This is what Jaime gave me for Christmas:

I tried to ignore the obvious implication that she thinks I need to drop a few pounds and appreciate that she is concerned for my physical, and in turn mental and emotional, well-being.

Just kidding. I know she didn't give it to me because I'm fat. I'm already a reluctant fan of the 30-day Shred by Ms. Michaels. I say reluctant because the workout is good but geez, she's a beast. I was excited to see what the monster had in store on this new DVD.

I finally worked up the courage to try it out this morning. She is not kidding about the extreme part of the title. Jillian Michaels just beat me up.

I hope your MLK day is off to an equally jarring start!

This past summer, Jaime and I went on a temple tour of Utah. I blogged about it here, in case you missed it. Though we were able to hit I think ten or eleven temples that week, we didn't make it to the Provo temple or the Vernal temple. We did get to the Provo temple a couple of months later but I didn't take a picture. But here's a picture of the Provo temple without us in it:

The Provo temple was easy to hit because, well, we live in Provo. The Vernal one presented more of a problem though. It's three hours away, which would require nearly a full day to drive there, attend a session, and drive back. Plus...we kinda forgot about it for a while. But then we remembered.

So on December 20th, just two weeks before Jaime said sayonara, we made the day trip out to Vernal. We had pretty good weather, so the drive wasn't too bad. I thought maybe we'd find something cool to do once we got there, but it turns out there's not much to do in Vernal and as far as I can tell none of it's cool. So we just ate at Betty's Cafe, which was a disappointment, and went to the temple, then headed back home. I was still happy to spend the day with Jaime, though, doing something so uplifting and accomplishing a goal all at the same time!

I was just looking through some posts of this summer. I was so tan. I miss that.

Last Day at the MTC

Tuesday was my last day at the MTC. When I applied eight months ago, I was so excited to be a teacher there. My teachers had a huge effect on me when I was in the MTC, so I was excited to help other misionaries have the same experiences I did.

Well. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. My experience teaching the international missionaries was exactly nothing like my personal experience in the MTC. The variety of languages and cultures created more of a challenge than I was expecting. Over time, though, I learned to love those differences. I learned that I am not my teacher, my students are not me, and it was unreasonable to expect it to be the same. Once I accepted that, I began to notice different things that made my experience as a teacher fabulous.

I will miss meeting all kinds of new, different kinds of people every day. I will miss spending so much of my time focused on the Gospel. But most of all, I will miss missionaries such as these:

This is my last district, which I only got to teach for about two weeks. Sister Estrada from Peru, Sister Korea from Korea, Elder Carrasco from Chile, Elder Mendoza from Spain, Elder Tinoco from Mexico, and Elder Kolpakov from Russia. These missionaries are amazing and I was so sad to only have a couple of weeks with them. These missionaries, and all the others I was able to meet and teach, taught me so much through their testimonies, faith, and desire and willingness to be absolutely diligent and obedient. Their love and passion for the Gospel and others inspired me every day.

I'm so grateful to have had the opportunity to have my dream job. It was definitely the hardest job I've ever had, but it was also the most amazingly rewarding job I've ever had.

As previously mentioned, I spent Christmas in Utah this year. Since the Zogmaisters are my surrogate family anyway, I went to their house for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Jaime and I did some shopping on the way up to her parents' house then spent the evening at her sister Michelle's house. I can't remember if I ever blogged about it, but right after Thanksgiving I got a cold that took me down for about a week. Pretty typical. About a week after feeling good again, though, I got sick again with the exact same thing. I don't know if it was worse or if my patience was just limited since I had just gone through it, but I was miserable that second time around. I get so frustrated when my nose is stuffed up because I cannot stand not being able to breathe. I really hope there's no serious illnesses in my future because I am a wuss when it comes to being sick. I actually started crying one night because I was so frustrated but then it only made the congestion worse and I could get enough air in through my mouth so I started hyperventilating. It was actually really scary; it was the first time I felt a panic because I couldn't get enough air. It was not a pleasant experience. But I got through it. Anyway. Back to the topic. So I started feeling better again the week before Christmas but on Christmas Eve I started feeling a bit down again so I took it easy that night. I didn't end up getting sick, thank goodness. I'm still trying to get rid of the lingering congestion that surfaces every once in a while.

Christmas morning Jaime and I exchanged our gifts. I was expecting a package from my mom and one from my sister but neither came in time so I just had Jaime's gifts. Or so I thought. We got through ours then she pulled out a big wrapped box. We had agreed on a pretty strict spending limit for our gifts so I was initially really mad when I saw the box because I knew the presents I had already opened were at the limit. But when I took the paper off, I realized it was the package from my mom! The sneaky little bugger had taken it out of our mailbox and told me it hadn't come. I was very surprised and excited to have a few things to open. I got my sister's package a couple days later when I came home. I so appreciate their efforts in making me feel loved from so far away.

We went to church later that morning which was a great way to spend the holiday. After church, the rest of the family came and exchanged gifts.

That night Michelle and Joey brought their kids over to play games and have a sleepover. I was able to talk to my family both on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. I really missed them but I'm always grateful for how good the Zogmaisters are to me.

I decided to stay in Utah for Christmas this year, since I would have a job after the holidays (MTC was kicking me out for graduating) and the one I had paid extra over Christmas break. I just changed my ticket to March, when I'll be going home for my brother's wedding anyway. It worked out well.

Being here also gave me a little bit more time to spend with Jaime before she moved. The Sunday before Christmas I was able to attend her family's Christmas party, where the grandkids do the Nativity and everyone sings Christmas songs. The kids were so cute.

Angels (London, Jocelyn, Rachel, and Maizic)

Shepherd Taigon

The singers

One of the shepherds (Max) escaping while Joseph (Jack) tries to catch him.

Adam and Jack

Santa Haizyn

Ok, fine. I guess I better catch up.

I really enjoyed the Christmas season this year. Not that I don't enjoy it every year. This year I just felt like I really got enough out of it so I wasn't disappointed or shocked when it was over. I really think it was because I wasn't in school. End of the semester projects and finals just suck the joy right out of December. I didn't miss those at all. (In related news, I got an email today saying they'll be sending me my diploma next week. Heck. Yes.)

The Sunday before Christmas our ward put on a beautiful Christmas program with really beatiful music and spiritual narration. I was actually really impressed. I sang a solo and my roommates and I (plus Angela) sang a group number. Our other friend Hailey played the piano for us, so she, Angela, and their roommate Whitney came to our ward that day. Afterwards, we had a little Christmas brunch.

The frost stayed for several hours that morning. The trees were gorgeous! The birds were also out in abundance. This scene is out my window, across the street from our house. All those black dots are birds. Insane.

Whitney and Aubrey with our spread.

The next night we all went to Salt Lake to see the Christmas lights. Not my idea. I prefer to look at lights while being warm. We ate at Happy Sumo beforehand, though. Definitely my idea. I really wanted Jaime to try it before she left.

Her first bite. She loved it! We managed to get Hailey and Whitney to try it, too, though they were definitely more reluctant. Hailey fell in love immediately with the Vegas roll. Whitney said it made her want to throw up. I think she's lying.

Aubrey and Whitney Ehlers had some stuff to do at home so they headed home and the rest of us went over to the lights. They were beautiful and it really wasn't as cold as it could have been.