2009 Highlights

Here are some highlights from 2009 (and all the pictures I've been meaning to post). It has been a great year! Jason started the intense junior core for the accounting program. This resulted in many late nights at school working on projects and homework. I officially started the music education major. Both of us have loved the change in majors. Jason and I also worked part-time; Jason in the registration department of Continuing Education and then as a student accountant for the Sports and Dance Camps, and I continued working at BYU Independent Study. 2010 will bring the end of my schooling, a continuation of Jason's schooling, and the adventure of parenthood!



2009 Highlights

Christmas

We had a great Christmas with Jason's family. We had our own little Christmas together on Christmas Eve. We stuffed each other's stockings with a few things and opened some gifts from my family.

We went over to the Allphin's on Christmas Eve for a very yummy, candle-lit dinner. In his family we draw names for presents. We drew Kaden's name, so we bought him this little Cars sleeping bag (little did we know that he begged his mom for a similar sleeping bag at a store). After that we sang some Christmas songs and played some games before heading to bed so Santa could come. I loved watching the kids' excitement on Christmas morning as they opened their presents.

The most exciting presents were the live frogs in a little aquarium, a scooter (I think everyone in the family took a ride around the house over the next few days), the T-Shirt game (very similar to Apples To Apples), and Kaden's helicoptor toy, which has gone through a few sets of batteries. We spent the rest of the day playing with the toys and eating lots of candy.

Temple Square

Last night, Jason and I took our annual trip to Temple Square to see the Christmas lights. On the way to Salt Lake we stopped to eat at Texas Roadhouse for dinner. When we got to Temple Square we wandered around looking at the lights and then we stopped and sat on the bench where Jason proposed.



Here's the view of the temple from our bench (sorry the lighting is so bad--I'm not on my computer so I can't fix it):

Done!

I am done with finals!!! I finished yesterday at about 1:30. I only had 3 finals this semester. It was the easiest finals week I've ever had. Now I have 2 1/2 weeks to relax. Jason still has 2 more exams to take and they are all scheduled, the last one on Friday.

The weather this week has been great! It was really cold last week and it snowed a lot. The snow is still here, but is cleared from the roads and it's been in the 30's, which I am sad to say feels good compared to last week.

I am 11 weeks now, so that means I get to start my second trimester next week! The first really wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Yeah, I've been ridiculously tired (I fall asleep between 8:00 and 8:30 most nights), I have to use the bathroom every hour or so, I'm very emotional at times, I feel sick frequently, I usually have no appetite, and certain smells and foods make me want to puke...but really, it hasn't been that bad. I thought I would be throwing up a couple times a day, but I haven't once. I also haven't had to miss any class or work because of not feeling well, so I am counting my blessings.

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving! Jason's parents went on a cruise with his mom's siblings, so we had Thanksgiving with his brothers and sisters. Kelcie, Rick, Jason, and I all made various things for our meal and it was all great! Jason's youngest brother, Kaden, is 3 years old so he needed babysitting while his parents were gone. We took him for three days (along with his 9 year-old sister, Halie). We had lots of fun together watching movies, making holiday goodies, going shopping (we bought a crib!), and playing games. Jason and I also put up Christmas decorations, including a 7 foot tree that my Grandma is letting us borrow.

It was so hard coming back to school after Thanksgiving break, but we only have 7 days left of classes and then finals. I'm so excited for this semester to be over. This semester I have taken some really good classes with great teachers, and I love my new major, but it has been exhausting and I am definately ready for Christmas break and a change in classes.

1st Prenatal Appointment

Today I went to my first appointment and found out there really is a baby inside of me! They did an ultrasound, so we were able to see the baby and hear the heartbeat. It was amazing! They told me my due date is July 6, which happens to be my brother-in-law Kyal's birthday and my uncle Steve's birthday. Our doctor is really nice and caring, so I think we made a good choice. What a way to start off my Thanksgiving break!

I have some good news...

Jason and I are going to have a baby!

