Waterfall

A few weeks ago Bradley and I walked into our house and saw this in our back bedroom

Our roof was not just leaking, it really was a full on waterfall in our house! One of the pipes upstairs froze outside and they're remodeling the upstairs and I guess when they turn on just the right hose, it leaks gallons of water into our home. So we rented a steam cleaner and Brad sucked out about 5 gallons of water out of our carpet. Literally. And then we rented one of those huge fans and pulled up the carpet and turned on the fan and left if for about 3 days. You'd think we'd be really upset about all of this, but there was just so much water that it was kind of funny. Just kind of. Then about 4 days after we returned the fan...it happened again! So we repeated everything. The fan is currently blowing and we're hoping to start out January waterfall free.


The other day Nikki, my very best friend from elementary school was back in town for 3 days only. I haven't seen her in about 6 years. She moved away in 2nd grade but would come back to Utah each year for a few weeks in the summer and every other Christmas. As we got older and our schedules got busier we saw each other less and less when she came. Eventually we just stopped talking, not by choice, but life just happens that way. We started talking again after I got engaged because I wanted to let her know I was getting married. She couldn't make it out here for our wedding because of school but we continued talking and making plans for December when she did come. She made it out here and we made plans to go to lunch. I was actually kind of nervous because it had been so long since I had seen her or talked to her, I was worried it would be weird, but she was the exact same! It was like we never even stopped talking. It's so amazing to have friends like that. I'm really lucky to have her as a best friend after all these years!

Best Friends reunited

Our First Christmas

This year was our first Christmas together, and it was amazing! We thought it would be crazy trying to be everywhere but it really wasn't. I had to work on Christmas Eve but lucky for me I got sent home early! Poor Brad thought he had to spend Christmas Eve wifeless, so he was very happy to see me. We got ready and decided it would be fun to walk around Gateway and see all the crazy people who left shopping to the very last minute. We got hot chocolate and strolled around downtown. Then we went to our cousins Christmas pageant and to dinner at the Grandparents house. It's so fun getting to spend time with people you don't see that often. After all of that goodness, we went to my parents house and spent the night. We woke up Christmas morning bright and early to a phone call from Brad's very best friend who is on a mission in Argentina. He was so happy to talk to him, he couldn't stop smiling! We opened up our presents with my family and had time for a quick shower and then it was time to go to the Fortuna household. We had a delicious Christmas breakfast and then opened some more presents. After this Brad was so anxious and excited to have our own Christmas, so we went back to our house and opened up gifts from each other. Brad is such a sweetheart and got me a GPS for my car! I've been wanting one forever and now I finally have one! :)  After our Christmas together we went back to my parents house for a few more hours, and then back to his parents house where we spent the night. We have wonderful families and it was so fun to be able to spend 2 full days making memories with everyone! After all, that's what Christmas is really all about.

Our matching pajamas

My brother and his wife also had matching pajamas

Christmas morning!

My favorite gift from Bradley

Bradley's favorite gift from me. (don't know why it wont rotate)

Brad started his new job this week. He's loving it so far! However, we are not loving our conflicting schedules. This week I work the 3-11 shift and Brad is working from 9-5. So he wakes up and goes to work and I don't see him until I get off around 11:30. It's been hard since we had 3 days of pure bliss where we were practically joined at the hip. But we're grateful that we both have jobs right now, even if it means we don't see each other.

First day at work. Isn't he so handsome!

* Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! *

Finals are done (thank goodness!) The semester went really well for both of us and we are loving spending time together, not having to worry about studying or papers due, or taking anymore tests. It's the best feeling ever! I can finally look forward to Christmas, which is good because it's only 4 days away! We've had a fun Christmas break, so far we've...had a snowball fight, looked at lights downtown, looked at lights at Thanksgiving point, made gingerbread houses, watched Elf, drank enough hot chocolate for the rest of December, and we've listened to enough Christmas music to last a life time...we love it! Some good news, Brad got a new job! He's the newest member of the Wells Fargo team. He's sad to leave the boat shop, but he's ready for a change and something new. We're excited!

Temple Square

   

Gingerbread Houses                 

Thanksgiving Point

It's 8 dollars a car to get in and look at the lights at this place, and Brad cut through the lights and decorations twice so we could look at the lights more. We paid 8 dollars and got 24 dollars worth of lights. Awesome. :)

'Tis the Season

YAY December is here, which means Christmas is just around the corner! Bradley and I are so excited to spend our first Christmas together! It is going to be so much fun. We went and picked out our tree this last weekend. We got a way sweet deal and it looks so cute in our house. We spent the weekend decorating for Christmas and getting ready for all the fun to begin! Only one more week of school and then we're free as birds to enjoy the winter season together! :)

Isn't it cute!!

