Trip to BYU-Idaho

My Favorite place

I had the awesome opportunity 

to drop my sister Hannah off at college this weekend.

It was such a bitter sweet trip for me,

but we definitely had a blast!

My car was packed to the very top with all of her things,

and we had the fun drive to Idaho

while listening to all our old music :)

This is the motorcycle caravan rode next to us for a while,

and Hannah waved to EVERY single one of them :)

Once we got there, we unloaded everything

and got her all settled in her apartment.

She was so cute and excited that this was her space

and her life she was beginning.

We went shopping for food and for books.

I gave her a tour around the beautiful campus

and tested her on where all the buildings were located.

THAT was fun :)

Campus is SO gorgeous and I couldn't get enough.

I felt like an old pro walking around campus.

It did make me laugh when I was checking Hannah in

and people kept asking me if I needed to register

for the Freshman check-in!

Hehe it gave me a good laugh :)

The beautiful Gardens on campus

Saturday was Hannah's 18th Birthday.

I felt bad since we had a lot of errands 

to run and things to get done.

But we managed to have fun along the way.

We went to Pizza Pie Cafe with Bethany and Kami.

It was a blast with just the 4 of us.

I'm jealous that they are all going to school up there together,

they will have so much fun!

Hannah also had some of her friends from California

over for birthday cake.

It was so fun to see all of them.

They sang beautifully :)

I also got to stay with my newly married cousin Kami

in her super cute apartment.

I had a blast showing Hannah around

my old stomping grounds.

I showed her the cheap movie theater

where my roommates and I would go to see movies

when we had a bad day.

I took her to the park 

where I loved to go on a warm Sunday afternoon.

I told her stories of all my dates 

and the fun places they took me to :)

This trip caused me to do a lot of reflecting

about my life and friends I had in Idaho.

BYU-Idaho changed my life.

I went through some of my biggest trials,

I gained my testimony,

I made lifelong friends,

I grew the most,

and I found myself.

BYU-Idaho will always and forever

hold a very special place in my heart.

I had a small tearful goodbye

as I drove away from my home this morning :)

I'm super excited for my sister Hannah

and I cannot wait to see what this wonderful school

has in store for her :)

Good luck Hannah!

Lake Powell Trip

Lake Powell

This last week at Lake Powell

was the absolute perfect vacation for us.

I am so lucky to have such a great family.

It was the perfect balance of pure fun

and soothing relaxation.

We stayed on a super nice house boat

and ate the yummiest meals!

How could we be so lucky and get so spoiled?!?

I wish there was a way 

to share every experience that we had,

but I'll just have to share pictures

and describe them the best I can :)

Along with riding on the house boat,

we also had two speed boats to play on.

We went tubing,

wake boarding,

and 

cliff jumping.

(ok, Matt went cliff jumping haha)

But I did have fun on the boat with the kids!

(How cute are my nephews??) :)

We picked an amazing spot to stay on our 3rd day on the lake.

It was perfect and had clear water,

place to explore, 

jumping rocks to swim to,

and sand to dig in :)

We had a blast playing games with the family.

We introduced the game Telestrations

and it was a huge hit. 

The perfect game for a big family who loves to laugh!

We were absolutely spoiled with how many toys we had on this trip!

But what was even more unforgettable,

was sleeping under the stars every night

and being able to see the Milky Way.

We saw a shooting star that lasted so long

it could have been a space ship entering our atmosphere! ;)

A Grandpa Edwards tradition

was to play the harmonica and tell stories as we fell asleep.

I wish I could have recorded it to share it with you,

but not even that could have done it justice!

It was the most relaxing and peaceful moment I have had 

in a long time!

Watching stars while falling asleep to the harmonica :)

Heaven.

It rained 4 out of the 6 nights we slept up top the boat!

The first time it happened we all ran inside

and slept where we could.

Matt and I were lucky enough

to claim the spot in the kitchen right next to the trash :)

Our stuff was all soaked

so we only had our sleeping bags and pillows on the tile floor.

Now that was an adventure :)

The other couple nights it rained, some stuck it out

and others ran inside.

It's quite the experience waking up to rain on your face!

However, if it wasn't rain we were scared of,

it was the spiders that kept lurking around our beds!

This was one of the small ones...one of the MANY!

It's a water spider.

They run along water!

Talk about nasty!

My sister-in-law Heather and I

checked our sleeping area for spiders every night

and made our cute husbands kill them :)

(Once we got home, we checked our bed for spiders out of habit!)

This was the top of the boat where we all slept.

(the ones without babies of course)

The last night we were there,

it rained the hardest.

