Go Ducks!

We had some friends over to watch the big Duck game. Sadly, the game did not end as we had hoped. Our Ducks fought to the bitter end, but Auburn came out on top. Boo. But, we still had a good time watching the game and spending time together :) So I would call that a success!

So proud of my non-Oregon girls in their Duck gear :) GO DUCKS!

Christmas with the Woodmansees

I love this pic... So christmasy!!

Michael and I had a great Christmas! This post is loaded with pictures. I wanted to share as many as I could so that my Woodmansee family could steal them if they want, and so that my Jolley family could see what we were up to this year. So, I'll try do to minimal talking and let the pictures do the work. To sum it up, we were lucky to spend Christmas with the Woodmansee family is Texas this year. It was really special to us and especially Michael because he hasn't spent time at home since his mission (my bad, I stole him)! It was fun for me to see how they do things and my favorite part was spending time with everyone. We never get to see Michael's mom and dad, Bill and Amber, or Judd and Shellie, so it's always awesome when we do.


To start off the trip, we had quite the adventure on Christmas eve. We didn't want to bother anyone on Christmas eve for a ride to the airport. SO, we drove to Courts, parked our car, walked to the bus stop, rode the bus all over SLC and finally ended up at the airport :) haha!

That is how thrilled I was about the walking-with-all-of-our-luggage situation. My scarf is so beautifully wrapped around my ears because they were frozen. And I wasn't wearing a coat because I knew it would be warm in Texas. Luckily, Michael was with me keeping me laughing about the whole situation!
We made it to Texas and opened presents on Christmas day with the fam! It was really so fun to see everyone open their gifts. They were all SO thoughtful and Michael and I felt so spoiled by the awesome presents they gave us. Here's Shellie and Judd on Christmas morning. Shellie stuck around for part of the week and played with us which I LOVED! Bill and Amber! We had a lot of fun spending time with these 2, and they brought us all fabulous gifts from their trip to Italy!
I made Cheri a family calendar. I wish I would have made one for the whole fam... oh well!
This is my favorite picture, Richard got an iPad. His face was pricelss!
Santa, aka- Richard and Cheri, got us a Flip! YAY!!! They totally read my mind. I really wanted one, but I didn't ask anyone for one. We were SO excited! I'll be sure to start posting videos.
Cheri got a Wii and we had a lot of fun getting her all set up! She's pretty much a pro!We were also able to see Michael's close friends and that was a lot of fun for us. They are all such great people. It was my first Christmas ever away from home, my mom and dad, my siblings, and my precious nieces and nephews. I missed them all so much. I am thankful that Michael's family was so welcoming and showed me a great Christmas. Thank you, Woodmansees!

P.S- I successfully got them all hooked on Friday Night Lights! YAY! More people have seen the light. If you haven't watched yet, start... now.

Trying to make the best of the snow...

Well, just ask anyone around here, I'm pretty much sick of living in a snowy environment. For the 4 years that I lived in Rexburg, I honestly didn't mind the winters. Yeah- they were RIDICULOUS. But I just loved my time there so much that I just let the snow be a part of that love and the experience and atmosphere. Well, when I graduated I was hoping my snowy days were over. Not so. We live in Orem now. And I will say, the snow is nowhere near as intense as in Rexburg. But I still feel a bit of sadness everytime I wake up and my car has to be dug out in order to drive it anywhere. Steph, Jarom, and Michael LOVE the snow. So I decided to shape up my attitude and try to enjoy the fatty storm we had the other day.Michael didn't know how to build a snowman! Seriously- he had no technique! So we had a quick lesson and then went to work.We don't have snow pants or anything so we had to wear jeans with long johns under. Definately not the most comfortable choice, but I had no other options!
He had a face and arms, but they are on the other side and this was the only picture we could get. It turned out to be really fun! We had a snow ball fight and played until I was numb. I'm glad Michael talked me into going out there.And this is a bonus Glamour Shot of Steph for ya while we're talking about snow. She had to spread salt outside our office. She did a great job and nobody was injured on the icy walkway! I just couldn't resist the photo moment.

I hope wherever you are you have nice Christmas weather!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Clean teeth and Christmas time

Things are going quite wonderfully for us around here. Christmas time is so wonderful. We're having so much fun shopping and baking and looking at our real Christmas tree. We've had a lot of fun and there is much more fun to come. Some of the more exciting recent events are...

Brooke cleaned my teeth! She is in dental hygiene school and I am not kidding when I say it was the best teeth cleaning I've ever had! I seriously almost fell asleep in the chair! She was a total pro. And she didn't ask me stupid questions when my mouth was preoccupied as so many hygienests do. I was so proud of her. Plus, it was only $10 for a cleaning, xrays, and a dental exam! No cavities!

Michael and I got to meet Apollo Ono! Sweet, right?! He came to talk to the accounting program and he was super great. He is quite an amazing dude if you couldn't tell by watching him in the Olympics. I'm a big fan, so it was quite thrilling.

We had a white elephant/dinner christmas party with all our favorites! It was SO MUCH FUN! It's crazy how much fun we have when we get together. Some things never change! There was a lot of laughing and eating, my favorite things. I love these people so much and it was wonderful to spend time with them again.

We're excited for Christmas and I love having my tree up so much!! Michael is taking finals. I'm working. Life is about the same, and that is a good thing!

Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving

Emily and Steve were so sweet to have Michael and I back for Thanksgiving again this year. Here it is almost a week later and I'm still very sad that it is over. There was a huge storm warning here on Wednesday when we wanted to leave, so we waited it out, left a little later, and had great roads the whole way there. The way home on the other hand... was a whole different story. Right when we hit St. George, the snow began. This is NO exaggeration... we were going 5 mph from St. George to Cedar City. It took HOURS!! The roads just got worse and worse the more we drove. We couldn't even make it to Beaver to stay with Aunt Ila. So, we stopped in Cedar. And so did everyone else. All the hotels were full, so all that was left was some ritzy room. So, we just decided to treat it as an extended vacation. Luckly- we are home safe. I think it was a sign that we should have stayed in Vegas because it was SO fun as always! Let me tell you some of my favorite parts...
Easton took me to Bass Pro Shop to see all of his favorite things. This is us at the fish tank looking at the sting rays. I think I liked them more than him. It was so cool! I could have stayed there all day. P.S- notice how Easton looks how he's giving a thumbs up? He's not. He had a hang nail and was too scared to let Em or Steve rip it off :).

I. LOVE. THIS. CHILD. Look how big she is getting?! I just love this picture. I had so much fun playing with Carly. She was so sweet and would even give me pitty snuggles. I taught her to say "gobble gobble" and it was pretty dang cute.
But I must admit. She liked Michael more. It was adorable. She would go to him anytime he was in the room. Just warms my heart right up.

I feel like evertime I see Easton he's at my favorite age. But I'm loving 4 year old Easton. So smart. So fun. And my personal favorite- SUCH a big imagination! We went on lots of pirate, dragon, viking, sumbarine, helecopter, etc. adventures. Here we are making a pie :)

I wish I had pictures of everything we did. But it was packed full of fun (minues the part where Michael and I both got fevers/pukes/opposite of pukes and I did not make it to the bathroom). We saw HP7 (FABULOUS), em and I made a craft that I'm totally obsessed with and will post later, we watched good movies, laughed, ate, totally OWNED black friday starting at 4 AM, played, and had a great time.

Thanks Rogers family for a great thanskgiving!

Reunited by The Rocket

Kelly, Tiffy, and I 4 years ago I believe, when we were roomies. Those were fun, fun times and I love how we are able to STILL have so much fun together. I am so thankful that they live close enough for occasional reunions. And if there is 1 thing that will bring us 3 together, it is THE ROCKET SUMMER! I've blogged before about how fabulously fabulous his music is. We used to listen to him over and over and over again! I think we've seen him 4 times in the past 4 years and his music always reminds me of these good ol' days!Here we are now, waiting in line to see the one and only Bryce Avery aka The Rocket Summer. I'm going to post a lot of pictures, just in case Tiffy and Kelly want to steal them.
If you still haven't listened to The Rocket Summer, I beg of you-- do it now! His music will make you feel so happy, make you tap your foot and sing along. He is excellent. This particular concert was especially cool. He didn't bring his band this time he and played all of the instruments himself. It was awesome. He is insanely talented.

Kelly is pregnant and if you are aou concert goer, you know that it is very close quarters and people get very pushy. We did a pretty great job of keeping a protective circle around her belly haha! And now her new baby will come out singing good music :)
I thought this was awesome. I have so many memories of dancing around, going on crazy road trips, and being too silly with these girls. And now I walk into the room, and they are both changing diapers. It's so cute! And just check out how dang adorable their baby boys are!
Kelly's little guy Keagan.
Tiffy's handsome little Landon.

We had a really fun weekend all together! Not only did we get to go to the show, but we went shopping and ate delicious food. Kelly taught me how to make a pumkin roll, which is super easy but I'm afraid to try new things and she's not, so that worked out great! I loved playing with those adorable boys and it was so fun to spend time with my girls.

Watch this video, if you know The Rocket, it will make you happy :)

Back to the Place I Love the Most

Michael and I have been trying to find a time to get home to Oregon. We were thinking Thanksgiving, but plane tickets were sky high. So we decided we'd just drive. But, then this perfect little situation fell into our laps...

Michael got a fly-out internship interview with Moss Adams, a great accounting firm that has many locations including EUGENE! And that is where he had an interview. We firgured if they were going to pay for Michael's way out, then this would be the cheapest and best time for us to go. So we were ON OUR WAY! They totally spoiled Michael with a fancy hotel, car services, paid meals, the whole deal.

This, of course, all makes me very, very happy. So I went out to spend 4 days with my mom and dad. IT. WAS. FABULOUS! I love every second I get to spend at home. All we have to be doing is chatting or even just sitting together watching Bill O'Riley (only because that's the only thing my dad allows us to watch) and I'm always enjoying myself. The weekend was packed with all kinds of fun! I got to go to my friend Kirk Blair's wedding reception, the singles Halloween party and all kinds of fun stuff. Mostly I just really loved hangin around the house with mom and dad. Playing scrabble and teaching them stretches and exercises for the respective back/neck/hip pain problems.

Jenny Mae needed a ride to the dance so we brought her over and got ready together. It's always such a treat to see my Jenny :). Mom was so quick and clever with our costumes and it was perfect! Dad tried to be a really scary lion, but those whiskers were not helping his cause. We had a great time though!

Mom was so patient and helped me make this super cute Christmasy indoor wreath that I copied off of Kelly's blog. I'll have to post a better picture later but it turned out super fun!

I GOT TO SEE WHITTY!!! Oh how I miss this girl. It's been seriously too long since we've spent time together and it was SO fun. It's amazing how after a year, I can see Whit and we can jump right back into best friend mode and be just like we never left each other. She looks great and now I'm just waiting for her to come visit me!

SUCH a fun time and I wish it didn't have to end. Eugene is so beautiful this time of year and I love all the trees lining good ol' Janus St. Thanks mom and dad for a great visit and I hope it happens again soon!!

P.S- Moss Adams called the very next day.... my Michael got the internship :) :)