you're never fully dressed without a smile

Random things that have made me smile over the past couple of weeks:

{one morning I walked into the bathroom to find this over the toilet}

{my goofy little brother}
[us, being goofy, together]

{this is the sign my cousin Marc met me with at the airport when I came back from Thanksgiving}

{my (slightly blurry) puppy}

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Finals week is over!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and I am home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(not that I'm really excited about either of those things...)
The rest of finals week was a nightmare a breeze. On Wednesday I really buckled down and studied for New Testament then went and took it. New Testament exam = success. Test #5 = terminated. Thursday was a great day on account of the fact that I no longer had any tests hanging over my head. I finally made it over to the gym (I told myself I was going to go everyday during finals week...yeah, totally didn't happen) so it felt really awesome to go. Even though all my tests were done, I still had a paper left, so I figured that I had better write it. 2 hours later = paper done. With everything finals related out of the way (and my GPA safely intact), I finally had time to head over to the bookstore and get some presents for the familia. On my way home, I stopped at the creamery to get my celebratory, finals-are-over scoop of BYU creamery ice cream.

{caramel cashew and coconut joy}
[I demolished it. just like my finals]

For dinner that night I walked down to Bahaar's apartment and Jacob made us some yummy Italian food.

{Bahaar, Jacob, me}

Friday morning I got up and went to the MTC TRC where I got to see my favorite sister missionaries before Christmas! Then was our Christmas staff brunch/party! I absolutely love the fabulous people that I work with. The other RAs in my building are amazing and my boss is awesome. For breakfast I made a batch of cream cheese filled pumpkin muffins and then Becca, my boss, made the most delicious fluffy pancakes with buttermilk syrup. They were so yummy I just couldn't get enough of them. Luckily, she gave me a recipe so I can make them for my family during the break :) Break was finally coming! I got my textbooks for next semester (most of them used! score!), cleaned my room, and said good-byes. My cousin Richard was kind enough to pick me up and take me to the airport. Unfortunately we decided to leave at the same time that the BYU men's basketball game got out...so much traffic. It took us 45 minutes...just to get out of Provo. We were running quite late and I wasn't sure if I was going to make my flight, but, magically, security was practically deserted so I sailed through there and got to my gate with a few minutes to spare. whew.

{cloud-filled Salt Lake valley}

My plane ride was mercifully short and soon enough I was with my family, on my way home for two glorious weeks :) Sunday was a great day at church. I got to hold a baby, which isn't something that you really do in a young single adult ward :P I forgot how much I like babies and small children. Then Sunday night we decorated our Christmas tree and watched "It's a Wonderful Life."

{our Christmas tree!}

{the mantle with our stockings :)}

Monday was a good but, to be perfectly honest, I do not remember what I did. I know, sad. Tuesday was a  busy day with my mom :) I liked getting to spend so much time with her. We went to a brunch and then to target and such to do some shopping. Then that night was the little bro's choir concert. Today was a good day. I meant to get up at some reasonable hour and exercise, but suddenly it was 9:30 instead of 7 and I just couldn't reasonably take the time to exercise anymore (at least, that's what I told myself... :P) I just had too much else to do... Anyway, so by the time I did actually get up, I didn't do a whole lot of anything until I treated my parents to a special homemade lunch by none other than...myself. I made some delicious grilled cheese sandwiches with italian bread (fresh from the bakery), fresh mozzarella cheese, roma tomatoes, and some traditional basil pesto.  Just assemble, put a little olive oil in the pan, and cook those suckers until  they're a toasty brown. So yummy. Definitely a repeat recipe.

{mmm}

Today was a momentous occasion in my life as a baker. I finally made up and baked my very own recipe. We had some very ripe bananas and I wanted to make some banana chocolate-chip muffins but I couldn't find a recipe that I liked. I thought "what the heck, I'll just make my own". so I did. And they turned out pretty darn well (good enough that I ate like three of them :P). The best part is that there's no oil or butter in them, not a drop. So they could almost be considered breakfast and not dessert :P

I was rather proud of myself at how well these turned out. 

Since Christmas is approaching, I found another quote to provide some food for thought:

"What will you and I give for Christmas this year? Let us in our lives give to our Lord and Savior the gift of gratitude by living His teachings and following in His footsteps."

                                 -President Thomas S. Monson

Christ was the first gift of Christmas. The ultimate Christmas gift. Shouldn't we give what ever we can in return for the gift of our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ. So little is asked of us. What will you give for Christmas this year?

