Back to School

Well, we have finished our first week of the Spring smeseter.  Peter is excited because he is going to have a much easier semester than this past fall, and I think I will have a somewhat easier semester, also.  Last semester we were both taking 18 credits and working two jobs.  It was pretty busy.  We’re both still working two jobs, but we have less than 18 credits this semester, especially Peter.

Classes seem like they’ll be mostly enjoyable, with maybe one or two exceptions.  I’m excited to be learning mobile app development, even if we are focusing on iOS devices :P.  Since Android uses java, Dr. B says the learning curve isn’t as big, making iOS more important for us to learn in class.  Dr. B is employing the “flipped classroom” method of teaching for this class, since a teacher of iOS (Objective-C) at another university who used to work for Apple has put all of his lectures for a similar class on iTunesU.  We are charged with watching lectures at home, taking notes and a short (open lecture) quiz on them, and then coming to class prepared to discuss or follow along as Dr. B helps us actually do some coding.  Should be interesting.

My Operating Systems class is a strange combination of students that I know.  Some of them are younger ones I TA’ed for last semester, and others are ones that have been in many of my classes and are at about my same level.  Almost too many people to talk to; half the time I can’t decide whose conversation to join!  It’s fun, though J

I have a new lab to TA in that is much smaller and is also a private lab, so I can prop the door when I’m working so students can come in and ask for help or leave it closed when I’m off the clock.  It’s nice and quiet.

I have also started eating lunch with some other CSIS students.  I just sort of randomly sat with a friend named Randy the other day, and then like 3 other CSIS students joined us!  When I said something about never having eaten lunch with CS students before, they were like, ‘yeah, we ended up doing this last semester’.  They must have enjoyed it cuz they’re doing it again this semester!  I like it because it helps me not be deprived of socialization when I spend all of my day in class and working.

Peter and I are both taking the Doctrines of the Gospel Institute class, although we’re taking it at different times (he’s taking it at 11am while I’m working, and I’m taking it at 1pm when he’s working).  I’m quite enjoying it.

So, that’s the first week of school!  One down, just a few more to go! ;)

Christmas Part 2

Tuesday was a waiting day for me.  I was very excited that I would see my parents on Wednesday, so I spent most of the day Tuesday cleaning so the house would be clean and so I wouldn’t go crazy doing nothing, waiting for the next day.

Finally, Wednesday morning arrived!  Peter and I got up and drove to St. George to meet my parents and my sister at Cracker Barrel for breakfast!  I was so happy to have my parents and my sister here with us for five days.  I needed to get a couple more things for Peter (since we were doing Christmas with my parents and hadn’t had much shopping time, Peter and I saved most of our gifts to open at Second Christmas), so we split up after breakfast.  Dad and Peter did a tiny bit more Christmas shopping, then headed home.  Mom, Kira, and I did a LOT more Christmas shopping, as well as Christmas dress shopping.  When I was younger, I would always get a Christmas dress and an Easter dress to wear to church.  Since I hadn’t gotten one this year, we went looking for one.  The one we found was really cute, and ended up costing only $20!  Score!

We went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner and then helped mom wrap our presents for “Christmas morning”!  And Peter and I got our Christmas pjs, which have moose on them!  Mine have "chocolate moose" on them :)

We also had a fire on "Christmas Eve," courtesy of my lovely husband

On Thursday, we got up around 6, before the sun came up, to open our presents!  

Once again, Mom did a wonderful job with picking out presents for each of us.  Peter and I also exchanged gifts.  Peter did a good job, as well!  After present opening, we played with our presents and took naps.  Then we had yummy yummy crepes for breakfast.  That afternoon, we watched the movie The Kid, which Peter had never seen and that we got for Christmas!  We also made candy cane coffee cakes (so delicious!) and had roast, stuffing, sweet potatoes, and cranberry jello for dinner. After dinner, we played a game of Charades using Mom’s iPad and had a blast!  It was so funny to see our family members making fools of themselves trying to get us to guess the right word.   Being on the other end making a fool of myself was fun, too J

Friday, we did a morning session at the St. George Temple, which was really nice.  Then we ate lunch and did more shopping, followed by some afternoon naps.

Saturday we took our time leaving for Vegas.  We slept in, did some straightening and cleaning, took down the Christmas decorations, and sort of just puttered around the house until we were finally ready to leave.  Peter helped a couple of our friends move.  It was kind of sad to take down the decorations because it was the signal not only for the end of Christmas, but also for my parents to be leaving and all of us going back to real life. 

In Vegas, we visited with Grandpa, Uncle Jason, and Aunt Sherri, then headed over to Macayo's, where we always meet when all the family in Vegas is getting together to eat dinner.  Unfortunately, they were very busy, and the wait was over an hour for all of us to be able to get a table.  But, perhaps it wasn't so unfortunate because we went over to my cousin Erin's house for pizza, and we were able to visit with various family members better than we usually can sitting around a huge table at the restaurant.  It was really nice.

Sunday, we went to church with Grandpa then went back to Uncle Jason and Aunt Sherri's house, and Mom, Kira, Aunt Sherri, and I made chicken salad for lunch (we had a lot of really good food during Second Christmas).  We relaxed at their house that afternoon for a while.  Then, while Peter stayed to finish watching a football game (he doesn't get to do that much at our house), Mom, Dad, Kira, and I went to see Lake Las Vegas, where Kira wants to take pictures if she gets engaged while still in Vegas.

Cute selfie of the four of us!

It took us a little time after we got back to finish the football game then go back to where we were staying and pack up, and we put it off as long as we could, but eventually it was time to leave.  So we said goodbye to my parents, Kira, and other Vegas family, and got in the car.  Our time together is never long enough.  Christmas part two was over, and we had to go back to school the next day, although it did not feel like it was time to start back.  There didn't seem to be enough time before we all had to go, as Brad Paisely said, "back to work back to school or just back to reality."

I have to be honest, the whole week is like a blur at this point.  I just really, thoroughly enjoyed being with my parents.  It was really hard to say goodbye to them when we left Vegas on Sunday. 

P.S. I didn't take many pictures because there were always 1-3 other picture takers!  Hopefully they'll get blog posts up soon (hint, hint! :P)