Views of Christmas Break

Here's a little peek at what we've been up to here in Washington this past week! 

1. My hipster little bro trying on my new glasses -- totally think it works for him!
2. Beaches taquitos -- the best
3. Lyv and I prepping food for my holiday party!
4. The cutest display of chopped vegetables you've ever seen
5. It wouldn't be Christmas if we hadn't set off the fire alarm...twice...
6. Quinn & Owen outside Christmas morning in the rain in their pajamas, playing with his new remote control car
7. Owen & da boys showing off their muscles while playing some games
8. Just your typical day in the Barret kitchen
9. Better watch out, or someone will end up with a knife through their head!
10. Singing round the piano, a Barret tradition
11. Mom harassing Owen about making the website
12. Devynne's Christmas dessert - Chocolate Strawberry Cheesecake
13 & 14. Lyvia and I working on some holiday crafts
15. My final result!
16. Our homemade JDawgs, grilled in the cold outdoors by the boys (fortunately no rain...)
17 & 18. Some snapshots from my holiday party!

hair hair hair

It is simply impossible to study with the invention of the Internet. Impossible. So what have I been doing instead? Yeah, trying on celebrity hairstyles. With this website designed to waste time when I should be memorizing drug mechanisms. I'm actually getting my hair cut on Friday, so this may not be completely pointless, plus it is actually really funny. Here are some options that I am considering for my haircut on Friday, let me know which is your favorite!

Alexa Chung bangs

pretty crazy, right? and funny. almost as funny as trying on glasses...

Dianna Agron haircut

turned brown of course

reese witherspoon bangs

weird

lea michele bangs

ahh... no....



emma watson #1


and now I look like a little boy


emma watson #2


okay, this has got to stop


I think this blog is turning more into a "let's show embarrassing photos of myself" kind of blog, but oh well. I think it's funny. Hopefully you aren't feeling too awkward by now...

free AND christmas?! i'm in.

Welp, one final down and only three-ish (really one-ish) more to go! Took my pathophysiology final last night where I had to know over 300 diseases, and managed to do fairly decent, so yay! Now I just have to memorize 176 drugs for Thursday, and we'll be in business. 

Since I am currently in the anti-studying mode, and think that you all should be too, I have something to share with you! 

Because who doesn't love free Christmas music! All you have to do is go to this website, and you can download the whole album for free! Or you can just listen to it online if you want. I've already downloaded Vol. 1 and 2 onto my Kindle, so now Owen can be happy that we have other Christmas music besides the She & Him Christmas album to listen to in the car (though I would be satisfied with just that album for a long long time!) 

Holiday Wish List 2011

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,  9, 10, 11, 12, 13

How can anyone expect me to study when Christmas is JUST RIGHT AROUND THE CORNER?! It is truly a mystery. So what do I do instead? Make a holiday wish list of things that are ridiculously expensive and I will never get anyway. But hey, dream online shopping is fun, okay? Plus everyone I know is likely already done with their Christmas shopping, so we should be fine :)

Studyin Time

Yes it's finals week and since I didn't really study on the reading days (seriously BYU, you have to stop calling Saturdays "reading days") I'm hitting the books today. My mother asked if we pulled out the big snacks like we did last year, and I had to laugh and tell her that we were going a little healthier this year (thankfully). Here's this semester's fuel to get me going through this torturous week:

From left: Dark Chocolate Pomegranate seeds (from Costco, SO delicious and satisfying), Roasted Pine Nut Hummus (hummus = love), TONS of satsumas (because we bought at 25 lb box...this is all that's left! Go us!), Baby Lips chapstick (my finals gift, to myself), Funfetti pink frosting (cuz let's get real, I'm not thaaat healthy. And yes, I like it straight from the can), Multi-grain wheat Club crackers (I like 'em better than the original! And with the hummus of course).

So there you have it! Hopefully this year I will be able to focus more with the lack of stomach ache, so wish me luck!

Go Team Qualtrics

Believe it or not, this was the least embarrassing of our photos...

world

via

Saw this lovely illustration on Pinterest. Doesn't it make you just want to go to all of these places?

It's probably because it's the week before finals but I'm feeling like I need to GO somewhere! Owen and I are thinking about planning a trip after we both walk in April, but are having serious trouble agreeing on where to go! There are just too many interesting places around the world!

Finals Next Week? Pshhhh....

Things I'm doing besides studying right now:

1. Being glad I'm not studying
2. Watching all the song and dance sequences of The Newsies
3. Blogging about the SA-Weeeet gingerbread house we made last night!

the cast of characters

devynne hard at work

me secretly eating all the candy

the disaster mess after the beautiful creation 

Some More Mormon Monday

A favorite scripture passage from our couple study last night:

 7 For a small moment have I ^aforsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee.

 8 In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment, but with everlasting ^akindness will I have ^bmercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer.

3 Nephi 22:7-8

We read like 8 chapters last night in order to get back on schedule for finishing up before the end of the year! 

Funny

from this site

I once heard someone say (I think it was someone from this family) that the goal of Pinterest is to simultaneously encourage women to bake delicious desserts and become anorexic at the same time. While I often feel like that is true, this photo I spotted on Pinterest today was too funny not to share!

Tis the Season

Who cares that it is the last week of classes and that I should be studying for finals? Not me! We've had our first actual ground covering of snow and my mind has hopped aboard the Polar Express. Cheesy, I know. But you know what, many things about the holidays are cheesy. And I love it. 

To start off our cheesy holidays celebrations, we went to Christmas Around the World on Saturday. Owen and I have gone to this the past three years and I love it every year (despite the fact that most of the dances are disproportionately from Northern Europe). This years they totally added many more dances from other cultures which was great, including Israel, Africa (yeah somehow the whole continent was lumped into one dance, but at least it was included!) and my perennial favorite- India. This year the India dance was totally Bollywood style and it was pretty fun. Somehow the World Dance department has turned down our offers for Balinese dance workshops, but one year my friend, you shall see...

the folk dance people LOOOOVE the ukraine dances. photo from byu. 

Then last night, we had the chance to watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional (on tv, yeah definitely the coolest part of being in Utah). I loved hearing the wonderful sweet Christmas music of the choir and feeling the love that the leaders of our church have for us. Here was my favorite tweet from LDSNewsroom during the devotional:

“When we keep the spirit of Christmas, we keep the spirit of Christ, for the #Christmas spirit is the Christ spirit.” Pres. Monson 

And these new videos from the church are lovely! Definitely going to be using them for FHE tonight!