Here and Now :)

So clearly I am terrible at keeping up on my blog, but I've been inspired recently so here goes another shot. I last wrote about our move to New York, with pictures of our first apartment, well that was awhile ago :)! We loved living in New York, we had the most incredible summer together, and were really sad to come back to Provo and start school again :( However we're now almost DONE! And we can't wait! Michael got a full time offer from Citi group which we've accepted, so we'll be moving back to New York this summer, we are incredibly excited! We're both getting Senioritis pretty badly and can't wait to graduate!

Here's a quick recap of major events in the past 7 months:

September:

I tried out and made Noteworthy, a 9 girl a cappella singing group at BYU.

We signed up for our 2nd to last semester of classes!

Moved back to Provo.

Michael was offered a full time job with C

iti group which we accepted!

Michael starts his last year of teaching, as an American Heritage TA.

Michael on the first day back to school! haha :)

October:

First gig with Noteworthy at the Utah Women's Dairy Association.

My birthday! :) I'm now 22, weird. Michael surprised me with some beautiful pink roses and some new shirts that he'd seen me admiring, he's so sweet!

Noteworthy invited to compete on the Sing Off and sworn to secrecy by NBC, wow that was hard! But we were so excited! (By the way I have to put a plug in here for Michael, he's the most incredibly supportive husband ever! When I told him about the Sing Off I told him we'd be gone for two weeks in December, and just like he did when I wanted to try out for Noteworthy, he told me what an incredible opportunity it would be and told me I had to do it!)

Noteworthy after our interview with KSL in Salt Lake.

November:

Trying hard to get ahead on school projects etc. and constantly rehearsing with Noteworthy for the Sing Off.

Thanksgiving in Rexburg with the Stones, such a fun weekend!

Press release is out,

so we can finally tell people!

December:

School.

Rehearsal.

TRYING TO FIND TIME TO SPEND TOGETHER! :D

Madness!!

The Sing Off.

Finals.

We bought our Christmas tree a week before Christmas! It was so fun to decorate together!

Our First Christmas Together!!!

Trip to California with the Stones the week after Christmas for Disneyland and family time! Soo much fun!

Our First Christmas Tree! Michael and I at the San Diego Zoo's Animal Park Noteworthy Opening night of the Sing Off

January:

Back to School for our final semester!! (Or so I thought)

My schedule didn't quite work out so I find out I have to take a class over the summer and live with my parents while Michael starts his job in NY. BUT we then figure out that this little "bump in the road" will work out better because Michael will be able to move out there and scout out apartments and I'll be able to drive all the furniture out (With my grandparents help of course, yeah right I can drive a U-haul! haha!) and he'll have an apartment all set up! :D

Getting back into the swing of things.

February (so far):

Siri:

stressing out of my mind because my senior thesis deadline is creeping closer and closer! YIKES!

Competed with Noteworthy in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella Quarterfinals in Eugene, Oregon and took first place! Moving on to the Semi-finals in March in sunny California! :D

Michael:

Planned the most incredible Valentines Day which I enjoyed so immensely! We went to dinner at Zupas and then went and saw New Moon (for the first time!) which we both liked and then he took me to the new Cocoa Bean Cafe for yummy cupcakes! Thanks babe!

Working hard to finish his last semester of being a TA and his last semester of classes! Yay for Michael!

So here's a little update from our neck of the woods, we're loving life, loving MARRIED life, and we are so happy! We're not exactly loving all of the cold and the snow, but maybe sometime soon we'll be able to get Michael up into the mountains and on some ski's!

Move to New York!

Michael and I have been living in New York for about 5 weeks now and I haven't posted any pictures....and everyone keeps bugging me for pics sooooo here they are! :) We live in Astoria, Queens which is about 30 mins by train outside of Times Square. We're really close to everything and we love living here! We live in the basement of a row home in a studio apartment (one big room). Luckily though our bathroom is separated :) Here are some pictures, enjoy!

This is our kitchen and the view from the entryway.



(Above): This is our dishwasher and more counter space!

(Below): This is our lovely kitchen table :)




Our view from the kitchen into the Living room/Bedroom Area


Our T.V. and our walk in closet




Our dresser with our collection of playbills :)

Michael and I love living here and we love being married! It's so much fun being with your best friend all the time! I'll post more pics of everyday life in NY soon :)

Honeymoon

The honeymoon we were supposed to have didn't happen due to the swine flu epidemic in Mexico. We had tickets on a Carnival Cruise to the Yucatan Peninsula, but when the swine flu broke out in Mexico, Carnival decided to re-route us, therefore we didn't have the honeymoon cruise we were supposed to have, it was waaay better! We were re-routed to Montego Bay, Jamaica and the Grand Cayman Islands and it was a 7 day cruise instead of a 5 day cruise! It was such a fun trip! We left out of Galveston TX, just an hour away from Michael's house. We did so many fun things including, eating on the cruise ship...(Michael's favorite..unlimited ice cream & cereal)...we climbed a waterfall in Jamaica, and did the Jamaican bobsled! (basically like the alpine slide but the cars look like bobsleds...so fun!) we rode a chairlift up the side of the island on Jamaica, it was absolutely beautiful!, saw many sunsets, ate Jamaican jerk chicken-absolutely delicious!, got some nice tan lines :), played miniature golf on top of our ship, saw a hypnotist show, held baby sea turtles and the Botswaian Turtle Farm, went to Hell...yup it's true, swam with stingrays, met some really nice Texans, and Oklahomans at our dinner table and had way too much fun! Here are some fun pics of the cruise... Waiting in line to board the ship->

This was our first night at dinner....love the flowers :) Michael with the famous towel animals!









