December from my phone

Funny Story- My Mom sent me a Halloween box with treats and decorations (Because my Mom is the BEST) In the box was a black and an orange light bulb so we put the orange light out on our porch and our landlords, Tim and Rebecca, kept telling us it looked like the Orange-light district...

Then for Christmas we asked them if we could hang Christmas lights on our house (I've NEVER had Christmas lights on my house before because my Dad=Scrooge) and they said YES!! Tim even said that if we provided the lights that he would hang them. (Tim and Rebecca have 4 sons so sometimes they spoil us like pretend daughters) Then as he was hanging the lights he was teasing us that we better not put a red light on our porch because then it would be the red-light district... Ha ha.

When we got home that night he had installed a GREEN light bulb on our porch!

Isn't he the sweetest, funniest landlord ever? Cute. Now it looks like Alien Christmas.

Bryan took me to the Clark Planetarium to watch the U2 laser light show. And then we walked on Mars.

Lights at Temple Square. Perfect.

This is Charlie the Christmas tree. It is the cutest, most precious little tree I've ever see. It even has little baby ornaments and a mini string of lights. I can't even describe how happy this tree makes me. Santa knew I really needed a tree this year.

I love it. And I love Santa.

Thanksgiving in Dixie

We went to the park...


We Snuggled.


We had a fire in the fire pit.

We took family pictures!

It was too much fun being together. And despite what I like to call "The Entertainment Center Crises of 2011" (ask mom about that one...) we loved:

watching movies on the new big screen

playing at the park

eating around one GIANT table

roasting marshmallows

swimming at the rec center

wrangling 4 scream-y grand kids (or going to my room and reading with the door locked... Hey, they're not my kids)

and going to the movies.

I love Thanksgiving. It is by FAR my favorite holiday. Family, food and turkey coma, what else do you need?

Don't Tell Brigham...

I went to a U of U football game... in the snow.

2 things I profess to hate. Oops. I even wore red pants and wrapped up in a Utes blanket...

I'm not sure what else to say. It was fun.

My blood still bleeds Blue.

Heart Aloha

<-- My house!




Aloha. It had been FIVE(5)!!! Years since I'd been back to Hawaii, a place I used to ache for every minute of every day. I'm sad to say that I had lost a little bit of that ache but it has returned thanks to this trip. Every memory I had came flooding back as we drove down Kam Highway, through Haliewa, walked around Foodland, the Temple, PCC, Hukilau beach, the PCC, ate fresh pineapple, mango, coconut syrup, and Ted's Bakery.

We did spend time with my parents (specifically the breakfast buffet at Turtle Bay EVERY morning) but those pictures are on my mom's camera...




Sarah served her mission in New Zealand so she had a blast going through the Aotearoa village at the PCC, describing the culture and history and talking to the workers who were all from New Zealand. They even knew some of the same people! One of the elders from her mission, Siti, is from Fiji and is attending BYUH, showed us around a little and then we got to watch him in the night show. He was a star in the part about Fiji. The night show has been redone since I was there and it was SO GOOD.



Since it was Sarah's first time to Hawaii, she had to visit Pearl Harbor. It's always a humbling, solemn experience.







I can't describe my love for this place. There aren't words. Please just go there and bring a friend with you.

Road Trippin Sara(h)s

Every year my parents go to Hawaii. Yes it's true. We all hate them a little. But this year I got INVITED!! Yay. So I invited my new BFF-name-twin to come also. Yay again.

It turned out that our mutual friend Tyler (Sarah and I met at his Cinco de Mayo party) was having his wedding reception/picnic in Riverside the weekend before our Hawaii trip...

and... flights to Hawaii out of SLC were $$$

so... we drove to CA for the weekend and THEN flew to Hawaii from LAX. WIN WIN WIN.




This is Tyler and his wife Kimberly. She's from Scotland which is where they got married. It was fun to surprise him.




Then Sarah and I bummed around at the beach for a few days, thanks Ben and Janae for letting us crash on your couches! We ate fish tacos, had hot chocolate at Ruby's on the pier, went shopping etc.


Newport Temple, my fav.



Oh yeah... then we went to Disneyland. Totally NOT in the plan but as we were talking about what we should do for the next few days before our flight, I blurted "We could go to Disneyland!!" Done.





SO SO SO SO SO SO FUN. Except for the part I got soaked on Splash Mountain...

We felt like we could go home that night and it would have been an awesome vacation but we hadn't even started yet. Tomorrow: Hawaii.

Can't Get Enough Pumpkin

Pumpkin Pie Cinnamon Rolls with Maple cream cheese frosting, graham cracker crumbs and toasted pecans. Need I say more?

I love Fall.