Celebrations In Tacoma!

Before heading home for Christmas break, I spent some time with my main squeeze (haha, even writing that makes me chuckle. We're never that lovey-dovey with nicknames) Anyways, Dustin and I had to cram lots of holiday celebration in in a short time frame because of my Dec. 19th departure for Colorado. Needless to say, December is a busy month of celebrating because of: 1) Dustin's Birthday on the 23rd 2) Christmas 3) New Years! (granted, we don't really celebrate that, but you know...it still gets lump-summed.)

So, even though I hate when people do this, I combined Dustin's birthday and Christmas presents into one big huzzah. Since he's been seriously thinking about opera performance as a career, his voice teacher has been bugging him to take ballroom dance classes to improve his performance abilities! When we attended a master class with a professor from Houston, TX who suggested the exact same thing, I knew just what to get him for Christmas! 

{I wrapped his present this year in the same paper as two years ago! Awww... sentimentality gushing over! haha}

...see? This was the first gift we gave each other. It was the same gift, wrapped in the same paper! =)

Anyway! Back to the present. And Dustin's present! ha! 

So, I surprised him with:

~ Coffee to keep at my place since we don't have a coffee maker! ~

~ Baseball cards ~

~ Homemade yummy things ~

~ Ballroom dance lessons : 1 consultation, 2 private lessons, and 1 group lesson ~

~ A pre-paid coupon for dinner out for a date night after dancing! ~

I think he liked the presents...what do you think?

Kidding. He always does something weird the first try. 

Here's my asking for a nice "smile" picture!

The celebration continued as we enjoyed Dustin's concert weekend with the Northwest Repertory Singers. They performed an all Baroque concert, and it was fantastic! Dustin had quite the fan club in attendance. His mom flew up from CA, his aunt, cousin, and grandma drove up from Portland, his other cousin and his girlfriend drove down from Seattle, and his friend Ricky and his girlfriend Vienna were in town, as well as his other grandma who lives locally in Tacoma! We had a fantastic weekend full of food and fellowship!

It's terrible quality, but I wanted to be sure to capture Dustin's amazing solo in "The Messiah" for all to see! I'm so stinkin' proud of him! He was the star soloist that night, in my humble opinion!

I bothered him to snap some pictures after the concert! I want these for when he's a famous singer!

Typical... haha

Sunday night was my last night in town, so we headed to Pt. Defiance to go to Zoo Lights! 

I headed back to Colorado the next day. It's always hard saying goodbye to my favorite boy, especially since I miss out on his birthday, Christmas, and New Years, but at least we have the technology we have today so I can still stay in contact! And it doesn't hurt that I come home to this:

Aww....so much puppy love!