ice skating 12.31.2011

I spent the middle of my New Year's Eve going ice skating with Katie, Hannah, and Austin.
I haven't been ice skating in over a year (and for Austin it had been a few seeing as he was on his mish for two lol) so we were super nervous to get on the ice. BUT.....after we made it on it was just like it hadn't been time at all and I fell right back into the groove of it. Austin fell too, not back into the groove, on the ice lol! It was fun, we raced, we taught Hannah how to skate (it was her first time!) and we tried out a few tricks-keyword tried lol! I had fun though and I'm proud to say I didn't fall on my backside, I gracefully caught myself lol!

Discgolfing 12.30.2011

Today I went with the Hemmert's and played discgolf.
took me sometime but I got the hang of it, just for my arm to get tired so I began to lose all over again ;p (me and my good timing lol)
It was fun to play and hang out with Austin, Jayden, and Katie....great laughs :)
Thanks for taking me with you guys :)

MG date night 12.28.2011

What do you get when you get together a half a dozen girls that are all alone on a random wednesday evening?
Oh just MG's touring around temple square.
Looking at all the couples and gagging out loud but secretly missing their man.
Smiling for photos all over the temple grounds
Getting all giddy as we tell stories of our men
Making new friends from all over.
Although we may be from different places and come from different backgrounds we all have a bond, a sisterhood that unites us and strengthens us and helps us get through this journey. I love my MG's :)

Ten years later 12.28.2011

Ten years has passed since the three of us friends have all been together.
It was so odd to see us as grown ups.
All moving on with our lives and trying to become the people we always talked about being.
Growing up is hard to do, people change, you lose contact, distance grows between you....life just isn't as simple as it once was. But when you have great friends like Cara and Natalie by your side it takes you back to the way it once was. Although our hang out was just for a few hours it was amazing to catch up and be like 5 year olds once again :)

Would you look at that!!! 12.27.2011

I hit day 199.

wow.

I've been literally counting down the hours till I'd hit this day, just felt like a REALLY big accomplishment for me. Sure its still 199 days away till he returns...BUT to an MG it means lots of things:

last triple number to hit.

seeing as this was right after Christmas-last Christmas without him.

New Year's is coming up around the corner-another one without him-check ;)

means I'm close to 6 months left.

once I hit double digits I'll be close to 3 months-can you believe that?

I remember the day I marked day 1 on my calender, I can't believe its starting to really fill up.

i love to wake up and see a new day get filled in (the days I'm really tired you can tell because the circles are horribly done lol)

Elder Schott-congrats for continuing your service to the Lord.

I'll see you soon love!

And thanks to my friends at The Beehive Organization on facebook (look them up & like their page)

They made me this, and its so true for me right now...its just days :)

Photo fun! 12.27.2011

We get kinda crazy at receptions lol. 

Jenna is crazy 

Cara is goofy

I'm....well normal ;) jk i'm silly too!

It was fun to hang out with these girls-nice to chat and catch up :)

*solution to end this madness: we need to get married ;p*

Heather and Douglas's reception 12.27.2011

Jenna, Cara, and I got to go to Heather's reception tonight (another MG that can proudly say they married their RM! woohoo!) So happy for you Heather! It was awesome to finally meet you lol (good timing ;p) but oh my goodness you are gorgeous! Such a beautiful bride! It was sweet to meet your hubby as well! Hopefully you had an amazing honeymoon! Congrats again to the happy married couple :)

Christmas at Dad & Crickets 12.25.2011

Christmas at Dad and Cricket's was super fun-Brooklyn got a kiddy car that she barely took her hands off (she loves it!) and Jaxson got a train table set that he's obsessed with! I'd say those two kids did pretty good this year lol! As for us adults we opened up our stockings which were awesome and filled with tons of goodies! Having Cricket work at a store that sales jewelry us girls get lots of awesome things :) Thanks for the sweet gifts and awesome times Dad and Cricket! :)

Sunday Best 12.25.2011

All dressed up and ready to attend church.

The Christmas program was amazing!

Lots of talented people in the Derb family ward

The spirit was so strong I loved it!

Christmas time is amazing, I love the spirit of Christmas :)

Christmas morning 12.25.2011

Watching my niece and nephew walk down the stairs to see what Santa had brought for Christmas was priceless. As they got closer and closer their smiles got bigger and bigger :) I love those kids!
Christmas morning was a blast, with 9 a.m. church we had to get up a bit earlier so we could get all our gifts opened before we headed out. Brandon and Korrine came over at 7:30 and we all opened up our stockings and our gifts! I got lots of clothes and goodies :) Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas PJ's 12.24.2011

Each year on Christmas Eve we get to open up one gift (its always our pj's lol) but I love it!

