The Thomsons: January 2011

Last year went by so fast and a lot has happened! First we spent Thanksgiving with Grandma Bev, Norm, Auntie Ondra, and Uncle Eddie. It was a lot of fun and the food was awesome (as always)! I made these cute, cute red velvet with cream cheese frosting cupcakes that were consumed before I remembered to take a picture...
I finished my pharmacy tech internship which was SO exciting. I received my license and am officially a Utah Licensed Pharmacy Technician! WOOT woot!! I went by myself to California to spend a few weeks with my family and enjoy the holidays while I waited for my license number to be processed. We were all over and I was exhausted! I forgot what it is like to live at home with MY family!! I couldn't keep up! But we had so much fun.

I flew in on Saturday the 11th and went straight to Huntington Harbor where we watched million dollar yachts float past us in a Christmas Parade. We went to a neighbor's parents house (which was in a million dollar neighborhood) and we were so close to the yachts we could have reached out and touched them! It was awesome and I'm glad I had the experience!

Kiley is getting so grown up and is so cute! We enjoy her so much!

Then we went to Disneyland!! One of my favorite places and commonly known as "the happiest place on earth" (I second that) I love Disneyland!!

(My friend Keegan and I in front of the castle)....... :)

...and Lys and I in front of the castle (We actually got to go inside! They reopened it! COOL!)

We looked for all kinds of hidden Mickeys and enjoyed all of the Christmas decorations. We found the hidden Mickey on Peter Pan which was a first.

We went to the California Adventure side too and watched the World of Color show which I have been hoping to see since it came out. It was pretty cool and we were randomly given tickets from some nice strangers to get up close in great spots to watch the show!

The morning after we went to Disneyland we learned some cake decorating techniques. We made some awesome cupcakes, cookies, and decorations! They were so cute. I am so excited to keep learning and making cool desserts. Later we made retro aprons and I finished one of my quilt projects. We went to a tamale party and spent a weekend at the L.A. Temple. It was one of the coolest experiences and I will always remember my experiences with volunteering in the temple. Once again though it was a spiritual high that left me physically exhausted.... we just kept going and going. Everyday there was someone new to visit or somewhere to go. We girls also got some beautiful makeovers.... fun fun!

Eventually Sheehan met up with me and we visited his family for Christmas Eve in Barstow. We were able to visit with some of his siblings and get a quick visit in with his best friend Aaron Craig and his wife Jamie. We got right back on the road Christmas morning after some stockings and breakfast and went to Tehachapi. Opened up gifts with my parents then got ready for the Nelson family Christmas party.

We also had some birthday celebrations for Sheehan's 24th birthday! I feel so bad for him that his birthday is on Christmas. I never feel like we make the day special enough for him.

My favorite part of Christmas! I love all of my family and how much fun we all have together. We played our regular Christmas gift exchange game. Sheehan and I got a lot of pretty good gifts this year. Oh and I can't forget!!! We got a CAMERA for Christmas from my parents!! It was awesome!! We have been dying to get a nice camera and now finally we have one! So now we can expect many more pictures on this blog... After Christmas we enjoyed a couple of days relaxing before we were off again. I got a quick visit in with Lauren though!

We went to dinner and visited with Sheehan's Dad (David Thomson) and his Grandma Marilyn and Grandpa Pat Hinman. We then went to Sheehan's Grandma Patty (Colleen's Mom). Then we picked up Sheehan's Mom (Colleen) and had Del Taco (which started in Barstow) with his sisters and Mom. After visiting with all of them we were off to Vegas where we visited with Sheehan's brothers Seth and Sheridan and their families. We made a quick visit to the Hoover Dam and on New Year's Eve we headed home for Provo, Some places on the drive were as low as -10 degrees!! I couldn't believe it and I was terrified of black ice. Regardless of my never ending stress and worrying we made it home very safe and just in time for the New Year's Eve show on TV. We had a great trip and wonderful holidays but we were SO READY to be home sweet home! My mom took some pictures of us together after Christmas with our sweet new camera. We haven't taken any of just us since our wedding and I am so happy with how these turned out!