christmas break highlights

aside from the christmas eve, christmas day, mitchell's farewell, and the movie watching i already blogged about, scotty and i did a lot of other fun things over christmas break!

i got pretty christmas nails

 we laughed at mitchell and tanner and their jokes

 we carried on our 21-year-old tradition of pictures with santa

 we visited the strip

 ... and got a pretty view of it from the new HOV lane :)

 we played fun card games with scotty's parents

 i enjoyed a wonderful fab 5 luncheon at BJ's

... and especially my complimentary birthday pazookie 

and meeting kami's sweet baby jack! 

he is a beautiful little baby. i'm in love.

i visited my mom's place of work at the world market center. she plays with christmas decorations all day, so i got a sneak peek at them :)

 after that, she treated me to farm basket.

scotty and tanner long-boarded from our house down to farm basket!

crazy boys. it only took them 22 minutes!

amidst all this fun, i got my wisdom teeth out and ate lots of fro yo.

and i spent lots of time with my husband.

we mostly shopped and munched on red velvet cafe chocolate chip cookies. 

leah did my hair!

i love it dark.

 and i hung out with these cute kids. i love my little cousins!

overall, it was a pretty successful trip. 

now it's time to get back into routine and prepare for school to start. 

christmas eve and day

one of the best things about marrying scotty (aside from his good looks, wit, charming personality, etc.) is the convenience of celebrating christmas with our families.  scotty's family has a big party on christmas EVE, while my family has a big party christmas MORNING. again - it's real convenient. so those 48 hours of christmas eve/day are always so fun for us! we get a happy mixture of both of our families, combined with food, presents, games, and pure joy!

on the 24th we woke up and ran some errands (a.k.a. bought last-minute gifts).

we wrapped some presents and were very productive! 

then ron took us out shooting, and it was a blast. 

i realized that if i'm ever in a situation in which my life depends on my strength or ability to shoot, i will probably die. i think i'm okay with that.

we shot a 50 cal and an AR 15...

it was way fun! scotty did really well, and i was just happy that i hit the target one time. after that, we headed over to my brother-in-law matt's house for the marx family christmas exchange! we all exchanged gifts with the other siblings and with ron and kim. it was a hit! we ate delicious macayos food and played fun reindeer games. i am frustrated with myself because i didn't take a single picture the entire night... but just trust me, even though i don't have photographic proof, it was fun. i am grateful for my thoughtful in-laws who showered us with gifts. scotty is excited about his tickets to a jazz game next year, and i can't wait to use my new temple bag and purse!

after the marx extravaganza, we went to my parents' house and opened our traditional christmas eve pajamas.  a few hours later (at approximately 6:30 a.m.) tanner woke us all up to an exciting christmas morning. we opened gifts, ate way too much candy, and made bacon with french toast.

one of my presents was a box with 6 tickets to the 12:25 showing of les miserables! i was so happy!

the movie was absolutely amazing -
but that's a whole other blog post in the works.
we lounged around playing with our presents and trying on clothes until scott & jenn came over with their cute babies to celebrate my birthday. we watched a movie and played with afton and jack. we ate dinner, dessert, and opened more presents.

i was pretty spoiled. i got the enzo angiolini boots i've been drooling over for months, clothes, school supplies (for my nerdy teacher side), new phone cases, scarfs, and last but not least, A PET BUNNY! my husband is so sweet.

i adore him!
he's so soft and cuddly.
and i'm up for name suggestions... so feel free to contribute.
we are so blessed to belong to two amazing families!

mitchell's farewell

i can't freaking believe my kid brother is leaving for his mission in 10 DAYS.
i think we're still just a tad bit in denial. however, the whole thing seemed so real today when mitch gave his farewell talk. he did an amazing job. seriously, i was so surprised. he sounded like a mature, confident missionary, and i was so proud.

that picture might be a little inappropriate for church,
but for the record i didn't take it haha!
doesn't he look good?

and please don't mind my chipmunk cheeks. 

i had the pleasure of getting wisdom teeth removed this weekend.

after sacrament meeting, we invited everyone over to our house for some mexican food to celebrate mitchell and his decision and his worthiness to go on a mission. 

it was so special to feel all of the love and support from his friends and family! it's crazy to think the next time i see him, we will be dropping him off at the MTC. i will miss him, but i am so excited for him to leave and to touch many people's lives. those mexicans are lucky people!

giving thanks 2012

we have had so much fun the past few days! 

thanksgiving break was exactly what i needed. i am so thankful for breaks from school... pretty sure i wouldn't survive without them.

tuesday night we drove to vegas to stay with the marx family. 

wednesday was busy busy! 

in the morning, we ran errands with kim.

i headed over to the west side of town to take care of some important business:

picking up red velvet cafe cookies

visiting my former coworkers at lakes cleaners

and a vegas trip isn't complete without a cafe rio lunch with my girls. 

kami is ready to pop any day now.

we are so excited to meet little jack!

scotty and i spent the rest of the day watching cable (someone was having withdrawals), running more errands, chatting and catching up with family, hanging out with chicks... 

and eating a wonderful dinner at outback! thanks ron & kim. 

thursday, we had so much fun getting everything ready for our thanksgiving meal. i watched kim make homemade stuffing, and we cleaned and set up the dining room.  it was great to see scotty's siblings and their families. we stuffed our faces with amazing turkey, ham, stuffing, potatoes, pies, cookies, and other delicious food items. 

then after dinner was over and our things were packed up, we headed off to brianhead, utah. my family and two of my aunts and their families were up there. we played games, ate way too much food, did puzzles, watched movies, snowmobiled, and went sledding. 

 (i freaking love my cousin cienna, but the following picture cracks me up)

all of that was fun, but my favorite part was probably the craft night with my mom and aunts. i love these ladies! we are always laughing together. 

cathi helped us make initials to hang on our front doors, and a christmas sign. we painted, sanded, stained, and decorated! 

here are the finished products:

i love how they turned out! 

another highlight of the weekend was a white elephant gift exchange. 

i know, i know... it's not christmas. 

but it was still a blast!

there were some pretty hilarious gifts: a chippendales puzzle, a box of doll heads, and my personal favorite - an autographed picture of scotty. 

so funny. we had such a wonderful weekend! 

we are so thankful for our families and the time that we get to spend with them.