december in pictures.

Since I haven't blogged for a while, I am going to show you what I have been up to via pictures the last couple of months.

The first part of December my family and I took a trip to Lawrence, KS. We went to celebrate my dad's 50th birthday. Last year, Devin and Kelli bought a ticket for a KU game for my dad for his birthday. This year...we joined him. Me, Devin, dad, Dustin and Chrissy all went to a KU game. It was my first game to ever go to! I was ecstatic! I loved every minute of it. Can't believe it took me 23 years to go to a game.

Before the game, these four ran in the Lawrence Jingle Bell Run!

At Allen Fieldhouse! So fun.

 Chrissy and I at our first KU games!

The guys.

The whole gang. Dustin, Chrissy, me, Devin, and Dad!

Allen Fieldhouse!!

Warm ups.

After we met up with Kelli, Brodi and Mom for a family picture.
Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

Celebrated Christmas with the family! We spent the day at home not doing a whole lot of anything. It was wonderful! This was Brodi's first Christmas. He loved it! It's hard to believe that Christmas Eve last year we got the exciting news that Devin and Kelli were expecting. What a blessing Brods has been! I don't remember what we did before Brodi...:)

Christmas Eve

Uncle Dusty and Brodi

Games on Christmas Eve

Christmas morning.

Kel and Brodi

My brothers.....this picture perfectly describes them. 

My favorite picture from the day :)

Siblings...and the baby...and the dog!

We spent a majority of the day playing marbles.

So fun.

The 28th was what is called The World Mission Summit (TWMS3...it's the third Summit, just in case you were wondering where the 3 came from!) World Mission Summit is a missions conference where Chi Alphas from all over the place come together. There is worship, speakers, and missionaries from all over the place! And as you have probably guessed....it's all about missions, which I loved. I enjoy anything that has to do with missions. If you have ever been to or heard about Urbana (another missions conference...I went to it 4 years ago!), the Summit is similar just on a smaller scale. Urbana there were around 18,000 people. The Summit there were about 4500 of us! But the other awesome part about the weekend was getting to spend time with some of my Topeka friends! :) I had a blast.

Leaving Topeka! 

Ari and I taking advantage of the empty bean bags. This was the only time they were not taken!

Andrew, Ari, me.

Eric and Erin.

Fort Worth! 

Ariona.

Last night at The Gathering.

They had what was called "Windows to the World". It was neat. Over the weekend I went to Africa, Europe and Eurasia. Africa showed a video, Europe was cool. We went to an "art gallery" and walked around there and then ended up in a different room where 4 different people from different ministries around Europe talked about what they are doing. We also sat with our "tour guide" (who are missionaries in Europe) and we got to talk to them about what they do and what life is like in Europe. It was cool. Our tour guide was awesome! We ran into her later and talked to her for probably 30-45 minutes! We also met her husband. I just met them, but they are awesome! I loved it.

Then we went to Eurasia. It was quite the experience. You had to have a passport to get in. The guy who I had to talk to saw my sticker for a ministry so he was questioning what I was doing there and if I believed in Jesus. He finally let me go and I made my way through. Phew. They did have a jail that they were throwing people in. One of my friends I met got her passport taken away and she was sent to jail. They wouldn't let her in. They did a really great job of making it seem so real! Anyways...as we were walking to where we were supposed to go, there were people grabbing you, trying to take your bag, shoving things in your face trying to get you to buy it....I have never been to Eurasia but I feel like I have been! haha. Oh and we had to wear head coverings and the guys had to wear hats.

Here are pictures from our trip to Eurasia! :)

As we arrived to Topeka on New Years Eve, it was snowing. The plan was for me to keep driving, but it was dark by the time we got to Topeka and I was afraid everything would start freezing over. So I decided it would be best to stay the night in Topeka. I ended up going to my friend Stefanie's house and staying the night there. It was a huge blessing, I had so much fun! I am so thankful her family let me come stay on such short notice! We ate dinner, talked a lot, played bananagrams (so fun!) and talked some more. It was a great way to ring in the new year! Thanks Stefanie! :)

And then there is Brodi! I haven't watched him in two weeks, so I'm in heaven today. (He is taking a nap now...playing with all of his new toys is exhausting!) Watching him is still the best job ever! I love being an aunt!!! I will leave you with this picture...Have a beautiful day!