Another night of sparklers. It is really fun. This was the best I got at writing my name.

This is the last post for this project. I finished one of my resolutions. And this one might have been the hardest, or at least one that I am glad is over. Taking a picture everyday is stressful. And you might have noticed that I didn't even take a picture everyday, hence the "flashback" segment.

But the end of the year is a time of reflecting. Here is all the I accomplished this year.

1. Losing 25 pounds. I didn't realize it was that much until now.
2. Chris and I made some Christmas presents for our family.
3. I played piano in sacrament several times. Never a solo, but for the choir. Which I think is harder.
4. I got better at photography and elements. Not where I want to be, but there is always this year.
5. I am a teacher. Which means I have a job with benefits. And a job that I love and I can't imagine doing something else.
6. I exercised 5 times a week up until August, than I started teaching. Almost accomplished.
7. I made half a quilt
8. I went to a craft fair and sold some things.
9. I realized that Heavenly Father has a plan for Chris and I. I think that is what I am most proud of. It is hard accepting that Heavenly Father's plan is different from mine. But it is His will and His timing that I am good with 97% of the time.
10. Project 365

Has this project been worth the time and effort I had to put into it? I have no idea. I was expecting this to go a little differently. I was at least going to get pregnant this year and I have one picture a week taken care of. We were supposed to do a lot of things that got pushed aside. But isn't that life? Sometimes you have to let go of the plan you have in your head. That is very hard for me to do. Now the plan is to do our best with our daily tasks and hope that there is a better plan we have yet to find.

I got a huge box of sparklers for Christmas and we started testing them out tonight. We also decided to take pictures. It took a couple of tries to get the settings on the camera just right, but it was fun. Chris is really good at making perfect circles with his arm.

Today we had a girls trip to Sweet Tomatoes and to do all our Christmas returns. We can't really go to Sweet Tomatoes without making a memory.

For example. today Charleah pushed a lady over just to get Mom an ice cream cone before me. How rude!

December 26

We played Clue on Sunday night. Sammie won the first round, then Charleah and maybe Mom? I don't really remember. I know that it was neither me nor Chris.

This is the new Clue which Charleah just loves. It is really fun. I don't think I could ever go back to playing the old clue. It just wouldn't be as exciting.

December 25

Christmas morning. In my family, we wake up and wait for Dad to shower. Although, now that we are older we all sleep in so Dad is up before us. We read the Christmas story, Mom and Dad open presents, the kids open presents,  then Dad cooks waffles. And we eat.

Christmas morning was not the same without Adison. He just makes everything better.

After we ate breakfast, Chris and I went to his parents house to open presents and spend some time with them. I need to get the pictures from Megan's new camera.

His parents left to go visit some other family, so we came up to anxiously await Adison's phone call. 2pm came and went and he finally called at 3:30 to say the phones weren't working properly and he would call at 6pm. So we all waited for 6pm. And he called. We got to talk to him for almost 2 hours. It was fantastic and only 5 more months until we get to talk to him again.

December 24

Christmas Eve was one busy day. Sammie and I woke up early to finish Christmas shopping. Then we came home and helped Charleah make cake balls. Then Chris and I finished making Christmas presents which we should not have pushed off to the last minute. But we wouldn't be us if we didn't procrastinate. Finally, we went over to his parents house for the Christmas Eve party. Chris's Dad made the best ribs I have ever tasted and we sang Karaoke. Chris's grandparents have a karaoke machine and tons of CDs, so if you can think of a song, they probably have it. Every year, the same songs are done. Chris's dad sings "Joy to the World" by 3 Dog Night. Chris and Megan sing "Summer Nights" and Mitchell sings some High School Musical with Megan and Chris backing him up.

December 23

Time to wrap presents. I am a last minute wrapper. And almost everything gets done near the last minute, so that pushes wrapping back even later. I was just going to wrap on present, but then there were so many sitting in front of me, that I just about wrapped them all. I was on a roll. Chris was funny when I found out I wrapped them all. He was in the other room wrapping my presents and I out-wrapped him 2:1. That is because he is a perfectionist when it comes to wrapping. So mine get done faster, but his look better.

December 22

This is our annual shopping trip with Dad. We go ever year to help him pick our presents for Mom. We were trying to remember the first time we did it, and I think it was in 2002. So we have been doing this for 8 years now. That is a tradition. It is always the week leading up to Christmas (because they is when every one is home) and it is so much fun. I hope we continue the tradition forever. Mom can stay home with all the grandkids and then all us siblings will go shopping with Dad.

