With the end of winter semester comes the end of an era. And I mean a LONG era. I am not yet graduated, but I no longer will be taking classes, which means no more homework or exams! Up next: externships. 

Honestly, it was definitely a tough semester to get through. But I tried to strike somewhat of a balance; with my clinic a mere 5 minutes from the German Christkindlmarkt, I made sure to go twice (once alone, once with Rachel, Paige and Nguyen). I even went to Arizona for a quick weekend. