Finals week!! Mark didn’t have any final exams, but he spent the week finishing up his class work. Now he is can spend even more time focusing on the research article he is writing. He’ll be working most of the Christmas break to get it done and to prepare for his comprehensive exams.
I enjoyed being on the teacher side of finals for the first time! It was so fun to read my students’ responses.
We started a new Christmas tradition! We’re calling it “Christmas Break Books.” We got the idea from the Philips family in our ward. On the first day of the Christmas break, each person gets a piece of wrapping paper. They must then scavenge the house looking for a book wrapped in their paper. Mark and I hid each other’s books and spent a long time looking for them. We finally gave each other hints because we were ready to be done looking and to start reading. I was very impressed Mark found his after I told him which area of the apartment it was in. I put his behind a drawer in our dresser. He had looked in the drawer several times before he finally found it! Mine was inside our rice cooker!
We spent the evening on the couch reading and munching on raisin cinnamon bread. We both chose books we read years ago and wanted to read again. It was so peaceful and I can’t wait to do this every year!
We finally got some good snow too!! Mark took a long lunch break on Friday so we could make a snow man (complete with mask).
I splurged (and helped a friend hosting a party) and bought myself a set of color street nails. I’m not usually too excited about getting my nails done, but it is really fun to have cute nails for Christmas time! And my vipkid students have loved them!
Mark’s brother, Carl, and his wife asked Mark to make some archery arm bands. It was Mark’s first time making them and I think he did a great job!
Our Story: The Bell Family 