Oui, allo? Bonjour!

Do you hear that? France is calling . . .

I'll keep you posted.

Brian Regan

Is just the funniest guy ever.

Megan is so great and got us all tickets to Brian Regan for Christmas.

How great is she.

We started off the night with much debate, but finally ended up at the second best Mexican restaurant in SL, the blue Iguana. Sorry, Red Iguana, have to catch you next time.

Does this picture look like it was cut in half? picture frame + Megan's hair did that, I guess.

I'm pretty sure I could eat chicken fajitas for every meal, every day. And thank goodness for my newfound love of sour cream and guacamole.

Our seats were up on the balcony, dead center.

So. Yeah. We laughed really hard. I especially liked the marching band jokes, the dancing jokes, and him saying, "I don't want to be here!!!!" about being at social gatherings. He totally gets us.

I think we'll be there the next time he comes into town.

btw

Did I mention that I'm never going on another date, ever? No? Okay. Well I'm never going on another date, ever. Unless, of course, by "date," you mean pick me up, buy me dinner, take me home, I eat alone and go to bed. In that case, yes, I'd be happy to go.

Saturday is a special day

What better way to spend a Saturday morning than waking up at 5:40 am for Lu'au practice? I ask you.

But seriously. This week was the second practice, and let's just say that waking up that early when you're sick is not fun. Oh yeah, did I mention that I was sick? Because I am. Apparently doing no homework + stressing out for five hours at work every day + the weather changing by 2 degrees = me getting sick. Maybe I should stop working so hard... One day I'll start doing my homework.

So I called the Mautzes this week to see when it would be okay for me to come visit them. It was so funny because Elder Mautz was like, "May is wide open!" And then I heard Sister Mautz in the background, "May is NOT wide open!" An elder from our mission is getting married in the middle of May in the Nauvoo temple (he's from Ohio... Iowa? One of those), and the Mautzes are going over to represent. They were like, "just fly in a day earlier and come with us!" So my two-week trip to DC just became a one-week trip to Nauvoo and a one-week trip to DC. I think I'm okay with that! I'm really excited to get to see new places this summer and spend time with some of my very favorite people. I'm also going to see how many new temples I can go to! Exciting. I'll at least have these two:

Let's see. Other than that, I'm excited about this new student journal. If I can just make it to all the meetings (it conflicts with my work schedule), I think it'll be a cool experience, since we're kind of starting from scratch here.

I'm currently in between Lu'au practices (Fiji is from 6-8, New Zealand from 10-12), and I really should be doing some homework. Or sleeping. Or working on my Relief Society lesson for tomorrow. Or doing anything productive besides looking up endless combinations of flights for later on in the summer. But alas.

New new new year.

So. Christmas break is officially over. But it sure was great. We had a great Christmas at home, including a delicious brunch, church with the whole family, and some good quality time together.

Lisa & Logan:

Dad & Lucas:

Gavin & Megan:

We started this great new tradition of spraying each other with silly string at midnight (okay, to be honest, it was more like 12:02 because we had to finish up our scattergories lists). We all loved it, can't you tell? :)

Lisa had her baby!!! Paisley Sue. She is so precious. The three of us slept over at Lisa's house the night before, then got up with the kids, teamed up to clean the house, got everyone ready, and then waited ALL day for her to come. Lisa had my friend Linnea come to capture the event. We are obsessed with the pictures. Go here to see her "Birth Story."

So it is officially a new year. I can't believe how fast the year went by. Once again, my life has not gone according to plans, but I guess it's still going according to the Lord's plans (I hope :| ), so all is well after all.

What was great about 2011:

• Starting back at BYU, adding a double major, and making new friends.
• Participating in the Lu'au. Taking a polynesian dance class with Laurel.
• Going to the festival of colors and thereby finally fitting in in Provo.
• Working at the MTC and getting to work with so many wonderful, wonderful senior couples.
• Mission reunions, big and small.
• Going to Senegal and having such an amazing experience learning about and experiencing the culture, meeting new people, and making new friends.
• Going to Oregon and Washington with Megan and Gavin.
• My bike + the Provo River Trail.
• Getting a job at Nu Skin and being spoiled by them.
• Getting 18 A's and only 2 A-'s.
• Getting back to not only pre-mission weight, but to pre-high school weight.
• Becoming an aunt for the seventh time.
• Realizing for the million-and-tenth time that the Lord really knows what He's doing with my life.

Things to look forward to in 2012:

• January=Brian Regan. Megan got us tickets for Christmas!
• Lu'au practices every Saturday! I signed up for the Fiji section this year, and I hope that I'll have enough time to do New Zealand as well because I just loved doing it last year.
• What's shaping up to be an awesome winter semester. Today was the first day and I just kept thinking, "I love English. I love etymology. Basically I just love words. I love editing. I love France. I love French. I love Professor Lee and that Laurel and Jacqueline are in my class. I love that I'm in the same classroom as last semester again with Michael, who is hysterical. I love seeing all of my girl friends who got engaged over the break. I love that I have two classes with my friend Jenny. I even love doing my homework." I am a freaking nerd on the first day of school.
• Editing for a new student journal. They're starting this women's something journal... Obviously I'm not quite informed about the specifics yet.
• Hopefully taking a little trip over to our nation's capital to visit a certain wonderful couple that lives too far away.
• WICKED! in July with all the girls.
• Finally going to Europe with Megan. Hello France, baguettes, cheese, French; Italy, pizza, gelato; Greece, vespas; Prague: castles?, etc., etc., etc.
• Weddings, weddings, and more weddings. (Probably not my own, however... on verra!)
• Being a quarter of a century old. Apparently it's great.
• Figuring out what exactly I should be doing with my life. Good luck.

Hope that you have a great 2012!! :D