Finals week

We've finally finished with school! Just the semester but it's still just so nice to say those words. 

To celebrate the end of finals we threw an Ugly Sweater Party combined with a going away party for some of our friends in the ward. We ended up waiting literally till the last minute to work on our sweaters and the hot glue was barely dry when our first guests showed up!

I didn't have enough colors but it's supposed to be
alien cats setting presents on fire with their laser eyes.
Ugly sweater it is.  

Just after our last guest left we started cleaning up when we heard a strange sound like water running. Our first thought was the washer so we went into the laundry room, but nothing. Then it got even louder so Kellan started upstairs when I suddenly started seeing steam billowing out from under the sink!

The pipe had come undone because the line was too short & hot water was pouring out like a geyser! Kellan burned himself shutting it off but luckily we'd caught it fast enough that only the kitchen had flooded. While it definitely wasn't wanted, we were so lucky it happened while we were in the kitchen and before we left for two weeks. That would have flooded our whole lower floor & been an absolute disaster! 

The next morning we picked up Paige from her cousin's & headed up to Salt Lake to catch the train. We spent the day with Camillia & Jeff while we waited for the train by playing games. We ended up playing one too many rounds of Killer Uno & showed up late to the train station. I tried to keep it positive thinking that our baggage could still get on the same train as us, but sadly we found out our bags wouldn't make it & they would be on the next train out. It was pretty frustrating but everything turned out okay in the end. 

Riding the train is always an interesting experience but it's nice to be able to sit back & relax. California or bust! 

Worth it

This week was INSANE! But we got so much done so it was kind of worth it.

Monday we woke up bright and early and I convinced Kellan to skip his afternoon classes with me so we could travel up to Salt Lake and go Christmas shopping! I'm a horrible influence but I don't regret it one bit. We went down to MacBeath's to pick up some hardwood and were floored with all the fun and exotic woods they had to offer. Did you know there is purple wood?! PURPLE WOOD! Sorry I'm shouting, but it's a big deal.

We're planning on making some people some pretty cool presents this year. 

Oh, & after I bemoaned about how we had zero Christmas decorations up we drove all around town looking for the perfect Christmas tree. I know I've mentioned how picky Kellan is about his trees, but this year it was ridiculous. We literally went to five different lots before I told him if he didn't just buy a tree I was going to kill him. FIVE lots people. It just boggles my mind. But in his defense it was also partially because a few places were just crazy overpriced so I guess there's that. 

This place was the priciest and didn't have the tree he wanted, but it did have the best food trucks right outside the lot & I was so excited for the Art City Donut truck that I've been searching for for months, but we were too early and they didn't have anything ready. It was really sad. Kellan had made us go super early so we'd beat the rush (not that it ended up helping too much) & I ended up missing my donut opportunity. That's what you get for being early, lesson learned. 

Here he is with the winner. We also took home a bunch of the trimmings and Kellan made us a Christmas wreath! It's huge and it looks so good!

It was like 11 o'clock but we were too excited to wait to hang it up

And while Kellan worked on his wreath, we watched Christmas movies and I decked out the tree and the rest of the house with Christmas cheer. We still need a tree topper but we love our little tree and I'll admit, driving around was worth it. 

Then the next day we had to wake up SUPER early to get Kellan to his appointment with the podiatrist. He ended up getting another x-ray and found out he has "turf toe" which is funny seeing how sedentary we are, but he got a very large shot in his toe and it seems to be doing much better now. Though he does have a pretty yucky bruise from the doctor wiggling the needle around in there. 

Warning, graphic images next. 

All about feet

This week has done me in. I know I keep saying that every week, but I feel like things just continue to get busier and busier as the end of the semester approaches & with the slew of holidays. In fact, we've been terrible at decorating for said holidays. I got our Halloween wreath & decorations up literally the day before Halloween & I never really put up any Thanksgiving stuff even though it's basically my favorite & sad truth, we're still rockin' the Halloween wreath look on our front door. It's pretty pitiful folks.

In fact, the only Christmasy things we have out around here are some wrapping paper we picked up and a sweet Christmas package from Kellan's sister Leigh-Ann. She's so on the ball and adorable it makes me sick, but I absolutely love it! ...I feel like we have a really weird dynamic, but she already knows I'd kill for her legs & still talks to me so I guess we're okay.

It hasn't felt especially like Christmas around these parts not just because of the lack of wintery decor but also because of the weather. It hasn't snowed once in December and Kellan is just devastated about it. And while I'm no big proponent of snow I will admit it does kind of not seem like Christmas without it here in Utah. But I have been really enjoying the lovely cool weather we've been having & it even rained for us on Wednesday and it was perfect. So I busted out my wellies and jumped in a few very shallow puddles as I walked from class to class. School takes the fun out of everything.

But while I've got you thinking about feet, nice transition huh, Kellan's feet were of far more interest this week. His foot has been bothering him for a few months, since summer in fact, and it seemed to get worse after dirt biking. He's been favoring it and walking around with a funny limp so I convinced him it was time to go get it checked out by some real doctors.

We stopped into the health clinic and got a few x-rays done and then waited around staring at his foot for almost an hour. It was a nice little refresher on our anatomy course but we had someplace to be so we finally got up and told the receptionist we were going to have to leave. Turned out the x-ray technician hadn't told the doctor we were done so we'd been waiting for absolutely no reason. It was a little bit annoying.

