Still here...

I haven't disappeared! But I also haven't been that great at taking pictures lately...

We went down to Las Vegas for the Christmas/New Years season! It was so much fun to be with the families! We had a GREAT time! Our families were EXTREMELY generous to us both because they know we are poor college students doing everything we can! We really were SHOCKED! We are always so blessed by both of our families, but they really went above and beyond this time! We each got quite a bit of SPENDING money! CRAZY! ha ha ha....they also got us a lot of the tiny things that we can't always afford. Our grandparents were also very generous...as usual~ :O) We love them all VERY much!

Devin got me a hair straightener (among other things). The cool thing about this particular straightener is that the guy who sold it to us showed me something REALLY neat that I can do with it! It does the most beautiful and permanent curls in my hair! It is really remarkable because my hair DOES NOT curl....at least not without TONS of hair product and a professional hair stylist doing it. My hair is SOOO straight! So why did I get a straightener?! Because of the way it does those curls!!!! I did my hair on New Year's Eve in those curls. It took me a bit to get the hang of it, but I only put mousse and hair sprayed it afterward. With only THAT, it stayed in my hair through all of our New Years celebrations, wind, AND sleeping on it....and it STILL stayed the WHOLE NEXT day! It was truly meant to be for me. I am glad to have it! I didn't take a picture (because I was way too busy to take ANY pictures this vacation), but I promise I will put one on next time I do those curls! :O)

I'm not quite sure what Devin's favorite gift was, but he got a handsome new suit from my parents and a Vince Young Texas Longhorns Jersey. He was sure surprised to have grandparents who were so generous! He looks so handsome in his new suit and has some neat new things to play with!

We had a fantastic time spending time with our families. On Christmas Eve we always go to my grandparents and eat a big meal and play some games. The grandparents always surprise us with fun things to play in order to get our presents from them! This year, we played concentration. When we finally made a match, we got the gift listed in that match! It was a TON of fun!

Devin had a chance to go to the Las Vegas Bowl! WOW what an ending, huh?!?! I missed the last TWENTY FIVE seconds!!!! What a bummer...the TiVo went out...:O( It was exciting to see the "miracle" of the night though! I'm glad Devin could be there!

Other than that, we relaxed a bunch by watching movies, going to movies, playing sports, watching JaNae's soccer tournament, celebrating holidays, putting together puzzles, eating, and practicing musical numbers.

JaNae and I did a musical number in church on Sunday and it turned out GREAT! I was SOOO glad that JaNae actually participated because she was so nervous! She is a beautiful violinist but has never really played for other people. She stopped playing for several years but then agreed to play the violin while I sang. I couldn't have been more pleased! It was wonderful to be alongside her!

She is also a talented photographer with her new expensive camera she got for Christmas. She took great pictures of the Leavitt/Truman/Mayer family. They all looked SO cute and it was a lot of fun to be there and participate in that!

After the fun vacation, it was time for us to return home...and that's where we are now! We are preparing to leave for Devin's internship in Las Vegas on January 16th. I am doing a MAJOR dejunking of our house just to get it all ready for us to be gone for a few months. We have decided to keep our apartment because we are moving into the *FREE* corporate apartment that is fully furnished (thank heaven) down in Vegas. Devin will be well paid, but I have yet to find a job. I have applied to a few places, but I am figuring it may be hard to get a decent job for only 3 1/2 months. We shall see! (If any of you know anyone looking for someone like me, let me know! :O)) Anyway, the house cleaning is taking MUCH longer than I really thought it would. We are SERIOUSLY deep cleaning though....and somewhat unfortunately, we are those kind of sentimental people that save EVERYTHING because we just KNOW we will need it eventually. ha ha Our rule is that if we haven't used it in the last 4 months (and it's something that SHOULD be used) we need to throw it out or give it to DI. So far, we are doing pretty well with that! We are really clean in our house and it always looks clean, but we just get that clutter built up over time. You wouldn't really know it, because I hide it so well--ha ha--but it is there and won't be soon! I am WAY excited about that! Plus, we'll close the apartment all up for our months away and I won't have anything to worry about when I get back except for finding a job and graduating! Exciting things...sorry no pictures! Hope all of your holidays were WONDERFUL and full of fun with family!