This year I got purple polka dot ones :) 

Now I'm already to head to bed and await Santa's visit!

Twinkle Toes 12.24.2011

A special visitor comes to the Derbidge house on Christmas Eve while we are away. His name is Twinkle Toes the elf. He left notes for Jaxson and Brooklyn to follow to find where he hid their Christmas Pj's (my bro in law is one crafty fella for thinking this all up!) It was awesome after we read the birth of Christ in the scriptures, and the book "The night before Christmas" as well as watched Joy to the World to watch the kids follow daddy around trying to find the treasure!

Jaxson and Brooklyn got so excited to see presents on their bed! Jaxson just loved his pj's-he grabbed them and ran over to me with excitement! 

Then we got to open ours up-I loved mine! :) Pj's are my favorite :)

Making Santa's treats 12.24.2011

Cinnamon rolls for Mr. Claus from Brooklyn & Jaxson

Britt and John helped them decorate the cinnamon rolls with the frosting, it was cute to watch!

I love being with the Derb's and participating in their family traditions :)

Santa got a sweet treat this year!

Smiles all around 12.21.2011

Shopping at Target, Walmart, Costco, Winco

Singing popcorn popping in the car-actions included

Stopping at Iggy's for lunch (yummy nachos)

Picking up delicious cookies at Paradise Bakery & Cafe

Coloring pictures

Swimming in the kiddie pool

Going down water slides

Grabbing frozen yogurt to end the night

A great way to put a smile on your face is spending the day with them.

Sperry Reception 12.20.2011

Tonight my mom, Korrine, and I headed back to our old city of Sandy for a reception.

Mercedie and Parker were married in the Salt Lake City temple for time and all eternity.

I grew up with her little sister Chelsie who happens to be engaged and getting married in two weeks but I leave the day before to go back to school :( 

So we celebrated two brides tonight!

The bride was gorgeous and her and her hubby have awesome dance skills!

I haven't seen Chelsie (center picture) in ten years I can't believe how time has flown by! She has grown up and is so beautiful now! (I'm excited to see her in her wedding photos!) 

*I haven't grown up as you can see ;) *

It was nice to visit with some of our old friends from Sandy-got to see my old friend Natalie too! 

It was nice to catch up with her :) I can't believe ten years has gone by!

 Makes ya wonder what it will be like in ten years??....hmmm....

Temple square 12.18.2011

Millions of lights.

Family photos.

The beautiful temple.

Cold hands.

Skipping around the grounds.

Watching the horses.

Taking in the spirit.

All the things I love about Christmas :)

Christmas bingo & gift exchange 12.18.2011

Every year my Dad & Cricket's side of the family gets together to exchange gifts (we draw names earlier in the year) and give gifts to the little ones and then we play Christmas bingo! My dad draws the ball and shouts out the letter/number combo. Everyone has to win so we get our initial prize. After we all win then we play once more for the grand prize-this year I WON :) I got a $25 gift card to Red Robin-date night anyone? haha jk! Then we do it where you are given the chance to keep what you got or change with someone else. I started out with a bracelet, then got traded for a purse charm and by the end I had my bracelet back lol :)

I love this family event, yummy food for breakfast, good times with the family and presents (target gift card and a bracelet for me!)

Christmas season has arrived :)

Little Brittany's wedding & reception 12.16.2011

My oldest childhood friend is now a married lady! I can't believe that Little Brittany (we called her that because my sister's name is Brittany too!) is all grown up and got married on Friday!

I went downtown with my friend Austin for my friend's wedding Friday morning, she had the BIGGEST smile on her face as she exited the temple hand in hand with her new hubby!

She came up and hugged me and it was just like we were 4 again playing dress up but this time it was not a game but real, my best friend got married! 

After we watched some the family take some photos Austin and I headed out.

Later that evening I had headed to my sister's house and her and her family left to go to pick up my mom from the Airport. After we headed to the Derbidge's Christmas family party and then up to North Salt Lake for the reception. Little Britt had a lovely hot coco and dessert bar which was delicious! Then came the toss of the bouquet-I didn't catch it (guess I'm not next to get married-shucks lol) Then the daddy daughter dances (she had one dance with her dad and then another with her step dad) after she and her husband did their first dance and then her hubby played and sang her a song on the piano-talented man!

I got to dance and catch up with her older brother Matt, its been so long since I'd seen him so that was awesome, it was awesome to see the whole family again :)

Congrats to Brittany and Ryan on your special day, becoming eternal partners is such an amazing thing-stay true to one another and say I love you each day!

