Christmas 2012... I know it's late!

I have a bunch of pictures I forgot about on my camera, so I'm a little late on the blog. But here are some of our Christmas pictures!

These first few are the Christmas we celebrated by ourselves when we put up our tree and later in the month opened each other's presents.

Our tree was from DI, and it was missing a leg, so Greg made his own. He's so crafty.

Just one of the many bows Greg got me for Christmas. Love them!

I got Greg a Wii.

These next ones are from Christmas at Greg's parent's house. I don't have too many pictures, but lots and lots of videos. On Christmas day we all went out to the hill behind the house and got towed up on our skis by the snowmobile. It was so much fun!

My only picture of Christmas morning. Sam just could not wait to open presents.

Even though it's kind of late, it was still a lot of fun. I'm pretty sure I already blogged about New Year's and the Livingston Family Reunion in Monterey, CA. Christmas was great this year. We always have fun up in Park City.

Birthday Fun

It's been over a month since my 21st birthday, but I have a bunch of pictures, and I need to blog!

Fortunately, I had a four day weekend for my birthday. My birthday happened to be on a Friday this year, and my boss at work gave me a paid vacation for that day as a gift. My boss is seriously the coolest. She is so down to earth and awesome. Monday was also a holiday; I think it was President's Day. I seriously was so spoiled with that awesome break from school and work. And on top of all that, Thursday was Valentine's Day!

Greg really made me feel so special on Valentine's. He usually is very sweet and loving toward me, but he was extra sweet on that day. We walked up the big hill onto campus early that morning, and before we parted ways to go to our classes and to work (we usually don't see each other from 8-5 or later every day), he stopped me and gave me 9 envelopes. He told me that I had to open one on the hour every hour that we were apart, and ONLY one. I'm sure he was worried that I wouldn't be able to wait that long for each letter, but I did. The first letter basically told me that he wanted me to know that he was thinking about me all day and that he loves me very much. Every letter after that was a page of different things that he loves about me. It was seriously so cute. It meant so much to me.

Well, since Valentine's Day was so nice, my birthday weekend was off to a great start! I really had wanted to go out of town to St. George or Vegas because of the long weekend, but we decided not to. Instead, when Greg asked me what I wanted to do on my birthday, I told him I wanted to go to the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake. I had never been before, and I thought it would be really fun. I was right! It was a blast! We saw elephants (my favorite!), giraffes, gorillas, wolves, tons of birds, nasty reptiles (ew... my worst nightmare), tigers, other types of cats, bears, sea lions, and more! It was a bit chilly outside because it was still winter, but it was bearable. It was totally worth it. The nice thing was, because it was so cold, hardly anyone was there, so we didn't have to deal with a huge crowd. It was fun to do this with Greg. We really enjoyed each others' company and loved seeing the amazing animals.

On the way to the zoo

After the zoo, we went out to dinner at California Pizza Kitchen. Unfortunately, the place I wanted to go to, Red Iguana, was wayyyyy too packed, and we didn't have reservations. So, CPK it was. Maybe I chose it because I wanted to feel like I was in California. I don't know. Either way, it was delicious.

I opened the most awesome gift from Greg while we were at dinner. He has really been learning how to design things on what's called a CAD system. Basically, he designs a lot of parts for his work and then he prints them off in a 3D printer. Well, he decided to design some flower earrings for me, and then he had them printed in a 3D printer. Pretty cool, huh? I fell in love with them as soon as I saw them, and I fell in love with him even more too (aw, so sweet, I know). I felt pretty special. I just love that guy so much.

The next day, Saturday, Greg took me mini golfing. It was so much fun! We haven't been mini golfing for a couple of years. I will say, I won, both rounds. Greg was getting pretty frustrated; I think he was embarrassed that his wife was beating him. I was just loving it, not in a mean way or anything, but I was teasing Greg. It was fun competing with him.

Sunday was really nice. We didn't do anything too crazy, just hung out around the apartment. And Greg had to work on Monday for a little bit, but it was still nice to be with him when he got home. We actually went ice skating.

I'm so grateful for Greg and for his love for me. He always treats me as best as he can, and I appreciate it so much. My birthday was so great, definitely one I'll remember.

BYU Academic Scholarship

I have such great news, I couldn't NOT blog about it! I'm sure I've gotten the word out, but I got a full ride to BYU based on my academics! All of my hard work paid off. I seriously am still so excited, and I found out two days ago. It is such a great blessing that Greg and I have received. I had really been worried about how we would pay for my schooling this Spring and Summer (not to mention, I am dreading going to school year-round). It's about $2200 to go to school for both of those terms. I know it's not very much compared to like every single other school in the country. But still, it's $2200 more than we really have to spend. And I don't want to go into debt just yet. Haha. But now we don't have to!

I really worked hard for this. I have been busting my butt to do well in school. And transferring from BYU Idaho put me behind a little bit, so I've just been really trying to do well. BYU is tougher than BYU Idaho, something I didn't realize before. No wonder BYU is ranked so well among the colleges in the U.S.

I'm just so happy with this great news. I'm so glad to have made it to BYU after some stressful times, and now I'm ecstatic about my scholarship! Life is going well. It's pretty tough sometimes, and sometimes I feel like there's no way I can keep pushing through school, work, and the craziness of my life. But I always do. I just have to remember the blessings I do have. I have to push away those angry, stressed out, painful feelings where I feel like I'm drowning in my busy life. I keep pushing on.

Here are a few lyrics to a song I've been listening to recently. I don't think it's a church-y song or anything, but I heard it on The Vampire Diaries, my latest obsession (thanks again to Jocelyn). But I think they ring true to what I'm trying to say:

For everyone lost in the silence
For every one missing piece
For every will that is broken
No matter how dark it may be
There is redemption

Sometimes we get rewarded for our hard work and determination. And then it's all worth it.

Blogilates!

I realize I haven't been very faithful in writing on my blog for the last couple of months. I guess I've just been really stressed and busy with school and other things. But I wanted to write about something that I'm just loving: BLOGILATES!Pronounced like "Pilates" but with a "blog" in the front instead.

There's a girl named Cassie Ho who has a website where she posts workout videos, healthy foods you can eat, and tips for staying healthy. I'm in love with it. My friend from work, Mikaila, told me all about it because she got into it, and I've been doing it for the past 3 weeks or so.

Let me just say, it is a WORKOUT! Every single day, I am just dying after the workout.It really focuses on your core, especially your arms and abs. There are different workouts for different parts of your body (arms, back, legs, abs, obliques, total body) and each one really helps you gain a lot of strength. It's really, really hard sometimes.

But I love it. It's a total love-hate relationship. Cassie is such an awesome instructor and really wants to motivate you to keep pushing yourself. She's also a total girly girl. But I love doing her workouts. They really push me to the limit and I look forward to it every single day! Greg has been doing them with me here and there (don't tell him I told you!). It's been nice to have this to do together.

I love that I have this now. I'm so happy that I have a workout that I really enjoy. I'm trying to get toned and in shape again, like I was in high school. I'm getting ready for summer!

Here's a link to the website:

http://www.blogilates.com/

Check it out! It's so awesome!