Yuck. Sickness has hit. Poor hubby has a sinus infection, an ear infection and the flu. I'm having allergic reactions in both eyes to either my contacts or makeup.Can you say marshmallow eyes? Fish head? either one will do.  We're beautiful people this week let me tell ya! :) But in the mean time we have so much to be happy about! Here are some things I promise to get around to writing about!

• Thanksgiving (I know it was a long time ago but it was just so great!)
  
• Our new wonderful house!
• Moving
• Matthews brother getting to go to the temple in preparation for his mission
  
• Dad coming for the weekend 
  
• A GREAT Christmas with both Matthew's family and mine AND
• Our One Year Anniversary! :)

 This holiday season has been SO SO wonderful for us. We are so grateful for the many blessing we have had especially those that have come in the form of family and friends. I hope this year has been wonderful for you to. I apologize that I didnt send out Christmas cards this year, but know we love you and hope that you have been able to take some time to relax, be with your families and enjoy the holiday spirit!

lots of love!
                   Tiff

Aaaah! Matthew and I are officially real home owners - we have a mouse! The little rascal lives in an opening in the wall behind our oven. The home was build for a gas stove but we chose an electric so there is an open hole in the wall where the pipe comes out. I was looking in our pantry the other night when I saw something dart across the kitchen floor and looked over just in time to see him run out from under our stove. He sat there and looked at me for a second before scurrying back to his hiding place. Bah! I ran outside where my hottie honey was shoveling snow and made him pull out the pan drawer. (do those have an official name?) Sure enough he is chilling in the gas line hole. 

There is digging going on in the small field in front of our house to build some more homes, so somewhere in the back of my mind I expected to have a few of these little visitors, but I was still altra suprised to see him sitting there on our newly cleaned wood floor staring at me.

We have tried to lure him out for several nights now - we know he loves peanut butter. Somehow he manages to get it off the trap without setting it off - night after night. What a stinker. Tomorrow we're off to find a new kind of trap. :/ Sorry mousey but you've got to go!

Finally! A second to sit down and update! phew - its been a super busy few weeks!

Thanks to Matthew's parent letting us use a week of their time share - in mid-November Matthew and I got to take an early One Year Anniversary/ Honeymoon trip to gorgeous Cancun! We stayed at the Westin Lagunamar Resort. It was the perfect location and had beautiful pools and beaches. This was the view from our studio.

Priceless!
Matthew had been to Cancun when he was younger and already knew some things he wanted us to be able to do. He made sure that we had amazing adventures! We were there for a week and every other day he planned all day tours for us!

Day one: Selvatica Expedition!
Zip Lining through the jungle!

A van picked us up first thing in the morning and drove us for nearly two hours into the jungle. When we arrived workers strapped us in to repelling gear and we headed out! We climbs up into little platforms right at the top of a big tree and they hooked us up to a wire strung to another tree a good 40 yards away and push! I was flying through the trees! There were 12 of these zip lines - way better compared to the 4 that other tours offered us. (If you're heading to Cancun I HIGHLY recommend Selvatica) It was SO fun! Matthew was brave enough to go upside down - but we didn't get a picture of it! :(

Next they brought us back down to the jungle floor to race dune buggies! We wore goggles and masks to keep the dirt and rocks out of our faces but it couldn't hide what an awesome time we were having! Matthew was such a peach - I was too short to reach the pedals when it was my turn to drive so he propped me up with his arm the whole time! Aw.. Thanks babe!

Next was swimming at a near by cenote - BEAUTIFUL! After a short walk into the trees the branches parted to unveil what I thought was paradise! Pictures can't do this place justice.

Again Matthew proved how adventurous he was by doing tricks off the zip line into the water! We have a video of it.. I'll try to post it later!

What a beautiful day!

Day three: Scuba Diving! :)

Here's Matthew getting all geared up!


and he's gone!

I have to admit that I yelped and ran to the side of the boat when he first went in. I was so scared I wasn't going to get him back! (I love him ya know!)