My husband is really strong. He can lift trees over his head. No big deal.

There it is. Terrance the tree. Christmas 2010

All decorated in Red, Green and Silver with a gold star to top it off :)

The Fortuna's first Christmas :)

We found this little present in our tree when we got home. Hopefully we can have some little birds living in it this summer.

Our house all decorated. I LOVE CHRISTMAS!




Since we both had to study on my birthday and I didn't really get to go out with friends, Brad took me and some friends out to dinner and bowling. It was so fun! I love hanging out and relaxing with friends.

This is my really awesome Birthday Brownie Surprise! I don't love cake all that much, so Brad made me some birthday brownies. Didn't he do such an awesome job?? I was so impressed!

Thanks babe, I loved it! :)

Thanksgiving, some snow and a birthday

Our first Thanksgiving together was awesome! I had to work in the morning but after work we spent a few hours at the Fortuna house and then made our way over to the Chambers house. Having two huge and delicious Thanksgiving dinners just wears me right out. It was so fun though! We got our rest and we were up bright and early the next morning to hit the black Friday sales. I love shopping on black friday! Waking up early, the crowds of crazy people swarming the stores, the awesome deals...I love it all. Brad...not so much, but he was a really good sport about it. :)

A few things I am thankful for:
 My husband
 family
the gospel
work
school
cars
our health
our home
love
the beautiful city we live in
friends
and so much more!

We had some crazy weather the last couple of weeks. We didn't get a shovel for our wedding (I can't imagine why not) and it was just one of those things we didn't really think about...until we got hit with that giant snow storm. It made it interesting trying to get to church that morning.

You better believe that is our kitchen broom that Brad is using as a scraper and a shovel. He is just so darn creative.

Well I had a birthday... I am now 22 years old. I gotta say, I'm not really loving growing up, considering the majority of my birthday was spent studying for a test I had the next day. Luckily I have a really great husband and a really great family and they somehow managed to give me one heck of a birthday! My birthday included Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner at the restaurants of my choice, a beautiful willow tree nativity set :) a Jazz jersey and two tickets to the game of my choice, a pedicure, some delicious smelling perfume and of course spending time with my family. I loved it! Thanks everyone for making it great!

chocolate milkshakes and cottage cheese

The other night around 10:30 Bradley and I decided we were hungry. I went to the kitchen and decided I wanted a chocolate milkshake, Brad went to the kitchen and decided he wanted cottage cheese. He is so much better than I am.

In my defense I did spend the previous day studying for 12 hours and took arguably the hardest test of my life. Not really sure what that has to do with my milkshake at 10:30 at night, but I feel it makes it more acceptable.

Life as a Fortuna

Well married life is still great! Home is starting to really feel like home. We got our stuff put away and most of the thank you notes are written and we have started to form our own little routine. It's great! We had our first guests over this last week/weekend. Bradley hosted a pizza and poker night with the boys on Tuesday. I had to work the evening shift and so he invited a bunch of his guy friends over and they had pizza, chips and soda and played poker all night long! Then over the weekend we had our friends Adam and Christine over. We made fajitas, baked cookies and made milkshakes. We played games and just relaxed. It's so nice to be able to invite our friends over and welcome and entertain them in our new home.
School is going well for both of us. Only like 34 more days in the semester! Wooo hoooo! I'm so excited! This first semester of nursing school has really been brutal. I would definitely NOT recommend planning a wedding and getting married during school...it's really hard. Somehow I've managed to still do fairly well and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can pass my finals! Thank goodness for my brother Brad. He's almost done with medical school and if it weren't for him I would be really lost. Thanks B-rad, you rock!
 I also want to say thanks to my cute cute mother-in-law. She is so good to us! She brings us over fresh baked bread and homemade soup all the time! She is such a sweetheart, and it really makes it easy on a busy night! All in all life is good for us, we really can't complain about much. Here are some pics of what we've been up to, and our house! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my wonderful MOM!!! We went to the Incredible Pizza Factory as a family and celebrated her big day! Hope you had a great day mom, we all love you!

Our darling nephew, baby Michael! It's hard to believe he's only 3 months old. He's a cutie for sure!

HAPPY 1st BIRTHDAY to our cute cute nephew EZRA!! He lives in Illinois so we couldn't celebrate with him, but boy do we love him! Isn't he darling??

Congratulations Soderborg's!
Our dear friends Adam and Christine got sealed this month in the Logan temple, and we were lucky enough to attend. It was a beautiful day and the ceremony was awesome. It was so special and I'm so glad we could go. We love you guys!

This is my husband...he's the greatest!

Fajitas and cookies, my favorite!

HOME SWEET HOME

front room

We LOVE our house. and I really love the fireplace! :)