Gracias. Merci. Danke. Thanks.

Thanksgiving this year was spent at Ben's parents home. Ben made the shrimp cocktail (that is a new tradition for me), and I made the fruit salad. Syd and Lee had a friend smoke the turkey so it was extra tasty. Thankgiving was everything it is supposed to be...filled with lots of good food and great company. Syds brother Derek, his wife Katie, and their two children Palmer and Meredith joined us, Ali drove down from school in Idaho, Spencer and Dawn flew in from their home in Oregon, and my sister Heather came from Provo...all to spend Thanksgiving at the Snarr home.

After stuffing ourselves with smoked, savory turkey, creamy mashed potatoes, carrots cooked in mustard and brown sugar, pie topped with whip cream, etc. (ok now i'm hungry for leftovers...) we played games. One clever game that Syd came up with and prepared was a memory game with pictures of all of us on the cards. And to top it all off we then put together hygeine kits for battered women and children.

Thanks to Thanksgiving this year:
I had a great time with family.
I laughed a lot.
I tried something new (shrimp cocktail).
I served others.

What more could I ask for? There is SO much to be THANKFUL for!


Black Friday: We saw the movie, Blindside. MUST see! It is a feel good movie, that will make you laugh and cry and is based on a true story.



BYU vs. UofU game: We watched it with friends Ladd & Katie!

Eat.Pray.Love.

It has been a while since I have picked up a book to read for pleasure. I always had school books to read (not that I even read those either). So as a suggestion from my mother in law I read this one.

The author, Elizabeth Gilbert takes you into her life, shares her struggles, and allows you to follow her journey to discover herself, true peace and balance. Elizabeth is witty and honest and she made me laugh, cry, and relate to her. I now have a better resolution to choose to be happy, to medidate, to love more deeply, to pray more fervently, to achieve a simple balanced life, and discover ME more fully. Gosh, that sounds like a lot to work on...one step at a time. Right?

Throughout the book I gained insights and found quotes that seemed to be just what I needed to hear. One particular day, cruising along the Mexican Riviera, I was allowing myself to think about my situation at home: how Ben and I are at a crossroads and don't really know what the future holds for us or where we will be even next week, or how much longer he will have to travel for. Thought built upon thought until I felt sorry for myself, and allowed myself to complain...just a bit...to my wonderful hubby who works so hard and treats me so nice that he does not deserve to hear it. After finishing my complaint I sat back in my lawn chair and opened up my book to read. I read this:

"Here you are in India, in an ashram in one of th holiest pilgramage sites on earth. And instead of communing with the divine, you're trying to plan where you'll be meditating a year from now in a home that doesn't yet exist in a city yet to be determined. How about this you spastic fool--how about you try to meditate right here, right now, right where you actually ARE."

Umm hello!? Can anyone else see how this relates perfectly to me? Here I am on a cruise, having the time of my life and I'm thinking about home and complaining?? So immediately it was like I was bonked in the head and a lightbulb went on. I said "Britney, enjoy the moment. Life is a journey. It is exciting that it is a mystery, it is not monotonous, and you have a clean canvas to paint." So no more complaints will come from me. I learned my lesson. :)

Halloween, the Utes, and the 'lil Tank too

Ben attended the University of Utah for some time so he is very loyal to the Utah Utes. We hopped off the plane from the cruise just in time to make it to the Halloween black out game. So I guess you could say we dressed up for halloween this year...we dressed as Utes fans in all black. :) We were so lucky and got 3rd row tickets from Bens neighbor.

We ate hot dogs, drank hot chocolate, cuddled in the chilly weather, cheered our guts out, and were so relieved when the Utes won after a very close game.

GO UTES!



On Sunday we were so happy to see Bens friends from Highschool, Geoff and Morgan while they were in town from Washington D.C. The last time we saw them was at our wedding...they were so awesome and made it to both receptions in Boston AND Salt Lake City! This time they have a new addition...Josh (aka the "tank"). What a cutie! Here he is mesmerized by Ben. But we also found that he is mesmerized by the football game on tv...such a boy! His parents seem to have the mom and dad job down and we couldn't be happier for them and their little family!