Matthew was such a great scuba partner! I'm always getting lost when we go shopping because I stop to look at things and this was no different. :) Several times he swam back to get me because I was busy sitting on the ocean floor looking at fish or coral. :)

We had an amazing guide - I totally recommend booking with him if you are going (we can give you his name) . He took us out on two dives that were almost an hour each in two different locations. Each dive was between 30 and 35 feet down - not a bad for beginners! It was mind boggling beautiful!

This is probably my favorite picture out of the whole trip. It shows my true goober side.
(I'm a scuba hottie - I know)

I didn't know diving gear was so heavy! To get into the water you have to sit on the side and fall in backwards! I could barely lift myself up onto the side of the boat to get in the water. It was scary the first time - purposely falling out of a perfectly good boat strapped to 50 pounds of gear. It was so heavy that instead of landing on my back in the water - when I opened my eyes I was upside down!
I wish we had had an underwater camera. The reefs were so beautiful and spilling over with marine life. We made two fish friends while we were there. They seemed as curious about us as we were about them.

Day five: Chitzen-Itza!

The ruins were so much more beautiful than I ever expected!

Next it was swimming again! This time in a cenote twice the size and even more stunning than the size the first!

This is the view from ground level looking down into the hole. Its waay down there. There were fish swimming in the water with us - Mexico has the largest natural underground river system in the world. We look so tiny down there!

This is a shot from the platform. Those are tree roots coming down from the surface.



Here are a few more pics for your viewing pleasure:

Matthew and the rusty Pepsi


The dancers with the beer on their heads


Look how tall I am!


Dinner and dessert at the Chocolate Factory


mmm...


My hottie honey


My hottie hat


Our last night having dinner at the Oceano


and the most gorgeous sunset

In my previous post I mentioned that we were waiting to hear back from a short sale that we made an offer on - That home didn't work out, but we loved the community so much that after a lot of praying we decided to pursue a new town home in the same community, just one street over from the original we were looking at. And finally, after what feels like forever and a lot of stress filled nights later, we did our final walk through tonight and we are about to close on our first home! Wow - I struggle to believe that in less than 24 hours we will be home owners! :)
Tonight, walking though for one final time before it officially becomes ours brought everything together for me. I'm super excited to move in our beautiful town home, to meet our neighbors, our new ward and get to know Spanish Fork. Its going to be an exciting time. Most of all though I'm exited to move on to this next stage of Matthew and my life together. Woot! We'll post pictures as soon as we can! :)

Some of you know that we've been looking in to buying a town house in Spanish Fork. We really love it and are saying our prayers and crossing our fingers and toes that everything works out. The home is on short sale so there are some extra approvals that are required from the bank - which we're waiting to hear back from. I'm soo anxious to hear what they say. I ask Matthew two or three times day if he has heard anything - like he wouldn't tell me if he had. :)
I'd always thought that Spanish Fark as it seems to be called by the original locals - was super hick-ville - (not that theres anything wrong with that - I'm from Millville and Matthew's from Roosevelt and we turned out okay!) But I was pleasantly surprised when Matthew first took us out to look there. Its cute and cozy and everyone in the neighborhood around the town house seems super friendly! Anyone that I have talked to who lives there loves it. I love all the little stores up and down main street. I'm a sucker for antique shops, books stores and unique finds that seems to run ramped in little main street type shops. Its so irresistible and a place I'd be happy to call home! So - if you run out of things to pray about - feel free to include us and our little dream home! We will return the favor anytime! :)

