Turkey and Blessings.

I have so much to be thankful for, it's a little bit out of control.

One thing that quickly comes to mind is the fact that I had a place to go for Thanksgiving dinner this year.  Johnny's family was nice enough to invite me, David, and Laura all up for the holiday.  We were all so grateful for that, because all of the Lanoys went to Arkansas this year, so we weren't sure what we'd do.  But it was important to me that we stick together, so when I heard that my siblings were also welcome at Johnny's parents' house, I was so excited.

Johnny and I drove up to Layton Tuesday night, and hung out with his family from then until Thursday night, when we drove back to Provo so Johnny could work the next morning.  Laura and David just came up for Thursday.  We basically played games, watched movies, and just had a grand time with the Allreds.  I seriously love Johnny's family - they are such nice people, very funny, and very welcoming.  I feel really comfortable around them, probably because they remind me a lot of my family.

Here's some pictures that I stole from Johnny's camera from the week. This is Norah, Johnny's niece.  Her parents, Nate and Claire, live in Orem while Nate is finishing up at the business school, so we get to hang out with them pretty regularly.  She's exactly one month younger than Tanner, and I can't help but think the two of them would be pretty great friends.
  

This is Johnny's mom, Margo, with Johnny's two younger siblings, Amy and Scott.  They both go to Utah State in Logan.

On Wednesday, we went outside to play in the snow.  It was freezing!  Johnny and Scott got a little adventurous, while I was struggling to get enough blood circulating to my fingers to even take a picture.

Claire was in charge of making pies for our Thanksgiving feast.  She and Nate made 5 pies, all from scratch!  They were all delicious, and we were all very impressed.

I made one baby pie, which I realize is pretty weak in comparison to all of Claire's.  It's Emily's glazed apple cream pie, and I cheated by using a Pillsbury pie crust.  Maybe next year I'll be brave enough to do a homemade crust.  Grams taught me how to make my own pie crust this summer, for coconut and banana and chocolate cream pies, but I've still never done a two crust pie.  I think I was just nervous to try it out on Johnny's family.  Maybe next year I'll be braver.

 

Basically, Thanksgiving Break was wonderful.   Dinner was delicious, the company was fun, and I even got a little bit of homework done.

On Friday night, Laura and I had a slumber party in her dorm!  It was pretty cool.  We watched a chick flick starring Ryan Reynolds (love him) and played some serious foosball.  Then we got up super early Saturday morning to eat breakfast with David.

Oh, another thing to be thankful for: Arkansas, who was ranked #12, beat LSU, the 5th team in the nation in a wonderful game yesterday.  David and I watched the game together on my little TV in my ghetto apartment.  It was so much fun.  Plus, it was my dad's birthday (happy late birthday, Dad!) so a victory from the Hogs was just what he deserved.

I think that pretty much sums up the past week.  I only have like 3 weeks of school left! It's crazy, I have so much to do before then.  But I'm so excited to go home for Christmas!

Ok, I'm really done.  Now.

And Foremost.

I perpetually miss my family.  Here's the whole crew in 2009.

 

And the summer of 2010 - notice the addition of Tanner.  He is seriously the funniest little kid I've ever met, and he doesn't even talk yet.  I dread slash can't wait for him to get older.  I'm sure he'll still have everyone laughing like it's his day job.

And one more, just for good measure.  This time David is missing because he was stuck in Utah...

I have the cutest nephews in the world.  Tanner is 15 months old, and Clark is almost 2 months old.  I love these little guys more than life itself.

Here's a pic from October 30th of me holding Clark - isn't he precious?!  Basically, over Halloween weekend, Laura, Johnny, and I surprised my whole family (minus our accomplice and airport driver, Emily) by flying home for the weekend!  It was so much fun.  I love surprising people, especially with my presence.  Laura and I wanted to meet our new nephew so bad, and Johnny and I wanted him to meet my family.  So one random day in the beginning of October, Johnny said to me:

     "Hey, I've got tons of money.  I just got the biggest paycheck of my life."

So I said:

     "We should spend it all!  What should we do?"

To which Johnny replied:

     "Let's go to Arkansas."

And he immediately started looking at plane tickets.  Best boyfriend ever?  Probably.

Speaking of boyfriends, meet Johnny.  I liked him from the first night I met him, and that feeling hasn't gone away.  We met around this time last year, became really good friends, and started dating in June.  Oh, and then I moved home for two months, four days into the relationship.  We talked every night on the phone while we were apart, and picked things right back up again when I got back to Provo in August.  That's the short version of our history, and that will have to do for now.  Here's a picture of us from our "really really good friends but not yet dating" stage.  This stage lasted a while...

Here's one of us from my cousin's wedding reception in Layton, which just so happens to be Johnny's hometown.

 

He always makes me laugh, which works out perfectly because laughing is my favorite.

Johnny loved Arkansas.  I can't say I blame him.

First...

So here's my first ever blog post; it's a big day for me.  Here's a shout-out to my roommate from freshman year, Sarah Price Edwards, who, without much of an effort, convinced me to start blogging.  Love her.

  

She runs track and cross country for BYU.  She plays the harp, the guitar, and the piano.  She sews, she gets good grades, and she's a great friend.  Basically, she's good at everything she does, and our suitemate Hoku is obsessed with her, with good reason.

I miss freshman year.

Actually, now that I'm nearly halfway through my junior year, I feel like it's safe to say I miss sophomore year, too. We basically had fun all the time.  Here's me, Brittnye, and Anna at the BYU v. Utah game last year.  It was so intense! We totally won, though, and then we rushed the field, which has been a dream of mine ever since my first BYU football game.  It was bliss.

Here's the roommates from last year.  Apartment 394 in the Colony was pretty much the bomb - just look at my sweet roommates!

Halloween.  That's pretty much all there is to say about this one.  I really wish I had more of an explanation...

Johnny, me, Brittnye, Chris, and Mary - we were all such good friends.  The look on Chris's face says it all.

 

And one final thing before I wrap this bad boy up for the night - a tribute to Jason Dale Lane.  Just look at this classy guy!

He left us this fall for dental school.  He truly is, as Johnny would say, a man among boys.  But in all seriousness, Jason is one of the greatest guys I know.  He became one of my best friends, and this year is not the same without him.  I think Jason Dale will always hold a special place in my heart.