"A good sense of humor is an escape valve for the pressures of life"

Christopher and I were able to get away and spend some time with family during our short break between semesters and I sure am glad because we had lots of laughter and fun that helped us kind of forget real life for a while.  It was a great break from reality!

First things first, as you know, I graduated :D It was great! Except I had to give the prayer which was scary. But it meant I was done! Dad and Brian came up for it (along with their wives) and we got to celebrate with some extended family too.  Thursday night we had a big Texas Roadhouse dinner with all my aunts and uncles and then dessert (a giant coldstone cake) with some cousins.  It was soo great to see everyone! I couldn't wait to live closer to them all when I got married but I barely ever see anyone even though I do live 4 hours closer! 

Friday was spent in Jackson Hole showing Denise the sights. We took standard tourist pictures and everything, it was great.  Then we came back and got ready for graduation.  We went to our favorite little burger joint with some friends instead of commencement (the big meeting with the whole school) then made it to the church for my convocation (just the department).  I had to give the prayer so we were pretty early but the ceremony didn't last too long and pretty soon I was across the stage graduated! We all headed back to our place and hung out for a bit before heading to bed because the next day we headed to Utah!

I love my goofball !

Walking across the stage....

Check out my blank case! Yay!

My cute horticulture husband insisted that we stand BESIDE the flowers so you could still see them

Originally Christopher and I were just gunna drive out to California that day but Brian was not looking forward to 3 lonely boring days with Jennica working so we headed to Utah with them instead.  That way Christopher got to use his free Tucano's on birthday dinner #1.  It was fun! And we finally got to see Brian and Jenn's gorgeous apartment.  Monday morning we woke up at the crack of dawn and hit the road so that we were in Danville by dinner time.  Poor Jenn had to stay back and work but came out Wednesday night.

Blurry Birthday Dinner #1

He had to dance :D

 

 

In Danville we celebrated Christopher's birthday again with birthday dinner #2 at bennihana (another free meal! :D Then, we spent the next 2 weeks just chilling and doing lots of Christmas shopping/celebrating.  Christmas was a blast because we had cute little Holden with us this year.  We did all the regular stuff Christmas Eve but Christmas day we decided to go our movie before dinner instead of after and therefore had to postpone dinner till the day after where Brian entertained us all with a rendition of the Newsies soundtrack. Here's some pictures of that:

Birthday Dinner #2

Love this place :D

My cute birthday boy and his requested white cake with cream cheese oreo frosting :D

Blowing out his candles! 24 years old!

He got some pants that he bought himself and a drill from me and my dad. As you can tell Brian was really in to photobombing that night

 Christmas Eve!

Ornament time - Jenn got a canadian flag! She was so happy!

Brian's EMT ornament

Nordstroms.. of course

He opened his stuffed minion because he didn't have an ornament. His dad was a little upset he wasn't more enthused.

Christmas Morning! 

The stockings couldn't be hung by the chimney with care because they were too big!

Holden was really into eating his toys this year.... he took a chunk out of his Thor hammer almost immediately

I had such a hard time buying for this boy so when i randomly stumbled on a cast iron pan and remembered he'd wanted one I just went for it. Kind of selfish of me though because they make the BEST hashbrowns!

Perks of doing Christmas after Holden's first nap: shower and makeup

Of course big boy got some lakers attire

Yes.... this happened. Bike short overalls

He asked for this one so I don't feel as bad but I was also pretty excited for myself. :D

We were twinners in our BYU sweatshirts and iphone 5s

Next Christopher and I celebrated our two year anniversary by doing dinner and movie then staying at the hotel we stayed in the night of our wedding, which was awesome while it lasted but didn't last long because we again were up at 4 am to drive back to Idaho so that Christopher would be home for his church meetings.  Poor planning on our part... However, I can't believe its been two years and I can't wait for many more with that boy! He makes me a better person and I love him to death.

We were back in Rexburg for less than 24 hours before we headed out to Driggs to spend New Years with the other side of the family.  Kelsey and David joined us for the food and fireworks Monday night.  Then we all went sledding New Year's day. It was great!

Christopher being silly

Sophie was super unsure of the sparklers that night but she did hold it which was great because she is terrified of fire!

See! She had fun with it!

David was quite photogenic on his tube!

I know Sophie looks quite distressed (the snow was all in her face) but she really did actually LOVE sledding!

Again she was happy she just doesn't like pictures...haha

See! She was happy!

Todd convinced us both we had to go down on our stomachs haha

even little Kaleb liked it! Although he was super cold...

This little brat shoved my face in the snow... I was thrilled...

Another great capture :D

After a few more days of hanging out with our cute little niece and nephew we came back to Rexburg so Christopher could start school today! Weird that I'm not out there with him....
Well that was our break! And what a good break it was! It is always nice to be with our families and enjoy some laughter and memory making.  Although... it is nice to be back in my own bed! haha Sorry this post was so long, now that I'm not in school I promise to try and be better about posting so that it isn't as much of a catch up every time! In the mean time, stay smiling!

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