Love in San Fran

I forget how much I love to travel. And I forget how much better Valentine's Day is when you actually have someone to spend it with! As I was planning things to do for Thomas for V-Day I found this awesome recipe (on pinterest of course, where else?) for Red Velvet Waffles....umm hello heaven! With a little bit of fresh strawberry jam and whipped cream on top, it was a breakfast miracle! So I knew I needed to make these, so naturally I just planned to wake up early and surprise him with breakfast in bed. Well, we were out of eggs, Thomas apparently knew we were out of eggs too. When he came home the night before V-Day he came into our bedroom and says, "you bought eggs," but it was in that tone of voice that really meant, "whyyy did you buy eggs?" when I just smiled back at him he said, "I bought eggs," but in that tone of voice that said, we were both planning to surprise the other with breakfast. We laughed about it and decided we would just cook it together! So the next morning we wake up early to make breakfast and what do I find when I walk out to the kitchen? A COUNTER FULL OF DIET COKE! Talk about best husband in the world! It was the most fulfilling moment of my life....ok not really but it was a beautiful sight! After work we went to the temple with my beehives because we still had mutual that night so the girls decided they wanted to go do baptisms because they have all been working on their family geneology. Thomas came along to baptize. It was such an awesome experience to see these sweet 12 and 13 year old girls be so excited about temple work. They were beaming and so anxious to do their ancestors work. After the temple, Thomas and I had his parents over for dinner. We made (or should I say, Thomas mostly made...) filet mignon, cilantro lime jump shrimp (naturally i didn't touch that) mashed potatoes, and asparagus. It was honestly one of the best meals I've had in a LONG time! Perhaps I should start calling my hubs, Chef Tom. Then Kris brought chocolate fondue for dessert. I died and went to heaven! Hands down it was the best V-Day I've ever had thanks to Chef Tom and his sweet ways! The next day, we were on a flight to San Fran for the next 5 days! We both had to work a bit which was kind of a bummer but I'd much rather be working from San Fran than in Orem! I got to see my man in action doing the jeweler thing and drove around with him as he visited jewelers all around the San Fran area. It was nice to see what his job on the road is like! We tried to take everyone's different recommendations of things to do. But when anyone asks me what we did, only one thing comes to my mind...EAT! I swear we ate Thanksgiving size meals for every meal, 5 days straight! Ask me if I'm ashamed...pshhh ya right! I think my two favorite places to eat were Mama's (compliments of Glo) and the Cliff House. Both were melt in your mouth good! Even though the food was to die for, my favorite part of the whole trip was renting bikes and biking to the Golden Gate bridge at sunset. It was perfect weather, pretty skies, refreshing, and just what we hoped for. I just asked Thomas what his favorite part was and he said..."food and alcatraz and golden gate and you". That pretty much sums up the trip I think! On our flight home, we were accompanied by 6 yummy loaves of famous Boudin sourdough bread! We had to bring a bit of San Fran back for people in Utah. All in all though it was a perfect getaway and we both got slapped with reality when we got back to Utah which made us appreciate the trip that much more! The only downside of having gone on that trip, is now nothing seems instagram worthy. Yup I said it, and I meant it, wo is me...

True Love.

Red velvet waffle heaven.

That yummy gourmet meal I was talking about, compliments of Chef Tom.

Bay Bridge at Sunset

Lombard crazy street...

Savin' some for later

FULL HOUSE!!! What the What?!?

Chocolate.chocolate.chocolate.and morrrre chocolate!

We didn't even care that we had to wait in line for 1 hr and 15 mins in the cold line outside to partake of this goodness. mmmmm mmmm mmmm Mama sure knows how to please the palate.

And the Golden Gate bike ride begins!

The view of the city from Alcatraz is incredible!

They may not have had too many appealing things at Alcatraz but at least they had the essentials.

Such a purrrty temple with a breath taking view of the city!! Not to mention we saw some dude take a girl on a walk around the grounds and slowly get the nerve to hold her hand. Celestial flirting at its best!

2011's Best of the Best!

Well, I've been married for over 5 months now so I guess that means I'm 5 months late entering the "blogging" world! But here we are and for our blog debut I am so stealing T Beau's (Tiffany Beauchamp of course, thank you Gloria for the perfect nickname) idea, and summing up my whole year with the highlights...its long so be prepared, I promise upcoming posts won't be so lengthy!

2011's Best of the Best!

