Day of the Day

So, we celebrated on the 13th, but this is the 14th... the actual wedding day of the day. I guess this ended up looking like a Christmas picture, but were really just took these after church on Our Day.



Skyler got me these amazing flowers, and this is me just saying that it's our first year. Not like, "I'm #1 and you're #2." Sheesh. Anyway, they lasted for more than a week and were stunning. He totally surprised me with them and I just LOVED them.



We opened presents and exchanged cards and I cried a little. So what. Crying just means your really mean it and it's true.

GO SWEATS!!


Skyler's Mom saved the top tier of our cake and we broke out the Martinelli's. And, true to what we all could have guessed: One-year-later-frozen-now-thawed-wedding cake is, in fact super gross.

I mean, it still looked awesome. Ribbon still attached, sparkly crystal sugar things on top, and I even dug out the 'G' topper and presented it on my pretty china.

And I won't be so cliche as to say "Looks can be deceiving," because I feel more like the truth is, "The better it looks, the more disappointing it is when you eat it and it tastes like it might have been injected with some kind of poison or dirty mud." (I'm lobbying to turn that sentence into a cliche. Think it'll stick?) And, yeah, I said it-- dirty mud. The texture wasn't bad, but it did not taste good.

And, I feel like that picture makes it look like a midget cake, and it wasn't. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with midgets or their cakes for that matter. We watch Little People Big World all the time and we love kids. I'm just saying, mine was average sized and oddly photographed.

Anyway, the happy ending is that memories were made and palatable dessert was consumed-- bananas dipped in warm, delicious chocolate. Mmmmmmmm.

Happy 1st Anniversary, SKY!!

More soon,

Melanie

One Year and Counting

Holy crap, it's been a year since this. This has been one of the fastest years of my entire life. And, to celebrate the lightening fast year we decided to celebrate in true food style-- We went to the Melting Pot.

And I'll be honest, I've only ever been to The Melting Pot for dessert and that was when I was like 16. What I certainly didn't remember about this fondue-filled restaurant is how much you smell liked cooked broth and meat by the time you leave.

Seriously, we laughed so hard in the car after we left because we permeated the car with the meaty smell. It was pretty good, though.
Cheese Fondue


Salad


Fondue Feast


Chocolate Fondue - I love that you can see the chocolate dripping from the marshmallow. Mmmmmmm....


Oh, what. Did I take a lot of pictures? Um, yeah. Skyler got kind of sick of it, but it's about making and capturing the memories. Sheesh! We were there for more than two hours. I told Skyler I feel like this is not a first date kind of place. Plenty of opportunities for awkward silence if you were there with someone you...
a. didn't like
b. didn't know very well
And I kid you not, less than a week later one of my friends told me she was going on a blind date... to Melting Pot! I mean, it's been a decade since I'd even heard anyone talk about the Melting Pot. Seriously, so funny.

Anyway, the wrap up is this-- we had a lovely evening and then it snowed like crazy in true middle of December style.

Oh, you want to see a few more pics? Well, he shouldn't have had to suffer in vain, I guess. Okay. We'll show it to the world :)




Does that look like both my hands? It's not. One of them is Skyler's. Funny.





More soon,
Melanie

Christmas with the Masses: Part 2

Christmas with the Masses, Part 2 was a whole lot colder than Part 1. A whole lot. Seriously, SO cold. This picture shows the newest addition to the standard Lights on Temple Square. Sure, it's the reflection version, but hopefully you get the idea. It's the nativity. Can you tell? Well, it's the Mary, Joseph, Jesus version of the nativity. Absolutely breathtaking. The pristine white statues on the reflection pool was awe-inspiring.

This trip brought to memory just how much I miss living downtown. I was less than a minute away from Temple Square when I lived downtown and it's just one of those places that I cherish season to season. The tulips in the spring, the lights in the winter, the year-round pan handlers. It just feels right. Plus, we were married here. So, it feels all the more special this year, I guess. Just as freezing and just as beautiful.


Anyway, we hurried and made our rounds to see the lights on the west side, found refuge in the Visitors Center just long enough to get warmed up and then make our way to feast on the lights on the east side of the Temple.
Yeah. My face is freezing. Thanks for asking.





More soon,
Melanie

Christmas with the Masses: Part 1

Christmas with the Masses started with The Festival of Trees. What they don't tell you is that, in addition to hundreds of trees, each one attempting to outdo their neighboring trees in the name of a good cause (proceeds go to Primary Children's Hospital) and the newly-added gingerbread house exhibit, there will be 1.2 million people-- 3/4 of which are required to bring 2+ kids complete with strollers and screaming-- pushing and shoving to see the next BYU or UofU decorated tree. Options also include standing in an astronomically long line to get the homemade scones, the smell of which is pumped through the air ducts throughout the expo center. And you don't want to wait in said line, but you start feeling desperate for the fried goodness by the end. Not desperate enough to make a run to Sconecutters afterward, but still.

GO CHRISTMAS.

This tree was the most phenomenal of all of the trees exhibited, in my opinion. That's all hand blown glass placed lily pad-ily on top of each other to create this utterly spectacular tree. We went by it once and then I went back to take a picture. It was just that amazing. I mean, it was the only exhibit with its own how-it-was-made video playing beside it. Feel free to have a watch yourself.
Making of a Glass Christmas Tree from Richard Holdman on Vimeo.


This is us by one of the home decor ideas. I don't think the mantle was for sale, but I think all of the other table setting, mantle toppers, etc. were part of the bidding. Who knows, really. There was so much stuff there it was home decor / Christmas decor overload.

Lovely, really, but it seemed a little overwhelming trying to take in all in amidst of the pushing, shoving, and toddler meltdowns. But that pretty much sums up the mayhem of pre-Christmas, doesn't it?


I guess this post makes me sound a little bit like I hate people. I don't, in case you were still wondering. I think I just envisioned that, since we were going on a weekend night, it wouldn't have been that crazy and we could just kind of walk around and take it all in. Not exactly meeting my expectations, but still a Christmas-ey feeling experience, and good for kids in hospitals, which I approve of. See? I don't hate people.

More soon,

Melanie