I graduated with my BA on December 16 and I am so excited to be done! (Although I'm starting back right away) But to have one degree under my belt is a great feeling of accomplishment :)
Then, a week and four flights later, Austin's sister Ciara came home from her mission in Leeds, England. It was my first time meeting her and spending time with all of his family is so much fun. We are glad to have everyone so close! Ciara made it home just in time for Christmas, barely. She was scheduled to fly out of London twice, but got snowed in. Then she told she had a flight through Paris and arriving in AZ at 11:59 Christmas Eve
. But fortunately, she was rescheduled one more time and flew from England to Amsterdam to Seattle to Phx and made it home the evening of December 23.
Christmas with both families was wonderful. We love having family right here in town. We spent the morning with my family and then the afternoon/evening with the Baxters/Dunns.
My sister-in-law, Clarissa, gave all of the women in our family handmade temple slippers. It was so sweet of her to put in all that hard work! And they look great :)
These hats are from Ciara. She got them from a shop in Sherwood Forest. True blue Robin Hood! And it is great to see all the Baxters back together.
Forgive the sideways shot, but here's our little Christmas tree. Nice and cozy in our little apartment! It smelled so good and really brought the holiday spirit in. We had a blast our first Christmas together :)
While in Utah, we also got to see old friends of Austin's, like the Rogers family:
It was fun to meet all these people Austin worked with for two years. But while the friends and family were hard to leave, the weather made it a little easier. It was freezing! The poor Mustang had never seen snow... and man it sure saw alot of it at one time!
Forgive the sideways shot, but here's our little Christmas tree. Nice and cozy in our little apartment! It smelled so good and really brought the holiday spirit in. We had a blast our first Christmas together :)
The following week we drove up to Utah to spend time with my mom's family and visit Austin's mission friends (he served in Ogden). Oh, and of course to go skiing :) It was Austin's first time, and I have to say I'm really impressed with how quickly he picked it up! I hope this is the first trip of many :) (though he's not quite convinced yet)
While in Utah, we also got to see old friends of Austin's, like the Rogers family:
It was fun to meet all these people Austin worked with for two years. But while the friends and family were hard to leave, the weather made it a little easier. It was freezing! The poor Mustang had never seen snow... and man it sure saw alot of it at one time!