I realized that the new year is just around the corner, so I've started to formulate my goals for the new year and review the ones that I had for this year. Stay posted for that post. It's gonna be a good one :P

{my cuddle buddy :)}
[oh how I miss my dear puppy when I'm away :(]

It's the most wonderful time of the year...finals week

So, it's december (I know, old news). The last post was from Thanksgiving (like, three weeks ago). This means: a) time flies when you're having fun, b) school is just more important or c) I'm a huge blog slacker (or how about d) all of the above). I vote d. Anyway. so, back to Thanksgiving. The rest of my time home was fantastic. That  Saturday was Matthew's open house so I spent most of the day in the kitchen making some yummy stuff for it. I got to go grocery shopping with my mom, which, for some reason, I really love doing.  I'm not really sure why, but I always have and I always look forward to it when I'm home. We made pizza for lunch, which is also something I miss about home. It's hard to beat fresh, homemade pizza. At the open house I got to see some fantastic people from high school that I hadn't seen in forever and that I really enjoyed seeing. Sunday was a great day together with the family and then ridiculously early Monday morning I flew back out here for the remaining weeks of school and finals.

{Matthew and I at the airport}

So I got home (Provo) safe and sound and ready for the last two weeks of class. Monday was a flurry of playing catch-up and getting things done. Then was FHE, where I realized that two of my FHE brothers won't be here next semester because they're going on their missions! But it was a really good night, I think we got some good bonding time as a family :P Tuesday night for staff meeting I made a new recipe of cookies:

{chocolate mint-chip cookies}
[boy were they good :)]

Friday night I had a fantastic dance party with Kelli, Mandy, and Magin. Super fun time with really awesome people :) Then Saturday morning I got up to bake these muffins for the bridal shower of Shelly, the first of my freshman year friends to get married.

{cinnamon donut muffins with cinnamon vanilla glaze}
[moist and delicious and deceptively not-so-bad for you]

It's weird to think that we're the same age and yet she's getting married next week and I'm no closer to getting married than I was when I was like 15. I find it interesting to look at where life takes people, to see the different stages that each of us are in at any given moment in life.
I also got a letter from Kade on Saturday! He finally got his visa to go to Brazil! He left on the 5th so now letters are going to take an eon to get there and back :( But I'm glad that he's finally there :)

{Kade and his comp. in Brazil}

Last Monday was our ward trip to temple square. I always love going to temple square at Christmas to see all the lights and the nativities and to watch the Joseph Smith movie in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. It definitely brought back a lot of memories, so I definitely appreciated the company of one of my FHE brothers who hung out with me all night so I wouldn't be lonely.

{what a beautiful sight :)}
[Salt Lake City, UT temple]

On Tuesday, University Chorale sang at Devotional which was way fun and then that night I went on a double date. The guys were really fun and they surprised us by making dinner!

{Melody and I; lookin fine for our date}

{the doubles}

Wednesday and Thursday were the last days of classes. It's so weird that another semester has come and gone. Thursday was also a ridiculously busy day. That night I had four things on the schedule and by some miracle I made it to three of them. First was my University Chorale concert! The concert was great and sure was glad to get it over with.

{Shawni (one of the girls on my floor) and I; gettin ready for the concert}

Next on the list was our 3200 third/second Thursday so I ran home, changed, and then ran over there for like 10 minutes. Then it was time for Invitational! Which is the formal dance that Helaman Halls has at the end of every fall semester. The theme this year was "Winter in London" and the decorations were ridiculously awesome! I regret to say that I do not have any pictures of myself or my dress, which really is a pity because I really felt beautiful and thought I looked pretty darn good (if I do say so myself :P). Anyway, it was a really fun night dressing up, dancing, eating, and hanging out with friends :)
Friday and Saturday were reading days (which are supposed to be used for massive amounts of studying, but I'm pretty sure they usually end up being more of  thank-goodness-I-don't-have-class-anymore-do-nothing-days). Sunday was the Christmas program in church. It went well but I sure am glad that it's over. I made some yummy cookies for floor meeting, during which we at the cookies and read the Polar Express because that's what cool college kids do: eat cookies while reading an awesome children's book.

{peanut butter blossoms}
[I definitely ate like 10 of these, they were just that good]

And then commenced...finals week...duh...Duh...DUH... which actually isn't turning out to be so bad. I took my Spanish oral final last week and then the Spanish written exam on Saturday which only left me with 3 exams and a final paper. Yesterday morning I got up at some horrendous hour to study for my history of interior design and architecture class and then had to go take it at seven...am....yep. One down, two to go. The rest of Monday was supposed to be spent in diligent study for my test today but that didn't quite happen (it's the thought that counts...right?). So I spent all a few hours of this morning studying and then I went and took my human development test. Two down, one to go. Only one test and one paper standing between me and my Christmas break...prepare to be annihilated. There's a little saying that I think is important to remember in stressful times such as these: "Study like it all depends on you, then pray like it all depends on the Lord". Believe me, it works. Like nothing else. Sometimes our best just isn't quite enough, but if it truly is our best the Lord will help us and we will succeed, He did not send us here to fail.

So, in honor of Christmas the girls on my floor decided that we needed a floor Christmas picture:

{I know, it's like the cutest thing ever}

And a quote to start off the Christmas season:

"As we seek Christ, as we find Him, as we follow Him, we shall have the Christmas spirit, not for one fleeting day a year, but as a companion always."
              -President Thomas S. Monson


Remember this. Because who doesn't want to have the Christmas spirit with them always? For the Christmas spirit is the Christ spirit.