a texas christmas

 around 1:00 pm it was time to open presents...

 (i think the books my sister and i made were a success!)

nick and shane had a blast shooting nick's bow and arrow

  and we actually ended up having a very snowy white christmas in texas after all!

who would have thought!

 we took some family pictures while we were there too.

*courtney, thanks again for doing that!*

 it's hard for all of us to take a serious pictures...

 but we finally got one!

 while we were in texas we were able to surprise these lovely ladies with a visit!

 it was so nice to see the wilson crew!

and shane and i were also able to see this beautiful woman go through the temple to prepare for her mission! it was a wonderful experience!

over all it was a fantastic christmas break even with the unexpected snow. full of games, friends, laughter, tons of driving, home made meals, high school state game at the cowboys stadium!, family time, and many memories! cant wait to visit again...i miss it already.

merry christmas!

hello december

i'm looking forward to,

seeing christmas lights everywhere

reuniting with friends i haven't seen for awhile

watching christmas movies (elf) all month long

hearing christmas music everywhere I go

cuddling with the hubs by our christmas tree

attending a friends wedding

wrapping presents

spending time with family

watching a dear friend take her final steps to prepare for her mission

sipping hot chocolate

it's going to be a fantastic month

COUNTDOWN!

so it's official!!!!!!

2 days

20 hours

11 minutes

TIL WE LEAVE FOR TEXAS!

I'M SO BEYOND EXCITED!!!!

i'm ready to see my family!

and to see my friends!

and enjoy the christmas traditions my family has made!

and be back in the great state!

and have a break from the cold and snow for a week!

and to share all of this with my hubby! :)

i love it and i'm just so excited!

that is all :)

temple square!

it's beginning to feel like christmas! but not so much look...we barely have the snow we had last year. but don't get me wrong, this is NOT me complaining. i LOVE the fact that we don't have that much snow. *fingers crossed it stays that way* but it was getting closer time for shane and i to be heading to TEXAS for christmas so we thought it was time that we went to temple square to see the fabulous christmas lights. halie, michael, logan, and adrienne joined the group as well. it was in the 20's that night (maybe colder...it sure felt like it) so everyone was bundled up. the kids could barely move haha the lights were awesome and beautiful! we had a great time looking at all the lights and finding places to take pictures. the kids were pretty excited when it was time to go back to the car and get warmed up though. here are some pictures of the evening.

adreinne wanted to take a picture of shane and i so that meant that we had to get down to her level really quickly and not fall haha

merry christmas from our family to yours! :)

finals to now time!

so-i noticed today that i haven't posted anything since finals time. and i thought i should probably change that before i got too far behind and didn't remember what all happened.

finals about killed me...my biology one anyways. caitie and i stayed in the library for a week and a half until 12 PM-1 AM each night. it was a lonnngggg week and a half but it paid off in the end. both caitie and i got a good enough grade on our biology final that we passed the class! there was much celebrating because of it! i also passed all of my other classes as well, which i was really grateful for.

went back to good ole texas for the christmas holidays :) i love going back home now that i'm not there all the time and not able to see my family and friends on a regular basis. christmas was great, i was able to spend a lot of my time with my family which i was really grateful for!

i was somewhat excited to go back to provo and somewhat not. i miss texas so much while i'm here in provo but while i was home i didn't feel like i had a "real" place for myself. i didn't have a room anymore, none of my stuff was there. so i was ready to get back to provo and have my space again but i do miss my family and friends a lot like always. i've started a new semester at utah valley university..or UVU :) i have really come to enjoy this school a lot more than i expected. all of my classes this semester are pre reqs for me to get done so hopefully by the fall of 2012 i can apply for the nursing program and continue on the path to become a nurse and specialize in neonatal (aka babies in the nursery). so far so good with my classes but chemistry is on the fence...i have a feeling like it will be another difficult one much like my biology one last semester, but i'm hoping for the best right now. other than that things are good!

this past weekend maddie and her friend rachel came down from byu-i so it was fantastic to have them here :) i always have tons of fun when maddie comes down...still in the process of trying to talk her into moving down here..that would be AWESOME!!! anywho-here are some pictures of us from this past weekend...

there are SOCKS in the vending machines at a bowling ally

me and maddie moose :)

ha! lonnngggg story!

maddie and i at the salt lake temple at night!

maddie and shane!

sadly enough caitie also left me this past weekend to ventured off to california... :( i miss her lots already but hopefully she'll be back soon to visit. until then we plan to have skype dates to watch the bachelor and gossip girl and possibly grey's anatomy together :)

before she left saturday morning, caitie, me, and her roommate jenny (also a friend of mine) took a picture for old times sakes :)

well, thats pretty much a brief catch up of whats been going on since finals time til now! i'm looking forward to all the other fun things that will be happening this semester! :)