Life Lately.

This post is really just a hodgepodge of the past month. 

Let's start with Christmas! 

This was my first Christmas away from home. However, us kids in Utah were lucky enough to have my parents come out for the holiday! It was an extremely special treat because my dad doesn't make it out to Utah very often. Having my parents in town made the transition a lot easier for me. We spent lots of time together as a family and my brother and his lovely wife welcomed a baby boy into the world on Christmas day! Talk about exciting.

 

This is the glider chair Paul got me for Christmas. After going store to store to find a big appliance box to wrap it in, he had to resort to dumpster diving at 5 in the morning! He came out successful with a broken down washing machine box. He was very sneaky about the entire thing and I was completely surprised. Baby and I will both enjoy this gift in a few months.

While hanging out with family at my sister's house, Paul got in touch with his creative side with my niece's new Christmas blocks.

 

In order to save money, Paul and I decided to forgo a Christmas tree. Our plan was to wait for all of the after Christmas sales to stock up on holiday decor. Then Grandma informed us that she had a spare tree!! So this 3' tree brought us lots of cheer. (Eventually we got a FREE 7 1/2 ft tree from Craig's list!)

Now moving on to the New Year! 

Paul and I chose to celebrate our first NYE alone. It was a relaxing evening. We drank sparkling apple cider and indulged in treats. I was so tired that I fell asleep before midnight. Reluctantly, Paul woke me up and we watched the ball drop, made a toast, drained our blue martini glasses of their sparkly goodness and hit the hay so we could make it through church the next day.

Peppermint ice cream with homemade fudge. Delicious!!

The new year brought with it another semester (My second to last one!). I am determined to do my best... which means I'm actually doing all of the reading this semester. In order to make long evenings of studying a little sweeter yet still semi-healthy, Paul and I have started making fruit smoothies.

 Mmm, berries and bananas taste better when you're studying mental health.

Taking a study break to visit a tropical paradise with pineapple and bananas!

One of my favorite things about making smoothies is using a straw to drink them... 

Yeah, I'm pretty easy to please.

Other than that we have been keeping busy. Paul works crazy hours to match my school schedule. We both have long days but it's awesome that we're usually home at the same time.

Now it's time to go study some more...