'twas the weekend before christmas.

and all through the house... lots of stuff was happening!

{warning: long post. lots of pictures.}

as i mentioned before, rj is in town. and austin and i finally got to go to hill city, it wasn't at capacity yet, where we met up with chris, rj and lindsy. the boys played pool while lindsy and i caught up. we ate delish pizza for dinner, then headed to the new 807 place austin and i went to before. we actually ran into quite a few people we knew there. apparently, though, no one was in a picture taking mood, because no one would pose nicely for me to take any pictures...

saturday, austin and i had some christmas shopping to do out at hamilton place.

mis. take. it took us over 45 minutes to literally go less than a quarter of a mile. and all we wanted was to get some food after walking all over the mall. and speaking of the mall, hamilton place has a newly opened sanrio surprises store, very exciting because that means all the hello kitty gear i could ever need in one place. in case you missed it, i dressed as hello kitty for halloween because i am obsessed.

this morning, austin and i went to church at the gathering again, we're really liking it there. the little kids sang a christmas song or two and then the seniors got up and sang a song, too!

after church, austin and i ran home to make a pie to take up to his parents' house to do our christmas meal/gift exchange, since we'll be visiting with my family next weekend.

proud of my pie.

steve and gloria's christmas tree, surrounded by presents.

steve, gloria, me, austin and taylor {and juliet and bailey, too}.

austin and i made a breakfast themed gift basket for steve and gloria. it had pancake mix, pure maple syrup, jams and preserves, coffee, candles and a few other items.

and we got taylor a john wayne alarm clock and a pooper scooper. yes, pooper scooper {don't ask, please}.

julie-boo likes to open presents. she got dog treats, of course.

austin and i got great stuff, too. he got two ralph lauren shirts, a scarf, a new jacket, some socks, a screwdriver kit from taylor and a new wii game. and i got some sweaters, a few other shirts, some perfume, lotions, a necklace from taylor and a new purse.

austin was feeling festive.

and, of course, a story {and pictures} about juliet to end my post. austin decided he was going to brush boo's teeth today. ok, so i told austin to brush them. anyway. in all of thirty seconds, austin was bitten and angry, julie was super angry and had puppy toothpaste in her ear. yes, her ear.

and all over her bottom lip. poor thing. but she smells minty.

i also must note that julie hasn't yet got the holiday spirit, so she wore this.

 i think it's pretty fitting to her personality, yes?