Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Idaho Aquarium

For Christmas this year, Mandi and family gave us admission to the new Idaho Aquarium.  I had read about the aquarium and been wanting to go, so it was the perfect gift!  With only having Kylee half of the week and our differening work schedules, it's been difficult for us to find a time that would work to go to the aquarium as a family, but we made it this last Saturday and had a great time!

Kylee especially loved the exhibits where she could touch the marine life - clams, stingrays, sharks, starfish, and other fish.  I don't think she actually ended up touching the fish, stingrays, or sharks because she pulled her hand out of the water when they got close, but she still had a blast!

Checking out a crab with Daddy

 Thank you Harris family!!

Sunday, February 26, 2012

A Few Pictures

I'm still waiting on pictures from our wedding photographer (can't wait to get them!), but here are a few for now that others took.
Just leaving the temple
Seriously SO happy
My sweet new daughter
Mrs. Hudson
The cake!!
Just a little taste
It takes three to cut our cake!
Dinner decor
AMAZING friends
Thanks for celebrating with us!

Saturday, February 25, 2012

My Valentine

It's been a long time since I had a valentine on Valentine's Day.  And I have to tell you, I was pretty excited to spend this Valentine's Day with the one I love (even though I only saw him for 15 minutes because of our opposite schedules!)  To make my day even brighter, I received these beautiful flowers at work.

 Thanks Matt - I love you!!!

Monday, February 20, 2012

Build-a-Bear


My parents gave Kylee a gift certificate to Build-a-Bear for Christmas this year... with our split custody schedule and busy weekday evenings, we haven't had a chance to go until today (thankful for a day off!)  Kylee had so much fun picking out a bear (which she named Blueberry), filling it with stuffing, scrubbing it clean, picking out clothes, and then sharing her McDonald's chicken nugget lunch with it.  Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Nye!


First "Family" Vacation

Last year I joined Mandy and family for their annual President's Day weekend Garden Valley getaway.  When we were leaving the cabin, I was invited back for this year along with "whoever I was dating at the time".  I laughed at the thought.  Did she really think I would be dating someone this February?  Who would have thought that I would be married before this trip!?  I remember when Matt and I were dating, and Mandy was confident we would be getting married, she made the request that we be married before February 17th so Matt and I could share a room at the cabin :-)  Anyway, we had a fun-filled weekend.

We went sledding down a hill off the back porch of our cabin, 

(Cooper on the sled hill)

tubing at the tubing hill, 

Kylee had a BLAST!!!  Her squeals of delight were the highlight of my weekend.

made homemade pizzas and ate lots of other yummy food,

Cooper, Gianna, and Kylee
Robert showing off his skills

went swimming in the geothermal pool,

played games, chatted, watched movies, played with the Kinect, read books, and just lounged around the cabin.  Thanks Mike & Mandy for letting us join you again this year!!

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Crippled

It's amazing how we can come to rely on something so much that we literally feel crippled when that thing is taken away.  This is how I felt this week without the internet at home.  Our internet was down all day Thursday... a technician came out to fix it Friday morning, but then it was down again Sunday morning and we didn't get someone to come out to look at it again until today.  I guess the technician needed to completely replace the cable line to the house (or something like that).

What does THREE WHOLE DAYS without the internet really mean?  

I couldn't make dinner because the recipes I needed were online (I had planned this week's menus around recipes I had found on pinterest).

I have a ton of work to be doing and can't really afford to be leaving work right now at 5, but I was unable to work from home this week and now I'm feeling super behind.

I wasn't able to blog.  Or look at pinterest.  Two things that anyone who knows me knows I love.

Basically I NEED the internet.  And all I can say is I am so happy to have it back!

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Anniversary Inn


Mandy told me months ago that for my wedding she was getting us a night at the Anniversary Inn.  I had told people I didn't want wedding gifts... but I happily accepted this one :-) I had never been to the Anniversary Inn before and wasn't quite sure what to expect, but I didn't expect to see this when we walked into the Romeo and Juliet suite!

Pretty cool, right?

That's the bathtub/shower you see as you walk in, and the stairs lead up to the bed.

