Christmas Day

Christmas morning brought a lot of excitement :)

It was so fun seeing my niece and nephew open their stockings and their presents.

They were so overly excited and happy.

There was a whole lot of energy!

After presents (which surprisingly only took about an hour and a half...) we all had our traditional Christmas breakfast casserole with hot chocolate and fruit.

(If you couldn't tell, I'm all about the traditions :) )

The rest of the day was spent playing with new toys, playing games, listening to Christmas music, playing in the snow and just enjoying spending time together.

Jaden and Grandpa building a garage

Learning how to play Sorry :)

It snowed all day and I was thrilled.

I haven't had many Christmases that weren't white, and I hope I never have to :)

Playing with his new toy :)

Grandpa got Jaden a DVD of Tom and Jerry episodes, and holy moly, did those kids love it!

It was a great day :)

Merry Christmas!

My parents started a new tradition this year.

Instead of spending Christmas alone, they've decided to go to Alanna's house and Jen's house every other year for Christmas.

Once I get married, I'll be thrown in there as well, so they'll come to one of our houses every third year.

They started with Alanna, so my mom, dad and I all headed to Colorado on the 22nd.

We spent a lot of time just hanging out, playing with the kids, eating some amazing food, playing games, and visiting. 

On Sunday we took a trip to Glenwood Springs for a cave tour!

Riding the tram!

View from the tram

The kids loved the tram ride!

I love this picture, despite the fact that you can tell it was ridiculously bright outside, and we all look ridiculous! :)

 

 

The caves were pretty cool. I think the kids enjoyed it, especially the stories about the dragons :)

Sunday, the 23rd, was our Christmas Eve. Originally we thought that my brother in law would have to work on the 25th, and my dad has to work tomorrow, so we planned to do Christmas Eve on the 23rd and Christmas on the 24th. The kids didn't know the difference.

So our Christmas Eve came and we all drank Egg Nog, watched the 49ers get trashed by the Seahawks (boo!) and then opened our traditional Christmas Eve pajamas.

Everyone got a pair this year!

In our brand new Christmas pajamas :)

Then grandpa did his traditional reading of The Night Before Christmas

The kids (finally) went to bed and fell asleep, and then Santa came... ;)

More to come about Christmas Day!

Another semester ends...

And here's the re-cap of Apartment 202's Fall 2012 quote board (with a few from the seven week break as well...)

(at least the ones that were appropriate to share... :) )

"The Bishop would be like, 'um, flies never have clothes on...'"

-Esther

"You get the gold in the slock crocking competition!"

-Melissa

"Okay, my name's never anywhere except the Bible."

-Esther

"I really just want a milkshake, Chelsie!" -Melissa

"Why would you want to shake me?!" - Chelsie

"How long does it take to drive up to Ricks... college... oh, wait..."

-Esther

"Stop for the little effers!" (For the record, I meant to say "Effies" and I was referring to the EFY kids...)

-Melissa

On chat at work:

"Maybe you're going through metapause... however you spell that." - Esther

"I'm pretty sure it's 'menopause' sweetheart..." -Melissa

"Bath tissue... this aisle." -Melissa

"No, I need toilet paper." -Esther

"She's not going to die and if she does, boo-hoo."

-Emily

"Maybe we purchased non-fluffy quinoa..."

-Melissa

"I don't know! I came home and there was this weird thing growing on my eye!" -Melissa

"Like mold?" -Esther

"Let's watch some p. break." -Melissa

"The lyrics to this song are really weird. 'I love you like I love some baby?'"

-Esther

"Mine's going to be, you will meet your eternal companion in the next life. Good luck."

-Melissa

"What are you doing?" -Camie

"FAFSA" -Mike

"The salsa?!" -Melissa

On chat at work:

"Good. I'm glad I could help you with your sucess." -Esther

"Perhaps in return I could teach you how to spell... The first word is s-u-c-c-e-s-s-." -Melissa

"I'm so bored I'm going to go read that 'say-on' math book. I don't even know what that means..."

-Melissa

"You know how some people get hooked on phonics, I'm hooked on clinique."

-Esther 

And if you made it this far, here's hands-down, the best conversation all semester:

"Hey Bishop! I forgot to get a yellow card for the temple re-dedication." -Emily

"E.L.O. card..?" -Melissa & Esther

"Electric Light Orchestra!" -Melissa

"Eternal living..." -Esther

"ORDINANCE!" -Melissa

"What are you guys talking about?" -Emily

"What's an E.L.O. card?" -Esther

"A YELLOW card..." -Emily

"...." -Melissa & Esther

I'm going to miss living with these girls.

Finals...

I'm not sure how I'm still breathing.

This has been quite possibly the most emotionally draining day of my life.

On top of that, I had to find a way to write a ten page paper.

I'm physically exhausted as well from pushing myself too far this week, having back problems, and spending too much time sitting in one place all day.

I don't know why I'm still awake. My bed is the only place I want to be right now.

Six more days and I. Am. Free.

I don't think I've ever hated finals week so much.

On a happy note, I get to spend Christmas in Colorado with niece and nephew.

Oh, how the thought of that just makes me smile :)

It seems like every finals week comes with a couple of songs that I put on repeat.

Number One: A Child's Prayer by Sweethaven

 I thought I'd throw in a little entertainment as well, so enjoy the video :)

And in the spirit of December,

Number Two: All I Want For Christmas Is You by Lady Antebellum

(but who are we kidding, the whole CD is great)

Hooray for finals!

You know what sucks...?

Being single.

Being single sucks.

Hear me out.

1. You get ripped off on housing. $1000-1300 per girl, per semester?

Let's calculate that... 6 girls, in one apartment, each paying roughly $1250.

That's $7,500 for one apartment, for one semester.

Now let's say one complex has 12 apartments in 5 buildings.

That's 75 apartments in one complex.

75 apartments paying $7,500 is $562,500 per semester.

Three semesters in the year = $1,687,500

That's not including the cost of living over the summer, the non-refundable portion of the deposit, and parking permit fee on top of that.

That, right there, is enough reason to explain why being single sucks.

2. You don't get to choose who you live with.

Every semester you get stuck with roommates who end up hating you for one reason or another.

At least when you're married you choose to be stuck living with that person.

3. Two words: Financial aid.

4.  When you're single, Mormon, going to school at BYU-Idaho and you're approaching your 21st birthday, something is clearly wrong with you.

You're not married? You're not going on a mission? And you mean to tell me you're actually okay with all of that?!

What in the world is wrong with you?

5. At the end of every semester you have to pack up everything, even if you're staying in the same exact apartment, and put it all on your bed so some stranger can come clean the space that you've already kept clean the entire semester. Oh, and did I mention that you have to pay 35 dollars for that as well?

Don't get me wrong, I know there are downsides to every situation in life, including being married. But let me tell you, at this point I'd marry the next male I see to get away from crazy roommates and greedy apartment complex owners.

Better yet, I'm dropping out of school and moving to Ireland.