Winter Break

 Christmas Break never felt so good! As a college student, I was always glad for a 2 week break between classes. Didn't have to do jack-squat. But this was my first break as a teacher!

Lesson Planning, paper grading, chocolate eating, Pepsi drinking, internet surfing, video game playing, not dressing up, cuddling/staying warm Wonderful Winter Break!

Here is a list of all the fun things I did over Winter Break:

Last Day of School: Mayan Calendar Celebration (Dec 22nd)

My students jumped at the opportunity to decorate my whiteboard!

My 1st Christmas haul as a teacher! Not bad!

The Hobbit

My best friend, Danielle, graduated and is moving back home. So, as a last hoorah to add to our tradition of movie seeing, we went to see the Hobbit!

A Day in Salt Lake City

We had planned to go early in the morning to do a session in the Salt Lake Temple and spend the entire day in Salt Lake. However, I woke up a terrible stomach ache...like really bad sharp pains. Probably from all the junk food during the last day of school. But, we were able to make it up by lunch time.

One of Justin's favorite restaurants is Hire's Big H. So, he took me there for the first time. I wanted one of their famous burgers, but played it safe with a lemon-chicken sandwich. Still delicious!

We next went to the London Market. They were all out of Yorkies, my favorite chocolate bar! But, we got some other chocolates and some Yorkshire Pudding mix. Honestly, I was a little disappointed in the lack of merchandise. It just means I have to go back to Wales soon!

We walked around City Creek Center as well as taking the tour at the Beehive House and taking a peek into the Church History Museum. We met up with my siblings at City Creek Center to get a picture with Santa. My mom is super sentimental, so we knew it would be the perfect gift (besides, the last Santa picture she has is from exactly 10 years ago).

For dinner, Justin took me to the Cheesecake Factory for my first time ever! We had a bowtie pasta with tomatos and and alfredo and garlic/butter sauce. We split one dish and it was plenty!

Since we only got one entree, we splurged and got two cheesecakes! Oreo cheesecake--both our decided favorite--HEAVEN ON EARTH! Tiramisu cheesecake (Justin loves tiramisu).

We took a lot of married couple pictures around Temple Square as we enjoyed the lights. 

Christmas!

Christmas Eve we spent by ourselves and opened presents to each other. Justin gave me 2 new journals, a new laptop battery, and an electric massager (my favorite!). I gave him a TARDIS winter cap, The Bro Code, and an ocarina. We also bought ourselves 3 new videogames: Mystic Heroes, Bleach: Shattered Blade, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time.

Christmas Day we spent with my family. We got a Cinemark gift card, as well as a lot of candy, a cute family wall poster, and I got some jewelry. Mom and Dad gave us a Garmin GPS. We had great meals and saw Wreck It Ralph! Hilarious movie!

Our first Christmas dinner! London broil with roasted carrots, red potatoes and onions, Yorkshire Pudding and beef gravy. Justin will do a recipe blog soon for this, as he cooked it!

A Trip to Guru's

Guru's is a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant on Center Street and it has a little of everything on its menu. Justin got the Sesame Chicken and I got Lemon-butter Salmon. We also ordered a small side of Sweet Potato Fries. Justin will do a Restaurant Rating post later on this!

For dessert, we had a Berry Cobbler. It came with a side of ice cream and it was FREAKING DELICIOUS!

New Year's Eve

We spent New Year's Eve with Garrett. He was house sitting for his rich uncle in American Fork. Justin and I had been watching the extended Lord of the Rings trilogy all break and wanted to watch Return of the King at his house because his uncle's basement had a full-wall sized projector as well as surround sound. 

However, for some reason, we couldn't work the 4 different remotes and 3 different boxes to make the sound work. Therefore, we just watched up upstairs on the no-where-as-big-but-still-HD-and-a-decent-size TV without surround sound. At midnight, we watched the ball drop and Justin and I enjoyed Martenelli's and  enjoyed our first New Year's kiss.

Joey's Wedding

One of Justin's best friends, Joey Haddock, got married. We were invited to all the events. It was my first temple marriage (besides my own). It was very nice to be able to relax and watch and remember the covenants and promises I made with my husband. 

I felt so sorry for Erin, Joey's wife, as we took pictures. It was close to 0* in Salt Lake City and she had a short-sleeved wedding dress. Poor girl was shaking the whole time.

We enjoyed a luncheon at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and had fun at their reception in Lindon. We, as well as 3 other friend couples got together to decorate Joey's car. 

Funny thing: Aaron Petters was close friends with Justin and Joey before he got married. Aaron Petters and his family were in my home ward in Stafford, VA and lived a block away from me. Small Mormon world.

So, I have to say. It was a fun Winter Break. Now...back to work. Sigh.