I became really obsessed with trying to get a picture with snow in my hair. I felt like an ice princess!
As I grew up in Texas, South Africa, and California, I didn't grow up seeing much snow. My family took a vacation to Lake Tahoe in 2006 shortly after we moved to California, and I saw some slushy snow last year in Tucson. Needless to say, I was super excited to be in snow again and to have all day to play in it.
Some of Cody's friends were volunteer firemen so they let us into the Pima firehouse and let us try on their outfits. I think I shall start wearing this to church. Super classy and flattering. They also took us on rides in the firetrucks! So cool.
Saturday morning (December 19) was EJ's graduation part 2! It was full of Richardson antics, awesome speakers, and a huge snowball fight!! So cool.
Above is a picture of EJ and I at his first graduation ceremony, the one on Thursday night that was for his college only.
And here is the official graduate!!! I'm so proud of my best friend for graduating with honors, and I know that he is moving on to bigger and better things.
Once I came home from Tucson, it was time for CHRISTMAS! Which has always been my favorite time of year (yes, even when I was Jewish) because of how magical everything seems. Even though it's stressful and being around family sometimes brings out the worst in all of us, I feel like it's hard to truly be angry or sad around Christmas.
Here are my cute parents at dinner on Christmas Eve!
And Katie and I. It's our family tradition to eat Italian food (specifically lasagna) and go to the movies on Christmas Eve. We haven't done exactly that in a while, so it was really fun to go to our favorite Italian restaurant, Mangia Mi, and to go see Saving Mr. Banks together.
I'm rather proud of the Nutcracker setup that I make every year. Can you tell I like things to be symmetrical and organized?
We love animals in this house and during the holidays there seem to be so many in our tiny house. Owen thinks he's a lap dog, which isn't necessarily true because he weighs 75 pounds.
Present opening time! Onesies are a must.
My lovely sister made me some custom wooden spoons for my kitchen in Tucson! They have cute different designs on each one. :)
More loving on Owen.
Dewey was definitely in on the action.
Owen displaying how much of a lap dog he truly is.
I made Katie a piece of art with a heart over Houston, now that she lives near Katy I figured I would make this for her, because I know that no matter where we lived, her heart was always still in Texas.
Poker face is always a must.
Duck lips for new lipgloss. Dewey is showing off his new bone as well.
My wonderful Aunt and Uncle who live in London sent me these beautiful Steve Madden boots! They are my first pair of real leather boots and I was so in love with how good they smelled! Nothing beats new leather smell.
The day after Christmas, I boarded a plane at 5:30 AM to head off to Utah!! I had only been there once last October, so this was my first time being there in the snow. I was so in awe at how the mountains looked from the plane.
I'm rather proud of this sunset shot that I got as we were descending into Salt Lake City.
Once I was there, I was thrown straight into wedding mode! Natalie and her cousin picked me up from the airport, and after we got her friend Justine as well, we stopped by her grandparents house for some breakfast. After breakfast it was time to get a hair trial done and have lunch with the girls!
Natalie looking like the beautiful princess she truly is.
After hair and lunch, we went back to the grandparents house to assist Natalie's mom and sisters with all the last-minute touches. Natalie's sister, Collette, got married the day after Natalie, so there was a lot to be done. Their mother made all of the flowers for both weddings out of fabric and they were so beautiful! We helped with steaming the dress (Collette did that part), cleaning vases, wiping down mirrors, and doing everything we could to make sure that all of the centerpieces would be perfect. We had a little bit of downtime where we helped Natalie pack her weekend bag for after the wedding, then we headed off to the nail salon!
Gettin sassy while having a pedicure.
After the nails, Natalie and Justine took me to Orem where I played laser tag with all of my Tucson friends! Among the group who road-tripped up was EJ, Sydney, Dakota, Mark, Steph Luc, and Clark. After laser tag, we went back to our beautiful hotels that Taylor's mother generously provided for us. The next morning - it was wedding time! We went to Taylor's house to help him get ready and then it was off to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple!
Sydney and Steph Luc had both brought their cameras to film the wedding, so you know I was hamming it up and trying to get them to take pictures of me at every moment.
Selfies with the bride and groom are a necessity at any wedding.
Anddddd poker face yet again.
Hotties.
The weather was beautiful! There was still snow on the ground but it was sunny and not too cold.
In between the sealing ceremony and the reception, we went to Target to pick up some last minute cards. We still had time to kill so we went into Seagull Book (an LDS bookstore). My favorite item in the store was this food storage kit, endorsed by none other than Marie Osmond. What a gem.
She's a wise woman y'all.
Reception time!!! Here is the whole Tucson crew!!
One of the missionaries who used to serve in Tucson was there! Shoutout to Sister Rupp (Bethany). She was babysitting her nephew who was such a cutie so I kind of stole him for a while. It was a good conversation starter. The wedding was so much fun and I love Natalie and Taylor so much! They are such kind and warm people, and I know we are gonna party it up at their Arizona reception.
After Utah, I came back to San Ramon and I've been having a pretty quiet and relaxing time. I went out to lunch with Wes one day, and it was super nice to catch up. Monday night there was a choir reunion party which was fun because I hadn't seen or even talked to most of the people there in a while. Thanks Natty for always being the host of our choir parties!!
On New Year's Eve, I babysat for one of my favorite little girls of all time, Madison. I have been babysitting/nannying for her since she was 5 months old. She is now 4 1/2 and I love her as if she were my own! Her little sister Mackenzie is pretty cute too. We watched Brave, How to Train Your Dragon, and part of Hercules. Madison even got to stay up a little late because it was a holiday!! While I was babysitting, my mom sent me this gem of a photo.
Dewey is a total Jack Mormon.
Now it is New Year's Day and my mom and I just got home from having a foot reflexology massage! It's one of our favorite mommy daughter dates, and it certainly relaxed us. Now we are more than ready to go out to dinner and celebrate Katie's 23rd birthday! It's not until the 4th but we are celebrating now because she is flying back to Texas on the 3rd.
For your viewing pleasure, please enjoy this video of Owen opening up his Christmas present.
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