We are so excited! I am six weeks along, so the baby will be born in July. We have lots of July birthdays in our family. It is so crazy and amazing to think that I have a baby growing inside of me! I haven't been too sick yet. Almost 24/7 I am either nauseous or starving, but last night Jason bought me some saltines for the nausia and goldfish for the starvation, so I'm all set!

Halloween Eve

I must admit that I am not a huge fan of Halloween. I have not dressed up since high school. This year, however, I decided to wear a cowgirl costume to work so that I could wear jeans!! So here I sit with an itchy hat, an uncomfortable button-up shirt, and painful boots--all so I can wear jeans to work. I walk around campus every day in my "business casual" watching the majority of my fellow students wearing jeans and flip-flops. I miss those days Freshman and Sophomore year when I could wear anything I wanted! In all of my time here at Independent Study I have worn jeans twice, including today. The other occasion was our moving day last December since we were closed to the public. You know, I understand the whole thought about people's attire influencing their behavior, but I really don't think I act any different when I wear jeans as opposed to khaki's. In fact, I think if anything I'm happier wearing jeans!

Fall semester

Well, in case you haven't been able to tell from my lack of blog posts, Fall semester has started. Jason has started the infamous Junior Core for accounting and I have officially started music education. Jason is enjoying accounting and is so glad he switched, but so far he has been very very busy. He was assigned a group project on the first day of class. They were told it would take 40-50 hours and they only had a couple weeks to do it! Some perks we have found with his new major are a plethora of free food and other free stuff (sweatshirts, T-shirts, backpacks, etc.) from the Big Four accounting firms. Jason also found a new job a couple weeks ago. He's now a student accountant for the sports and dance programs in the Continuing Education Department. He loves it! He no longer has to talk to crazy, angry customers over the phone. Instead he gets a great job doing something that will give him great experience for his future career!

My new major has been quite busy and stressful, but also very exciting. I am now going to junior high schools and high schools almost every day to observe, teach (eventually), and play in their orchestras and bands. As much as I hated going to junior high when I was that age, it is a lot of fun going now! We have seen some amazing teachers who really inspire and motivate me. I am also currently learning to play the bass (which is a lot harder than I thought) and I'm taking percussion lessons. It's a pretty exciting and busy time!

I'm done...

...with American Heritage!!!!!

I know this is pathetic, but after 2 years, 3 months, and 5 days I have finally finished that class! I've never really considered myself a procrastinator. In high school I always did my homework, projects, and papers well in advance. I loved to be on top of things. Then I took this class... Suddenly everything in the world easily took precedence. I guess it didn't help that I've been working, going to school, and getting married. Anyway, it feels so good to be done. I feel so free!

Wedding and Family

We had a great weekend! Melissa, Cory, Katelund, and Cloey were in town for Stefani's wedding. Stefani is Cory's younger sister and my friend. I hadn't seen Melissa or her family since our cruise last June, so it was very exciting to see them again.. The girls are so adorable and have grown up so much since I last saw them. Stefani's family did the entire wedding themselves, so they were working on it almost 24/7, but we did get to spend some time with Melissa and family. The temple sealing was absolutely beautiful (Jason and I were able to attend), and their reception that night was magical. They all did such a great job on the decorations, food, music, and entertainment. It was so fun to be a part of it and share in that special time.

We were also able to see my cousin Shanna, her husband Matthew, and their new baby Austin. Austin was born on July 18, the same day as my nephew, Owen. He is adorable and so sweet. Even though they live pretty close by, I hadn't seen them in quite a while. It was fun catching up with them.

This week is Education Week at BYU so that means Jason gets to work extra long hours this week. We won't get to see each other as much this week, but he does get paid overtime (Ed Week is one of the FEW times BYU is okay paying overtime), so that makes it worth it.

Owen Pictures

I have pictures of Owen!


Here are his proud parents, Kelsie and Rick.










