IKEA

I cannot believe I had never been before.
The closest I came was once in Bari, Italy.
Now there is one in Draper, Utah
and I still hadn't gone.

Until now.

I knew I wanted something.
And I knew IKEA had it.

So, KaDee and I headed out.

I love it!

A little over stimulating at first,
but then you get used to that.

I will for sure be going back.
Soon.

Lawson's Blessing

Yesterday was Lawson's baby blessing.

Jason gave him a beautiful blessing.
Meridith made a delicious breakfast for after.

It was a fun day spent with the family.

Although I did go to my ward for Relief Society,
it is always nice to have a break from early meetings.
{even though I did feel a little left out!}

twenty ten

New decade today...

I have a good feeling about this year.
I think 2010 is gonna be a good one!

Maybe I should shoot for this to be a good decade.
{that gives me more time!}

Either way,

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

maybe

This is maybe my favorite song right now.

25

Quarter of a century.
Weird.

I didn't really have a hard time with twenty five.
Twenty four was worse.

My birthday was a few weeks ago but I was waiting on getting some pictures from people so here it is.
{four weeks later}

My actual day of birth was spent mostly at school.
It was the last day of Wednesday classes so I HAD to go!

Other events of the day included

The gym.
Lunch with Kristy who was home sick.
A job interview.
Lots of birthday texts.
Visits.
Emails.
Phone calls.
Facebook messages.
And more...

Luckily I got out of class early that night.
But since it was possible to be in class till eight I made no plans.

I ended up watching my favorite movie
with two of my favorite people!
{Matt still talks about how much he loved Serendipity!}

Not a super exciting birthday but what can you expect on a Wednesday?

The celebrating continued, or started I guess Friday night.
A bunch of people went to dinner at Settabellos.

It was an eventful night.

Thanks KaDee for planning it!

Then Saturday a friend and I had a Silver Anniversary party.
He turned 25 on the first so we shared this quarter of a century experience!
I was a little bit busy with school so I was not fully into the planning of the party, but Jonathan did a great job!

It was total silver anniversary style party.

We even had a serious bingo tournament.
With a twenty five dollar prize.
In quarters.

Makes sense, right?!

The celebrating continued Sunday with a family dinner.
Thanks so much to Kristy and Ben for all you did!

Overall it was a great birthday!

Thanks to everyone for making it that way!

Someone said to me that week that they never knew birthdays lasted all week.

Well, I think they should!

come and gone

It's funny how long you look forward to something and then in one short day it is all over.

Christmas has not been the same around here for the past five years. It's always hard not having mom, but especially rough at Christmas time.

Christmas this year was full of food, laughing, gifts and more. But now it has come and gone again until next year.

Here are some pictures from the day.

Hope everyone had a fun day filled with those you love!
I know I did.

come and trim my Christmas tree

with some decorations bought at Tiffany....

Somehow the Christmas after mom died dad started a new tradition...

Giving Kristy and I jewelery every year for Christmas.

I had always wanted real pearls.

My grandmas did not have any to give me.

And my mom did not have any.

That is why dad got us a set the year after mom died.

Necklace.

Earrings.

Bracelet.

I love them.

A lot.

This tradition continued three years after the pearl year.

Kristy and I were not sure what would happen this year.

Now I am the only one home things are different.

When I woke up Christmas morning and saw a little blue box sitting on the couch I must admit I was a little bit excited!

The best part was the red Christmas ribbon instead of white.

So cute!

It was beautiful!

Thanks dad!

I love it, and I love you!

{don't worry, Kristy got one too}