Suffering with holiday withdrawl!

I am excited for a new year and new adventures but boy am I sad the holiday season is over. Case and I have been super busy partying it up with family and friends and as a result I have been very lax about blogging. I have tons of pics and fun things to share and update but alas I am starting a very busy work week this week so we'll see if any pictures get added.

We were able to spend Thanksgiving in Vegas this year with my entire fam! It's always wonderful to get together with all of my brothers and sisters and their darling families. Case and I had never been to Jeff and Bekah's new place in Henderson and we had not met the newest member of the Martin clan...little miss Lily! Casey is smitten by little Lily! It's impossible not to be. She is so happy ALL THE TIME! She has the most infectious smile and the sparkliest eyes. We had tons of delicious food and a very crazy (to say the least) family photo session. Thanksgiving was wonderful this year! Thanks to my brothers and sisters and the joy they bring into my life!

Casey's sister Cherie had a beautiful baby girl the first week of December. Blakely Pyper Barton is a beauty and such a sweet baby. She is so well behaved and I have enjoyed that precious new baby joy every time I am around her.

Christmas was fabulous this year. It always comes and goes way too fast. Casey surprised me this year and got me a beautiful electric piano. I am in Love! I have been wanting a piano for ages so it was quite an emotional morning for me. I love that man of mine! We spent Christmas Eve and morning at Casey's parents house. We enjoyed watching Maddie and Hailey marveling over Santa and his goodness. We also got to talk to Elder Bacon briefly Christmas morning.

Chris and Melia flew in from Cali on Christmas night and Case and I picked them up from the airport. We enjoyed some sledding and some great food and we got to see Sherlock Holmes (great little flick ;)) We enjoyed some game night time with the old crew. It was nice to catch up with everybody. Blakely was blessed on the Sunday after Christmas. More delicious food and fun family time.

New years eve Case and I went to see Avatar. Its pretty sweet. I loved the effects. I've never seen anything like it. We brought in the new year by watching a little sports center and then straight to bed at about 12:15! We are so exciting!

This post is pretty boring without pictures so I'll try and add them this weekend. Happy New Year to all of you bloggers out there! Enjoy 2010 and all it has in store.

New do!

I decided to switch it up a bit and change my hair! I cut bangs about 3 months ago and have been loving the change but wanted something a little more dramatic. It turned out really dark....I feel a little Elviraish but I actually love it! I look so different it's going to take some getting used to but its a fun change! Pay no attention to the dorky poses. It's really awkward taking pictures of yourself ;)

Gratitude Attitude

Casey and I are speaking in church tomorrow and our topic is....can you guess? Yup it's gratitude and may I just say how wonderful it is to study and prepare a talk on gratitude? Ok so this time of year is full of giving thanks and of course I think about it and even write down some of the things I am thankful for but what a blessing (and wake up call) it has been to truly ponder gratitude and what it means. It is amazing to me how much joy comes from sitting down and counting your blessings! Having an attitude of gratitude is a way of life and it is contagious. When you are around someone who brims with gratitude doesn't it make you feel wonderful and so thankful yourself? Thank you to all of you for your posts on gratitude. It puts a smile on my face to read about what makes you all happy! I am thankful for....

cuddling in bed with Casey before we fall asleep

hot chocolate

kisses from babies

laughter

sunshine

the smell of winter time

soft cozy blankets

love notes

clean sheets

books

lipgloss

Christmas music in November....thank you cozy 106.5 (dont tell my husband)

sisters

anything miniature (aka tiny versions of bigger things)

pumpkin roll

tv on dvd

Just to name a few. And of course The Saviour and His atoning sacrifice for me. I love the gospel and I love the Lord! I am truly a blessed woman and am so thankful for all that I have!

Halloween Highlights

Oh how I love Halloween! I've loved dressing up since I was a teeny young thing and I still get so excited for this time of year! I had my Halloween decorations up the first day in Oct. because I couldn't wait any longer. Casey and I are on the activities committee in our ward and were in charge of the cotton candy machine at our ward Halloween party. We couldn't make it fast enough. I think our booth was the hot spot for sure! I dressed up as a colonial maiden and Casey was a sumo wrestler. I loved how our costumes turned out! We both looked so fat it was pretty funny. On Halloween we were able to attend a football game that Ivory was cheering at and then later we joined Kim, Mat, and the kids for some pumpkin carving. Later on Case and I took Chloe out trick or treating with her little friend. They got so much candy they could barely carry their bags! Halloween 2009 was a success :)

I had a ball decorating for Halloween

I think we need to loose a few pounds

Casey took the cotton candy making pretty seriously

Mat's "Head on a Platter" costume was a big
hit. Kim wore my mermaid costume and looked
so sassy!

Cotton Candy Booth

"Halloweenies"
I found the recipe for these in a fun little
Halloween treat book and couldn't resist making
them. I think they turned out adorable!

Casey diligently carving our pumpkin

Kim's kids rocking their costumes

Cedar Breaks 2009

I really wanted to go camping pretty bad this summer and kept bugging Casey about it. Pretty much every week I asked him if we could buy camping gear and go. Finally, this past July, we ended up going with our good friends Zane and Jessica. We decided on Cedar Breaks and it was beautiful. Casey and I didn't have any camping supplies....not even sleeping bags so we did a lot of research and shopping around to find a tent and all of the other necessary supplies. We had a great time just enjoying nature and each others company! We are excited to go camping a lot more next summer!

I love that our tent has a front porch :)

Zane and I cooking my famous breakfast burritos

Posing at the scenic outlook.....Oh Case



Jessica and I posing like the cheesers we are

We went on a little hike that led to this pond
It was a nice easy hike with so many beautiful
things to see along the way



This pond was so quaint and cool looking...
(up close though it was kinda nasty!)

I couldn't get enough of the flowers....so pretty

Doesn't he just have such a charming smile?

One Fabulous Year

Case and I celebrated our one year anniversary on June 20, 2009! The first year of marriage flew by and I must say I love being married. Yeah I know that is so cliche' and everything but it's so true. I was born to be a wife and a homemaker. Who knew I would love taking care of a husband and home so much. Case is a fantastic husband. It is so wonderful to be married to your best friend. We truly laugh constantly and I love that marriage is like a constant sleepover. The only difference is Casey will not be painting his or my toenails anytime soon. For our anniversary we stayed at the Homestead up in Midway. We were able to eat at Ruth's Chris in Park City just like we did on our first night as a married couple. I only have one picture from the weekend but I have to share because it's too funny! Casey put on his church shoes with his basketball shorts and kept calling them his slippers. It was a little weird honestly. Then he fell asleep wearing them and I had to take a picture because it was cracking me up!

Hawaii 2009

Casey and I were privileged enough to join his family on a trip to Hawaii this past May. We went to Oahu and stayed at the Marriott. It was a wonderful week of relaxing and delicious food! Oh how I love vacationing with the Bacons! I just picked some of my favorite pics to share. Enjoy!
We laid out everyday and just enjoyed the scenery.....Gorgeous!

Our beautiful resort

We loved posing at every restaurant we went to



Prime Rib at Haleiwa Joe's

One of the nights the guys all went out for Sushi so the
girls all went out and had a relaxing dinner and then a nice
walk along the beach! Such a fun night

Delicious shaved ice from Matsumotos... Doesn't Casey look
so excited to eat his?

This is at the Polynesian Cultural Center at the luau. Trust
me when I say this was the best picture of Casey and I.
So sad but so true :)

The beautiful Honolulu Temple

Case and I had the chance to hang out in the U.S.S. Bowfin
at Pearl Harbor before catching our flight back home