Holidays!

The holiday break was so wonderful! It was great to just relax and have fun! It was much needed and long anticipated!

Christmas:

First we went to the Patterson Christmas Party! So much fun! We had a sandwich bar and homemade gifts! It is so fun seeing what everyone made.  We made inspirational picture frames for everyone. :)  Homemade Christmas is a recently added tradition and I think it makes Christmas much more fun for adults.  Plus, that eliminates SO much Christmas shopping!

Then we went to the Andreason Christmas Party! Always a good time! We had drinks and sandwiches (apparently great families think alike!) and Santa came to visit like always.  Good food and even better company - you can't go wrong!

Next we went to an Ugly Sweater/White Elephant/Housewarming Party hosted by our good friends Brad and Leah.  They put on such a fun night! We played ping pong. We ate pizza, cookies, brownies (yummmm) and exchanged hilarious white elephant gifts!  Leah and Brad gifted the leg lamp - so awesome.  We gifted a stuffed football remote and it sounded like whoever got it was going to put it to great use!

And last but not least, we went to a Christmas Cocktail Party.  Chris and Tracy were amazing hosts! We had homemade bread (best I've ever had!), cheese, cookies, fruit, pigs in a blanket (they even made blankets without pigs just for me!) and of course COCKTAILS! Delicious cocktails too! I can't remember the names of any of the ones I had, but they were all so good. We played a riveting game of catch phrase at the end of the night! I love that game.
New Year's:

We hosted a New Year's Party! We played Minute-to-Win-it style games.  It was a ping-pong ball booty shakin', cup stackin', paper bag bitin' good time.  Hahaha!  I made cake batter muddy buddies and OMG... they are so good and addictive! It was great to ring in 2013 with some of our favorite people. I danced for the first 5 minutes of the new year! You should try it next year - it was phenomenal.


**Clearly, blogger is malfunctioning because it will not allow me to upload photos this morning.  Sooo... boring old paragraphs for now, I suppose.**

Before the world ends...

I have:
-Worked at a fast food joint, in a cave, as a waitress, as a preschool co-teacher, for a retail store, in a gym, at a school, with cancer patients, and finally in the newborn ICU.
-Studied for a total of 17 years. 13 for K-12, and 4 in college so far.
-Owned an Isuzu Rodeo, Chevy Cobalt, Jeep Wrangler, and now a Honda Accord.
-Been engaged.
-Traveled to San Diego, Las Vegas, St. George, Spokane, and various parts of UT, ID, and WY.
-Moved a total of 11 times.
-Learned to be grateful for what I have, always.
-Had hundreds of pets during childhood (literally), but only 2 on my own.

I still need to:
-Become a nurse.
-Graduate college.
-Get married.
-Travel to Mexico, Europe, Africa, Australia, New Zealand... many, many more.
-Buy a home.
-Have children, eventually.


Hmmmm... according to my list, the world cannot end on the 21st, because I cannot complete my goals in less than 48 hours.  ;) Hahahaa. 

End of Fall Semester!

Woooo Hoooo!
We are so relieved to be done with this semester!
Look, even Ike was over it.

Christmas decorations are up and we are ready to celebrate the holidays!  It will be sooo so nice to spend some quality time together and just (hopefully) relax. We plan on rock climbing more on our break as well, yay!

Happy Birthday Jeff!

Jeff's birthday was on the 7th.  I made him these Cake Batter Truffles and they were delicious!

On Friday, we had a family party and had great food and even better company!

On Saturday, we had a few friends over and have Buca di Beppo to go and played the game "5 Second Rule".  It was so much fun!

Coming in to finals week, it was nice to celebrate and have some fun together!

My Better Half

I am so thankful for this guy.

He reads me like a book. 
Even when I am hiding my emotions and stress, he gets it.
But instead of drawing attention to it, he just does things to make it better.
Like, waking up before me to make my breakfast, lunch, and cook me a wonderful pasta dinner for my night shift.
Doing all of the dishes and laundry while I'm gone, when he could be studying.
Making sure I have a relaxing day off and making me homemade icecream shakes.
I notice every time I start thinking I'm going to lose it, he somehow makes everything manageable and cheers me right up (when I didn't think he knew I wasn't okay).

I am so lucky to have such a wonderful support by my side and am so grateful for everything he does for me.

Latest and Greatest!

Sorry this photo is not the highest quality... I have an ancient phone.

We are dogsitting this week for Brad and Leah's little puppy, Zeus! He and Ike are great friends! (Look at them holding back paws.)  Zeus is so cute and energetic.  I'm sure Ike is loving having someone to rough-house with! 

Thanksgiving is tomorrow and I will be making 4 pies today!! Apple, pumpkin, Oreo cream, and peanut butter. Yummmmmy!

I have been doing a lot of wedding planning lately, because all of a sudden, we had less than 4 months to go!  In the last week, I've hired the photographer, videographer, photobooth, and DJ!  AND came out $1500 under budget in those areas.  LOVE that!  Because we are getting married in the middle of a semester, we are going to spend one or two nights somewhere and then finish the semester.  We will go on our honeymoon at the beginning of May.  Any ideas on where we should stay for our wedding night?

[ONE]

ONE year, ONE month, ONE week, and ONE day until I graduate. I can do this!
I am burnt out.  Just a few more weeks of this semester and then a small break! Yes!
I am so ready to be done.  I also don't know what I'll do with myself when I'm not this busy. 

Also, ONEhundredtwentythree days until we're married! Woo hooo!