Tennessee Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving we were so blessed to go to Tennessee to spend the holiday with Nate's parents and sister+new husband!  We haven't been down there since last Christmas, and even though we saw all of the family a little while ago for the wedding, it was great to hang out with everyone in a much more relaxed setting, and to see the newlyweds post marriage. For Thanksgiving dinner, we each were assigned an item on the menu, and everyone helped out with everything (some were forced/dragged/woken up/etc. to get them to do so... I won't say any names, but it starts with an N and rhymes with ate.) <Nate Note: I finished making those potatoes before the rest of the dinner was ready, just saying>. I made my grandma's famous hot rolls, although they didn't taste as good as my mom's version. Nate made the mashed potatoes, which were really good. The dinner was delicious and spending time with the family was a much needed break from school/work. WE ARE THANKFUL FOR FOOD AND FAMILY

Besides good food and a relaxing week, we were able to visit some essential Kingsport locations, including, Pal's, of course, and La Carreta.  We were also able to go see Bay's Mountain, the nation's largest city park, which is near Nate's home. I'd never been to see it before.  It was pretty cold, so most of the animals weren't out where they could be seen, but we saw some wolves and bobcats.  We went to see a planetarium show about a giant ice thingy they built in the South Pole to look for neutrinos.  (I still have no idea what that means).  We also got to go see the movie Interstellar, shop on black friday, and visit Krispy Kreme, one thing I have missed a lot since moving to the land of Dunkin' on every freaking corner, (which are actually pretty gross). WE ARE THANKFUL FOR GOOD DONUTS, PAL'S, and CUTE ANIMALS

Making the rolls, I had to send my mom these photos
for her to coach me on when they were ready

Since Thanksgiving, we've been very busy with shopping/ decorating/ school/ work/ and preparing to go to Utah for Christmas. But even though it's been hectic I've loved it since I love Christmastime. As soon as we got back from Thanksgiving, I insisted on buying all sorts of new decorations for our new apartment, and getting the tree.  I've also finished (as of yesterday) my semester of classes (one more semester until I'M DONE WITH CLASSES FOREVER), so life the past couple weeks has been a little stressful.  I had two papers (planned ahead though, so I wrote them on the same thing, and only really had to write one) two exams, and a presentation. I'M THANKFUL TO BE DONE WITH SCHOOL FOR A MONTH

Cranberry Orange cake for the ward party (First to be gone! What What!)

A Peppermint Hot Chocolate Cake, with fudge, and marshmallows

  

I made this to save money, it didn't really, but it was fun

For the past semester, I've gotten involved in an on campus organization for graduate students called GWISE (Graduate Women in Science and Engineering).  I am the "medical school liaison", basically I try to publicize the events to the students on the medical campus, since most of the activities occur at the main BU campus, a half hour away. I like to be involved in it mostly because I like learning about what can be done to increase the success of women in science, and they have great professional development workshops and seminars.  But they also have socials, and this month I was designated to help be in charge of the Holiday Social.  I totally failed at buying the snack food/ appetizers for like 70 people and only bought like 3/4 of what we needed, so we had to go get more before it started.  But I feel like I helped out with the contribution of adding some service to the party, which, in the future will hopefully continue.  We did a drive for a women's shelter here in Boston, and wrote christmas cards to the Troops.   I'M THANKFUL TO BE A WOMAN IN SCIENCE

Lastly, we just had our YW in excellence activity last night.  It's been a stressful time of year to prepare for it, but it went well.  Each girl prepared a 1-2 minute talk on an experience they did that helped build their skills in a particular area (we call them values) like faith, good works, etc. Just achieving that level of participation from that seemed like a great feat, and they all did really well. As a group project, we all made blankets to deliver to the children's hospital and worked on them over several activities, which we were able to talk about at the dinner.  I feel like our YW program is growing so much and I have enjoyed the assignment to work with them more over the past few months than ever before (I'm sure many of you have heard me vent about it :) ). I really do love the girls and getting to know them and help plan the activities. I'M THANKFUL TO BE ABLE TO WORK WITH THE YOUTH IN MY CHURCH.

Delivering the blankets we made at the hospital.

A video we made one night near thanksgiving to recognize what we are grateful for

We got to babysit these cuties one night while there mom was sick.
EXHAUSTING but adorable girls.

This may not look amazing but 1) it tasted great 2) it was made by Nathan, yup that's right.
 ALL BY HIMSELF.  Needed to be documented for future generations.
SO THANKFUL FOR A CHEF HUSBAND!

One of my gifts to Nate was flannel sheets given in Early December so as to be useful in keeping us warm all month. I didn't want them, but will admit, it does make it so much warmer when you first climb in bed.