I Never Post Anymore/ Grainy Photos are IN

Wow, so it is now the end of March, and I have not posted since our Thanksgiving trip to New York City, so...I fail. But I've started working on a post about our adventure last week in South Africa! And before I post it (mostly for my own benefit) I wanted to write a quick catch-up post about everything that has happened since November! 

Honestly, I don't remember everything we went and did buuuutt...I'll do my best...

Right after we got home from New York, we rushed out to find the perfect Christmas Tree. We had to make sure it wasn't too tall so it would fit on our coffee table without bending at the ceiling. Last year we got a baby tree, but it was poor quality and dried up super fast, plus we never got that Christmas tree scent! And why get a real tree if you can't smell it!?!? So this year we went and bought a legitimate Douglas Fir, and we were not disappointed!

The first weekend in December, a few girls from our ward got together and did a Social Living deal, Cake Decorating! It was super fun, and these girls are super chill! (top photo: Alisson Rock, Myself, Holly Jackson, Milan Cox)

And of course it wouldn't feel like Christmas with seeing a performance of the Messiah! We went with our buddies Ellen and Gabe Bush, and the venue was the National Cathedral which made for quite a spectacular backdrop! Our seat were pretty far back, and the acoustics weren't great so during the intermission we sneaked up and took some empty seats closer to the action!
It also wouldn't feel like Christmas without going to the Temple ground to see all the lights members put so much time and energy into setting up! It was a nice warm night and the Temple was beautiful as always!

My work had a dinner/Holiday Party mid-December, and my interpreter BFF Leah and I went together. As a freelance interpreter I don't usually work in teams, so I honestly wasn't going to go without the only other person that I REALLY know that works for the agency went with me. I always have the best time with Leah, she's one of the very best friends I've ever had, and I've learned so much from her and her experiences!

The week before Christmas I started working at Anthropologie (I mean, they give you a 60% discount, how could I not! Especially at Christmas time!). My arm had been bugging me a little bit for a few days, but as I was working the night shift on Christmas Eve it started to swell up. It hurt like hell, but I didn't want to complain so I just kept working, and that night iced it and figured it would feel better the next day. Well, it didn't. In fact, I couldn't close my hand into a fist or touch my pointer finger to my thumb without extreme pain shooting up my arm. So after we opening our presents for each other, and I waited around some more for it to feel better, we decided it was kind of worth a trip to the Urgent Care (finding on open on Christmas Night is a whole other story). That lump right there? Tendinitis. Very common for interpreters, as I'm constantly moving my arms, hands, and fingers. They gave me a brace to wear for a couple weeks and some nice strong pain killers and we headed home so we could get some sleep before our early morning flight to California to spend time with the Robinson's in San Clemente!

Rainbow Looms are HUGE in Southern California (everywhere maybe?) right now. And our nieces and nephews all were busy looming the whole time we were in California. This is Annie showing off her collection of bracelets (I think there were upwards of 30 on her arm!?)

This photo is mostly to prove all you haters wrong. I've been told since I married Taylor that it is impossible for my babies to have red hair. Well, eat your heart out doubters, this is Baby Bishop, he is half Chinese, a full half Chinese. Try and tell me his hair isn't red. #nofilter

This cool race track is controlled via Iphone/Ipod! So fun! The boys (especially the adult boys) had a lot of fun with this one!

For Christmas Sam got a new tripod for his Celestron Telescope. It was super high tech! Kelvin took some really cool photos with his DSLR and the Telescope, if I had them I would share them. But I don't, so just trust me.

Nothing like a West coast sunset!

For those of you readers who know me, you know I'm extremely accident prone. And what would Christmas be without not one but TWO Urgent Care trips!? I proclaim that it would be no Christmas at all! I got this bad boy when I took a surfboard to the face my first time ever surfing. Nice, no? Surprisingly there was very little pain! At first I thought I just had a little goose egg, but Taylor's brother-in-law Pat was quick to get me out of the water, oh heavens, head wounds sure do bleed a lot in the water. It was gruesome, and had Taylor not been so worried because of all the blood I'm sure he would have snapped a photo, as it was, I'm glad instead that he helped me dry off and got me to an Urgent Care. Three stitches later and couldn't be better! It was definitely swollen, but the bruises didn't show up for several days. They were just waiting to make their grand entrance, and I mean wicked grand!

You're all impressed. No makeup! No Filter! Don't I look great!? They say the best eye shadow colors for us brown eyed gals are plum and green. I think they're right, whoever they are.

We came home to snow and puppy cuddles. Not much to say about that except that I hate living in the snow, and I love living with puppy cuddles. Seriously though, I'm so tired of it warming up beautifully on Saturday, and then dumping on us every Monday. Stop, winter, just stop. If I could unfreeze the city just with love like Elsa in Frozen, dude, it would be done. But I don't have magic icicle powers, and that Groundhog is never right, they say today is the first day of Spring, hah, Spring with another polar vortex next week? No, spring looks like 80 degrees and sunny, with weekend runs in shorts and tank tops, and sitting by the pool. I guess I just need to get back to my Arizona.

We will conclude this post with a brief rant. Okay, so I always look at photos of myself with bangs and think I look so good, and I do actually think they are flattering on me. But I always seem to forget the forehead sweat, and acne, and the hassle of getting them out of my face when going to the gym, and the frequency with which they need to be trimmed. I need to remember these things. Yes, bangs are nice looking, but so are no bangs. Further more, no bangs are much easier to style, and pull out of your face, and maintain. Give me no bangs again please, I know I have to wait, and I'm not the most patient person, but I really want these suckers grown out. Please, Thank you. Any magic hair growing potions would be much appreciated.