Christmas Eve in Minnesota!

Well, we are partway through our travels for the Christmas break! After finishing finals last Friday night, we left our apartment at 8:30 on Saturday morning for the airport! We got off to a rocky start - I left my cell phone on the shuttle to the airport, and Jake tripped getting off the shuttle (while trying not to trip over the small children from the family we shared the shuttle with). But we made it there! We got through security about 3 hours before our fligh left, so we had some breakfast, watched a TV and played a game together on the laptop. We had a layover in Denver, but it was a short one. We basically just played on the computer again. But this time we had some internet access, so we spent a lot of it checking grades (I got a B- in Anatomy!). We arrived safely in Minnesota around dinner time.

Since then, we've been having alot of fun doing things with Jake's family (all five of his siblings and their families are in town for the holidays this year). We had a "party" on Sunday for Mike's birthday. Jake and I got him some of his favorite soda and candy bar, but wrapped them and put them inside a box... which we wrapped and put inside ANOTHER box, etc etc. The kids loved it! They thought it was the funniest thing ever!! Yesterday was spent finishing up some last minute Christmas shopping.

We've had a big snowstorm come through. It started yesterday evening and last I heard we'd gotten about 5-6 inches of snow. It's gorgeous and really helps to set the holiday mood, but we're hoping that it stops by tomorrow, as Jake and I are supposed to fly down to Nebraska around 1 PM.

Here's hoping the airport doesn't close!!

Trip #1 to the Airport, and End of Finals

Thursday evening, we drove up to the Salt Lake Airport to meet Jake's cousin as he flew in from Jerusalem. Josh has spent the semester at BYU's Jerusalem Center, so he has spent the last three and a half months on the other side of the world! We decided that his return merited the car ride! So Jake, Carsey, and I all piled into Sasha to start the journey around 9:15 PM (Josh's flight arrived around 10:30 PM). Bear in mind that it is the middle of December... and Sasha's defroster doesn't work... or at least not unless we drive over a big bump. So the car fogs up effortlessly, requiring that we drive with the window rolled down. This gave Carsey and I NUMEROUS opportunities to snuggle in the backseat while Jake drove!

While we waited in the airport for Josh's flight to arrive, we were vending machine browsing! We found one that served warm meal things! Pizza, buffalo wings, grilled cheese sandwiches, etc. Now... you must understand that I LOVE pizza! And I had just finished a Microbiology final before we left, so I hadn't eaten dinner yet. We weren't expecting Josh to arrive for another 40 minutes, so Jake allowed me to buy a pizza from the amazing machine!

I was so excited to take it out!!

It was the most ADORABLE pizza EVER!!!

I finished my pizza right as we found out that Josh and his parents were at the baggage carousels. We met up with them and then drove to Saratoga Springs and hung out at Jake and Josh's grandparents house. There, we were fed even MORE pizza and stayed until around 2:30 AM chatting and catching up.

After sleeping in today (for me at least, Jake got up to help his home teaching companion and his wife move. But he brought me donuts. So it was good), today was the last day of finals!

Jake and I are both officially done with the semester! We are still waiting on our official final grades. I have a few classes that - as far as I can calculate - are right on the border between letter grades. So crossing my fingers and praying for the higher one! There may be some emails to professors to see if persuasions can be made.

Anyways... We are leaving tomorrow morning at 8:30 for the airport and should arrive in Minnesota by around 6:30 PM! Hooray for Christmas break!!

The Start of Finals Week!!

Finals week has begun! It is a time of such contradictions... Caring so much and yet so little... So much stress and also so much relaxation... Late nights, early nights, early mornings, and early nights... Procrastination and Responsibility... No wonder so many people get sick after they finish this week!

Jake and I have such different schedules for our finals this semester!

Jake has four finals to take this week. One of them is available all week through the testing center, and three of them are at specific scheduled times. Unfortunately those scheduled times are all between the hours of 7 AM and 7 PM on Tuesday! So that will DEFINITELY be a stressful day for him. But, he is likely to be done with his finals by Tuesday or Wednesday depending on when he takes his Physics Exam.

At the beginning of finals week, I had already taken 2. (Both my anatomy and microbiology lab classes have already administered their finals). That left me with four finals to take during the official finals week. My Chemistry exam was at 11 AM this morning. So I'm already halfway done! Three down and three to go! My Anatomy and Human Development finals are available all week. And my Microbiology exam is scheduled for Thursday evening. So I plan on spreading my exams out throughout the whole week and dealing with just one at a time.

So... for this finals week... Jake is the sprinter and I'm the marathoner. :-)

The report so far on my Finals?

Anatomy Lab: I did 20% better than on my midterm. AWESOME improvement!

Microbiology Lab: I got a B on the final, which gave me an overall grade of an A for the class!

Chemistry: Was a lot easier than I expected based on her study guide. Waiting on the grade.

Good luck to everyone else who is studying and taking exams these next few weeks! And to those of you who are all grown up and don't have to do this anymore... Congratulations!

Reading Day!!

Between the last day of class and finals, BYU gives us what they call "Reading Days". Instead of having a whole dead week - like most universities - we get a Friday off. (They also call Saturday a Reading Day... but I refuse to acknowledge that one. Because in my opinion, Saturday was always my day, and not the university's to give to me).

So anyways... this is how we are spending our reading day. :-) First, we slept in. Right now, we just finished eating green french toast and sausage... while wearing footie pajamas!

Jake enjoyed a break with the Wii while I cooked breakfast!

Here's our green french toast! I was originally going to make it blue for Jake... But blue food coloring + yellow eggs = green. So I just went with it!

Cooking cooking cooking!!

And the grand finale..... *drumroll*..... the last of our sausage links! We each got 3 1/2.

Yesterday was our last day of classes. And was also a good day! It was the one year anniversary of Jake's proposal. And we had lots of good things happen! Jake got a good grade on his last Organic Chemistry Exam and I found out that I'd gotten an A for my final grade in my Microbiology Lab!

Our Christmas Kickoff FHE

This week our FHE is in preparation for Christmas!! We are finally getting around to sending out the Christmas letters.... unfortunately I accidentally deleted it... So we had to wait a little bit until I rewrote it. But we have almost all of them printed, enveloped, and ready to go! Most of them will mail out tomorrow. So look for yours in the mail! (Or, facebook me your address if you want one and I don't have your address.)

While I was getting the next batch of envelopes ready, Jake made me dinner! Because he's an amazing husband. We had hamburger... err... Turkey Helper. And he dressed it up with some green onions, red peppers, and yummy toppings.

Now, while we are eating we are watching one of my most favorite Christmas movies of all time- The Year Without a Santa Claus. Jake has never seen it and I am all kinds of excited to share it with him!

Snow!!

We finally got some snow! Just as I was wishing!! This is what we woke up to today!

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas...

Christmas is coming! We only have 5 more days of class left! Then finals. I've already put up our Christmas decorations. We put Christmas chocolates in our candy jar. I'm listening to Christmas carols every chance I get. It's even cold enough that I wear scarves and gloves... But it doesn't seem like Christmas still. BECAUSE THERE'S NO SNOW!! I realize that Utah Christmases are not as snowy as those in Nebraska and Minnesota... but I'm ready for at least a little snow!

Hospice Training

I completed my training today to become a Hospice Volunteer! I'll just be doing some little group stuff this month until my background check is completed - delivering Christmas goodies and caroling and such. Then, when we get back from Christmas break, I'll be assigned to specific patients that I'll visit on a regular basis.

I'm kind of nervous and scared about starting my visits. But... also excited. I'm sure it'll be a great experience and that I'm going to learn a lot from it.

200 Days!

Today, Jake and I have been married for 200 days! It sounds like a lot longer than it feels!!