School Daze

Alright so as it appears, I haven't blogged since the very beginning of the New Year! So after we got back to California, school started back up again for everyone in San Ramon and I had about two weeks left in town before break. 

One day, Kristi, Dallin and I drove over to Richmond and met up with some sister missionaries there and took them out for lunch. It was awesome because the mall was so ghetto and there were so many fun stores to go in. We rode the carousel and everyone in the mall loved it. We went to one of those Mongolian barbecue places and it was amazing!!

At some point while I was home I made some Shrinky Dinks too - that was exciting. 

One of the best parts about being home is picking up my dad from work with Dewey. Definitely the highlights of both of our days!

To celebrate my 20th birthday (early), we went to Mangia Mi. What an amazing restaurant! Love it. We of course got bruschetta. 

And I got my weird menu creation which is Chicken Parmesan on top of penne with Gorgonzola cream sauce. 

La invited the elders and some friends over for dinner and made us homemade pizzas and some Lao food. Once the elders had left and the party died down, she gave Dallin a crash course in Southeast Asian food, which was awesome because we got to try it all. 

On Sunday, it was my dear beloved friend Dallin's farewell talk. He rocked his talk so hard and I know for a fact he is rocking it in the MTC!!! Looking forward to getting his first email tomorrow. 

I came back to Tucson for school on Monday and I had a couple of days to get settled and meet our new roommate (!!!!!) before school started. Heather is awesome by the way. 

One of the most exciting things that happened to me that week was that my Birkenstocks I had ordered around Christmas came in the mail! I can honestly say that I have worn them at least once a day ever since getting them. They might be ugly, but they sure are comfortable!!

I had my first day of class on Thursday! I am taking four classes this semester and so far they are all awesome! I am in Children's Literature (which should be a breeze, because my mother happens to be a children's librarian), Math for Elementary Teachers (Part 2), a class on Classroom Methods and Instruction, and Spanish 330. 

That Saturday, I went to my third laser appointment. They are coming along swimmingly and I am having great results but HOLY HECK does it hurt!!! Still so freaking painful. Some parts of my legs are starting to hurt much less because the hair there is already gone so there is nothing for the laser to target. But I assure you, it is still VERY VERY painful. 

This past Wednesday was a very special day because Dallin entered the MTC!!!!!!! He'll be there for 9 weeks which is until March 26th! Long long time. His first email should come in tomorrow so then I'll know how he's doing but I guarantee he is absolutely loving it! 

Here, enjoy this Cambodian flag that I drew on the letter I gave him. Mine was a lot sparklier because I used glitter gel pens. 

School has been pretty normal throughout the week so I'll spare y'all the boring details. But there is a monarch cocoon outside of the SALT center so now my work days will be spent monitoring this little guy! I think we have to come up with a name. Comment name suggestions plz. 

 

On Friday after work Sydney and I played around with her new camera and audio equipment and she filmed me singing/playing guitar. That night we went to a YSA activity but there were a lot of people and not a lot of campfire space, so we went to our friend Caroline's friend's house where there was a firepit and hung out there for a while. 

Saturday morning I went to the WOW Fiesta on campus which is a book reading/author presentation for children and I read aloud to the little youngsters. I have to read to kids twice this semester so I figured I would knock out one of mine early! Afterwards, Sydney and I went to Fired Pie because we had a coupon for buy one get one. I have been to three of these "build your own pizza" places and this one was definitely my second favorite. (Sorry but Pizza Studio is still number one)

Afterwards, we went back home and assembled the poster for Super Bowl predictions, and watched If I Stay. Then today was church and normal stuff!

Until later homeboys. 

Lights....Camera.....Action!

Once again, I have slacked on the blogging. In my defense, I left my laptop in Tucson, so blogging isn't as easy as it was before. 

Let's back up to Tucson! The roomies and I went to a MistleTOGA party which was fabulous. Being Mormon really limits the number of toga parties you get invited to, so this was a nice change for us. 

 

We also celebrated the graduation of one of 1320's very own with a party in true 1320 fashion. As always, for more detailed posts check out my roommate's blogs. 

The night before the party Lauren said it would be cool if there was a 2014 sign somewhere in the house so we rallied and I whipped together this marquee sign. 

 

I also had to take a selfie in front of the photo backdrop that Lauren and I hung up. It was surprisingly easy and a huge hit at the party!

 

Of course I had to get a picture of me and all my boys. 

 

Since we couldn't get enough fun, we had our "roomie Christmas" the next morning. I woke up at 5 AM to get hot chocolate and set things up so we could be ready by 6. It was so much fun! Lauren got me a cute shirt and keychain (both with elephants on them!!!) and a cute sign for my room. I sure do love the beezies!

 

After Christmas, we experienced our final Sunday together as roommates. It is sad, but all good things come to an end eventually. We will still keep in touch and you bet Lauren will be coming to our parties still!

 

Lauren's graduation was on Thursday and it was so much fun! They had a slideshow at the beginning featuring mostly pictures of Lauren and the rest of the beezies. It was great. 

 

Congrats sweet Lauren!