Here, Charleah is modeling a shoe we bought Mom.

December 21

Can you see it? The cowboy hats? We were following this truck for awhile and I realized it was the picture of Texas. Drivin' a truck and wearing cowboy hats. They even have a Texas A&M sticker on it!

December 20

This morning, Mom, Charleah and I were out shopping and Dad called to meet up with us at lunch time. After the shortest nap in the world, we all met up at BJs. I think that place is so good, even though I only ever get a sandwich when I go. But there honey mustard is so good. Why can't you buy good honey mustard in the store? It was a nice little get together after all being apart for about 6 months.

December 19

And here is our new car. I think it is very pretty. I love the color and the inside is so nice. It drives nice too. Plus, it has cruise control! You wouldn't think you would miss it that much, until you realize that you don't have it.

You may ask, "What did you name your car?" And I would respond, "We don't name our cars." Well, Chris might, but I don't. It's name is the Kia Sportage. And that is it. We don't name inanimate objects once we are past a certain age.

December 18

Sometime you wake up one morning with an idea of how the day it going to go, and then something completely different happens. And I do not like changing my schedule.

Chris and I intended to get up and go Christmas shopping all day. But then he remembered that we were supposed to go to a car dealership so that I could look at the car he wanted. We leased the Jeep and the lease is up in February so we had to either buy it or get another car. (Never lease unless you plan on never driving the car.) We really didn't want to buy the jeep. It has been a good car, but in 3 years it would be worth nothing.

So, we looked at a Kia Sportage. We both really liked the car and after about 3 hours of talking numbers and negotiating, we finally signed our names to the car. ***Note to future self: Be more firm when talking numbers. I still feel like we didn't get what we were promised. Hopefully when we buy our next car, we will both do better.***

So, we went to clean all of our stuff out of the Jeep. It has been a good car. It never broke down and we only had that deer incident.

December 17

This is a picture of all the teachers and staff at Navasota Intermediate School. We took it after all the kids were gone, so do we look like we just through a party?

Today was our 5th grade Christmas party day. It was another half day at school so I only had to be there for 4 hours. That was awesome. I don't think I could have handled a full day of hyper kids.

I have little parent involvement in my classroom. I was expecting many parents to come to the party, and honestly that didn't bother me. I am not good at bossy people I don't know around. But, I am good at bossy Charleah and Sammie around. So they came with Mom to help me.

I honestly don't know what I would have done without them there. It was crazy, but not as bad as the Birthday Cupcake Fiasco. They were even quiet for a good 30 minutes while Charleah and Sammie played Bingo with them.

They all got to see what I deal with everyday. They may believe me now when I say one kids randomly screams. I don't know why, it just happens.

11:30 couldn't come fast enough. And with it, my Christmas break.

December 16

Charleah and Sammie are here! (This picture was taken in my classroom the next day)

They landed really late and didn't get to the house until after midnight. Of course, I was sleeping so I didn't get to see them until the next day. But they were in Texas and that is what matters.

December 15

We are a lot late getting the Christmas tree this year. But everyone has been really busy and hasn't had time to get it. While Chris and I painted Adison's old room, Mom and Dad got the tree. I think they did an excellent job picking one out. And it smelled fantastic.

Real trees are the only way to go. And it will always be that way. Hopefully our children don't have allergies.

December 14

Today was Chris's grandma's birthday. We went over there to eat dinner and have cake. Glenda got her Kindle. Those are really cool. If didn't love books so much, I would consider getting one. (And I mean real books, with pages and that are thick.) We also had an early christmas exchange since she was leaving to go to Colorado for Christmas.

December 13

Happy Birthday Cake to me! It was only a few days late, but I finally got my birthday cake. It was an ice cream cake from Diary Queen and it was so delicious. Thanks Mom and Dad!

December 12

For my birthday, Chris's parents got me a Silhouette. It is gorgeous and awesome. I like it better than the cricut because I can cut so much more on it without buying more cartridges. Especially fonts. I already made some Christmas presents with it. I was a little scared of cutting with it at first. It took me a while to take it out of the box, but I finally did.

December 11

These are just some of the lights at the Gullo's on Old Hockley. You would have to see the thing in real life to really get the whole picture. They live on a curve and have a huge front, semi-circle front yard. Which they can put tons of lights on every year. I drive by this every night. And since I worked late every night, I got to see the full effect in the dark. I have always wondered what their electricity bill is. Because there are thousands of lights there.

