We have had a very fun Christmas Break! It has been so great to not have to worry about school. Greg got to be home basically the entire 2 weeks without school or work. I was SO happy to have Greg with me 24/7. We rarely get that much time to spend together. Here are some of the things we have been up to!
We took a little temple trip up to Salt Lake a few weeks ago. We wanted to go to a session together before the baby is born and we are both super busy again. While we were there, we got to see the beautiful Temple Square lights. It was awesome!
We went on a 5 mile round trip hike to Fifth Water Hot Springs with Greg's entire family. It was very beautiful; I think it snowed most of the time we were hiking. We had a lot of fun!
I got into this thing called arm knitting, thanks to Wave. It's pretty awesome. I made a little blanket for our baby, and I made a few scarves for myself. Pretty exciting!
Here's our tree in our little apartment. I just love Christmas.
Greg and I had our own little Christmas celebration, just the two of us, before we went up to Park City for Christmas with Greg's family. This is a tradition we do every year. I love it because we get to exchange gifts and spend some good times together.
This year, my big present to Greg was fishing waders. He has been wanting these for a while because he goes fly fishing all the time. The water is getting really cold, so he's been wanting to be able to get in without freezing instead of just standing on the shore. The waders are kind of funny- the boot size is perfect for him, but the rest of the waders are WAY too big for him. I don't think he really cares, though. He was so excited when he opened them; he just put them on and walked around the house. It looked kind of funny. I'm glad he likes them.
Greg got me some Nike running pants. I love them! I have been wanting some of these, especially since I want to get back into really exercising after I'm not pregnant anymore.
We opened a present for our little baby from Greg's Aunt Leslie and Grandma Livingston. It's an ADORABLE winter snowsuit from NorthFace. Seriously, SO CUTE! We love it!
Greg also got me some books. I've been wanting The Giver and all of the sequels by Lois Lowry, so he got me a book that has all four books in it! He also got me To Kill a Mockingbird. I'm super excited about this gift because it'll give me something to do when I have this baby and when I need to feed her.
I'm also a little obsessed with Double Stuf Oreos. So Greg found MEGA Stuf Oreos and got them for me. I thought it was hilarious that they even made Mega Stuf Oreos. I love it!
Greg also got me some crackers, cheese, and summer sausage. We enjoyed that little gift together :)
One thing that I really loved about this Christmas season with Greg was that we started a "12 Days of Christmas Nativity Scene." We made this using a template from online. We printed out the little characters for the scene and the little cards that go with each of them, laminated everything, got a hard poster, glued green felt fabric to the poster, and put Velcro on each of the laminated cards to stick to the Velcro. The little cards have rhymes on them that go with each of the Nativity characters and a scripture reference. Each day (starting 12 days before Christmas) we opened an envelope that had a character and its card and learned a little about each member of the Nativity Scene. It was really great. I think it enhanced my Christmas experience by helping me remember Christ.
A couple of days before Christmas, we drove up to Park City. Provo Canyon was beautiful!
Greg's family went sledding a few times while we were up there. Luckily, there was a ton of snow!
This is their deck on Christmas morning. A beautiful white Christmas!
Greg's parents got a huge real Christmas tree this year. It was awesome! It reached their super tall ceiling.
One of the gifts Greg and I got was an adorable blanket that Diane made for our little baby girl. We love it!
Diane also got us a baby book for the little one. We are so excited! It was super nice of Diane to do this for us!
Another gift we got was a necklace made by Lauren for our baby. She made the charm for the necklace. The "K" stands for Katherine. We seriously love it! Thanks Auntie Lauren!
This is just one of the two gigantic puzzles we all (Greg's family) finished while we were up there in Park City. We were kind of obsessed with puzzles.
My honey and me on Christmas.
My parents got us a gift card to Target for Christmas. We decided to get a baby diaper trash can to try to contain the nasty smells that will inevitably come from the little one. We are super excited about it.
We also got some much needed speakers for our computers with the gift card. They are awesome! Thanks Mom and Dad!
A couple days after Christmas, we went to the Salt Lake Temple to see one of my very good friends, Shaleah, marry her now husband, Jared. I am so excited for her! Unfortunately, I didn't really get any good pictures of them together. But, I did manage to get a picture of the back of her dress, which was beautiful! She was gorgeous!
Here's a picture of us bridesmaids. It was freezing (considering it was only a couple days after Christmas and after a big storm)! Shaleah chose navy and mint with a white accent as her colors. It looked super good.
At Shaleah's wedding!
Congrats to Shaleah and Jared! They are moving to Idaho, which makes me sad because I won't be able to see her very often. But I am also SO excited for them to start their own journey together as husband and wife!
Greg and I decided to get on top of making freezer dinners for when our little baby arrives. We made a ton of food, probably enough for almost 3 weeks worth of dinners. I know we will be SO happy that we did this when she comes.
We also decided to build a snowman in our front yard, AKA the park. It was fun! Luckily, it had just snowed, so the snow was very fresh.
This is Pioneer Park, literally RIGHT across the street from our apartment.
That's our apartment four-plex.
Building the snowman.
And here he is! He turned out pretty awesome!
We took a selfie with him.
One of my favorite parts about him is his icicle nose.
Achoo!
Snowman kisses.
It was fun building this together.
We also decided to go on a hike one day during the break. We went up into Hobble Creek Canyon and found a little trail to walk on. Unfortunately, we chose the worst day to go on this hike because it was FREEZING. Seriously, it was probably 10 degrees, tops. And that was with the sun out and everything. Even though it was so so so cold, it ended up being really fun! I just love doing these types of things with Greg.
It was really beautiful!
On New Year's Eve, Greg and I didn't do much. We did, however, make some delicious chocolate covered strawberries. We enjoyed those and some sparkling cider when the clock struck midnight. It was kind of nice to just relax that night.
Here I am at 40 weeks. I'm completely over this pregnancy. Mainly because I want to meet our little girl, but also because pregnancy is so uncomfortable, as so many of you know!
Today, Greg had to go back to school and work, and I got to go back to sitting around waiting for our little baby to arrive (NOT FUN). I really don't like this waiting game at all! One really great bit of news is that this semester is Greg's last one! We are seriously SO excited! After he graduates in April, our plan is to move to Orange County, CA where Greg is potentially going to work at some sort of medical manufacturing company (something he really wants to do). We are still job searching, but I know everything will work out for the best. We are so excited! We have so many good things coming within these next few months!
