I've missed a lot.

I am so excited to be heading home to Utah soon to visit family and friends for Christmas... I hope we can actually go. The roads are horrible and the forecast is snowy the entire 12 hour trip home which is sort of a bummer. We might have a hotel Christmas somewhere along I-84. Who knows...

Since I have been stuck in my house pretty much all week I have just thinking about life and changes that are coming and reflecting I guess. This weather is forcing us to snow down --pause if you will and all that free time jsut makes me reflect. These past few years have been really interesting and I am so grateful that Derek and Easton and I have had this experience of being a little family in Oregon. Our time here has flown by- we have met some amazing people and really grown close as a family. But there are times when I just really feel like we are missing out on things at home and that is when I really have to gather my faith in the future and hope that all our sacrifices will pay off.

I really want to be able to cuddle my nieces and nephews and be silly with my siblings and talk to my parents and be close again. It is so hard to explain the distance that I feel from living far away- it's not geographical, it's more than that and it really makes me sad sometimes that when we do get a chance to come home there is just never the time to truly spend with everyone.

In five months we will be packing and heading on the next phase of our adventure, moving out onto rotations and we'll move 5 times next year. It is going to be very interesting. I am so grateful for the wonderful husband I have and I hope that I never take for granted all the sacrifices he is making to provide a great life for us. He is really the one who holds me together and he is so understanding of me and I love him so much.

Life is just so interesting. We have tried to plan and it just seems like we are never fully able to get the plan we planned. Looking back at life- there always seems to be a pattern of testing and faith and blessings... in the thick of the testing part is where it always gets hard. I am sure that the Lord had and will continue to look out for our little family and I trust in Him and his plan for us.

So even though I want to be home right now, I guess that while I miss that place, this place has really taught me things I couldn't learn there and that's the beauty of the plan now isn't it?

today someone said to me:

"I love Jesus, but I hate Christmas."

I laughed a lot.

Can you guess who???

we've been...

celebrating the end of another round of Finals with some

silly picture cheesing.

out on the town with awesome friends-

on a surprise date to travel "around the world"

OK- it was just to see Australia and dinner at a Chinese Restaurant, but we are on a students budget...
and it was SO fun to plan a night out with our husbands after all their hard work.

do they look surprised? confused? thrilled?

I am pretty sure they're thinking:

"OK, so this is what our wives do while we spend hours up at the school studying... I get it."


he's hot.
<--

Entertaining friends- here you go Megan: proof he's been well fed and is still in fact alive. I even gave him a hug for ya. He really misses you all- you can be sure of that. He talked about you all night long, it was really cute actually... don't tell him I said so.

Also... he and Derek showed Easton where we keep the guns. I was THRILLED. he is so hooked.

They have all sorts of future hunting plans. (all of them)

Finding BELLS...
in mysterious packages that arrive.



With golden tickets to ride the Polar Express with Grammy and Grandpa.

he's stoked.

and wondering...

"Is it the REAL Polar Express or a fake one?"

Bonding... with hot chocolate and Daddy. stress free.

Sillying...

Singing...(yes, really.)

Posing...

with "post beanie hair"

Unthawing...

from all the snow. I mean we REALLY got dumped on. There must have been INCHES of it.

* I digress... Portland does not know how to deal with snow. at all. as Utah native I am appalled and flabbergasted at inability to deal with winter in this state. It baffles me. I mean... NO school for a week because of like 5 inches of snow??? really? really. OK. Whatever Oregon.

Mostly... we've been loving the opportunity to be together. Getting excited to get all our "to-do" lists done so we can leave to see out families and being EXTRA NICE so Santa will put us on the good List.

It's fun.

all he needs for Christmas...

is a roll of tape and a roll of plastic wrap.

no toy would ever entertain him this long. why do I even bother buying anything?

P.S. this is supposed to be a "trap" so we won't see it (because it's clear you know) and we will trip and fall and he will laugh.

boys are a crack up.

also... we got our tree this weekend. My halls are decked and Easton doesn't like the smell. When we come in he says "Our house smells like tree." almost like it's a cuss word. I think it's pretty funny.

the search is over.

I have been searching for the perfect fall boots for weeks. I wanted the color to be CONGAC. Not Brown. Not tan. round toe. Modest heel. Cool details. I almost spents an obserd amount of money

...until I found these:

I love you Target. I really do.

Can't wait to rock these. 3-5 days shipping seems like an eternity.