It can’t be too cold when you’re running around this much!

Well, the month of December was full of all sorts of exciting things.  To start off with, LauriAnn and I got invited by some people in our stake to go watch a men’s Gonzaga basketball game.  Now, I know you don’t understand how cool that is yet, so let me explain.  Spokane Washington LOVES!!!!! Gonzaga basketball!!! I mean they really, really love it.  The next thing you need to know is that their stadium is teeny tiny in comparison to the love that is felt for them.  The next thing you need to know is the majority of the available seats (if not 98% of them go to season ticket holders.  So how much does just a regular seat cost? oh around 80 smackers.  So to get to go to a Gonzaga basketball game is really something special.  And it was a lot of fun.

 

LauriAnn has lived in Spokane for 10 years now and this was her first game she attended.  She was pretty excited!  Oh and guess who’s the number 1 men’s basketball team in the nation right now?  OH YEAH!!!! GONZAGA!!!!   They’ve sucked me in haven’t they?

The next thing you’ll notice is a very fun picture of me with my Alec Trebeq mustache.   

My roomies are both law students at Gonzaga and they wanted to play finals week jeopardy.  So the natural host would be me, but a mustache was necessary!  They are so funny!  I sure do love them!

LauriAnn and I went to see the Nutcracker Ballet this year.  I had never been and I loved it!  So fun!

Before everyone left for Christmas break we had a White Elephant party at our house.  My gift was a crocheted  beard! 

It turned out better than expected and we all had to try it on before the party began! I won a Justin Bieber poster and was completely satisfied!

 

My roomies both left for Christmas break a full week before Christmas and since they knew I wouldn’t be going home for Christmas they threw a surprise Christmas party!  It was so sweet and made me feel so special. 

They gave me a really cute clutch and a pair of socks and then wrapped all sorts of random things we had around the house!  It was fun!  I love my roommates and feel so blessed to have them in my life!

btw, Christmas really did turn out pretty good.  Mom sent me a wonderful package, I had Christmas eve dinner with my bishop and his family and then Christmas day LauriAnn and I went to watch Les Miserables, which was wonderful!  Really, for being away from my family and those I love the most, it turned out to be a not so bad day!

Geeze, December was a full month!  I also had a work Christmas party.  I love my co-workers and have a lot of fun at work when we have time!   We’re super busy the great majority of the time so a party was great to just hand out and wear our ugly sweaters!!!!  

We do Sunday night dinners each week at someone’s house.  We had one particularly fun breakfast dinner at LauriAnn’s.

 

Now, first you have to know that LauriAnn is a great cook, so as I sat watching her burn the sausage, I kept saying they were looking a little dark, but somehow denial was working really well for LauriAnn and she cooked them for a few more minutes.  At that point they were almost unedible.

It took the whole dinner to finally get her to admit that maybe, just maybe something went wrong!

And Finally the nun story!  These two ladies happen to be my co-workers and not nuns at all! Sam, on the right, is actually our mental health ARPN and Marsha is our records specialist and is actually LDS!   They were on their way to a showing of the Sound of Music.  There was to be a costume contest too, so they really showed up didn’t they?

Phew!   That is the month of December!

Thanksgiving 2012!

Okay, so how about Thanksgiving 2012. I thought the fam would enjoy being a little embarrassed!

So for Thanksgiving we usual do something to embarrass ourselves and this year it was 2 different games.  Luckily Scott and Andrew had something strange growing from their upper lips, so it the rest of us had an unfair advantage before the games even began!  

We played a crazy game of Charades-Clue.  Where you have to act out who did it, with what and where.  There were at least two pretty epic moments.  First, Dolly and Rochelle had to act out, if I remember right, who did it, and this is their version of Dolly Parton!  So funny!

The second funniest moment of the game was when the weapon happened to be a pair of pantyhose.  HIL-AIR-E-OUS!  Funniest part was that Brian and Andrew could imitate putting on pantyhose better than I think I can actually do it! 

So the next game was the zoom game.  In this game you have to send a zoom around the room.  The catch, you can’t show your teeth.  Our lips and cheeks hurt so bad. 

Oh just check out the mustaches! Zoom in if you can!

We aren’t huge into Black Friday shopping, but we did take it as a chance to spend time together. 

At Red Lobster!

Hanging with the Laing Family

Thinking we are beautiful!

And of course helping with some home improvement.  I helped Brian put up this accent rock wall that goes behind their TV.  It was fun to learn how to do something new!

All in all, it was so good to see the family!  I’ve missed them and I’m so glad that they are the people they are.  Each of them bring a different dimension to my life and they all bring such different experiences and advise that I always have someone to go to!  I am so blessed to have them!  The Lord sure knows what he’s doing!

Here A Little There A Little

 Well, life here in Spokane has mostly settled into regular life.  It has been nice in its own way to live in a bigger city because there are so many things that a city offers that we don't get out in the country.  So here's a lil' break down of the last couple of months.

The temple and the changing leaves!

Could it get any scarier?  Yes, I went as Maleficent for the Single's Halloween party.  I threw it together in like an hour.  Spray painted tin foil horns, awful, greasy makeup, oh and my cape, why yes that is a fitted sheet! :)  It was pretty epic, when I walked fast the shoulders would puff  all up, my roommate Holly (left) laughed so hard I thought we wouldn't be able to leave the house!  Needless to say, no takers for this single lady that night! :)

This is Lori, whom you've met.  My roomie.  We went to dinner and I think she's pretty great, so I decided on this picture just to show ya.

Emily, Carley, Kiera, Lara, Kelly, me and Lori at PF Changs.

We get a little crazy!  Do I have that affect on people or what?

We just had so much fun! Lots of pictures!  It was Carley's b-day, so we thought we'd party it up!

So almost every Sunday we rotate on cooking dinner for each other.  There is my apartment, Lauriann and her roomies and then these crazy boys, BJ Duke, Collin, and Mike.  It is a lot of fun.  I've been very fortunate with friends!  Its always a party.

OK, so you can't get this close to Canada without having a HOCKEY team!  Oh ya baby, the Spokane Chiefs!  It was a blast I look forward to going again.

No fighting here.

Big fight, but unfortunately the refs broke it up pretty quick! :)

Drew's lips, Kelly, Crystal, me and Emily!

We won!

OK, so I can't explain the whole story behind this in one post, but I can give ya a brief synopsis.  So that in Lauriann's hand is a cheesecake!  Now I will explain the look on her face.  So about 2 months ago a co-worker gave that cheescake to me.  It was delicious, but I thought it would be better if someone else ate it, so I kindly left it at Lauriann's house. Well, apparently, she thought the same because it ended up on my doorstep the next morning!  Well that began the commonly known cheesecake war of 2012.  So since that fateful morning that cheesecake has been cleverly placed in a bed, in a car and the best yet, I snuck into their house and put it in Lauriann's bag she was packing for the weekend, so it's also been from the top of the state to the bottom, THEN mailed back to me and finally given back to Lauriann by a very kind waiter at a busy restaurant!  She said she is still plotting my downfall.  So I guess the great war is not over yet! :)

Last Saturday they had a regional single's activity- The Turkey Bowl.  We played flag football!  It was pretty awesome!  I look almost coordinated in the picture!

Here are all the people that turned out to it!! 

My ward made up the bulk of people there!!!!  I love my ward!  I have been so blessed with good friends and influences!

And boy are we silly!

Well, that is it for now!  Tomorrow I get to go back to my beloved Utah!!!!!!!!!!  I am so excited to see my family and spend time there!  I wish it could be for longer, but alas, vacation days have not kicked in yet!  :)  Yay for the holidays!