hi pictures.

i took two finals today and also bought international stamps (who thought sending letters and pictures to new members would cost so much. $50 just for stamps. really?). so now i feel like blogging. don't really know how it correlates. 

this week..

macey's had a killer deal (maybe still does?) on chex cereal between. what i bought for me, my mom, and my sisters- it totalled 54 boxes haha. $1.09 a box cannot be beat.

wednesday night we went and saw the lights. i think i took this photo and not really any others but thank goodness nicole did, bless her heart.  

we threw an ugly sweater christmas fest this weekend. i'm glad my collection could clothe ryan, suzanne, and myself!

if you look closely my earrings are clay kittens with santa hats. 

ryan was such a good sport!

(ps I got these off my roommate ashley's facebook so they are possibly crappy quality. sweet thing has all her albums set to private so this was the only way for you to see them)

ryan! haha. the gettinginpeople'spictureswithoutthemknowing thing never gets old. 

i'm so glad she captured this lucky moment.

another lucky moment would be how we went with my mission president and his wife to the temple saturday night. oh those live sessions! it was nice to be there with all of them and ry guy. missions rock. 

(and if you want to know why the hoers are so cool, you can listen here.)

yesterday we finally got to give ryan's dog max this sweater. when i saw it in the store i was dying. i had to buy it for him. who would think up a knit turtleneck for small dogs! genius.

let's be honest, i don't even like dogs.

 but i like him.

wendy put up her tree!

 (i hope i can make a habit of highlighting her decorations in every post).

so much happening, so christmas fabulous. i could stare at it for days.

at my request my mom put up our front room tree too!

(hasn't happened since before my mission haha) 

which is more on the lovely side so i love it for different reasons. i think i could just sit in front of a lit tree for hours and never get sick of it. add some hot chocolate and christmas tunes and i'm entertained the whole break. 

seriously. 

after not having christmas for two years in a country where they only put up decorations at the mall or the mission home, you just can't get enough of it.

aaaand cue abrupt ending.

love!

the end would be the best part.

so. cute.

hair.

so for awhile i was obsessed with my sister becky's hair from her wedding back in the early 90's.

it inspired this

 and this

but not really this

and then i came across this photo..

 and realized becky was actually inspired by ME.

(ha!)

this didn't have a title so i gave it one.

yeahhhhhhh

(dont worry that he came out the other day with this on haha)

this cutie is doing a show with young ambassadors tonight so he has been gone all day doing that business. we are usually together every weekend so i just realized today that i don't really have hang out friends! the worst part is probably that i don't care haha. i figure it is a great opportunity to get some homework done so next week isn't so crazy but at the exact moment of realizing this, i felt a weird urge to blog.
funny how that works. 

 i'm excited december is here. i'm overjoyed i get to look at this all month (i told you i had the calendar!).  who thought a $1.50 purchase could bring such joy?

 i realized i never talk about this but here are what ryan and i do most of the time: 

a) have nice conversations

b) make slash eat food

c) watch community, the office, or movies like "you've got mail"

d) clean my house ha ha 

e) hang out with family

f) go to institute or do other various church things

h) shop (he is a trooper)

i) try to be cultural and do cultural things

j) go to his shows

that last one probably happens a couple times a month if not more. above was this thursday at velour and two below was at ty and lisa's ward christmas party last night.

and sometimes he even gets the privilege of playing with katie and i get the privilege of wearing this awesome all access pass that is even laminated! who knew local artists had such things!

 i really enjoy going and watching him play with nik day. they have a great sound and i could listen to them for hours (which is lucky for everyone because i actually do).  ryan is super talented and he just gets better and better! a perfect example would be how he played jingle bells last night and actually never played it before (but rocked out as if he practiced for days). i'm glad he has enough talent for the both of us.

this picture was taken today at ashlie's grandmas house. don't worry that this is only like half of her nativities. the whole room was covered..she loves them i guess.

we had some nice one on one on one time as i joined her and her fiance earlier in watching dispicable me. really such a great show and a great couple. it was nice being the third wheel, it made me grateful for when i'm not one haha.

aaaaand. to match the excitement on our faces is the fact that i can wear contacts again! sometimes. my eyes still love struggling but i've been wearing them today for like 8 hours now and they are not dying yet!

 festivus miracle.

(ps i also blogged about thanksgiving..found below)

breaks are great(s).

i realized i never blogged thanksgiving and considering i'm still procrastinating getting a head start on next week's homework (oxymoron?) i felt this would be a good time.

my cute sister kim turned 30 so i watched her babies for the day. this was when korbin threw up all over himself so while i cleaned it up he, being topless, watched his siblings play in the snow. such a good time.  

wendy started decorating for the holidays which i love so much! i could stare at all of her santas forever.

and i finally realized santa is holding baby Jesus in that painting! so clever.

ben came for thanksgiving and it was actually the first time i met him ever! you'd think after dating someone for four-ish years you would have met all their siblings before now but somehow it never happened. he was worth the wait though, 

definitely a keeper.

after a long two years absence i got to help my parents put up christmas decorations! this would be the bears (and other random stuffed animals) we put up around the room representing each person in the family. 

so cheeseball, so mormon, so great.

such a treat it was to just hang out with my parents. i love them a whole lot!

i love this guy too.

 ..and this guy. haha so so cute.

the fam. about half of us anyway.

(and you better believe i wore my taiwanese ruffly thanksgiving shirt i bought and wore for both thanksgivings as a missionary)

overall it was a relaxing few days with some quality family time. thanksgiving morning we even saw hp7! i thought it was great except for the whole digitally remastered pornographic harry/hermione moment. 

..what was that?