My Christmas Day

What a day it has been, can I just tell you that right now!? :/

 So for Christmas Eve we went bowling with my Aunt, Uncle, and cousins! It was super fun! Then we had them come over for our annual (which we usually only do with our immediate family) Christmas Eve buffet! My sister came with Mitch, my brother with Crystal, and Crystal's sister and her sisters husband, and also my aunt and uncle and cousins! I am so glad they all came! :) We just talked and watched Brian Reagen! He is funny!

Then when everyone went home, we opened pajamas as our annual Christmas tradition. I got green pajamas, my sister got purple. My older sister bought herself Ute pajamas and Mitch red/black pajamas! 

Here are some photos :)

Scooter & I

Mommy & I

Jessica

My mom

My dad

Jess & I giving thumbs up to Christmas pajamas :)

Ma decided to join us and send her gangster style our way :)

These are my Christmas slippers!

 

This morning we woke up and opened presents!

Here are some pictures of things I received :)

Perfume from American Eagle :)

I got a LDS Temple calendar! (Not this exact one)

Blue sweater from Aeropostale

White/Tan Hoodie from Aeropostale

iHome, and yes I got an iTouch! :)

iTunes Gift Card

I received a gift card to DB!

This beautiful jewelry hanger!
I'm so happy I got one because I'm ALWAYS losing my jewelry!

I also got some luggage, and received money from my grandparents, their old printer (so I can use it for college). I received candy, and lots of hugs!!

I read the email Brady sent me today :) He is so sweet and grown up!! I can't wait to hear from him again!

We then had my dads side of the family come over around noon for lunch, and gift exchange! It was really fun! I got to see my grandparents (who are full-time travelers), I got to see my cousins and my aunts and uncles that I don't get to see all the time! :)

Well, as most of you know, I have a missionary out in England right now. And I've been DYING to hear from him ALL day. I just kept checking my phone, and had it on loud so I could hear if his mom called. Well, Brady is seven hours ahead of us and 3 o'clock was coming up, which means it was night time there. So then I started to panic like maybe he didn't call, or she forgot to call me. Well, about a half-hour to an hour later, she called me. She told me that she couldn't invite me to the phone call. My heart shattered. I immediately started to cry. But I held it in and finished the phone call with her. She told me she wasn't sure if she should invite me anyway, but then received an email from Brady's mission president telling them, only family was allowed to be apart of this phone call. She told me he's getting home sick, but he's doing really well. She told me what they've been up to lately, and that she'd forward me emails. I'm glad he's doing well, I truly am!! I just bawled after I hung up the phone. I am going to admit, I cried and I was really sad.

I know its "for the best" but it's still super hard. Brady told his family that my letters were the only ones he cared for. And yeah, that made me happy a little, but it doesn't cure my sadness. It just is super hard, when he tells you he misses you, tells his family that your letters are the only ones he cares about, he can't email you, and now can't talk to you on EITHER Christmas' OR mother's day (not that I would expect to talk on the phone that day), and the ONLY communication we have anymore, is letters, yeah, I'm sure you'd be just as crushed as I am at this point. I miss him terribly and I love him so much. It's harder knowing that he misses me and I can't do anything, I can't talk to him, email him, nothing. It's been 

such a hard day since then.

We went to my moms' parents house and visited them;

So I have wanted this book since it came out. No lie. And I actually have a pretty good connection with the guy talked about in this book. Wondering how!? Well, my grandma worked as his secretary, and for President Hinckley a bit as well, a long time ago. He loves my Grandma. She visits him a lot, and she received a copy of this book and told her he'd sign it for her. Well, my mom didn't know they already had it, and she got them this book. But my grandma told her they'd keep it as a special edition, and have it be the one he'll sign! I just seriously couldn't believe he was going to sign her book! So I told her she should have him sign one for me too and she said she would :) :) We're having my mom's side of the family get together on Thursday, so I'll bring my copy of this amazing book to her on Thursday, and she's going to take it to President Monson and have him personally sign it for me. Awesome right!!? I'm so excited!!! I cannot wait :)

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Also, tomorrow is my sweet Andy's birthday ♥

I cannot wait to visit his grave! I'm so excited! It's been since May that I've been there, and I just can't wait. I just know it'll feel like a breath of fresh air for me.

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Anyway, I feel like winter break is over now that Christmas has come and gone :/ I don't want to go back to Ephraim to be honest. I'm lonely their; no friends, family, car, nothing. I'm really going to focus and work hard on my grades this semester. My overall GPA was a 3.4 and I'm proud of myself. I was scared I couldn't do it, and I did. I also am almost done with my application to BYU-Idaho, so keep your fingers crossed!! I feel like I could just go cry to Brady about how I didn't get to speak with him, and I'm hoping he feels the same, but it's best. I'm sure it would've made it harder on the both of us. I'm truly proud of Brady and we both know, as does everyone else (including our Father in Heaven) that this is where Brady needs to be, and where I need to be. It's hard, but there is so much support around me, it's not even funny. I just need to get up and do something about it. And Brady's mom told me this, "Don't stop going to school. Just get it done, because Brady is going to need the support when he gets back, and you should get yours done and out of the way." - And I am going to stick to that!

Well it's been a long post :/

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas, and continue to have a safe holiday, and a happy new year!