so far...

ten things i have learned so far:


1. europeans still text and drive! i saw a guy driving a van, definitely not paying attention, while texting. AND driving on the wrong side of the road!


2. i think european people aren't so friendly most of the time. i said hello to this guy tonight and he looked at me like i was the weirdest person on the earth. 


3. i wish i could wear leggings and a t-shirt more. 


four. i love the gym. i am missing it right now. i have hardly ever seen people running here, unless they are american. 


5. i love the US more and more each day! i feel comfortable in the culture and i feel at home. 


6. europeans are mostly weird. 


siete. all of my electronic appliances are traveling the world with me! 


8. i like that i have only talked to people in my family at the most for 10 minutes. (minus skype last night with the cutie kids). not. i don't like that! 


9. i like my home. at home. 


ten. i am a visual learner and i love sightseeing and learning at the same time!


remember when i skyped with my niece:

and my nephew:

and they made up pretend sandwiches and donuts and other goodies and i pretend ate it through the skype cam? haha. i am the coolest aunt! 

oh the days.

here's the pics i am finally posting from last month or so. lots and lots of family time, but i totally loved it. 
i don't know why the pictures are blurry, but when you click on them, they look a ton better. 

love this girl.

austin was "reading" to us.

look at that little crumb.

perfect pose, harlee.

andrew and austin on a scooter ride.

austin loved the ipad.

kay-raw-tay (karate).

i love my family. we had so much fun together! we won't see those cuties until august when adam is home. can't nebraska be closer? dang. 

another day!

many new pictures to come. but as of now, we have a houseful of people. and it's a good houseful at that! tim and becky decided to surprise us and show up at our house on wednesday! none of us had any idea they were coming. there is a big family wedding tomorrow (saturday), andrew's senior day baseball game, and of course mother's day on sunday (involving a phone call with adam in africa!). perfect timing. i was completely surprised when i pulled into my house, saw tim's truck, and went inside to my sister-in-law, becky, tim, and my dearly missed kids! after some tears, i am so happy they are here! 


here's the cuties playing with their papa:

we are in for a crazy day tomorrow. the majority of the law family is in town for my cousin's wedding. i think the steps at the salt lake temple are going to be filled with lots of law's! it will be a cluster that's for sure. we had our own section at the baseball game. i wonder what the people around us were thinking, haha. maybe i don't wanna know... 

i made some homemade cinnamon rolls last week. half wheat flower too, they were pretty tasty! 

not the best picture, but rolls in action!

gorgeous taylor.

for some reason, adding pictures to this thing is not easy. one goes to the left, one to the right. and i can't seem to get two pictures to be right next to each other. maybe i'm not doing it right, but it doesn't work. tips are awesome.

what a great few days it's been. still got lots of ideas blowing through my head, but overall, it's been pretty great i think. 

and loving this sunny weather!

christmas time is here.

Christmas is here. One of my favorite times of the year that's for sure. I love this holiday so much. I love to be with my family and see all the people I love. this past week brings a big change for me. it is time for a new beginning and a fresh start. i hope i can do the best i can and make some positive changes in my own personal life. i am excited for the new year, i hope to take advantage of the one and only "new year's resolutions".  


As of recent.. our bestest friend, Andrew's best friend, Dan, was called to Columbia on a mission. Here's a picture of our family with him the night before he left. Best of luck to Elder Maughan, we sure miss him!! 

here are some of my most favorite christmas decorations we have at our house. we are getting excited for austin and addy to come. i can't wait to see my kiddies. 

merry christmas. another year come and gone. and the last christmas adam will be gone! 


oh. and. i made some of my cute flowers for my first wedding. they turned out so cute. 

gil.

we had a fun week. tim and becky and austin and addy came to visit! it was so much fun. friday was the alumni golf tournament for BYU baseball. there was an alumni game later that night that we all went to. it was 14 innings long.. that was a little long for me, but it was tons of fun! the kiddies enjoyed that. 

addy doesn't like to smile at the camera. 

 austin is the entertainer. 

we went to the football game the next day and had fun there. here are some pictures of my cuties at the game!! 

 austin loved the binoculars. 

 austin and papa vinny. 

next.. to the sad part. my fish, Gil, came up with a mysterious and onset disease called dropsy. i went home to my parents house on monday and looked at him. he did NOT look well. he was extremely puffy under his cheek area and his scales were pointing out like a pinecone. i looked online and thought it might be dropsy, but i have never diagnosed a fish before.. so i didn't know! i called petsmart and the lady told me it was dropsy after i explained his symptoms. she told me they had a powder that i could put in the water that might help him, but i would have to take my 2 african dwarf frogs out. i hurriedly drove up to petsmart to get the curing powder. this is what Gil looked like, definitely not well. 

i divided the powder up to be proportionate to his tank and hoped it would work. i had to leave and we all went to dinner. everyone thought i was crazy when i said he was sick.. but he really was! we got home from dinner and hokulia shave ice (best shave ice i've ever had!). I told andrew that he was not well.. and to check him out. andrew took one look, and right before our eyes, Gil took his last breath and was so puffy, he flipped right on his back and was swimming upside down. i thought maybe he just couldn't swim, but we slowly saw his gils stop moving and he slowly floated to the bottom of the tank. now how many people do you know that have seen their fish die right before their eyes?? it was sad, i won't lie. i had to fish him out of the bottom.. and sent him to his grave. rest in peace, Gil. 

sleepy day.

today. was a great day. i got to sleep in, which i have needed to catch up on some much needed sleep! i slept at my apartment, but woke up and went to my parents house. last night my mom told me that "tomorrow (Saturday) was going to be a car washing day." so.. that's what i did. may i say, my mazda is looking nice nice. washed, waxed, and vacuumed!! andrew told me all about his adventures of the bunny blasting adventures he had last night. what a guy, this is why i love him!!

we had some fun times this summer, here are a few pictures of things we did together. 

san diego for the MWC tournament watching BYU baseball play. 

beach in san diego.

ghirardelli ice cream in downtown san diego.

a trip north to the rainbow sandal outlet store that left us in hours of traffic due to a rolled semi and closed freeways!

stuck in anaheim, CA, walking around downtown Disney.

buffet in Vegas before the "O"show, which was amazing!

he is a studly guy, so cute, and only deserves the best! whoever marries him is a lucky gal.
me and papa v watched the cougar game. my poor cougs! we need a win, this next weekend hopefully.
and........ only a few more days before these munchkins come to see me!!!!

I can't wait!! my little addy is walking now and austin is crazy as ever.