Michael and I at breakfast

Room Service!
Carlos our waiter singing "Happy Honeymoon" he told us that if we stopped kissing he'd stop singing! It was really funny!
Sunbathing on the deck of the ship

Playing Mini Golf on the ship Having lunch in Jamaica
on the top of the island, it was

beautiful! Holding baby sea turtles! So Cute!!We went to Hell... Michael and I holding the stingrays
Michael and I on our last night on the cruise

Retracing the Steps to the Happiest day of our Lives!

April 28, 2009 Salt Lake LDS Temple
Our wedding day! What a beautiful day, it stopped raining for the first day in about a week! The sun was out, until the reception and then it started sprinkling a little bit, but for pictures outside it was perfect! Haley Lynn stayed over the night before and we got up early to do my hair!

This is how it started out ... and this is what it ended up looking like.....TADA! She's a magician! :)

After Michael and I were ready we drove down to the temple and got ready for the ceremony. It was an incredible experience and we were so happy so many of our friends and family were able to come and experience the joy with us! Thank you all for coming and for your love and support, we love you all! :) And then finally...the moment of truth! We were officially husband and wife! Us coming out of the temple
We took pictures outside with the family with our wonderful photographer Randy Collier, Audrey's dad! It was just such a happy day and to top it all off we had sunshine :) Here are some pics of the family outside the temple...

After tons of pics outside everyone headed off to the luncheon where we ate, and surprise! Each of the parents gave a speech and so did I...(my dad didn't warn me!) haha But we spoke and Michael and I each sang to each other. Of course I cried when he sang to me! :) After our delicious lunch catered by our lovely neighbor Kathryn Meyers we all loaded up and headed off to the reception! What a long day I didn't even get a nap! haha

It was so fun to stand in line and see all of my friends, family, co-workers, and neighbors! Thank you all so much for coming and supporting us we love you! (Thanks especially to all you BYU students who had classes that night and skipped...sorry!) We had such a wonderful day, thanks to all of you who were there to help us make it so special!

Ok so clearly I am bad at this whole blogging thing...but with the help of my sister in law I hope to rekindle the friendship I started with my blog haha. So WHAT'S NEW? Everything! Goodness...Michael and I are married as of April 28, 2009! We moved to New York and absolutely love it here! Michael is working as an intern for Citigroup and I'm working as a temp. It's been a crazy adventure! Oh and I spilled water on my computer so I don't have any pics to put on until my new computer gets here and I can switch the harddrives! Miracle of all miracles my hard drive survived the dip! I don't understand how, but I'm grateful! Michael and I have been keeping busy with work and online classes as well as Broadway shows and other fun things in New York. I went to the Met for the first time ever this week and it is absoltuely incredible! The art work is of course beautiful and the atmosphere is so exciting, I'll admit I felt quite overwhelmed when I first walked in, but then I got a map and it was all ok. :) Once I get my new computer and I can upload pics I'll them on here so you can SEE what we're doing in NY. Goodbye until then...loves :)

Engagement!

On December 13 Michael and I got engaged! I've had several people ask me how it happened...

Michael and I went downtown to see the matinee of the Nutcracker. It was great! I love ballet and Michael was nice enough to humor me, I think he enjoyed it though :D

 After the ballet we went to the Salt Lake Temple and did a session. It was wonderful! After the t

emple Michael asked me if I wanted to go up to the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and look around. We got up to the top and we were looking down at the temple and all the lights on temple square. It was snowing lightly and it looked beautiful. Michael then looked at me and asked me if I'd like to go to dinner at The Roof. I told him I'd love to but I didn't think we'd be able to get in because there were so many people standing around waiting. He told me that we'd be fine and then we walked up to the Hostess and he said, "Reservation for

 two for Alemany." I just thought wait what?! Then I lightly slugged him in the arm. :) They seated us in a corner table with the most perfect view of the temple. At this point I thought something could be going on but I honestly didn't know he was going to propose...I know that was quite dense of me. So we were eating dinner and then he decided

 he wanted dessert. He stood up and started walking to the dessert table and then he turned around midway and walked back to the table and sat down. He was acting really strange so I asked him, "Did...you need me...to go with you?" He just shook his head. Then our waitress brought out a tray with a single red rose, four chocolate covered strawberries, with the ring t

ied to the rose. I, of course, started crying. He ask

ed me if he could help me with the ring so he untied it and got down on his knee and asked me to marry him. Of course I said Yes and started cry

ing more! It was absolutely perfect! Michael and I are going to be married April 28, 2009 in the Salt Lake Temple and we're so excited! After the engagement some nice people in the restaurant took our p

ictures. :D After dinner we walked around temple square and took more pictures. Then we sat in traffic for two hours because the Concert in the Conference Center just got out. We had such a fun night! It was perfect!  

Thanksgiving and more!

I love Thanksgiving! I had such a wonderful week with my family and Michael :) Karen came down to Utah to join us for the week. We all had such a wonderful time! The annual Thanksgiving turkey bowl happened at my house with a lot less participants than we're used to. Uncle Doug being the competitive man that he is dove for a pass and of course had to pull his hamstring. So that ended the game pretty quickly, but it was fun while it lasted! We went to my Aunt Debbie's house for dinner and boy what fun! Yummy food and fun family! 

On Friday the girls...Annaliese, Karen, Chelsee, Mom and I went shopping! Yikes!!! Black Friday! It was great though! We found what we needed fairly quickly! It was incredible! Way to go girls!! 

Saturday Michael and I went to the Jordan River Temple. It was so wonderful! I love to see the temple and go inside too!

 Saturday night we had Japanese food and played games with the family. How fun! On Sunday Michael was brave and came to my ward with me! A man in my ward leaned up to my Mom before the meeting started and asked "So this is the mission killer then?" I guess Michael will get used to some of those nicknames... It was such a wonderful week! We had so much fun! :D