coming home is hard

we arrived home today and less than 5 hours later
i was skyping with this cute bunch:

family is the best and our two week vacation was AWESOME.
i wish it didn't have to end. too bad we can't permanently live in vacation
mode and just hang out with family all the time. that would rock.

miss you guys already.
good thing i have jeremy (and skype) or i would be a real mess.

2011

in pictures

january
[jeremy got accepted to dental school in boston]

february
[we celebrated our wedding anniversary! we turned 2]

march
[i got accepted to grad school in boston]

april
[jeremy graduated from BYU]

may
[we camped in southern utah]

june
[i ran a 1/2 marathon and got a spiffy medal for it]

july
[we got some sun at huntington beach]

august
[we moved to BOSTON]

september
[i got to see sammy for the 1st time in 2 years!]

october
[we toured fenway park]

november
[we visited rockport, ma - and it was BEAUTIFUL]

december
[we played in DISNEYLAND for 5 straight days!]

what an awesome year!? i'm excited to see what 2012 brings.

moves like jagger

our last movie for two years... rye is heading to Thailand in a few weeks.
how will i manage without him?!?



"Moves like Jagger" by Maroon 5

for the nieces and nephews

this Christmas we gave our nieces and nephews the Make Way for Ducklings book
with a picture of us by the duck statues in the Public Garden downtown. now they can
see where we live. we totally stole the idea from our friend cher, but what can i say... she's a GENIUS!

merry christmas!

last week:

jeremy: christmas isn't about presents, katie...

me: yes it is!

i love presents just as much as the next person (and then some!) and we didn't open presents until 2:00 this afternoon. it was pretty much torture. but i got these BEAUTIFUL boots.

awwwww.... i LOVE them. i also got lots of awesome movies, pretty scarves and cardigans, yarn that is just waiting to be made into fun things, a day trip to NYC, and other fun stuff. christmas is the BEST!

i love presents and they are my favorite, but in all seriousness i really do love focusing on Christ. i love reading the account of His birth in luke 2, singing christmas hymns, and contemplating His love for each of us. i know that my savior lives. He loves me and He loves you. through Christ i know that i can be forgiven of my sins and become a better person. by coming to Christ in my trials, i feel peace, comfort, and strength. i love that we have time to focus on Christ, His example, His life, and His sacrifice for us. may you have the true spirit of christmas in your hearts throughout the christmas season (and maybe get some fun presents along the way).

the fun never stops

tower of terror - another favorite
the whole fam rides this one

today was our last day at the happiest place on earth. we definitely had our fair share of churros, fast passes, and lots of fun. what a way to start the christmas break!? thanks for the grand adventures Walt! it's always a good time. tomorrow we will spend 10 lovely hours in the car together to get home before christmas. awesome. we have quite the stash of christmas cds to get us through.

a favorite

we LOVE space mountain!

sam, rye, me, my daddy, and some stranger

die hards!

look who opened the park today!

oh yeah!! we were the FIRST in line on main street.
we rode space mountain, matterhorn, big thunder, and indiana jones all before 9!

look at the sea of people behind us. it was NUTS!

california screaming

is WAY too much fun!

me, sam, and rye
(the rest of our party gets all woozy if they go on the really fun rides)

3 days left at the happiest place on earth!

number one priority:

SPLASH MOUNTAIN!

it was our first ride of the day and we were the only ones riding it,
so we stayed in our trusty log and rode three times in a row.
what a way to start the disneyland fun?! we are having a BLAST!

D-Land

HERE WE COME!!!

one down

1 semester down, 3 to go

the word on the street or among my classmates rather is that if we survive the first semester
then we will make it to graduation. since it looks like i will be graduating someday, i
headed to the bookstore after my last class of the semester today to pick up some
simmons gear. i have to show some school spirit!

we are the sharks.

so how has the semester been you ask?
AWESOME. exhausting. stressful. everything i dreamed it would be.

i love it. social work is definitely for me.

pretty pictures!

remember those pictures we took before we ventured off to boston...
here are some more! i LOOOVE them.