Owen Richard Wirsch

Baby Owen

I was waiting to post about my new nephew until I had a picture, but between dead camera batteries, my forgetfulness, and my lack of Facebook priviledges at work, I still don't have a picture. I will post one soon, though.

Anyway, my sister-in-law, Kelsie, recently had a baby boy named Owen Richard Wirsch. He was born August 18th and weighed a little over 5 pounds. He was born a week early, but is healthy and doing great. I fell in love with that sweet baby boy the first time I held him. There is just something so awe-inspiring and exciting about holding a baby. I hold him as often as Kelsie (and Grandma) will let me!

Taste of Home

Friday night, Jason took me to the new Texas Roadhouse in American Fork. We pass it on our way to Jason's parents' house so we have watched it being built for the past couple of months and have been so excited to go. It was really really busy. Our wait time was about an hour and a half, but it was definitely worth it. Their food was great, the atmosphere was great, and the prices were better than we expected. They had these amazing dinner rolls that were almost sweet and came with honey cinammon butter. Oh, and they had line dancing. I was tempted to get up and join them! It's been way too long since I've line danced. We had a great time, and I felt right at home.

Side note: Something that first caught our attention at the Texas Roadhouse was the Texas flag on top of the restaurant. The Texas flag flies at the same height as the USA flag (as can be seen frequently in Texas, if not flying higher than the USA flag). I realized that I have never actually seen a Utah flag around in Utah. In contrast, it's hard to take a drive anywhere in Texas and not see a Texas flag. I found it amusing that here I am in Utah, and even though I do not see a Utah flag flying, there is still a Texas flag flying.

Fingerprints

I had to get fingerprints and FBI clearance for a class I'm taking in the fall for music education, but before I could get my fingerprints I had to register with the state (fill out some online form and pay $79). The fingerprints cost another $10. I didn't realize how expensive fingerprints could be. I think they should pay me for taking my fingerprints. Anyway, I went to a place on campus that does them. They do electronic scans of your fingerprints. It took forever! My fingers were apparently dry (it probably doesn't help that they're also caloused from playing viola), so the guy had to keep getting them wet with a water bottle. It was an interesting experience.

School Supplies and Fans

Jason and I went to Shopko yesterday to take advantage of their back to school sale. Although we only bought one notebook for each of us, it was very exciting. I love buying new school supplies. I don't really know why, but I just find such excitement and satisfaction from it. As I stroll down the aisles I miss those days of school supply lists--buying glue, colored pencils, pencil bags, binders, folders, paper, pens, pencils, rulers, book covers, and backpacks. Now that I'm in boring old college, all I ever need is a notebook, some pens, an occasional highlighter, and ridiculously expensive textbooks. I look forward to my years of parenting when I can vicariously live the life of a student and buy new school supplies again.

During this same expedition, we looked for a fan for Jason. I know they say men's body temperatures are slightly higher than women's, but sometimes I think Jason's temperature is 5-10 degrees hotter than mine. We like to keep our AC off as much as possible to save money, so we open our windows at night to cool the house down (a luxury not available in Texas). While this does cool down our house to around 70 degrees by the next morning, it usually cools down after we've gone to bed, so Jason is frequently too hot at night. He's been wanting a fan for our house since before we got married, so when he found the 20% discount coupon from Bed, Bath, and Beyond in the mail, it didn't take him long to decide to use it to buy a fan. As pictured above, we found the Borg Oscillating Stand Fan with remote control. Jason has had it turned on almost every waking moment that we've been at home since we bought it, and he takes it with him from room to room.

Buying our Borg Oscillating Stand Fan with the 20% off coupon = $42.73. The joy, relief, and satisfaction felt by Jason from our new fan = priceless.

Good news!

After lots of waiting and praying, Jason just found out that he has been accepted into the accounting program!!!!

