Finals Week!

So I feel really guilty that I reemed you all out at the end of October about not posting Halloween pictures, and then I haven't posted for a month and a half! I agree with Carl though that we should all try to post more often...I absolutely love it. Before I forget, this picture was taken at the BYU-Utah game after our awesome victory. As Carl said, finals are next week, and I think we're all excited to get this semester over with. Jon's finals are going to be pretty tough, but mine will be a breeze after I get this 15-page paper turned in Monday. I'd take a test over a paper any day...it definitely wasn't the writing that inspired me to teach English! With that considered, though, my favorite class this semester and probably of my whole college career was my Teaching Writing class and I now feel somewhat prepared to teach the process that is so painful for me. I was so excited to say that Thursday was my last day of classes ever (except for a seminar every other week next semester), and I'm so thrilled to get into my student teaching. Seventh graders are absolutely hilarious and I think it'll be a great experience. My mentor teacher is letting me take a lot of creative license in my planning (for good or for bad), which I think will make the experience even more valuable. The main bulk of my teaching will be on Greek Mythology, centered around a really fun new young adult novel called The Lightning Thief. I recommend it to everyone--Mom's already read it and liked it, and it's a quick read. By the way, a few other reading suggestions if anyone is "bored" over Christmas break (ha ha you guys must be thinking--I know you are all super busy): March, by Geraldine Brooks is a beautiful pulitzer-prize winner about the father in Little Women (that's actually the book I'm writing my 15-page paper about); Gilead, by Marilynn Robinson is another pulitzer-prize winner that is a must-read for any Christian. I know there's more books that I loved this semester but I can't think of them...

Things are going really well for Jon too right now, though he is busier than ever. I loves working on his NAHB competition and is working hard to wrap up the majority of his work on that before Christmas break. I don't know if I said this before, but he and his team are creating a development proposal for a real community that is in the process of being built right now in Florida (that's where the competition is being held). Jon is in charge of the marketing plan and analysis for his team, which has included creating a website that looks absolutely incredible. We've also been really fortunate recently to get some extra work from Jon's dad on revising floor plans for his company. Jon gets 100 bucks for each plan he revises and can usually do one in less than an hour. The projects don't come often, but when they do, it's really nice to alleviate some financial stress. This semester Jon took a computer-aided design class where he and a partner worked all semester to create house plans both in AutoCad (the two, dimensional, detailed plans) and Revit (three dimensional renderings--this is what he works in at work). At the beginning of the semester his professor was hired by a wealthy young couple to design a luxurious custom home, and so he assigned each partnership to create their own house plans for this couple for practice. The couple gave the students their specifications and they took a field trip to the lot and then they were let loose. Jon's love is custom homes, so this was a really fun project for him. last week all of the partnerships presented their plans to a panel of judges that included this young couple, though it wasn't a competition because it wasn't like they were about to choose a 20-something year old's idea over the professor's. However, Jon was approached by his professor earlier this week and told that the young couple was so impressed with their design ideas that they asked the professor to work with Jon and his partner in doing the "real" design for their house. isn't that awesome?! Jon also secured a TA job with this professor for next semester, so things are really looking up for him. Sorry that was such a long paragraph about Jon, but I am just so proud of him!

We are excited for Christmas in Omaha this year, and especially excited just for a chance to relax. Before we head to Omaha, we are going with Steven and Lauren to watch BYU football at the Vegas Bowl with front row tickets! We are playing UCLA again and look forward to creaming our dear cousin Ben this time. :) i start school with my seventh graders on January 3rd and Jon again the next week. Despite how busy we are, Jon and I feel so blessed during this time in our lives and can really see the hand of the Lord in helping everything run smoothly. We love you all!