happy 2013!

when we got back from lava on sunday, we all passed out for a few hours. that was until jon got a mystery text from mike bird. after we had been texting back for a few minutes, we put it together that richard's number was saved under mike's name! not sure how or why that happened, but it was a happy mistake. richard and i got to hang out that night while jon played halo with my two brothers in law (alex and sam.)

we went to kalie's and hung out with her and spencer and their family. it was really fun, i have missed her so!

the next day was NYE! we celebrated bright and early by going to breakfast at the park cafe with emma, amanda, and malorie. the park cafe is almost as cute in a winter wonderland as it is in the summer.  i love hanging out with those girls and am so happy they have welcomed me into their fun little group:)

 amanda invited us to go up to Midway to Brecken's cabin for a party. it was quite the drive, but it was worth it!

 we didn't leave murray until 9:30...drinking that energy drink reminded me of lyndsi and my highschool/college days....ahh the memories.

 it was so much fun being up there! jon and i mingled for like three hours before we started to get tired. i was pretty proud of my usually introverted spouse, he chatted it up with a lot of people and made friends with no complaints! my favorite joke of the night was after i'd talk to a guy, turn to amanda or jon and say "SAD, he doesn't know i'm married." because if he did, he would not be wasting his charm on me! i loved meeting new people and hanging out with these cute girls. it was a really fun night.

on our way home from midway, we stopped at the heber cemetery. it was 2am at this time and FREEZING! we had to uncover quite a few headstones before finding my grandma's. we took a few minutes to write and leave a card. it was a nice way to end 2012/start 2013. it was a rough year losing my gran, but i'm ready to keep moving forward with her memory. i know she is proud of us for the difficult decision we have made to move, and she's probably happy she doesn't have to be in utah missing us while we are gone! 

i've been thinking a lot about her when deciding on goals for 2013. she was such a giving and genuine person, and she had quite a few traits i can strive for myself.

1. GIVE. and say YES.: i don't say yes and do things for other people enough. starting now, i'm going to help people out when they need it, and hopefully be able to tell they need it even if they might not. even doing little things like getting jon's phone from upstairs, getting him water, or running inside to grab his coat when he's forgotten it and we're already in the car. jon is really good at doing little things like this for me, i'm going to do better. 

2. doing things right when i think about them: this is one of katie's goals that i thought was really good. it's so convenient to procrastinate, but it makes life easier to just do things when you think about them. i'm already getting started on this one, i scheduled a dentist appointment, and i vacuumed the front room and got it all put back together now that the christmas stuff is put away! it took 15 minutes and now it doesn't have to weigh on me.

3. fitness: this is always a good resolution. jon and i have both started using my fitness pal and have been focussed on eating healthy food instead of snacking on chips and candy. we've had a rough start, but i'm ready for a lifestyle change.
(we are also seriously considering buying a juicer!)

4. graduate! seriously, this year my goal is to graduate from college with a bachelor's degree in Art History! and along those same lines, dare i say it...apply at UTSA for their Master's program in Art History! which also means i need to be fluent or at least halfway fluent in spanish, another goal of mine. 

5. continue to progress in my horseback riding lessons: come april, i will have been riding for a whole year. i want to be proud of how far i have come. i want to start jumping larger jumps and not letting my fear get in the way. one main goal is to be in a show by march with gerry
(and hopefully place, though i will be happy to be there no matter what happens)!

lava hot springs, idaho.

on thursday night, jon and i decided to get a group together to go to lava hot springs. he's been going there since he was young and knew that was one thing he wanted to fit into our trip. it was such short notice but katie and sam found people to watch their kids and kim got work off! we drove up saturday morning and stayed until sunday. it was a blast!

we stayed at the Lava Hot Springs Inn and they give you tiny towels to use. it used to be a hospital. the inn is really old fashioned, but that only adds to the experience. gary and mei and katie and sam each got their own rooms. there were about two rooms to every bathroom! so interesting. there wasn't enough room for the rest of us, so we stayed in an apartment-type thing across the street with three queen beds in one room and our own bathroom. it was such a fun slumber party! 

(HAIR!)

the dining experience up there could have been a lot better. our party of 9 overwhelmed every restaurant we went into! it makes for some good stories though. we all had a great time, the group we went with was so fun! kim wrote about it here!

katie and sam drove us up in their family car. the drive up included hot topics like the election, government aid, and mormons/anti-mormons. the drive back was a little bit more laid back with some PITCH PERFECT! if you haven't seen it, i feel bad for you. but when you see it, call me so we can quote it together. 

downtown.

the theme for the days following christmas was city creek and plaid. 

  we went downtown with my family on the 26th to get dinner and see the lights.

lizzie left that night. :(

 

 on the 27th we went downtown again with kim and alex and saw the nativity. i'm sure if i kept up with going to city creek every day i'd get sick of it, but probably not for a few months of it.

plaid on plaid on plaid on plaid. 

white christmas.

we left san diego at about 1pm on saturday the 22nd. we had planned to leave at 11am, so i consider that a success. last year we left on christmas day after 2pm, so at least we beat last years time! unfortunately we hit traffic and the drive was all around pretty miserable with a tranquilized cat and it taking much longer than usual. bandit was actually pretty good, he only cried for the last hour straight. i felt like i was traveling with a baby and we eventually had to stop trying to console him and just let him cry. 

by the time we arrived at my dads, got everything ready for the cat and got into bed, it was 4:30 am. such a late night, but i'm proud to say that i stayed up most of the drive and hung out with jon. on sunday we went to church with my dad. it was a really good sacrament meeting. church is always the best on christmas sunday's. 

the highlight of my trip was getting to meet this baby:

 bentley webb! believe it or not, he's even cuter IRL. jon and i went over right after church and hung out with their family for a couple hours. lyndsi let me hog bentley and he even fell asleep in my arms. 

my other sweet thing.

love

(my cat is really cute, huh? you like him? he's looking for a place to live until may. help!)

on christmas eve it went from not snowing to six inches of snow! it was the perfect christmas present, everyone was excited about having a white christmas. bandit adjusted quickly too!

 lizzie with the perfect tree! it was so funny christmas tree shopping with her. it was 4:50pm on Christmas Eve and home depot was closing at 5. she and i were approached by a worker and we asked him if there were any deals on the trees since it was the last day. he told us that he'd give one to us for free so we immediately pointed at the one closest to us and said "we'll take this one." he told us that he'd seen that one before the snow storm and it was really dry. so we grabbed the one right next to it and said "this one." we didn't even look around, we grabbed the one nearest to us so that he wouldn't retract his discount! 

 lucky for us, it was the cutest little tree! 

 we celebrated christmas eve at my aunt camille's house with my family and cousins. it was our first year reenacting christ's birth story, and i don't think it will be our last.

 

 early christmas morning we went to jon's moms house. she lives right by my dads which is always really nice, there is not much travel time. christmas morning was fun there. we opened presents and played games. jon and his dog, sadie, are BFF's. we are so excited to take her to texas with us! we also went to jon's grandma's house for brunch. i love his extended family, they are always so kind and welcoming to me.

after brunch at the nielsen's/woodbury's we came back to my dads to have our second (third) christmas! the dynamics have changed so much with three little ones running around. i love watching their eyes light up when they open their gifts and when we all open the gifts lizzie helps them make us. i don't know how i didn't get any birthday photos of lizzie! but we celebrated her birth christmas night with birthday cake, dinner and pitch perfect! 

amanda posted more photos here.