Adventures. 12.16.2011

Today Austin and I got to go on an adventure! We drove to the Trax station by my Dad's house then took the Trax to downtown for my friend Brittany's wedding :) We made it downtown to Salt Lake City and ran around temple square to find which bride was ours lol but there was a lot of people getting married that morning so she was actually late (phew!) I didn't want to miss her coming out as Mrs. Barlow! Since we had some time to kill we waited for her in the waiting area, after we saw her and got some photos (that will be on another blog post). We walked around temple square, we went inside the tabernacle and got some photos and then we made our way to Gateway Mall to look around. Neither of us have been there in some time so it was quite hilarious to watch us try and find our way (me being from WA and him being gone on his mission for two years we were LOST! lol) and then we walked around in the different stores. Austin has NEVER had Starbucks (so I HAD to get him one) their peppermint hot coco is THE BEST :D We walked around Gateway holding onto our hot coco's to get warm because it was FREEZING! After that we headed back home on the trax and then we went to target for a gift for the reception and then back home! Thank you Austin for going downtown with me, I had a blast! :D

Out of all the things...12.13.2011

Tonight we did roommate Christmas. My two roommates were lucky enough to be done with finals on Wednesday so they were packed and ready to go whereas I was "lucky" enough to stay till Thursday...(really not so lucky). So we decided to swap gifts Tuesday night. And get this-out of all the things in the world you could get for someone, we all got each other scarves baha! It was pretty epic!

Carole got me a binder that she had prepped with lots of clear sheets so I can start putting together all of Nate's letters while he has been out on his mission. :D Then I got a scarf from Clara that she had made :)

Clara got a scarf from Carole and a lotion,body spray, and lip gloss set from me :)

Carole got a scarf from Clara and one from me lol plus lots of candy so she wouldn't have to go this holiday season without treats (she can't have chocolate!)

It was definitely a fun night, we toasted to apple juice (classy ;p) and chatted for a bit :)

Open Mic Night 12.9.2011

Tonight I made it out to my first Institute activity lol-before I go on don't think I'm inactive in church, I actually help plan and set up for all the activities I just have never been able to attend one of them thanks to school or pre-planned events other than church. BUT this time I got to go to it! I studied for my spanish final for a few hours prior to this so I felt quite confident in myself, well enough to take a break from it lol!
I have no talent whatsoever...not even in coloring as you can see-although I do think my Christmas tree turned out pretty nicely! But there are some very talented people that attend our institute and I was lucky enough to hear them sing, play, or crack jokes for me tonight! Add a little hot coco, some treats, and awesome friends and it made for a terrific night!!!! :)

Family 12.04.2011

A Grandma, a mother, a daughter, a niece. A brother, son, uncle. All different words that make up my family :)
I'm so glad that my Uncle Steve was able to come up to Washington this weekend for a late Thanksgiving dinner and that I was able to make it down from Seattle so that I could visit with him, my mom, and my nana!

December-can it really be? 12.1.2011

Has 12 months seriously gone by already?

Is it almost time for us to end 2011 and begin 2012?

Seriously?

I totally remember sitting in my sister's house last December on New Year's Eve looking at the missionary girl page on facebook that I belong to (best thing on facebook I swear!) and I remember clicking off rather quickly because all the girls that were going to get their guys back in 2011 were posting about how excited they were about it, don't get me wrong I would be too but its right then when it HIT me....the year of 2011 I'd go without seeing Nate. It was odd for me to think about it to be honest, the idea of not having his presence for a whole year seemed so weird-its like he wouldn't exist for a whole year (if that makes any sense) 

But we've gone through 11 months of that year already.

With December 1st here....it means bittersweet moments are headed my way:
 three more weeks of school.
two weeks of paying attention
one week of finals.
best friend getting married. (Brittany Erickson)
going to Utah to spend my winter break.
hopefully having a white Christmas,
consuming LOTS of hot coco.
seeing Temple Square with all the Christmas lights (my.favorite.thing.ever.)
new Christmas Eve pj's
listening to the night before Christmas.
reading the story of Jesus in the scriptures.
watching my niece and nephew wake up on Christmas morning.
spending time with my family.
relaxing for two and a half weeks.
not having to stress about school.
hanging with friends.
playing with my niece and nephew and all their new toys.
Christmas meals with the family.
getting some sleep (excited for that)
sparkling cider.
counting down to 2012
being able to say "I get my man back this year" on the missionary girl facebook page.
I.Love.Christmas.
Hello DECEMBER

p.s. Since its December and it is kind of a big deal ;) I need to post this....a WEEK from today Marlee gets her man back from his mission!!!! :) woohoo!