Texas

Jason and I had a great time in Texas visiting family. We were there for a little over a week. It had been almost a year since we had seen Andrea, Ryan, Abby and Ethan so it was great to finally see them again! We stayed with my parents in their new house. During that week we went swimming, went in my parent's kayak in the canal/pond behind their house, played lots of Wii, rented jet skiis for a day, went to a Ranger's game, ate lots of TexMex, barbeque and Blue Bell ice cream, and drove down to San Antonio to see the Alamo, go to the river walk, and go to the San Antonio Temple (which was absolutely beautiful). As beautiful as the Utah mountains are and as wonderful the summer weather is, it was very refreshing to go back to the Texas wide open spaces and it was so good to see my family again. I just wish Melissa and her family could have been there, but thankfully we will see them later this summer. I do have pictures to share, but some are on my mom's camera, so I'll just share a few for now.

More pictures to come!

Summer!

Jason and I are done with Spring term, so we finally get to start our summer! Jason actually finished last week, because his teachers are cool like that. I finished my last final exam on Thursday morning. I am so excited to be done with Music 301. That class I have dreaded for years. After watching so many other people suffer through that ridiculous class and then suffering through it myself, I'm so glad to be done with it. It wasn't absolutely horrible. I actually really enjoyed the lectures and thought I had a great professor. I just think the class in general is a little too much. It is useful and good, but it is a TON of material and it's kind of hard to relate to, listen to, learn and enjoy music from 800-1600 AD. Our final exam was comprehensive and was 50% of our grade. Not only did it cover 800 years of history, but we had over 60 music examples that we had to know in great detail. Anyway, enough of my ranting.

It is so nice to just relax and enjoy the summer. Jason and I will start working full-time on Monday, and I was so glad I was able to get the shift I want (8:00-5:00, like Jason) instead of 10:00-7:00 like I feared. Not only that, but we're extremely slow. Most of the high school graduations are over so instead of having 20-40 calls on hold, we each only get calls every 4 minutes or so. It's great. A little boring at times, but great. I still have to finish American Heritage, so it will be good having so much time to work on it.

Jason and I get to go to Texas soon!!! I'm so excited! I haven't been back since our wedding last year. It will be weird going "home" to a different house, but I guess both of my sisters went through that as well. I can't wait to see my parents, Andrea, Ryan, the kids, and Margaret! It's been too long. While we're there, we're going down to San Antonio with my parents. Jason's never been, and I love it there. I can't wait!

21st Birthday

Yesterday I turned 21! I was born on my mom's birthday and my sister Andrea's birthday is the day after. This was my first birthday without my mom or sister, so that was kind of sad, but I still had a great birthday!

Once again being such a sweet husband, Jason woke up really early to make me a pankcake breakfast. Not only did he make me breakfast, but he cleaned the kitchen and living room (which were both a mess as a result of our final exams and previous celebration). I had a rehearsal with my trio at 9:00, but I didn't have my usual class from 10:00-11:50 so my Grandma Black came over to visit! It was so good to see her again. Even though I live in Utah, I don't get to see my extended family much because of my crazy schedule, so it really was a special treat to see her. She made me a delicious lemon bundt cake (so delicious I couldn't wait to take a picture before eating some).

I worked my normal shift from 12:00-7:00 (which I hope to never do again). After work, Jason made me a yummy spaghetti dinner with garlic toast. We played Ticket to Ride (the European version), watched Princess Diaries 2 (Mia has her 21st birthday), and ate MORE cake, but this time with candles and the birthday song.

1st Anniversary!

Friday was our first anniversary! Part of me feels like I've known Jason forever, but the other part of me feels like this year went by really fast. It has been a great year. I love Jason so much and I feel so blessed to have found him. He is my best friend, my confidant, my support, my joy, my life and my love. It makes me so happy and excited to think that I get to spend forever with him!

Friday morning, he woke up early and made me a wonderful breakfast, complete with a beautiful bouquet of roses and lit candles.

