A week of greatness!

Let me just tell you why this week was great:

1. First and foremost, I GOT TO SKYPE WITH THE LOVE OF MY LIFE! It was the first time I've gotten to see his face since September. It was incredible. I still have butterflies flying around inside of my body. Just look at how handsome he is.

2. It was my first full week at home with my parents.

3. During that week my dad wore this.

4. I got to babysit this kid. And his sweet baby sister.

5. I also got to babysit this kid. He is best friends with the kid above.

6. I GOT THE IPHONE 4! I have been waiting my whole life for this. Well, for like 3 years. It was worth every single penny. It's beautiful and amazing and perfect. Much like the man I Skyped with.

7. The iPhone came with this cool holder. I think I'll give it to my dad.

8. All my Christmas shopping is done. I'm such a good wife.

9. Speaking of being a wife. Did I mention that I got to Skype with my husband? Did I also mention that he looked even better than when he left despite the fact that he has been sleeping in the middle of the Afghan desert for 3 months?

10. I got to hang out with my most favorite roommate. And she loved every second of it.

11. I got to hold a hamster. But really, that's not something that made this week great. It actually may have taken away from the greatness a little bit. They are kind of gross. I just wanted to take this picture for Scott. He's having some rat issues. I wanted to show him that they are sweet and cuddly.

12. I completed my college tour by visiting Danielle, in Denton, at the University of North Texas!

13. She took us to her friends' house. They were nice boys who made dinner for us. Did you know college boys knew how to cook? I didn't.

14. Danielle, Lauren, and I went to visit Preston at his sweet little house.

15. While at Preston's house Lauren gave me a comprehensive geography lesson.

16. Wait, is this my list of great things? Scratch that last one.

17. This is great.

18. I got to go to lunch with my sweet sister-in-law and mother-in-law. Amber took us to my new favorite restaurant, The Grand Lux Cafe. It was so good! I wish we would have taken pictures of the desserts. Those were the best part. Peach Blueberry Cobbler, anyone have a recipe? I need it. I have to make that dessert again and it has to be soon.

19. I got to play with Brucey Bruce.

20. I told him he was moving to California soon. He was ready to go...

21. Next time I post I will be back in California, probably. Unless I get really ambitious and decide to post Christmas night before we leave. But the odds of that are slim to none. I am usually up all till the wee hours of the morning packing the night before I leave on a trip. So, if I'm late on my posting next week it is because I'm somewhere in the middle of Arizona. Don't be mad.

22. Christmas is in 5 days.

23. I got to Skype with my man.

24. I know I've already said that but I did and I'm excited and it's my blog so I do what I want.

25. I finished off the chocolate out of the advent calendar tonight. I never make it all the way to Christmas.

26. We had a back up advent calendar so I also got to get us caught up on that one.

27. My stomach hurts.

28. I am going to bed. Goodnight.

Oh wait. 29. I learned to knit! You'll see plenty of pictures of that in later posts.

30. Goodnight, again.

Christmas Break Tour, 2010

I did it! I'm posting again, just like I said I would. I am so proud of myself! Scottie will be excited when he gets to see this. He loves "The Get Down". Thanks for nagging me, y'all are good friends.

In honor of posting 2 weeks in a row I decided to upload 71 pictures. I had to be thorough. It's been a busy few weeks. I decided to come home for Thanksgiving and Christmas to see my family and all my friends. Most of my friends are graduating in the near future (or yesterday) so I wanted to make it a point to get around to see them all one last time at their colleges...

My journey started in Austin visiting Katie:

In Austin (and probably anywhere else cool) the new thing is to have food places out of trailers. It's awesome! We went to this particular trailer, Gourdough's.

They serve gourmet doughnuts. The best food ever invented.

While in Austin, Katie asked me to dye her hair. She's mentally insane. Luckily, I didn't do any damage but I didn't do much good either. It looked exactly the same. If you ever need hair services my specialties are high and tight's, dying hair to an exact match of your previous hair color, and cutting shaggy college boy hair.

Katie's in a service organization called Texas Spirits. If you go to the University of Texas, you should be in it. They put on a concert for Make-A-Wish Foundation. Aren't they sweet! This is her and her friend Scroggs and her roommate Georgia at the concert.

After the concert we went to the premiere of Harry Potter. It was ok but it ain't no Twilight. We were all really excited...

One day, Katie took me to South Congress. It's a street with tons of great stores and restaurants!

On South Congress we found this painted wall. I took a picture for my hubby and you guys!

And the best part of all... my first UT football game!

They even won for me! I hear that was pretty rare this season.

