Christmas is over...

We had a wonderful Christmas! Our trip to Las Vegas was fun before Christmas. Even though Eli had warned me, I still wasn't prepared for all of the blatant pornography that was there. People work standing on the sidewalks handing out little cards of girls hardly dressed. But, if you can somehow block that out, it's kind of a cool place. It's not really one that I want to return to over and over, but I'd love to go back to Boulder to visit the family that's there. Eli and I went down to the strip by ourselves on Friday night and met up with Tom and Whitney there. It was fun to see them and to have a friendly face in Vegas. We watched three of the water shows at the Bellagio, which was my favorite thing there. One of the songs was "Sleigh Ride" and another was a Rachmonivof piece which is one of my favorite classical songs ever, Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. It was cool. Then Eli and I went into some really fancy stores there. At Armani they had a mens tee shirt, just a cotton shirt, nothing special on it at all. It was $300! Then we saw some beautiful dresses at Prada, yeah, those were about $4,000. Yikes! But Saturday in Vegas was really fun because it was a fun family day. Eric took us all to breakfast at a buffet, and then we went to Mikey's baptism. That was really nice, he was so excited and it was such a nice time. Then we had a lunch/dinner thing after that. It was fun and the food was so good. The guys went to the BYU game and I stayed and napped and then we took the kids home, looked at lights, and then we went to a walk through cactus garden that was decorated with lights. It was really neat. We had to go home the next day though, so it was a short trip. I'd like to go back and visit Lisa, Eric and the kids for longer. They're really fun and the kids are so cute. Anna slept with me and Eli the first night we were there at the hotel. She's so cute and Emily the little baby has grown a lot since we saw her in the summer.
Well, I think in order to use my time at work more effeciently, and to keep lengths of posts down and readers interests up, I will do another post tomorrow chronicling our Idaho part of the trip! It was so much fun. Here's what's in store: treacherous roads, fun family times, a sledding accident, and our first Christmas!!!!!!
Until tomorrow!
Cherie

Finally Finals!

Christmas is here and we are excited! I finished my finals yesterday, it was so great! Nothing feels better than being done with a class you never enjoyed(cough..english 364). Eli has one more left which he may be taking at this very moment. I think we've both done well on ours. I got a 96% on my marriage one and Eli has gotten probably an average of 95-98% on his finals. We're happy. Today I am at work for an eight hour shift, which seems really long because there's not much to do today. Most students are done or almost done with their finals, so no one is asking for help with research. Too bad. But I was excited last night because I cleaned the whole house and finally put up some of our wedding pictures in the frames. I love having a clean house and it is kind of nice to clean it. I just didn't vaccum because it was after 11 and I didn't want to wake up any of the neighbors. I'll do that today.
Yesterday marked a momentous occasion in our lives. It was the one year anniversary of our first kiss and when we decided to officially be a couple. It was fun to remember that evening and see how far we've come in just a year. I must say that my sisters were right, when I told them about Eli they all said we'd be married by the summer. I denied that we would, but I guess I'm eating my words now. I don't mind though, I love being married to Eli!
Let me tell you our fun plans because I probably won't be able to post soon:
Tonight I get off work at 7 and then we're going on our annual finals are over date! Last year was great, we went to the Bombay house and gave each other Christmas presents, Eli even wrote me a cute poem. This year we're going to La Dolce Vita, our favorite little Italian place, and then we're going to watch White Christmas and pack for....
Las Vegas tomorrow! We're going down for Eli's cousins baptism. We're excited. We're going to stop at the big swap meet, eat at a big buffet, spend a lot of time with the cousins, they're so cute, and play around in vegas. The guys are going to go to the BYU bowl game and us girls are going to go shopping. The only thing I regret about not going is that David Hassselhoff is going to be singing the national anthem. I can't believe I'll miss the Hoff. But I told Eli he can record it on his phone for me. I was really excited about the warm weather, but it's snowing in Las Vegas! Good thing our hotel has a massive hot tub outside!
After we get back we're going up to Pokey-tello! Hopefully the roads will be good and all the snow we got today will be cleared up. We're going to stop all the way at the Bountiful temple and spend the week up there until Christmas. I'm excited. It's always so nice and relaxing up there and it's fun to see Eli's mom, grandma, niece, siblings, and other family. I think we want to go to Lava Hot Springs while we're there and play in the snow and read. I've got my books for the break all check out and ready to read. Last year I made the mistake of only bringing one book. I love to read on the break! We'll stay there for Christmas morning then...
come back to provo and have a Christmas dinner with Cindy and Kurt. It would be fun if Kristin and Cody could come too. It will be fun to see AJ with his new toys and all that. Then Eli and I will come home and have our own Christmas at our house and open our presents and our stockings.
The day after Christmas is Christmas II with Eli's dad and siblings. That will be fun too to see the whole family and get to play with Rustin and see everyone.
Then sometime after Christmas we'll get to see Annie and Chad and the kids. I'm excited for that. Annie, call me or Cindy so we can discuss and plan on when you guys will come down, I need to know for my work schedule.
So, that's our break in a nutshell! Yay for Christmas and for being done with school. I am so excited to only have one semester and one term left!
Merry Christmas everyone!
Love,
Cherie and Eli

