So Far...

I thought I would post a few of my favorite pictures of my Christmas break so far. It's only been a couple days - but we have wasted no time having fun!

Painting My Nails - Christmas Style

Shopping for our matching sweats - being labeled as 'that group' in the store and then wearing them on the same day!

 Listening to this tiny music lover play the piano and watching her dance at the same time.

Looking at Mom's Beeeeautiful tree.

Seeing these tiny toms on these tiny girls.

Finding the necklace I was sure I had vacuumed up. I am so dang lucky.

 Discovering how awesome Chick-fil-A's ketchup packets are. 

…. aaaand riding 3 hours from Salt Lake in the car like this. It was lucky it was between two of my very favorite people in the whole world. 

I am loving on this no homework time. This next week I can already tell is going to be fantastic.

Next Year!

First of all, to my two or three faithful readers… sorry about the hiatus! This has been the busiest four months ever. But they are over! I am hoping I remember this little blog a little bit more now that I have some time (at least for the next couple weeks!)

Things I am looking forward to over the next few months:

1. Spending time with my family - especially the tiny's (Bella and Sofia)!

2. Taking BATHS. One of my favorite things. 

3. Reading books. I love reading books that don't have practice problems after each chapter!

4. Student Teaching! I am done with classes and I start student teaching in January at Diamond Fork Jr. High in Spanish Fork! I get to teach 9th grade math and I couldn't be more excited!

5. Playing sports! I am going to play on a basketball and soccer intramural team this next year - and I am pumped. 

6. Watching One Tree Hill - my new t.v. addiction. 

7. Having all my old favorite series start up again in January. (Confessions of a t.v. junkie). 

8. Playing the piano. I will actually have time for this!

9. Sleeping in a comfy bed. 

10. The NBA starting back up. Awesome. 

…. and those are just to name a few! I know those mostly sound like lazy/loungey things but I think I just need the break from thinking! 

Hopefully next time you check in I'll have had time to post about a new adventure!

Fingernails

Please check out how awesome my fingernails look right now. Credit to my mother and sisters - they found these and I just put them on. You can get them too, at jamberrynails.com.

Basically, I'm obsessed.

p.s. Ignore how fat my pointer finger looks. It is obviously my ugliest finger.

Uncle Blair

Yesterday at 6:15 p.m. our sweet Uncle Blair, my dad's older brother, left all of his pain and was reunited with his Father and his Eternal Father in Heaven. He had fought a long hard fight and was able to be victorious over his pain in the end. He is no longer suffering and I know he is watching over his family now. He was the happiest, nicest man to be around despite all of his trials. I have so many great memories of Uncle Blair. His wife Aunt Debbie and all of his kids and grandchild are in my thoughts and prayers. Love you guys. Love you Uncle Blair. 

Bowtie Festival

Hilary figured out a very close recipe to Johnny Carino's Bowtie Festival. It is maybe the most amazing pasta, well ever. I tried making it the other day and it turned out DELISH. 

This picture doesn't even begin to do it justice.

*e-mail me if you want the recipe - and I'll see if I can get permission!

Twins!

I'm excited to post about the TWINS! They came and made a surprise visit these past couple weeks. BEST SURPRISE EVER! We had so much fun with Hilary and Jordan and their little tinies - Bella (aka Belly) and Sofia (aka Sofie Mofie).

Here are just a few pictures to show you how much fun we had!

Here are the girls on their way to see us! (Hil and Jord sent this to us when they were in the airport… Can you imagine how excited we got to squeeze those little ones?!)

 Hanging out with A Ali wearing their feather head bands

 Grandpa Keith surprised them with this double seat Radio Flyer. They really loved riding in the wagon!

 When the grown-ups were boring… they found way's to entertain themselves.

 Like true siblings… They fought a little over the coolest toy - the drum sticks. So funny.

