white christmas.

it is so sad. i wrote a big long post about our christmas in utah and it didn't save. 

our streak from June to December is the longest i've ever gone without going home. needless to say, i was very ready to be surrounded by family in a winter wonderland. 

it was funny when my FIL pulled the car up, saw our bags, put the car away and got the truck instead. also, these may not look that stuffed but you should have SEEN them on the way back to texas!

and salt lake definitely delivered. the sight we arrived to was white, white, white snow! the temperatures were very cold, which meant the snow stayed for quite a few days. we loved it!

my granny was the queen at making candy. its been our family tradition to take it and cookies out on plates to all of our neighbors. this year, lizzie and i put in joint effort and made fudge, caramel and divinity. the fudge and caramel took a couple tries but were da bombbb. the divinity could have used a little work, but that's what next year is for!

another fun and stressful christmas tradition of ours is getting a live tree on christmas eve and decorating it that night. it is my assumption that the tradition started on accident when my parents forgot to get a real tree until the night before christmas. the tradition stuck and although it is stressful every year, we hate change enough to keep it around!!!

christmas at the robinson's was so fun. our family is getting bigger which means christmas morning is lasting longer. we all take turns opening presents while everyone watches, it's the only way. casper's reactions won because every gift he opened he hugged to his chest. 

(even the sensible gifts of clothing jon and i gave him)

we spent the afternoon at jon's moms with her and alex. we opened gifts, had a delicious christmas lunch and watched the grinch. it was much more mellow than it was at my dads house, it was a nice change of pace. 

(i don't know if i meant to do this, but here i am awkwardly showing off my new watch with my spirit friend in the lower right corner)

christmas was so fun! i love being surrounded by family, especially since they all love christmas as much as i do! lizzie was born on the 25th, so we all have a special place in our hearts for christmas for that reason as well. 

speaking of the birthday girl, she worked on Elf while she was in utah and got jon and i tickets! it was sooo cute and funny and better than i expected! we were so proud of lizzie and i told her that i didn't even notice the spotlight which meant she did an awesome job not wiggling it around!!

jon, alex and i took the babies up to listen to the message at the Christus.
afterwards, i asked audrey (4.5 y/o) if she understood. she said "i want to hug him."

every year, my dad and i work on a christmas puzzle. the last couple years he has used his own photographs to make a puzzle. they have been very challenging which is fun for me but not for him! we completed this one successfully, much to his surprise!

on NYE, we got dolled up and went out for a nice dinner at Trio. it was fun to be there with both sides of our family. that's where we had our wedding dinner!

after dinner we went to camille's and played games! our family is made up of gamers, so it was fun as per usual. also, jon won. we went back to my dads to ring in the new year over some doctor mario. it ended badly and my dad took the game away from us. i hope new years eve wasn't a premonition to 2014, haha. 

a couple days before we left we got to see this cutie!!!!!!!! we have missed her so much since leaving california and i'm so grateful we're both from utah so we can have run-ins like this! she didn't make much of an effort to get a seat on the plane (stand-by) so that she could meet us for breakfast. she is the sweetest, most encouraging and genuine human being i know (not to mention fashionable). we are both so grateful for her friendship. 

our last night there was filled with KARAOKE! everyone sang, laughed and cheered! it was the best night filled with good music and fun people. i won't ever forget alex singing (and dancing) to Wicked's "Popular". you guys, it was the best. the man (16) has no shame.

our week and a half there went by way too quickly, as it usually does. again, we were not able to spend enough time with our families or see all the friends that we wanted to. it is difficult to live far away but  holidays and visits so much fun!!!!
not pictured: girls night with jessie and lyndsi, with baby bentley. breakfast at blue plate diner with amanda, isaac, and emma (along with baby boy). a museum trip to the BYU museum of art with Kim and Alex to see the Karl Bloch exhibit (amazing). snow man making (rebuilding) with my dad and lizzie. spending time with mike and kim and learning that they are EXPECTING!!! going to the gym together almost every morning for free.99 at 24, but don't tell them we said that. catching up with addie, travis, aftynn and baby girl! and did i mention girls night with my bff's who i miss everyday? the trip was much needed, it really boosted my spirits to see my sisters and friends. i feel like i can handle (and enjoy, duh) the next six months in texas before i see them again…

fourth of july 2013!

we had such a fun time celebrating the 4th!! 

the 3rd is my mother in law kathy's birthday, so we had dinner and played games with her until they went to bed. after celebrating, jon and i packed up the car and left san antonio for austin! we drove directly to a nice little neighrbohood and set up shop! we slept happily but uncomforatbly in the land cruiser. we woke up and brushed our teeth on the side of the car and were packing up when the neighbor came out to take out his trash. he came up to jon and told him he liked his car and thanked jon for his service. jon told him we slept in front of his house in preparation for the parade and the neighbor didn't care at all! people here are so nice. he also let us know that the parade was just a little neighborhood thing and it wouldn't be too crowded....we are so used to california. 

the parade was indeed a little neighborhood thing, but it was so cute! we loved being there with all these nice and happy texans. butttt.....

the best part of the day was hanging out with this girl!!!! she is selling over the summer in dallas and her and her friends came down to celebrate the fourth! she is the main reason we went to austin, and we had so much fun!!! the first place we went to was a river that looks shallow in these photos. there was an area of the river that was about 12 feet deep and had rocks we could jump off of and stuff. it was a ton of fun and the water was perfect. i love laughing with jessie so much and always remember why we have been friends forever. i laughed so hard while jon was splashing us and we were splashing each other. so childish! 

our next destination was hamilton pool. 

it was so amazing!!! i wish these pictures did it justice. we hiked 1/4 of a mile down to the pool on a pretty trail and then came upon this wondrous view. the water was a bit chilly....but once you got in, it was awesome. my pictures don't show it, but there was water dripping from the rocks all along the top creating little waterfalls. it seemed like a good idea to hang out underneath them, but it felt like a waterfall of bb's if you catch my drift. 

this is a good picture of one of the 'waterfalls'.
very painful i tell you.

we got bbq for dinner with our new friends and had a good time. then we split up which wasn't a good time and gave me separation anxiety. jon and i weren't sure where we wanted to watch fireworks, so we just started driving. we stopped in blanco and asked a policeman where the fireworks were being held and he referred us to a teeny tiny town 20 minutes away called albert. 

it was really nice! there was a bar and a dance hall and that's about it. we tried ordering food at the bar and the lady sent us to the pavilion where there was a family/town? barbecue going on which meant free food for everybody! plus a little fireworks show which was really cool since they were RIGHT in front of us. i was a little bit frightened though since 1/3 of the fireworks were going off on the ground instead of up in the sky, but what do you do?

i love celebrating the 4th with my man, it is always something new and adventurous. i love america so much. it seems like we truly celebrated independnece day at church the sunday before when we sang america the beautiful and the star spangled banner. chills for days.

i wasn't mad coming home to these puppies:

homemade fried pickles from kathy:

and jon holding a toad he found in the driveway: