those christmas lights....

 Wadsworth our christmas duck, just chillin...

This cute guy helped put up the tree and all the lights. Isn't he good looking?

We finally got our tree up! My family has a history of always using FAKE trees (beautiful, yet tacky)....and Dave's family always has real ones. Therefore, Dave had a pretty hard time convincing me to go with a real one (not). I loved going to the lot and picking out the perfect tree for us. And they smell so good. We love the ornaments too. Old school with a mix of dr. suess. Yes! Its finally starting to feel a little more like christmas. We can't wait to go home to California for the holidays. It will be a much needed break!

ch ch ch changesss.

Recently I decided it was time for a little change in the hair department. For those of you who know me, I am a pretty low key person and I have never dyed my hair in my life, so I thought to myself...if I'm going to make a change, why not go all the way? Go big or go home right? (Jonny Tsunami used to be my all-time crush). So I went to this cute lady Lexi and choped about 6 inches off my hair and dyed it super dark brown. It took a little getting used to but I really like it.

school. is. almost. done.

This has been the craziest week. I went to bed around 3 and 4 every night because I was working on this....

along with a handful of essays. Boy am I glad thats over. Now we just have finals to look forward to....hehe he. 

christmas lights - coldplay

Coldplay, my other love, just released this music video "Christmas Lights" and I dig it.




Speaking of Christmas lights...is it sad to mention that we have not one Christmas decoration up? Instead, we still have our 3 foot tall light up ghost to welcome us when we come home... "boo radley" as we like to call him. Awesome.  I guess that's what I can expect when I start listening to Christmas music in SEPTEMBER.  I am a  little burned out, but in order to kick myself back into the Christmas spirit...here is my list of things I love this time of year:

ice skating

mittens, hats, sweaters, and other cozys

picking out a tree

sledding

gingerbread houses with friends

snowboarding

finally taking a real vacation to see family in california for the holidays

Mariah Carey's christmas album

hot chocolate - sometimes 3 times a day

cinnamon candles

lights everywhere

snow that hasn't been stepped on

christmas sweaters

and the end of the semester. hallelujah

the bird....snowbird that is

Is it a bad sign that my body is still sore 3 days after snowboarding? On Saturday when I woke up I couldn't even lift up my head. This could mean one of three things, or all:
1) I was charging the mountain so hard that I used a lot of muscles I haven't in a while
2) I am just that out of shape. Sad.
3) Due to me shredding the gnar, I fell about 10 times and crunched my body in the process. (3 somersaults included!)

I'm leaning toward option three, though could be an awesome combination of both 2 and 3. Oh man. I love it though. Nothing like the first day back on the mountain! I hadn't been for two years and it was so fun to go with the Facers. By the end of the day I was finally getting back into the flow of it all and it was amazing. Dave and I are especially stoked because we got passes this year. Waking up to fresh powder this morning WOULD be exciting, except for the fact that our season doesn't start till December 10th at Sundance. Oh well. This is gonna be the only thing that gets us through winter up here, and it will be something fun we can do together each week. Any of you have Sundance passes? Let's goooo!

thankful

This is how we spent Thanksgiving morning....

with shotguns & handguns. We shot clay pigeons, no, no live turkeys.

We also ice skated on this little frozen pond...

We had so much fun shooting that we completely missed the family dinner. Oops. We made up for it by stuffing ourselves full of the 20 different kinds of pie. Delish.

This year has been an eventful one! It started on New Years Eve of last year with Dave asking me to marry him. So many great things have happened since then. Looking back it is crazy to remember a time not being with Dave. It is so natural, fun, comforting, and real. I love our love. He really is the best husband ever and he helps me in so many ways. For instance today, I am sick and completely sore because we went snowboarding yesterday. So what does Dave do? He cleans our house, does our grocery shopping, and brings me home my absolute favorite drink (Odwalla "mango tango) and a magazine with one of my favorite actresses on the cover (Emma Watson - just because I love HP). How SWEET is that? I am so blessed. So shout out to you Dave.

This year I am thankful for (in no particular order):

getting engaged

my sparkly GOLD ring and his to match

being able to live in hawaii for 4 months while engaged

getting married to Dave (the best husband EVER)

the newport beach temple

our honeymoon in costa rica! we miss it everyday

birthday time in las vegas

my family - both sides

our little cozy house made of bricks

love notes from Dave

family dinners consisting of 2

holidays

surprise visits to california

chances we get to surf

school (as much as I am ready for this semester to be over)

our jobs

the temple

snowboard passes! we are so stoked

and soooo many more things. we are BLESSED.