Oh and sorry Josh, if Ben is crushing you in his armpit.

Cruisin' the Mexican Riviera!

For my birthday Ben took me on a 7 day cruise through the Mexican Riviera! We sailed on the Norwegian Star and had three stops: Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan, and Puerta Vallarta. It was a dream vacation full of sun, food, adventure, and relaxation. I couldn't have asked for a sweeter gift, or a more wonderful time with my hubby!

Highlights of the trip:

Sun bathing...and Bens 50 cent swim shorts from Salvation Army size 10-12 little boys. What a dweeb I am in love with. Haha.



Dressing up nice and fancy for dinner just about every night. Finally a reason to dress up! We girls love playing dress up and I am such a girly girl.



As many people know, the dining experience on a cruise ship is defintely one of the highlights. World class chefs, joined with excellent waiters and beautiful surroundings created unforgettable memories. The dining experience also enabled us to dine with other passengers on the ship; which we loved. We made some good friends from many different places. One of the evenings we decided to dine alone for what we thought would be a little more private and personal...but the experience quickly turned uncomfortable as we were seated right next to a couple who was obviously having an argument:) For your enjoyment we would like you to re-live our awkward experience. Here's the situation:
*Couple in their 70's.
*Table RIGHT-NEXT to ours.
*Empty bottle of wine on their table.
*They are getting ready to order dessert.

Woman: "You're gonna order MORE dessert?!?"
Man: "You have a problem with me doing that?!?"
Woman: "I have ALOT of problems with you!"
Man: (whispering) "You're embarassing us."
Woman: (NOT whispering) "You want me to REALLY embarass you?!"
Man: "You want me to give you a BLACK EYE?!?"

-The woman then got up and walked out. The man followed behind her at a safe 20ft distance.

It was WAY awkward in the moment; but, now we just laugh about it! :) Sometimes, when we get upset with eachother we say, "You want me to give you a BLACK EYE?!?" and we laugh.

Here I am eating lobster for my first time and I loved it.


Being pampered and waited on with room service and cool towel creations like this elephant.


The Chocoholics buffet. It was a dream, absolutely everything was chocolate from chocolate dipped fruit, to chocolate sushi, to these beautiful carvings.


Our first stop in Cabo San Lucas. We rode the glass bottom boat to this beautiful place, Lovers beach.



We ate lots of real Mexican food.


Our second stop in Mazatlan where we toured around in this little taxi. Ben is the best travel buddy considering he is fluent Spanish and could make friends and bargain for us. I learned a few phrases but mostly used "no gracias," as many natives tried relentlessly to sell us anything from a hammock to chewing gum.


We went for a jet ski ride. It was wild...Ben was holding on for dear life as I drove. Haha.


Our third stop was in Cabo San Lucas where we went zip lining through the jungle! We are hardcore with our face paint.




We swung from this rope swing into the water. If Ben were a Disney character he'd be Mogley on the Jungle Book. :) He got a little crazy jumping with me on his back, and head first.



We didn't forget to do our handstands. This time with the beautiful Mexican sun setting and the waves glistening as our perfect backdrop to our perfect vacation.


Thanks baby hunny for the birthday gift, for your thoughtfulness, for being so romantic, for making me laugh every day multiple times, and so much more. I love you!

Birthday Week

My birthday lasted all week! Ben took the week off work and came home for a visit!

Summary of the AWESOME week:

Picked grapes from the yard and froze them...

Did lots of yard work, including taking down a tree...

Ben dominated that tree like King Kong.

I was a bit worried this might make it onto stupidvideos.com or the Darwin Awards but as you can see it all turned out just fine. phew. Ben did such a great job, and I was an excellent supervisor. :)

I opened my birthday presents at Midnight because I was too anxious to wait 'til morning...

Ben spoiled me rotten with gifts:

1. Set of Oceans Dvds

2. GPS for my car

3. 7 day CRUISE to the Mexican Riviera!

