Most wonderful time of the year? I'll second that

     Fun fact of the day: I took over 300 pictures during my 17 days of break. If you know me at all, that's not a surprise in the slightest. I'll narrow that number down over the next few days as I edit them, so don't worry. I'm not that pathetic.
     I wish I could post them all. I really do. But then my blog would take like fifteen minutes to load, and I'm just not that patient, which I'm sure is also the case for my parents and relatives back home who read this.  So this is me giving my word that the following post is the shortest I could make it - I promise! [: And here we go:

Final exams. The awful. The dreaded. The cursed. They were pretty bad. For more info refer to the picture at right. I didn't sleep, eat, or come out of my room much! Astronomy, Human Development, Geology, Book of Mormon, and Interior Design. And on top of all that - packing! It was a tough week. But I did well! Average, I'm told. I've made lots of goals to help me do better next semester, though. Slowly but surely I'm getting better at this college thing. It's a huge adjustment, even from doing Running Start at a community college.

After finals... it was time to go HOME. I came out of my last exam going practically insane with happiness! My friend Carson picked me up and I had my first Zupa's experience on our way to the airport (they don't have any restaurants in Washington; I am very upset by this). I checked my baggage, met up with some people from my home ward at the gate and soon we were seated and off to Seattle. So. stinkin. excited. When we came down the escalator at SeaTac and my family came into view, I couldn't help but scream. Best day of my life. Or one of them.

From the airport it was straight into downtown Seattle for one of my favorite Christmas traditions - dinner at Westlake Mall, Santa pictures, and the gingerbread house competition at the Sheraton Hotel.

  
These people have serious talent.

It was so amazing to be back in Maple Valley. I had missed the dirt roads and green forests of home. At home the tree was up, a fire was going in the wood burning stove 24/7, and it just felt like Christmas. I even got a welcome sign over the front door! I felt quite special indeed. On top of all that, I was with my family. Nothing better.

A pretty nasty windstorm kicked up that night and we woke up to no electricity (thank goodness we have a generator and a stove-heated house), huge branches flung all over the yard and driveway, and trees down all over the roads and our driveway. Fun stuff. The day was spent chopping wood and cleaning up!

And then it was finally time for the Christmas adventures.

Christmas party with my mom's side of the family. Lots of amazing food, a gift exchange, and much singing and just enjoying each other's company! Plus the German Mueller tradition of lighting the tree. Gorgeous.

Christmas cookies with my wingman.

Enjoying an evening acting out the Nativity scene. I mostly had to stay at the piano since my job is to accompany the hymns, but I still got to dress up!

We had fun with our angel robes (don't worry, this wasn't part of the real Nativity...). 

Christmas morning!

The traditional breakfast - toasted English muffins piled with ham, eggs, and Hollandaise sauce, with Martinelli's and Orange Peach Mango juice to drink. Heavenlyy.

Umm yeah... guess I wasn't fast enough to catch Merritt inhaling his.

Gryffin knows how to work the face when there's 

good food around.

One of the best gifts of the day:

And a Starship Enterprise pizza cutter. Most amazing thing I've ever seen.

Ice skating!

        Merritt blew us all away with his Olympic-level moves.

  

I also did lots of laundry with my mom. Panda chipped in.

 Living in the forest yields many adventures as a result of the various critters that share the house with us. For example, we have to dust the Christmas tree or it becomes completely draped with spiderwebs in a matter of days. Those little guys are a bit behind the times - Halloween was two months ago, fellas. But we appreciate your passion for festivity. 

Honestly will never get enough of this view. [: 

We took a trip down to Seattle to have dinner at Ivar's and then check out the Picasso exhibit at the Seattle Art Museum.

It's illegal to leave that place without feeding the seagulls.
At least with the Krop family.

No pictures from the art exhibit. Apparently the employees don't appreciate people taking pictures of multi-million-dollar works of art. No fun. But the artwork was... interesting to say the least. Picasso had a very strange imagination. We'll just go with that.

And then to top it off I got to spend the evening with my best friend, who'll be in the mission field when I get home in April. So we had a "last date." He took me to a REALLY good Oriental restaurant for dinner. There was so. much. food. This is like... half of it. We gave some of the leftovers to a homeless man afterwards and there was STILL three boxes for us to take home.

