Thinking warm thoughts

here in Utah county.

Bragging Rights

I can't help myself. I am just so proud.

Jon got another 4.0! We are soo happy for him and that he is doing so well.

(I didn't do too shabby either with my 3.94) Best semester yet!

Today is the first day for winter semester. Since we had such a successful fall term it has really motivated us to work hard for our final full semester! It is hard to believe our college experience is coming to a close- we have invested so much time and effort into getting our education. It really has been worth it, we have grown so much. We will see what this semester has in store for us.

Jon will be taking 16 credits and is most looking forward to his medical shadowing course.
I am taking 15 credits and am looking forward to the research I will be doing with war veterans and their wives.

We are soo ready to finish up this semester!!! (please pay no attention to the fact that it hasn't even started yet haha)

100th Post

This is my 100th post to the blog, a perfect number to roll into the new year.
We are home from our fantastic trip to our... home. We have two homes at this point- our original home in Goleta and our new home in Provo. The Provo one is bound to move but I consider it important that we consider it too a home of our own. Anyway- we are back in Provo.

We had such a lovely trip to California and enjoyed all of the time we had with family and friends. Some of my favorite things included...

1. Reading! Jon and I both are great readers once on vacation, I forgot how wonderful it is to jump into a good read. I might post about my books at a later time- I have some recommendations.

2. Eating at some of our favorite places. Hamburger Habit, the Palace, Blenders... it was so much fun!

3. Reunions! While visiting with my grade/middle/high school girl friends we happened to run into our first grade teacher! It was so coincidental and really made our small reunion perfect.


4. The weather. 'Nuff said.

5. The Van Wickle's trip to the Santa Barbara Historical Museum:


6. Seeing Jon hanging out with his brothers. He sure loves his family and that makes me so happy. I love them too.

7. Driving to the Long Beach airport and loving that ocean view in between Montecito and Ventura. It was breath-taking.

I would say our trip home was well spent and well needed. We are happy to be back to our small home and to be getting ready for our last full semester!

We celebrated our return by making these tonight:


The perfect ending to an excellent Christmas break! Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family! Here are just a few of the lovely highlights of our vacation (so far):

Christmas with the Tate's on the 19th. It was so nice to have everyone together, no matter what day of the month it was.


Jon enjoyed playing with our new game- Wii Fit. It was a hit with the Tates and the Van Wickles!


We have totally been enjoying the weather! Even we sometimes forget just how nice it is here.


And of course we've been having fun with the Van Wickle's. Jon loves spending time with the boys. This is from a hike to lizard's mouth.


Today we opened presents at Jon's and went to a movie with my parents and Amy. So far, so good. We are so thankful we have another week to soak up the sun and play with the family! More updates to come. Hope all of your Christmas' are just as delightful.

Christmas at our place!

FIRST- because Jon and I are so sad we couldn't be there and SO happy for this person: JAKE! Congratulations on graduating from Cal Poly!!! We hope it was amazing and can't wait to hear what comes next for you.

SECOND- we are DONE with finals! Sometimes I feel like I live life counting down- just until the weekend, just until this exam is over, once this project is finished or once the semester wraps up. I try to be happy and find the joy in the process but there really is a positive and uplifting feeling about wrapping up a semester. It is like you have accomplished something, progressed forward and now you can look back and appreciate it. Really, this semester has had its ups and downs, but I loved my time and it flew by!

THIRD- Jon and I had the perfect ending to our semester. Here is what we did today.

We went to our "final" for English where we watched 11 presentations. As interesting as these topics were- it got old real fast.

Then we got to go to the temple.
ok so this wasn't a good part of our day but it is true: Satan made us get in a fight. ANY time we go to the temple something big happens and changes our plans or we get into a "nothing fight." Meaning really- the "fight" is about nothing. Jon quickly pointed out we must be doing some important work at the temple to cause us to have a nothing fight. We made up quickly after that.
The temple was perfect, peaceful and I felt truly relaxed and happy. You always come out of the temple feeling cleansed and renewed.
The Provo temple kind of looks like a cup cake:

View of the sunset from temple grounds:


We then went out to dinner at GoodWood. Yumm. We even got dessert, which I really shouldn't have done but I did anyway. It was delicious.
I realize this picture is kind of dark, I didn't want to use flash in the resturant. It also makes it look like Jon doesn't have a hand:


We ended our evening opening our Christmas presents to each other. I got Jon's watch fixed so he can finally wear it again and got him a new belt. He got me a blow-dryer and a pyrex pan. Seriously, I know it sounds lame, but those gifts were perfect for me. Things I really needed and didn't want to buy myself- also, completely practical.



Jon snoozed off while watching the Dark Knight and I went to the gym. I am trying to get off my work out high so I can get some sleep. Tomorrow we go to work, pack up, and head home! We sure are excited to see everyone.

One last thing, today I made little thank you notes for my professors and supervisor who wrote me letters of rec. I like how they turned out- simple but personal:



Up next: California Christmas Adventures

2 years ago, yesterday...

This is a little embarrassing, but at 11:30 last night in the shower I remembered: It's December 15th! Two years ago (yesterday) Jon asked me to marry him and I said YES!

I don't know if people are supposed to remember the day they got engaged, or celebrate it... Jon and I aren't as big on that as I know others are. With everything except our wedding date, we typically remember and say congratulations and go about our day. Nevertheless, I am happy we got engaged, despite how much we had talked about it I remember being so incredibly nervous. I could tell Jon was as well. I often tell people that saying yes was the best decision I ever made- and I mean it.

We sure are lucky to have each other. Last night, after I remembered I crawled into bed and whispered to Jon that it was our engagement anniversary. He said something like "oh that's nice," and really- that was enough for me. Supporting each other during finals, secretly buying Christmas presents for the other, working out together- all of those things were enough of an anniversary celebration for me.

Love you, Jon.

Tiny Update

Finals week has began! I don't want to bore everyone with the details. All you need to know is Jon and I have been studying hard and looking forward to the end of the semester. It has been a good term and we are glad we had a couple of classes together.

We are soo excited for Christmas break and seeing our family. We leave the 18th, the last day of finals! Hooray!

I've "finished" all of my grad school applications! Now I just have to make sure everyone does their letters of rec in time, make sure all of my information has been received and wait patiently. Ha. Patiently.

After Thursday afternoon, the scheduled time for our last final, we will be done and hopefully doing more entertaining things to blog about. Until then - good luck with your finals and Christmas plans!