Happy Happy Anniversary!

I can't believe Garrett and I have actually been married for SIX years! They've gone by so quickly, it really doesn't feel like it's been that long at all. In the past year, Garrett has graduated, we went hiking in Arches, spent 10 weeks apart while I studied in Costa Rica, and now we're about to celebrate another Christmas together. The time has gone by so quickly!

We had a great day celebrating. We went to Bolt 3D at the Gateway. It was such a cute movie, and 3D movies are so fun. Then we had dinner and spent the night at Little America. Garrett gave me a beautiful pearl necklace and perfume. Yay! He picks such great gifts. I gave him a book about WASPs in WWII and a Marlon Brando movie he's had his eye on. We had such a great time, and I can't wait to see where we'll be in another six years!

Happy Holidays!

While I don't usually talk about substantive issues on my blog, generally preferring to focus on lighter issues like how much snow is on the ground outside over serious discussions that I've already had in law school all day, I just had to devote a little time to say Happy Holidays! That's right, I wish that everyone who is celebrating a holiday this month have a happy one.


We will be celebrating Christmas, and as part of our Christian beliefs and celebration of this special holiday, we wish goodwill to everyone regardless of what holiday they celebrate. I particularly feel the need to talk about my love of encouraging everyone to have a happy holiday because we keep receiving emails that seem to imply that saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" is somehow removing Christ from Christmas. On the contrary, these emails seem to boil down to a holiday popularity contest with one holiday claiming to be bigger, better and more important than all the other holidays.

Christmas is a great time to pass on traditions, testimonies and values to children. We should help them remember, as one of my favorite primary songs says, that "Jesus said love everyone." Showing respect for neighbors and their different traditions promotes peace on earth and goodwill to everyone. The impetus for these emails decrying the wishing of "Happy Holidays" seems to be based on court decisions regarding the First Amendment and department stores increasing recognition of other holidays.

Having just finished my Constitutional Law II final, I won't delve into the First Amendment much. I would just like to reiterate the fact that our nation was founded on separation of church and state. This governmental neutrality does not diminish the the strength of my religious beliefs or regulate my ability to wish whomever I want a "Merry Christmas!" And can you really blame department stores for working to appeal to people celebrating any holiday this season? Honestly, it makes perfect business sense to recognize as many holidays as possible to reap the economic benefits of seasonal giving.

One burr in my saddle is the way the holidays have become more commercialized, but this only reaffirms my belief that "There's no place like home for the holidays." It seems so odd to me that often the same people who argue that sexual education ought to be taught in the home are arguing that there should be prayer in schools. Just as morality and values ought to be taught in the home, so should the meaning of Christmas. Because no matter how much the authors of these emails try to convince me that being "politically correct" (or as I call it, realizing we are not the center of the universe) is ruining Christmas, mine seems to get sweeter every year.

Every Christmas Eve you will find me taking my place in the family nativity (wise man) along with Garrett (donkey-sounds sad but I have great respect for the donkey carrying a massively pregnant lady all over). We sing Christmas songs, decorate our Christmas tree and celebrate Christ's birth, and I am so grateful to live in a country that protects my right to do that. And my neighbors' right to celebrate Hanukkah, my students' right to celebrate Eid Al-Adha, and everyone's right to celebrate their holidays (or not).

So here's a big HAPPY HOLIDAYS to all and a wish for peace on earth and good will to men.

Let It Snow!

This was the view from outside our apartment on Monday. It snowed all day long, and hasn't melted away yet. It really is starting to look a lot like Christmas, hopefully it will stay that way until the 25th. I love the snow, especially when I don't have to go out in it. I like to be cozy and warm inside the house and look at the snow from the window. Fortunately, since it's finals time, I've pretty much holed myself up inside the apartment, cozy in my pj's, wrapped up in a blanket, studying my guts out and gazing out the window. I hope everyone else is enjoying it too, and I can't wait until finals are over so Garrett and I can mess up that perfect snowfall by making a happy snow couple. So in the meantime, let it snow!

Mad Knitting Skills

Check out my very first knitting project ever! One of my law school buddies started a knitting club, so a bunch of us decided it would be fun to squeeze in learning a new skill between studying and writing million-page term papers. Here's the result of my endeavors: a berry blue-tiful blueberry hat. Don't worry, it's NOT for me. Even though it's adorable, I'd look pretty goofy sporting this baby around the law library. I'm hoping it will fit the cute little noggin of a sister of mine (the Lanna-B of course, I don't think it would look any better in the Pharmacy School). Now if only I could work up the mad skills to make some matching mittens. Maybe next year...for now I'll stick to the easy stuff.

Go Utes!

Yay! The Game (you all know which one I mean, of course!) was so great this year! Garrett and I had so much fun cheering our team on from the MUSS (Mighty Utah Student Section for those who haven't had the pleasure/pain of being in the MUSS). While we are not always entirely in love with the MUSS (particularly when we get squished by moshing undergrads who are trying to think up ways to fit four letter words into their not-so-clever taunting of the other team), we always love our team. Go Utes!

Super late Halloween photos!

Please forgive the super late Halloween photos! It wasn't a really big holiday for us this year because Garrett had to work, but I had a great time hanging out with family. This cute, scary Lanna-animal decided to monkey around on the monkey bars by our apartment. I caught her right after she answered Mom (who said it was time to leave the playground) with a big Nooooo!


She was pretty intimidating, slinking around the Village. Her aunt made her this adorable outfit and she was warm, cute and fuzzy in it all evening. We never quite figured out what kind of fancy Lanna-animal she was, but she looked so fun in her costume.


Here she is making a scary Halloween face as we left to visit Heather up at the pharmacy. Isn't she terrifying?


Trick or treat! Give me some yummy vitamins to eat! Actually all the people at the pharmacy loved having Lanna come trick or treat, and they had some yummy candy ready for her. Now if they could only cure her of all the fuzzy yellow fur she seems to have growing all over her!


Even Toby joined in the Halloween fun. He's such a funny little bumblebee!


I just realized I don't have any pictures of me in my I-was-too-lazy-to-figure-out-a-Halloween-costume-so-Mom-bailed-me-out-with-this-pumpkin shirt. Maybe next year we'll do some more fun things for Halloween, but the best part was sharing the left over trick-or-treat candy and watching scary movies with Garrett on the weekend. Somehow it just isn't Halloween without hearing those magic words, "Here's Johnny!" Thank you, Jack Nicholson, for making our belated Halloween appropriately scary.

Fourth Folder, Fourth Photo

The fourth photo in the fourth file on my computer is this great picture of the faculty at Garrett's graduation. Not the best or the most exciting photo, but it was a pretty exciting day, one that Garrett is really happy to remember every time he wakes up from a dream where he is back in school. Good job, babe! What is really funny is that we'll have five graduations one right after the other: Me, Garrett, Jim is next, then me again, then Heather. So Lanna should be pretty well prepared to do it herself someday after watching all of us put on our goofy robes and finally get that diploma (cover...then wait for the real one in the mail. Doesn't that take just a little of the fun out of it?). Thanks for the tag, Fred. Now I tag anyone who wants to do it! Fourth file, fourth photo. Enjoy!