A Wonderful Year Part II

August was one of my favorite months because Ben made it perfect. For my birthday he took me to this super fancy restaurant called La Callie.

Originally we were seated outside, where a peacock came inches from eating my food. We had our first two plates and then, out of no where, bugs started falling from the sky. We were laughing so hard when they started landing in our drinks and decided to switch to an indoor table. Ben ordered Fillet Mignon, topped with the most potent cheese we'd ever tasted, and I ordered a yummy chicken. For dessert we got Creme Brulee. It was super delicious and what made it even better was the romantic atmosphere.
After dinnr we drove home where I was surprised with roses and candles and romantic music by Steve Tyrell playing in the background. It was a great night :).
September was filled with school and moving to an apartment on campus; not too exciting, but we had fun watching movies and getting organized.
Because October is one of our favorite months, we tried to pack a lot of fun into it, going on lots of walks and running through corn mazes.

For Halloween we dressed up like people from the 50s and went to one of the worst corn mazes ever at "Hee-Haw Farms." We laughed so hard when we pulled up to the muddy, chicken wired farm area, but we had so much fun running around we didn't care how ghetto it was.

Later that month we went with my family to Thanksgiving Point and tried to go through the corn field, eventually giving up and carving our own path to the exit.

Ben and I carved pumpkins and watched scary movies together. It was so fun!
In November we started to freeze! But we bundled up and ventured outside as much as we could.
Thanksgiving was at Aunt Shirley's house this year. We were in charge of bringing enough potatoes to feed everyone. I made two huge pans of them and we rushed over to enjoy the day with family. I know I should have been focusing on Thanksgiving, but all I could think about the whole dinner was buying our Christmas tree!

We bought blue and silver decorations and decided real trees were the only way to go. We bought a cute tree that barely fit in our house and decorated it, listening to Nat King Cole's Christmas album and sipping hot coco. We loved our first winter together!

December was one of the best months we had all year! We went to New York City and spent a few days enjoying the Christmas Spirit on the East Coast. We had so much fun walking through Manhattan, visiting the temple, eating some of the best food ever at the Mediterraneo and Papaya King, seeing Billy Elliot, the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller and more!

We loved visiting the statue of liberty. Ben bought us "Mr. and Mrs. Liberty" hats. It was so fun! We also stood in line for hours to see Santa Claus at Macys and Ben hailed a taxi that we took to the Empire State Building. We did so many fun things! I can't wait to go back and celebrate Christmas there again!

Christmas was at my parent's house this year, but Ben and I exchanged stockings the 23rd. We both got great gifts, but more importantly we were together, celebrating the Reason for the Season. We loved reading the Christmas story together and sharing our testimonies of Jesus Christ.

Ben and I made a ham, potato and asparagus dinner and sat by our tree, enjoying the peace that filled our home.

At my parents we ate lots of great food and made some wonderful memories with my family, exchanging gifts and spending time together.
It was a great year!!!