merry christmas

christmas was awesome. i baked goodies. we went to two christmas eve celebrations. 

we sang songs and read scriptures. 

we love our families and are so grateful to be able to spend time with them during the holidays. 

stout christmas eve.

brady christmas eve. 

christmas morning at the rex house. if you have ever wondered what i look like after i roll out of bed just scroll down. it's pretty glamorous. i know. 

 no traffic. in orange county. a must see.  

pitts christmas morning.

 i made these vintage looking canvas prints for my parents. they were my favorite photos that i took after brylee was born. thank you beautiful mess for the tutorial. mom and dad loved them. 

rex christmas afternoon.

highlights: 

tyler & brekyn wore matching outfits

grandpa's santa hat & grandma's matching bow

eloise eating a turkey leg

julia's singing

my pretty pearl that tyler gave me

watching brylee open her presents

seeing my parents reaction when they saw the canvas'

tyler playing with his new globe

my new camera bag from jo totes

owen asking me for more chocolate popcorn with a chocolate mustache

today

my lovely sister kimberly made the A+T medallion and tyler bought me the pearl for christmas. 

i decided the pearl looked a little lonesome so i added kimberly's creation a few days ago. 

today is our four (4) year anniversary.

so much has happened over the last four years and i can't believe it has gone by  

so fast...

 we got sealed for all eternity in the newport beach temple. best. day. ever.

we honeymooned on a mexian riviera cruise.

we came home to our first apartment in fullerton.

we started school again and eventually we each transferred to cal state

we got new jobs

we bought a new car

we never moved but we went on a lot of trips... 

san diego, seattle, hawaii, utah, d.c., santa cruz, vegas

we acquired a sail boat

we saw U2 on the floor at the rosebowl & saw coldplay twice

we welcomed neices & nephews into our families

we rode our bikes. a lot. 

we watched a lot of friends & family get married

we lost weight (and probably gained a little too)

we had surgery (me-wisdom teeth, tyler-appendix)

we both graduated college

 we ran marathons, half marathons, triathlons & competed in the ragnar relay 

we made a lot of friends and lots of memories

there was a lot of other stuff too, but this could turn in to a very long list. 

mostly i feel like we learned how to love each other better. each day, month or year that goes by i feel like i get more and more attached to tyler and our life together. i get more and more excited about the future and all the things we will be able to do together. 

mostly i just love tyler a whole lot and i cannot imagine my life without him in it. 

happy four year anniversary tyler. i love you more than anything in the whole world. thank you for being my husband and taking care of me. i am so grateful to be your wifey.

i'm not trying to rub it in

we thought it would be fun to stay at a hotel for a night while we're in hawaii, but we knew we probably shouldn't spend the money. i decided to look around on our marriott rewards account and totally scored. i mean royally. we just booked two nights at the Marriott Ko Olina Beach Club. wait. it gets better. we used points so we only had to pay $75. seriously? insane. we are out of our minds excited. 

our lovely travel agent hooked us up with an amazing deal on flights too. and with our amex points we will have to pay even less. for reals? we are SO blessed. 

I'm in a pretty killer mood right now. it's friday. we're leaving work early to go to the movies and dinner. we have a 3 day weekend. the forecast looks like monday will be a beach day. life is grand.

i also got some gift cards for glen ivy for christmas from tyler and jessica. i made an appointment for an 80 minute massage for tomorrow, new years eve. that's right folks. i'm starting the new year right. 

relaxed. peaceful. serene.

happy new year!!!

i talked to tyler today about setting some rex family goals this weekend. i'll let you know what we come up with. a lot may change for us in 2012.

i'm pretty excited about it.

see ya later

good news folks. we just booked flights to honolulu, hawaii to visit tyler's brother and celebrate our four year anniversary, tyler's graduation and tyler's birthday. we are SO excited to get away for an entire week and spend time with family and have some time to ourselves without worrying about work or school. we haven't had a vacation free from the worry of school ummm... like... ever! this is something we've been looking forward to for years!

needless to say we are stoked. just two weeks from today we will be flying off to paradise and leaving the mainland to basque in the sun. 

woohoo!

i. can't. wait.

i'll never forget

i'll never forget the weekend tyler finished his bachelors degree. it was so much fun to celebrate with him and honor his huge accomplishment. 

on thursday night he came home to this...

then we went to bj's for some pizza & then it was party time with the grochmals at portillo's.

on friday we slept in, went to a movie, ate at houston's and did a little christmas shopping with the dicksons.

i also surprised him and got him another gift. see the photo below.

on saturday we took it easy, slept in and ran some errands. the evening was spent eating a delicious meal with jered & mariah robinson and kristen dalton. then we hit balboa to see some christmas lights. 

our night ended at the balboa candy shop. simply magical. 

i love christmas time. 

tis the season

kimberly brought brylee over in her christmas pjs to surprise me. kimmy knows how much i love christmas. when we were browsing around target a while back i just about forced her to buy each and every christmas onesie they had. 

pretty sure that was in october. 

i'm obsessed. i know. 

so of course i was ecstatic when i saw brylee girl's adorable outfit that she got from old navy. let's just hope i can find some as cute as this for our kiddos someday!

merry christmas!

thursday

today is tuesday.

tomorrow is wednesday.

the day after that is thursday.

and thursday is a special day in our house.

on thursday at 5 o'clock in the evening tyler will take his final final exam.

words cannot express the excitement that i am feeling. tyler is very calm and quietly attending study groups, typing away on the laptop and preparing for his last days of school. i am so very proud of him. finishing his bachelors has in no way been an easy ride, but he has endured and in just a couple days he will be able to say he is a college grad. he will be the first man in his family and i was the first woman in my family. i am so glad that we will be able to tell our children that we both finished college while we were married, living in so cal and working. we worked hard and together we accomplished a very important goal.

 i am so grateful to my husband for all of his hard work. someday, instead of working for the family business & running my photography business i will be able to quit my full time job to be home with our children while doing photography part time. i will be working, but the majority of my work will be in our home. but mr. rex will continue to work full time to provide for our family and i take great comfort in that. knowing that he will always be there to support me (in so many ways) just gives me a sense of peace.

i am just feeling really grateful for him today. grateful for who he is. grateful for who he has become. grateful for the knowledge that i get to keep him forever as long as i behave myself.

i'm excited for thursday, but even more excited for all the days after that.