christmas letter...

i stole this idea from my former roommate, lindsay. she didn't send out one of those xmas letter updates...she just blogged it.

a good idea, i thought. so here it goes...

january- when the year began, it was just another semester in the 69th ward...living in the ybh, teaching, talking with shannon for hours in her little basement room. i got called to be part of the publicity council...so did brandon. little did we know...

february- all of a sudden i was dating like crazy. it was weird. i was never one of those girls who had a million boys lined up...or any at all, for that matter...but several guys i had known for awhile started asking me out over the next couple of months--including brandon. he smooched me on the 15th :) however, i was more concerned about getting my temple recommend and receiving my endowment (i turned 24 on the 22nd!), thus causing brandon some "emotional awkwardness" as he likes to call it.

march- i got endowed on march 1st. best decision i could have made. i was so glad to have my parents and dear friend jennie bingham there with me.

april- oh my gosh. this last april included 9 of the best days of my life. i went on a caribbean cruise with my teacher friends. every day i was just so grateful, frequently exclaiming, "look where we are!" seriously, i spent the entire trip with a prayer in my heart...so happy that i was where i was, seeing what i was seeing... it was PERFECT. i wish every spring break could be that good. the spring also brought new roomies. living with shan, linds, and the lowder girls = good times!

may- the beginning of the month brought about cold feet that led to rekindling things with brandon...and once we got things figured out, it just worked. :) plus, i finished my second year of teaching on the last day of the month. i was a pretty happy camper.

june- brought with it wedding bells...i took brandon home to meet the fam, bran took me ring shopping, shannon and i went dress shopping, and on june 20th i got engaged! (miracles do occur people. i thought i would be single forever, but look at me now. haha.) i spent my days enjoying my work-free life of leisure and my nights enjoying time with my fiance.

july- brandon and i flew to california so i could meet his fam. we had a blast in san francisco and at monterey bay.

august- chris and karalee came for a visit, so i finally got to meet little granty-pants. shannon and lindsay threw me a wonderful bridal shower just before i started my 3rd year of teaching art at pghs. i started teaching a new painting class, too. it was so bittersweet to move out of the yellow brick house once our contracts ended. i loved my little blue room. it was especially hard since shan moved to AZ. i was slightly homeless...i stayed in my teacher friend sari's guest room for seven weeks, while brandon lived in our condo. sari is a life saver!

september- i got sooooooooo sick of the back and forth between pg and provo. i can't even tell you. but i was so excited to send out announcements, take bridal photos, and talk wedding, wedding, wedding with everyone! i kept a countdown on my whiteboard at school.

october- what happened in october? fall leaves, nice weather, halloween... oh yeah... i got MARRIED! and it was nice weather everyday in october except for the weekend of my wedding, but it was perfect nonetheless. brandon and i were sealed and enjoyed a lovely, warm, san diego honeymoon. coming back to work was a beast. :)

november- we spent a lot of time getting settled in our new place and looking forward to the thanksgiving break. we spent the holiday up in idaho falls with my crazy family. dinner was soooooo good. as were the next-day turkey sandwiches. anyway, november was busy... i worked on decorating the house, planning our christmas decor, and dealt with my antsy students.

december- the 3 weeks between thanksgiving and christmas break have been a blur. we shopped for angel tree, worked on making friends in the ward, made plans for our first christmas, and i worked and worked and worked on those drawings... today is my last day of school until the new year. i'm so excited to make treats, decorate a gingerbread house, and sleep in!!!