holidays.

i spent last week at home with my family.

it was such a short trip but very fun and so beautiful.

we left the NIGHT before it started dumping snow!! i'm so glad of it too. i don't do cold very well, but i do appreciate the beauty of it......

my dad said he kept shoveling all day yesterday.

it took TWELVE hours to drive from st george to san diego. it should have taken MAYBE nine. it was such a jokeeee. i'm happy to be back in sunny california. the weather has started to turn more fall-like. it has been about 55 degrees. today, my friend katie and i went and bought me a tree! it was the oddest thing, buying a christmas tree down in the city, just a few blocks from the beach. 

i came home and decorated it with this cutie-

he isss the sweetest. 

him and my lil cat kept me company while i strung the lights and added the ornaments.

look how cute. i got a tree for my bedroom a couple years ago. it was tiny. 

this tree i got is so big, i don't have quite enough ornaments to cover it! i'm excited to start collecting ornaments for jon and i over the years. i already got us two this year...they are so perfect and special. 

it's bitter sweet decorating without him... however, he deployed at a perfect time.

halloween, thanksgiving, christmas...etc. the holidays are such a happy time of year. its so nice to have things to look forward to and enjoy with my friends here and family back home. and i'm not mad about this deployment being 35% over....horrayyy..:)

on the 5th day of christmas...

Lizzie and I went to the tree lot and bought a 44 dollar tree

for 30 dollars.

But there was no price on the tree, so how would we know?? :)

and it is perfect.

jumble.

Me: I used to live out there?
Man Living on 2200 Madison Ave NewYork, NewYork: Where!!?
Me: Central Park West and 84th...
Man: Where are you talking to me from?
Me: Salt Lake City Utah!
Man: Why did you move out there? Did you get rich?
Me: ....No...I'm from here. I was going to school in New York.
Man: Oh. Are you coming back?
Me: I hope so.
Man: This is where the money is.
Me: haha...
Man: Alright come on back now. Bye.

He was so sweet. It's so weird to be home, I miss New York so much and no one understands. It's like when a missionary comes home and want to talk about his mission 24/7 and no one cares and no one wants to hear about it. I now kind of know what it is like being on the other end. However, one of my friends just got back from his mission in New York! Soooo that works out really nicely. We can reminisce with each other.

This is a difficult blog to write because I have so many different things on my mind. I could have taken in it so many different directions.

I'll just jump to the new addition to my family.

So I've had a few pets in the past..........thousands of fish, multiple hamsters, and a kitten. All of which I really, REALLY tried to treat well and keep alive.

But they didn't stay on this earth long.
I found them floating in the bowl, frozen solid in their cage, or, the most painful of them all, was awoken by two of my sisters one morning. When they found sweet (???????????????????) Keeska, laying very stiff, but very peaceful, on the top step in the garage.

How I loved her.

I'm hoping that won't happen with my newest, best smelling, fullest, and best dressed...

Christmas tree!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My dad helped me decorate this beautiful thing after Lizzie and her roommates and I picked it out! So far it hasn't drank any water, but I'm sure it will soon...............