It's Christmas Eve, and I write from the beanbag because my dog is in labor and now it's a waiting game to see when she'll start pushing.  Of course, this is the Lundgreen home,  so nothing less can be expected. 

Finals week meant that more of the holiday season was spent in study group sessions than sipping hot cocoa watching Hallmark movies.  In stark contrast to last April, I was trying really hard to do studying the right way by 1) eating and 2) giving myself little brain breaks if I need.  I think this turned out a lot better, haha.  Fortunately, my study group is both hard-working and fun, which made learning and reviewing speech anatomy material a lot more doable.  We would test each others' knowledge by narrating a scenario where a patient was demonstrating certain behaviors or symptoms, and then have the group guess what kind of disorder or where a stroke or brain injury could have taken place. I seriously seriously think that we could all actually be friends outside of school, and after attending a party after five hours of studying and getting ice cream after our test ended, we've started creating a bucket list.  It's so fun to be around people who have the same kinds of passions and ambitions!

On Wednesday, we packed every nook and cranny of the car full of Adam's things and hit the road. Road trips are a lot shorter when you're with people who make you laugh; Adam was telling us of petty things he did to friends and siblings when he was younger, such as squirting his friend's bum with cleaning material without her realizing and then letting her walk around like that at school the whole day. When the sun went down, we listened to crime podcasts until we reached familiar roads of Phoenix.

Because my mom and Rachel were absolutely swamped trying to get her grad school applications done, I decided I'd best stay out of their hair.  I lucked out-- Jordie surprised her kids by coming in town again. Dallin and I did our homework on the train and then joined Jordie, Danielle and her baby to the Christmas markets in SLC, even though they had already seen them the day previous. I DIED, IT WAS SO AMAZING.