1. Started my year off with this really cool crush.
2. Got my fundraising on to raise money for this incredible trip.
3. Saved enough money to take that incredible trip to THE BODIA!
4. Spent a month in The Bodia with T Beau

"Mini Bodia Highlighs"
1. playing with kids in the orphanage
2. teaching English to the poorest of poor children in the slums
3. meeting the kindest hearted people
4. eating not so good food like blood clots from a pig, crickets, and TOMATOES....ok maybe I
chickened out and didn't eat the blood clots...but I DID eat a cricket AND a tomato. And
yes, the tomato was WAY worse than the cricket!
5. skyping with my cute crush, family, and besties back home
6. seeing things that didn't seem like real life

"Mini Didin't Seem Like Real Life Highlights"
1. family of five riding on a motto scooter including a newborn baby (totally normal over
there!)
2. monkeys jumping into our Tuk Tuk and eating out of our hands
3. ancient temples of Angkor Wat
4. places where millions of Khmer people were tortured and killed for no reason
5. a tree where evil Khmer Rouge soldiers would bang babies heads against the trunk to
murder them, how can people become so evil?
6. people who sacrificed everything they had to take their family to the nearest temple to
have them be sealed together
7. children who had nothing and yet NEVER cried or complained. these children were the
most well behaved and happy children I have ever encountered. They were hard
working, kind, helpful, eager to learn, inventive, creative, grateful, tender, and all smiles
all the time!
8. fish that came and ate the dead skin off of our feet
9. the craziest streets i've ever seen....and yet we only saw one accident....blows my mind!
10. a whole village on water...we are talking schools, shops, places to eat, homes...
ALL.ON.WATER (and might I add, water that looked like a Starbucks latte, ya way
nasty!)
11. t beau getting multiple and forceful shots in the butt in the sketchiest hospital ever that
had bugs on the walls to get her to stop throwing up profusely (my apologies for the
visual)

**ok ok I need to stop writing about The Bodia because I could literally go on all day about that amazing trip! To sum it up, it was hands down the greatest opportunity and
experience I have ever had. I went with the hopes to in some small way make Cambodia a better place and instead I came back a better person because of that amazing country.

5. Got a new job at REIC, a real estate investment company, as their Human Resources Manager and assistand to the COO. (I actually had my interview over Skype at midnight in Cambodia with the COO of the company...thank goodness for technology!)
6. Kept dating that cute crush!
7. Took a trip to St. George with that cute crush where he confessed his undying love for me, ok ok it wasn't that cheesy but he did, in his own sweet words, tell me he loved me.
8. Got Engaged to that cute crush of mine, Thomas Rygg Frederickson! He proposed in the same sealing room that we had already planned to get married in. He said he couldn't think of a better place to propose than exactly where we would start our lives together.
9. Finished my Bachelor's Degree in Communications...FINALLY!
10. Planned, planned, and planned some more for my dream wedding!
11. Went to Cali for the Larsen/DeSanti wedding and played with Tiff, Troy, and Robyn and all the photobooth props!
12. Became a WIFE and got a HUSBAND!! 8.19.11...SUCH a perfect day! I wouldn't have changed a thing, except maybe a chance to dance for a little longer with everyone! But as Thomas's grandma said, "someone needs to get that girl off the dance floor, she needs to save some energy for tonight" :) Gotta love Grandma Estelle!
13. Had a perfect honeymoon on a cruise to the Carribean! Perfectly crystal clear water, white sand, tropical trees, tubbing through caves in Honduras, riding scooters all around islands, playing in the rain, eating lots and lots of yummy food, dancing, lounging, and soaking up a whole lotta sun!
14. Getting settled in.....my parents basement lol! I swear we aren't that pathetic, it just worked out nicely with our plans and my parents plans!
15. Spending a weekend in St. George with Emily (my sis-in-law) and her awesome kiddos, Kris (my mother-in-law), and Matthew (my bro-in-law). Fun hikes, games, and drives through Zions
16. Seeing my parents open their mission call to Benin Africa....or so they said! They played a little trick on the family when really they were called to BYU Hawaii to work in the Honor Code Office
17. Going to Cali for the wedding which turned T Bakes to T Beau (such a beautiful wedding...and who knew her dad had such sweet swing dancing moves)! We got to bunk up with tall Tiff and spend some much needed time with her which was awesome! and we got to eat TITOS TACOS (totally highlight worthy)
18. Spending Thanksgiving with Thomas's family and then heading down to St. George to meet up with the Lee's, Garrett's, Shaw's, and Richardson's
19. Revisiting the annual Christmas party where Thomas and I met last year and pretending we were in Tangled while we sent chinese lanterns into the sky
20. Having a perfect first married Christmas, still feelings like little kids excited to wake up the next morning.
21. Getting called to be the Beehive Advisor in our ward and Thomas being called to work with the Weeblos...good ol Boy Scouts!
22. Sending my parents off to Hawaii to go save the world, one Honor Code violator at a time!

Well if you are still reading this, I'm impressed because danggggg its hard to sum up an awesome year in one blog post! But all in all I just can't say how grateful I am for 2011, for the things I experienced, the personal growth I had, and the man that I married! I am one happy girl who is really excited for what is to come in 2012!!!