*Merry Christmas*

Whew! It has been a rather busy last few weeks so I'll take awhile to enjoy a cup of coffee at Woods with my sister and recap of all of the activities from the last couple weeks....

We celebrated Sister's *18th* birthday with a night by the fire and family games. 

The Boy and I took Brother #2 out for a night of glow-in-the-dark mini-golf and bowling. 

I think I earned my code name of 'Destroyer' with that great score. Record high! 

We kicked off the Christmas parties with a night at Grandma Dee's. 

Brother #1 with his nice new knitted hat. 

After all the gifts were opened everyone was buried into books of Ripley's Believe It or Not until we played a few games of Qwirkle.

Then a couple nights later we made our way to Grandpa and Grandma Van Dalen's family party.

A fun night playing with family ~ chasing cousins and spending time together. 

Ignore brother #1 - he hasn't learned to smile yet.

love this beautiful girl :)

there was an unattended auntie's camera so we took some lovely pictures *hehe*

Then we saw most of the same family the next night at Grandpa & Grandma York's for Christmas Eve.

We couldn't wait to open presents! 

Once again at least half the people were lost in some sort of book or checking out what they could share from someone else's pile. 

But what party is complete without a camera being unattended?

After such a fun night {tons}of laughs and food it was time to go to home and to bed so Santa could come! And as a tradition Santa dropped off a gift early ~ PJ's! 

We made it home and everyone hustled to bed to dream of sugar plum fairies and snow. Neither of which appeared sadly. But the next morning there were gifts awaiting under the tree! 

I am rather pleased with how the gifts I found for my loved ones turned out!

 Morning picture in our PJ's

We enjoyed our morning by making sticky buns and as they baked we opened our stockings. Then we ate the most delicious sticky buns I've ever tried. Then ran {well at least the kids did} to open the gifts under the tree. Santa left only a few presents for us to open hmmm what could they be? 

We got to open one which told us that we had to present some sort of clue to the parents before we could open the big gift. Inside the box we did open were a couple of puzzles. Two weren't even opened so we moved past those and poured out the one in a zip lock bag.

Refusing to be stumped by a puzzle with no picture

We slowly assembled these sections:

Sister presented our best guess that it was some sort of Route 66 road trip. Bingo! 

from here

We opened the big box to find out this summer we are going on a 3 week road trip along the old Route 66! We will travel down in an RV to start in Santa Monica, California then follow Route 66 all the way to Chicago, Illinois! I'm stoked to see parts of the country we haven't seen before and to maybe catch a glimpse of what America looked like way back in the day when gas was about 10 cents and life was simpler.

Christmas day also included an afternoon at The Boy's family get together but I don't have pictures from that. 

So that's how my Christmas went! I hope yours was just as much fun and filled with as much love and laughter :) Now all that is left is to ring in the *New Year*!

DONE!!

WOOO HOOO done with finals ~ done with finals 

*happy dance* 

Phew! 

Survived finals! And I think I actually did fairly well. 

{well I already know I finished with an A in psych woot woot} 

It was a fun quarter but I am ready for a break! 

I can't wait to spend time at home with family and friends. Enjoying good food and company :) 

Singing Christmas songs and hopefully getting *SNOW* 

Well I'm going to go find something to do with all of my spare time! 

Busy, Busy, Terribly Busy

Goodness me! Has it really been almost 2 weeks since I last updated you all on my life?

Well that is quite unfortunate! 

So i'll run through all the exciting events that have occurred since that last post ages ago. 

Of course there was Thanksgiving to start and I was far too busy enjoying the yummy food and company to snap pictures!

This year we spent the day with all of my Mom's side of the family, it was so much fun to see all of them again and enjoy each other's company. Then the boy came over for a game of Pirates Dice and to steal me away to visit with his family. Spending more time with fun people and eating *more* food! That evening when I got home, the sis and I decided to hit up the Black Friday sales!

This is pretty much what Target looked like....SCARY

We finally arrived at the mall at 1 am and wandered around until 3 am when we decided it was time to sleep. 

The best part of breaks has to be the sleeping in and I certainly did that! 

The rest of the weekend was spent with family, decorating for Christmas, spending time with the boy, playing games, and enjoying time spent together with those I {love}. 

After that rejuvenating weekend it was back to the grind to finish off the last week and a half of school so that I can go back home for Christmas! As the week finally draws to a close I am so glad that I survived all the papers, presentations, tests, and readings I had due. 

Now just to study hard and finish finals!

Yesterday as a study break we hit up the annual SPU hosted event Tradition!! 

Dressing up in our winter best, the theme was really ugly sweaters but we didn't have any! 

Seeing friends, lighting the Christmas tree in Tiffany Loop, making cards and enjoying the air of joy makes going so worth being in the cold!

stolen from my coffee gal :)
waiting in line to get a photo with santa! 

