there's no place like home

it's been really nice having christmas at my parent's house. mostly, we've all been gushing over the sole grandbaby aspen marie and taking turns holding her. no complaints here!

my parents decided to go big or go home this year with a 24 foot tree. yes!
i feel like i'm living in the nutcracker
disclaimer: it was a flat price for anything over 12 feet


for the first time since i have ever lived in issaquah, we had a white christmas!!
it snowed a lot...many delayed flights in our family (i spent ten hours at the airport). it was a like a movie on christmas morning with big white flakes coming down! we love it.

since the roads were pretty awful, my dad thought it would be "fun" to walk to dinner at red robin, about a mile down the road. we bundled up (looked like obese marshmallows) and walked in the bitter cold. i haven't seen my little sister for awhile...it's been nice to just stay in our pajamas all day and do whatever we please. love vacation.

we hope everyone had a merry christmas! more pictures to come...

celebrity status

you know you've reached celebrity status in your own home when your mom has captain crunch (with crunch berries, naturally)
waiting in the cupboard for you the moment you step in the door.
happy christmas!

final-ly

the treacherous week of bad outfits, messy hair, bleary eyes, library dwelling, eating way too many carbs, and test taking is...done! i think i listened to my two favorite motivation songs...coldplay's viva la vida and natasha bedingfield's unwritten...a lot. i needed lots of motivation this time around. i've got the christmas bug and just cannot focus sometimes!

in other news, a HUGE opportunity just dropped in my lap last week. i interviewed and landed a copyediting job with a marketing design company in pleasant grove. this job opens so many doors for my future editing career! i feel very blessed.

it's beginning to look a lot like christmas...

...but as usual, finals are totally getting in the way of my holiday celebrations and decorating. i am very grateful for school, but sometimes not in december. the month of december should be dedicated solely to christmas activities.

because we are vacating p-town this year for the holidays, we decided that a christmas tree was a no-go. instead, i decorated our topiaries (fake mini trees) with lights. i love how our apartment feels when they are lit up...

and we woke up to an inevitable surprise this morning...SNOW! now it's really looking like christmas. nate and my brothers took advantage of the weather and headed up the mountains for some skiing/boarding.

she's here! she's here!

we have a niece! i cannot stop talking about how beautiful she is. she's so tiny and precious with a lots of dark hair. confession: i want a baby. i don't want to HAVE (go through labor) a baby, i just want to hold aspen all day long. congratulations geoff and akasha!

just like the olden days

it was thursday night and nate and i both had huge, long, big-part-of-your-grade papers due on friday. we tag teamed it - i helped him write a poly sci paper and he was moral support (back rubs) for my loooooong literature research paper.

we stayed at the library until it closed at midnight, then hit up mcdonald's for some power food (we RARELY go there. i am usually anti-mcdonalds). let me tell you...chicken nuggets never tasted so good. from midnight to 4 am, nate stayed up with me while i finished my paper and practiced my oral presentation i was going to be giving in 6 hours.

we finished our papers and got about 4 hours of sleep each! it felt like the old days when we weren't married and stayed up into the late hours of the night. it was so fun! but we don't plan on one of these nights again soon...

the police beat

it's the week before the week before finals. this, for me, means two 8-10 page research papers, a presentation, a smattering of little homework assignments, and another shorter paper are patiently waiting to be turned in...all by friday!

so, i'm taking a study break to give you a surge of pure joy in the form of today's police beat. i LOVE this section of BYU's daily newspaper. guaranteed, i laugh out loud every time i read it.

get this:

Police received a complaint about a man with a rope

on the east side of the library attempting to lasso people as they
walked by. The man was gone when police arrived.

i am picturing dumbledore hair. throwing rope at whatever innocent victim happens to meander on by. don't tell me this isn't funny. picture it.

happy studying!
or not for those of you who are fortunate enough to be decorating christmas trees and drinking hot cocoa at your leisure (my mom).