WISHLIST wednesday: No. 30

today i wish for...

the finals craziness to be over. it is pretty much over for me (just one more paper to write- luckily it's a short one) and jeremy is sooooo close to being done, too. his last test is tomorrow.

i'm going crazy! but we are almost there!

myfitnesspal.com

have you heard of it?

more importantly have you tried it?

my mom created an account and then told me i HAD to check it out... and now i am telling you that you HAVE to check it out. well, only if you are interested in a free tool that helps you meet your healthy living goals.

first you enter in your goals, and then it figures out what your diet should look like if you want to achieve your goals. you can enter in your food and exercising daily and it keeps track of everything for you. it even has some fancy app for your smart phone to make it all even easier. so if you have a fitness or healthy eating goal, i totally recommend it. you can even be friends with other people that use it. you can create groups and post questions in forums. it's a huge online community of people trying to be healtheir... it's definitely a good time!

anyways... it has been super motivating for my morning workouts! yay for getting sweaty!

in one week...

we will be in Disneyland with my fun family.

will someone please tell me how i am supposed to finish my finals??!

i am trying to write my last long paper and i keep dazing off, picturing space mountain, indiana jones, dole whips, churros, splash mountain, etc and running around the place with the whole family. it will be fun. WAY fun. i can't wait....

ok, now i really need to get going on this paper. it's due wednesday and i have about a paragraph.
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

some greenery

the following took place over texting the other night:

A: Hey would anyone be interested in some cute house plants?
I am downsizing. They are succulents. They need very little water and small pots.

K: I want succulents!! Are they small?

A: Yes!!!!

K: Ahhh! Can I have one?

A: Want me to bring them over and let you pick?

K: Sure!

and that my friends, is how we scored these beauties:

i LOVE succulents.

hopefully, they do better than our love fern.

field trip

after my classes, i visited jeremy at school with my camera in tow.
this is some of what the cute boy does in school:

fun stuff!

WISHLIST wednesday: No. 29

today i wish for water color lessons.
doesn't that sound so exciting!

this awesome print can be found here. we can add it to my wishlist, too.

i love everything art. i love to paint,
i love to draw... but i don't ever draw anything great. just doodles.
i would love to take art classes.

crunch

it's currently crunch time and will be until december 14th.

papers, papers, papers, and more... papers.

i keep dreaming of the sweet relief that is bound to come when i turn in my last
huge paper and i really want that dream to be my reality... right now.
can't these papers write themselves?

8 more days of madness.

i think i can do this. i hope i can at least.

the tale of our very first christmas tree

it started with the debate...tree or no tree? real or fake?

a fake tree seemed like it wouldn't be an option because we don't really
have a place to store it - although it would be nice to have a tree last longer
than one year. a real tree would require the purchase of lights and then it dies and
makes a mess, so the money didn't seem worth it. with such a busy week, we would
have to wait until the weekend to buy it and then we would only be around
to enjoy it for two weeks. by yesterday morning, i had resigned myself
to the idea that we wouldn't be getting a tree this year.

fast forward to last night, we are at target looking for an ornament
to buy for a christmas party and we wander over to the trees. lo and behold...
a $25 4-foot lit Norway pine calls out to us. the heavens almost parted
because of it's glory. its adorable, already has lights on it, and it's a christmas tree!
we love the little gem so we check the box and it can definitely fit in the back of
some closet... and jeremy asks, "should we get it?!?" and of course i say, "YES!"
and start squealing with excitement before jeremy reminds me of where we are.
i hurry to round up an unattended cart and claim the perfect tree as our
very own before we can change our minds.

our very first christmas tree!



it has nothing on it but the lights it came with... we love it!

in the mail

i signed up for the holiday gift swap a few weeks back...
and then i furiously knitted 5 cowls to send off.

hope they like them! my favorite is the ice blue/purple combo in the middle.
i can't wait to see what homemade goodies i get in the mail.