He's There, The Phantom of the Opera!

So, it's been a while! Long enough that I couldn't remember how to create a new post. :) Tonight we went and saw The Phantom at BYU. I had heard so many great things and, let me tell you, it did NOT disappoint! The stage looked awesome, the singing gave me goosebumps, the acting was great, and the dancing was beautiful! All around, it was outstanding. I realized how long it had been since I had been to a play and how much I missed it. It was so fun to escape a little bit of our crazy lives right now with school and work and just go lose ourselves in the story.

In other news, school and work are back in full swing. Rusty and I are both keeping very busy with everything that we're trying to juggle, but still trying to find time to have fun and breathe. Rusty is taking 17 credits, working 20 hours, fixing up the house, and taking his real estate classes so he can get his license. I don't know how he does it all, but he sure is my hero. I'm taking 15 credits and working 15-20 hours a week, but somehow he manages to handle it all better than I do :) The weather here in Provo has been absolutely FREEZING! I really don't remember it ever being this cold for this long, or the snow sticking around as long as it has for the past few weeks. We get really excited when it's in the TEENS! And then, there was the Ice Storm of 2013 (I know that sounds dramatic but people will refer to it like this one day, I know it!!) We woke up and literally everything was covered in ice. Walking to campus was the funniest thing I've ever done. I saw so many people sliding all over the place and walking crouched over. There were even kids ice skating by the Marriott Center.

Well, that's all for now. I have a lot of catching up to do on this ol' thing, but not tonight. It's late, and my warm bed and sweet hubs are calling my name :)

Tis the Season!

Christmas break! The best time of the year. Holiday festivities, lights, laughing, smiles, nativities, no classes/work/homework, presents, trees, family, hot cocoa, dips of all kinds, and yes, The Cajun Night Before Christmas. For those of you who don't know about this gem, I highly encourage you to check it out. It has been a family tradition for as long as I can remember, and listening to my dad read it is a must-do for Christmas.

Ok but seriously, Christmas break was awesome this year. Rusty and I spent a few days here working on the house and making some MAJOR progress! It was like the best day ever when we finally put the second coat of paint in the bathroom. Our place is starting to look like an actual apartment!

Texturing the ceiling. TONS of work. Awful idea.

Notes and pictures on the posts we used to build the new wall. 

We also did some other fun things before we left!

We set up our Christmas tree and wrapped some of our presents to put under it! I love this whole season. Rusty's mom gave us his ornaments from when he was little so it was tons of fun to decorate the tree this year because I got to look through all of his pictures and beautiful crafts that he made out of dog treats and glue.

We walked around City Creek and the Riverwoods. Great places to get you in the spirit of Christmas!

And, last but not least, I got to see Rusty all dressed up fancy for a party.

After we did some work on the house, we drove to Boise to spend time with my family. And I get to see this every year at Christmas time. It is one of my most favorite sights in the whole world.

Something else super fun happened during the break. My dad, Rusty and I all decided to go snowmobiling with some friends of my dad's from church. We drove a couple of hours to this really great spot, unloaded everything, and got ready to go. After about ten minutes, my snowmobile caught on fire. True story.

 Apparently the break was stuck on, which made a whole lot of sense because I was going so slow haha. It also started to smell funny but everyone was stopped just a few yards away so I figured I would get there and then ask about it. That was a bad idea, because before I could get there I looked down and saw flames coming up out of the hood. I stopped it and jumped off and started yelling that it was on fire! Pretty soon everyone was over there throwing snow on it, and when Rusty lifted the hood the whole thing was on fire! Yeah, pretty nuts. Luckily my dad brought 4 sleds for the day, so we just switched them out :) Really sorry about that Dad.

 My dad and me. Idaho is a beautiful place!!

So the last thing that we did before going to Idaho Falls for New Years was go to the Aquarium. Yes, Boise, ID is now the new proud owners of an aquarium. And despite what you might think, it was actually pretty cool. Lots of interaction with the sea critters. And a big snake. Her name was Banana. 

New Years we went to Idaho Falls to visit my sister and her family. We played games, danced, and ate some more. A great end to 2012 and a perfect way to start out 2013!