Unfortunately we still had classes and work that day, but I was able to get off of work early. Jason took me to Ruby River. It's a great steak restaurant that has a Texas-looking theme, and it is incredibly delicious! After that we drove up the canyon and went to Squaw Peak to watch the sunset. Squaw Peak has a great view of Utah Valley. There was an approaching storm, which was also cool to watch, that covered up our sunset and forced us to leave a little early, but it was really fun.

New Classes

Today is day two of Spring term. I think it will be nice only taking a few classes, even if they are monsterously hard and long. I'm taking Music History 301 (the first part of the music history class I was stressed about last semester). In our first class meeting, our professor made a funny but true comment. He was talking about how every music major seems to really struggle with this class and he was listing off his reasons for it. One of which was that most students' reasons for majoring in music are not really...substantial. They just love to sing or play an instrument and decide they want to do that for the rest of their lives, but they seldom desire to know how music works or the history behind it. As a result, they struggle through and sometimes hate classes like this one. Not going to lie, I was one of those shallow-minded students. While it might be interesting to learn Solfege with its accompanying hand signs, the different church modes and how they function, what a fully diminished 7th chord is, how to aurally identify a 12-tone series, or who Metastasio was, that wasn't really why I decided to major in music. Now I do see the usefulness of being a well-rounded musician who understands the inner workings of music, but not going to lie, when I entered BYU that's not what I thought I had signed up for.

Moving on...I am also taking Music 395 which is Form and Analysis. I have been intimidated by this class, but after the first day it doesn't seem so bad (so far). The third class I am taking is String Chamber. I'll be in a duet, trio, or quartet depending on who actually takes the class during Spring. Meanwhile, I am still trying to finish my online American Heritage class. I have one more quiz, a big paper, and my final exam. Two years after registering (embarrassing, I know) I am determined to finish...

I hate Burger King...

It seems like every post I've written has just been me complaining about finals and being stressed, but I have a crazy story to tell. Even though most of it is negative, I promise it has a good ending!

As of yesterday, I had two finals left. My two hardest finals that would require the most preparation and that caused the most stress. One was my 3,000 word essay for Anthropology that I had written one page for and that had to be turned in by Tuesday at 12:18, and the other was my music history written exam that I had barely started studying for that I had to take at 11:00 the next morning. Yesterday morning I took a different final and then went to work from 2:00-7:00 and we were really busy so I didn't really have time to study. Jason had left after he got off of work at 5:00 to take one of his finals, so I just went home after work to study. At 8:30 I went to pick up Jason from the testing center. Since I had tons to study and a huge paper to write I thought it would be better to just pick some dinner up somewhere to save some time. We decided to stop at Burger King on our way home.

As we parked our car at Burger King we saw this guy go up to the door and return to his car because the door was locked. Apparently only the drive through was open. We didn't really want to do drive through so we decided to walk over to the Costa Vida that was next door. We figured, why drive when we can get a little exercise and walk. After eating, we headed back to the Burger King parking lot to find that our car was GONE.

The first thought that entered my mind was that our car had been stolen. While I was greuling over that possibility, Jason knocked on the Burger King door. When the kid (he looked like he was maybe in high school) opened the door he said "honda civic, right? We had it towed. Our parking is for customers only." I could not believe the nerve of that kid! If only he knew how much stress I was already under and how much time I was going to have to spend that night and the next morning...It felt like that was the worst possible night that something like that could have happened. It just made us so mad that we went there intending on eating at Burger King, and just because they, for some reason, decided to close the lobby at 8:30 at night, we had to eat elsewhere. We've been to that Burger King many times, and I have NEVER seen that sign. So after we finally found the stupid sign, Jason called the number to get directions to the tow place. Jason told him where we were, and the tow guy told us to keep going down University and cross the street at 500 West. Then we should be able to find it from there. He also told us it would cost us $121 to get our car back if we paid in cash. Otherwise it would be more. Seeing as we didn't have that much cash on us, we had to stop at the ATM at our bank on the way (luckily it really was on the way).

