books for christmas?

not gonna lie, this christmas break was one of the best i've ever had. filled with family, friends, and the beach. really, what more could anyone ask for? oh right..alexandria (who by the end of the week knew to bring us refills of diet coke and chocolate chip cookies before we even asked).

my first night home i was reunited with the loves of my life.

[unfortunately the great wall of chocolate didn't make it into the picture]

it was SO good to be home. 

it was SO good to be with my friends.

lucky for all of us, shannan's bf evan's family lives in athens now so we got to spend oodles of time with him. 

we liked to play the game.."whose boyfriend is he?"

it really was a fun game. everyone loved it. well, not maybe not shannan..

visitors = family field trips. we all went to the world of coke and the g fish. honestly, nothing is better than being in the aquarium with about 4 other people. 

what's the one thing the entire world has in common? coca cola. 

and thank goodness for that. 

i could watch beluga's for hours. i blame head over heels for my love for them.  

 christmas eve we kept our usual family traditions. 

party with the entire stake.  

get in our new jammies.

 and sing our hearts out to barbra streisand while driving around with an open bottle.

 christmas involved lots of hungry shark.

 and sleeping. 

seriously i think i caught up on all the sleep i missed first semester.

 our christmas present landed us on the beautiful island of puerto rico.

"WAIT! we're going to puerto rico?"

however, tragedy struck, and it rained the beginning of the week.

we found the most appropriate way to handle this terrible crisis was to visit a rainforest.

lots of trees and plants and bugs. 

 we also hit up the old san juan forts.

my evil father and sister ploted ways to turn this historical site into real estate development. 

dad: "a shopping mall here and a restaurant there." 

kelli: "think of all the apartments you could build!"

dad: "and the view!"

kelli: "it's really a shame this property is owned by the state."

sam: "seriously? take your real estate talk and shove it."

 however, our biggest problem: we didn't tour puerto rico in style like these folk. 

 we kayaked through a bioluminescense bay. pretty sweet. 

the tour guides were pretty great too. 

check out my sister kristan's blog for the last 5 christmas' and you will see it's not christmas without churros. 

and this little lady legit had the best churros we have ever had. [and that's saying something]

"like us on facebook!"  

 we rung in the new year with some awkward family photos and the spanish channel. 

i love my family. 

 and i love christmas break.