The room came with chilled cider and tasty dessert, which we enjoyed with our PF Changs takeout (we didn't want to wait 1 1/2 hours for a table at the restaurant!).

And then the next morning, breakfast was delivered to our door - yogurt parfaits and ham/cheese croissants. And we ate breakfast in bed.  It was delicious. This is my kind of breakfast... I could seriously eat like that for breakfast every morning (if only it wasn't half of the calories I should probably eat in a given day).

Thanks Mandy, Mike, & Kris for the fun gift!!!

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Mr. and Mrs. Hudson

I know, I know.  We've been married now for five days... it's about time I blog about the big day!  I had contemplated waiting until we get the pictures from our photographer, but those will need to wait for a later post.  Here's a picture to tie you over for now.
I can't tell you how many times I have been asked in the last few days how the wedding day was.  My answer is one word.  Perfect.  I seriously don't think the day could have gone better.  The day went like this:
  • 6:00 am - I get up and get ready for the day.
  • 7:00 am - Savanah does my hair and makeup... she helps me to feel beautiful.
  • 9:00 am - Matt picks me up and we drive to Twin Falls.  The driving conditions are excellent.
  • 11:00 am - We arrive in Twin Falls. We're a little early so we drive by our dinner venue.
  • 11:15 am - We arrive at the temple and prepare for the ceremony.
  • 1:00 pm - The ceremony begins.  We are surrounded by a wonderful group of family and friends.  The ceremony is beautiful... we are counseled to pray together as a couple, to attend the temple often, and to use the Proclamation to the Family as the topic for our next several family home evenings. I become Mrs. Matt Hudson!
  • 1:45 pm - We exit the temple... picture time!
  • 3:30 pm - Even though the weather is beautiful for February in Twin Falls (sunshine, no rain or snow, only a slight breeze at times), it's still COLD.  I am about numb, so we decide to end pictures 15 minutes early.
  • 4:30 pm - The doors for our dinner venue open.  The venue took care of all the setup and decorations.  It is prettier than I expected.
  • 5:00 pm - We start dinner - tri-tip steak, house salad, rolls, green beans, and mashed potatoes.  Everything is delicious.
  • 6:00 pm - We cut (and serve and eat) the cake.  The cake, by the way, was beautiful.  And tasty.
  • 6:45 pm - The last guests leave the party, and Matt and I head off to our hotel for the evening.
I didn't feel stressed or nervous. At. All.  Instead I felt excited, happy, hopeful, blessed.  I still can't believe how incredibly LUCKY I am that I got to marry Matt.  I am so excited for this next step in our lives together.  I am looking forward to the journey!

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Wig-Mania

I sure have a great group of girlfriends.

I am pretty darn lucky to have built relationships with some amazing women over the last few years.  They are just another testament to me that Someone loves me and is constantly watching over me.  My friends have been there through my ups and downs, have been a sounding board for me, have encouraged me, and were all so excited that I met (and fell in love with) Matt!

Last Saturday, we all donned our favorite wigs and celebrated my last weekend as a bachelorette in style!  Lucky me - I got to wear the same wig I was wearing when Matt proposed :-)  We got some pretty funny looks as we waltzed into the Cheesecake Factory for dinner!  I think people were secretly jealous they weren't part of our party.  After a delicious dinner, we headed back to Jen's house for dessert - a fruit pizza bar (still loving pinterest!).  Thanks everyone (especially Jen who planned the evening!) for such a fun night.  I love you all!

I didn't get a group shot on my camera... I'll update this post at a later date so you can see all the great wigs!
Camille, me, Brandee
Kris & me
Jen & me
 

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Where to Begin?

I have a confession... I set up a gmail address with my new name several weeks ago just so I could register a new blog url.  I know, I'm a little dorky like that.  But as an avid blogger for over five years now, I think about those kind of things!

So here I sit, wondering where exactly is an appropriate place to start on this blog?  I think I'll just cut the cord on my old blog and start here where I left off (versus going back and blogging the last couple posts of my single life on kimberlywoodings.blogspot.com and picking up here after I got married).  So here goes... a new blog to start a new chapter in my life.  

Let the fun begin!