  We spent the evening eating till we were just about bustin' and also deciding which Chinese Zodiac animal belonged to whom. There's still some controversy regarding those decisions. At the end of the evening I couldn't believe it was the last time I was going to see him for two years. It was really, reallyyy hard. This kid is going to be a fantastic missionary. He's already an amazing person as it is. But I can't put into words how much I'll miss him. He means the world to me and I can't believe he's off on his mission in two months. Exciting and depressing at the same time... I still can't decide which side I'm leaning toward. Anyhow, it was a very enjoyable and quite memorable night [: 

Next adventure:

Okay okay guess where I am! Or guess what I'm doing. Trust me, it's amazing.

SNOWSHOEING. 

A confession: I'm addicted. I didn't ever want to stop. It was like being in a different world.

I LOVE the great outdoors and I especially love the Northwest! Oh man. It was the most beautiful thing. My mind is still blown.

New Year's Eve was spent partying hard at my grandparents' house.

 As usual, the toilet paper game. Another tradition that we've done for as long as I can remember. It's called something French pronounced "sahray voo" but I haven't a clue how to spell that. Basically you sing a special song (which we found out from a French-speaking missionary literally means "Please pass the toilet paper, blah blah blah nonsensical syllables) as you pass rolls of TP around the circle and it naturally goes faster and faster. Whoever messes up gets the boot. And the game continues!

The final round. Look at that TP fly!

Then the clock hit midnight and we rang in the new year. We could see the Space Needle from the deck outside but taking a picture of the news coverage yielded a much better quality result. And a warmer one haha. [:

 

And then for the next few days relaxing and packing up... Living out of a suitcase for two
weeks is hard, okay? Cut me some slack.

And now I'm back in Provo. School starts tomorrow. I miss my family even more than I did at the start of Fall semester, but I'm excited for new classes, new adventures, and learning new things about myself. My life is so good.

Not-so-senior shots

Before I get on with this, I'M HOME! And I'm pretty sure I am part of the most incredible family on the planet. I have been having such an amazing time. Those adventures will be shared later! But anyhow, the real purpose of this post is that Rebecca brought my senior pictures to the Christmas party last week. They're done! The shoot was extremely last minute - we squeezed it in about two weeks before I left for BYU. And Rebecca was so accommodating. How she got this outta me I will never know. Thanks a million to her! She is downright amazing at her job. 

Reason for the Season

     Christmas. Honestly, the most amazing time of year. My favorite time of year! It's always cold [: Crisp, clear, frosty mornings. Hot chocolate. Christmas lights. Big coats and boots. Bing Crosby and Nat King Cole on the radio. The glowing tree in the living room. The fireplace at home always warm and bright. Lots and lots of singing. The never-ending cooking and baking of amazing treats! There are so many things to do with family and friends. But the thing that I know is my most favorite part of the holiday season is the way I feel. And something even more wonderful is that everyone feels this same way too. Even those who aren't particularly religious. I can't exactly put my finger on it, but seems to me that everyone is just more grateful, less selfish, and more focused on making other people happy. In essence, people are more Christlike, whether they're doing it consciously or just involuntarily getting caught up in the "spirit of giving" atmosphere that everyone else is creating. How cool is it that pretty much everyone of every faith can share the same emotion? It makes me so excited!
     I love President Monson's message about having the spirit of Christ during Christmas. To be honest it makes me a little bit sniffly every time I watch it. Embarrassing! But that little girl is so darn cute, and the principle she teaches her family is so pure. The spirit of Christ; that's the happiness that everyone feels during the holidays! Some of 'em just don't know it. [: I love the Christmas season most of all because the most important things in my life - my family and my Savior - are the emphasis of the whole celebration we call "Christmas." Words get in the way when I sit here and try to express my love for Jesus Christ, who I know came to Earth to suffer for the sins of the world so that I could live with my Heavenly Father and my family again. And despite the fact that he was coming to perform that amazing sacrifice, despite the fact that he was the Son of God; a king, he was brought into the world in a stable, among farm animals. This only strengthens my testimony that he knows every one of God's children personally, from the highest to the humblest.
     I love this time of year. I'm so happy right now. Part of that is probably owed to the fact that I'm DONE with finals and will on a plane bound for Seattle in about four hours. And the rest of it is just a result that of this special season and everything that comes with it. [: Merry Christmas!!

