mace & bri

christmas break

we had such a good, much needed break. we were pretty excited to have 3 weeks off this year. (we usually only get two!) this was brian's first break from school since last christmas break, because he's been going to school all year round. so, he was loving life.

we stayed in provo the first week and spent our time working, and when we weren't working we were relaxing (aka watching the office). we started the week off with a little christmas cousin party with out favorite cousins. we love having cousins close & the christmas party has turned into our favorite. we went up to salt lake and had dinner and had a white elephant gift exchange. then we headed to temple square to see the lights. as we were walking around we started singing some songs & decided we were REALLY good. so we stopped at the corner on our way back to the car to see if anyone would listen to us. we got a few onlookers and an applause after we were finished. :)

i also got to spend some time with my favorite girls. we made some christmas treats together.

& my favorite kiddos, i have missed these three so much!

my family flew in a couple of days later. so we drove up to salt lake to spend a couple of days with them, and we also went to a wedding dinner & sealing. (brian's cousin) and then spent even more time working.

we spent the weekend before & christmas day with brian's family. it was fun to have everyone home, even if that did mean that brian & i had to sleep in two twin beds. ;) i was a little bit worried about my first christmas without my family. i was pretty sure i would get super homesick & be sad i was missing out. however, that was not the case! i loved spending christmas with the petersons. it helps that our families are so similar & do basically everything exactly alike.

christmas eve pizza.

christmas day.

we also got to skype with our favorite missionary. elder jones! he is doing so great & loving life over there in romania. i can just hardly believe he only has 7 months left!

a few days after christmas my family came down to spend a few days in utah. we attended a couple of basketball games, shopped plenty, had lunch with our favorite brasilians, & loved spending time together. on new years eve we headed up to spend the week in burley. brian and i both got a whole week off of work (don't think that has happened since we've been married!) & was it was heavenly.
my best friend rach came up to celebrate the new year with my family too, & we had a blast.

new years eve

jones family ball bash

pazookies!

dinner & bowling with the family

the only bad news about our 3 week break is that i was sick for about 2 of them. & i felt the worst when i had my week off of work! of course that had to happen. i never get sick, like EVER. so of course it had to happen over the break, just my luck.
i am however grateful that it wasn't the full blown flu. it was bad enough that i felt miserable, but it didn't slow me down much, i wasn't about to miss all the family fun!