Hats Off!

We had a wonderful Christmas break! Here's a little narration through the pictures:

We packed up our apartment and moved to Colorado. The roads and traffic were so bad through the mountains it took us 12 hours. Yuck.

Fun presents

Beautiful white Christmas - delightful!

Spent lots of time reading and relaxin on the couch
Sledding expedition with the new SLR camera - Eli was a regular little photographer!

Photographer

Notice my face...don't tell me you don't get scared going down a hill the first time!

Good times with friends

Yummy food (French Raklette this night)

Lots of practicing with the new camera

Eli rode a bull - so brave

Skiing and Condoing at Winter Park

Ringin in the New Year

Happy New Year! We hope it's a great one!

Prepare to be amazed...

This is the coolest light display! The lights on this house are timed to music on a radio station broadcast from the house. I have seen emails like this but never seen it in person. It really exists!

Nuttin' for Christmas

The elementary school I'm student teaching at right now does a "Sing Around the Tree" program 4 times before Christmas. Every grade performs a couple of songs, a few teachers perform songs, and the whole school sings along to Christmas songs together. At faculty meeting a few weeks ago I signed up to be a part of this holiday activity and they assigned me to sing a solo! I decided to get my 6th graders involved, even though they were already singing two songs. I sang "Nuttin' for Christmas" and my kids posed for a picture for each line of the song earlier in the week. I made a slideshow of the pictures and then showed it on the giant screen while I sang for the whole school. Everyone loved it and now my students are famous!! It was a pretty funny slideshow...they were so creative! (Click here for a link to the words.)

There really is no place I'd rather be during the holidays than in an elementary school. Tomorrow I'm planning a Polar Express day and we're going to watch the movie with blankets, pillows, hot chocolate, and donuts, AND do lot's of fun Polar Expressy activities that I have yet to plan. (The students were mad that the school didn't allow them to watch the Grinch or Elf so I am trying to make it as fun as possible for them to watch the Polar Express). We're also doing a service chain. My students wanted to make a Christmas chain (you know, like the one you make in kindergarten) so I decided to do something good with it. Everytime a student does an act of service for another student or to help in the class, they can take a link off the chain. They briefly write what they did on the chain and then put it on a service poster. When the chain is done, there is a bag of candy at the end that I'll cut open like a pinata! Thanks momma for the fun idea - the students are starting to catch on. I love seeing them serve each other! Anyways, here are some of the pictures of my awesome students...

Iraq and us

I like these pictures of Andy in Iraq. Thank goodness for Skype - we are able to chat with him weekly through the internet. Love modern technology. There's nothing like 9 Archer's chatting through the computer though we are states and countries apart.







He's in a city called Kirkuk in Northern Iraq. His job is to "find the bad guys," as he puts it. He questions people and searches villages for any signs of insurgent activity, while trying to avoid roadside bombs.

Eli as a mad scientist. Can you guess WHO I am??? (Cindy Lou WHO!)

One more week of undergraduate education...YESSSSSSS!!! We are PSYCHED!

A visiting we go...

Within the last month we have spent time in Rexburg, Mesa, and Tucson.

Eli's mom lives in Mesa so we spent Thanksgiving there before heading down to Tucson to see Eli's dad. A snow storm hit Utah the day we left so we were excited to experience the wonderful Arizona weather.

Family picture with us, Ali, Risa and Rob, Ari and Christian

Climbing windmills in an orange orchard. My awesome friend, Aubrey, joined us for the night. (my roommate in China)

Museum for Youth - fun activities for kids! Eli and I both loved it...

This horse is named Goliath - appropriate I'd say.

One of my best friends, Lindsay, lives in Rexburg, so Eli and I headed up to BYU Idaho to spend time with her and her boyfriend, Chris. Eli loved the family history aspect of the trip (we visited some graves of his ancestors and went to the house his grandma lived in). I, of course, loved all the chatting time I got with Lindsay. I love her!

Mesa Falls

Arza Hinckley - Eli's great great great grandpa

The Hard Hat (fun restaurant with construction signs all over - they served the best scones in place or bread or chips - yummers!)
Sign on a construction site at BYU-I - ended up being an awesome picture opportunity

I loved this statue outside of the library - so darn cute!

Eli caught this pic of the lovebirds

We loved our weekend in Rexburg, Idaho!

Boogyin' Elf Stlye

Eli and I have been practicing a dance for our Christmas party! Check it out:

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1185302088

Sisters

I love having my sisters here in Provo. Even though I'm the odd one out since I'm married, it's still fun to get together for weekly dinners and chats. I've been with all 5 of my siblings all throughout college so it's going to be a sad day when Eli and I move somewhere on the other side of the country and don't get to see them anymore. Aly is living up the freshman life and Kristie is diving into her major. It's fun to see them build a life of their own away from home but still rely on their family! Loves loves loves to my sistas!