Reception Photos...

I was finally going through some of my wedding photos ... not just the ones posted on facebook ... and I thought these photos would please my mom.  They represent just a tiny bit of the work that she put into our wedding.  Thanks mom!

Below is me and my many nieces and nephews.

I love this photo of my nephew Kendall - It looks like he 

wants that cake really bad.

Our New Kitty....

Pretty suddenly today ... we found our new kitty!!  While surfing craigslist at work I came across a family needing to re-home their year and a half old cat - no charge.  They had a pretty photo posted of "Magic" - we weren't sure if it was a boy or a girl by the name.  The family lives in our neighborhood, so we called them and set up an appointment to see her.  Apparently there was a house full of cats - and she likes to be the center of attention, so she would start fights with the other cats, but is oh so gentle with kids and people.  We instantly loved her and decided to keep her.

One trip to Target later - and we are now proud (and prepared) pet owners.  We also decided to re-name her "Abby" so she has a more gender oriented name.

Abby has the biggest, greenest eyes.

Complete Tuxedo tummy.

Here she is in our apartment just checking everything out.

She's a very curious cat.

She likes to look at herself in the mirror.

We are so happy we found such a pretty kitty!  Our apartment feels much livelier now.  We lucked out because she already has all her shots and is spayed.  We thought we'd end up spending a lot more initially - so that makes us even more happy!  : )

Too warm for comfort...

Today we had just the "normal" January day.  High 60s and very sunny.  Looks like the next couple days will be quite warm.  Welcome to Colorado: 70 degrees one day and snow by the end of the week. 

Baking Fun...

As part of a wedding gift I was given an awesome cinnamon roll recipe .... also known as "Cinna-Vons" for those who know who they come from : )  Last night Will and I stayed up late making them - well I made them while Will played with Netflix.  He was so excited to find out he can now stream many many movies/tv shows from Netflix instantly through our XBox360! We now instantly have a huge movie library to choose from (without having to wait for movies to come in the mail!)  We right away started watching some Season 2 of the Office (notice in the picture below).  Staying up late last night has made me exhausted today - but instant movies and cinnamon rolls.... who could resist?!  We also rented a Wii game from Blockbuster - but we were so busy we never got to it : )

Will very excited about the streaming Netflix.

I made a serious mess with the flour - it was even on my shirt.

Rolling out the dough (didn't realize how much work that is!)

Final product ... well after being devoured that is.

(They looked much prettier BEFORE being dug into)

Yummmm!  : )

Little Events That Make Life Fun...

We're still around in Denver.  It's been a fun few weeks since we've back, and they have been flying by already (even work).  Looks like Will goes back to his normal schedule next week and I won't get him to myself on the weekends ... which means I'll actually be hitting the gym again! I see this as a positive : )  ... not that I haven't enjoyed being together every night and weekend.  Again, back to normal is good!  We had our Open House at Will's parents last weekend which was lots of fun - it was good to celebrate with our friends here in Denver/Aurora.  

Time has been spent pretty normally - nothing too exciting:  Dinners out (and in) with family/friends, movies (Bride Wars was great!), work, church (new ward), and getting used to being married... which will probably still take a bit!  It's been busy - but fun.  I woke up early (as I have to) for work Monday morning and looked out the window and we got hit with quite the unexpected storm. Which I hate since I have to trek to catch the bus to work.  Below is a couple photos from some of our latest doings.

The unexpected snow at 6:30AM Monday morning

(outside our new apt. building - if you can see it that is!)

My first use of my new (RED!) kitchen-aid.

Black raspberry coffee cake.  Loving this appliance so far for sure.

Will and I eat at Chipotle A LOT - as it IS within walking distance.

Will holding his Chipotle cup proudly:

Notice that my burrito is practically gone.

We LOVE Chipotle!

So that's what we've been up to.  Another proud moment yesterday: I finally bought some gas for my Jetta!  I haven't filled up (or put any gas in at all) since November 10th (yes, I looked it up)!  I still had over a 1/4 tank when I did fill up.  I am really lucky I never have to drive.  We have everything we really need within a few blocks of home - and my work provides an EcoPass for me to get to work (plus I don't have to fight the commute or park downtown) - and I never really drive except to the grocery store and the gym.  Also, it was only $15 to fill up - I was kinda wondering since I haven't filled up my little car since gas has gone down so much.

We are officially on the "search" for our new pet.  We'd really love a puppy but our landlord only allows cats - so that's what we'll get! We are super jazzed.  We spent today visiting a few animal shelters and there are so many pets we'd just love to take home, but we're still deciding the timing of bringing one home.  We'll keep you posted (as we are so excited!).

I'll also take this last line to say: Happy Birthday, Sheryl!! Will's mom had her birthday on Thursday and we went out to celebrate tonight ... so again.... Happy Birthday!

(Have a great week everyone!)

Back to Reality

Tomorrow is back to normal life... starting work again!  It has been so nice to have such a LONG break from work!  I could use 3 weeks off ALL THE TIME!

Today was my first day in our new ward as Sis. Brawn (quite odd being addressed as that I must say).  Apparently the bishop's wife does a fresh arrangement for the chapel weekly, and then they give it away after church.  The bishop and his wife came over after dinner tonight because we were the lucky recipients of the following (quite LARGE) floral arrangement.  I was quite shocked to find out it was all FRESH flowers.  It pretty much fills our table!  We feel very lucky to receive such a nice gift.

This will be a pretty good week schedule-wise for us.  Will works a standard Mon-Fri/8-5 this week since he will be training for his new position as kitchen designer at Home Depot.  I'm very VERY happy he'll finish work at the same time as me all week and that we'll both have Saturday AND Sunday together.  I definitely like weeks like this.

This weekend has been pretty uneventful otherwise - just lots of relaxing for me before having to go back to work.  I miss my family and being back in Washington but it has definitely been a good break and I'm glad I got to see everyone!  (And we're very happy we got to spend an extra day at Janelle's too!)  

Back to reality.... tomorrow.

Happy 2009 Everyone!!!

Mr. & Mrs. Brawn

It is official!  WE ARE MARRIED!  It has been such a whirlwind since Thanksgiving... but we are so grateful for the time we were able to take off work, to spend with family, and to spend with each other.  Thank you to all of our family and friends who were able to support us during our engagement and who shared in our wedding day with us!  It was a crazy time with the "Arctic Blast" that hit the Northwest - we ... okay I ... was afraid the temple would be closed on the day - but it all worked out and it was beautiful with a dusting of snow for pictures.

We had a great trip to the Oregon Coast for our honeymoon (where the weather was ACTUALLY NICE ... compared to Portland where it was a winter wonderland with more than a foot of snow (and the ice that comes with it!).

Enjoy just a few of our wedding photos: