so. many. trees.

oh hey festival of trees blog post in my drafts! i guess i forgot you were in there! 

so when i was little i would always perform at the festival of trees but hadn't been back in yeeeears so this year i was very adamant about making it happen. 

sometimes people try really hard to be creative

which sometimes worked out great and other times not

i loved this wooden nativity art

and of course brynn's tree. 

when we walked in that tree caught my eye from across the room and i  knew that it had to be hers! it just stood out from the others.

when we finally go to it i was so happy to see it really was her tree! it was definitely my favorite and the quotes on the Christmas packages were the perfect touch.

i don't think i'm the only one that felt that way either.

if you can see from the picture above everyone on the one side is stopped at her tree (you can't see her tree in the picture but just trust me) because there was just something about it. we stood and watched people for a little bit looking at it and i think they could feel the special-ness of it as well. 

 leave it to brynn to continue inspiring people! 

we ran into so many nice friends! one of them being this gal!

what we like to call the "over achiever" tree/display

ryan's favorite!

std bear's girlfriend?

yes i think this gingerbread extravaganza is great but what I really want you to look at is the background and how the people are just shoved everywhere!

and what is not to love about madagascar and up?

we made a goal of seeing every single tree and after four and a half hours we can successfully say we did it! we both kind of wanted to die by the end there but i'm still proud of our accomplishment. big thanks goes out to ry guy for being a trooper and for everyone who did such a nice job! those trees just warmed my heart. 

10 posts in 1.

let's look back at what this break had to offer.

(and by break i mostly mean christmas and weddings)

every so often i worked and chatted with the great people of the www.

then (i forgot to take pictures for a week of it somehow so now we are to) christmas eve we had a lovely dinner with the margetts

christmas program with the moysh's

then topped it off with some traditional new pajamas. 

christmas morning was spent again with the moysh fam

christmas afternoon was spent with the margetts lounging around and playing hedbanz

ryan was too nice to me and besides other nice gifts surprised me with a book of my mission!

he went through the thousands of mission photos i have (bless his heart)

 and made this book.

it took him hours and hours and hours

..best gift i've ever received!

the day after christmas we flew to texas for our dear friend ashlie's marriage fest!

we stayed with my sister tricia and within the hour of arriving ryan was being harassed by little children, as usual.

that night was spent at the lohner home catching up and staring at their way magical christmas tree!

nights were spent being twins and watching various movies 

(all of which i fell asleep to..BUT we watched the davinci code the other night and i actually stayed awake! definite miracle)

wedding dinner

married!! 

(she looked soooo good)

..but still very much ashlie.

pretty reception 

(sushi!)

photobooth

and a hundred other photos that i'll keep to myself..it was a great wedding to say the least.

before leaving i realized i didn't really take any photos of tricia's family (and dale's sister's fam who was staying with them for christmas) so this is all i got, taken right after everyone woke up. sorrrrry tricia. 

we loved staying with you!

the flight home 

that night was the annual christmas party. big success.

next up:

 courtney price

(aka my trainer)

extra treat =  the hoers were right in front of me in the sealing! very worth almost dying on the roads to get there.

 sweetest brother in law drove me to the temple and then accompanied me to the luncheon.

awkward? maybe.

delightful? yes.

new years eve=dad's birthday

breakfast with the becks!

..then rang in the new year with another round of hedbanz until 2:30 am.

(which is why this was such a treat)

and tomorrow is brynne's turn, i can't wait!!

words don't express how happy i am for that girl.

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.