. Anyways, I kept thinking how I needed a trim but obviously wasn't going to get one, and then I saw mom's haircut and I was thinking about how I need a trim plus also I never do anything with my hair except put it in a ponytail or bun and my hair wasn't even long enough that it was at a point where I thought it looked pretty in a ponytail or bun, and then we hiked the mountain and my hair was absolutely disgusting after running and then hiking without washing it and that made up my mind. So I cut a lot off. But my hair is pretty poofy no matter what length it's at so I don't know that it makes a difference.

So far only a few people have noticed (or at least commented on) my haircut. All were students. Here are literally the only comments I got.

Student: Did you get a hair cut?
Me: Yeah
Student: It was prettier when it was long.
Me: . . . Thanks. . .
Student: No it's a compliment. It means that I liked your hair when it was long.

Student: You look different.
Me: Thanks?
Student: Did you cut your hair?
Me: Yes
Student: Well, it will grow back.

Student: Did you cut your hair?
Me: Yes
Student: . . .

So I don't know if it really looked bad and no one else commented because it looked so bad or what. Children are supposed to be the most honest people. But I know that's super egotistical. People (and by that I mean mom) always tell me that people really just don't pay much attention because they have so much going on in their own lives, so it's super self-centered to assume that they are always thinking about you and judging you. I never really felt that way until now though, but I realize it's true. People are busy. They have lives. They don't have time to care if someone else has a bad haircut. And honestly, it's so liberating. I feel so free knowing that the only person I have to worry about is myself, because honestly no one else even notices.

Anyways, off my tangent and back to the weekend...
We went to Temple Square on Saturday night because mom's college roommate's kids were playing a recital there (the reason mom came to Utah) and it was the best music I've heard in a long time. After that there was a reception with the best desserts I've had in a long time. So for the most part, it was a great day. (I ended up getting the worst cramps I've ever had that night and I have no idea why. I feel like it could have been the water I drank from the water fountain at Squaw Peak. It looked questionable, I'm feeling like it may have been diverted directly from the sketchy looking stream to the water fountain. I ate as many desserts as I could anyways because I figured I already felt awful, I may as well eat a ton because I can't feel worse. And it was the right decision.)

 Here are some of the lovely desserts. They were seriously so good. And you can only barely see the mini pies behind the cheesecake. Man, I am already missing those things.

I am just realizing how long this post is getting, so I'm going to end it and blog about Tyler's birthday in the next one. Yay for graduating and not having to write real conclusions.