A Birthday Surprise Unlike Any Other

Last week was all about sweats, sweets, and studying. Finals kicked my butt and I didn't do much other than preparing for them. My last final was set for Friday morning, so Thursday night was spent studying and studying and studying. Finally around 11 I decided we had better go to bed. As we were getting ready for bed, we heard a loud pounding on our door. Derek ran to see who it was, but the peephole was covered! The pounding and our freak outs continued. We had no idea who it was. Finally, my sister called Derek's phone, then mine, then Derek's again and the thought jumped into my head "MY SISTER IS HERE! HOW IS MY SISTER HERE?!" Derek, clueing in, told me there was no way she could be, but opened the door anyway and there they were. My mom and little sister. Were outside my apartment. At 11 pm. Derek hadn't realized they were coming Thursday night instead of Friday night, which helped with the surprise I guess. Then they informed me that they came because they were taking me to Disneyland for my birthday! Twenty-one shmuney-one. I'll always be a kid at heart and going to Disney for my birthday was beyond great. The weather was beautiful, the air was clean and crisp, and all the Christmas decorations warmed my heart.
My family stayed until Sunday so they could eat cake and sing happy birthday to me, but then they were off and I spent a great relaxing day with the cute hubby I've been so blessed to have. They spoiled me rotten, a sewing machine, cute clothes, a super nifty breakfast in bed tray, and plane tickets for San Francisco {hopefully}. I am seriously the luckiest girl alive to have such a wonderful and thoughtful husband and to have a family that would fly out for a weekend just to be with me when I turned 21. My heart is so full and I feel so blessed:)

Thanksgiving, Utah, and chasing firefighters?

Now that finals are over, birthday is past, and Christmas shopping is done, I finally have down time to catch up on this thing! I realized I never blogged about our Thanksgiving trip, which is a crazy big bummer because I won't remember everything. But here's a run down.

We drove to Utah with the Pugh's.. one of the funnest car rides ever. Got to Utah at 4 in the am. 

{ate some yummy breakfast, played a little farkle, and then we met my new nephew Treyson}

...Had a giant Thanksgiving meal with my family and watched Lincoln after. Good movie, but so boring if not in the right mood. Which I wasn't. I slept.....

Went shopping and spent time with the fam

Went on fun doubles with great friends, ice skating is always a hit and the candy shop windows at City Creek make you feel like you're in an old Christmas movie. And we never thought the game Sorry! could be so fun.

But... Saturday held the real adventure. Since we hadn't been able to see Derek's brother Chad in awhile, we decided to go visit him in Park City. He works for the Park City Fire District and we took him to lunch. When he goes to lunch, all of his fellow fire guys come with in case of an emergency. We joked about how cool it would be if there was one. So we are sitting outside at Cafe Rio when their radio goes off about a lady in a Michael's. They're right there so they leave their food, run and jump in their truck, and head off. Derek's mom noticed that it didn't go too far, so without really cleaning much up, the in-laws were off to watch their boy in action! Derek and I quickly followed them and watched the whole scene: the ambulance, the stretchers, everything. All while feeling like it was something we shouldn't be watching;)

Being back home with family was the greatest part of the whole weekend. It's amazing just how much more you appreciate family and home when you're away from it for awhile. I'll count it as a blessing.