Christmas in Yakima

The day after Christmas we went to Yakima to visit Joe's family. We had a great time catching up with everyone. The kids opened more presents, which they loved. Our friend's from Seattle drove over one day to visit. They have cute twin girls, and a little boy who just learned to walk. We went to see the wild elk who come to get a winter snack in the valley and ate Mexican food.

Christmas

Christmas was really fun and incredibly hectic. We had our traditional Vaterlaus Christmas Eve at my grandpa's house where we ate dinner, sang Christmas carols, and opened presents. It was so nice to see most of the fam, especially before 2 of my siblings and one cousin leave on their missions.

Christmas morning was fun, but kind of a blur. The kids had fun opening presents after presents, and Hayes was relieved that Santa still came "even though we were naughty." Hmmm. That night we went for Chinese food in the vein of The Christmas Story "Fa ra ra ra ra."

Sibling Dates

For Christmas this year my brothers, sisters, Joe, and I drew names and instead of getting each other presents we took each other on "dates." there were some really cute ideas. Joe and Max went tubing at Bogus Basin and to a taco truck. Alex and Mitch went to hot yoga and got granola. Alex got me some books on the Teton Dam (my thesis topic) and is going to take me to the museum when I make it out to eastern Idaho. Clare is taking Joe go-cart racing. Etc.

I took my sister Emily to get a festive holiday manicure. We picked the colors, but the ladies who were working on our nails suggested some nail art, and started to add gems, snow men, christmas trees, and stars. It was pretty appalling, but what can you do.

After that I made Emily lunch while we watched Gilmore Girls. So fun!

Las Vegas Bowl

My dad, two of my brothers, Joe, and I drove down to Vegas to go to the BSU vs. Utah game.

This was my first time in Las Vegas and it was so fun. The night before the game we went to the pep rally at the Fremont Experience where all the old neon signs are. It was packed with fans, bands, cheerleaders, and dancers. I did make friends with a Utah tuba player, which was nice... Sin City was full of Bronco fans and Utes. We were exchanging either cheers or words with strangers on the street.

We went sight-seeing that night and it was beautiful. We went and saw the fountain at the Bellagio, and went through NY, NY. The next day my brothers and I screened a new TV show and offered our TV watching expertise to an offshoot of Criminal Minds.

Game time: the first quarter and a half was unpleasant. The Broncos could not get moving. I was freaking out. Once the team started scoring it was awesome. The Broncos pulled out the win, and we only started one fight after the game so it a total success.

I love Las Vegas. The palm trees, warm weather, the food, and the lights. I have to go back!

'Twas the Night Before the End of the Semester

*35 books read for my 3 classes

*30 academic articles

*15 books consulted for papers

*20 2 page papers

*10 3-5 page papers

*150 student exams graded

*1 10 page research paper

*1 20 page historiography paper

*Brain full of new theories and the occasional weight of the world on my shoulders when I dwell too much on the negative aspects of what I am learning and the intellectual responsibility I feel.

My first semester of my history grad program ends tomorrow and I am thrilled to have a month off! If you would have asked me how things were going in October I would have told you they were not going well to say the least. It was so hard to go back to school after a 6 year break. Doing homework every night instead of lying around watching TV or reading for pleasure was a major change in my life. Writing papers (3 per week on the 3 books per week) really taxed my rusty writing skills, and my initial grades were not to my liking. My advisor, and teacher of 2 out of my 3 classes was giving me Bs and B+s and I was freaking out.

But as I am literally writing my last page and half of my final 20 page paper (due tomorrow) I am reflecting on how happy I am now that I am back in school. I really needed something else in my life; another outlet. I complain all the time about my workload but I honestly feel so much better about myself now. I finally got an A+ out of my grades-way-too-hard advisor, I have a thesis topic in mind, I LOVE class discussions, I finally feel like I know how to approach my homework, and I even have more history nerd friends now so I can talk about post-modern, new social history, and structural racism to my hearts content. I even got to read another book about the Dust Bowl.

I could not have made through one week of school without Joe supporting me around the house and with the kids. I also could not have done it without my mom who had a couple of "Grandma days" with Hayes and Madison during the week so that I could go to class. I also am amazed about how well the mom/student life is going. At the beginning of the year my dad gave me a blessing telling me that the time I devoted to school would be productive, and one day it hit me that this truly happened. I finished a lot of my homework in a shorter amount of time than my single, childless classmates, and got the same or better grades. This was definitely a blessing beyond my own abilities because I am definitely not that smart.

As an undergrad I would be really stressed right now because I have all this work to do to finish up for tomorrow, but right now I feel really blessed to have found a career (in the loosest sense of the word) that I love and the opportunity to pursue it!

All right, now I need to finish my paper.

*Snow Day*

Hooray! None of us had school today (except Joe). I was going to spend all afternoon reading 15 articles for class tonight and thankfully it is the end of the semester so we don't have to make them up! It has been snowing like crazy here. After Thanksgiving in Sandpoint it feels like it has been snowing almost all day, every day. We had some fun this afternoon making a snowman and playing in the snow. I will not be sad if there is no school tomorrow either.

Birthday Boy

Joe's birthday is today...and lucky for him he is spending it at the hospital on a 30 hour shift. So, the least we can do is give him a little blog shout-out.

I have been thinking lately how lucky I am to have him around. Here is a list of things that he has done lately to make me like him.

1. He cleaned out the microwave..2 times.

2. He rents chick-flicks I have wanted to see even though he hates them.

3. He makes dinner more than I do lately, and is probably the better cook.

4. He does most of the grocery shopping; a chore I detest.

5. He always takes the kids to do fun things so that I can get my homework done.

6. He makes me hot chocolate (my favorite) when I am cold.

7. He is thoughtful, fun, and supportive.

We'll keep him! Thanks sweet-ums, have a happy birthday...at the hospital!