Brunch with Carson

My friend Carson came home from Milwaukee for Christmas break. I haven't seen him since he left to go to Med School so it was fun to get together after Christmas for an hour and go get some brunch at Kneaders! 

Christmas Day!!!

Christmas is one of my favorite days of the year! I get so excited the night before like Im still a little kid but now that Im older Im most excited for the gifts I give everyone! Every year I make something homemade for everyone and it is so fun for me to come up with a really great homemade gift! We make Christmas last all day long...so this year we woke up and went out to Mandi's for breakfast and to watch the kids open their presents then ran around the rest of the day to see everyone then came home for dinner and the present finale! This year we waited all day to open the biggest and the best presents and it was such a great day! We are so lucky to be fortunate enough to always have a great Christmas! This time of year makes me so grateful for my family and friends and all the people I love! 

 Mayci's favorite present of the morning was this little walking dog! She opened it, named it Tootsie and went right outside in the freezing cold to walk it!

 Two weeks before Christmas my mom and I went shopping at Hip and Humble on 9th and 9th and fell in love with these signs! We left and went to lunch and then both went back and got these for each other without knowing! 

 For a few months now Ive been dying for a bread maker and to my surprise Patty got me one for Christmas and I LOVE it! Im so excited to make yummy homemade bread! 

 Mayci loving on Poppa after opening a HUGE doll house! I didnt get a good picture of it but its awesome! 

 Jayden and Mandi

 Jayden got this basketball stand and was so excited...we had to show him once what to do and then he played with it forever and thought it was the coolest thing that he could get the ball into the hoop! 

 Nonna got Mayci and I this awesome pop up Anatomy book to read together! 

 My dad waited all day to give me this fishing pole....for a while now Ive been talking about going fishing for Tiger Muskie at Pineview but dont have a pole so now I do and now I cant wait to go catch a big one! 

 I finally got my own Balakalava for snowshoeing and fun winter sports so my face stays warm!  

 This was my best homemade gift of the year...I made my mom a hardbound digital scrapbook of our family throughout the year 2009 and it turned out awesome! In her left hand is a new Ipad...my dad spoiled her rotten! 

J man was so wild Christmas night...he put this hat on an was having such a blast playing around in it! Christmas was so much fun this year! I cant wait until next year! 

Christmas Dance Recital

Mayci had her Christmas recital at Granger High School and of course we wouldn't miss it! Mayci loves to dance and does so well up on stage! 

 The proud supporters!

 The cutest little tiny dancer

 Mayci after her performance such a beautiful little girl

 J being a good sport about watching Mayc dance

Love this little girl she is so sweet!

OG with the Westridge Girls

I organized 20 girls, called our favorite place to eat and reserved a table for tonight! We got to Olive Garden at 5:30 and spent the next few hours laughing, drinking, eating good food and exchanging tons of stories! Its so nice to get together outside of work and Christmas time is the perfect time to do it! I work with some of the best women out there and they make going to work everyday so much fun! 

 Our huge table of 20 fabulous girls!

 The pharmacy women!

 Mardi, me and my mom! For 5 years no matter what day or time it was I always had my mom's at work with me for anything I needed! 

 Duffy and DJ

 We are wild women! ;)

Me, Margaret, Melissa and Candice!

Sushi!

Tonight all our friends from nursing school were supposed to get together, go out to dinner, celebrate the holidays and the break in semesters! Well everyone ended up bailing at the last minute and it ended up being just Heather and I! We met at the gateway and had dinner at Happy Sumo! It was delicious! The guys got sushi and we enjoyed catching up and spending a few hours of the night together! I wish I would have got a picture of us all but I didnt so this is an old one of Heather and I studying at school! I love this girl and Im so grateful that we have become such good friends over the last year I dont know how I would have made it through nursing school without her! 

