Finals and Christmas Break

Finals were more stressful this semester than they usually are. It might have been because there were so many, or because my classes are getting harder, or because I've done the finals week routine enough times that it's getting old. The best part of the week was actually Sunday night. Clayton and I had just woken up from a nap when we heard someone knocking on our door. Clayton went to go get the door, and minute later Emma was jumping on my bed! Man was I shocked (and super happy) to see her. Apparently Clayton had known for a while that she was going to be up in Utah for the weekend, and they schemed together to surprise me. We didn't really do anything, just sat on my couch and talked for a couple hours, but it was so fun. I love her.

After finals were over we deep cleaned our whole apartment. At BYU all the single housing students have cleaning checks at the end of every semester. Married housing doesn't do it, or at least ours doesn't, but we figured it was probably a good idea anyway. We are pretty tidy, we pick up almost daily and our kitchen is usually clean, but we don't really spend time on the deep cleaning. Clayton took care of the bathroom, vanity, and bedroom, and I did the kitchen and the living room. It took about about 2 or 3 hours, like 7 different bottles of cleaning products, 20 + Christmas songs, and 10 rags.

On Monday we packed up and headed to Clayton's parents house. All of his sisters were there, even Jenny. There is something so relaxing about being in a real house. Especially one where the fridge is stocked, there are holiday decorations, and it's located outside of Provo. It was really nice to spend a lot of time with Clayton's family just relaxing. On Tuesday we all went down to Provo to volunteer at the food bank. Mostly we sorted the donations that come in. It was surprising to see what everyone donated. Cans are a given, but lemon curd? Laffy Taffy ropes? A box of walnuts? It was interesting. That night everyone slept over again, and in the morning we all jumped on the parents bed. I was told that it was a tradition to knock each other out of bed. Then we all lined up according to our age (I was in front holding Abby the dog) and walked to our perspective spots in the living room. On each of our spots was a pile of gifts that were mostly unwrapped. After admiring all of our gifts we ate breakfast. Another tradition is to make this ham, cheese, bread casserole, and it was the bomb. Maybe Clayton and I will continue on that tradition. After breakfast we went back to the living room and unwrapped all of the presents under the tree. We were absolutely spoiled. I think my favorite gift was a book on how to become a marine mammal trainer. I know, it's dorky and very unlikely that I will actually become one, but it is so cool. Clayton's favorite present was his website that he can practice programing on. Later that day we went to the movie theater to see Saving Mr. Banks. The whole family gave it mixed reviews, but I liked it. We spent the rest of the evening snacking on left overs from the Christmas dinner, putting together a jigsaw puzzle, playing games, and watching old movies. We left at around 11 and fell straight into bed when we got home.