This was a complete surprise and I'm giddy with excitement to go on my first cruise ever with my favorite travel buddy, Ben. The countdown is on! We leave on Oct. 24th.

Ben woke up earlier than me on my birthday morning and surprised me with a cake he made himself. I'm so impressed at his baking and cake decorating skills. What a hunk.

We gained five pounds this week...

Ate at Five Guys for lunch.

We had fondue at the Melting Pot for birthday dinner.

Ben took to me to a secluded but popular place, Ruths Diner. It was so quaint and the food: DELICIOUS! How good does that caprese look!?

We also ate at the fancy Market Street Grill, had lunch at Whole Foods, and don't worry I did cook once. I made one of Bens favorites: Pot roast. But other than that, ya we ate out. :)

Ben did Bikram Yoga with me... He mouthed "We are in a fight," as we lay sweating in the 110 degree room after class. I guess it was a bit harder than he thought. He is tough though and a few minutes later said, "lets go again tomorrow."

We celebrated our niece Kensingtons 1st Birthday! What a cutie! We gave her the Hello Kitty dressed as a pink leopard in the picture.

xoxo

We also attended my mission reunions, saw "The Invention of Lying" in the movie theater (I wouldn't recommend it), watched all of The Office season 5 in order to catch up for season 6, watched LDS General Conference, and I got a pedicure with the girls in the Snarr fam.

Best Birthday week ever.

There's no place like home...

Ben followed the yellow brick road...hopefully he found that there really is "no place like home." I sure wish we could say he's "not in Kansas anymore." :)

Ben is moving all over for work for the next month or so.

I am in Utah.

It stinks.

Right now he is in the rinky dink town of Liberal, Kansas...which happens to be the place where the Wizard of OZ was filmed!

It looks like he met the cast, and had a fun time...without me. Bummer! I miss him so much. I just have to keep reminding myself, "somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue..." :)

Girls Trip: Las Vegas style!

The Snarr girls have an annual girls trip and now that I'm part of the fam I joined them to....LAS VEGAS! I was a first timer in Vegas and I love love loved it! I'm going to overload this blog with pictures but there was just so much we did and saw that I can't leave out. I had the BEST time with the girlies and I think we all can say: nothing quite compares to some girl time!

When they say "Fabulous" they mean Fabulous.



The Bellagio: my favorite hotel on the strip. The fountain shows to music are absolutely positively breathtaking. Inside the hotel are the most outstanding gardens.



Us girls, excpect for Syd (taking the picture) and Dawn, we are so sorry she couldn't make it!


We rode the New York New York roller coaster at night. We screamed and laughed the whole way! We would have rode it over and over again if we could.


Ice cream + girls = maximum happiness and silliness.


The Venetian makes you feel like you are outside in Italy. Papa Snarr showed up just for a day to watch the Lion King with us and treated us girls to a gandala ride through the Venetian. It was quite romantic :). Our guide sang Josh Groban the whole way.



The Lion King! This was the absolute BEST Broadway show I've seen. It was so good it made me cry. We were so lucky...we sat 3rd row!

Special thanks to the rents for giving us the most incredible trip ever! Momma Snarr planned the trip and really spoiled us girls!


We shopped 'til we dropped! This was my favorite purchase: shoes on major sale at BCBG. So stinkin' cute!


Shopping at Sephora. Yes that is me outside of the window. Yes I'm on the phone with who else but Ben. Yes, of course I missed him!


We obviously have positive feelings for the Blue Man Group.


We went to the Las Vegas Temple for a session.


I saw this exit sign on our drive to Las Vegas. I wanted to take the exit to Benjamin but no one else thought it would be as fun as I did ;)


We stayed in St. George for a night on our way and there we ate at the Painted Pony, visited the Brigham Young house, saw the St. George Temple, and watched the show, Aida at the Tuacon Theater. The Tuacon is an outdoor theater in the mountains and red rock. It was an amazing show in an amazing atmosphere! What a trip! I can't wait for another trip with the girls next year!