mace & bri

christmas break was a dream. this is the first time we both haven't been working, so when school got out we literally had nothing we HAD to do. so we just did whatever we wanted. 

i love putting up christmas decorations in our tiny little apartment. it makes it feel so homey. i usually wait until after thanksgiving--but since thanksgiving was a week later than usual (and since we leave for the break and don't get to enjoy the decorations as long) i put them up a week early this year-after talking brian into it. :)

^^yes. we put up a baby stocking. :)

we started the break off celebrating me finishing school. i am so happy to finally be done! but can't really believe it at the same time. my family took us out to dinner to celebrate. and then i spent about a week saying "i don't have to go back to school EVER again." so crazy.

we also made our annual gingerbread houses with the petersons. we were pretty proud of them this year. 

we spent the rest of the break in Heber with my family. we watched movies, played pool (i still can't believe how many hours a day the boys spent playing pool) played the guitar, took naps whenever we wanted aaaaannd didn't do much else. my mom and i spent some time making baby bedding and a few other baby things. we went up to idaho for christmas eve eve to spend with my grandparents and my mom's side of the family. & then we came back christmas eve.

my family always goes christmas caroling sometime before christmas. we were missing a few people and were a little small in number this year-but as always it was fun.

^^my brother served his mission in romania & brought back these russian hats. cute eh?

i am always amazed at my mom and mother in law every year that they do so much christmas shopping & get everyone's gifts all wrapped up and under the tree. seems like such a daunting task when there are so many kids+in laws to shop for! they always do amazing though & i always love to take a picture with all of the gifts under the tree. (this isn't even all of them, because of course my brothers didn't wrap their gifts until christmas eve.) :)

^^christmas morning.

 ^^this would be the day everyone got dressed up to go tubing. (i decided to sit it out) they have an awesome place up in midway where you can go, but of course it was sold out when they got there. but at least i got pictures of them in their gear. :)

^^One of my dad's Brasilian friends and his family came to visit one night. we had fun playing the guitar all night long-he can play almost any song you ask him to. (bri isn't in the picture because he was taking it.)

we went back up to idaho for new years day for the jones family ball bash & for a baby shower. i didn't get many pictures, but i did get a few. :)

^^i used to nanny this girl every single summer. she told me she hopes i'm better at being a mom than a nanny. 

 on new years eve we went bowling and played games, and as always had such a blast with extended family. i'm glad we can still go back to burley and spend time with everyone like we used to.

^^he never gets sick of me taking pictures. ;)