JANUARY

Oh January. It's definitely the least exciting month in my opinion. Besides the fun, long weekend we had when our friends came to town, our month has been pretty dull. Here's to hoping for a little more excitement in February!

^^Scott & I celebrated our 1 year anniversary by going to my FAVORITE breakfast spot up in SLC (Market Street Grill) and spending the whole day together. There really is nothing I love more than spending the day with Scott^^

^^Our cute friend Emily works at the diamond store we got my ring at. It was time for an inspection and we got to see Em a few times over the month^^

^^I have this lame night class once a week that I hate. Scott sometimes comes with me to keep me company on the drive and then I usually find him like this after class is over.^^

 ^^My dad came to Utah with my brother & sister for a skiing weekend. They, along with my cousins & Scott, would ski during the day and I would meet them at night for dinner and some fun. We always love it when we have company!^^

HOLIDAY BREAK: MEXICO

We spent the majority of our Christmas break in Rocky Point, Mexico. We worked with an organization called Families Helping Families which allowed my family (and the group we were with) to build a house that would eventually be given to a family in need. It was an amazing experience, one I will never forget. 

Our family was in Mexico for 5 days, and for 3 of those days we built a house from bottom to top. I have to admit, I didn't do as much work as I would have liked to on the house. There were many helping hands and sometimes not enough to do, but we all pitched in the best we could. The house we worked on will not be presented to a family until the Spring, but they had a completed house ready to present to families while we were there. It was so neat to hear their story and watch them accept this beautiful house that was built for them with a lot of love. We also had an opportunity to visit with those who had already received their house and listen to the stories of their prior living conditions and how the organization found and chose them. All of it was very humbling and really helped me realized the blessings in my life. Even the simple blessing like running water and a sturdy place to sleep.

We did play a little while we were there, of course. We stayed in a pretty sweet house right on the beach so when we came home each day, we would go out and play as the sun set. We spent the nights playing games, relaxing, and eating. A good friend of ours made a pretty cute video of our trip that sums it up way better than my words and pictures. You can watch the video HERE

^^Christmas Day, we arrived as the sun was setting. A beautiful sight!^^

^^when it came to actually building the house, they gave us about a 5 minute tutorial and then said "good luck!" we basically winged it the whole time, but it turned out great!!^^

^^my drink of choice down in rocky point^^

^^before heading downtown^^

^^Setting off floating lanterns one night^^

^^playing with Polaroids^^

^^loved playing on the beach as the sun would set!^^

^^Here is our completed house! Now they have "professionals" go in to do the finishing touches.^^

ONE HECK OF A WEEKEND

This weekend was one of the better ones. Two of my closest friends came to town and we partied because of it. I can't remember the last time I had so many activities to attend during the weekend. The best part of it all was spending so much time with my girlfriends (& their significant others)

^^We picked Riss up from the airport and went to lunch. We love having her around!!^^

^^Rylee was leaving for the weekend so we stopped by and said hi to her before she left^^

^^We hung out at my house for a good majority of Friday afternoon, just chatting and catching up. We parted ways for dinner but headed back to the Bench's for games with our boyfriends.^^

^^Riss has no problem hopping into bed with us. We stayed there and talked for a long time Sunday morning.^^

^^Getting home from church as the sun is setting....no fun^^

^^gathered at Emily's apartment where we played games and ate Shelley's cookies on Sunday night^^

^^one last hoorah before Marissa & Shelley left. girl talk over acai bowls at the yummiest juice bar in Provo^^

HOLIDAY BREAK: CALIFORNIA

On the evening of New Year's Day, we headed to Carlsbad to visit Scott's family for the weekend. We were all together for 3 short days and we made sure to make them worth our while. It was fun to hang out with the McGrath family, and especially play with those cute nieces and nephews.

^^family swim & hot tubbing^^

^^we took family pictures^^

^^the original McGrath's went surfing one day^^

^^I was dying laughing at Scott prancing around the beach in his wetsuit, trying to get footage.^^

^^cute little nieces. these 4 don't know how lucky they are to have each other!^^

HOLIDAY BREAK: ARIZONA

Our family spent a week in Mexico working with an organization building houses for families. Because of this, our time in Mesa was limited but we managed to squeeze as much in as we could. We played with family, ate at our favorite restaurants, and enjoyed the nice weather. I have to admit, I was a little sad we didn't get to spend a lot of time in my hometown, but being with family is all that really matters anyway, no matter where you are.

^^a little TopGolf with the family. I wasn't in the greatest mood that day, but the fam really seemed to enjoy themselves :)^^

^^lunch date with my girls^^

 ^^Christmas Eve^^

^^Our first Christmas. We got up early to open presents & then we got to talk to our Elder Pothier! After that, we headed to Mexico for a week^^

^^Polaroids from a night in Mexico. We had a great time, more on that trip later on^^

We came back from Mexico on New Year's Eve. After we got ourselves some burgers(much needed after a week of just tacos), we headed to celebrate the night with the family family. We played games, hung out, and rang in the new year with apple cider and sparklers. On New Years Day, we ran some errands and I savored my last hours with my family before heading over to CA for the weekend to visit with Scott's family. AZ is always a treat over the holidays!