Primary Teachers

Earlier this year, Kline and I were called to be CTR 4 primary teachers in our ward. We were a little nervous about it at first, but we really really love it!

We have the cutest little boys and really have had a lot of fun teaching them and getting to know them. Kids that age are so blunt and just so sweet at the same time, so it definitely makes for an interesting experience every week.

Ellen, Snoopy, & Dinosaurs

Right before Christmas, I found out that I had scored tickets to the Ellen Show. This has been on my bucket list for as long as I can remember, so I was beyond excited. My Aunt Heather lives in California so I thought it would be fun to bring her, my mom, and Kline. After figuring out all of the logistics, we decided to have my mom fly to California and us drive out to meet her.

We left the day after we got home from Missouri. We decided it would be best if we left after lunchtime and then just stayed the night in Cedar City to kill some time. We stopped at this cool church history site on the way to Cedar City and met a super nice missionary couple.

After waking up in Cedar City, we set off for the long drive to California. I decided to surprise Kline and take him to this old 50's tourist trap diner for lunch that was right off of the freeway. It was called "Peggy Sue's 50's Diner" and it was SO cute. The waitresses were all dressed up like 1950's waitresses and there was all sorts of fun memorabilia inside. There was even a "dinosaur park", where you could walk alongside a pond outside the restaurant to see some fake dinosaurs. We had fun and loved getting to stretch out legs for a little bit.

Little did Kline know that I actually had another surprise in store for him. For our wedding, we had received an Air BnB gift card and so I decided to use that to rent a super cute airstream trailer in Topanga canyon. Kline was pretty surprised and I think he liked it. It was so nice to unwind with a beautiful view and grill some hot dogs on the stove. The funniest thing was that there was an outdoor shower and I was trying to show the next morning when someone's dog came right in! The owners were trying to call the dog and Kline said "hey my wife is showering!" So then the owners felt pretty awkward and were trying to get their dog without getting too close. Luckily, Kline finally took the dog back over to the owners. Haha!

The next day, we decided to head down to Anaheim to spend the day at Knott's Berry Farm amusement park. They have a big New Years Eve celebration and so we thought it would be a fun way to spend New Years Eve. We had a fun day, but actually went back to our hotel at 10pm and fell asleep before midnight. Whoops. Haha!

We had decided to stay in Anaheim that night because one of Kline's sister's friends works at Disneyland and told us that she could get us in for free. We had to first wait for her to show up and so we spent most of the day exploring and enjoying the beach. Finally, we headed to Downtown Disney to wait and explore until she showed up at 4pm. Long story short, she had to go to her shift and never got us into the park.... We waited outside the gates until 9pm... I am still bitter, but it's okay.

Despite the previous day's events, we woke up so excited because we were finally going to get to go to The Ellen Show!! We drove to my aunt's house to meet up with her and my mom and then drove up to Warner Bros. Studios together. Most of the day was spent waiting to get into the studio, but once we were in, it was so much fun! It was like a non-stop dance party! It was so cool to see how the TV show is run and see some celebrities in person. My mom even got to touch Fergie's hand!

All in all, it was a super fun trip and a great way to spend the last part of our winter break.

I'll Be Home for Christmas

We decided that we are going to switch which family we spend Christmas with each year. This year, it was my family's turn and so we packed up our bags and headed to good ole- Missoura.

It was such a fun trip. I loved getting to spend time with my family, catch up with old friends, stuff my face with Panera broccoli cheddar soup, watch Kline sing in my ward choir, visit the City Museum, play with my dog and show off my hometown to Kline.

A Very Salt Lake Christmas

It's no secret that being in Salt Lake City during Christmastime is one of my most favorite things! I just love the beautiful lights and the sweet Spirit I feel as I am reminded of the joy of the Savior's birth.

When Kline asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I told him that the only present that I wanted was a date to eat at The Roof restaurant. So that's what we did. I have never been so stuffed in my entire life. The buffet was full of creme brulee, crab legs, shrimp, chicken cordon bleu, roast and everything you could ever dream of. To top it off, our seats were right by the best view in the house! We were seated right by the giant window and could see the temple perfectly, as well as the lights. Seriously, such a magical night.

We actually headed back up to Salt Lake City the very next night because we had gotten tickets to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert. We had gotten 4 tickets and so we decided to take Kline's grandparents with us. We were running super late because of some bad traffic, so we ate a quick meal at McDonalds and then ran to the Conference Center to find our seats. Kline and I had the BEST seats. We were on the floor and could see the stage perfectly. The dancers that danced through the aisles were dancing right next to us and it was just so fun. Sutton Foster was the guest artist and she is one of my very favorite people. She did such an amazing job and we both agreed that this year's Christmas concert was the best one we've ever been to.

Tate Christmas Card 2017

One of the best traditions of the Christmas season, in my opinion, is sending and receiving Christmas cards. I think it's so fun to get a ton of cards in the mail and, now that I have my own little family, I can send out my own to everyone else.

Lucky for us, my cousin Hannah is an amazing photographer and so I asked her if she would do a little winter photoshoot for us. The pictures turned out AMAZING and it was so hard to choose which picture to use for our cards. 

It's Beginning to Look at Lot Like Christmas

Temple Square at Christmastime is one of my most favorite places. The lights and all the decorations just feel so magical. So I was very excited when Kline planned a group date with his friends to walk through the lights and get some dinner.

We went with our friends Briton, Aspen, Jun and Zephra. We spent the first part of the night eating dinner at JB's and then spent the rest of the night walking around the square and taking tons of pictures. It definitely put us in the Christmas spirit.

Ever since I was a little girl, I have always dreamed of having a boy take me on a date to the Temple Square lights. Well, lucky for me, I have the cutest boy ever to take me to see the lights for eternity now! I am the luckiest girl in the world.

Oh Christmas Tree

Kline has been SO excited about getting our very own fresh-cut Christmas tree. I think he was mostly just excited to cut it down, but I was also excited because I love the smell of fresh trees. So we decided to buy a permit to cut one down in Ephraim Canyon.

Looking back, I think that we thought we cut a fairly big tree. However, after looking at these pictures, our tree looks so funny on Kline's car roof. It looks pretty small, but that is honestly the only size of tree that would have fit in our little apartment. Haha! We took our friends Zane and Piper with us, so it was a pretty fun day to search for a little tree for our little home.