Dear finals,

     I really, really, really want to see these people. Right now. I've already taken two of your stinkin exams; can I just skip the other three and go home? Am I really asking too much? I don't think so...

Two days. [: 

Hockey, Christmas lights, and a museum of... beans?

Here we have myself, looking quite gleeful indeed. Why? Well for starters, that's a real live RHINO {or was, at one point or another}, but most importantly, this was the first day of an entire weekend I got to spend with one of my most favorite people on the planet. 

This is David. He's one of my bestest friends from high school, and one of the awesomest people of my LIFE. I've never known anyone inside & out like I do him, nor have I had a friend who has known me so well. I literally just plain love him. To bits. Yep. And this here boy came to visit me at college. Back in November he surprised the daylights outta me by casually mentioning to me that he had bought a plane ticket to come spend a weekend in Provo. I was mighty excited and brainstormed all sorts of things to do all over campus so we could have adventures just like old times. The night he arrived, we went & saw Inception at the Dollar Theater (bless its cheap little heart; a college kid can never be thankful enough for one of those things so close to campus), which was just as mind-blowingly good my second time, though I did still jump at all the tense parts much to David's delight.
     The next day was party time. It was David's birthday so I had some super fun stuff planned. First I took him to the Commons cafeteria where us Helaman Halls freshmen are (over)fed each & every day. I always would brag to David about the food there so it was only fair that I let him experience it first-hand. After we had some real food, we had a dessert challenge where each of us got to pick whatever (unlimited) desserts we wanted the other person to eat... 

But by about the third plate it really wasn't feelin like such a 

great idea anymore. 

After lunch it was off to the Monte L. Bean Museum of Life Sciences, more commonly known as the Bean museum. It's one of my favorite places on campus, and I was sure it would be David's as well. I didn't let him in on the secret of what was actually in the museum, though, so when he heard we were going to "the Bean museum" he was a little confused as to why anyone would devote an entire museum to beans. He was pretty surprised when we walked through those doors!

David & his liger. "It's like a lion and tiger mixed... bred for its skills in

magic." (name that movie.)

Don't worry, I went easy on him.

Can you tell the difference? Psh, neither can I.

Fact: my hair matches the fur of the Himalayan Tahr. I will now respond to "hemitragus jemlahicus" 

if you ever find yourself growing bored of Hannah. I really won't mind.

This fish is called a Wahoo. Muchhh too great of a photo op to 

pass up. [:

David's favorite, the bear. Someday you'll be taller, buddy. Someday.

Oh the fun you can have in a building filled to the brim with dead animals! [: We sure think so.

And now, enter: bad luck. I started to come down with the flu! Talk about awful timing. Thanks immune system. But I refused to go home just yet, since I still had more plans for us to make David's birthday spectacular. We headed over to a showing of BYU's sketch comedy group, Divine Comedy, which was great & supplied much laughter, much to the un-delight of my nausea & body aches. Against my protesting, David refused to let me take him to his birthday dinner when I was feeling so sick, so instead we went and saw How The Grinch Stole Christmas {cute movie, that one} before I went back to my dorm to see if I could sleep off the nasties. The next morning I felt much better, & we wandered around campus till the BYU hockey game, just doing random stuff like sippin on some Jambas and finding this lil baby door in the racquetball wing of the gym. Perfect fit, wouldn't you say?

We just have a good time. Wherever we go.

 Then it was hockey time!

The zamboni driver thought he was extremely cool leanin' like a cholo.

After a handful of fights & finally a satisfying victory of 7-4 over Weber State, David's older sister Marie picked us up & it was off to Temple Square for some Christmas light viewing. They were beautiful and I really can't think of a better way to get in the Christmas spirit. [:

We found this nativity scene from China and, naturally, a picture had to be taken. David

looks all authentic but you can't see my peace signs because of my black gloves so...

I just look constipated. My apologies. No offense meant to Asians! 

So that's how I got to spend my second to last weekend of my first semester of college, & I wouldn't have it any other way. [: Best friend, stuffed animals, men with sticks who look for any excuse to beat each other up, & then Temple Square. Perfect, perfect, perfect. And to top it off, I'm HOME in two weeks. Just gotta get over these nasties and beast some final exams.

Easy-peasy when you've just had a weekend like mine.

Thanks for visiting me, buddy. [: