Christmas in California

MERRY CHRISTMAS! (a few days late) This Christmas, Keith and I were lucky enough to make it down to California to visit his side of our family. We got home this morning and I am so sad. Now we have cold weather, less family, school, work, and things that are just not as fun as being with family. Don't get me wrong-we love our life but trips to California and Texas (where my side of the family is)are just an awesome luxury. On Christmas Eve we got to go to DISNEYLAND!

It was fanastic.We were there with my in-laws, Dave and Lisa, my brother and sister in-law, Katie and David, and my other brother and sister in-law, Chris and Beth, and their 3 year-old daughter Penny. She's the one on Keith's shoulders in the picture above. In the picture with the storm trooper it's Keith with Dave and David. Katie and Chris are Keith's siblings. He's the baby. We had such a fun time. It wasn't even that busy. I've never been to Disneyland at Christmas and it was awesome. The decorations and the Christmas parade and it was just all great. The next morning we went over to Chris and Beth's to watch Penny open her presents from Santa. When she walked out of the room Beth said, "Penny go look what Santa brought you!" However, the first thing she did was run and jump into Keith with a big hug. He loved that. We had fun watching everyone open their presents and got so many too! We are so dang lucky! I could list them all but it would be a very long list. We were thrilled though. It was sad to leave and come back home last night and also sad to not see my side of the family, but it is nice to be in our home together again. A little bit of an unpleasant surprise upon arriving home- a pipe burst while we were gone! Keith is pretty sure the water is coming from our downstairs neighbors, but we think she moved out. No one has been there for a while so we're not exactly sure how that's going to get taken care of. Hopefully it's not too terrible of a fix and it will be alright. On a good note, I am proud to report that all of our laundry is sorted and everything is unpacked and put away. I did not think that would happen that fast. I was on fire. That was an EXTREMELY brief synopsis of our trip but my brain is a little tired. Looking forward to tomorrow- one of my best friends is visiting and Utah and I get to see her tomorrow!

Happy birthday to Keith!

My love is 26! Yesterday was his birthday and I threw together a little last minute surprise party. He knew...well...he figured. But oh well! It was still fun! I made him a cake with icing "portals" on it so it looked like his candles were travelling through portals. (Portal is a video game he likes. Its like a puzzle game and super hard. I could never have enough patience to figure it out. So I made a cake like it instead which was still super hard. I should probably just stick to saving lives haha ;) ) Our little house was SO FULL with everyone that came! It was awesome! We had balloons and streamers and a bunch of fun birthday decorations. His birthday is such a special day to me- it's the day that my husband came into the world! And now he's my whole world! To honor him (a day late) and his birthday here are 26 things I love about my 26 year old husband:

1. His smile is so stinkin cute. He can always cheer me up when I see him smile.

2.He's so sincere and unconditional with his love.

3. He's not superficial in the least and tells me I'm beautiful even when I'm rolling out of bed.

4. I can trust him 100%. He's the most loyal person in the world.

5. He's so strong! I love how he can just pick me up and throw me over his shoulder at a whim.

6. He will always take care of business. Even dirty jobs- I can count on him to get them done.

7. He's incredibly intelligent. If I ever have a question about anything he knows the answer.

8. His green eyes.

9. He is a great artist.

10. He's creative. He can always think outside of the box.

11. He is the most selfless person in the world.

12. He always knows what to say when I'm sad.

13. He's very patient. (and trust me, to be my husband you need it haha)

14. He is soo sweet. He's always telling me how he loves me.

15. He's also tough. I know I can always count on him to take care of and protect our family.

16. Because he's so smart, he's super funny. I love that he has intelligent humor.

17. He has good grammar. (That seems stupid, but I just really love that.)

18. He loves his family. And my family. I love that about him.

19. He can make instant friends almost anywhere. He's such an awesome people person.

20. He makes me feel strong. When the world tries to make me feel belittled he brings me up.

21. We have so much fun together. If you really get us laughin we can't stop.

22. He's himself around me 100% and lets me be my goofy self and only laughs a little ;) .

23. Actually he doesn't hesitate to laugh at me and I love that. :)

24. He's a happy person. (even when I call him sweet potato. He doesn't like that too much.)

25. The way his booty looks in his just-a-tad-too-small jeans and the way his arms/shoulders/back look in his more-than-a-tad-too-small T-shirt ;)

26. His overall spirit. I just love him for all he is. I can list all these reasons but really it's just him. Period.

Happy birthday yesterday sweetheart!!

Gingerbread house!

We made a gingerbread house tonight! Here are some pictures. It was super fun. We are proud of our project!

New favorite product

This stuff is awesome. For the past two months my skin has turned against me. I am part of the lucky 0.27% of people in the country that get to experience a little thing called pityriasis rosea. It's a disgusting, painful, non-contagious, not serious rash that covers your whole body. And lasts for months. Yuck. The doctor said it's nothing to worry about but it lasts for months. And you can't treat it. You just have to wait it out. He said it's totally random who gets it. I told him that with odds like that I need to go get some lottery tickets! (just kidding.) Anyway, my skin has been killing me. It's like I'm covered in giant chicken pox. That reminded me of when I actually did have chicken pox back in '94 (like I really remember...) but I did remember my mom giving me an oatmeal bath so I went out and got some Aveeno colloidal oatmeal bath treatment. I mixed that with a few tablespoons of olive oil in the tub and soaked every day and it totally made my skin not hurt as bad! I ran out a few days ago and could totally tell a difference today. Ouch. It's kinda expensive so we'll wait it out but I can tell ya there's a reason they charge good money. In the mean time I'll just be grinding up oats on my own to hold me over. (It's worked alright...) Hopefully this thing clears up soon! Sorry if this was too gross/personal...

Perfect.

A few months ago I was assigned a research paper. The instructor had us write down three different topics and he picked out of those three the one on which we were to write. I ended up being assigned "blood replacement therapy in the pre-hospital setting"...yuck. I emailed my finished paper to him last night and he had all the papers graded and ready for us today. I was nervous because I've always HATED research papers. When he handed me my grade and comments sheet all I saw was "100/100. perfect." yeah. I couldn't keep from smiling. I pulled him aside and asked, pointing to my paper, "How often does that happen?" (referring to the perfect score) and he replied "It doesn't. That's an anomaly. I read it 2-3 times just looking for something to dock." YEE-HAW! I couldn't help but smiling for the rest of the night. I still kinda can't believe it.

Fallin' for it...

...the blog world, that is. It seems like everyone has one. Much like flip flops in elementary school, a coach (knockoff) handbag in middle school, Ugg boots in high school, and MissMe jeans in college, I am the last to jump on the trend. Better late than never?

Life is pretty crazy but unless you're a beach bum that seems to be the story. I'm about half way done with a paramedic program and loving it. I finished my EMT-Basic in 2010, my EMT-Intermediate in 2011, and I'll finish my paramedic in June 2012. Most people don't do it that way. Sometimes I feel like I'm smart for getting it all done back to back but then other times I wish I had the years of experience as an EMT-I that most paramedic students have. Oh well. I'll be done soon and then I'll be probably one of the youngest paramedics out there! I guess that's something to be proud of. Something I can REALLY be proud of is Keith! (My husband.) He finished his last day at BYU yesterday! He has worked so hard and I'm so glad he's done. His graduation was highly anticipated in our house. Now (once I take about 7 tests and a quiz today- not even exaggerating- and get home from class) we get to look forward to Christmas! I was just telling him last night how I was ready for a break. I love the holidays especially because we get to be with family. Unfortunately I won't get to see my parents in Texas this year but I am SUPER excited that we'll get to see his family and some of my extended family. Christmas is my favorite. I talked Keith into letting us go get a Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. It's pretty dry and dead now but I don't care! I love having it up in our house.

It is tempting to stay and write to my little heart's content but darn all those tests and quizzes. They're gonna keep me busy today.