TEXAS!

I got back last week from visiting my family in Texas! Jake stayed home in Utah to study for the MCAT so it was just me and June. It was so fun to visit because both my sisters were there and so was my mom! It was a whole family affair, which is rare now!

Lisette drove in from Kansas (yay!) and Amanda was in Dallas working. My mom made a "work trip" while we were there so we all got some good quality time together. Most of our days were spent just hanging out, eating mexican food, and catching up. You can never have too much tex-mex when you're there, because Utah doesn't have anything quite like Anamia's or Torchy's!

It was also really fun to see my sister Amanda because she's about to leave on a 9 month mission trip and won't see June until she's OVER A YEAR OLD and both me and lisette will be graduated from college - WHAAATT. So it was really sweet to be able to hang out with her for a little while.

I also got to catch up with two old middle school and high school friends, Abby and Brooke. They also have babies now around the same age so it was fun to meet up with them and chat about motherhood and our different experiences!

Plus it's always fun to see babies with other babies. How they interact at such a young age is so cute . . . Abby's baby Logan and June are only 9 days apart so they pretty much were staring at each other and touching each other's faces. But Brooke's baby is about 2 months younger than June so she looked like a monster compared to her! They were both laying on a blanket and June kept using Blakely's arm as a pulling system to get closer to her. She kept grabbing at her face and trying to chew on her binky clip. It was so funny but obnoxious at the same time. It will be so fun to visit them again then our kids can actually play together.

And now we're back in the real world. Ive started school, with some help from my AMAZING friends who are able to watch June during most of my classes, and we're just trying to finish up this school year (lol it's literally the first day) without dying. Wish me luck. And PLEASE BE GOOD JUNE.

Christmas in Coppell

We spent Christmas in Coppell with my family and it was really fun to see everyone, especially my sisters! We were able to fly standby (Thanks Aunt Beth) and it went over pretty well in regards to getting on flights quickly and we were happy to be in Texas! It rained for the first day or two that we were there, but the weather was at LEAST 30 degrees warmer than Utah!

Leading up to Christmas, we were hanging out with the McDades, and visiting some other people I hadn't seen in a while. We went to Torchy's Tacos and Anamia's of course. But mostly we were doing puzzles (like 4 500-piece puzzles), watching Christmas movies, and enjoying each other's company. It was nice to slow down for a little bit and relax.

We also got to go to the Dallas Stars game and Jake LOVED IT! He is now a hockey fan, and Miranda and Marla even got us the cutest 2T jersey for our baby. The game seriously was so fun and it was even better that we won. For medical school, we're definitely looking at cities that have hockey teams. :)

We were staying at Beth and Bob's house which was awesome because each night we got to go home and just be by ourselves! Nearing the end of our stay in Coppell, I felt like we were going back to Utah too early, but I didn't really want to stay in Texas for much longer. I asked Aunt Beth if she could list us on a flight to Cincinnati and she said YES! It didn't end up being that much more expensive, either, which was awesome. I planned on surprising Jake while we were at the airport (and I wish I would've been patient enough...) but I couldn't keep it in! I told him the next day after she listed us on the flight. Tracey had been posting pictures and videos of the family chopping down trees, of the sheep, and awesome fires . . . everything going on at the farm seemed too fun to miss out on. Tracey was in on the plan and off we went!!

Jake was super excited to see his brothers. We had a really fun trip, but it WAS FREEZING. Holy cow it was cold. It was like you couldn't go outside unless you were wearing a full on Carhartt suit, a hat, gloves, etc. It. Was. Freezing. The creek had actually frozen over and we played a little creek hockey . . .

We ended up doing many of the same things at the farm we did in Texas like playing board games and hanging out with family, but it was fun just to be able to see everyone in the holiday season. It was crazy because for both families we were like, next time we see you, we'll be parents!!!

It was a super fun Christmas. I love our families!

The Time I Went To Texas (Without Jake)

The "Without Jake" part was not my choice, if that's what you're thinking. My mom pretty much required me to come home one weekend during this semester so we could go through some pictures for our wedding slideshow as well as sort through old clothes and journals and things like that. On Halloween night, Jake and I went bowling and I said, "If I beat you, you have to fly to Texas with me." He said he would. I ended up losing 143-137. Besides a pretty good game, he still wasn't coming with!

My family and I went out to dinner Thursday night when I got in. It was fun to see everyone and catch up. Luckily there weren't too many wedding questions without my mediator there! Haha. That night, I got to see Olivia. We caught up a little bit and then of course went to go get Slurpees. It was so good to see her; she's been the biggest help thus far for planning the wedding and I'm so glad she's able to go! Everyone needs an Olivia in their life.