Almost there...

Matt is an Honors student at BYU, which means that in addition to his regular classes, he has to take extra Honors classes, go see lots of plays and concerts, art exhibits, science lectures, read a lot of books, and put together a huge portfolio full of critical analysis papers and examples of his work over the past four years - in addition to writing and defending a thesis. He turned in his portfolio a week ago, and this Friday is the due date for his thesis. It's been a really rough few weeks for all of us as Matt has finished all the requirements. We don't see him at home anymore - he leaves before we get up and he stays at the library till it closes every night - instead, we take trips to go 'visit' daddy and bring him food. It's been rough on all of us, but the end is finally in sight. He has several meetings with his thesis adviser this week, and they will finish the final writing and editing that needs to be done on his thesis, then hopefully with no more than one all-nighter, he'll be done in time for his birthday this coming weekend.

I'm so proud of Matt for all the work he has put into graduating with Honors. We've gone to tons of fun plays and concerts and learned lots about science and art, not to mention reading tons of great books. I get to proofread all of Matt's papers, too, so I learn all about the different things he's studied and written about for his portfolio and thesis. Overall, despite the last few insane weeks, the Honors program has been great, and will be a great memory for him and for me of our time at BYU. We love you Matt! Good luck this week!

Sleepy

Why are sleepy babies so hilarious? Not sure, but this video cracks me up every time. It was even better in person. I especially love his black satin bow tie.

Christmas and wedding pictures

Here are a bunch of pictures from our break. We spent time at grandma Auman's house in San Jose and made an awesome gingerbread town, had a Who party with Matt's family - including the Grinch and a Roast Beast, went to San Francisco with my family (which included the customary stop at the Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory), had Christmas morning at grandma Bromley's house in Alamo, and did a whole bunch of wedding stuff. It was an incredibly busy vacation, but we got to do lots of fun things and see lots of people.

Aunt Karen and our gingerbread village

My grandma Auman teaching Owen how to eat frosting from the beaters

Owen playing with Josh, PJ, Don, and Jake at the ward Christmas party

Who party! This was so fun - but Owen was terrified of the Grinch.

Matt and Owen get ready to eat Roast Beast.

Who hair!

Five sisters at Lexie's bridal shower.

Playground on Christmas Eve.

This is a house a couple neighborhoods over from Matt's house. They do this every year. I can't imagine what their utility bill must look like.

Cousin nativity at grandma Bromley's house. My cousin Melanie's new baby Emma got to be baby Jesus.

Yummy pies and rolls at Matt's house on Christmas Eve!

My mom and dad play a game on Christmas Eve.

The Bromley family traditional Red Velvet Cake on Christmas Eve. Yum!

Christmas morning - waiting for Hilary to get out of the shower so we can open presents.

Christmas tree on Christmas morning - we had 17 people there, and it was kind of a madhouse.

This is what Owen thought about having Christmas morning at 7 AM.

Cute siblings - Becca, Kevin, and Madeline - in the car on the way to the temple for Lexie's wedding!

Becca, Kev, Mad, Owen, and Hilary.

Waiting for Lexie and Ryan.

Kevin interviewed everyone about their marriage advice for Lexie and Ryan.

Hooray! The cute couple.

Lexie and Ryan and the bridesmaids.

It was way past Owen's nap time at this point, and the only way he'd stay happy was if we let him carry around three pounds of goldfish. Doesn't he look snazzy in his cute little vest and bowtie?

You guessed it - Lexie had to bribe Owen to sit with her by feeding him goldfish.

Someone told all the bridesmaids to make sexy faces... this was the result. Not quite sure we got it.

Don, Brant, Josh, and PJ supervising the car decorating.

Waiting for Lexie and Ryan to come out. What you can't see is that everyone's fists are full of rice that they're planning on dropping on Lexie and Ryan as they run through the tunnel.

On their way!

Madeline and me watching a bread making demonstration at the Boudin Sourdough factory in San Francisco.

I loved the tour of this bread factory - we got to see everything, and taste several kinds of bread.

Obligatory stop at Ghirardelli Square for ice cream.

Owen had one hand each on me and Matt to make sure we knew he wanted bites of our ice cream.

Ice skating at Union Square in San Francisco. We went with Matt's brother Jon and his wife Sarah. I had never been ice skating in the city before, and it was really fun!

Huge Christmas tree behind me!

My very attractive family at the Oakland temple looking at the Christmas lights. This is my mom, Kevin, Becca, Hilary, and Madeline.

Love the Oakland temple.

And just for good measure, a cheese face from Owen.

We're alive

Yes, I know it's been forever since we posted last... I could give a million reasons, but mostly, we've just been busy. Sooo... hopefully we'll have some pictures up soon. We had a great Christmas break in California (definitely appreciated the lack of snow) which included my little sister's wedding the day after Christmas. All three of us got sick (we had 17 people living in the same house... it was bound to happen), but we have recovered and are definitely glad to be home. It was a good vacation, but I will say this - none of my children are ever getting married at Christmas.

Anyway. That's it for now. Pictures later. Hope you all had wonderful Christmases!