Fall Semester Wrap-Up

We are almost finished! We both graduate from our undergraduate programs in this upcoming April, and it is hard to believe that we only have one semester left! This was actually my last semester of classes because I student teach next semester instead of being up on campus every day.

Before we left Utah to spend Christmas break in Colorado with the Kraus family, we were able to pack in a few fun activities :)

Dustan decided to participate in Movember (mustache November, which is the BYU version of no shave November since beards aren't allowed) this year, which was unfortunate. To make matters worse, he had a mustache contest. Here was the final result:

Just after Thanksgiving Break, I finally got my wisdom teeth out. I just got the top two taken out since the roots of my bottom wisdom teeth are too close to a nerve in my jaw, which is a bit of a bummer. Luckily, I somehow don't have any pictures of my swollen and bruised cheeks from the surgery.

During our reading days when we were supposed to be preparing for finals, we went up to Salt Lake City with a group of friends to go look at the Christmas lights at Temple Square and go ice skating. It was a blast! It is a tradition for Dustan and his roommates to go each year around the end of fall semester.

We're all related somehow! (Or will be soon!)

And the most exciting news: Taylor and Bryson are engaged!! Taylor is Dustan's sister and Bryson is one of Dustan's best friends. They have been friends for years (and interested in each other for years) and finally started dating this fall. We were able to help out with the proposal. We went up to Rock Canyon on Saturday morning the 12th and set up a fire with a log bench, rose petals, and Bryson's guitar. They were out running in the canyon, and he brought her up there. Bryson sang a song he had written for her, then proposed :) Dustan was controlling our GoPro to video the whole thing from around the cliff corner while I was up on top of the cliff taking pictures. We are so excited for them!!

That same day, we went and did archery tag. There were two teams, and basically we just shot padded arrows at each other. It was fun, and we felt pretty awesome.

After this business, all we had to do was get through finals! I had more finals than Dustan for the first and last time (with six). We are still waiting to hear back on all our final grades for our classes, but we think everything went well.

Our last fun activity for fall semester was Kyle's wedding. Kyle is another one of Dustan's great roommates. We got to go to their sealing in the Payson Temple the morning before we left for Colorado. Dustan had to leave afterward real quick to make it to his last final, then we headed to Kyle and Arianne's reception where we had too much food and chatted with friends.

And now.... CHRISTMAS BREAK!

A Nielson Family Thanksgiving

It has only been three years since I was home for a Nielson Thanksgiving, but it feels longer. I was so grateful that finances and school worked out so that we could go to my home for this holiday. I was even able to convince Dustan to skip two days of classes (mine were already cancelled) to make it home for an entire week! Most of the family was home, we were only missing my sister, who is being awesome and teaching English in China until the end of the year!

PS: This is what Dustan looked like when we came home. A little rough, right? Haha

Forehead scar, new scar on his nose from working in the machine shop, AND a mustache for "Movember"!

Vacations with my family are so relaxing--it was a great break from school. We had both finished nearly all the homework we needed to in order to be completely school free over break. Since the boys (my dad and brothers) still had to work or school the first few days of our break, we spent most of our time relaxing around the house. I got an eye appointment in and we each read a couple books and watched movies. We went our for lunch or dinner to places that aren't as good in Provo, like teriyaki and sushi. It was just the break we needed to prep us to finish up the school year strong!

On Monday, Dustan and I went and did an endowment session at the Seattle temple. It was so fun to be back there, just the two of us! I had never actually done any endowments in my temple before because we hadn't spent a chunk of time in Kirkland since we got married. It was so good though.

After the temple, we picked up my dad from work and went shooting together! We shot three different pistols: two types of 9 mm and one 40 (did I write that correctly? I have no idea anything about guns...). My grandparents and some of my distant cousins came to join us part way through.

One activity I particularly enjoyed was when we spent the afternoon in Seattle together. From past visits home, Dustan had already seen a majority of the Seattle and Kirkland tourist sights, so I found a couple that he hadn't seen yet. One of these was something I had never seen either! We went to see the Fremont Troll. This is a giant carved stone troll underneath an overpass bridge. Interestingly, there is also a real VW Bug underneath one of it's hands.

Dustan rocking his new blazer we found at a boutique for $5

Husband and brothers

The overpass behind us

Next, we zipped over to the Ballard Locks. These have been around since 1917 to provide a way for boats to go between the salt water of the Puget Sound and the fresh water of the Ship Canal (which eventually connects over to Lake Washington and Lake Union). Also at the Ballard Locks is a fish ladder, which is neat during salmon season, but not as fun in the winter haha. We were here for sunset (at about 4 p.m., so early!) so we got to see some pretty colors. Afterward, we headed to the nearest Dick's Drive-In to get some classic Seattle burgers :)

My parents and little brother

The next day was Thanksgiving! I don't really have any pictures from the meal, but it was great. We spent the morning cooking and prepping the house. Including my family, we had 27 people at our house for the meal! We had tons of dishes, loud humans, and family. It was great. Some of mine and Dustan's favorite dishes were the yams and pecans, crock pot turkey (my mom was trying a new recipe, and it was a HUGE success!), and of course pie!

Sugared cranberries--too pretty not to picture!

Doing some post Thanksgiving reading by the fire

Our last day there, Friday, we spent the day hanging out with my family playing games and watching movies. It was a great end to a great vacation :)