Christmas 2008

While Matt and I have shared three Christmases together, this was the first as a married couple! It was so much fun to be able to share my favorite holiday with my favorite person. He spoiled me with three pairs of shoes and some new kitchen tools! Christmas Eve was spent at my grandparents in La Habra. We had our usual festivities of singing, reinacting the Nativity, and having santa/the missionaries come and bring gifts. Christmas morning Josh was the first to wake us all up as he was excited to see what Santa brought for him this year. Perhaps the most exciting part of the morning, was watching Jackson open his gifts and play with his toys from Santa. He wasnt as interested in opening presents as soon as he found out there were just clothes inside. He threw them aside and continued playing with his new dump truck and Noah's ark. Christmas was a relaxing day and a nice way to enjoy the company of family. Most exciting for my mom, was the fact that we talked to Nick on the phone for about two hours. He seems to be doing great and my mom only cried for a couple minutes after he hung up. Shes doing better! Eight more months and he comes home. We look forward to the next year and the many changes that come along with it. Who knows where we will be, but we are definitely enjoying the journey.

East Ridge Trail

 

Beautiful pictures from another one of our hikes in East Bay. The scenery was gorgeous and the company was even better. It was the perfect time of day until the sun went down and I got scared. (Yes, I am almost 23 and still afraid of the dark.) Matt says he can run faster than anyone who will attack us and that I have to fend for myself. I am pretty sure he is kidding. :) Anyways, it was fun.

Happy Birthday!!!!!!

26 years ago on the cold winter day of December 8, Matthew Ryan Bos was born in Lander, Wyoming. All I can say is, "Thank you Mom and Dad Bos" for raising such an amazing son. He has become the best husband anyone could ask for. He is patient, loving, energetic, funny, honest, trusting and trustworthy, and hardworking. Each day he supports our family by going to work for many hours, only to come home and be even more helpful. He is so supportive of me and is always happy. Even when he is stressed he takes time out of his busy schedule to make sure I am hapy as well. To be honest, I have never been happier in my life and it is all because of my wonderful husband! I love you babe and I look forward to the next 26 years and more!

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Matthew has been really busy at work lately. I mean really busy. I usually dont see him until nine or ten at night. While I support him and am soooo grateful for all his hard work, I get lonely. The best cure for my loneliness is Christmas. Thank goodness for music, decorations, and holiday baking. While shopping with my family at Restoration Hardware we saw this beautiful wreath of red berries and pomegranates. I was tempted to purchase one, except for the fact that they were $100 each! I figured I could make one for less than that so my sister, my parents and I went searching for our supplies. About $40 later we had everything we needed to make a beautiful wreath. The joy of Christmas was combined with the joy of saving money! I know Matthew was appreciative of that.

In accordance with our desire to save money, we decided (or rather I persuaded Matt) to get a small Christmas tree, instead of no Christmas tree at all. Because our car has been broken for the past week, we walked to the grocery store and picked out the biggest tree they had. This was in fact difficult, as the available options were slim. Walking home with our Christmas tree was quite an adventure. We were honked at and admired and although we may have looked silly, I loved it! Our tiny tree, definitely did not need all the decorations I had prepared for it, but it is mine and Matthew's first Christmas tree together. It is perfect!

Lafayette Ridge Trail

Matthew loves to go hiking and so when we have a chance we take a tour of our new home. On Saturday we walked up the street behind our house and found a trail in our backyard. We followed it to the top and ended up on a beautiful, secluded trail around the top of the Lafayette hills. It took us about two and a half hours but about an hour of it was taking pictures. We have decided it is almost impossible to capture the beauty and colors of nature through our camera. Matt loves to be creative with his photography and is actually quite good at it. I think he gets it from his dad.

Family Visit

My wonderful family drove seven hours each way to visit me and Matthew. We had a great time going to dinner, sightseeing, and enjoying each others company in the confines of our apartment. I wish I would have taken a picture of Kerstin and Ryan sleeping on an air mattress in the kitchen! We have limited amount of space but were more than happy to house my family for a couple of days. I look at it as we are creating great memories in which we can look back and laugh.

Today, for the first time ever, I voted. While I was old enough to vote four years ago, there were some mix ups in the registration process and I was never registered. This time around Matt and I researched the propositions and candidates and were able to make well informed decisions. At first I wasnt as excited about it, but after voting this morning I walked out proud to be an American.