 They liked to lounge and drink their 'baba's' 

A large percentage of the time we would find both of them cuddling up to Grandma Allyson (Nana).

 They played around the sofa, practicing their walking skills!

 Such a cute little Mug!

 They got to spend Remi's Birthday with all of their Grandparents on their mom's side. Grandma Helen, Grandpa Roy, and Grandma Dot

The twins also love to swim! So we got to go spend an afternoon at the pool with them!

Bella with her classic tongue out and holding her toes. Just having fun swimming with A Ali :)

Sofia was a little more adventurous and appreciated a good splash. What a cutie with her curly locks!

We had a blast spending time with the girls! Thanks for coming to see us Hil and Jord!

REMI MAE!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the Happiest, Funniest, Kindest, Sweetest, Most Dramatic, Most Entertaining, Most Beautiful GIRL on Planet EARTH.

Any person in the world would have to be CRAZY not to love you. And I am definitely not crazy! Love you Remi Mae. Happy happy Birthday.

Can you believe she is 14 today?!

Tarnation

Earlier today I was hanging out with my best friend. Our conversation went like this.

Best friend: Ali, do you know what 'what in tarnation' means?

Me: Nope, do you?

Best friend: Well, it just means… what the.

Hahaha

She is six.

Flashback

Today as I was cleaning out my drawers and closets, I happened upon some of my favorite memories of all time - my high school dance pictures! I rummaged through them and was able to find pictures from every dance. They are so fun, I figured it was necessary to scan them so I had digital copies. Then I decided I would blog them for your (but mostly my) viewing pleasure! Enjoy.

Girls Choice

 "A Night on the Nile" with Tanner. Our shirts said "Who's Your Mummy?" This was my first girls choice dance, and it was so much fun!

 "Vegas, City of Lights" with Steven. Our shirts had our dates names on the front, written in dice. Then the back said "That's How I Roll." Clever, right?!

 "Cops & Robbers" with Nic! Shirts said "I Shot the Sheriff, But I Didn't Shoot…" Dinner was at Bethany's and the decorations were better than those at the dance!

 "The Luck of the Irish" with Andrew. The shirts for this read "At the End of the Rainbow I Found…" We thought we were clever with our rainbow shirts!

Commencement 

 This was my very first formal dance "Everybody Wang Chung Tonight," it was with Spencer, and it was awesome! Yes - you did see me wear this dress to another dance below. Disclaimer: They were a year apart, and let's be honest… that dress is bangin'!

 "A Night to Remember" with Austin. Loved this dress. He asked me the cutest of any dance. It involved a Teddy Bear and literally hundreds of chocolate kisses!

This was my very last formal dance, "A Walk to Remember." Who better to go with than Brian? He told me his suit color so I could match my dress to it. He was that excited about it!

Senior Ball

 "Star Struck" with Carter. Loved this dance. I also loved how he asked me - there was a bag of peanuts with a poster that said… can you guess? Probably not. …"Ali, because I'm nuts… will you go to Senior Ball with me?!" Haha, classic Carter, so funny. I loved it. Also, please notice Shelby's dress in the group picture (it is the mint green one). That was my Grandma Dot's high school Prom dress. How neat is that!? 

 "A Night of Espionage" with Cory. Favorite part: When we were dancing and I lost Cory,  I looked down and found him in the splits on the floor. He did it intentionally - it was just one of his better dance moves!

Homecoming

 "A Moment in Time" with Jeremy. This was a lot of fun, Hilary also won Miss Tri-Counties this night!

Without a doubt this was my favorite dance and favorite dress. "Back in Black" with Spencer! My club was in charge of this dance, and we did an amazing job if I do say so myself! I also picked out the picture backdrops! They are pretty neat, aren't they?!

Rummage Romp

This was the at the end of the year - the dress code was anything you could find at the rummage sell. As you can see, we always looked real classy.

 Turkey Trot

This was our Pilgrims and Indians dance that we had late November - it was always very fun!