my better half.

that is a true statement.  this man is no question, MY BETTER HALF.

and it is his birthday!  

trav - i wish it were a weekend...or we were still on christmas vacation...or still in hawaii so i could celebrate you properly.  instead, we are on opposite sides of the city working away.  even though i won't get to spend the day lovin' on you, know that i have felt an extra twinge of gratitude in my heart all day today.  for today is the day you were born.  a VERY good day for me indeed.

every day you give me reasons to love and be grateful for you...

you keep me warm at night. 
you are the nicest boy in boise.  

you work hard to provide for our little family and make sure we are prepared for our future together.

you are great at your job and have proven successful. 
you are handsome.

you are unbelievably intelligent and brilliant. 
you are the best photo assistant i've ever had.

you teach me new things everyday. 
you are like a walking dictionary.
 your back rubs.

you do all the dishes. 
and make me breakfast every morning.

and make the bed every morning. 
your sexy scruff. 
you are a good communicator.

you are the first to say you are sorry. 
you are a good example. 
you don't get mad at me when i go over budget some months on an extra cardigan.
you tell me i am beautiful.

you are going to be the best daddy. 
my nieces and nephews love you way more than they love me.

your warm, strong hands. 
you are worthy and righteous. 
you try to think before you speak.

you love and take care of your family and friends.
 you are patient.

you encourage me to be better and work towards my goals. 
you are compassionate.

you don't complain when i am stressed. 
you tell me you love me several times a day.

you still hold my hand every time we are in the car together.
you make me laugh everyday.

thank you for making my life less complicated, a lot more fun, and my heart full of happy.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TRAV!

xoxo

a sweet ride.

 that title is the first thing that came to mind.  sometimes i think i am a 16 year old trapped in a 30 year old body.

anyhow...

this fall...in september or october...my sister, kim, and i rode our bikes up bogus basin road {almost} to the top.  for those of you that live in boise, or have ever driven that road (or road your bike to the VERY top, LARA!) will know it is a good climb.  

when kim asked me if i wanted to give it a try, i was N.E.R.V.O.U.S. and i thought i for sure, i would only make it 3 or 4 miles up.  but i am proud to say that once we got going, we just kept going!  we made it 11 miles up and it was INCREDIBLE.  not only was it a beautiful view and it felt great on my legs and body, i was so grateful for my body and good health.  even though i don't have the perfect and fit body i wish i had, i do have a strong and healthy body that was able to do what a lot of people could not.

thanks, sister, for an awesome and encouraging saturday morning.  it is definitely one of my highlights from 2011.  i am ready to do it again the first saturday we have warm weather this spring!  what do you say????

halloween.

 as i mentioned, for halloween this year we were monsters.  kim helped us make our costumes out of hoodie sweatshirts.  i am pretty sure the hoodie costumes are going to be my new favorite kind of costume!

 sarah jane was the sweetest beehive princess...

 and luke was the most darling shark.

the atchleys joined us at our ward's trunk or treat.

as well as my folks.  they were all troopers to come pass out candy to a bunch of strangers.  we were so glad they joined us!

cascade.

 one thing i didn't mention in my update via phone pictures was our family camping trip labor day weekend in cascade, idaho.  i didn't have my smart phone yet, so i guess that is why it wasn't mentioned.  in fact, my phone died the day we got home from the trip and i got my new phone the week after.  sorry, boring details...

ANYWAYS, we went camping at poison creek campground in cascade with my folks, the atchleys, and our good family friends, val and nancy batteen.  it was a lovely, relaxing weekend in the beautiful mountains of idaho.

 sarah jane and luke playing with uncle trav.  they LOVE their uncle!  one day, i should have trav tell you the funniest and cutest sarah jane story from the camping trip.  i think it is my favorite sarah jane story ever.

 the batteens brought their 4 wheelers up and we were able to go on a fun and very beautiful ride in the mountains.

 sarah and luke of course didn't go.  we just had to get a family picture.

 my dad took some time to review a couple of sets of home elevation and floor plans with me.  i've had to learn how to read and red-line floor plans, as well as learn all sorts of construction lingo for my new job.  so that is where my dad comes in handy!

 our other good friends, the sylvesters, who live in mccall (30 minutes away from cascade) came to visit saturday and sunday evening.  it is always a good, entertaining time when the sylvesters are around!

 cuddling by the fire with my sarah jane.

monday afternoon, after packing the campsite up, dad, trav, myself, kim and richard all went on an awesome bike ride.  we rode for a quite a long time around the tamarack ski resort and then decided to ride to the top.  it was a great climb and a beautiful view!  remembering this REALLY makes me miss our many bike rides this summer and fall.  i can hardly wait for the weather to warm up so we can hit the pavement again!

happy holidays from the worwoods!

we hope your holiday season has been warm and bright and that you, like us, have been surrounded by those you love (some of them, atleast!).

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!

