I'll be home for Christmas

Arizona is the most beautiful sight in the world after being away for almost a year. Especially if you're leaving the treacherous winter land for 70 degrees and warm sunshine. We left Christmas Eve after Dan got off work and headed for the homeland. Funny thing about traveling on Christmas Eve...everything closes around 7 or 8 pm. Even Burger King. No joke.

Lucky for us we pulled into St. George just in time to grab some food at Wal-Mart (Burger King was closed...ridiculous). There was literally a million people in that Wal-Mart. Holy cow last minute shoppers. We grabbed some fried chicken and a few lunchables, wolfed it down in the car, and got the heck out of dodge. We pulled into Phoenix around 1:30 in the morning.

We spent Christmas morning with my family, opened up presents, all that fun stuff. Dan got me an adorable watch (rose gold!! Go Dan!!!!), a Red purse, and a red coat!! Red was a big highlight this Christmas. It was so fun. Big highlight for Dan was the Oregon duck's shirt and a nice scarf. We also got a bunch of food storage stuff from both sets of parents and stuff for our emergency kits!! It's kind of funny that as you get older, practical gifts like food storage and emergency preparedness are super exciting gifts.

We drove down to Sierra Vista later in the afternoon and surprised Dan's parents (they thought we were not going to be there for a few more hours). It was really fun to spend some time in SV with family. We haven't seen Dan's parents in over a year and a half. Long time! We got to see some friends while we were there (Haymore's, Fenn's, Barkdull's) and also went to Thatcher for a day.

Pulling into that one horse town, I almost missed it. My heart aches for those simple and insanely fun times we had in Thatcher. It brings everything right back for me. Passing the movie theater where we had our "second" first date, the temple where we got engaged and I took out my endowments, and passing the college where we fell in love. Alright not that mushy, but you get the picture. I haven't been back to Thatcher since I drove away right before I got married.

Big highlight of the trip: PIMA BURRITOS!!! Oh my goodness. It's love in a tortilla. I'm drooling right now thinking about it.

We also went shooting, and I'm proud to say I've still got it! That's right. I can still shoot a clay pigeon with a shot gun. Hollah!!

And now here come's the photo dump!

"I'll be home for Christmas...if only in my dreams."

Smothered with gravy

Sometimes, I look at our life and feel like all we do is eat, sleep, work, and go to school. That latter part happens to take over my life quite frequently despite my best efforts. We've stayed up many a night and had many a "car chat" and what to do and how to make sure we're okay despite all this business and fluff. Dan definitely gets more upset about it than I do, but I attribute that to him being way more in tune to not only the Spirit, but our relationship as well.

I find myself complacent with where our life is, mostly because I know that school is temporary. Just a little longer. The light is finally at the end of the tunnel and we are almost there. If you'd asked me this last year, I would have totally agreed because it felt like there was no end in sight. But now, here I am. Graduating in December. You have no idea how long I have waited to say that, or even write those words down. No more qualifiers, NEXT December, or December of 2014. No. Now I can just say December. It's a beautiful thing.

Side tracking. I don't want to look back on these years and only remember school. I want to remember all the laughing we did through this tough years, and how these years have helped us to learn to laugh through difficult and tough situations, and through times were we honestly probably did not have time to laugh. If anything, I want to look back on these years, poor college students working and going to school and living in a basement apartment, and smile with fondness because these are the simple years, and the very very blessed years. Not that future years won't be simple or blessed, but these are the years that I help to form and shape the rest of my life. These are the experiences I will relate to my children over and over as they grow up. And I want those to be happy memories, not just a monotonous routine of work, school and sleep.

On that note, we got home last night and I was instantly tired. This is a frequent occurrence from being so "go go go" all the time. We had dinner and were watching an episode of Burn Notice to relax before hitting some homework before bed. We were sitting on our bed, and started wrestling! We do this a lot and it mostly ends in a lot of tickling and laughing till I get the hiccups and someone crying out "UNCLE!!" Last night was no different. I was laughing so hard and had all the blankets shoved up next to my face. Dan was on top of me and tickling me, and I said "I'm being smothered...like gravy!"

He stopped, looked at me with the "What the heck did you just say?" face, and then started laughing. I probably said it a few more times because he totally didn't understand what I was saying. A few minutes later, I realized I probably should've said I felt like a potato being smothered in gravy. Equally weird, but we were rolling on the floor laughing. We do that a lot. Mostly at stupid things I say or my punitive attempt to whistle every time my cell phone rings (it's a whistling tune). But laughing breaks up the stress and monotony of school. Laughing keeps you happy. Laughing keeps the heart and soul young.

(Dan's surprise birthday party, 2011)