merry texmas

down here in texas we've been enjoying the break! we went to a christmas concert, watched the help and ate chocolate pie, played with nieces and a nephew, spent many afternoons at the park going for walks, playing frisbee golf, feeding the ducks, watched cowboys and aliens, got together with my brother and his wife and played some games, road-tripped to college station to visit kyle's brother and his family, got together with old high-school friends, played lots of rounds of pass the pig and speed scrabble, went to an imax showing of polar express with our niece, introduced my in-laws to food inc, ate a lot of food, celebrated christmas eve and christmas, watched football and relaxed! its been a great visit, and here's a few scenes of our trip:

all the stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

our little nephew autsin, loved playing with this nativity set!

classic kyle: computer in his hands, soccer ball in his feet

the beautiful christmas tree

the beard. after he took his last final at BYU, and taught his last day at the MTC, kyle put his razor down. this is the hairiest i have ever seen my man! but i kinda like it...:)

christmas morning!

santa came and the stockings are filled!

christmas booty! a puzzle, some spice jars, a car talk calendar, keychain light, an a gift card to academy! 

we also got a super soft, cuddly, blanket, and a fhe chart with 2 blank hearts for future children!

my father-in-law, sister-in-law, my ADORABLE nephew austin (i loved playing with this little guy), my cute niece addie, and her dad who is putting together the bike that santa brought her!

3...2...1... blast off!

the week before christmas we took a road trip from dallas to houston to join my parents in celebrating my dad's birthday. the weather was beautiful in houston, and we arrived just in time for lunch. then we headed to church, my parent's ward is filled with young families and the 835 or so (slight exaggeration) chattering little toddlers made sacrament a little nosier than me and kyle are used to:) but it was a great meeting nonetheless, and on our way home from church we picked up chelsea, and after 5+ years of being best friends i finally saw her house and met the rest of her family! then we had a delicious birthday dinner, opened presents, and played a couple games.

the next day we rode bikes, and looked at more model homes--so fun! soaked in the hot tub, played lots of ping pong, and spent some quality time in the media room. but i think the highlight of the trip came the next day when we visited NASA. me and kyle had both been as little children but couldn't remember much other than that it was a lot fun. and years later we weren't disappointed! we watched a couple short movies on space and astronauts and toured the dark museum, then we watched the living in space presentation, and then it was time for puzzles!! they have all kinds of games and puzzles and brain teasers and we all had a blast trying to figure them out, even though we ha 4 grown, college--educated adults working on them, there were some we could just NOT figure out!

we sure had a blast at NASA, and on the way home we stopped at oh la la bakery and picked up some scrumptious treats. thanks again mom and dad for such a fun visit!

in front of the command center

rocket ship!

my wonderful parents--unfortunately the flash didn't work

astronaut liz

touching the moon stone and then fixing the satellite

four people use four ropes and work together to land the hot air balloon in different locations, this game was seriously so fun! and the bottom picture is me working on another puzzle

our treats from oh la la! they included carrot cake, an italian cream cupcake, candy bar cheescake, a cannoli, and a s'more cupcake! mmm...

a texan winter

i love texas. bluebell ice cream, blue blonnets, and best of all the weather!! since we arrived most of our days have been sun-filled and in the 60s. we've taken walks, played frisbee golf, basketball, and gone for bike rides in the beautiful weather. it looks more like fall than winter here, and i couldn't be happier about it!

pizza and ninja men

my friend elisa is great. she also enjoys farmer's markets, she speaks french, norwegian, and icelandic, she has made a bjork swan dress halloween costume and she plays the cello. we lived together for 2 glorious years, traveled around london and paris together, and she was one of my bridesmaids.

and this past week she hosted a christmas gathering where we drank hot coca and Glögg (a scandinavian version of apple cider), talked about funny christmas memories, and decorated and ate ninja men! (instead of gingerbread men hahaha!!)

ninja men!

me, my baby, and the christmas tree!

elisa and me!

and the next day kyle and I celebrated kyle's first day of freedom from school by going out to lunch at our favorite place--pizzeria 712! before i remembered to take a picture, we had gobbled up the pitas and spicy hummus, and the frisee salad with gouda and allred orchard apples, yum! but i managed to take a picture of our delicious pizza--hooray for the first day of christmas vacation!!

kyle's striped sweater is the other christmas present i got him! isn't it cute?!

