Monday, March 8, 2010

Here Comes the Sun...

I love the cold, blustery, rainy, snowy, overcast days, but after four months even I (the cold weather lover) enjoy when sun comes out and the wind dies down just enough to let the warmth of the sun come through. Those are the days when, even though I know I have stuff to get done, I grab a good book and read the day away, basking in the warm sun's rays. That was how my day went a couple weeks ago after I got home from work, and it was so relaxing! I got to enjoy the sun's warmth again while on a walk this afternoon and it was fun to see so many people out enjoying the sun, soaking up our little glimpse of spring before another winter storm comes in. The sun helps things grow, and brings smile's to our faces. So here's a couple pictures that I've taken of the beautiful sun in all its glory.


The sun peeking around the roof. It took a while to get this picture but it was worth it.


River in the Spanish Fork Canyon


Cherry Tomatoes that I grew last summer


Our honeymoon in New York - Central Park

Thursday, January 21, 2010

The Chosen

First edition cover


Over Christmas our book club read a wonderful book called The Chosen by Chaim Potok. The story is set in the 1940's in New York, and is about two teenage Jewish boys who come from different worlds, coming together and forming a strong friendship. Think of this as a teaser trailer, I don't want to give too much away. But not only does this book have a wonderful story, you will also learn more about the Jewish faith, and give you things to think about and wonderful topics of discussion. Plus it's not a terribly long book. Our book club had a wonderful evening of discussion around this book and we all learned a lot. I hope you enjoy!


Thursday, January 7, 2010

So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, adieu...

I don't want to copy my husbands post, but I also gave Facebook the boot. I've been talking about being done with Facebook for a while, and finally it's gone. I was tired of how distracting it was getting and only really talking to 2% of the people I was friends with. But now it's gone and I'm feeling more productive during my day, which feels great! So if you want to check up on the life of the Mortensens or take a look at my latest photography excursion, check out my blog or Bryson's.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Home Sweet Home

In the hustle and bustle of the last few months, I have been remiss in writing about our lovely apartment. Bryson and I went apartment hunting back in June, and it was one long day. We would call and email about apartments, go see them, then come back to campus to see if either someone had emailed us back or more apartments had been listed on craigslist. We looked at a few before we saw ours, and still saw a few more afterwards. But this one just fit us, and felt right.

Our apartment consists of a living room, kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and 2nd bedroom (aka the office/guest room/storage space/Bryson's voice studio.) There's no dishwasher, garbage disposal, and the washer and dryer are in a little building attached to the apartment building, but hey, you can't have everything. :) Plus this is home and we both love it! The recent additions to our home are a wonderful chair and ottoman for the living room, and a shoe bench and bookshelf Bryson made with the power tools he got for Christmas. We both think these additions have really made the house feel and look more like a home. Enjoy!








Saturday, December 12, 2009

Thanksgiving and Our First Christmas Tree!

We had such a wonderful, relaxing Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving day we went down to Bryson's mom's house and where we had a great day of cooking and eating with Bryson's cousin and her husband and two little kids. The week before Bryson and I decided to have our own Thanksgiving meal ready, because we didn't know if we'd get together with the family on Thursday, due to scheduling conflicts. But since it worked out for all of us to get together, Bryson and I cooked our Thanksgiving meal on Friday. We decided to do Cornish game hens because it was just the two of us, paired with a cornbread stuffing. They were joined by mashed potatoes and gravy, a green bean gratin, and sweet potato balls. We cooked most of the morning, and everything turned out so well! Our first Thanksgiving meal by ourselves was a success!

Later that day we ventured out, searching for a Christmas tree. There was a little lot down the street a ways, and when as we walked in there was a beautiful Noble sitting there, waiting for us to take it home. I knew that was the tree I wanted (I learned the art of picking a tree from my mom who is an expert. Her trees are always so beautiful!) but Bryson and I looked around just to make sure. After searching the rest of the lot we came back to our tree and bought it. Now came the "how do we get the tree home" part of our story. It wouldn't fit in our back seat or in the trunk. But then a lady, who we'd chatted with while we were both getting our trees, came over and offered to take our tree to our house. She had a huge van with plenty of room for both her tree and ours. When she found where we lived, she told us she lived just down the street a couple of blocks, so it would be no problem to deliver our tree. But as she went to pay for her tree she realized that she had no checks left. She laughed and came over and asked if we'd pay for the tree, then we'd go to her house where she could get more checks and pay us back. We were happy to pay for the tree and then follow her to her house where she paid us back and then dropped off our tree at our house. We were so grateful for her willingness to help us out and in turn we were grateful to help her as well. The rest of the night was spent decorating our first Christmas tree with our newly bought ornaments. It was such a fun and enjoyable day, one filled with joy and kindness.

Our Two little Cornish game hens, all ready to be stuffed and cooked.


Bryson stuffing the hens with cornbread stuffing.


So many dishes to clean! But the meal was worth it!

Don't they look just delicious?!

A feast fit for a king!

We decorated the tree with blue and silver starbursts and icicles, and snowflakes.
All the ornaments were covered in sparkles, so by the end of decorating we too were covered in sparkles.

The tree turned out so well!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Sam and Erika's wedding!

My younger brother got married on October 16th, and it was such a wonderful weekend! They got married down in the St. George temple and then had a luncheon and reception. It was so wonderful to be in the temple with my entire family and to share in the joy of Sam and Erika on their special day! Here's a few pictures of from the wonderful day. I'm not quite sure why some of the pictures have a blue tint to them, but I hope you enjoy!

They're married!

Grandpa Cole was so nice to hold Grandma's purse for her while she took some pictures. :)
The St. George temple was beautiful!

The whole Cole family!

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

My amazing husband!


My husband is so amazing! He has worked so hard with studying for his exams (which he's currently in Illinois taking while I'm writing this post), teaching at two different universities, and running all the errands I forget about so I can go to work. He is so amazing at making me laugh, even when I've had a hard day and don't really feel like laughing. I love how if I've had a long or hard day, I'll come home and he has a beautiful bouquet of flowers waiting for me. There is a song that came out right before we got married by Martina McBride that helps to show my feelings and how eternally grateful I am to be married to such an amazing man.

I Just Call You Mine
Martina McBride

I pinch myself
Sometimes to make sure I'm not in a dream
That's how it seems

I close my eyes and breathe in the sweetest moments I've ever known
It feels like home

And here I am
I want to be your everything
There you are
Turning winter into spring

And everyone that sees you
Always wants to know you
And everyone that knows you
Always has a smile
You're a standing ovation
After years of waiting
For a chance to finally shine
Everyone calls you amazing
Yeahhhh
I just call you mine

I fall apart
And just a word from you
Somehow seems to fix
Whatever's wrong
Ohh
You reach into the weakest moments and remind me that I'm strong
You gotta know
I'd be a fool not to see or even worse to forget
That you're more than I deserve

Cause everyone that sees you
Always wants to know you
And everyone that knows you
Always has a smile
You're a standing ovation
After years of waiting
For a chance to finally shine
Everyone calls you amazing
I just call you mine

Nothing makes sense when you're not here
As if my whole world disappears
Without you what's the point of it

Cause everyone that sees you
Always wants to know you
And everyone that knows you
Always has a smile
You're the dream that I've been chasing
After years of waiting
For a chance to finally shine
Everyone calls you amazing
I just call you mine
Everyone calls you amazing
I just call you mine


I love you honey!