wk 27.

lizzie, robbie, and i decorated christmas cookies! it was so much fun. 

i made a special one for my lover and i. 

it lasted about three minutes before it disappeared. into my belly. 

tonight i...

• watched lizzie's video. 

• went to see harry potter with my cousin, her boyf, and my friend natalie.

i know i mention this every time, but seriously ron? SERIOUSLY.

he looked so hot in this movie. his stubble, his smolder....he was the hottest when he was mad. 

he just looked so cute and miserable the whole time, i just wanted to squeeze him.

when he touched hermione's cheek.....so adorable.

nephi, how can you be mad at that face?

its been a life changing experience to read harry potter 1-7 in a row and watch all the movies. J.K.Rowling is a literary genius. she is so smart and i'm obsessed and in love with her writing and how she connected the books 1-7. every character she introduces has a major role, even those you'd never expect. its so great. and i lovelove comparing the story of voldemort infiltrating the ministry to evil infiltrating our government. its so interesting. 

• anyway, i came home and read about this beauty. 

queen elizabeth. what an intriguing life she has lead!

She is the last surviving head of state who served in uniform during the Second World War and married her second cousin once removed. if that doesn't make an old lady interesting, i don't know what does. 

christmas and school.

lately, i feel like i haven't had anything to blog about.

i've been blue lately...or maybe just tonight.

this is my life lately:

cute babies all day long. just LOOK AT HIM!

i chose this dark picture to post because i'm not sure how his mother feels about having his photo on the WWW?

 katie and her roommates had a christmas party last week. they tried calling it a holiday party, but everyone dressed in christmas attire. it was an eventful night...

 this is the sunset i saw while christmas shopping. i can't wrap my mind around it. i'll be extremely 100% depressed and miserable in the snow when i go to utah this weekend but soooo utterly happy and content that it will actually feel like christmas. a little torn. 

 katie and i had a romantic night out. we walked around balboa park and across the beautiful bridge. my favorite part of all of san diego. 

 see how pretty?

it was such a fun night! i loved being able to see downtown with the pretty sky. 

i think katie is really great for lots of reasons. i like her tonight because when i was feeling aimless and blue she reminded me that people who are aimless don't GET ACCEPTED TO SDSU! and don't pay off her and her husbands vehicles and dont get job opportunities that won't just pay me but pay for my school as well. 

so how about i suck it up and go to utah for a month and then come back here, start school at the local university and get a job to pay for it?

thanks katie. merry christmas. 


oh, and i'll have a marine house sitter so don't even think about breaking in. 

wk 26.

this is when my gf katie and i walked across the bridge in balboa. 

it was such a fun and pretty night. 

i loved the view of downtown san diego. 

wk 25.

oh this is so difficult. i've been forgetting to consciously take photos for this. 

because of that, all my photos end up being the same.

i'm going to try harder and start taking pictures just for my year in photos. 

its already been five months since i started! i think i will stop a little short of a year on our anniversary and then do a different photo a week. then it'll coordinate with the years we have been married. maybe next year will be a photo of jon every week! i dont think i'll blog it, but that's a pretttty good idea.... 

here is the photo. i took it to send to jon. he's the only thing missing... :)

harry potter+american accent.

i am on such the harry potter kick. when i was home for halloween, my two bff's and i decided to read the whole series again. i'm on book four now and just loving it. the first three were quite a struggle to get through...

i haven't ever read books 6 and 7. i'm trying to get through the series before someone ruins the ending! please don't ruin it. i saw the 7th movie and loved.

anyway, i viewed this video and thought it was so cute.

hermione is so cute/funny and ron...swoon. 

moving up in the world.

not me of course. jon!

remember this?

well, it's happening again!

jon is getting promoted tomorrow my time, probably right now his time.

he's going from lance corporal to corporal! 

here is a little explanation of his new rank for myself/family:

"Corporal (Cpl) is the fourth enlisted rank in the U.S. Marine Corps. The Marine Corps, unlike the Army, has no other rank at the pay grade of E-4. Corporal is the lowest grade of non-commissioned officer in the U.S. Marine Corps, though promotion to Corporal traditionally confers a large jump in authority and responsibility compared to promotion from Private through Lance Corporal. 

"Theoretically, Marine Corporals generally serve as "fire-team leaders," commanding a 4-man team or unit of similar size" blah blah blah...

so it's a big deal! i am so so proud of him. 

oh, and to make it a little bit cooler-he's getting meritoriously promoted.

"In addition to the "normal" promotion system, commanders can promote a very few, outstanding Marines via the Meritorious Promotion System."

basically...in order to get promoted, you have to serve a specific amount of time, get good scores athletically and take lots of tests. that all adds up to a certain amount of points...lets just say, jon wasn't ready to be promoted. according to his score, he shouldn't have been. the guys above him thought he needed to get promoted anyway, so they all gave him good markings and said good things about him. they sent a packet to one of the main guys over in afghanistan. he looked at a lot of packets and only promoted SEVEN people! and jon was one of the seven!!

and to make it just a LITTLE bit cooler, i guess it's a big deal that he got promoted in a combat zone and will look good on his marine corps record. 

he is such a good boy, and i could brag for hours on end. 

i'll just stop with CONGRATULATIONS JON! i wish i could be there!