Texan Christmas!

Finals week is over! Yaayyy! I survived! I'm seriously so happy my semester is over. Although I enjoyed what I was learning, Anatomy & Physiology was just a beast to try to absorb everything. When I took the first half on campus I found that doable. I had a teacher physically explaining everything to me for an hour three times a week. Then there was hands on models to help solidify the anatomy. I think I did pretty darn well for teaching myself and having 1 hour lecture on every topic! I definitely lowered my 'A+' only standards for this class. I was stressing out way too much over maintaining my perfect streak. With some persuading I realized right now it wasn't worth it and I'm so glad I relaxed a bit because I think my hair would have fallen out by the end of the semester. I'm one step closer to being done with school!

Dan and I went to the Gift of Lights at the Texas Motor Speedway for FHE and it was awesome! It's a drive-through set up of lights in the Nascar Stadium. From the outside it didn't look like it was going to be cool, but that's because they were hiding all the cool stuff for the paying customers, duh. We wanted to go now and avoid the weekends because I'm sure it would be packed. It was seriously so cool. I tried to get pictures of how neat it looked but some turned out blurry, sorry!

Dan was in Houston for a couple of days last week for work. It seems (at least the last two times) that when Dan leaves I make pumpkin all the things! And the story was no different this time! I was invited to a cookie exchange so it was the perfect time to use the jumbo can of pumpkin I bought and test out my new kitchen aid. “Six cups of flour? Please” Said the kitchen aid. I wouldn't even think about doing that with a hand mixer. I made a butt load of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. I blasted Christmas music, drank my eggnog and ate way too many cookies. I even stopped by Whataburger on the way home as a celebration of passing my tests. Food coma.

The nicest thing happened at work! A member gave me and another teller $5 gift cards to Starbucks for always giving him great service – how nice it that! And then another day this other member was telling me how Bath and Body Works is having a big sale and she told me she was going to bring me some. She actually did! A full sized bottle of lotion and a perfume. How nice is that!

One night Dan and I went and got some drinks and then drove around and looked at lights. We were mostly around Keller and we saw some decked out houses! There was a whole neighborhood that collaborated and made it look super pretty. I only worked a half day so we made a trip out to the Dallas temple. I hadn't been yet so I was excited. Traffic took us a little bit longer and we were walking in 15 minutes before the session started. We were prepared to wait another hour for the next session though. As we walked in we saw the high councilman from out ward who informed us that we were the first ones there for the session. I was so surprised but it was so nice we didn't have to wait longer. They waited for us to get ready, then waited a bit longer to see if anyone else was coming... and they weren't. So it was just Dan and I like our own private temple session. It was kind of cool! That probably doesn't happen too often. The Dallas temple is a sister temple to the Boise temple so they look very similar which is cool.

See! They look exactly the same.

Christmas Eve I had to work, which is never fun during the Holidays, BUT we closed early that day so that makes it better. After I got home from work Dan and I stopped by the store then headed to Jenny & Phill's to hang out with them. We watched Christmas movies and had a soup night for dinner. They dropped off some treats for their neighbors and then we went and looked at Christmas lights. There was one tree we went and saw that was very intricately covered in lights. Every tiny little branch was wrapped – a lot like the trees at temple square. It was in the middle of a dark field so it looked awesome! I took a picture but it looks more like a snowflake haha. We went home that evening and put all out stockings together and made breakfast for the next morning. We tried out this awesome recipe of sausage, frozen hash browns, cheese, eggs and milk – all in a crock pot on low all night. It cooks while you sleep and when you wake up it's ready! It was so nice and it tasted great. We added onions and green peppers to it. Christmas morning we slept in (so nice!), ate breakfast and then exchanged gifts.

Christmas isn't all about the gifts, but I like to hear of the thoughtful things people give to each other so in case you're like me and your curious of the gifts we were given; Dan was given a new tennis racket with tennis balls, a magazine subscription, a broncos jacket, the triathlon bible, a book by Elder Bednar, a new QALO wedding ring, games, gift cards, candy and clothes. I was given a Kitchen Aid, new scriptures, Killing Jesus (book), jewelry, nail polish galore, calendars/planners, games, kitchen gadgets and candy. The most sentimental gift was probably a crocheted piece started by my grandma (who passed in 2011), finished by my great great aunt and framed by my grandpa. It says my first name. I miss my grandma so this is a great reminder of her.

I love the Christmas season because it really gives us times to ask ourselves personal and important questions. Who was Jesus Christ? What did He do that everyone worships Him for? What did He do for me? Because Jesus Christ lived a perfect humble life, we can have our mistakes erased and we have to opportunity to live with Him and God again, as a changed and perfected individual. That's what Christmas is all about! Celebrating the greatest gift we have been given.

After we got ready we headed over to Jenny & Phill's to join them for the rest of Christmas Day. Little kiddos on Christmas is awesome, it makes giving gifts more fun. They had a great Christmas and got some fun new toys. After lunch we headed over to the church to drive Alex's new car and helicopter. We hung out and watched Christmas movies then had ham and funeral potatoes for dinner, yum! It was a great day, I'm so glad to have some family close by!