Saturday, December 31, 2011

Cafe Galleria

I promise a New Year's Eve post is coming, but for now you can enjoy a couple of pics from New Year's Eve Eve! My parents came into town on Friday afternoon, so we headed to one of our favorite local restaurants. Cafe Galleria is the cutest pizza place in Midway. They have amazing thin crust pizza and the yummiest salads. I recommend the margarita pizza and the pear gorgonzola salad. Delish! 






I meant to take a picture before I started eating, but it was just so good I couldn't wait. So now you get to see my half-eaten pizza :)

After dinner we went and saw the new Sherlock Holmes. I LOVED it! I was a tiny bit skeptical because I didn't really love the first one but this one was great. If you like fast past action movies, this one is for you!

Have you seen any good movies lately? 

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Cafe Rio + Friends

Two of our very best friends, Anne and Michael, were in town last week. So we met up at Cafe Rio in American Fork for good food and even better conversation. 


I just love these two. Anne and I have been best buds since our freshman year of college. And Michael and I actually grew up together. I could not have been happier when I found out they had a little romance brewing and eventually got married! Actually, I take that back, I could have been happier. I happened to be on my mission at the time and had to miss their wedding :(


But then they had to go and move away. First to Texas and now to Iowa where Michael is in grad school. So we hardly ever get to see them anymore. But I guess that makes the times that we do get to see each other that much better. We ended up sitting at a tiny table in that very crowded restaurant for over an hour catching up. 


We'll sure miss you guys! And whenever you happen to make it to Utah we've got a pork salad with your name on it! 

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Friday, December 30, 2011

2011: The Best Year Ever

I definitely don't think it would be an exaggeration for me to say that 2011 has been the best year ever!

Here are a few reasons why:  

I graduated from college.


Got engaged to the man of my dreams...with the most perfect proposal. 


Saw one of my best friends be sealed to the man of her dreams. 



Saw two of my other best friends bring these little bundles of joy into the world (well, not literally saw, I wasn't in the delivery room, but you know what I mean). 



Was sealed to my best friend for time and all eternity...and had the most beautiful reception, surrounded by our family and friends. 



Went on a fantastic honeymoon in San Diego. 


Turned a quarter of a century old. Maybe this wasn't the best year ever...


And generally spent some wonderful days with my amazing friends and family - especially this guy:


Have I ever mentioned I love him a whole lot? And could he get any cuter? 

I honestly can't believe how blessed I've been this year. It has truly been the best year of my life so far. But I have a feeling things are only going to get better. 

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Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Christmas Wrap-Up

We sure had a great Christmas here in the Nystul home! I have to say that I just love being married and it was so special to spend our first Christmas together. 

Our little Christmas weekend started on Friday when I dragged Erik to Old Navy to get matching Christmas pajamas. He might have protested, but we sure looked cute :) And by the way, never make the mistake of thinking Park City won't be as crowded two days before Christmas as Orem is. It is definitely just as crowded - and you will want to scream. 

On Saturday we had the Warner family Christmas party. I regrettably took no pictures, but it was sure a house full. The Warners are my MIL's side of the family and she cooked prime rib for about 25 people. Boy, was it delicious. You can get her fool-proof recipe here. We also had amazing creamed corn, baked potatoes, homemade rolls, salad, and trifle. I was beyond stuffed when the party was over. Erik and I then spent the rest of the night vegging on the couch watching A Muppet Christmas Carol and Lord of the Rings (we ended up watching the full set of extended editions over the course of the weekend...definitely a new Christmas tradition...I might have the slightest crush on Aragorn). 

Christmas morning we woke up bright and early. We were just the tiniest bit excited to open our presents so we jumped out of bed at 7:30am. I might have also woken up about a million times throughout the night hoping it was time to get up.  I felt like a little kid again, and I was sure spoiled!

Erik told me all my presents were photography themed. You see, I got an Nikon D80 for graduation and I've been using it a ton ever since. So my sweet hubby surprised me with Photoshop (and as soon as I learn how to use it this blog will get a whole lot better!), an awesome camera bag, and a digital frame to display my photos. And the best present of all...my new white IPhone 4S!! To say I'm excited about my new phone would be a serious understatement. I've barely put it down the last few days. The first app I downloaded was Instagram (Follow me! @kaitlynnystul) and I'm super excited to use it. I think I'm most excited to have a phone that takes great photos so I can document all the little things that happen when you aren't lugging around a big camera.

