The time has come...for a new blog post!

Here is a post I started several months ago... I knew I'd get around to it eventually!

December was a wonderful month. My favorite part of the month was probably the day I walked out of the BYU Testing Center having completed my very last final EVER! I am now officially a BYU alum with a Business Management degree (emphasis in Marketing) and a Spanish minor. BYU doesn't hold a December graduation ceremony, so it all became official when I "walked" in the April ceremony. It's a great feeling to be done.

December was also wonderful because of the nice holiday break Matt and I had. We first went to San Diego where we spent some time with my mom and her husband, as well as my sister Cara and her family in San Clemente. Alex, Danny, and Alysa also got to come up at the same time we were there! The only siblings missing were Lauren (who is living the high life as a nanny in NYC) and Cami (and her husband, cute kids, and new baby girl, India!). The best part of the Southern California trip was probably the day we spent at Disneyland. I love it there. :)

After a few warm days down south, we flew up to the San Francisco Bay Area to spend Christmas and New Years with Matt's family. We got to take some fun day trips to the Carmel/Monterrey area, as well as the Sonoma/Napa area. Northern California is so beautiful. We also got to go into San Francisco a few times for some shopping, outdoor ice skating, Cirque du Soleil, and an unfortunate Phoenix Suns loss to the Golden State Warriors. I wore my Stoudemire shirt proud nonetheless.

While we had a fabulous and relaxing end of December, January had other things in store. Matt is in school and working hard. My most recent and exciting news is that I have accepted a job offer with Target!

As a consumer, I can literally spend HOURS walking around this great store, which is a definite perk to the job. I'm an ETL (Executive Team Leader) over Human Resources. Basically, I am one of the 5 assistant managers, but the Human Resources part of the store is my primary focus. It has been a great experience so far. If you ever see me, I'm probably wearing a red shirt and khaki pants! ;)

The other exciting news for the month of January is that Matt and I moved into a new place. We were really enjoying our cute little apartment around the corner from Brickoven and about 200 yards from the BYU south stairs, but we got an offer somewhere else that we just couldn't refuse. We are now living in a great basement apartment of a beautiful house up on Y Mountain. We have a beautiful view of all of Provo out to Utah Lake, a newer and more spacious living area, a garage, more privacy, and cheaper rent. And it's so much more homey! 2010 has been a great year for us so far.

Here are some pictures from Disneyland/California Adventure in December...

Me, Cara, Kylie, and Alysa; Matt and me in front of the mini Golden Gate Bridge.


I love our individual faces in this picture. This ride always gets me so wet!


Alysa and her Daddy; Kylie and her Uncle Al.


Kylie and Alysa LOVE Uncle Matt and got to hold hands with him all day. :)


We had an awesome day; but only 5 of us made it all the way to the end!


Now for some pictures from Northern California...

The Oakland Temple and the beautiful view from it (me with Kim, my lovely mom-in-law).


In front of the big Christmas tree in Union Square, SF. Kim and I got fresh gardenias from our hubbies!


Enjoying the garden atop the Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. Behind us is the de Young Museum of Art.


Outdoor ice skating!




Cirque du Soleil!


Marina and lighthouse in Monterrey.


The adorable cottages of Carmel. I am determined to stay in one someday.