So this is Christmas.

Christmas was great this year. It was so nice to (relatively) sleep in, and then open presents with the fam in our (cold) living room. This year, I finally got a smartphone and am now the owner of the iPhone 5! It's been fun figuring out what apps I want to use and downloading them. Something  that I thought was pretty neat is that I can actually blog from my phone now! So I'll have to test that out soon. Some other highlights-A. got some crazy book that she loves, K. got a cell phone (my old one!) and A. got a giant Perry the Platypus Pillow Pet. Try saying that ten times fast! And then, Dad pulled off one of the most awesome ways to reveal Mom's Christmas present. It involved, among other things, a frozen Tiffany's charm, driving to sketchy 7-11's on Christmas morning, and a brand-new Kindle Fire HD stored in an Amazon locker (lockers where Amazon drops off your package instead of leaving it out on your doorstep). Pretty awesome.

ugly sweater trio.

perry. and some angry birds on the floor.

good morning!

the locker. his name is stitch. sorry for the blur.
it was just too exciting. 

mysterious package!

our locker from which the gift was dispensed.

i'm back! with a disneyland recap.

Merry Christmas everyone! It's been a crazy couple of weeks back so I'm just getting back into blogging. Don't worry, though-the next couple of posts with be full of exciting pictures and stories :) I'm going to recap our trip to Disneyland-so here we go!

We (mom, me, A. and K.) left early Monday morning (12/17) to head down to Anaheim and skip the L.A. traffic. Luckily it wasn't too bad heading down or coming back home, so we made it into our hotel (go hojo!) by about 2 and made it into the park by 3:30. Believe it or not, but we hit almost every ride we wanted to in those 6 hours we were there! Some highlights of the first day:

splash mountain: my personal favorite.

i beat the sis!

Tuesday- Woke up VERY early to lots and lots of rain. Using our plan, we headed over to Disneyland and spent  the entire day in the park. The rain was miserable at the beginning, but it made the lines short! It really was so much fun, even just to walk around and smell the piped-in smells. (side note- for the haunted mansion ride, it was Christmas-themed, and they pipe in the smell of gingerbread during the ride! yum.) A big late lunch at the bistro inside the Pirates of the Caribbean, then after more rides we rode to monorail to downtown disney to see the lego shop. Just for A.

not amused.

nobody's here!

dumbo!

matterhorn!

crazy face.

mickey. the man himself.

santa goofy.

lunch inside pirates.

me and the hulk.

me and gandalf.

big thunder mountain.

Wednesday-Was all California Adventure! We had a lot of fun in Car's Land, so much fun, in fact, that I forgot to take pictures. Oh well. We all loved Radiator Springs Racers, where you race just like Lightening McQueen! Awesome!

Thursday-We hit up our favorites in CA Adventure and Disneyland before leaving that afternoon. K. and I went on Splash and got soaked one final time, Mom got the special Disney cup from the Starbuck's in CA Adventure, we made it home by 9-life is pretty good.

done. and heading home tonight!

Sorry for the delayed post from yesterday-I was too busy celebrating last night to post something! I finished off my finals with the dreaded bio final. I was worried because it was my longest final and the most in-depth. Yet after some hard studying and many a prayer said, I still have an A- in the class before the curve! Hopefully I can somehow raise my grade 1.5% to get that solid A.... But I'm so grateful that I've been able to do so well in school right off the bat. My class schedule just worked out so well, plus my professors were all awesome, which made a huge difference. It will definitely be a change coming back for winter semester with all new classes!

So last night, E took C. and I to In-n-Out for some finals celebratory burgers, and then C. and I went over to E's so I could finally watch Nacho Libre. Holy cow-that movie was hilarious. Jack Black is awesome! I would say it's definitely one of my new favorites :) After that, we headed home and had a sleepover because C. left early this morning for a wedding. So now, I'm just hanging out in the basement, doing my final load of laundry before packing and heading to the airport at 4:30.

This first semester has been great! I love college. And...confession time...I'm so happy that I chose to go to BYU. It has been a blast, the classes and professors great, and we even start with an opening hymn and prayer. Weird, but awesome.

So that's my first semester/end of finals wrap up. Sorry it's text-heavy; I'll be sure to post pics of my reunion with the family tomorrow! I CAN'T WAIT to be back in the bay!

round three. with one to go.

Made it through my organ final this morning! I got to sleep in an extra hour since this one started at 8 a.m. Finished the test plus I got everything passed off that I needed to. Awesome-especially because our playing assignments are weighted more than our tests. Then it was time to study for bio...which wasn't as productive as it should've been. It's a good thing I can study tomorrow and take it in the afternoon or evening!

We dropped T. off at the airport tonight-bye! We'll see you soon, hopefully-given that we survive our final finals! See goodbye shot below.

don't ask me why i look orange. i don't know.

After that, C. and I drove back to good old P-town to do some studying and grab some dinner. All I can say is that key lime pie shakes are actually pretty good :) More studying tomorrow and then I'll be done! And it's back to California!

round two. done. aka halfway through.

