Holly Jolly Christmas

I had such a wonderful Christmas this year. It really was splendid. What made it so great? Well, I’m a big fan of lists, so here is my list of what made my Christmas so great this year:

-Coming home each time during Christmas break to the smell of a freshly burned Christmas candle
-Spending all day Christmas Eve making cake balls! I made red velvet and chocolate, with white, milk, and dark chocolate. Here is a picture of the finished product:

-Helping my parents be “Santa” and wrap gifts for everyone
-Painting my fingernails red with white crackle on top

-Waking up to the smell of Christmas morning casserole
-Eating breakfast casserole, cinnamon rolls, French toast, and orange juice for breakfast
-Having my back burned next to the fire place while opening gifts
-Going to church on Christmas day
-Taking up four benches at church with my entire family (true story! They were the short side benches…but four benches still).
-Wearing new red heels to church.
-Listening to my dad sing the solo during the ward Christmas program
-Giving the gifts that I carefully had planned. True, I didn’t even think about gifts until finals were completely done, but they were still perfectly thought of, and they turned out well.
-Playing with my dog and his new Frisbee
-Hearing my nephew exclaim “Ee-a! Ee-a!!” all day long 
- Getting a bike pump for my road bike
-Tending my nephew and playing with him all Christmas night
-Taking pictures with my nephew:


-Sitting with my nephew by the tree and quietly showing him the ornaments. It was the most ideal moment of my entire Christmas day!
-Listening to Christmas music! I could listen to Michael Buble's "All I Want for Christmas is You" over and over and over!!
-Eating so much cheesy, hearty, sugary food that I literally got sick last night (again, true story. I barfed. Sorry for the deets. But I habitually eat bland cereal for breakfast, maybe something for lunch, and then a medium-ish dinner. Yeah. Yesterday was too much of a splurged FEAST). Turkey, ham, funeral potatoes, stolen beans, frog eye salad, 7-layer dip, chips, cookies, cake balls, toffee. Um. Probably something else, too.
-Being with everyone in my family. No one was missing that day, and I’m very grateful for that. All 3 siblings and the 2 in-laws, all 3 nephews, my closest aunt and uncle and my 2 cousins that live next door, and of course my parents.
-Remembering the TRUE meaning of Christmas. I love what Christmas is really about, and I’m so glad that we have a holiday to celebrate it! May we always have the true love of Christ in our hearts.

I am "Ee-a"

I decided yesterday that being an aunt is the greatest thing ever. Don’t get me wrong, I loved it before, but not nearly as much as I do now. My mom has this passion for babies, but I tend to have a passion for toddlers. My first nephew, Levi, will be 2 years old in April, and my other two nephews, Luke and Tristan, are almost 3 months old, and five weeks old, respectively.

The two babies I love and adore, but they’re just not as much fun as I would like. I think they’re the cutest things on the planet, and of course I have a tender spot in my heart for tiny little ones (what girl doesn’t, really?) but I just love and adore little kids more than I do tiny babies. My nephew Levi is the perfect example.

Since I was gone to Baltimore all summer, Levi completely forgot who I was. Coming back was like introducing him to a totally new person he had never met before. Living an hour away from home and going to college doesn’t help much either. I come home probably about once a month, and that’s all that he gets to see of me. I, of course, am his favorite aunt ;) so he is beginning to remember who I am now.

Levi is starting to talk. He first learned “papai” and “mamai” (daddy and mommy in Portuguese...I have no idea if I spelled that right), and “Papa” and “Mama” (for grandma and grandpa) and things like juice in Portuguese, and my two favorites, “airplane” and “touchdown!” Of course, I’ve been trying to teach him how to say Lori. But he just won’t. Instead, he just recently came up with the idea of calling me “Ee-a” [I don’t know phonetics at all, so, it sounds like the letter “e” and a as in “a horse” (not the letter A)]. Anyway….it’s SOO cute. No idea how he got it. I asked his parents what it could have come from and they have no clue either, especially since it sounds nothing like my name. But whatever, I am “Ee-a” and I love it.

Yesterday my brother and sister-in-law invited me to go out to lunch with them. We went to a place called “Dolittle’s Café.” It’s at the Ogden Airport. Levi absolutely LOVES airplanes, and this restaurant has airplanes hanging all over the ceiling and painted all over the walls. We walked in and he pointed all around and said “airpae” in his cute baby accent because he was so excited to be there! The whole time, he was happy to be there, and was happy to be with “Ee-a.” At one point, he had to have his diaper changed. As his mom took him away, he cried out, in desperation “Eeeee-aaa!!” hoping that I would save him!

We had to walk around the restaurant later and look at all the "airpaes" and Christmas decorations together after we were done eating. He loved showing his favorite aunt around, and I loved looking around with my favorite nephew.
We enjoyed the car ride home, too! We loved laughing together, without even talking! Ahhh…it’s just great being an aunt.

I don’t want to go back to school. It sounds great when I say that I don’t have to until next year!! Too bad next year is just over a week away. But then again… I’m very, very grateful that next year is coming up so soon ;) Next year will be a great one, I can’t wait to see what there is to come.

Sick + Dead Week

Why am I writing a blog on Dead Week (the week before finals where no tests are given and everyone studies their brains out)? Well. I'm terribly ill. I haven't been sick since February or March. And NOW I am sick. Worst. Time. Ever. And all I can do is blog. I can't study because it is doing me no good.

I just went to the store.

I purchased two different kinds of cough drops, three packs of daytime medicine (I already had a stock of Nyquil - thanks mom!), another bottle of Zicam since I've used basically all of what I had left today...and I think that's all medicine wise. I got some oranges. Good source of vitamin C. And some chicken noodle soup. I was craving it. Ah crap. I really am sick. Oh, and some orange juice. I think that's all I got...I don't remember.

Then, I bought this years game day shirt. At the grocery store. I have never gotten to buying it yet this year because I have always had an Aggie shirt to wear to a game when I go, but I really wanted one from this year, so I got one. $7 at Lee's.

The lady at the check stand was really nice.

Then I went to chick-fil-a and got a plain chicken sandwich for dinner and ordered orange juice for my drink. I just barely realized that this was a stupid thing to do since I had bought some at the store just before. I really really am not thinking straight. This better change before finals next Monday. I have three finals on Monday. Kill me now. One of them is just a presentation, so it isn't really a final exam, but the other two are cumulative exams that both cover 25% of my final grade I believe. Ugh. I really need to study.