Happy New Years!

Hello All!
So it's 2008. I thought I would start the year off with an update email before I start school next week and drop from the planet once again. Hopefully school won't cause quite as much stress this semester as it did last semester. Word from everyone in the department is that the first semester is one of the more labor-intensive and the second semester gets easier. My two night classes are earlier this semester which is nice for a couple of reasons; namely I will not have class until 10pm and I will be prevented from working dreadfully long days at work (since I will need to leave work earlier to get to class). I will also continue to have a Thursday lab class in the middle of the day. Jason is expected to have more overtime this time of the year (tax season) so he's only taking one class this semester (lucky bugger!).

The holidays were great! I flew to WI on Dec 18th to see friends and family. I managed travel to see my brother's apartment in Platteville, and Sarah and Olivia (a.k.a. "baby in charge") in Dubuque, before family Christmas at my parents on the 22nd. Traveling was limited by a snow/windstorm on the 23rd. It was the first serious snowday I've had since leaving WI. Unfortunately I didn't get to make it to have lunch with La, Mark, Sarah, Andy, and Olivia but it was also nice to be snowed in and forced to relax for the day. Thankfully I was not included in the snow removal activities that kept my dad and brother working double-time all day around the farm. I flew back home to Salt Lake Christmas Eve (the day after the storm). I picked perfect travel days. Several people on my flight out of Chicago were not so lucky and had been stuck in O'Hare for over 24 hours due to the storm, adding insult to injury, most of them were heading TO Christmas instead of back like I was. It was snowing pretty heavily in Salt Lake during the return flight and they only had one runway open (while clearing snow on the others), so we had to slow our airspeed to not get stuck circling Salt Lake. All told I returned to Salt Lake about 30 minutes behind schedule. Not Bad.

The week of Christmas was a whirlwind. I spent Christmas day with Jason and his family. It was wonderful. They even got me presents. I felt like sort of a shmuck since I wasn't expecting anything and hadn't gotten them anything. I will know better for future holidays. We opened presents at his parents house and then had dinner at his aunt and uncle's house around 6. The next night (Wednesday) there was a "Groom's Dinner" preceeding Jason's sister's wedding on Thursday. As best as I can describe, the groom's dinner/family dinner is a "rehearsal dinner" without the rehearsal.--since the wedding is in the temple, there is no audience participation. The following night it was another 45 minute drive back to Orem for the wedding reception. A mormon wedding reception typically consists of a line to meet/greet the couple and their parents, a place to drop off gifts, and hors d'oeuvres. Jason informed me this was a high-end cultural hall wedding--nice decorations, decent appetizers, a short program including some singing and speeches, and a bit of music at the end (although only about a dozen people danced). Just for comparison, it would have been a fairly small-scale midwestern wedding. The cultural hall is basically a big metting room attatched to most mormon churches. The two I've been in look like a gymnasium complete with basketball hoops, a stage, and hardwood flooring (picture Webb middle school's gym only slightly smaller). So after flying in on Monday the 24th there were three trips to Orem in three days for Christmas and wedding activities--no wonder it took me until today to get unpacked and caught back up. :)

I hope I get to see everyone on one of my next trips back to WI. Right now it's looking like that will be Spring/early summer. I may even twist Jason's arm and bring him with again. He seemed to have fun last time. Hope you all had wonderful holidays!

Steph~

ps. I attached two pictures of Jason and I from Misty's reception...if any friends/family are interested in having one :)