 

I flew home on Friday - it was supposed to be in the morning but my flight was delayed a million hours so I got home at nighttime. The next morning I got up and babysat from 9 am to 10:30 pm. It was tiring, obviously, but I love seeing my two kiddos whenever I am home! Madison and I decorated a gingerbread house together after Mackenzie went to bed and it was so much fun! She also stole my phone and took a bunch of pictures. 

 

And of course one of the best parts about coming home is seeing my pets. 

 

On the 23rd, we flew out to Houston to spend the holidays with my family! My grandparents and sister already live in Houston, and my Aunt/Uncle/2 baby cousins flew in from London. It was a blast!

Mom and I were living it up in the brand new airplane - complete with phone chargers and touch screen TVs with brand new movies!

 

The girls all got matching Christmas jammies so I had to utilize my selfie stick to document the occasion. 

 

Christmas was so much fun, as always! Owen loved opening up his gifts but he destroyed his baby in about two seconds. 

 

Mom helped me document my #SELFIE pug shirt before we ate dinner on Christmas day. 

 

On the 26th, my family and I rolled out of town and roadtripped it over to San Antonio. We went to the Marriott resort in Hill Country and holy cow it was the nicest hotel ever! It was still all decorated for Christmas and everything was so pretty. 

My parents insisted on me recreating this pose...

 

On our way out to San Antonio, we stopped at Best Buy to pick up my big Christmas present with the money that I got from my family. I've been wanting a nice camera for a while now, and I finally saved up and got one! So naturally I tested it out and took pictures of like everything. 

 

While I was learning all the tricks of my camera, I discovered that Owen is very photogenic. He was hamming it up in the hotel room. 

 

It's not artsy unless it's in black and white. 

 

Totally candid not posed lol. 

 

That evening we went to one of the restaurants in the hotel, Cibolo Moon, and had some Southwestern/Mexican/Texan cuisine. 

Strawberry Jalapeno Margarita. 

 

Blueberry Cobbler. 

 

The resort also had some really nice lights outside so we took advantage of those!

 

Ok so the food at this resort was out of this world. In the morning, we went back to the same restaurant where they had a buffet option. IT WAS SO GOOD. 

I got a brisket omelete with some berries and potatoes. 

 

The resort was pretty so I kept taking pictures of it. 

 

After breakfast, the weather was yucky so instead of going to the lazy river, we went to the spa. I definitely wasn't complaining. 

 

 After our spa adventure, we got dressed and picked up Katie's friend Ashley, and then went to check out downtown San Antonio. My mom made reservations at a yummy Mexican restaurant and it was soooooo good!

 

After dinner we walked over to the Alamo and it was so so so pretty! I loved it. 

Katie and Ashley. 

 

The fam. 

 

On the 28th we drove back to Houston and got ready for the London crew to arrive! We had a nice dinner with them and I finally got to meet Viola. The next morning, we did Christmas round two which was so much more fun because kid presents are more fun that adult ones. 

 

Viola got a bunch of clothes but she definitely wasn't complaining. 

 

Special chocolates from Seattle!

 

Chris and Nina gave my grandparents a beautiful photo book!

 

By far the coolest toy this holiday was the Hex Bugs and their stadium arena. They are these little robotic bugs that crawl all over the place and they are so addicting to watch. 

 

Miss V was pooped after opening the presents. 

 

On the trip George figured out that Aunt Michele is the best story reader around. It is her profession after all! 

 

Of course we had to make a pit stop at our Texas regular spot, Taste of Texas. Probably my favorite restaurant in the entire world. Well it's definitely in the top 3 favorite restaurants. 

 

We celebrated Katie's birthday a few days early while we were there! We have celebrated probably around 20 of her birthdays there. We go at least once a year! When we lived in Houston, it was our go to place for every special occasion. 

 

I joined Chris, George, my dad, Viola, and Owen for a walk around the lake and it was so fun! Viola was cracking me up with her hat - she kept taking it on and off again. She was a trooper and walked 75% of the way though! And she made a few breakthroughs with Owen and pet him for the first time. 

 

On the 29th we went to the Rockets game! I was so excited because Nick Johnson is on the team now. Unfortunately he didn't play at all, and the Rockets lost by one point, but we still represented U of A on the sidelines! Our seats were in the third row and just as all other basketball games, it was fantastic. The best part was easily the magician at half time. 

 

New Year's Eve was definitely eventful. We went to the Galleria (heaven on earth aka my favorite mall aka also Beyonce's favorite mall) and then went home. Viola bumped into one of the many glass tables in my grandparents house and the entire thing went crashing down. So my dad got to spend a good thirty-forty minutes cleaning tiny glass shards out of the floor. Good times! 

 

It wouldn't be New Year's Eve without playing some games! We taught Nina how to play Jenga and in return she showed us Monopoly Deal. As you can see, Owen was a great Jenga helper. It was a miracle he didn't knock it over!

 

On the first (today), we flew home to good ole San Ramon! Unfortunately my bag got misplaced on the plane and ended up flying out on the next flight. That flight was supposed to land in San Francisco at 2 pm, and then they would drive my bag home. It's 7:20 and still no bag. We shall see! 

In the meantime I have been photographing my photogenic animals. Charlotte moves a lot more than Wilbur so most of the pictures are of Wilbur and Dewey. Enjoy! Congrats on making it this far.

Happy New Year everyone!!!!