Erik got some pretty great things too. My mom chipped in for an awesome Skull Candy Ipod dock. I think we'll have to have a dance party pretty soon. He also got a Newfoundland dog calendar (his favorite kind of dog), James Harriet Dog Stories and Animal Stories on CD (if you love animals you have to listen to these or read the books! so great!), and a couple of practical books (Rich Dad, Poor Dad and The Personal MBA). And last but certainly not least, a gorgeous marble Christus statue. It's the only decoration he's ever wanted for his house, so I'd say he was excited about it.

After we finished opening presents together we headed to my in-laws for more celebration. I was excited to see the rest of them family open their presents too. We surprised the Nystul men with a blu-ray player, while my MIL got a cute family name sign, and my SIL, Britta,  got a Dr. Who bumper sticker and a sweater. We scored an awesome hotel-style shower rod that makes our shower twice as big - which is great for my 6'5" husband. Plus we got Monopoly from Britta which will be super fun.

After presents, we got cleaned up and went to church. It was so neat to have church on Christmas day. We don't get to do that very often, so it made the service extra special. And after all the focus on material things most of the morning, it added a bit of much needed perspective.

The rest of the day was spent eating delish carne asada tacos, playing with our new toys, and watching movies while cuddling up on the couch.  I really could not have asked for a more perfect Christmas - unless my own parents could have been here. But thankfully they got into town today and we get to extend the holiday a little longer :)

Now even though this post is already epically long, I'd like to add one more thought.  I know I just spent about three paragraphs talking about the stuff I got for Christmas - but in all honesty the best gift I got all day was spending it with people I love. I'll be the first to admit I've gotten a bit caught up in giving and receiving gifts this season. Erik and I are so enormously blessed. We are lucky enough to have the means to buy some fun things, but we know that's not what's most important. I'm so grateful for the knowledge I have of the true reason for the season, our Savior Jesus Christ. And I'm going to try much harder to keep Him in the forefront of my mind this time of year and every other day as well.

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Homemade Salsa & Fish Tacos

I rarely post recipes mostly because I'm not that great of a cook, and I kind of suck at taking food pictures. But today I couldn't resist. 

I found the most amazing salsa recipe on Pinterest a while back and Erik and I made it last weekend. The recipe came from Erin at One Particular Kitchen. My FIL said it was the best salsa he's ever had - and he is a world traveler who loves salsa, so that's really sayin' something. The recipe makes a huge batch so I put some in mason jars and gave it to a few of our best friends for Christmas. I could probably ramble about this stuff all day, because it's so good, but I'll spare you. Just go make it. I promise you won't be disappointed. 


The next recipe is for homemade Rubio's fish tacos. Despite living in Orange County my entire life I just started eating fish tacos a couple years ago - and Rubio's are definitely my favorite. I've been craving them for days but the closest Rubio's is 45 minutes away. So I decided to make my own version at home. I found this recipe that has directions for fish, white sauce, and salsa - but I simplified things by buying the pre-breaded frozen fish fillets. Since we already had our salsa the only thing I had to make was the white sauce (which takes about two seconds). Throw it all on some corn tortillas with cabbage and a little lime juice and you've got delicious homemade Rubio's fish tacos.  


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Monday, December 26, 2011

Scenes from Christmas












*Since you can't see it in the picture: Britta's sticker says "My Other Car is a Tardis". She sort of LOVES Dr. Who.

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Friday, December 23, 2011

Breakfast of Champions



No better way to start off our little Christmas holiday than with Micky D's for breakfast. I know it's horrible and processed and completely bad for me, but I just LOVE it. I always have and I always will. I think I love McDonald's almost as much as these guys (but Erik and I don't look quite as cute while we eat...hence the reason I didn't actually take any pictures of us...just the deliciously greasy food)

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BYU Basketball

Thanks to Erik's wonderful grandparents, we were able to go to the BYU basketball game on Tuesday. It was so much fun! They have great seats on the first and second row, so we were close to all the action. 

I'll be the first to admit that I have a hard time sitting through sporting events. I mean I really like sports, I just have a short attention span. But there is just something about being at a basketball game. I love the energy in the arena! And I even paid attention the whole time - except when I was taking pictures of course :)  Erik was pretty impressed. 









I was curious to see how BYU would do now that Jimmermania is over, but they really played great! And as you can see we beat Buffalo 93-78! Go Cougs!


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