AND WE WERE ON THE JUMBOTRON! Can you find us?

When they win this tower lights up orange!

And if you turn the other direction you see this.

Katie and I made butternut squash ravioli! But I had to leave before I could try it. I still don't know if it was any good. Katie?

Overall, I loved Austin. Mostly for the food. But also a little bit for Katie. Thanks for dragging me around all week and for letting me destroy your apartment!

Next stop, AggTown! College Station, Texas.

Whitney came and picked me up from Austin and took me to College Station to stay with her and her roommates. While I was there I graduated and chugged a pitcher of beer and got a class ring! Nope, that was a lie. But Whit did those things! Minus the beer, it was non-alcholic because she is a good Young Life leader.

This is Lay, Whitney, and Rylee. They are roommates and I love them.

After spending a weekend in C-Stat Whitney took me home!

Home, sweet home.

This is the pile of goodies my parents had for Scott. How great are they!? Don't worry, all that stuff is now boxed up and en route to him.

For the first time ever (well, since I can remember) my parents and I had dinner with just the 3 of us at our house. I loved it. So did my parents.

We couldn't leave the dogs out! Here is their plate.

And for dessert, Milk Bones!

Ok, new favorite day of the year. Black Friday, baby.

This is at 3:30 am the morning after Thanksgiving. We decided to go ahead and get in the spirit by borrowing some sweaters from my mom.

That's us, sprinting into Target.

Just because we came as friends does not mean we left as friends.

Off to the 50% off everything sale at GAP!

We did good.

That night, we were invited to the wedding of our sweet friend Jourdan Burks- now Johnson.

Here we are with Jourdan and her husband, Jeff Johnson.

Side note:

Have you ever tried to chug water?

You should definitely try it some time.

After Thanksgiving I headed to Tulsa, Oklahoma to visit my other side of the family!

Last year, Scott got a deer. This is it! And his cousin, Connor.

Connor's high school football team went to state! We painted his body, duh.

This is another one of Scottie's cousins, Austin. He has a broken hand.

This is Papa! Cute hats, huh?

And my sister-in-law, Danielle. She's like really pretty.

And she makes salads for me.

This is my most favorite Meema, ever. I love her because she makes me food and lets me sleep in late and stay in my jammies all day long.

Yeah, she's the Meema with the world famous spaghetti. I bet you've heard of it.

Doesn't she have a beautiful Christmas tree? If you need your tree decorated, call me. I'm good.

My sister asked me to take some pictures of her and her boyfriend, Colton. And their dog, Uttley. And her BFF/college roommate, Audrey. They're all so stinkin' cute.

Here's another shot of Meema! Isn't she gorgeous?

In Tulsa, Danielle and I got our nails done. They're festive!

Meema and Papa have a picture wall for all the grandchildren. In the past year, 3 of those grandchildren have gotten married. This section of the wall is now referred to as "the old ladies corner".

Betcha can't guess who this little cutie is. Yep! It's my stud husband. I cannot wait to have little babies that look just like this.

I love staying in Tulsa. My visits are always full of doing nothing and lots of love! Just the way I like it.

My sister drove me to Stillwater, OK. Home of Oklahoma State University, where she attends college. This also happens to be where Lauren goes to college!

Danielle and Audrey took Lauren and me to this fancy restaurant in a hotel on campus called The Ranchers Club. They had the best food. And desserts!

Then, we took cute pics.

Later that week, Lauren took me to her CRU Ball! Campus Crusade for Christ (CRU) is a Christian organization that reaches out to college students all over the world. Lauren loves it. And so do I!

This is me with Lauren and her roommates, Bailee and Christine, at CRU Ball.

Stillwater was a blast! With both Lauren and Danielle there, I don't know how I could not be. We had a busy week but a fun week. There will be more pictures posted on facebook shortly. I will include a link to them in my next post.

After spending a great week with Lauren we packed our bags and drove to Abilene, Texas to watch Sadie graduate from college!

I really am proud of you, Sades. You are like a real adult now.

I am now on the final leg of my journey. Back in Texas! And back home.

It has been a busy month of traveling but I am so glad I've gotten to do it. I've almost fulfilled my goal of visiting all of my friend's colleges. I just need to get on up to the University of North Texas to see my friend, not sister, Danielle and it will be complete. I was able to watch one of my best friends graduate! I got to spend some time in Oklahoma visiting Scott's sweet family. And now I'm ending my trip in my sweat pants, on the couch, in my parents house, vegging out for 2 weeks. I could not ask for a better way to spend my vacation.

I'll post again next week, it probably won't be as exciting. But you never know, weird things happen in this town...

Love, love.