                                                                      yummy pizza!

on the last day of finals my true love gave to me...

because we are travelling out of town for christmas, i told kyle that he could open his presents from me on his last day of finals. well, this past tuesday kyle took his last test ever at BYU (and did very well by the way)! he came back to the apartment that evening to some homemade mushroom ravioli and then it was time for his presents...

i love buying clothes for my man!
 and this long sleeved thermal shirt is the baby blue color that i just looooooove on him!

kyle loves ping pong!
and since we have no room or money for an actual ping pong table i got him this set that can be adjusted to fit onto any kitchen/dining table so you can play ping pong on any table!

who doesn't love cuddling up to a man in flannel?

so kyle's last headphones were in a pocket and ended up going thru the washer and dryer before i found them, so i figured it was time for some new ones!

kyle also got a really warm and stylish sweater/jacket, but the picture didn't turn out very well.

i hope you enjoy your presents, happy early christmas babe!!

a tale of gingerbread

on saturday night we made gingerbread houses with our friends krystal and jesse. it was such a fun night! kyle impressed everyone with his mad house-building and decorating skills. and team krystal and jesse came up with the most creative gingerbread house i've ever seen! as for me, my house had its ups and downs. literally. about halfway through, my house suffered a cave-in and i had to start all over. but i came back! all of us had a blast playing with all the different candies and decorations, and seeing what we could come up with. and with christmas music playing in the background it was the perfect christmas-y double-date!

krystal and jesse putting together their masterpiece

you can already tell that kyle's house is going to be awesome!

my house was coming along so nicely...

and then earthquake 2011.
 but we will rebuild!!

dang look at that house!
with its m&m roof, clearly defined twizzler property  lines, patio, garden, chimney, and SHRUBS!!!

seriously how creative is my husband?!!
he even crushed up some graham cracker to be the dirt in his garden!

yes, that is a palm tree in front of their house.
and yes that is a helicopter landing pad on the roof!

hahaha so funny/creative!

i had to scale back my plans a little after the collapse, but i thought my small house turned out cute!

and then i added a deck, a fire pit, and a....dog?

we seriously just kept adding, and adding to our houses...

then jesse built a helicopter for his landing pad!

and i built a person to walk my dog!

and kyle made a covered patio and then made chickens for his backyard!!

hahaha i told you this boy impressed!

pinterest can be deceiving...

i love pinterest. i do. thanks to pinterest i've made all kinds of delicious recipes and cute crafts! but sometimes it can give you a false sense of craftiness. you go online and see these creative pins that really, very crafty, talented people have put together and think oh that looks so easy, i can do that! but if you're like me, a lot of times you can't.

over the past couple months i've had a couple fails with crafty pinterest projects and the latest one came this past week at the ward christmas party. i was asked to bring a treat, and knowing that i was going to be working all day, i decided to do something very simple...or so i thought. it was not easy, it was not fast, and it did not turn out nearly as cute as the original pin...

the original pin from pinterest, looks easy and cute right?

this is what happened when i tried to replicate the above pin.
not so cute.

haha, feel free to laugh at my "snowmen" a few of them look like they could be demon ghosts for halloween, some are mutilated, and a couple are missing eyes...i think i've finally learned my lesson that i need to be more realistic about my crafting abilities when i'm trying to copy pinterest!

scenes of an apartment christmas

me and the hubs live in a tiny apartment far away from our families. and this year like last year, we are leaving about halfway through the month (dec 15th!) to fly home and spend christmas with our families, where we'll be surrounded by all kinds of christmas cheer.

so last year when we were newly married, buried in school work, finals, and part-time jobs i did not do a single thing to bring christmas into our little apartment, zip, zero, nada.
this year i vowed would be different. and it is. thanks to just a few small decorations our apartment feels merry and bright, and when kyle finishes his last final next week, then he'll get to open all of his presents waiting for him underneath our 2ft tree!