I've Graduated?!

I guess it's official- I am now a college graduate! It still sounds weird to me- it really hasn't hit me yet but even still, I have so many conflicting emotions about it I don't know where to start! I'm SO very happy that I will no longer have to stress over 3 tests in one week or come home at the end of a long day just to start on a big pile of homework. Although I will miss going to class, I'm pretty excited to be done with school! On the other hand, I'm very sad that I will never walk around BYU campus the same way again. I'll never again be in the college student category and am automatically booted into the "real world" which is pretty scary in itself. Today is also my last day at my campus job and it has been a GREAT job while I've been at college but I'm ready to move on. Unfortunately I don't know what I'm moving on to and so I'm terrified. I'm also sad because I know that I will briefly keep in touch with my old roommates and friends but that it will never be the same again because I have officially moved on to another stage. I'm glad that Richard is done and that we graduated at the same time but I'm sad that he has another 6 years left! I'm happy to be starting new adventures but frustrated that I can't see what is in store. This probably doesn't make any sense, but I guess more than anything I needed to TRY (try being the key word here) to put down some of all the crazy emotions that are going on inside of me. What's a girl to think?! Are you sure this indecisive girl really graduated from college?!?

OUCH!!!

Sunday night, after coming home from a family dinner, I was unlocking the front door of our house when all of the sudden I heard a scream of pain and turned around to see Richard crouching on the floor holding his head (I don't know how else to describe it but I have to defend him and tell you that he wasn't being a baby, he took it in a very manly way) :). I had NO idea what happened but hurried and got him into the house and on the couch. Come to find out, he hit his head on the jagged cement overhang that is above the steps leading down to our door (we live in the basement of a house). I had no doubt that his head would be hurting pretty bad but as I checked to see if I could find any bumps or scrapes, I came across this:

Poor kid was bleeding a bunch even though it's not a very deep cut. I looked harder and also found another scrape on the other side of his head that wasn't as big:

I don't know how well you can see it but it's amazing he didn't have a concussion!!! He whacked it pretty good but luckily he's ok even though he did have a big headache last night!

Temple Square

Sat night we drove up to have a delicious spaghetti dinner with Scott and Jen and then took Trax downtown to see the lights. It was fun to be with the DuVall clan and very fun to see the lights actually on Temple Square, unlike the last time we came up. The poor little girls looked freezing even though they were bundled up tight but I think they still liked seeing all the pretty lights. We took a bunch of pictures but we didn't realize until after we got home that we never took a picture of all of us together!! Ha ha. We went back to their house after and had hot chocolate and dessert and kept them up way later then I'm sure they wanted to, but we loved talking to them! It was a great night for us so thanks Scott and Jen for feeding us dinner, walking around Temple Square with us, letting us talk your ear off, and for staying up late!

First Interview

My first interview has come at the perfect time. Monday I went to look into a job at NuSkin that I heard had opened up only to be told that they had just filled it. For some reason, as I walked out of that enormous building, it really hit me that next week, Richard and I both won't have jobs!!! At the EXACT moment I started freaking out and was about near tears, a miracle occurred. My phone rang! The lady on the other end asked me if I was still interested in the receptionist job I had sent in an application for a few weeks earlier. We set up an interview for today (Wednesday) and I was ecstatic! I know that it was a huge blessing from my Heavenly Father to have her call right then as I was having a minor meltdown. The funny part is that, at the time, I had NO idea what company it was for. The website where I found their listing did not list a company name like the others did. I kept joking that it was probably for a sewage company or something and that's why they didn't want to list their name. Richard and I drove to the building last night to see if we could figure out what company it was for (which is SO close to our house that I could even walk there if I needed to!). The building has many different offices in it and since I had left the paper at home with the address, I couldn't remember if it was Suite 102 or 201. We looked up both of them and saw that 102 was for University Properties but my heart immediately sank when I saw that 201 was Pointe Pest Control! I had myself convinced that I would end up working for a Pest Control company until we got home and I saw that my interview was for Suite 102!! I could not have been happier!!! I drove Richard nuts as I said over and over again, I don't have to work for Pest Control! I don't have to work for Pest Control!!! My interview is at 1:00 today so wish me luck!!!

