Elder Aswan

We worked it out to land a couple hours before my brother Bryan was coming in after completing a 2 year church mission in Denver.  I have fond memories of landing on Maui and as we were walking up the jetbridge hearing my Grandpa and some of his family or friends singing their hearts out to welcome us.  We were crushed when we weren't allowed to do that anymore, so I wanted to do it for Bryan.  We brought a uke and prepared a song to the tune of the Hawaiian Wedding Song singing, "This is the moment, we've waited for. Bryan you walk as slow as a slug, come give your big sister a hug!"  I did not anticipate how anxious I would get, I was so nervous and excited to see him my heart was pounding out of my chest!  Needless to say, I think we surprised him pretty good (and my Grandma since they connected together in Utah).  He looked great and I loved getting an extra few minutes with him before he was bombarded at the exit by all the family and friends.  Everybody's just so excited to have him back!

We spent the next few days with family, a lot of time over at my sisters house with our cute nieces and nephew.  We also got together a great game of TP dodgeball for all their Fresno friends.  Bryan gave a talk in church on Sunday and my aunt Mimi and all 3 cousins came with their spouses and 2 little kids, it had been so long since all of us cousins had gotten together.  I got to meet little Kirk for the first time and see cute Henry again, we were passing them around all of sacrament.  Grandpa sat next to me and every ten minutes he'd nudge me and ask, "Is that your brother up there?" After I'd tell him yes that it was Bryan he'd ask, "Is he coming or going on his mission?"  I'd explain that he was just returning from Colorado and he would smile so big and so proudly saying his usual, "Ah, he's ok!"  It broke my heart every time he asked, but I loved seeing him so proud of his grandson over and over again.

We went back to the house to have a big family dinner.  Here are some photos of my beautiful family, thanks to Mimi for taking the time to take them! 

A White Christmas

We spent Christmas up in Joshua with the Rodericks. 

We had a blast in the warm weather raking leaves and then letting the kids play in them.  Dave did scare little Caleb pretty good after he took off from across the yard and fell in this pile.  He had leaves everywhere after crawling in them!

We drove into Arlington on Christmas eve to see the famous Interlochen lights.  We had gone before, but this time we put the shell on the pickup and also stuck in a twin mattress.  We rode in the back with Tom & Katie while the kids rode in the truck with Grandma & Grandpa.  It was surprisingly very comfortable back there and what a fun little double date it was looking at all the beautiful houses.  We finished the night with some delicious Braum's ice cream :)

Christmas day we had a feast and enjoyed being together and exchanging gifts.







And mother nature gave us the gift of snow Christmas afternoon, (which I did not ask for)

For my mother-in-law, the day after Christmas is a very important part of the season.  She's taught me the art of hitting up the after-Christmas sales and this year for the first time I really got into it!  I'm sure I doubled our Christmas decor collection, all at 50%-75% off.  I had so much fun with her and I even did a little bit more the next morning back in San Antonio.  She's got me hooked!  

Basketball Shoes

I know it sounds pathetic, but sadly I had to say goodbye to my favorite basketball shoes this past month, our team shoes from my Junior year of high school. I've literally played hundreds of basketball games with them; high school, intramurals at BYU, pick-up games in Utah and Wednesday nights here in San Antonio.  I was crushed when the shoe started separating from the sole and insisted that I tape them instead of buying new ones.  Finally, the whole front of the shoe came up and I had no choice.  After trying on literally every womens and mens basketball shoe in North San Antonio, and despite my left foot being bigger than my right, I found the perfect pair...almost identical to my favorite pair from 9 years ago :)  I love them!