Sophie's firsts and favorites...

By no means do I want anyone to feel offended that I see my dog in the same light many of you see your children in at this phase in your lives. Please realize that I do understand that she is not a human, but she is a huge part of our lives and is dependent on us to survive. That in turn makes her much like a child, especially in her puppy stage of life. So here is a post dedicated to my adorable little dog who I have fallen absolutely in love with. (I can't believe I have turned into one of those weird 'dog people')

Her first meal...she was too tired to eat standing up so she laid down and tipped the bowl up.

She fell asleep in her water dish the first day we got her.

Her first bath!

This is honestly how Sophie preferred to drive in the car for about a week--wrapped around my neck! Luckily she quit doing that right around 20 lbs--I don't think I could have had her doing that much heavier!

She loves cramming her quickly growing body in tight spaces--like under this chair

Or under our bed...

Here is a video of her first experience with snow! Did you guys get that storm Sunday night? I couldn't believe the snow when I woke up the next morning!!! She absolutely loved it.

Thanks for indulging me in my love for this little chocolate dog.

-Jacquelyn

Top 10...

My Top 10 Reasons I LOVE Fall...even though Winter is still my favorite :)

10. The changing leaves--so beautiful

9. Busting out all of my cute, warm sweaters I have been missing for months...

8. BOOTS! love them all...

7. Halloween--easily my second favorite holiday

6. Going back to school--this no longer applies to me sadly (but that doesn't stop me from living vicariously through Dallin! I look at his syllabus' and online scores more than he does)

5. Conference weekend

4. APPLES!! They are so good this time of year

3. When it is not quite cold enough to turn on the heat, but the night is crisp and chilly--that's when you spend the evenings reading by the fireplace :)

2. Thanksgiving--what better way to lead into the Christmas season than by showing gratitude surrounded by loved ones. Another great holiday.

1. My number one favorite thing about fall is the memories I have of "warm October nights..." Dallin- I love you and October will always be 'our month' to me. Here's to many more 'fall memories' to come.

Happy Fall to everyone!

-Jacquelyn

puppy love :)

I'm excited to announce the newest addition to the Cerva Family:

Sophia Coco Chanel Cerva

or just Sophie for short :)

We have had her for almost three weeks now and are both absolutely smitten!! She is a lot of work, but I am surprised how quickly I fell in love with this puppy.

We found her on KSL, a little 6 week old puppy in Preston, ID. Her momma is a pure chocolate lab and her dad is half lab/half hound. She came from a litter of 12 other pups!! The family giving the pups away didn't want to spend the money on getting the puppy shots, de-worming, etc...so we adopted this sweet girl. She was much too young to be leaving her mother, but we have tried our hardest to make the transition as easy as possible. She just needed a lot of extra love and attention!

She is growing like a weed!! We are enjoying the puppy days, but D and I are both excited for the day she is big and can run and hike with us...

Our new family!!! Thank you to Alicia for taking such amazing pictures for us!

One Year Down...80 to go :)

We kicked off our one year anniversary with smoothies and oatmeal from here:

Went and got an amazing couples massage from here:

We got home from the massages and took a much needed nap then got ready and headed down to the Salt Lake Temple to do Sealings...

A perfect reminder of our wedding day :) From the temple we went to the Gateway and had an amazing dinner at one of our favorite restaurants:



And for our grand finale we watched this:



Not my favorite love story, but it was worth watching. Overall our Saturday celebration turned out to such a fun and relaxing day. Dallin's birthday is in two weeks and we're trying to plan a last minute weekend get-away to "officially" celebrate our one year and his birthday. Hope everyone had a great weekend!

-Jacquelyn

Graduation, Jazz, and birthdays!

I finally loaded my most recent pictures onto my computer to update the blog! Gear up for a long post... I am proud to say that I have **GRADUATED** from BYU!!! YAY!!! It has been very bittersweet. I thought I would be so burnt out on school that I would feel relieved, and I do feel a bit of that, but mostly I feel I will miss campus and my classes and my major and learning something new every day. Did any of you feel this? Maybe I'm crazy...I'll just have to go back and get my masters in a bit I guess! :)

My freshman year roommates and my dearest friends from school! This was before the big commencement on Thursday--it was supposed to be rainy but turned out beautiful!

p.s. Mom--I'm glad you made me go to the main commencement. I did enjoy it...you were right as usual :)

My amazing hubby!

With the proud parents :)

Friday morning was my college commencement and we weren't as lucky with the weather--we took our pictures indoors so I didn't make it over to take a pic with the Brigham Young statue. I think I will have to go back and do it, mainly because my mom did when she graduated so it would be cool.

Friday night my parents gave us their tickets to game 3 of the playoffs!!! Thank you Scout Camp!

We were eating dinner before the game and Dallin looked up and said "Is that my dad?" I was confused until I looked up at the giant pillar and yes, there was his dad's face. Turns out it was on every pillar throughout the arena--it was taken during playoffs a couple years back. We both got a kick out of his calm, serious face when the crowd around him, all in blue shirts mind you, is screaming and standing and freaking out. You gotta love it!

This seems to be the birthday month, with both my sisters-in-law's birthdays--Hailee on the 24th and Melissa on the 26th and my dear Momma in between on the 25th. We had a lot of fun celebrating Melissa's and Mom's on Sunday and Hailee's with the Cerva's on Monday.

I want to make a shout out to my amazing mother. Many of you know momma Janell and how special she is, but for those of you who don't let me give you a few reasons why I am grateful to have her:

1. She had reusable grocery bags before they were cool--like seriously hers are OLD!

2. She also had UGG boots before they were cool. This women is ahead of the trends.

3. She employs me.

4. She is a stellar listener. She does it all day with her four children and husband.

5. She really loves Dallin and shows it. This has really helped him feel welcome marrying into my family.

6. She is always looking for excuses to buy me things or help me out with money. She is so giving its ridiculous.

7. She is really smart. Really she is probably one of the smartest people I know.

8. She is so strong and has overcome a lot of trials over the past couple years. Even though she is still not 100% she is so positive and faces each day. It amazes me.

9. She is not judgemental. Really, she's not at all.

10. Although there are many more amazing things about her, to finish off this post I feel her friend Clair put it perfectly: "Janell makes everything and everyone around her better."

Here's to you Mom! I love you!

-Jacquelyn

Giveaway!

I have so much to blog about from the last week it is overwhelming! But before I get around to updating you about my life, let me share with you a little giveaway going on at one of my favorite blogs! The Frosted Gardner is a local company that refinishes furniture, making the old and outdated become fresh and new. Dallin and I got a dresser from them in February that we use as a TV stand and absolutely love! Head on over to their blog and check out their amazing talent...oh and the giveaway! Look at these beauties:

Hope everyone has a lovely Monday and I promise I will update soon....

-Jacquelyn

Happy Birthday Dear Caroline!

Sweet Caroline,
You are my favorite older sister, my dearest friend and confidant, and I am grateful for you in my life. I hope you know how much you bless everyone around you. You are seriously the funnest person I know--there is never a dull moment when we are together. Thank you for your kindness, your listening ear, and your example. I love you!

-Jacquelyn