Christmas and New Years. and everything in between.

i chose the WORST two weeks to not write. okay. going back in time:

the week of my last post was Christmas break from school! i still had a few days of work at Davis, but it wasn't too bad. Thursday the 22nd tony and i packed up and relocated to Eric and Ashlyns for a night. so the Hendricks could have just the family for Christmas time. it's always fun to be with Eric and Ash. Friday morning i went down and met up with my girls at Culvers! we exchanged gifts and just spent some awesome time together! I spent midafternoon/early evening on temple square taking hundreds of pictures of the beautiful Christmas Lights. Ash and i spent thursday evening and friday morning watching Christmas movies! it was fun! then the madness began. Eric and i had to do all the grocery shopping for the cabin, i had to buy all the stocking stuffers, and we had to run a few other errands before we picked Ash up from work and went on our way to CO! finally we were OFF! Park City, Heber City, Vernal, Rangely, Meeker, BUFORD! we got in at about 1:30. it was great. gas prices spiked along the drive for sure. i got through the Heber canyon just fine. since it was dark, clear skies, and eric was driving. 

Saturday morning CHRISTMAS EVE!! 

Eric cut down our Christmas tree, set it up, and decorated it. Ash and i made sugar cookies, molasses cookies, and chocolate chip bars. We ate lunch with grandma. we watched The Santa Clause. Tony showed up in the evening (it was his first time driving across state borders by himself, he was stoked). Tony also had his 3_" tv with him, so we had some thing nicer to watch movies on.  Eric made his delicious Lemon crusted chicken with rice. i LOVED it. it was divine. as always.

 later that evening mom, dad and eli came! yes. i squealed with excitement. it had been TOO LONG since i'd seen them. i love my parents so much. On Christmas Eve Mom, Eric, Ash and I watched White Christmas. While the boys did interwebs and PS2 upstairs. Since i was in charge of stockings, late that night while mom was assembling our presents in her room, i assembled ALL the stockings on the kitchen table. we got stocking stuff for g-ma, g-pa, mom and dad too. so there were a ton of magazines to arrange with our stockings. lol 

CHRISTMAS MORNING. we all 'slept in' and then got ready for church. who has church at 9, when they dont even share the building!? come on people! ridiculous. since it was a 30+ minute drive to town we had to be out the door by 8:30. we finally get there and grandma and grandpa had saved a short row for us. it was great, but definitely not enough room. so we ended up sitting split up. g-ma, g-pa, ash, mom and dad on one side of the chapel in a short pew. and eric chose a pew on the other side of the chapel, where i got to sit with tony, eli and eric. i'm not gonna lie, sitting with all three of my brothers at church was probably the greatest Christmas gift. were they ALL on their phones the whole time? yes. did i mind? not really. 

after church we got all comfy and THEN opened presents. we all got some pretty awesome stuff! my most exciting moment: i got a 50mm 1.8 lens!! it is AMAZING! i love it with all my heart. i also got a cake pops cook book (so excited to make a bunch with ellie!), socks, a wool sock monkey scarf (that has pockets at the bottom), a sweatshirt from eric and ash that i'd asked for, AND a gift card for new shoes. yesssss. 

the cabin is a really great place to be, but there really isn't that much seating to socialize. especially since eli doesn't know how to share a couch. but we made do. we had fun together. 

enjoying Christmas presents

yes, tony had so much fun he fell asleep.

daddy really looks like a professor here

mom made an amazing Christmas dinner of ham, cheesy "wisconsin flavored" potatoes (dad didn't want to call them cheesy potatoes in fear that g-ma wouldn't eat them because of the dairy), fresh frozen corn of grandmas, and a delicious fruit salad made from fruit uncle gary sent us all in his Harry and David package. 

Ash made dads Christmas present: an Apple Pie. i made a peppermint cheesecake. we watched It's a Wonderful Life Christmas evening. and it was amazing. and then it was merry christmas and good night. 

monday morning eric and i went out on a photog adventure to capture some glistening bushes along the river dad, mom and i had seen sunday morning. we got some pretty pics. and froze our tails off. monday was really lazy and amazing. Ashlyn learned how to french braid on my hair (wet hair of course lol) monday after a delicious dinner (that i can't remember for the life of me) eric and ash went on their way. so mom, dad, eli and i decided to start an Oceans marathon. we watched Oceans Eleven and Oceans Twelve before we called it a night. 

tuesday was our Glenwood Springs adventure! Tony and Eli went boarding at the same place dad would go skiing in high school. Sunlight Ski Resort. they had a great time. warm weather, fun hill. mom and i spent the afternoon walking and driving around Glenwood Springs. i loved it. after we got the guys we went and bought a board, and boots for tony. eli had bindings for tony to use. and eli bought a new board. (that all came in VERY handy later this week) and then we finally headed to Buford again. mom and i had some good convos about my future (depressing and tearful for me) on the ride back. tonight i got CONSUMED by The Hunger Games. i stayed up till 3 reading. 

wednesday was so fun! mom had to finish her book before she did anything. So dad and i went out looking for the bald eagles he, g-ma and g-pa had found the day before. we got some pics. nothing great. but in the afternoon we went snow shoeing! dad and buddy just walked with us since the snow wasn't that deep. but i had a BLAST! we investigated an old saw mill, and found two springs. it was so fun. wednesday night we watched Oceans Thirteen to round out the marathon. 

thursday i drove tony and eli back to SLC in the morning so they could go boarding with tonys friend in Ogden that afternoon. i wandered the Aves by myself and then watched Top Gear. Tony and Eli spent the night in Orem at their friends and i slept on eric and ashs couch. just not ready to come back to Centerville. 

Friday i spent with Eric and Ash. We went to some consignment shops, ate lunch at a delicious soup kitchen, went shoe shopping (i bought two pairs! woo!), then went back to their apt. Eric then went out with Tony and eli, got elis hair done (it looks RAD!) and fixed tonys bindings. I found my new favorite ice cream shop! it's like Coldstones, but better! too bad its in sugarhouse. lol. oh, and i found out my stereo stopped working. then i came home. 

i spent most of the day saturday at a laundromat washing the comforter for my bed.... that a stupid dog peed all over right before i came home. that was the final sign that i need to move. but i met up with eric, tony and eli so i could say goodbye before they flew back to WI. i fell in love with Parks and Recreation this weekend, just an FYI. Eric made Tempura for dinner. deLICIOUS! we came here to play games with uncle sid. and we stayed up till midnight! wooooo happy new year!!

sunday was.. sunday. 

monday... i cleaned my room and my car and did laundry all morning. i picked nikka up from the airport. i took my dash apart to get to the back of my stereo. there was no problems back there. but the stereo still doesn't work. so i've enlisted the help of my friend Kyle! woo. he will save the day!

oh. and the badgers lost. terrible. but the jazz won. 

today i worked. but the highlights were: i started an AWESOME institute class! i'm so SO excited! its about scripture study. i love it already. AND i got to talk to my Jodes tonight! i love her. and i love talking to her. she makes my heart happy.

and that's the two weeks of craziness. i'm positive i missed things. oh well. good night.