Christmas Part 1

So I got the whole week of Christmas off! It was amazing :) We went to St. George to be with Dahl's family. These next 2 posts are pretty much direct copies from what I wrote Nicole on her mission, so hopefully it's not too travel-loggish. I started with the day she left. We dropped her off on a Wednesday, and I went straight to work right afterwards, so we start there: 

Wednesday 12/18:

We had a bridal shower for Alyssa at work. I got free Zupas! That night, Dahl and I took Julie to dinner and we watched a new movie, "The Way, Way Back". We really liked it! She spent the night at our house.

Thursday 12/19:

Julie hung out with Dahl while I worked. He took her to the mall while he ran errands. They went to the library as well. Dahl, Julie, and I went over to Amy's house to make gingerbread houses. They turned out better than ever! Amy's fiance (Brooks) was super nice, and some of his friends came over too. It was a lovely evening. 

Friday 12/20:

We got down to 0 calls in the phone queue at work! I was so happy I almost cried. Seriously. The guys at work got a little worried. Then, we played on the X-Box. I actually won a game called Takedown! It's a driving game where the only goal is to take out as many other cars as possible. The first person to reach 10 wins! I got 10 and Kyle only had 8, so I won!! I lost everything else, but I was ecstatic to win something! Chris and Lance were very entertained by my reaction.

I also showed the guys some Star Wars snowflakes I made (Yoda and Darth Vader). They were pretty impressed! Travis even had me forward him the templates so he could make some. 

Lance (my manager) gave us some hot chocolate for Christmas. He let me pick first because I'm the favorite (his words :) ). I picked marshmallow. Being the only girl comes with its perks! After work, Julie and I went to get some free pearl necklaces because I have 2 starving students cards and they each have one free one on it. We got her dinner again, and dropped her back off at Heather's apartment. That night, Dahl drove to St. George for Christmas. We chatted the whole way and had a really great time! When we arrived, we watched "National Treasure" with Dahl's parents.

Saturday 12/21:

We hung out with Eric and Brenley. We went to Coyote Charro, a Mexican restaurant. We got these amazing carne asada fries and a couple tacos. It was SO good! We looked at a house that Ivory homes is building. Brenley could give us a tour because she works for Ivory Homes. It is VERY unfinished- lots of dirt still and none of the appliances were in. It will be a home in the Parade of Homes, so we are excited to come back and look at the transformation. We did some shopping and started watching "The Hobbit". Brenley and Eric have never seen it, and they needed to watch it before we went to see the second one later this week.

Sunday 12/22:

We went to church. The choir in this ward is HILARIOUS! Dahl and I always forget about it until we go. It is so awesomely horrible. Gets us every time! We can't help but giggle while they sing all sorts of off notes. That was more often than usual this time because it was the Christmas program, and there were lots of special musical numbers. They didn't sing even one traditional song, it was all weird arrangements. It would probably be okay if they sang normal songs and kicked a few people out, but we are hoping that never happens because it is so entertaining as it is! 

We went on a nice walk on a trail near their house and chatted. We finished "The Hobbit", and Jacob and Tori arrived. We went to a Missionary Christmas Concert at the Tabernacle! It was very nice. They had much better singing voices. We also watched "Home Alone". It was Tori's first time!

Monday 12/23: 

We started out the day by going on another walk, this time around Eric and Brenley's neighborhood. We then did some more shopping and wrapping. We went to lunch at Irmita's. It was amazing, as usual. 

Savana arrived! We went to Tuacahn to see the Live Nativity. It was really cool. They read the Christmas story in Luke 2 and acted it out with music. They had live camels, a live donkey, and live goats.

I made sweet and sour chicken for dinner. It was pretty good if I do saw so myself! 

Tuesday: 12/24:

We went to Orange Peel for breakfast. Their Citraberry smoothie is the best thing ever!! I got a pedicure with Brenley and Tori while Savana got a manicure. 

That night, we did a Christmas program where we sang songs, read the Christmas story, shared memories, and read "That Thine Alms May be in Secret" and "A Christmas Dress for Ellen". We ate some yummy food and watched "It's a Wonderful Life". 

We lit "Tangled" lanterns that Jacob and Tori brought, and it was really cool!

And that's just the beginning! It gets even more exciting after Christmas, so I'll talk about that in my next post!

Goodbye Sister Connor!

My sister Nicole (3rd in our family) just left on her mission to Everett Washington! She flew out to Utah from Maryland Monday, December 16. Dahl and I drove up that night to Salt Lake to meet her, my sister Heather and her husband Stephen, my sister Julie, my friend Amy, and her fiance Brooks for the Christmas Sing Along at Energy Solutions Arena. I am certifiably obsessed with this event. I love love love Christmas songs, and when you put a bunch of people (including Santa and live performers) in an auditorium to sing them with me, I am a very happy camper. Throw in the fact that it is free and that you get free doughnuts and tickets to future events, and I am pretty much in heaven at this thing. I drag Dahl to it every year (he likes it, just not quite as much as I do- but then again, I don't know if anyone does). We were all terribly late, but it was still fun. Afterwards, there was a mis-communication, so Heather, Stephen, Nicole and Julie went to Temple Square and took some pictures, while Dahl dropped me off at Costa Vida with Amy and Brooks (he had to go home and study- finals week!).

Pretty sisters :)

The next day, Heather took Nicole and Julie to school with her to help teach her class. That night, we went out to Awful Waffle.

You can write on the tables with chalk, so Nicole wrote this!

We went back to my house and made some treats. I recorded Nicole making a Christmas message for the rest of the family. It was quite the experience... Nicole is so hilarious and silly!

We also made this gem of a movie. I want to say I was not going to post this, because it is possibly the most embarrassing thing that I have ever done, BUT Heather and Julie both said that I freaking absolutely must post it, so here it is. Try not to judge us... we're total dorks. The story behind this video is this. Nicole loves Despicable Me, most especially the minions. This video shows what we are re-enacting here. Nicole insisted we do this while we were all together. So we did.

This first video is the aftermath of Heather trying to show Nicole how to fake hit her with a hardback book. Except Heather actually did hit her... very hard... in the face (accidentally). And Nicole started bawling. And the rest of us started laughing so hard we were crying. If you were there, you would know how absolutely hilarious it was. My tummy hurt from laughing so hard! If you can't understand anything being said in this video, you are not alone. We sound like complete idiots. 

And here is the best version we got. I think this was our 3rd try. Dahl was super nice and patient with our crazy selves :)

.... Yeah. Again, try not to judge us too much. This is the first time we had all been together since Christmas 2012 and sisters can get pretty goofy :)

Then, it was finally time to drop Nicole off! Sister Gordon drove us to the MTC (thanks!). She stopped by the Provo Temple so we could take a couple more photos: 

And then we were suddenly there at the MTC! A sister missionary greeted us, helped get some things for Nicole, and said she could take pictures and give us a couple minutes. After lots of hugs (and some kisses too), she was finally on her way!

Goodbye Sister Connor! Learn lots on your fun adventure! We love you!