December 10

A couple in the ward put on an amazing race tonight. We had to dress up as a christmas song. Can you guess what we were. And then we were off to complete different tasks. First we had to eat a plate of mashed potatoes. And then decorate a Charlie Brown Christmas tree. And Chris had to become the grinch. There were some other task thrown in there. And of course, we won. We wouldn't be us if we didn't. It was really fun and I hope to do it again sometime.

At one point, we had to cross the railroad tracks, and guess what? There was a train. Chris was so devastated! He shouted "Noooooo"so loud. It was hilarious.

Mom and Dad participated too. They were almost right behind us the whole time. But we still had them beat. Dad had to eat the mashed potatoes all by himself since Mom cannot eat them. Those things are pretty filling.

December 9

More Christmas decorations I grew up with: Santa. Mom loves him and because of that, I do too. And do I believe in Santa Claus? Yes, I do. In high school, I did a oratory piece about how Santa Claus could be real. In the piece, my dad was explaining to me how Santa Claus couldn't possibly be real. But in the end of it I showed him. (I made it to finals in Oratory with this speech.)

Here is my view on Santa Claus. There isn't just one. Santa Claus is basically an angel. And it is possible that any one of us can be angels. There are angels all around us at Christmas time. We have angel trees and food banks and so many people who dedicate their time and money and efforts to make Christmas better for those who need it.

"Heaven never seems closer than when we see the love of God manifested in the kindness and devotion of people so good and so pure that angelic is the only word that comes to mind." Jeffery R Holland

December 8

Today is my birthday! My 25th. The one I have been dreading for a few months. But it has come and it isn't as bad as I expected it to be. Now I am no looking forward to turning 26.

I only took one picture today. Chris came up to my classroom and brought my students cupcakes. And then we all took a picture. I am not going to share it online, so if you want to see it you'll have to see it in my book I print.

Let's talk about my students. They were a bit embarrassing. Chris didn't come to 3pm, which is the worst part of the day anyways. They leave school in 15 minutes and sometimes cannot contain themselves. But, add cupcakes to the mix? And you have chaos. They were all over the place and it was the most tiring part of the day. Chris got to see what I was talking about when I say they are a little crazy. But they are 10 and 11 year olds. I am probably a little more forgiving then some.

If they ask, I will probably never bring them cupcakes again.

December 7

This is the time I end of driving home from work the past couple of weeks. I have been staying late to get everything done so I don't have to stay so late the last week of school before Christmas break. It means I have to drive home in the dark and I am always so exhausted, but it will be worth it later on. This is one time where planning could pay off.

December 6

I have one of the best sisters in the world. The American Crafts warehouse sale is happening in Orem right now. I sent Charleah my birthday and Christmas money so that she could go to the sale for me. I had written everything down that I wanted. While talking on the phone, Charleah and I shopped. It wasn't as good as it has been the last two years. They didn't have a lot of new stuff. Which was probably for the best anyways. But these are my goods. I am so excited to touch them and scrap with them.

December 5

I took picture of everyone in the house today to send to Adison. This is my self portrait. Just another picture of myself to add to my blog. I feel like I don't have very many.

December 4

Today we went to Pradria with Chris's family to celebrate my upcoming birthday. I didn't feel like it was my birthday unless I had Tucanos. And since my 25th birthday will be pretty traumatic, I really needed to find a substitute that wouldn't cost too much. Chris and I spent all week looking for a place like Tucanos and found Pradria. It was really good and we should got back soon.

Everyone was a little out of their element. It was pretty fancy. They had a huge wine menu and when Chris's Dad read the wine list he pronounced merlot with the "T". Afterwards we went to Diary Queen to get a blizzard. No fancy desserts for us.

December 3

For as long as I remember, Mom has had tons of poinsettias in the house to decorate for Christmas. And not that it is after Thanksgiving, the decorating can begin.  

It's not really Christmas unless there are tons of them around the house. I got one on Monday with my big check, but I don't plan on taking care of it. I actually forgot about it until this picture. I don't have time for plants. (Not how it will be with my future children.)

December 2

I love this picture of Sammie. But she hates it. This is from the picnic we had in Provo Canyon after my graduation. I love picnics. Dad made his hamburgers. It was really windy and Mom was trying to cut the vegetables in the wind. And thinking back to that day makes me miss Adison. He was in his element that day. But I love Sam's long hair here. One day, I'll have long hair like that. Maybe.