We're all a bunch of Quirks!!

Annie tagged me, so here it goes.

My 10 ONLY quirks (just kidding, I have way less)

1. I wash my hair almost everyday.  I hate having dirty hair.  I hate not being clean.

2. Like Annie, I need to have white noise at night.  I used to have it as a novelty, but now it's a necessity because Eli is a loud breather and an occasional snorer.  I turn the fan on every night, even though our house is a cold one.

3.I can't pay attention in class unless I'm doodling or something.  I don't like school much, and it's hard for me to pay attention unless I doodle.

4. I love to play solitaire on the computer.  Seriously, if the computer is in front of me, I'll play it, but kind of unconsciously, because I can still carry on a conversation whilst playing.  I love solitaire.

5.  Eli says one of my quirks is how I "vehemently defend inanimate objects or things that aren't real."  It makes me really worked up when he makes fun of Harry Potter or jokes about tricks he'll pull on our future kids.  I just don't like him to make fun of stuff he has never taken the time to read!

6. I love to have ice water all day long.  Usually I fill up a bottle with a whole tray of ice so it will last me through the day.  Eli says its silly because it's 90% ice and 10% water, but give it 5 hours and it's perfectly iced water!

7. I've recently discovered a love for beef stroganoff.  I want to make it all the time in my crock-pot.  It's so good!  I don't know why, I guess because we never had stroganoff growing up, so I never got to have it as just a regular food.

8. When I'm in school, I have to have a book to read for fun throughout the semester or I get really stressed out.  It must come from Mom, because if I don't have that escape and release I get too bent out of shape.  It's stupid too because most of my classes are literature classes, but I still need to read on my own.  

9. I love surgery shows and medical shows.  If they're showing a live surgery, you can bet I'm there.  I love that stuff.  I'm really excited that Eli wants to be a surgeon, because I hope someday I'll be able to come and watch them (that's probably against hospital policy).

10.  I love Neil Diamond.  He's the best!  I love his music and his movies (Everyone go rent the Jazz Singer) and he's great in concert!!  Man, do I love Neil Diamond.  I wore my Neil shirt today.  I even love his Christmas c.d.'s even though he's Jewish.  Some might call it an unhealthy obsession, but I think just because I threw a birthday party for him last year doesn't mean I'm obsessed.  Everyone had fun at that party, and it was highly attended too!  Neil Diamond forever.  P.S. I want his new album "Home Before Dark" for Christmas.  Pass it on!

Cherie

That was kind of fun.  I tag Laura and Ashley!

Favorite Wedding Pictures!