Jason said the guy was really hard to understand, but we attempted to follow his directions and ended up wandering downtown Provo in vain, searching for this place. After 2 more confusing phone calls to the guy and a total of 30 minutes of walking, we decided to call Jason's mom to see if she could interpret his directions. He kept telling us about 500 W and University and he said it was near a DI drop-off place. We were really confused because the only DI we knew of was clear across town. Jason's mom didn't answer, so Jason called his brother Kyal to see if he was at home. Thankfully, Kyal was driving around Provo with his friends instead of at home in Highland (30 or more minutes away). He knew where a towing place was that seemed to fit the guy's directions, so he came and picked us up. He had three other friends in the car, so Jason and I squeezed in (I sat on his lap).

Once we arrived and saw that the door was locked and there were no cars in the parking lot, Kyal called the guy to see if he could get better directions or at least understand him better. He was able to figure out where it was so he drove us there (it wasn't far from the first one). The tow guy was actually really nice about it and felt bad that we got our car towed. He said Burger King called him and asked him to tow it, and he also thought it was ridiculous that they towed our car. If Kyal hadn't been in Provo, who knows how long it would have taken us to figure out where the tow place was, and even if we had figured it out it probably would have taken us at least an hour to walk there from where we were. Even though it was a horrible situation, the Lord was definitely helping us.

An hour after our adventure began, we were finally able to drive our car home. I was way worried about my exam and finishing my paper, but with the Lord's help I was able to get my paper finished (it was probably the worst paper I've ever written, but at least I finished) and I was able to adequately study for my exam. My exam actually went a lot better than I expected. I was so relieved when it was all over.

Now I am greatly enjoying my break from classes and the associating stress. It's so awesome actually having time to do the things I want and need to. Our house is finally looking cleaner, the dishes are no longer piled up in the sink, and I feel like I can breathe again.

Ugh...Finals

I really really hate finals. It's absolutely miserable. I feel like there just isn't enough time to adequately prepare for my tests. Luckily I only have two left, but these two will take the most time and preparation and I only have until tomorrow morning to do so! It's almost over though, and then I'll get a few days off before the next round of classes...

The end...

This week marked the end of my private lessons with Dr. Bigelow, my last masterclass with the viola studio at BYU, and my last jury. I have had such mixed feelings. Obviously I love playing solo repertoire and enhancing my viola skills, but having weekly lessons this past semester has caused a good deal of stress. Ever since I started working part time while going to school full time, I have really struggled getting in enough practicing. I just haven't had enough time in the day to get 3-4 hours in, and I have a really hard time being productive at night because I'm always so exhausted after a full day of school and work. I especially did not have much time this semester since I had to get my music education application all ready.

With all of these thoughts in my head, I was mostly relieved to be done. This morning I had my final jury. It went really well. I was nervous physically (my legs were shaking and my hands were clammy) but mentally I was calm and nostalgic. I felt like I was really able to express myself and it seemed to be well received. When I walked out into the hallway afterwards I got all teary-eyed when the realization hit that my private lessons are over.

On a lighter note, classes are OVER!! The class I am most excited to be done with is Anthropology. I like the concept of the class, but I wasn't particularly fond with my professor or my TA. We didn't have any exams in the class, which was nice, but our entire grade was based on 5 papers and a little bit of attendence. I still have to write my last paper, but I'm glad I at least don't have to go to those boring lectures anymore.

My favorite class this semester was the family history class I took with Jason. For those of you who don't already know, my dad is crazy about family history. He has done tons and tons of work over the past several years (somewhere around 30 years). Because it has been a great passion for him I have found interest in it as well, but I never knew where to get started. It's a pretty overwhelming undertaking when you don't know the first thing about family history. After a semester of taking a family history class, it is still overwhelming, but now I feel better equiped with the knowledge and resources I need to get started. The problem is I don't really know where to get started since my dad has done so much already...but I'll worry about that later.

Today and tomorrow are reading days and then finals officially start on Friday and end next Wednesday. I have 4 finals to take including my last Anthropology paper. The Tuesday after finals end, Spring term starts. I'll be taking music 395 (form and analysis), music 301 (a music history class), and I'll be in a string chamber group (either a viola duet or a quartet). In the mean time...I need to get to studying...