But that wasn't what woke us all up,

it was the intense lightening storm!

Sheet lightening filled the sky as we all watched in amazement.

Then it started to drizzle which made a few go inside,

but we decided to stick it out :)

We put a sleeping bag over us on our air mattress,

and put blankets over our heads.

The rain soon left and we were asleep again,

but quickly woken up to thunder

from the huge lightening bolts.

It was the first time I have actually ever been scared for my life

in a lightening storm.

With all the huge rock wall surrounding us,

the thunder had the perfect place to echo.

Then a lightening bolt hit a rock nearby 

that we had been jumping off of the day before.

The crack of that lightening was freaky

and being on top of a metal boat didn't help much.

Honestly, I don't think Lake Powell wanted us to leave :)

Here are some fun extra pictures

I wanted to share :)

Our house boat

My brother-in-laws and uncle

My cute nephews and their rocks

 My sweet niece, baby Emma

We are so grateful for our Grandparents

and parents who made this trip possible for us.

We are so glad we made it

and the close bonds we were able to strengthen

with family :)

We love you!

Holbrook Christmas Traditions

This Christmas Matt and I got

to spend with my family. 

I loved every second of it

and we were both sad when it was over.

But thankfully, family never leaves.

Ever :)

Christmas was a ton of fun and 

I got to show him all of our family traditions.

I forget just how much they mean to me,

and I can't wait to carry them forward

when we have a family of our own!

Our traditions start on Christmas Eve.

We have the most amazing meal,

Which includes stuffing,

cream corn,

punch (ginger ale and cranberry juice),

and the famous

cranberry chicken!

It's so yummy

 and I look forward to it every year.

(I apologize for my stinky camera.

Wish I had a better one,

so bear with me!) 

Our beautifully set table

Mom and Sarah in the kitchen cooking

Family all together!

My delicious Christmas Eve dinner plate

Christmas Eve then continues with 

watching Mr. Krueger's Christmas

and the Nativity story.

Then we act out the nativity

and we read along in the scriptures.

This year Caleb got to help our nativity :)

Yes, that is a fire on our TV. (another tradition! hehe)

We then get to give our gifts to Jesus for the year.

We do this by writing down

on small pieces of paper

what we want to give Him for the upcoming year.

They are usually personal goals

of something we want to be better at.

We get to review what we gave Him last year,

and then put our new one in His stocking.

Then we open His stocking first thing in the morning

before any of us open our stockings.

It's a great reminder of what Christmas is really about.

It's just small enough to hold slips of tiny paper.

After we put our gifts in Jesus' stocking,

I then read "The Christmas Story"

to my family.

In case you don't know what it is,

It's a cute story 

that shows the meaning of the little things

of Christmas.

It's just a page long and describes

why the tree is green,

 what the wreath, candles, and bows mean, etc.

It's all in a bag and you take out each item

as it is being described. 

I love reading it to my family,

and I'll definitely read it to my children!

After we finish our program for the evening,

all of us "kids" get to sleep together in the same room.

My sisters and I even wear

matching foot pjs! 

It's a blast and Matt got to experience it 

for the first time.

Not quite sure what he thought of it ;)

Once we all wake up on Christmas morning,

it's also tradition that we wait

until dad gets up to 

"check if Santa Clause is still there"

when he really is getting the video camera ready :)

Then we all walk down the stairs 

to see our Tree with all our presents.

We all get our stockings

but before we open them,

we review Jesus' stocking first.

Then it's unwrapping time!

Even my cat Motor got some goodies this year!

Our first gift exchange being married :)

After all the presents are opened

and everyone is excited about what they got,

it's breakfast time!

Our tradition is to eat aebleskivers.

My dad served his mission in Denmark,

so he brought this tradition to us.

They are pretty much pancake balls 

that you can dip in anything you like!

As one of my presents this year,

I got my very own aebleskiver pan

to carry on the tradition!

I was so excited that I wanted to try it out.

My mom also gave me all our our recipes

that we use in our traditions,

so I have no excuse to not make them.

My aebleskiver pan!

Mine and my mom's. Twins!

Christmas was a blast

and so much fun to soak up our traditions :)

For New Years we have a few traditions too.

We watch the ball drop

and run outside to make a lot of noise.

Caleb and I have our pop-it war

and we all go crazy :)

We also love to play games.

My Grandma and Grandpa were with us this year

and so we played a ton of rockband.

SO fun :)

We also make toasts every year,

and they get crazier and crazier

as they go ;)

Our crazy bunch

Matt and I were so grateful 

to be able to visit home for 2 whole weeks.

We got to see each of our families

and get a good dose of relaxation.

We love you all!