home for the holidays

Just a quick update on my time at home and what my family has been up to!

We've been hanging out at home a lot, catching up on all the classic holiday movies ;)

We went to Zoo Lights in Portland one night.

It was VERY cold, but pretty nonetheless!

I <3 giraffes. 

Alice in Wonderland.

You have no idea how long this picture took...

the flash was obstructed on my camera, making it difficult. 

Can you tell we're related? 

We like animal hats!

Christmas Eve we had a fancy dinner....

of tacos! Hahaha. 

Presents.... :)

I felt like my parents looked fancy, so I dressed up and started a trend. 

Christmas morning!

Stockings.

"I want to be in some of these pictures!" -dad

The WWU bear I got her was a hit!

Something "tasteful and penguin-y"

I got.... a printer. Too bad I have nowhere to put it :(

We're cute. 

"All My Friends Are Extinct" dinosaur shirt and a giraffe hat.... 

Gifts from the sisters!

Today we went tubing!

It was COLD.

But the snow was beautiful!

Long car ride....

We didn't even have to walk up the hill!

Fun in the snow!

Then we went to this lodge place. 

Wonderful view!

It's been pretty mellow here, but it's nice after all the crazy things going on the last couple weeks! I'm very excited to go to Utah on Wednesday for my best friend's sister's wedding! I'm sure it will be a very fun event, and it will be great to see her family again :) 

And.... that's it for today!

Hope everyone had happy holidays, and you're all keeping warm!

End of SF, weekend, and Christmas shopping....

So to sum up the trip to SF for those of you still interested, here we go.....

Thursday (day 4) = Lombard St. 

Get it? Hahaha. 

Alcatraz night tour :)

Beautiful sunset

Look inviting? 

After Alcatraz we went to a concert. If you haven't heard of Oh Land, look her up!

Friday (last day) = CA Museum of Science

Albino alligator/crocodile

Pretty views :)

Exploratorium! 

Attempt at a photo while leaving, hahaha.

And that's it for my first solo trip that didn't involve meeting up with someone and their parents! It was a pretty fun week, although I was pretty glad to get back and sleep in my own bed. 

The day I got back (Saturday) I had to rush to get a new license (seeing as I lost mine while in San Francisco, oops!), drove to Auburn and picked up Miriah (whom I haven't seen in FOREVER) and she came home with me for the day. We hung out with my family (for some reason she likes doing that.... hahaha. Just kidding, my family is great and I love them!) and took her to Burgerville. 

Sunday I just sat around because I definitely walked enough last week to last me until the new year. Today I took my sisters out Christmas shopping (an interesting adventure, let me tell you!) and I was introduced to touch screen soda machines. They have over 100 flavors! 

Anyway, I think I have most of my Christmas shopping/creating done :) I'm excited to deliver/mail presents because that is my favorite part of Christmas!

Hope you all have a good holiday season, whatever you celebrate and however you do it :)

San Francisco: 3

Day 3 in San Francisco turned out to be as much fun as the past two! Here is an overview of what we did :)

DELICIOUS breakfast.

This car got so much attention, just sitting on the street. It was crazy!

We headed to the water and all the tourist-y stuff after breakfast and moving hostels and such.

We hit up the aquarium first because it was cold and cloudy.

Jellyfish are so pretty!

These are like the fish from Finding Nemo!

We decided they were making a tornado shape. 

We're such little kids sometimes, it makes life fun :)

Later (after lunch at In N Out) we took a bay cruise!

The Golden Gate Bridge was gorgeous. 

Alcatraz is very cool too, we're going back tomorrow for a night tour!!!

Rachel had this photo of her mom, so we did one of the then and now photos :)

We headed to Ghirardelli Square as our last stop of the day!

Can't pass up free chocolate!

We also got ice cream, because we'd been seeing it all day and just couldn't resist.... :)

It was SO GOOD.

We ate it all up. 

After all that, we headed back to our hostel and hung out until we were hungry again. Then we got some pizza, ate, and watched New Girl and Glee. Pretty soon we'll be headed to bed because we've got a longgg day tomorrow! 

Off to check facebook, then wash my face&brush my teeth. 

Goodnight!