Or, maybe the fact that I haven't blogged in three months.Oops.

We had a blast in California for Christmas! It's always wonderful to see my family. And the weather was beautiful, as it almost always is. One of the highlights of the trip was Lendrum getting us free Jamba Juice every morning. Well, almost every morning. The workers started to catch on that he was using his ISIS mobile wallet app to take home six smoothies (sometimes more) at a time. For some reason, they didn't like that. Anyway, it was nice while it lasted! Here are some pictures of us caroling on a double decker bus with my home ward and a trip to Temple Square before we left Utah.





Speaking of California, I had the chance to go back home again for Corinne's wedding last month! She was stunning! And now, she is my neighbor here at Union Square! I was so happy to be there for her wedding. There's just nothing better than seeing one of your best friends get married. There really just isn't. Here are some photos to prove how happy of a day it was.





Three interesting things that have happened recently:

1. I've been working on my new years resolution to read more books and have finished five books since the beginning of this year (not including books I read with my students). This is a SERIOUS accomplishment for me!

2. I BOOKED A CRUISE. Don't get too excited. It's just a cheap Mexican Carnival cruise that I'm going on during my spring break (I get one of those now!) with my teacher friend, Katie. Still, I'm leaving the country for the first time!

3. We got Quarry passes. Lendrum and I have been going to an indoor rock climbing gym three to four times a week now. It is a really fun thing to do in the winter, when the weather is cold. And now that we have passes, it's a great thing for us to do together whenever we want!

I would write more interesting things, but I am needing to do some serious grocery shopping now. That and there's probably not much more to tell at the moment. Oh, did I mention that I love my job?

Food. Farm animals. Four Wheeling. Family. What else could you want on Thanksgiving? Of course, I would have loved to be with my family in California (or have them come out here!) but Lendrum and I enjoyed ourselves at the ranch this year. I love being together with so many great people and getting away from the crazy hustle of everyday life. It was also fun to see Lendrum's cousins Kacey and David and their kids, since we don't get to see them very often! Here are a few photos from our adventures.

Cuddles

Watching her mom and dad skeet shoot!

These two.

Horse kisses!

Right before we were attacked by the horses

Preston Festival of Lights. Best 10 floats you've ever seen.

We found some pigs, so we played.

Thanksgiving day. The four of us, plus our awesome photobomber.

Love him more than anything.

A man's gotta eat!

I'm usually strict on the "no Christmas music until after Thanksgiving" rule. However, I have to admit that I've been listening to it this year for the past two weeks! In order to redeem myself and the spirit of Thanksgiving, I have listed just a few things I am so very grateful for this year. It's a pretty stressful time of year for Lendrum and I right now, so it is always nice to take a step back and think of all the blessings we have. We really are so incredibly blessed and have been given so much. In spite of my rush to get to Christmas, I do love Thanksgiving so much. I am thankful for all of these and so much more:

1. The opportunity to teach 28 of the sweetest fifth graders you've ever known
2. My incredible, hard-working, and hot husband!
3. My loving and compassionate Savior
4. Supportive family
5. Changing seasons. This is something I've loved living here in Utah.
6. My slippers that keep my frozen toes warm
7. Music
8. My good health and modern medicine
9. BYU and higher education
10. Compassion and empathy
11. FRIENDS
12. My very own set of scriptures
13. Smart phones, as mine was recently lost.
14. Siblings
15. Financial stability
16. Date nights with my husband
17. Working for the BYU Arts Partnership and the wonderful opportunities it gave me
18. Sweat pants
19. Temples, especially many that are so close!
20. Nature and the chances Lendrum and I have had to enjoy it
21. Our car
22. A living prophet
23. Summertime
24. Chocolate
25. Trials that make us reflect on the good things in life
26. Missionaries
27. Apartment in a great ward and close to BYU
28. My two new sweaters that I got for $12. Total.
29. My parents-two of the greatest people on earth
30. LOVE.

Nothing like a weekend at the ranch! The weather was surprisingly nice for the end of October in Idaho. Because it is pheasant hunting season, Lendrum and McKay were eager to get their hunt on. Holly, Kori, and I did the important stuff, like making sure nobody died! I seriously felt as though my life was in danger at all times during the hunt haha. Lendrum shot his three birds for the day. What a man. I'm happy just to tag along. I'm not much of a hunter. Now we have to figure out what we are going to do with this pheasant meat in our freezer! It was great to be together with the family, including our long lost cousins Kori and Rhen!

Holly doing her job like a boss.

So redneck.

Okay, maybe not the spookiest place on Earth. But what a wonderful time we had at Disneyland! I had Thursday and Friday off work for fall break and we were very fortunate to land free park hopper tickets to Disneyland and California Adventure. Lendrum had never been to Disneyland, the poor thing! I was determined to convert him. I think I was pretty successful too. We picked a good day- not too crowded, perfect weather, and the park was all decorated for Halloween! It really was just the perfect day! We packed a lunch and ate dinner at Pizza Port, my favorite. Disneyland was just as magical as I remembered. I just want to go back!

Julia came down with us to California as well, so it was a blast to have the whole family back together. We continued on the tradition of going to Oak Glen, a little mountain town that is famous for their apple orchards. We had a nice picnic up in the foothills and ate delicious caramel apples! It also happened to be the weekend of my high school homecoming football game, so we all went to that as well. It was kind of fun to be back. I can't believe that was more than four years ago.

It was a fun, quick trip. Good thing I had a fall break so I could make everyone else in my family skip a day of school and work! Lendrum is paying the price this week though-he's been studying nonstop and had three tests today! Worth it? Definitely.

The happiest place :)

Lendrum was such a good sport!

Fail.

Radiator Springs in California Adventure! Plus the stroller brigade...

First Timer!

Spooky!

You know, everyone says there's noting quite like your very first own class. Now that I have been a fifth grade teacher for five weeks now, I can tell you that is absolutely true. Here's the thing: I love my job. I don't even care that I make half a teacher's salary. I truly love my job with all my heart. 

After church on our one-year anniversary!

Camping on the beach: there's nothing like falling asleep to the sound of ocean waves.

We really tried to hit up everything "California" that we could in a week. I wish we could have gone to Disneyland, but I am still working on the husband on that one. Plus tickets are so expensive! We went to a taping of Jimmy Kimmel Live in Hollywood, which was a fun experience. It was just so crowded. I don't think I could ever live in LA. It took us forever to get home. Before the showing, we went to Korea Town and ate at an all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ with my parents. Lendrum was in heaven!

Camping is something that we wish we did more of this summer, but we were able to do a night on the beach in Dana Point. The next day, the family met us down there and we rented kayaks and paddle boards. The water was a beautiful bright turquoise color. I loved being in the ocean.




I loved our days in San Diego! We walked around one of my favorite places: Seaport Village. It's been a favorite of mine since I was in middle school. We ate some yummy lunch and I got to see Alyssa. We headed over to Coronado Island and had some awesome views of the San Diego skyline. There was a wedding all set up, but nobody was there yet so we had fun taking some pictures. My parents met us at Petco Park for a Padres game! Unfortunately, the Yankees won, but it was a sold-out game and it was fun just being at the ballpark.

I'll be back at Christmas time :)