I know its a little late for my Friday post, but if you know me I’m sure you know that I'm always running late so I’m not too concerned. But lets pretend that its Friday so I can post about how much I love my hubby and how awesome he is.
Matthew is so patient with my girly tendencies and is incredibly understanding, even when he doesn't really understand.
I'll just say that its been a trying Sunday. I'll somewhat explain. For the last year Matthew and I have been working as ordinance workers at the Provo Temple. We have loved it - loved it! Over the summer we took a leave because we both had classes on our assigned nights and though Matt still has a class Thursdays I began working again in August. Working at the temple has been a huge release for me amidst all the busyness of working full time, going to school, church callings and learning to be a wife. Along with Matthew working full time and then some, his classes, his calling and learning to deal with me learning to be a wife as well. :) Sighhh busy. Well, being able to work in the temple has really kept me going some weeks when I was sure there was nothing left to give. It was my "me" thing - you know that one thing you do for yourself that can cheer you up no matter what’s going on? - Yeah, that. Maybe your thing is scrapbooking, or decorating, running or updating your bog. Maybe its cooking or a new hair color. Everyone has something. (If you don’t I highly suggest you go out and find something - it feels so good!) I can't put into words how much I have loved the experience.
Anyway, today our bishop asked my permission for him to release me from my calling as a temple worker so that I could better fulfill my calling in our ward relief society presidency. It was so completely unexpected that I didn’t really process it until I was already out the interview door and on my way to Relief Society. Once it hit me that I was done theres no was to put it but that I just fell apart. Because of meetings, Matthew and I had driven to church separately and by the time I got home to see him I was a total wreck. I'm talking streaming tears and hiccups, snot and whimpering - needless to say I wasn’t the prettiest thing to look at, nor very easy to understand. I was finally able to collect myself enough to tell him what had happened. He was glad to hear that no one had died but was so perfect just to hold me and let me cry. I think every woman out there will attest to the power of someone just letting you cry and just listen you. No matter how silly it is. It makes a world of difference and I’m so so grateful that I have Matthew not only to be my knight in shining amour but also my comfy comforter. Although deep down inside I knew it would be fine, I just needed that time to be sad. Matthew always makes me feel like I am the most important person in the world when there is something bothering me. He drops everything to see that I'm taken care of and that I know that he is there for me. You cant buy love like that. He is amazing and the most perfect husband and friend I could possibly ask for.

Thanks babe for letting me wipe my nose on your shirt. I love you! :)

I don't know if anyone has looked outside today, but the last time I caught a glimpse of the outside world - it was pretty dark and gloomy out there. All is pretty quiet in our office and all the offices around and the silence as gotten a little bit eerie. I could definitely use a little pick me up and inspiration to brighten the day.
In thinking about it Matthew seems like the perfect place to start because he inspires me more than almost anything else and makes me so happy! So - here you have it. The first of my Friday "my husband rocks" posts. (yeah, I know its Monday, but if I don't start now I never will.)

My birthday was a little over a month ago (24 blah!) and for my big day Matthew got us tickets to see Keith Urban! The concert wasn't until this Wednesday so it has been something I've been looking forward to. Matthew was such an awesome sport letting me drag him there - I'm pretty sure the female/male ratio was 150/1! I LOVED it! We had a great time and it was so wonderful to be out with my hottie honey. We have been so busy lately between work and school and everything else, that we don't often get a free night to forget about everything and just have fun! This was a PERFECT birthday present! It meant the world to me that he would take time out of his busy schedule just to suffer through listening to my aussie county crush. THANK YOU BABE!

Also, Matthew saves me from stuff. Constantly. Take for example this bird. We returned home one night from a weekend in Roosevelt to find that this bird had flown through our swamp cooler into our house! I unsuspectingly wandered into the living room to put things away and suddenly there was something big and black (okay, medium and brown speckled) flapping and flying madly around our little kitchen! "AAAhhh!" I screamed and down the stairs came Matthew all ready to save his sorry damsel. Now we are bird free - but the sucker would probably still be living in our kitchen if I didn't have Matthew around to save me. I wont even mention the spiders. Okay I will. We get HUGE spiders in our little duplex. I'm not sure what kind the are but they are BIG - like comparative to the bird. and Matthew is extremely diligent at spraying for spiders and checking the house to make sure they aren't turning our pleasant home into a love shack. I have some serious fears of these nasty critters and knowing that Matthew is on duty makes me feel so much better.

All in all, my husband freaking rocks. I love him with all I've got and its gonna stay that way - always.