Letter to Santa

Dear Santa,

     It was so good to see you down at the Riverwoods, you are always so cheery and your laugh is adorable.  We really appreciate keeping us on the nice list, I know it's a close call sometimes but we will try even harder next year, we promise!  Really we have everything we want and more, but maybe if you could put a good word in at GS for us it would help.  We will be in California for Christmas this year so drop in if you can.  You are the BEST!

Love,

The Varleys  

Oh, Christmas Tree

We have loved having our Christmas tree up, it brings such a wonderful feeling into our home.  This year I bought us stockings with the last of our wedding gift cards.  Although we don't have a mantel to hang them from, I love them so much!  I can't wait to spend Christmas in sunny California this year.

Isn't Christmas simply the best?

Thanksgiving Weekend

For Thanksgiving this year Scott's parents were sweet enough to plan a weekend getaway in SLC.  We had so much fun relaxing in the hotel, shopping, eating delicious food, seeing a beautiful musical called Savior of the World, walking around Temple Square looking at all the Christmas lights and best of all spending time with family.  It was a perfect, much needed, weekend away.

  Thanks again Papa Mike and Mama SuzAnne for everything!

UTAH JAZZ!

If you know my husband at all you know he loves the Utah Jazz!  We were lucky enough to see the Jazz play the Clippers which was an awesome game with the Jazz winning in double overtime.  Then the next week Scott's friend Cameron and him went to see the Nets play the Jazz and they sat three rows up from the court.  I have to admit I really enjoy watching the games and love my Jazz Fan!    

Go Jazz!

A Little Photo Sesh

Our dear friend Peyton was sweet enough to do a little photo shoot for us and because of her talent and creativity, they turned out pretty awesome.

Thanks again Peyton, we love them!

bread pudding...

if you ever want to feel your heart slow down from sugar intake go get the bread pudding at nordstrom cafe. it is sooo worth it, one of the best desserts ever.

 the flash on my phone camera kinda washed out the tasty treat, but hill still looks cute

it was tasty.

and for good measure my chicken avocado soup. also very delicious. 

D.C. in Pictures

A fun filled birthday weekend complete with some of my favorite people, mouth-watering food, a White House Garden Tour, a bit of history, a butterfly exhibit, shopping, fall photo shoot, and much much more.  All in all, it was amazing but the truth is I left my heart in Utah the whole time.

Thank you Scott for the perfect birthday surprise, I wish you could have enjoyed it all with me.

I LOVE YOU HUBBY! :) 

happy birthday!

happy birthday hillary! you are the best wifey ever!

now lets all use hillary's birthday as an excuse to show everyone how good lookin' my wife is:

What A Wonderful Surprise!

Scott's alarm went off at 3:15AM this morning and he insisted on giving me my birthday present.  I was half asleep and thought he was crazy, since my birthday isn't till Monday and it was the middle of the night.  He persisted so I slowly opened the card and I read the sweet words he wrote and was even more confused since there was a good amount of cash inside the card but nothing to explain.  I went on to open the present and there was a boarding pass inside, for a minute I just kept asking questions... where is this to, do I have work, what about you, does anyone know, where am I staying???  Scott just smiled and said you're going to DC and everything is worked out.  I was so excited but still really confused how he kept a secret for so long but thanks to so many wonderful people (Natalie, Brittany, Christine, Melissa), most importantly my husband I am leaving in a couple hours for Washington DC and everything is ready for me to a have perfect birthday weekend.  I just wish Scott could come but he is holding down the fort at home.  

What a wonderful husband! :)

A Couple Shots

We hosted a BBQ on Sunday...

Scott manned the grill...

and even though I don't have pictures to show for it, there were people there.  The two pictures I have were taken by my talented friend Peyton who is pretty savvy with her camera.

Our Mexican Adventure

We got to spend seven days in the beautiful city of Puerta Vallarta with our awesome travel buddies, Jason and Lauren Varley!  The city had so much character, friendly people, and a spectacular view.

We walked up the pebble streets of the city and admired the view and all the beautiful homes.  

We walked down the boardwalk almost every night and enjoyed the sunset and all the people.

We took the bus into town each day and walked around the city, all the streets had fun shops and all the people were so friendly.

Scott and Jason doing the cousin thing, "dancing in the streets".

We kept hearing about this restaurant in town called Pipi's and decided to try it, we couldn't get enough and had to go back for our last dinner too.  The service was perfect, the atmosphere was wonderful and the food was to die for!

We relaxed and played by the pool every day which had an infinity edge to the ocean, it was perfect!

Our big adventure began with a rafting trip across the bay to a beautiful little cove.

Then we took big army trucks up the mountain to the middle of the jungle.

 We geared up at camp and got on mules (not pictured) and road to the very top of the jungle.

Then we zip lined through the most beautiful, perfectly green jungle, repelled down waterfalls, walked through rivers, balanced across bridges and made it all the way back to the bottom of the jungle where we hiked back to camp.  We couldn't have asked for a better jungle adventure.

All in all our trip was an absolute success!