Best part of winter break: Jaime's visit. Hands down. A few weeks before Christmas I got a letter from Jaime in the mail and when I opened it, I found a piece of paper that said something like "You better hold off on sending my Christmas present." I unfolded the paper and realized it was an itinerary for her trip to Indiana! I called and left her a message that was somewhere between laughing and crying. These past few months have been some of the hardest I've ever gone through, and having a break would have been amazing anyway, but having my best friend here during that break was such a treat.

 

I picked her up from the airport the Friday night after Christmas. It was snowing, and I thought it would probably be safest to just go straight home, but our plans were to go to a Peruvian restaurant that night and I don't break plans that involve Peruvian food. 

We spent the next couple of days at my house playing with my nieces and nephews who I think were just as excited as I was to see her. They love to skype with her, and every time I'm on my computer, Campbell asks to see "Sammy," (Cooper calls her Jermy) assuming that she's just there whenever we decide to call her up. They loved having her here in person.

We also went to Texas Roadhouse and to see Breaking Dawn: Part Two with my sister. Then we spent New Year's Eve with my parents, partying like rock stars. We played both Settlers of Cataan and Ticket to Ride then capped off the evening by watching the ball drop on TV. I was joined by my favorite additions to my wardrobe: my slippers. And also three of my favorite people.

 

We had a countdown for Nalon before he went to bed at about 10:00, and both Thomas and Micah went to friends' houses so our New Year's Eve party was pretty calm, except for the extreme frustrations of one Settlers player who will remain unnamed. (Not me this time!)

Every New Year's Day, my parents host a roller skating party at the local rink and invite anyone and everyone to come skate. It sounds lame, but it's actually really fun.

Jaime and Emerson were very patient models as I tried to figure out how to use the camera on my new phone. Campbell was not a very cooperative skater. She refused to move her feet, so her skates went wherever they wanted, requiring some very intensive assistance.

Jonah was a pro from the get-go. Cooper lasted about 10 minutes I think.

The turnout includesd mostly extended Shoaf family, including Crystal, Jayna, and Tessa, but many people from church came, too, and some neighbors and friends.

Afterwards, my Uncle Joel and Aunt Crystal, along with Adam and Karina, plus Tessa and her kids and Jacob and our cousin Alexis came over to my parents' house. We ate more food and played more games.

I don't think I was having a very good time by the end of this game, but Jaime and Jacob did pretty well!

Campbell is obsessed with taking pictures with my phone, but when it's in backwards-facing mode, she struggles with splitting her focus between the screen and the camera. This is the face she made when I told her to look at the camera, not the screen.

The next day, Jaime and I went to The Big Cheese and unabashedly shared three sandwiches between the two of us. Then we stopped by grandparents' house in Hope and visited with them. Talking to my grandpa is one of our favorite things to do and we laugh about it all the time. He's a funny guy.

We went to sushi that night, looking for a restaurant to replace Happy Sumo. It was pretty good, but I have yet to find a roll that I love as much as the cabana roll at Sumo. I'll keep trying.

The next morning we got up and went to an early showing of Les Miserables. I liked it, but I'll admit, I'm not sure I could sit through it again. It was just really long and not exciting enough to keep my attention for 3 hours. When we came home, we made cauliflower pizza. I'd never made it before, so Jaime took the lead. The crust is made up of cauliflower, an egg, and mozzarella cheese, then the toppings are the same as normal pizza. It looks pretty good, right? It tastes good, too! It's obviously not the same as regular pizza, but the flavor is still really good.

That night we went shopping and to dinner with my mom and sisters. I just really like being around all of them, and it's also nice when you find lots of good stuff. I scored some killer deals and came home with a bit of a haul. Jaime got some good stuff, too, and I thnk it took a lot of strength and effort to get her suitcase to close when she was packing up.

Jaime was sick while she was here, and Friday when she woke up she was just really not feeling well so we decided to take a sick day. I got up and worked out and did a few things around the house while she slept, then we played Monopoly and made dinner, followed by a movie. It was my idea to play Monopoly because I hadn't played in years and I thought it would be fun. I was wrong. I realized that unless you win, there is no way for that game to end well. It's a slow, painful death where the other person takes everything from you little by little. I probably need to never play that game again. I bet you can guess who won.

Our last full day we hit up the Indianapolis Museum of Art, because it's something to do and, bonus, it's free.

Neither of us is very knowledgeable when it comes to art, so our favorite part was the top floor which had contemporary exhibits that are a bit more interesting and impressive to the untrained eye.

We also went downtown to the NCAA Hall of Champions museum. I loved it. It's a pretty small museum, but they've set it up so you can compete as you go along, and I'm always up for some friendly competition. The first floor is full of small exhibits about each NCAA sport. Jaime obviously rocked the basketball trivia game. That's her at the top.

The top floor is all interactive. There's a small basketball court where you can shoot free throws, a virtual simulator where you can kick a soccer goal, kick a football field goal, throw a football pass, or shoot free throws. I went 9 for 9 on the free throw simulator and the guy who worked there was legitimately shocked and impressed. He said that no one who works there had even been able to make them all. I think he was a bit disappointed when he saw me shoot free throws for real in the basketball court. I'm pretty sure I made 1 out of 5.

I'm a wrestling champion. World champion.

Our last stop was another sushi restaurant, where we met Tessa for dinner. I forgot to take a picture of the sushi in all its glory, but here's our plate after we scarfed it.

The pieces were HUGE! We had some serious chipmunk cheeks goin' on.

The second Sunday was really fun because I was teaching that day. I love having people in my class who I know will always have insightful things to share. She's great about that.

When the kids came back from their dad's house that night, Cooper and Campbell wanted to watch every one of their FHE DVDs over and over and over again, and they obviously wanted to be sitting on Jaime while they did it.

I had to work the next day, but Jaime's flight didn't leave until that night so we had a chance to go out for dinner one more time. So obviously we went back to the sushi place we'd gone just two nights before. I'm a litle bit obsessive about sushi. We got one of the rolls that they set on fire when they bring to your table. We weren't big fans of the smokey taste that the fire left, but it was pretty!

This time, we both tried wasabi on our sushi for the first time. O.M.G. I don't know why you would ever do that to yourself more than once. Lucky for Jaime, I caught her experience on camera.

It was really sad to see her go, especially since it meant I was back to my daily teaching life which I'm not a huge fan of. I was so grateful that she came, though, and I really felt like it was blessing from my Heavenly Father, telling me I'd done ok, I'd gotten through the first semester, and now here's my reward. I just wish she could live here so I could have her and my family all in the same place!