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| Amazing clouds -- taken from BYU's law parking lot |
Before I get started on us, I want to express my sorrow for the tragic shooting in Connecticut on Friday. I ache for that community and the many families who lost their precious little ones. I think many factors contributed to its culmination but I know of only one way to find peace in its wake: through Jesus Christ and His infinite atonement. My familiarity with the words of some of His servants helps me, though mournful, to gain needed perspective and hope.
You can find comfort in these talks, too.
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| Thomas took this photo in Western Utah (west of Tooele I believe) while I was driving on our trip back to Utah after Thanksgiving |
With finals wrapping up last week, I am officially finished with my undergraduate degree at BYU! Grades aren't officially in yet, but I have a hunch that I passed all of my classes this semester.
Speaking of classes, thank you to any and all of you who helped me with my
family life education project. Partially thanks to you, I earned my highest ever grade in that class - 99.67%! My groupmates and I made a pretty good team and turned out a great project.
Now that I'm done with school, our future is a little up in the air. We
figure we'll move out of Utah within the next year sometime, and we are
planning to head to a west coast state. For now, though, we'll just be
around and continue working at our jobs. We'll let you know if we figure
anything else out.
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| Snowy day in Provo |
Since our last post, Thomas got a haircut and had the beard shaved off. People's reactions are so funny - people in the ward still comment how they weren't sure who that guy was sitting by me but then realized it was indeed Thomas.
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| Coincidentally, this is what Thomas looks like with a handlebar mustache... |
We had a pretty big snowstorm in the middle of November. Since there were still leaves on many trees, and because the snow that came was wetter (=heavier) than normal Utah snow, a lot of branches (big ones, too) broke off the trees around Provo. Our yard was a disaster. We did a lot of cleanup and our upstairs neighbors helped.
We spent a nice Thanksgiving week in California. We visited Elizabeth and her family for a weekend (where we met our nephew Nasuikau for the first time), and then spent some time with my family.
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| Elizabeth and Saki |
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| Mere did my hair... |
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| We made fruit pizza. Glenn decorated his to look like a car! |
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| Nasuikau is a happy little guy! |
We got to spend a day in the Bay Area with my aunt and some cousins that I don't think I've seen since our wedding.
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| I love these people :o) |
We also got to spend an evening with another aunt and cousin.
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| Mom, Aunt Lucy, Gail |
Thanksgiving itself was pretty low-key with mostly just my family and their new(ish) neighbor. That evening, a friend of Morgan came over for a little while.
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| Scrumptious desserts made by my mom & sister. Morgan makes a mean pumpkin pie and cheesecake. My mom tried out a pumpkin-pecan pie this year. |
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| Morgan, my dad, and Morgan's friend played us some music. |
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| Purrl |
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| Zip |
Over the course of the week we got to see some other friends too, like Monica and her family and my friend Lanessa and a bunch of the ward I grew up in.
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| BFFs! |
Unfortunately, we both ended up getting sick and felt crummy for most of our visit.
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| Morgan had a captivated audience when she made balloon animals for Mere & Glenn! |
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| We celebrated Thomas' birthday early while there. |
When we got back I had 2 more weeks of classes. I was very busy finishing final projects like my temple mosaic.
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| This was a much more involved project than I had planned on. |
We went to an Italian Choir production for FHE one Monday. Samuel was part of the choir and did a solo. It was a lot of fun and got us in the Christmas spirit! We love beautiful music.
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| These are the guys in the choir. There were a lot more girls. |
My last day of classes coincided with Thomas' birthday. I surprised him by coming home between classes (which I'd never done before) and cleaning the house, wrapping presents, baking a Bûche de Noël & 2 loaves of bread, and putting up the Christmas tree. Some family members and I went in on a server kit for him. It was really fun trying to keep it a secret for him! He understood the bigger picture once he opened a couple of the presents. He got right to work doing whatever one does with a server that night (meanwhile, I grouted my mosaic).
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| You can't really open a computer case as a gift and not realize what all the other things are likely going to be :o) |
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| I need to work on the frame, but the mosaic itself is complete :o) |
This past week my little sister got her mission call! She will be serving in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. We are so excited for her! She will be an excellent missionary and I think she will love Louisiana.
Merry Christmas!
oxox
