The entry.
The living room.
The Kitchen
The family room (downstairs)
My mother is AMA-ZA-ZING. Seriously. Who else on earth could throw an entire house together in 2 weeks? The chances you will find someone who can do that, and do it well, is slim to none. Major kudos to BOTH of my parents and those members of our family-as well as friends-who have helped us with this project.
Second of all, the last few weeks of school were pretty much a blur; however, there were highlights. When I say highlights, I mostly just mean that I took pictures of things. Blogs are no fun without pictures! These momentously documented events included the BYU vs. Utah football game, and my ward's closing social.
As most of you know, I have an all-sports pass with Haley. So naturally, we went to the Utah game together. Not only was it a gorgeous day, it was a day filled with El Azteca burritos and free lanyards. You really can't get better than that! Haley and I always have a good time together, but for some reason we were both really giggly and hyper (maybe it had something to do with the burrito...)! We kept taking these ridiculous pictures...and here is one of my favs.
Not only are WE funny, but the people behind us didn't move the entire time! I swear. I'm pretty sure the game hadn't even started at this point...so I have NO idea what they are looking at! Let's just say that we were very entertained and had a good time. ESPECIALLY when it go so intense near the end of the game. Oh. My. Unbelievable. There was no way it should have been that close at the end--but it was and I was going to pee my pants I was so nervous. And then we WON!
And that is how we felt about it. I'm shocked and excited out of my mind. My eyeballs are bulging out of my face for crying out loud! And Haley is...I have no idea. Saying hi to a guy she just saw that she thinks she knows? Haha whatever...The point is--it was INSANE. And we got to be there. In the nosebleed section on the other end of the field...but we were there!On December 11th, we had our closing social. We met up at the Manavu Chapel (a name which previous to this activity meant absolutely nothing to me. Who is Manavu anyway?) We were split into groups as soon as we got there and each group was assigned a Christmas song to make a music video to. They gave us 16 minutes (HSM3 anyone?) to choreograph a dance before we gathered again and performed it for the ward. Let's just say that there were some pretty interesting ones, hilarious ones, and dumb ones. But it was all in good fun and I know I had a blast!
Our group was assigned All I Want For Christmas Is You by Mariah Carey. There were 6 of us (2 of our group members ditched) and due to serious choreographer's block, we resorted to pairing up and having one person in the partnership be the other person's arms. I was a backup singer and I had to dance along with whatever 'my arms' did. HA. It was SO stupid I can't even tell you! But people thought it was funny--and we actually one the 'Funniest Award' for it. Good times. Honestly, it was probably funny because the arms of our lead singer betrayed him and grabbed the other girl's face at the last second like he was going to kiss her. There was a struggle...and they all fell down. Very entertaining. However, I was quite distraught that we hadn't gotten the N*SYNC song. And yet, I was happy to be in my seat when the N*SYNC group did their video because I was able to hear a girl say 'AW! They got the Backstreet Boys! They are SOOO lucky!'
Haha whoa, honey! Don't go crossin' those boundaries. Learn your 90s boy bands before you get into trouble...
but thanks for the laugh.
I forgot to mention that this social had a theme and recommended attire.
UGLY SWEATERS!! Woohoo. I borrowed one from Roger Woolstenhulme that I thought was just for me. It had a hand-stitched reindeer on it. And the reindeer had a red nose! Precious. I didn't win any awards, unfortunately, but I felt WAY cool (who wouldn't) and had to document it. This is Becky, Thomas, Me, and Scott, showing off how just how awesome our sweaters are.
Third of all, I must add a little tid bit to the last story (aka U.G./Sunset Guy story) I posted. I forgot one thing. My friend Heather told her brother, Thomas, about it while they were at the airport heading home for Thanksgiving. When she finished, Thomas said, 'What kind of freak would say something like that?!' (A reasonable question if you ask me...) and a guy sitting by them turned to look at Thomas for a second, and then got up and walked away!!WHAT?! Wouldn't that just be the funniest thing if that was actually the same guy?? It just tickles me pink to think about it.
My break has been great so far! I got a massage right after my last final, I have a house and a room to sleep in (AND it has blinds. High class), and my family is here. I hadn't really expected to get much for Christmas, because honestly it doesn't feel like Christmas at all and I was just fine with getting my room! There were, however, some pretty amazing gifts in my stack. My Aunt Paralee, who had my name from the extended family, handed me a little box at the last minute and told me to open it. I did. And it was a box of playing cards. Okay...maybe she wants me to learn poker? Then I noticed the sticker on them that said they had been used in an actual casino. Cool! But I was still confused. And everyone was just looking at me-waiting. So I tore off the sticker and opened them, dumping out the deck in my hand and what-do-ya-know! There were gift cards stuck in the deck! A bunch of them! Bonus points for being so dang creative! AND it was exactly what I wanted! THANKS PAR!
Another unbelievbale gift was from my sister, Brielle, who had my name between us girls. She spent hours and hours and hours putting together a London book for me. She printed off all of my blog posts from when I was gone, and narrowed down my EIGHT THOUSAND pictures to a measely THREE HUNDRED to stick in this ginormous album. OH. MY. GOSH. It makes me SO happy to look through it and I appreciate it SO much! It's the perfect gift that I didn't know I wanted. Thank you so SO much, Rielle.
I'm not a huge fan of just listing off everything that I got--so I'm not going to do that. But I do want everyone to know that I love my gifts and that they are even more special because I hadn't expected them. Mom and Dad, thanks for putting in the effort to make it such a great Christmas, even though the Christmas season has been a little watered down this year because of the move. You are amazing and I love you both so much. Thank you for being you.
Once again I am reading The Secret Journal of Brett Colton. It is one of my favorite books and I need a good read while I try to distract myself from the temptation of reading Catching Fire (which I know will make me go entirely mad because the ending is a cliffhanger. I don't have a years worth of patience to wait for the next book to come out...especially while I am hanging on a cliff. So I am exercising my self control and am putting it off as long as possible.)
That is a brief update. Minus one tiny little detail.
BREE IS HOME!! For a month, anyway. So far we have gone to Sonic once and plan to go again today (after we do a little at-home spa treatment. What is a vacation for if not that?) I am so dang happy she is here and I am so dang excited to have a blast together. Bring it on, Bree Lena!
I will update more house pictures in the next episode.
Happy Christmas!
-Talyn
P.S. One thing I did forget to mention...
My bro-in-law, Dev, got a pretty cool present for my sister, Kiara.
He wrapped a bunch of boxes inside of each other and on the outside of each one he had written her wish list as a checklist. The first thing on her list (that she keeps telling all of us she wants) was a white Tahoe. Yeah right. So he got her a little toy car and checked that off the list as the best he could do. He progressively checked off each one (we all knew these were checked off because she had already opened all of her other gifts and gotten the things on her list) and as the boxes got smaller and smaller and smaller, all of the things on her list were checked off--but Dev added OTHER to the bottom of the list. So she opened that last box and it was certificates for car washes. When she flipped the book open, there was a note on the inside that said she was going to need these to wash her new car!!! And then he took keys out of his pocket and held them up in front of her face. WHAT?!!?
Naturally Kiara started crying. So I started crying. and Brielle started crying. Then I'm freaking out asking where the heck her camera is so I can take pictures of her reaction! So we go to walk outside and, sure enough, there is a big, silver, Toyota Sequoia with a huge, red bow on the windshield, pulled up to the driveway. No freaking way, you say?
Yes, way.
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