And Sammie, you do not look like a man. You look blonde and fabulous!

December 1

Here is our car. It is almost done. We should maybe have it by the end of the week. It is kind of weird how it works. They just took off the whole door and replaced it. Just crazy.

November 30

I love fall. It doesn't seem to really happen here in Houston. I love that the weather hasn't been freezing cold yet, but I miss the cool air and the changing leaves. Also, the part of Texas we live in has a lot of evergreens, so it is hard to find changing trees. But I found a few!

Fall also means Thanksgiving, my birthday, almost Christmas and a break from school! All good things.

Ugh. I hate this picture of me. But it is the only one I got for today.

I do like that we are sitting down to family dinner. It is one thing I think gets lots in most families today. Everyone is so busy that it is hard to get everyone together, but I think it is a necessary tradition. Even if it only happens a couple nights a week, I want to make sure it happens in Chris's and my future family.

December 28

Today we went to the Kunz's house to play games before everyone left town again. First we played Farkle. And then we played the name game. If that is what it is called. It is really confusing to explain, but it was really fun. I am sure it will be one that we play frequently with a big group.

And then the girls played Fast Nertz. Mauren said that only girls can play it because we can think of more than two things at once. It seems her theory is correct since all of the boys basically chickened out.

Kira won the round, and Charleah was not too happy to give up her crown. The last time I played, I lost horribly. But this time, I beat Charleah. HAHAHAHAHAHA. Yeah for me!

November 29

Have you ever received a big check with your name on it? Well, I do. To use for a field trip in the spring. I wasn't too happy with how they delivered the check. With loud music and tons of people in the 5th grade hallway and asking all the kids to stay in the classroom while the teachers came into the hallway to take a picture. Smart, right? But I am grateful to our AP who applied for the grant and got it.

November 28

It is Christmas movie time again. And today Mom and I watched White Christmas. This is one of my favorite Christmas movies. I love the music and Danny Kaye. My favorite songs are Snow and While You're Dancing.

November 27

Look at my finished apple pie. It looks delicious and it tasted even better than it looked. Do you see all those apples in there? I am pretty sure this was the best pie I have ever made and I can't remember what I did differently.

November 26

The day after Thanksgiving. The biggest shopping day of the year. I kind of hate it. This is how it went.

At about 10pm on Thanksgiving day, we went over to Chris's parents house. Chris's dad had left to go hunting and Glenda was planning her route for the next day. Chris and I went to walmart to scout it out. We found out where everything was then went back to get Megan and Mitchell. We went back to Walmart. Megan and I stood by the DVDs to get The Big Bang Theory. They only had four copies of each season. We were literally 2 feet away from the seasons, but we couldn't touch them until midnight. Chris and Mitchell were next to the towels. There story was a bit more exciting. People need their cheap towels. They had to call the cops over there to contain the crowd.

We were all successful in our pursuits. Afterwards, we drove down to Old Navy. The store was so full and filled to capacity that there was a line outside. So we didn't go in and drove back to Chris's parents house. The next stop was Target at 4am. We decided to take a little nap before we left. So, Glenda came to woke us up at 3am and Chris said that I could stay in bed if I wanted to. Soooo, I did. And he went everywhere else by himself. I would feel sorry for him, but I got to sleep. And that was more important than the things we could have got.

Chris did get this dog bed to Cali, which she loves. And some other things.

November 25

Thanksgiving dinner and carving the turkey. I didn't take a lot of picture because every Thanksgiving dinner basically looks the same. But it was so so good. And I miss it already. Especially the green bean casserole and mashed potatoes and turkey and gravy.

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. I will always love it.

Note to my future kids. I will do the cooking, you will do the cleaning.

November 24

Day before Thanksgiving is baking day in my house. Charleah wasn't here to join me this year and Mom cooked her pies before me. It's like she couldn't wait to get it done. I love making apple pie, but I don't like peeling and coring the apples. So I enlisted my wonderful husband Christopher to help me.

Afterwards, we went over to Chris's parent's house and hung out with Chris's familiy and watched The Fourth Kind, which is the stupidest movie ever, almost.

November 23

Today is Jennifer's birthday!

I wish we got to see Jennifer more often. We always have so much fun when she is here. She laughs a lot like Charleah, which makes me laugh.

