spenny and me!

i just love this kid. a lot.

president's day weekend!

for president's day weekend this year, i randomly went up to sun valley, idaho with katie and some of her friends. it turned out to be the best. president's. day. weekend. 2012. ever! weekend highlights included sledding (pictured below), hot tubbing, hot cocoa around the fire, games, puzzles, talking/laughing, eating lots of delicious food, driving around town, going to church sunday morning (and seeing and elder i taught in the mtc!), the willow house, and bonding with katie. thanks to the fish family! you guys are great!

sledding in the backyard of the cabin

some of the group before we braved the best sledding hill ever--ethan, whitney, nate, katie, me, lindsay, erin, becca, emily

i love katie's face in this picture!

after the epic wipeout...

we love sledding!

i love this girl! (thanks again for the invite, katie!)

black and white party!

a week after my birthday, my friend katie and i (with big help from friend cambrie) threw ourselves a joint black and white birthday party. it was a pretty sweet party if i might say so myself! we had upwards of 150 people throughout the night! here are some snapshots of the party (sorry that i forgot to keep my camera with me the whole night!)

the "sweet" grub, complete with a chocolate fountain, black/white rice krispie treats, oreos, and black/white chocolate dipped strawberries!

birthday!

this year i celebrated my halfway-to-52 mark with a party-filled weekend. it started off right with steve, heather, and spenny taking me out to sushi on thursday (loved it!), followed by a dinner party at red robin friday (delicious!), and lunch at tucano's on saturday (oh.my.) thanks to everyone for making it a fun-filled birthday weekend!

me and spenny

red robin with katie, valentina, chris, christ's friend, raylee, andrew, allen, jessica, and jarrett

tyler and me blowing out our tea light candles after red robin (it was tyler's birthday a couple of days after mine)

the roommies--jessica, me, raylee

tucano's with mike, jarrett, hayley, me, valentine, marcelo, chris, jessica, allen, raylee, katie, and andrew

me eating chicken heart (no big deal!)

another one for mom...

as promised, here is what my mama and i worked on during the christmas break to spruce up the apartment a bit...

a couple of the sibs!

here are a few shots of the sibs during christmas break...

my not-so-little-anymore brother turned 16 during the break...i can hardly believe it! look out ladies, and look out fellow drivers!

i had to include this shot of bryan at tuba christmas at disneyland. it makes me happy. have i mentioned recently that i seriously love this kid?!

before i headed down to california for christmas, the big sis amy came to provo to play for a few days. i'm so glad she did! here we are at the oober exciting byu/baylor game...

temple square!

last night some friends and i decided to brave the cold and take a stroll around temple square to see the christmas lights. so worth it!

some of the group waiting in the joseph smith memorial building before heading out to the square...mike, jarrett, me, jeff, natalie, allen, emilye, staci

some of my favorite lights were by the assembly hall

i love to see the temple!

jarrett, natalie, allen, emilye, cassandra, jeff, marcelo, me, staci, mike

afterwards we went to hatch family chocolates up in the avenues for the best hot chocolate i've ever had in my life. seriously. i'm still salivating this morning. if you are ever in salt lake, i highly recommend this place!