happy holidays

preston and i spent christmas apart, him with his family and me with mine.

i had a wonderful christmas, but nothing makes me happy quite like he does.

he came back last night,

and i was a happy girl.

the past few days, i have spent lots of time with the family-- seeing movies (don't see "how do you know?"), playing games with cousins, watching grey's anatomy with my mom, and painting nails.

in the next few days, i hope to do some ice skating, skiing, and sleeping-in before returning back to p-town.

my parents say they have a "christmas hangover". we all just laughed when they said that! but how true is that? i'm sure most parents do.

i am loving the holidays. hope you are too!

xmas cheer

kristen and i were quite cheery this morning. can't you tell?

we woke up early to open presents (9am to be exact. my parents were just happy it wasn't 6 am like all our neighbors)

but really, the pictures don't do it justice...we really were excited! we opened half of our presents, made abelskivers, and we are now "resting" while brandon and aj go to her parents house. we will open the other half when they return. it's like two christmases! what fun.

it couldn't be christmas without the sappy part too...so here it is. this is one of my favorite xmas hymns.

"How silently, how silently

The wondrous gift is given !

So God imparts to human hearts

The blessings of His heaven.

No ear may hear His coming;

But in this world of sin,

Where meek souls will receive Him still,

The dear Christ enters in."

I'm trying to let Christ into my heart so I can have a heart like His. I'm thankful for the wondrous gift He gives to me and you, and I'm not going to take that for granted this next year. I hope everyone has a peaceful and warm christmas with their family!

merry christmas!

winter wonderland wedding

the week before christmas, most people are frantically strolling the mall to buy last minute christmas presents.

Normally, I would admit to this, but this year I had something much more important on my agenda...

A wedding!

I finished up finals and then jetted off to California with my family for my cousin Jennie's wedding. They got married in the LA temple and had their reception in the Music Hall in down town LA. The biggest rain storm in 10 years also decided to come the day before the wedding. Thankfully the photographer was able to snap a few pictures in between the gusts of rain. We danced the night away at the beautiful dinner reception and caught up with cousins. My aunt tina decorated the whole reception hall with her martha stewart skills.

It was lovely!

Congratulations Jennie and Aaron!

Two things that I love:

Morning Glory (the movie)

and the Weepies (a band)

check them out here (this is their christmas song... it's delightful)

imagine my excitement when i realized the weepies did a song for the movie

here's the music video.

enjoy!

meet me under the mistletoe

Last weekend, we had our ugly christmas sweater party!

There were lots of fun activities including hot cocoa drinking, christmas cookie eating, dancing to become "christmas king", learning the dougie, and kissing under the mistletoe ;)

We also had a special visitor come......

Everyone got to take pictures with santa and tell him what they wanted for christmas. Preston's boss let him borrow this enormous santa. He had to bring santa home in his very small car, having to decapitate santa for the ride home.

King of Christmas

(Josh and Tiffany under the mistletoe!)

dance off for King of Christmas

Thanks to everyone who came and spread christmas cheer!

sweater preview

christmas party tomorrow at 9.

come get your christmas cheer on

be there or be square

don't forget a rockin sweater!

(more sweater previews at my roommate's blog here)

thanksgiving ode

on thanksgiving, I was able to experience some things off my 100 list. I was a happy girl!

ate maple butter twists for a nutritious breakfast

(made by yours truly)

went to Sundance with entire Dyer side of family

and ate unhealthy amounts of pie

(I made these two-- oatmeal maple and chocolate pecan)

yum

I hope you all were able to enjoy some of the things you are grateful for

:)