This post is for Andrea!

Since my sister, Andrea is stuck in bed and said on her blog that she's bored and wants us all to write, I decided to finally write a post.

I had a Philharmonic concert last Friday night. We played Wagner's Overture to Tannhauser, a violin solo (I can't remember the name of it and I'm frankly too lazy to look it up) with a guest violinist from the LA Phil, and Stravinsky's Firebird Suite. It was AWESOME.

My parents usually come up to Utah for one concert a year, and this happened to be the one! They arrived here last Wednesday and are leaving tomorrow morning. On Thursday night we had a big family dinner at Chili's with all my grandparents, most of my aunts and uncles, and some of my cousins. Friday night, my grandparents, parents, and Jason came to the concert. We were going to go out for ice cream, but a Friday night + Provo and its plethora of dating youth = crazy busy ice cream places. We ended up buying ice cream from the grocery store and taking it back to our house to eat. My dad, Jason and I all went in to pick out the ice cream. My dad said, "well, seeing as half of us are diabetic, I chose this sugar free ice cream." Jason and I of course picked sugar packed ice cream (Bunny Tracks). When we got to the house and showed everyone the ice cream selection, my dad ended up being the only one to eat the sugar free banana split ice cream. It was pretty funny.

On Saturday, we hung out with my parents all day. We went to the Provo Temple in the morning (7:00AM). It was the first time in almost 30 years that my parents had been there. After that I taught my Saturday violin and viola lessons. Then we ate lunch, and ran around town the rest of the day. That night we played Ticket to Ride 3 or 4 times. It was great fun!

Well, I get off work in 1 minute, so I'll have to finish this later...

To Be Continued...

Promotion!

Well, this has been a great week!

• Jason and I had a wonderful Valentine's Day. Jason snuck and made breakfast while I was still sleeping. When I walked into the kitchen I found pancakes, a beautiful Hyacinth flower, Lonestar playing in the background, and See's chocolates on the table. It was so sweet! Then we randomly went to get our hair cut (greatly needed). After I taught viola/violin lessons we went grocery shopping and saw Twilight again. Later, I made him dinner (lasagna, salad, and strawberry poke cake) on our China with candles.
• We had Monday off of work and school, which was great because I had a lot to do.
• I finished and turned in my huge Anthropology paper.
• I recorded myself for my music education application.
• I finished and turned in my music ed application.
• I got a promotion at work! I am now a trainer. Well, I still have to be trained to be a trainer, but that is now my official title. I also got a raise with it!
• I found out I received a full scholarship for Spring term and Jason received the same amount, but spread over Spring and Summer terms!
• It's already the weekend again!

February

Sorry it's been a while since I've posted, but life has been insane! Here's a quick update:

December: Christmas was great! I had a lot of fun with Jason and his family! It was a lot of fun watching Halie and Kaden get so excited about opening presents and talking about Santa. It was so wonderful having a break from school and spending time with Jason.

January: My sister-in-law, Kelsie, got married on Jan 10 to Rick Wirsch! My busiest semester started including 15.0 credits (I know that doesn't sound like much, but this is the music major we're talking about. They basically require you to sign your life away and give you hardly any credit for it), 20 hours of work per week, and the process of applying to the music education major. Monday, Tuesday, and Friday I have class and work from 8am until 7pm. Thursday I have class and work from 8am until 5pm and then I teach a viola lesson. Wednesday (up until this week) I had class and work from 8am until 9:30pm.

February: To keep this brief, in addition to the previously mentioned schedule, this month I have 5 midterms, a few papers, 2 concerts, my portfolio and application for the music education major, a talk in church, a workshop for a primary activity to prepare and teach, and stake relief society conference to perform at. I'm trying to follow my sister's great advice to find joy in the journey amidst all my stress. We'll see how it goes!