Zazu

Meet Zazu.  He is our chicken that we bought and then cooked and then ate.  This was the first time Pierre and I have cooked a whole chicken. It was quite the experience. One weekend, I was asking Pierre what meal he thought we should make together that would be fun for us to cook. He said he really wanted to eat a whole chicken.  So, we found a recipe and bought a chicken!   
Little did I know that Pierre was only interested in eating the chicken, and not actually preparing the chicken.  I found this out when I took the chicken out of the fridge and put it in the sink for him to prepare. So I was left with all the dirty work.  I had to clean it out by myself!  There was some definite screaming, and Pierre having to leave the room from being grossed out.  Ha.  What a wimp.
After all was said and done, the finished product ended up looking pretty good. And most importantly, it tasted great.  I think next time, I will make Pierre take a turn at cleaning out the chicken though.

Please ignore my face and hair... blah.

The finished product. So good.

ONE YEAR OF MARRIAGE!!!!

Pierre and I have now been married for one full year!  The past year has been SO fun and my life feels so much more complete with being married to Pierre.  We are so blessed to have found each other. He is perfect for me. 
It sure is fun to have anniversary celebrations. Our official anniversary was on a Monday, so there wasn't much to celebrate on a Monday. Pierre had his normal work day, then we had a romantic picnic, dessert, and a chill night.  It was fun to think back to our wedding day and look at all our pictures; it was the happiest day of our life. 

Our (windy) picnic

The lovely strawberry tart I made for dessert

My 50 roses :)

The following weekend was when we had the actual anniversary celebration. We left for Colorado Springs when he got off work on Friday. We first had a nice steak dinner at Outback, and then spent the weekend exploring Pikes Peak, Manitou Springs, and the Garden of the Gods.   Colorado Springs is a neat city with a lot to do, and it was a pretty time to visit with the fall colors everywhere.  We loved it!  It was a perfect weekend to celebrate our year of marriage!
 

Our fabulous hotel

I think the hotel was the highlight of the weekend for me.

Hot tub fun

We had breakfast at a French restaurant.  Pierre was excited about his croissants!

Walking the streets in Manitou Springs- a cute town at the foot of Pikes Peak with shops & restaurants

We found a random, cool chair there.

On the way up to Pike's Peak, we found the North Pole!

He was excited about finding Santa's workshop

Also, on our drive up to Pike's Peak, we stopped by this lake.  It was pretty, even on a cloudy day.

We could only go 13 of the 19 miles up to Pike's peak, because it was snowing! We were sad we couldn't drive up to the very top, but Pierre was happy about the snow.

We stopped at a lodge to get some hot cocoa...yum.

See all that snow? Crazy.

We could see Kansas from the lookout point!

 

We stopped by Garden of the Gods to see the cool red rock formations.

  

 

 

Finally, a Birthday at Home!

I had a birthday a couple weeks ago, #27.  Since Pierre felt bad I didn't have any family around to celebrate with this year, and we are only 7 hours away from my parent's, we went to Wichita for the weekend! Isn't my husband great? I haven't had a birthday at home since 2003.   
He took the Friday off of work so we could have a 3 day weekend in Wichita.  It was so nice to only have to drive 7 hours, instead of 15, to get home.  
We had fun being with Brandon's family, going to the highschool football game to see Sarah perform in the marching band, and of course, having a family birthday party. 
  
Here are some pics of the weekend:

My sweet birthday gifts from Pierre. 

Picking up Weston from school.  Love that kid!

Sitting at the football game with my fabulous parents.

The hubster.  It was a chilly night at the game.

My chocolate ganache cake! It was beautiful and heavenly.

My momma, the baker.

My sweet birthday chair for the weekend.

Cake time!

Pierre with my cat....

Family walk

 

Enjoying the walk

 The Last Goodbyes

The third weekend Pierre traveled back to Provo from Denver, was also our last weekend in Provo.  On September, Friday the 14th, we spent all day packing up our cars and a trailer we rented.  We also had to clean our apartment and all that fun stuff.  We then met up with Jordan, Jess, and Kayla to go to Spanish Fork for our cousin's wedding reception.  It was a perfect way to spend our last night in Utah; with cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. 
We said our last goodbyes after the reception.  These were the hardest goodbyes. I was glad to get them over and done with, but I hope I never have to do that again. 
On Saturday morning, Pierre and I drove away from our life in Provo, Utah.  Oh how I will miss Provo- Never thought I would say that, but I will. Now, on to our new Colorado Life!

It is hard to see, but Amiamo was performing!

My beautiful sister.

Us

Cousins!

Having fun.

A Saturday Full of Family

The second weekend that Pierre came back to Provo from Denver, it was a full Saturday with non-stop family fun.  We had to wake up earlier on Saturday morning, and we went to pick up Kayla, Chels and Rod.  There was the annual Barber family canyon breakfast.  We had fun chatting with the Barber family up in the Millcreek Canyon, and eating a delightful breakfast.  Pierre and I also had to say our goodbyes, as we would be moving the next weekend. We will definitely miss all the monthly Barber get-togethers and staying caught up on everyone's lives.

We headed back to Provo and dropped everyone off, then Pierre and I met at Christine and Matt's for ice cream. They invited us to go out for ice cream with them, and little did we know that it was actually all a big plan to get us to their apartment for a surprise party. When we got to their place, we were welcomed with a big "surprise" and her front room full of cousins, siblings and best friends. It was quite overwhelming and wonderful.  I felt very loved. Christine planned a fabulous going away party for Pierre and I.  It was perfect, and an afternoon I will never forget.  We chatted, ate CHOCOLATE and CHOCOLATE and CHOCOLATE, and watched a video Christine and Matt put together of the Provo years.  Thanks to everyone who was there- it meant a lot to us and I get emotional every time I think about it.  It is sad to think I won't be able to join in on Cousin parties anymore. Those are the best!

The third and last family event of the day was going to Spanish Fork for dinner with Grandma and Grandpa.  They wanted to have one last dinner with us before we moved, and Kayla, Jordan, Jess, Rod and Chels were all invited as well. It was very neat to all have a family dinner one last time before we left, and the food was wonderful as always!  I will miss being able to visit Gma and Gpa whenever I want and to be living so close to them.

 It was a full day, with a lot of family, fun and emotions. We feel very blessed.