2014.

You guys! This is my last post featuring 2014! Crazy!

Holiday Recap:

 We went to dinner with the in-laws at our second fave place on the planet, El Navillero. 

 It started from a taco stand! Bubs' dad built it when it turned into a restaurant. Cool, right?

 I made this GIF by accident! How do I keep doing this?!

 We took this pic on the way to my parents' house on Saturday 12/20 for our First Annual TamaleFest! I feel like this picture perfectly illustrates mine & Bubs' relationship.

 Growing up, we would get together with my dad's side of the family to make tamales. Bubs came up with the idea to make it a tradition between both of our families.

 Mother & Bubs each made a pork roast as part of the filling.

 Bubs was "cutting the cheese"

 Fresh picked oranges off the tree.

 "That's a BIG television!"

 Bubs taught Riley how to make tamales.

 The aftermath...

 We made 13 dozen tamales. Teamwork FTW.

 So good!

 That night, Bubs used the leftover masa to make a tamale casserole, It was really good!

 

 At some point, Bubs got me In-N-Out.

 We took all this & our pillows & like 5 of the fuzziest blankets you've ever seen in your life to my parents' house for Christmas Eve.

While we waited for dinner to be done & our guests to arrive, we opened our "family gift" from Santa. He nailed it.

 

Little Miss used the head massager on Jinx. She loved it.

Once everyone was here, we ate dinner & drove to a nearby neighborhood & checked out the luminaries. My step-bro, Aaron, & I played the hand bells the whole time. We were naturals.

Bubs loves to nap by the fire.

These are the aforementioned bells. They are labeled with their note & came with a booklet that shows you how to play Old Macdonald & Twinkle Twinkle, Little Star.

Jeff made the most yummy prime rib ever. (technically a "standing rib roast")

Look at the size of this hunk of meat. Oh yes.

Mother had to demonstrate her mad skills.

 

We gave her a big chunk of meat. She was a happy girl.

He loves root beer a ridiculous amount.

Then we played Uno.

Merry Christmas!

 I got that monkey keychain from the dollar spot at Target. It's his favorite gift of all. Seriously. It cost me $3. and it's his favorite.

 Santa brought me some stamps! Yay!

 

 

 His second fave gift: a fancy knife/corkscrew/scissors/keychain.

 Little Miss put so much time into wrapping his gift. She giftwrapped a cinderblock and a few water bottles to make it super heavy so he couldn't guess that it was the game he wanted.

 That monkey...

 Bubs picking our ingredients for his award winning chili.

 They only had low-fat sour cream.

 

 We went to Bubs' parents' house & had a post-Christmas Christmas. We got some pretty sweet gifts.

 Bubs' parents gave us each a 72 hour kit inside of a backpack! I love mine. It has everything from toiletry items to non-perishable snack foods. They also gave us Christmas ornaments! Bubsie's sis was in town & gave us a homemade blanket!

 

 At some point we ate Bubs' chili. Yum!

 These kiddos are besties.

  

 

 (If your know Rringo at all, this picture will make total sense.)

 

Random things that I love:

Home videos of Bubs & siblings.



 My sassy little Bubs was once a sweet little boy that liked to sing on camera. And the best part? There were hand motions. And he was so serious.

 And apparently Jen was super sassy.

Post-Christmas sales.

 

 I got these shoes at a super duper sale from Macy's! Originally $59 @ 50% off= $29.50, epic sale + store credit= $13!!!

 Another super win. Originally $99 @ 30% off= $69.30, epic sale+ store credit= $10. These are the shoes of my dreams!

 

Anyways, the holidays rocked! 

New things I tried this week:

New hairstyles.

You guys: look up Kayley Melissa on Youtube. Her channel taught me these looks! She's super easy to understand, plus everything she does is really easy but looks really pretty & complicated! Love!

 

Random:

This girl is my twinsie. :)

I started this at the start of 2014. Throughout the year, we recorded good memories/date nights/silly things. Today, we went through them all to celebrate how great 2014 was. It was so much fun! I highly recommend it! We will be doing this in future years.

Dear 2014,
You have been so good to me. And to us. I have learned so much:

1. To exercise faith especially when its difficult
2. The power of prayer
3. It's ok to make mistakes
4. How to move on & learn from those mistakes
5. How to let go of toxic relationships and/or people that don't encourage me to be my best self

...among other things. I am blessed to no end. This year, I have grown in leaps & bounds. That being said, I can always improve. Here are my New Year's Resolutions:

1. Attend the Temple at least once every 6 weeks
2. Be better at saying no
3. Be more openly honest & not sugar coat things
4. Learn that I don't have to explain myself to other people
5. Walk/jog 2+ times per week
6. Run a whole 5k without stopping!

I know that 2015 is going to be so incredible! I can't wait to share it with you all!

XOXO,