{this is my 200th post!  i feel like i should be doing a giveaway or something...}

an update with pictures from my phone.

how's that for a fancy title?  my english 211 professor would be so proud.
 

anyhow...it's been a while.  like 5 months while.  i blame it on my new, more than full time job that seems to consume my days and nights, my energy, and my gusto to do much of anything by the time i get home from work at night.  

the good news is, that crazy job of mine is awesome and really good to their employees and gave everyone in the office the week in between christmas and new years off...and they are paying us for it!  so i've been playing catch up on a few things in life.  i thought one of them could be this blog of mine.

because the thought of REALLY catching up on my blog is nothing less than overwhelming, i thought i'd do a little summary of what's been happening with some pictures from my phone.  we bought me my first smart phone a couple of months ago (welcome to the 21st century!) and i'm lovin' it!

so, in no particular order, here goes...

 i turned T-H-I-R-T-Y on december 17th and my sweet husband started my day off right with breakfast in bed!

 we had our very own christmas morning at our house this year...just trav and i.  it was perfect.

 my thoughtful husband surprised me with a christmas tree one saturday when i was home in bed, sleeping and sick with a migraine. 

 we went to HAWAII for a week at the beginning of this month.  AMAZING doesn't even begin to describe how incredible it was.  it was just the vacation we were needing!

 miss sarah jane turned 4 on november 30th (the day before we left for hawaii) and we celebrated by going bowling, which was her choice! 

 this is my computer at work.  did i mention i work a lot?  and that i love my job?  and that it came as a huge blessing to us?  oh, and we were monsters for halloween.  one of my favorite costumes yet.  thanks to my sister, kim for helping us with them!

 the boise temple has been closed since july for renovations, so we were thrilled when we found some time to go to the jordan river temple when we were in utah for thanksgiving.

 a beautiful sunrise on our way to utah for thanksgiving.  that is actually a funny story...we left wednesday night after work for utah and we only made it to burley (2.5 hours away from boise) because we were so exhausted from a cuh-razy work week.  we got a last minute hotel and stayed the night in burley and got up nice and early to get back on the road.  we either work too much or are getting old!

 i am still the young women's president of our ward and am doing my best to keep up with these girls.  it is the greatest challenge and the greatest blessing, all in one.

 we continue to spend a lot of time with our dearest friends, the grants.  this was date night at their house...a yummy dinner and then we made to die for caramel apples and stayed up way too late (as always) talking and laughing.  i am telling you...we solve the world's problems with these two!

 a saturday date to the mountains with the atchleys to gather pinecones for a wreath kim and i made.  wait til you see it...i love it and think it is beautiful!  i've never used more hot glue in my life!

 a breakfast date at a yummy bagel shop by my office with my love.

 our most expensive purchase of the year.  ah, i am in love!

 the nielsens (trav's sister's family) came to visit in october!  we snuck away with our sweet nephew, wyatt, for a lunch date and some one on one time one afternoon.  what a sweet, sweet boy.

 luke turned 2 in october and we had a monkey party!  i c-a-n-n-o-t get enough of this sweet and hilarious little boy.  his smile and raspy voice melts my heart.

 i was lucky enough to get together with these favorite girls of mine (and stacy and kelsey, who are not pictured) 3 times in one week at the end of september!  andi described our time together perfect in this blog post.  that night goes down as one of my very favorite times with those special girls.  it makes my heart all fluttery just thinking about it.  not sure where i'd be without these girls.

 a date at the park with the atchleys.

 on one of our many bike dates on the greenbelt this fall.

 my husband surprised me with a great date one saturday afternoon, out there on that island in the middle of the boise river.  how grateful i am for a spontaneous, thoughful husband!

two of trav's best buddies got married this summer.  hooray for being married!  you all know we love it . . .

and hooray to any of you who are still reading!  hopefully i will find some time to expound on a few of the above adventures.

the weekend report.

. lunch date at sizzler with lara, sarah jane, and luke friday afternoon.  oh how we love sizzler's salad bar!

. sephora, sodas, and the park.

. relay for life in boise with fred meyer and the bakers on friday night.

. morning temple session at the boise temple.  the last one for a year . . . they are closing it for an entire year to do a remodel.  we are so sad to not have a temple close enough to go every week!  we will sure miss it.  twin falls here we come . . .

. yummy lunch and a much needed nap on saturday after the temple.

. dinner date at taj mahal with spencer, andi and baby harrison, and lara.  delish indian food!

. hours of shanty videos, popcorn, hot tamales, cupcakes, and peanut m&m's after taj mahal.  oh the sweet, sweet memories.
 

. great day at church.  and an awesome lesson on repentance in young women's!

. a favorite meal for sunday lunch . . . lemon parmesan chicken covered in lettuce and a mango-peach-cherry fruit salad.  the perfect summer meal.  yumm.o!

. no bake cookies.  i-yi-yi.  i could eat the whole batch myself.

. home teachers.  we have the best home teachers ever.  they even brought us two loaves of banana bread that weren't even made by one of their wives . . . it was all the man!

. bbq with some ward friends and lara.  it was a lovely, lovely time and a great chance to get to know some people in our ward better.  we were really grateful for the invite.

. good sunday night chats with lara.  we love that she is here!

WHAT A LOVELY WEEKEND. 

fireworks!

 every year boise puts on a pretty good fireworks show in ann morrison park.  we are lucky enough to have ann morrison park be just a 5 minute bike ride away from our house.  so to avoid traffic we just rode our bikes down this year and it was great!

we met lots of friends and the atchleys at the park for the show and enjoyed the great company and fireworks show.

 luke (1 1/2 year old) was completely mesmerized (just look at his face!) by the fireworks and cuddled with trav and i for the entire 20 minute show.

this was maybe one of the best moments of my life . . .

nothing better than cuddling with the ones you love most during a fireworks show!  

(Luke wasn't sleeping...the flash just got him.)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA!

thank you for letting us celebrate you and our glorious freedom on the best holiday of the year!