Then today enjoying a 1st West reunion lunch at Red Robin! Goodness I miss seeing their faces and laughing with them everyday! They are all such blessings in my life :)

OK now to buckle down again and study for those pesky finals! Only 3 tests until I'm free to enjoy a month with family and friends!

LC Volleyball - ROCK SOLID

Finally! A recap of volleyball state!

4th in state!! 

blue hair and team spirit! 

::the rock star server::

GO LYNCS

Can ya dig it? She can :)

*so incredibly proud of her!!!*

celebrating a point

look who showed up in the wrong colors to cheer for the best team! 

ready for that next ball

the whole clan all decked out. 

The Seniors with the trophy! 

Way to go lil sis I am so proud of you and the hard work you put into this! It was so much fun to watch you and I LOVE YOU! 

In My Noggin'

Well I don't have that post of volleyball state yet (i'm waiting on some good pictures so just hang on! ) 

but instead I'll put off my homework a little longer and give ya'll an update anyway! Here are the top few things that are buzzin' around in my head! 

1. 

My Cali girl and I started the Jillian Shred level 3 on Monday and *OW* after taking a few days off in the middle I don't know if we were ready for that one! But doesn't matter to us we don't give up. 

2. 

I also need to start going to bed at a better time. I'll sit down at midnight and the next second it's 1:30....way past my bedtime! Maybe I should just wait til New Years and make that my resolution. 

3. 

Can you believe that we are already halfway through November already! I think we missed a few days in the middle somewhere... 

With the end of November coming up that means the Boy's birthday is coming up soon and I am the world's lamest gift giver combine that with the guy who needs nothing and has no ideas. That equals me with zilch. Great. Don't be surprised if I just give him a rock.
and finally 4.
I just registered for my classes next quarter and I'm rather (mostly) excited. I had to switch up my schedule a bit because apparently everyone wanted to take the same UCOR class I wanted. So I get to take Principles of Macroeconomics, Public Speaking, and Spreadsheets on Mon/Wed/Fri. As well as Beginning Voice and UCOR2000 on Tues/Thurs. That's a full 18 credits my friends! But I think it'll be fun, as fun as college classes can be that is.
On that note I should go finish those two presentations for this quarter! 

Slacker!

I have been such a slacker lately! 

No posts what-so-ever. 

Zip.

Zilch.

Nada.

Ok I think you all know that already. 

But never fear! I got to spend this last weekend cheering with my family for my lil sis at volleyball state in Yakima. 

So as soon as I get all of my pictures uploaded (I actually took pictures!!) I will provide a full update for your reading pleasure! 

So until then....

*ttfn* ta ta for now! 

What's on my mind.....

Ever feel just weighted down? 

i certainly do. 

Life is good and i am incredibly blessed but i can't seem to shake the feelings of everything weighing me down. There are no big tragedies in my life and i'm even feeling like I finally have a semblance of a plan for the next while. So why do i feel so frustrated everyday? 

Last night i attended Generation Church with a group of friends and as soon as the first song started i began to cry. i don't particularly like crying especially in public but there was no stopping these tears. 

Maybe that's what i need. 

from my lovely friend Mikaela

i keep thinking i'm connecting to God but really i haven't done a whole lot to hold up my end of the deal. This continuous frustration may come from a deeper need to seek God more than just the little things i've been attributing it to. i'm excited to get together with my small group from church tonight and delve more into what His Word has to say. 

Maybe I can climb out of this emotional rut and get rolling again because i want to be happy about all the wonderful things that are happening in my life right now. 

Well now that I have dumped out all of my feelings and woes. I should keep working away at that stack of homework that needs to be done. 

Capturing Joy {sorta}

So guess who didn't take any pictures this week in order to show you? 

me. 

So seeing as I bombed on taking new pictures I will go find a few other old pictures either I took or found from various sources that will summarize what else makes me happy these days! Away we go.....

Starting with my LYS team taking 1st place last saturday! 

Well I didn't have any photos of my team all together so just the coaches.... 

(WOW I just don't take any pictures!) 

 We are so proud of them! 

This quote also makes me smile :)

Just because it's so true! 

But i'm allowed to because i'm a college student right? It's almost required. 

This boy also makes me happy

yes I will be sappy but it's the truth

{i was thinking about avoiding this weeks post because i didn't have any pictures but he reminded me that I hadn't posted yet today and then there was no getting it out of it} 

Aaaaand with Halloween just around the corner

hehe

If we get pumpkins this year I may attempt to carve mine like this :) 

There ya have it! I'll try to be better this week about taking new pictures! 

And in parting a verse that has been a driving force for my life.

It's all in God's hands and it'll work out :)

Linking up again to Living in Yellow!