It's January of 2015! Whaaaat?

The New Year started off taking care of the aftermath of a flood that happened New Year's Eve day.  An overhead sprinkler next to the band room exploded and both the band and choir rooms flooded.  There was at least an inch of standing water in my music library.  Thankfully, none of my music was damaged because of the incredibly quick response of my amazing administration.  When I came back from break, everything from my office outside of it.  The janitors were AWESOME and helped us get everything back in to place in no time at all. Some band music was damaged and replaced, but probably only a few hundred dollars worth.  It really was a miracle. 

January is a big month for our family, as both my sisters celebrate their birthdays! For Anna's birthday on January 10th, I got a peek into her college life.  She and her roommates threw an enormous "Roaring Twenties" birthday party.  So many people came dressed up to match the theme.  Christina and I found ourselves a bit old- especially considering my roaring twenties are now past me- so we dropped in once or twice and mostly stayed holed up in the condo having dinner with Jer, Scotty, Christian and Chelsey.  I was so proud of Anna for being such a great hostess with the mostest.

Tina and Jer brought Scotty up one Saturday so I could watch him while they went to the temple.  This kid is growing up so fast, and learning SO MUCH.  He can throw and (sort of) catch a ball, he is saying lots of words, and he's the hippest toddler on the block- check out his outfit! He loves to crawl into our laps and have books read to him.  He says, "ho ho ho" whenever he sees a picture of Santa Claus.  He does baby signs, especially sorry, please, and all done.  If he gets excited and hits, we tell him to be soft and he drags his little hand "softly" across the face of the person he hit.  It's so cute.

I also got to have another "girls night" sleepover with cousin Nicole! We visited Scotty and she read him a book.  We also helped babysit for stake conference and got milkshakes.

For Christina's 27th birthday, we had a family dinner consisting of one of Christina's favorites meals, Stauffer's lasagna! My mom made Tina's favorite buttermilk chocolate cake (sans the discontinued rainbow chip frosting...so sad).  We also went to the outlets for Tina to pick out her birthday present from my parents, a puffy winter vest.  Scotty had the time of his life running around outside in between stores. Again, please appreciate the way his mommy dresses him. 

 My dad and his brothers own my Grandad's property.  AND THEY HAVE HORSES! And two llamas.  It's like my dad's dream come true.  And all the kids have a bit of cowboy and girl running through our veins, thanks to a mom who was raised on a farm and a dad who lived every summer at his grandparents' ranch.  I had a great time brushing and walking Annie. I am known as the only Houston kid who doesn't love animals, but I have a special love for horses.  Check out that brush-- crazy! I wouldn't like that thing on my hair, but Annie loved it. Christina got a chance to ride her a couple days later. Can't wait for my turn!

I started my very last graduate school class.  Below is a sample of the kind of excitement that happens for 2.5 hours every Thursday night.  I have to admit, I actually am quite fascinated by music theory and I am enjoying this class.  It goes really fast, though, so I can't afford not to pay attention for even a minute.  And that's hard for me.  But...after this, I finish my project over the summer and I'm done! As of December 2015, I will have finished my master's after a mere 3.5 years (ha ha).

Well, I did it. I got my hair colored after years of abstaining.  And I am LOVING IT.  I really shouldn't have started...because now I won't be able to stop.

For New Beginnings, we are introducing the mutual theme this year of embarking in the service of God.  I am in charge of the frames we will send home with each girl. Gilary made the darling picture we are putting inside each one.  I find it therapeutic to come home from work and school and work on a few frames at a time. I'll be kind of sad when they are all finished!

Post Christmas Merriment

Well, I am officially a blog slacker. There. I said it. I slacked on my blog.

One of the most wonderful parts of break was getting one-on-one time with my baby sister. Despite 11 years difference in age, we definitely know how to entertain ourselves when we're together. I love you, Suse!

Anna and I had an ugly sweater breakfast the day after Christmas.  Holly Green started the Christmas eve morning brunch tradition and we kind of decided to carry it on.  The amount of years you've been out of high school is directly proportional to the number of friends you get to attend.

We opened some Christmas poppers and had a little too much fun with the contents.  This was one of my favorite memories from the entire trip.  It may have involved some dancing.

Seeing Mr. Phil whenever I go home is a highlight. We've managed to maintain our friendship over the past 18 years...WOW that makes me feel old...

We got this darling message (love technology!) while we were in sunny Santa Barbara. I love this kid!!

 We were so lucky that Joe and Shana had Christmas this year in San Diego with Shana's family, because we got to spend time with them in L.A. before they flew out! I love my talks with that family.  They offer such sweet encouragement and advice...I truly don't feel deserving of such amazing people in my life. Please take particular notice of the picture of my dad playing squirrel in a nest with Ella.

We took advantage of the opportunity to attend the temple before we headed back to Santa Barbara. I love the Los Angeles temple- it's where I went through for the first time.

I teased Anna for wearing shoes that matched her jacket...she is the one who taught the rest of us that this is a major fashion error for this generation.

 One of the coolest parts of our L.A. mini vacation was getting to see the apartments my dad has been working so hard on.  They maintain the old Hollywood charm of the building! I was truly in awe of all the furniture and the set-up.  I felt really proud of my Daddy-O for his vision as he has helped these stay-cations come together.

As per tradition, Holly and I spent New Year's Eve together.  There is something so wonderful about your dearest friends who have seen you through EVERYTHING.  During the day, Anna and Holly and I went to the outlets and bought a shameful amount of new wardrobe (but for shamefully good prices!) At Anna's request, we made Aunt Margy's sandwhiches for our parents.  Then, Holly and Anna and I watched two Hallmark movies back to back.  Anna left at ten minutes to midnight to go hang out with friends while Holly and I raucously (ha ha) brought in the New Year watching Taylor Swift shake it off.

One of my favorite things about Christmas this year was getting to have some fun and develop a new hobby. I have been getting increasingly interested in iMovie and I never have time to do anything about it.  Well, Anna and I decided to make a music video over break, which is presented in all it's glory at the end of this post. I hate the moments where the music and movement don't exactly line up, but it was such a blast to make. I showed it to all my students when I came back to work. Apparently, it's more of a "you had to be there" kind of thing, ha ha! Nevertheless, I'm pretty proud of it :-).  The beach pictures were taken while we were filming.  Can you believe this is where I get to spend Christmas?! In Paradise?