It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

We got a Christmas tree on Saturday and I'm so ridiculously excited. It makes me extremely happy to see our place all Christmas-y.

Catch up...

I'm the worst blogger. I've been writing our Spain post since we got back at the beginning of June and it is still in the draft file! We've had a lot going on in the past couple months.

We celebrated our 6 months anniversary with flowers (from the lovely husband) and dinner at The House. It was delicious!

After posting these pictures, I realized that they don't like that great... The food was actually really good! I got the angus ribeye steak with housemade teriyaki and toasted garlic butter and Paul got the warm wasabi noodles with angus flatiron steak. Definitely recommend this place! 

For the 4th of July, we went down to LA for a mini vacation. We did a lot of exploring and eating. My little brother, Collin, returned from his mission on July 2nd, so we drove down to San Diego that night to have dinner with the family and welcome home Collin. His request: In-n-Out. So we ate burgers and headed to frozen yogurt after. It's really nice to have Elder Skousen home! Welcome home Collin! 

While in LA, we were also able to meet up with Paul's brother, Tim and his fiance, Megan. (Getting married October 7th! We can't wait!) We did a lot of walking and driving and ate some amazing food! We went to a korean bbq place that Paul is always raving about. The outside was really sketchy looking and I was pretty skeptical, but it definitely lived up to the hype! We will be back. 

We flew down to San Diego in the middle of July for Collin's official homecoming. We got to hang out with my entire family for the weekend, including baby Emma. I'm in love. She is the best baby. She smiles the whole time and hardly ever cries. She also loves melon. (Can't wait to see her again in September!)

A few weeks ago we decided to go camping. We drove up the coast and ended up in a town called Guerneville, CA. Such a cute little place. We went to a little outdoor market and a random/weird junk store. After our day of driving and exploring, we were able to find a camping spot in the Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve. Absolutely gorgeous. It was like being in a different state. We had a great time making tinfoil dinners and roasting marshmallows. 

This past weekend, little bro Dustin came in to town for our 2nd Annual (Dustin - let's make this annual now!) Back-to-School shopping trip. We had a blast. We did A LOT of shopping and got him a ton of great stuff for school. We also ate a ton of food...Dim Sum King (amazing duck and dim sum), San Tungs (best dried fried chicken wings), Uncle Vito's (delicious pizza), SONIC (closest one is about an hour away, so this is always a stop when we go to the Gilroy Outlets), and of course Bob's Donuts (known for their applefritters especially when they are hot! Dustin got 5 donuts and ate them over the course of one night). We loved having Dustin visit and I can't wait to see him in September!

We're looking forward to visiting Portland in a couple weeks. We're excited to see our two newest nieces and hang out with Paul's family. 

That's about it. Hopefully, you'll be reading all about our Spain trip soon...

Vote!

Nashville North Star 2011. Vote here for my best friend, Carissa Leigh. She's really amazing!! If she wins, she gets to open for Kenny Chesney at the Calgary Stampede!

World Champs

We recently went to a Giant's game. My work rents a suite once a year and this year we played the A's. The view was amazing and we won. It was a great night and the best part was...

My Giant's Snuggie!

They gave snuggies out to the first 20,000 fans and you can bet I was there REALLY early to snag one of these! I was so proud of my new snuggie. I don't think Paul was as excited for me as I was! 

Spain Preview

A quick preview of our amazing trip to Spain.... 

Sunset in Mallorca

I'll post more about our trip when I have time to upload the photos. 

Presenting...

...my beautiful niece Emma Lauren.

Sweet Emma...obviously not as excited as we were to take this picture.

I really can't get over how perfect she is!

BIG NEWS

I've been dying to go back to Spain. I have dreams about spending the day in Parque Del Retiro, eating amazing pastries from the pastry man by the train station and walking in the rain down cobblestoned streets with a sheet on our head (Carissa?!). I love the culture and the architecture and the people. I don't really miss the food my Señora cooked though (but really...who would?? Tuna fish on everything from pizza to hotdogs is NOT good!)


So guess what...! Paul and I will be in Parque Del Retiro in exactly 2 months. We will be enjoying the beautiful architecture, exploring the many sites and eating pastries EVERYDAY! I'm hoping that I can convince Paul to ride the metro to the train to the bus to Alcalá de Henares, so we can walk around Plaza de Cervantes AND so we can visit my favorite pastry shop. Carissa will attest...these were the best pastries around. We ate them at least once, but sometimes as much as four times a day. We may have been a little rounder after our semester there! We can't wait for May 22nd to get here! 


On another note... we have two new nieces. My brother's wife, Tina, had Emma Lauren on February 26th. I was able to fly out last weekend and connect up with my mom in New York, so we could meet sweet little Emma. She is such a good baby. She hardly cries. She has huge beautiful eyes. She is perfect. I really enjoyed spending time with my mom and Tina and meeting Emma. Paul's sister, Heather, had Ellen Marie Ruth on March 22nd. She's extremely beautiful.  Hopefully, we can fly out there soon to meet sweet Ellen. 


Happy weekend! Hopefully, the rain will hold off tomorrow so we can enjoy our beautiful city! 




P.S....I'm officially a Larsen. I just received my new social security card in the mail. Brittany Sheree Skousen Larsen. (Now comes the process of changing my drivers license, bank accounts, passport, voter registration...ugh)

Valentine's Day

My surprise at work yesterday from my sweet husband...

Happy Valentine's Day!

Birthday Weekend

My birthday was a few weeks ago and we decided to celebrate with a little vacation in Monterey. We ate really good food (amazing artichoke), enjoyed the beautiful weather and explored the cute little downtowns of Monterey and Carmel. 

Happy Birthday Paul!

Paul's 29th birthday was last Friday. We had a great weekend and ate a TON of food!

We ate lots of cupcakes (18 cupcakes for the two of us...), enjoyed Italian Food, went to our favorite Chinese restaurant with friends, went to a comedy club and saw Kristen Schaal (Flight of the Conchords) and a few others, saw The Green Hornet (Paul kept looking over to see if i was sleeping and finally knew i was REALLY into the movie when i pulled out my phone to go on facebook!), and went to our new ward for the first time.

Busy. Fun. weekend.

Happy Birthday Paul! I love you

(I forgot to take any photos over the weekend...but here's a nice little gem.)

December 28th, 2010

We got married!

My best friend, Carissa Lang, took amazing photos of us. I LOVE THEM!!