“family is the most important thing in the world.” – princess diana

ok this one is for you, brigham.
actually, it’s just so you won’t pester me to update this dang thing.

so tayte and i made it through finals.
we’ve gotten our grades back, and tayte did really well.
i did too, don’t worry. (and by really well, i mean i don’t have to retake any of the classes i was worried about)
i’m not quite ready for this new semester to start, mainly because i kind of like not having homework or anything school-related to worry about.
but it will be a good semester.
this will be tayte’s last semester as an undergrad, and i’ll just be one semester closer to being done!
i just hope those upper-level math classes don’t kill me before i can finish…

we went to arizona for christmas.
in a nutshell, here’s what our break looked like (not necessarily in chronological order):
shopping
babysitting
christmas present wrapping
bribing the children to like us
lots of christmas goodie eating
late night psych watching
gingerbread house decorating
family time
bahama bucks (obviously)
laughter
adult white elephant gift exchange (aka extreme laughter)
miss kelsey farr’s reception…now mrs. kelsey cook
christmas lights at the temple
acting out the nativity with the johnsons (tayte was balthazar, the black wise man, i was an angel, and baby Jesus got carried off by a big baby (aka annie))
lunch date with miss rylee carling and mr. peter fillerup, which included a trip to see the gilbert temple
lots of top-of-the-lungs singing in the car (by tayte and i, obvs), sometimes with the roof down

here are a couple stories that need to be told.

1. setting: scott and andee’s new house. we had all gathered to make gingerbread houses. tayte, becca (3), and i are sitting on the couch.
{side note: tayte tried really hard to get becca to like him. here’s why:

super cute. also, she’s super crazy}
so becca is sitting there, reading a book she just got from grandma.
(correction: tayte was reading it to her)
she bluntly said that she didn’t like the book because it was too long.
she then turns to me and we have the following conversation.
becca: is he your husband?
me: yeah he is!
becca: no he’s mine!
me: no, he’s most definitely mine!
becca: no he’s mine!
{rinse, and repeat…or just repeat.}
this went on for a while, then she confessed her love to tayte.
we decided to ask her if she wanted to come live with us in utah.
when she refused, we started tickling her.
she retaliated, using that “long” book.
the large-ish spine met the corner of my upper lip, and it drew a little blood.
it was also quite painful.
needless to say, she will not be living with us in utah anytime soon.
(although she’s still super cute)

2. setting: thelissa’s house, the day we were flying out to utah.
me: hey will, do you wanna come live with us in utah?
will: no.
me: but if you do, you can do whatever you want. and have m&ms whenever you want!
will: …m&ms whenever i want?
{long pause, while will considers this}
will: um…no.

we tried really hard to get someone under the age of 5 to come live with us. for some strange reason, nobody would.

3. setting: phoenix international airport.
tayte and i found ourselves at our gate fairly early (there were 4 other people at the gate).
we went and sat against a window, almost directly in front of this balding guy watching the tv, so it looked like he was kinda watching us.
we made eye contact a couple times.
basically, it was awkward, i was creeped out, and i was glad tayte was there.
(he didn’t look overly creepy, but it was just a weird situation)
after a couple hours, we board the plane, and who do we sit next to?
yeah, mr. creepy bald man.
i made tayte sit in the middle. the guy turned out to be quite a nice man who gets claustrophobic.
i felt bad for judging him.
there was also a group of 8 or so with a bunch of kids, and most of the kids had seats in the exits. the stewardesses were trying to reseat people to make it work. one guy got to his seat and when he saw there was a kid sitting in it, he said “you know, i wasn’t really attached to that seat. you can put me wherever you need to.”
the stewardess quickly pointed to a seat near her, and he sat down. 2 minutes later, this little old lady comes up and say “that’s my seat. you’re gonna have to move. now.” the stewardess tells the guy that there are seats in the back. as he gets up and walks away, the old lady says “have fun back there.”
some people.
then, after we landed, that baggage claim conveyor belt thing has a mechanical malfunction and stopped working. we had tayte’s bag, and we could see one that looked kinda like mine on the little ramp that gets the bags from under us to the belt.
a voice came over the loudspeaker and told us that our bags will be going to a different carousel.
i went to the other carousel in case that wasn’t my bag on the ramp.
tayte stayed there, just looking at the bag down there.
finally, he gets up, climbs onto the conveyor belt, walks down the little ramp, and picks up the bag.
turns out it was mine after all!
gotta love the airport :)

i loved every second of being in my favorite place on the planet.
i love my crazy family, and i love spending time with them.
tayte is still trying to get used to all the noise, but i’m sure someday he will come to love that place and that family as much as i do :)