Today was the second day of finals at BYU, and I'm pleased to report that I actually made it on time (even a little early!) to my 7 a.m. calculus final this morning! I thought it went pretty well; we'll see once grades are up! Sorry for the lack of pictures, but I can't exactly photograph my tests and pictures of me studying are quite boring. So here are some random pics to keep you all entertained!

the 114th ward of the provo ysa 8th stake!

posing outside the museum of art after
eating lunch there.

So not too exciting, but something is better than nothing! Tomorrow is my organ final, and I get to sleep in a whole hour later than today! So I'll be up there bright and early at 8 a.m. instead of 7. It really is the home stretch-my new mantra has become "I think I can I think I can....".

P.S.-shout out to T. for getting an 89 on American Heritage and being done with finals!! Lucky duck-she leaves C. and me behind as of tomorrow evening...

snow. and round one.

It's snowing!!! We finally are getting some of that fluffy white stuff just in time for Christmas. Today was a math review, my Spanish oral final, and my Book of Mormon final. I'm happy to report that I thought my Spanish went well (we don't find out our scores until later), and I got a 96 on my Book of Mormon final! I hit up Campus Craft and Floral one last time and scored some seriously awesome jewelry for myself and the sibs. A. and K.-just you wait. Just you wait.

The afternoon brought studying for calculus, and then a quick trip to the gym with S., C., and T. It was a nice way to take a break-now it's off to clean up and study a little bit more before going to bed so I can wake up at 6 am for the 7 o'clock final. This counts as 25% of my math grade, so I'm a little nervous, to say the least. Four more days-I can survive for four more days!

sunday update and more finals prep.

Saturday was not the most exciting day of my life, so no blog post. I hit up two different reviews; even one that was at 8 a.m.! I also found a store to spend my excess meal plan money on- Campus Craft and Floral. I was able to buy some sweet jewelry and even a cute tunic! Then I went to the gym with T., and spent the night reliving my childhood by watching Pocohontas and The Aristocats. It was a giant sleepover in Chipman Hall with T., C., me, and T.'s roommate A.

without giving too much away, here's the goods.

and said schweet shirt!

Today was the usual schedule of church, some studying (it was for Book of Mormon, so I figured it was okay to study on a Sunday), a delish dinner at J&J's with molasses cookies for dessert, and back home for more studying and hopefully a skype session, if the padres ever get back from the amazing A.'s concert, where she has a SOLO. Awesome.

Tomorrow brings a math review with C. and her tutor at 9:30, then my Spanish oral final at 10:30, some studying, and then my Book of Mormon final. I CAN MAKE IT. I think I can I think I can....five days until I go home! I can't describe how excited I am for family, friends, Disneyland, food, and using my exercise equipment. Yes!

finals:round 1. and some ham parties

I had my first college final today-my Spanish written final. I thought it went well! Then it was off to a bio review and a calc review. Whew! Lots of reviews coming up in the next couple of days...

This evening was the BYU ARC Christmas party. We had some garbage can pig, as promised-we didn't get to see it on the spit or anything, but it tasted great! Then it was time for a white elephant gift exchange and a viewing of everyone's favorite youtube videos. Quite the party indeed!

dinner. yum.

my white elephant prize!

I received some kind of 90's enrichment project/toilet paper holder reindeer, with a special surprise inside that I'll probably regift to the younger A., if you catch my drift of what animal it might be... 

Tomorrow is a review day, starting at 8 am! So I'm off to bed so I won't sleep through it. And to all a good night!

a knight for a princess dance

Helaman Halls hosted "A Knight for a Princess" dance tonight, in honor of the last day of classes. I'll just let the pictures do the talking. Shoutout to C. for curling my hair! Woohoo! And thank heavens for spanx so you can fit into formal dresses after the freshman munchies set in. :) My first college final is tomorrow-how exciting! After that, the weekend is study, study, study-and then I'll be home in a week!!!!! Yes!

in the coat that KZ made! because it's actually cold in utah!

why do i have to be the one to hold the lipstick?!

at le dance.

awkward family photo.

we got a caricature made at the dance!
can you tell who's who? 

c.'s face=priceless.

unamused chipmunks.

the end. it was awesome because we made it awesome because we're awesome. boom.

mid-week break.

Tonight, C. had to go to a jazz concert at the University of Utah, so he asked C. to drive him. T. and I came along, so while C. was at his concert, we saw the lights at Temple Square and did some window shopping at City Creek. Combine that with some Starbuck's and pictures at East High (...where High School Musical was filmed...duh!), and it was a pretty good mid-week stress reliever. And now: picture overload time!!

jsmb christmas tree!

waiting in anthro...

cute skirt and shirt!! where'd you get them?! :)

temple!

crazy pictures!

starbuck's. yum yum yummy.

macy's/zcmi candy display!

EAST HIGH! C. is not amused.

troy, sharpay, and whoever vanessa hudgens
plays...

And that is my Wednesday wrap up! Tomorrow is the last day of classes; from then on it's just reviews and studying for finals!!