OK, so this is going to be a random and sparse event, but I, Dave, am going to add to this wonderful bloggy.
I am reminded of the many things I have been blessed with by the Lord and it starts everymorning with me opening my eyes. I see the most wonderful woman every created and she is beside me im our comfortable bed. I am so grateful for her, for the person she is and has grown to be. I am grateful for her charity and love, she truly puts herself and her wants behind mine and thats something that amazes me everytime i think about it. I am also blessed to have a temple sealing with this wonderful lady. she means the world to me and i cant think about not being with her after this life. I am so lucky and i try to live worthy of her love. I am sorry if i am a bit overnoard on this, but court said i could write whatever i want and this is what i am grateful for this year. So ya.
-dave

:: bijou market ::

Clare came down to visit early for Thanksgiving, so on Saturday we decided to take a stroll to the Bijou Market. It is held twice a year and features hand-made,painted,crafted things.

One of my very favorite things featured there was the ashmae watercolors display.

It really made me want to develop this skill, so much so that I was browsing these on Amazon for maybe a half hour today :]

goodbye fall...

These pictures are from the very beginning of fall. The leaves started changing color and the mountains were masterpieces. Dave and I love to get outdoors...so here is how we spent some of our fall days:

We went on a lovely bike ride up Provo Canyon from Bridalveil Falls up to the end of the trail. It was super pretty. I LOVE the oranges, yellows, and reds. They only last for a short time here in Provo, so we had to enjoy them bike ride style.

Dave has really been wanting to go canoeing for a while. So finally, over conference weekend, we loaded this bad boy up...

AHEM...crazy right?? I was just waiting to get pulled over. Thankfully we made it (by holding the sides of the canoe whilst driving to keep it from sliding off). yay.

Then we shoved off...

And had a lovely ole time.

It was so fun! I highly recommend it next year for all you sports fans.



.:our wedding:.

Where to start....our wedding day was SO perfect. The day was beautiful, mellow, and fun. In the morning I woke up so relaxed and just ready to be married to Dave. Dave came to my house after I got ready and we rode to the temple with my parents. We were so happy to be married in the LDS Newport Beach Temple. The sealing ceremony was so beautiful. We loved having all of our family there. That was by far the best part of the day. We were finally Mr. and Mrs. Facer!!!

Our wedding party was so fun. It was basically all of our brothers and sisters plus Tom Hall and minus Luke. LOVE them.

Of course after the temple ceremony, we had to take sooo many pictures. We took pictures at the temple and then more pictures of just Dave and I in a field in El Toro with our sweet ride.

Then it was home for a quick rest then off to the reception. Our reception was just as we pictured it. A mellow, garden mood set with twinkling lights and some of our favorite tunes. We cut cake, mingled with guests, and danced the night away. We were so stoked with how many people came to show their love and support. It was the best party ever. Our families rock. Dave was so sweet the whole night and I loved the moments we shared there. After the reception was coming to a close, we were showered with sparklers and drove off to start our honeymoon in COSTA RICA. :]

costa rica

Do I even have to mention that Costa Rica is the most beautiful place on earth??? We were sooo lucky to get the hookups with a condo in Esterillos. A two minute walk to waves and black sand beaches. (Thanks Alan!!!!).


The flight there was gnarly. And finding the condo at 2am was CRAZY! It took us two hours to get out of the main city and onto the right highway because the directions were that intense. Turn left at the soccer field, then right at the blue garbage can, yada yada yada. Thank goodness Dave is excellent at speaking Spanish so we finally navigated our way to the condo. And boy were we amazed! The condo was so gorgeous. Perched on a cliff overlooking the ocean with our own pool and surfing equipment. We were SET.

Our honeymoon lasted for two weeks and consisted of surfing, baking in the sun on the black sand, trying to cool off in the 90 degree ocean, and then having to cool off at the pool at our place. This routine was lovely.

We also got to spend time in...
Jaco

and Manuel Antonio National Park. we also saw spider monkeys, howler monkeys, sloths, deer, tons of cows and sheep, bats, iguanas, tons of macaws, and other things.

We went ziplining....SO fun.

saw crocodiles at crocodile bridge.

our honeymoon was perfectly relaxing, and a perfect way to start life together!


this was the sunrise on our way to the airport on our last day.

bye Costa Rica!...until next time.