Sorry this is a lot of pictures at once, I actually have access to a computer with my pictures on them, so I'm taking advantage of them.






















Here are some of my favorite pictures from our wedding. Russ Dixon was our photographer and he did an amazing job. I love them so much!










































































































Merry Christmas everyone, and good luck on finals those who are in school!

Eli the Physics Master!!

I just want to say that Eli got 100% on his physics test today!  He's so smart.  I've seen the stuff he studies for that class, it makes absolutely no sense at all!  I'm really proud of him.  In other news, he will work tonight, and while he works I'm going to split a Cafe Rio salad with my friend Ashley and we are going to finally see The Dark Knight at the dollar theater.  Dinner and movie for $5 each.  Tomorrow morning I'm going birding again.  I love being out in the cold, that was sarcasm.  Other than that, I don't think we have that many plans for the weekend, just cleaning the house and getting ready for finals.  

Have a good weekend!

Thanksgiving Break

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving break!  Man, it was hard coming back to school.  Here's how our week went:

Tuesday was Friday class, but my classes got cancelled, so Eli went to class, I cleaned up the house and cleaned out the car then we were on our way to Idaho!  We stopped in Salt Lake (it was our four month anniversary) and went to the Tracy Aviary so I could get more birds for my biology class.  It was so cool and we had a blast looking at all the birds.  Then we ate at a restaurant in the avenues, Su Casa, but it tasted just like our Mexico mexican food, bland and kind of gross.  It made Eli sick.  We rolled into Pocatello at about 5:45.  We went to eat with Eli's mom and we rented Wall-E and watched it.  It was really fun.  We all really loved the movie!  On Wednesday we kind of slept in, then we went to lunch at a really cool Indian restaurant in town, then we went to the store and got groceries, and then we made pizza for dinner and Gabe, Lisa, McKenna, and grandma all came over for dinner.  It was really fun too!  Then we all went to see Mama Mia.  It was a fun movie, very silly, and I love Colin Firth.  But here's a warning: Pierce Brosnan can not sing!!!!  We had fun though.  Then we came back on Thursday, because Eli had to work.

Now our Provo part of the break:

I dropped Eli off at work, there was a line all of the way out of the restaurant!  Then I went to a dinner at Kurt's sister Kristen and her fiance!  It was such a great meal, they made a ton of food.  It was fun to see Cindy and Kurt and AJ.  Then I made noodles, (which didn't turn out well so we didn't eat), a lemon meringue pie (which did turn out well!) a chocolate cake, and banana bread!   Then we took all that stuff over to Gary and Karen's and spent the night.  We got up on Friday and Kimmy and Rustin were there.  He's such a cute little guy, he's only 1 1/2!  Karen, Kimmy, and I cooked all day, then we ate at about 3:30.  It was a really good meal.  We had two turkey's and a ham.  Cindy, Kurt, and AJ came as well, which was really fun.  AJ and Rustin had a hard time, both of them are used to being the only child and not having to share, so that was funny to watch.  Eli said they would race each other across the room to get to the toy they both wanted.  After dinner we all went for a walk to feed the ducks at the pond.  Saturday was fun too.  Kimmy, Rory, and Rustin were still there, so we all went bowling, then me and Eli and Kim and Rory saw the movie Four Christmases.  It was all right, more of a dollar theater movie, I think.  So, that was our really fun week!  I loved being able to visit with all of our family for a good amount of time.  We had a really good time in Idaho too, it's so nice to see Eli's mom, Grandma, and siblings.  We always have a good time up there.  But now we're back to school.  I've already written one 11 page paper this week, and Eli has a physics test this week, but I know he'll do well on it.  I'm going to see Batman Friday (finally) at the dollar theater with my friend Ashley, and we had the first Christmas Hour last night with Amber, Janae, Emily and Kyle!  We're all excited for Christmas.  I've got our decorations up, I'll take pictures and put them up once I clean the living room, hopefully tonight!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Cherie and Eli