Anyways, the x-rays weren't very conclusive so we've got another appointment setup for this week to meet with the podiatrist and hopefully we'll get this all cleared up soon.  In the mean time he's been bumming it around campus in house slippers like he owns the place. It's pretty hilarious.

He refuses to cooperate with me when I take pictures
& always makes strained smiles and pulls a funny stance.
Weirdo. 

After the clinic, we picked up my cousin and met up with his family to celebrate my cousin Monica's birthday. It was so much fun and a great little break from school and things. 

We'd thought about going up to Temple Square to see the lights, but ended up having dinner with some friends instead, but all in all it was a pretty uneventful weekend which was just what the doctor ordered after such a busy week of school. 

A stuffed Thanksgiving week

Monday evening we went to an Arabic dinner, hosted by the Arabic Club at school, that we were invited to by one of Kellan's friends who is the president or vice president of the group. We'd never experienced any Arabic culture before so we were pretty excited. It ended up being fun and informative and though I didn't love the falafels, we did both really like the pastries they had.

Tuesday was our last day of school for the week but unfortunately none of our classes were canceled so we spent the day on campus dreaming about our upcoming vacation and all the relaxation we would have, but boy were we wrong.

Wednesday Kellan spent the whole day holed up in our room working on a paper for Genomics, and only came out once for a quick lunch. It was crazy, but I didn't have too much time to think about it because my sister and I were busy in the kitchen prepping for Thanksgiving dinner. True to form, we cooked way too much and my older brother Hiram showed up Wednesday with enough strawberry creme filling for 8 pies! We're habitual over cookers, it just runs in the family.

But after Kellan finished his paper we got ready and headed down to the Strip to pick up some cookies for Sarah Elaine. It was Kellan's first time so we decided to make a date out of it and wandered around the Venetian watching the gondolas row by and tried out some of the shortbread cookies from the Honolulu Cookie Company. We weren't terribly impressed and the pineapple ones reminded me a lot of the Taiwanese pineapple cakes I'd made on my trip to the factory years ago.

Then we wandered out onto Las Vegas Boulevard and headed down towards the Mirage. I didn't even know they had a street attraction so we were both surprised by the erupting volcano and stuck around to watch the show.

Then we continued on our mile long trek to the Bellagio to see the fountains and I remembered just how much I disliked the strip and why I never really came down there. But after a million guys with disgusting cards and a thousand asians, we found ourselves at the lake front just in time for Celine Dion to belt out her Titanic love song.

It was magical.

Like straight out of Ocean's 11.

I even had my own Brad Pitt with me. 

After that we stopped by Serendipity's for a quick rest and some light refreshments where we basically acted like little hoodlums. 

& that did it for our Vegas Strip adventures. We returned home tired and smelly and vowed never to go back. 

Thursday was the big day. We woke bright and early and started on our final preparations for dinner. Then we feasted with our family, and extended family, and new random people I'd never met, and celebrated our many blessings and Jim's 82nd birthday!!

Some of Jim's children and grandkids came over later that night for cake and ice cream and we ended up playing Just Dance together. It was lots of fun. & we went to bed full and happy. 

Friday morning the boys woke early to go dirt biking & I found out a good family friend, and Micah's best man, was getting baptized the next day! So after a little talking, we decided we would plan and throw a little reception after the baptism to celebrate this big occasion. They boys also decked out mom's house with some Christmas lights and Kellan was ecstatic that Christmas could finally begin. 

Saturday the boys again woke early and went skeet shooting with Hiram where Kellan & John hit two clay pigeons with one shot! Unfortunately this was before they pulled out the camera and after they did no one shot as well. Then they came back and proceeded to go out paint balling! Yeah they just kept moving on from one thing to another. But it was fine because it gave us girls some time to go and do a little Christmas shopping. 

Then we came back home and headed out to Kevin's baptism which was absolutely perfect and such a happy moment. 

The drive back was also very eventful in the fact that it lasted forever! Everyone was trying to get back to Utah and the roads were so busy. 

It was so much fun to be surrounded with family for the holiday, but we are so grateful to be home. 

Brain Dead

This week has been beyond crazy. Like eating out 6 times this week crazy and exams for every single class crazy. But amidst all the insanity we still had some fun together.

Honestly though it's been so busy the whole week has gone by in a blur and I don't even know what's happened except for a few small highlights, so apologies if this post is super jumpy and spastic but that's why. My brain is just straight up fried.

Monday when we woke up Kellan said he wasn't feeling very good and his back was causing him a lot of pain so being the good wife that I am, I volunteered to stay home with him and nurse him back to health. We used the time to watch a little Arrow and catch up on school work and studying for exams. We've seriously had exams up the wazoo lately and projects galore so taking a little break Monday morning was just what we needed to survive this crazy week.

Last week when we were out shopping with Paige I'd spotted a fantastic pair of boots I fell in love with, hard, but trying to be frugal I declined when Kellan suggested getting them; a selfless gesture I regretted almost as soon as we left the store. But my sweet husband knows me all too well and got them anyways [at an even better deal I might add] & I've been giddy about them ever since they showed up so I had to snap a pic of them while crunching around in the leaves. Crispy leaves really are the best.