February 14th...

Patrick and I take turns planning Valentine's Day each year and the other person is off the hook and can relax and enjoy the day. This works out great for us. The person in charge can make it as simple or as elaborate as they want. Patrick was in charge this year and he started showing me the love early. I started getting little notes from him with a piece of chocolate each day. Each note had a reason why he loved me. I got 11! The final note was my Valentine Day card on Valentine's Day. We had a traditional day of sorts which we have never done before. Light pink roses were waiting for me when I got home from work Thursday night. Friday we spent all day together. We ate lunch at In-N-Out, went to see Thor at the dollar theater, briefly window shopped at the mall, went out for Italian food, and he surprised me by getting us an awesome chocolate cake from Costco that I am always wanting.

Patrick really out did himself. I had such a great day and didn't want it to end!

Provo Christmas...

For Christmas my side of the family visited. In case you're wondering how 7 adults fit inside a 500 square foot apartment with just one bathroom for a week, I should tell you that my parents and Taylor spent the nights in a hotel after Danielle and Chad arrived :) We had a couple of  days with just my parents and Taylor, a couple of days I worked, and a couple with us all together!

Chad and Danielle got themselves a slack line for Christmas and naturally they brought it with them to test out.

Patrick and Chad had some good times with it.

 We decorated Christmas ornaments with paint markers.

Ate lots of tasty food.

Visited Target for Christmas deals and rug fighting.

Spent a day in Salt Lake celebrating my dad's birthday!

 Temple Square!

 Took pictures around campus.

Went on a hike after dropping off my parents and Taylor at the airport.

Arizona visitors...

Sunny & Spencer brought their family up for a visit just before Christmas! They stayed with some family on Spencer's side and we got to see them during the day for a couple days.

I got this picture sent to me while at work. We ate pizza, visited Temple Square, ate at the Cougar Eat, played games at the apartment while the little two napped, ate ice cream at the Creamery, went bowling, and to a basketball game. It was so fun to see them!

Getting ready for Christmas...

 A close up of the fabric I picked to sew a tree skirt.

Our new skirt in all it's glory :)

We had fun stringing and eating popcorn one night.

Our apartment after the snowflakes were all up.

 My favorite snowflake this year.

 The houses. Patrick rocked his. It was neat and clean and looked delicious.

Mine looked like a school kid made it. Oh well, it still tasted great!

 Some of the goodies made in our kitchen.

 We made Adventure Time tree ornaments to surprise Danielle and Chad with.

Yum...

I've been trying to get my hands on one of these all semester long. Really all semester. I think it is BYU's way of telling me Happy Friday! It was delicious  :)

Ashley's skills...

Ashley has many skills. 

She can fight off the most terrifying bears with just two fingers each hand.

She can shrink jars of mayonnaise.

In all seriousness, Ashley does have many skills. Each year as we decorate the Christmas tree we have continued the Flynn family's tradition of stringing popcorn for garland as we watch a Christmas movie. And each year she string way more than me. In previous years you might say I wasn't really trying. Last year we bought cheap popcorn which made it really tough on the fingers and without mentioning to Ashley I began slowing down and watching the movie. However, this year again without telling Ashley it was my intention to leave her in the dust and do way more than she. I made sure we bought better popcorn to help with my baby-soft fingers. Here's the result:

Yep, she's got skills!!

"Just do it for George"...

A couple nights ago, Sunday night, Ashley and I went to bed at a late 11 pm. Ashley had fallen asleep an hour earlier (having worked her 12 hr shift) on the couch but I stayed up as I wasn't tired yet. Excited for the week I couldn't sleep. I only had a couple of classes starting at 8 am the next day and then my holiday week would start and I was so excited. Ashley didn't have to work until Wednesday which meant it was party time!

I tossed and turned, which is unusual for me these days sense I typically fall asleep within minutes of laying down. My mind just kept on thinking of the fun things we could do. Every 10 minutes or so I'd move to a new position. With each move Ashley would stir and we might exchange a few loving words. "I love you Patrick" "I love you Ashley". Ahh, so sweet I know.

Now it was 12:30 am and this was getting silly. I was nowhere near sleepy. Tossing and turning again the following exchange occurred:

P: "I just can't fall asleep!"
A: "Just turn on your side!"
P: "We were just like that."
A: "Just do it for George!" she commanded.

Wait. What?

P: "Who's George?" and I started laughing.
A: Waking up a bit more, laughing too she said, "He's a patient of mine"

It was really funny so I wrote down dialogue right then so I wouldn't forget.

The unfortunate thing is that I now have a bit of cold. I think partially due to a number nights that I didn't get much sleep. Lame!