FHE- Pumpkin Carving

The truth is, carving pumpkins doesnt get old just because you do. Matt and I enjoyed carving our pumpkin for our Family Night activity. Last year we carved Wendy, daughter and logo of Dave Thomas. This year we tried to be just as creative. True to Matt's heart we created Homer from the Simpsons.


Two days later his face has fallen apart but we definitely had fun in the process.

Palo Alto

My little cousin Trevor (who is not so little anymore)had a waterpolo tournament in Palo Alto this past weekend. He flew up with his dad, and so we (Me, Matt, Brandon and Marie) all went to go cheer him on. It was a short road trip with the fam but oh so fun. We met Trevors teammates and discovered the beautiful world of Palo Alto. I guess I didnt know what to expect but I can compare it to Bel Aire in Southern California. Beautiful and Rich!!! The high school where the tournament was located actually looked like a college campus more than one for high schoolers.



We had quite the excitement as we saw black squirrels (who knew they existed!?)and chickens roaming the campus. They were definitely not afraid of people as they came right up to us.



It was a new experience for Matt as it was his first Water Polo game! We both learned new rules and strategies and tried to keep up with all the whistles. All in all, it was a success and we are looking forward to our next road trip to Napa Valley!

Mount Diablo

Since moving out to San Francisco, Matt and I have basically been keeping each other company. We dont have very many friends yet. In fact, we have one set of friends. We met them in our ward about a month ago and have hung out with them many times since. Jeremy and Rachel grew up in the area so they have taken us to places not very many people know about. This past Saturday we went on a hike up Mount Diablo. Although many people know about the mountain, not very many people know about the rock slide on the way down. Basically you end up surfing down the rocks. Matt and I both realized we felt like a kid again while we were "surfing" the rocks; feeling like we should be getting in trouble, but definitely enjoying ourselves. The hike ended with a beautiful sunset and wide open space. We couldnt see anyone else on the mountain. These places really do exist so close to a big city!

Conference Break

Matt and I love to go on walks. One day we met a man on one of our walks who told us about this beautiful trail in Moraga. Side note... the Iraq War Memorial is just down the street from us and the man we met calls it an eyesore. Apparently there has been some contention over this piece of land. Anyways, in between sessions of conference we decided to hunt down this trail and found beautiful rolling hills with lush trees and an amazing view. Moraga is just five minutes away from Lafayette but we never knew about this beautiful park. We drove through and ended up in Oakland right by the temple. What a beautiful sight and perfect day!

Home Sweet Home

A few pictures of our humble abode. If the layout is confusing to you, thats because it is confusing to us too. We dont really understand what the architect/homeowner was thinking, nonetheless, we love our little home.

House Hunting! Orinda, Berkeley and Beyond

So... my sister has been pressuring me into updating my blog. I have to be honest, I have never done it before. I got as far as creating a blog and she actually created the first post. I am slowly learning how to be blog savvy and maybe one day will continually update it. Until then, this is my story... I am living in Lafayette, California with my husband Matthew. When we got married we didnt know we would end up here. We actually lived with my parents the first three months of our marriage. While we loved being around family, it was time to move out on our own. My husband accepted a job in the financial district of San Francisco, so we moved up here without a place to live but with hope for the future. We used our family connection and lived with our cousins for a week. By the end of the week we hoped to have a place to call home, but as fate would have it, our only opportunity fell through at the last minute. (We wont go into the details, but it ended with us at Wells Fargo Bank having every employee there telling us to be grateful we didnt end up with "D-face" as we now call her, as our landlord.) We took the hint. Unfortunately, my parents were already on their way up to deliver our stuff; basically clothing and wedding presents as we had no furniture to call our own. Thanks Mom and Dad! We packed it into storage and found a temporary housing situation on craigslist. It wasnt a perfect situation but we made do. Matthew accustomed himself far better than I did. My poor husband had to listen to me cry almost nightly, while starting a new job. What an amazing man! Craigslist soon became my best friend, and after two weeks when all seemed hopeless we found a place to live. Beautiful Lafayette. We couldnt be happier! Well... maybe if it was a little cheaper!

Our New Home!