Starting Christmas

We have been getting into the Christmas spirit this week and it has been a ton of fun. I definitely needed that boost to make me feel like Christmas is really here!

Wednesday= We went and wrapped presents for the 80 families that are being helped by the Flash Family Foundation. All of the Flash players came after we had been there for about an hour but I don't think they were very enthusiastic about being there... after they had a few pics taken, they would be on their cell phones or by the food. The Flash owner was very nice and seemed like a good guy. It was fun to help make someone else's Christmas better by wrapping presents that they otherwise would not have gotten.

Thursday= We wanted to see the lights on Temple Square with our friends. However, we decided to see the Joseph Smith movie instead and by the time that was done we only had ten mins before they turned all the lights off. Here is one of the few pics we were able to get with the lights on.

Friday= We went to our ward Christmas party. We ran out of food and only had 5 talents in our talent show but it was still pretty fun. And it was a much better turnout than the Halloween party so that's a good sign. It was good to get to know more members of our ward.

Sunday= Our ward had the Christmas program this morning and Richard and I both sang in the ward choir and I also read something about feeling the Lord's love. After church we went to the Awerkamp's for a Shepherd's Feast. We ate "shepherd's food" (like pita bread, hummus, raisins, etc), read part of the nativity story, had all of the kids dress up like shepherds, and sang Christmas carols together. We were also able to meet Esther who Scott had baptized in India. She's here trying to get into the Marriott School of Business and we were glad we got to meet her!

I love this Christmas season but it's hard to enjoy it when you are stressed about finals. Luckily this last week has helped me to focus on the fun side of Christmas instead of all the stress that sometimes comes with it!

Gingerbread House

Last night for FHE Richard and I decided to make a gingerbread house. We are pretty inexperienced but still managed to make a pretty decent two story house that stayed standing up! It was a lot of fun and even though our gingerbread house isn't the best looking... it's still a cute little house! Here's a few pics of the fun we had:

Setting up the walls of the house

Frosting the house

Putting the final touches on the house

Enjoying the final product

Job Hunting

I have now started the dreaded job hunt since I will be graduating in three weeks!!!! Since I can't do the job I want to do right now (long story) I am just looking for any job, especially a receptionist type job. Richard is also looking for a job that will be willing to hire him for only 9 months and still pays decently. If anyone hears of a good job opening (or even a mediocre one) in Utah County, please let us know! We would really appreciate it. Keep your fingers crossed that we can get good jobs in this crazy economy!

Fiesta Navideña

Monday night we had a very unique and fun FHE. Richard volunteered to help with Fiesta Navideña (basically a Christmas party for Latin families to feel part of the community) which they were having at the Provo Library. I relunctantly went with him (because usually when I go to Spanish things I end up just sitting there while everyone else talks in Spanish...) but I ended up having a ton of fun. It isn't just targeted at Spanish families, like I thought. They have everything in Spanish and English and a lot of fun activities for families. We first helped out at the fishing wall and it was really exciting to see how happy the kids were when they caught a prize. Then we had some time before we needed to help out again so we were able to go into the ballroom and watch a bunch of dances from countries all over the world. They were mostly performed by little kids- they were adorable to watch! The last activity was a magician. We thought we were just going to help usher people into the auditorium but just before the show someone asked us if one of us spoke Spanish and took Richard up to the stage to interpret for Mago Lui. The magician would speak English and Spanish for almost everything but when he told them a long story he would have Richard interpret for him. Richard had so much fun interpreting and it was cute to watch him interact with the little kids. The magician wasn't amazing, but it was a nice show for kids to go to. We were very glad we were able to help and ended up having a great time!

We didn't have our camera at the Fiesta but here
we are in our volunteer T-shirts at home