The Winder Dairy Tradition

Ever since I was a little girl I can remember every Christmas coming and my mom and dad would take me and Mandi to Winder Dairy to have warm scones and hot chocolate and then drive us around looking at lights throughout the city. This year everyone wanted to bail on the winder tradition and I wouldn't let them so we got in the car and headed over there last night! 

 The most delectable scone just waiting for the honey butter!

OVER!!!

Fall semester is over!! Today was our last final...never again will we have to study for a silly nursing management exam! I am so grateful for the opportunity to be part of such a fun group of nursing students! I love all my girls and am so blessed to have built some great friendships over the last 2 years! 

 Heather, Sam and Nona so excited to be done they jumped in the snow to make snow angels! 

 Heather, Me, Chelsea, Nona, Sam and Tanna

 In celebration of the end of finals we headed up to Jordan Landing to eat at Kneaders for breakfast!

Tanna and Heather

Sam and I

5 semesters down and 1 more to go! 

Next up...High Acuity and Community Nursing!

Red Rock

We love Red Rock Brewing Co. so we drove up to Park City to enjoy some good food! I love Park City in December, its like a little magical winter wonderland! December is always a crazy month with tons going on but its always fun to just get a night to relax and hang out with family! 

 Gram, Pop and Mom

 My mom and dad

 Gram and Pop

 Pop and my mom

Pine Hollow

We had such a great weekend and got outside to enjoy the awesome weather! We were really wanting to go snowshoeing but because the temperature has been so warm lately we didn't really think we would use them! We headed up American Fork Canyon and went hiking on the Pine Hollow Trail that then forked into some other trails! The weekend was absolutely gorgeous and we had a great time hiking!

The sweepers! ;)

A gorgeous day

 We definitely needed our snowshoes once we got up on the ridge! We really had to work to get to the top! 

 Beautiful Timp

 My cute parents 

 Sadi was so happy to be up in the mountains with us and was so cute making little doggie snow angels!

Reckless Kelly at the State Room

I love country music and I love country concerts...its my happy place! So on friday night I got to go see them and the show was amazing! Reckless Kelly was so good and the venue was so quaint it made for a perfect night!  

Visiting with Santa

My cute niece Mayci had her first preschool program at the Riverton Library! I love the month of December...Christmas...the Festivities...and all the fun time with family. Mayci sang her little heart out to Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer and Santa Clause is Coming To Town and afterwards she got to meet Santa and tell him what she wanted for Christmas...she is finally to a really fun age for Christmas!

I hope everyone enjoys the Holidays! 

127 Hours...

I went and saw this movie on Saturday night! We had been waiting to see this movie for weeks and it was totally worth it! The movie is based on Aron Ralston's canyoneering accident in Canyonlands National Park in 2003 and is absolutely insane. The movie documents the morning his everyday biking and canyoneering trip turned into a 6 day ordeal where he ends up freeing his arm from a boulder by amputating it himself! Seriously this guy is incredible! 

Lessons learned....1. Always tell someone where you are going! 2. Probably don't go hiking and canyoning alone...and 3. Be prepared with plenty of water and equipment!  

An Untraditional Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving was the off year for our big family dinner so my parents and I ran off to Arizona looking for warmer weather but we ended up freezing our butts off still. We left Tuesday and stayed in Cortez Colorado for a night so we could wake up and hike around Mesa Verde National Park and we ate at this fun Mexican restaurant called Pepperhead. After a few hours in Mesa Verde we headed to the four corners and then on to our condos in Arizona. We had a small but delicious and memorable Thanksgiving dinner!

 Spruce Tree House

 Climbing the ladder into Spruce Tree House's Kiva

 Wild Horses in Mesa Verde National Park

 Cliff Palace

 My mom, dad and I in three different states

 In 4 places at once! 

 Colorado...the keeper of my heart!

 Bruce and Pam at the four corners!

7 hours later and some panic moments in the car from the snowy, stormy weather and we made it to the 4 corners! Wahoo!

 Black Canyon Lake

Our beautiful Thanksgiving dinner....so nontraditional but still so good! 

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!