Let It Snow!

Jon and I have been married for almost 6 months (4 more days). Time FLIES! Before I know it, we'll be celebrating our 1 year anniversary!
Jon has been very busy with school and homework and finals lately. He did 2 weeks of a clinical rotation at a nursing care facility, and his next round of clinicals will be starting in January (and will last until he graduates in May).

I have been looking for PTA jobs out of state. I like Utah a lot, but I am ready for a change (plus, Utah is the lowest paying state for PTAs). Texas pays the most, but I am not so sure about that hot weather. I would like to go back east (love snow for Christmas), but I am not picky. I have been looking at some cute houses and real estate in different places around the US, but it's hard to look when you have no idea where you're even going! (I secretly wish Hawaii - the cost of living is higher, but why not have some fun while we have no kids and not a lot of other things keeping us here? And while he works, I'll go to school at BYU-H!) But who knows. It's all up in the air still, and we have 5 more months to think about it.
Mom and dad visited over the Halloween holiday and spent a week here. It was good to see them, and they were able to go to our ward's Trunk or Treat and also to Emma's. It was cute to see Chris, Marian, and JB dressed up in their costumes.
Jon and I went to the Vienna Boys Choir concert in early November. It was up in Salt Lake and it was so beautiful. Those boys have wonderful voices. I especially loved the a capella songs (although their director/pianist was AMAZING and his fingers FLEW over those keys). It was really nice evening/date with Jon - it's fun to dress up and do something classy :) .
Our family ward is good. I still feel pretty new there. I know some people, but I don't feel really close to anyone yet. Jon is in the Elders Quorum presidency and I am a Gospel Doctrine teacher, so hopefully through those callings we will be able to meet more people and make some new friends.

A few months ago I posted about being terrified to substitute Gospel Doctrine (and of course now I am a teacher for it). The more I study and teach, the better it is. I still get nervous every time. I still pray and hope that there is a discussion and people will make comments (with about 90 people in the class, the discussion has been good so far!) But I personally learn a lot every time. So really, this calling is a blessing, even though it terrifies me.

For Thanksgiving we went to Jon's parents' house. It was nice to have a four day weekend  to spend time with his family, take a few naps, enjoy the cool weather, and finish decorating the house for Christmas.

Weekend update:

This past week was a busy one - I got my hair done on Tuesday. Jessica gave me some low lights. At first I was skeptical and thought it was too dark, but I always love it a week later, and now I do! It's more of my natural color, and I wanted a change. I love blonde, but this is perfect for winter, and I don't want to worry right now about keeping up with blonde. It's a lot of maintenance!

On Thursday we decorated gingerbread houses with some friends and families in the ward. It was nice to get to know some more people (one of the guys who was there is the co-director of the new New Testament films the Church is making. I wanted to ask him why Mary looked old in the video they played during the Christmas Devotional last Sunday, but I didn't want to offend him or anything. But I did think she looked way too old...oh well).

 On Friday we went to my work's Christmas party, then drove around the town and looked at Christmas lights and danced to Christmas music by the tree (Jon can be romantic sometimes!)

Saturday was busy with Marian's dance recital - those 3 years olds were so cute in their costumes! You could tell they were pretty distracted with everybody watching. :) In the afternoon Jon and I visted Elza at The Creamery - it was her last time to work there after 4.5 years! Then we met up with the Butlers (and Elza met us there too!) at the Riverwoods and walked around, looked at all of the Christmas lights, enjoyed some outdoor music, played around with the kids in the toy shop, and got some ice cream at the Provo Beach Resort (it was Blue Bell, so I know that made John Butler pretty happy!)

Sunday was our ward's Christmas program. I sang in the choir, and Jon and I were also the narrators. After church Elza came over for dinner, and then she and I got to work while Jon studied for finals. We made a ton of Buckeyes and Muddy Buddies to give to our neighbors and friends. Elza made the buckeyes, and I made the muddy buddies, then we split them up so we could have a bunch of each to give out. (Of course, at one of the houses Jon and I visited, they had a HUGE platter of muddy buddies on the coffee table! Good thing we had one more bag of buckeyes left! So we just traded and gave the muddy buddies to somebody else.) It was nice to stop and visit with some of our neighbors and get to know them more.

We'll be spending Christmas with Jon's parents again this year up in West Jordan. Unfortunately, there won't be any kids there in the morning to watch open presents, so I am trying to convince Jon that we should just go up a little later, and maybe start our own tradition on Christmas morning or something of making breakfast together or who knows what. (It's just not as exciting with me, Jon, his parents, and his two older brothers sitting around opening presents one at a time. It's fun to watch kids' faces and see their excitement!) So we'll have to come to a compromise on that... :)

So life has been pretty busy. Last night Jon was studying late at the school and I stayed home and wrapped some presents and watched some Christmas movies. I don't think I have cried so much in such a short amount of time as I did last night watching Mr. Krueger's Christmas. I know it's about loving Christ and what Christmas is really about, but he was just so lonely! I think I'll make Jon watch it now...

Anyway, long update. I have a few pictures to post, which I will do later (just of the tree, my hair color, our gingerbread houses, etc.)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!