When we lived in Oklahoma Jennifer lived in Oklahoma City for a time. I remember one night we got to spend the night at her apartment. She taught us how to play spoons that night. But it was so fun going to her apartment.

Happy Birthday Jen!

November 22

I went to see Harry Potter again today with Mom. I think it was better the second time.

November 21

This is Chris and his snickerdoodle cupcakes. He spent hours making the cupcakes and the frosting from scratch. Every once in a while Chris gets fixated on a new hobby. He has so much patience in learning it. I would have stopped in the middle of these cupcakes. Actually, I would have never started making both of these from scratch. He is so cute. And I love him.

November 20

We finally saw Harry Potter today. I loved it. I can't decide if I liked this movie or the last one better. I can't wait for the next one. I am trying not to think about it so the wait is easier.

One another note, I looked and looked for an awesome Harry Potter poster for my classroom in stores. I never found one. They were all terrible looking. Don't know who passed off on those. One day I'll find one.

November 19

The last two days at school were the hardest days of my life. We had a mock TAKS. And really, you might say "But Randi, the kids were just taking a test. How could that be hard?"

Because they have no attention span. Who wants to sit and take a MOCK test. No one. Once they finished the test, I had tons of stuff for them to do. Crosswords, word searches, coloring pages, blank paper, books and sleep! But of course they didn't want to do any of that for hours. And I don't really blame them.

I am not looking forward to the real test. Because they aren't allowed to do anything after the test except sit at their desk and  stare at the wall.

But, guess what today was? My last day of school before Thanksgiving break. I had a full week. As soon as the day was over, I was singing the song "Thank God I am Free."

Breaks are much needed for teachers.

November 18

Our rental car. It is kind of ugly. But it works. Our car is in the shop with the door off of it because of the deer. Chris really hates this car. Like, really hates it. I don't know why all the hate against it.

November 17

Let me tell you a fact. I don't laugh much in my classroom. I need to change that, but my brain is overloaded a lot of the day. When I do laugh, it is while I am grading papers. Sometimes it is me smacking my head against my desk and other times it is because of things like this.

November 16

Tonight was Chris's dad's birthday. We went to (try to guess) Rancho Grande.

Mitchell and Megan were there tonight. Mitchell doesn't usually like to be around people so much, but he tries. He stopped listening to his ipod to join in the conversation. But after a few minutes he asked if he had been social enough for the night. He is so funny. I always look forward to his little one liners.

November 15

I have had Photoshop Elements for almost two years now. I hadn't downloaded any actions yet. Well, after taking the pictures on Saturday night, I didn't want to go through and manuel edit every picture. That would have gotten old fast. So I downloaded some and I love them so much! I wish I had some more pictures to edit. Here is one from last year in Provo.

November 14

Not many people in Texas can claim they haven't been hit by a deer. Chris and I used to be one of the few. We have hit a cow, but not a deer. Well, we can claim that no longer. We join the growing number of those hit by a deer.

Let me emphasize, we did not hit the deer. The deer hit us 100%. As you can tell from the side hit.

Here is how most conversations went when we told people what happened.

Us: We hit a deer.
Then: Did you take the deer home and eat it?

November 13

Chris and I went to a vow renewal of friends of his Grandma tonight. I was asked to take the pictures. The event was at this house that was turned into a reception hall. First it was owned by a family from Italy and then a country singer. So, it was decorated in country and Italian. If that makes sense.  And, obviously, there was this little door under the stairs. It was so cute. Charleah would have loved it. It would have made a great hiding place for hide-in-seek. Except everyone would look there first.

The vow renewal was nice. Chris and I were talking about it beforehand. I asked him if we would ever do vow renewals. And he said "We don't need to; Our vows last forever." How sweet is that? But it is true.

Now, my job was to take pictures. I was no really sure what to except. Mostly, I thought I would just take a few pictures of the family and the ceremony. But, I also took some maternity pictures. Which was a little awkward because they wanted to take a bare stomach photo with the guy kissing his fiancé's belly. It was so much more awkward then I though it would be.

Moral of the story? If I ever decide to do photography on the side, I will not do maternity shoots that show the belly. Can I say awkward too many times?

November 12

This is the Christmas I first got this toy. It is one of the few toys that I remember from growing up. (Not that I had few toys, just that I don't remember them.)

November 11

How funny is this picture? I do not know the story behind this, but it is hilarious. If you look closely, she has a cope AND a wrap around her waist.

Also, there is the long blond hair I was talking about.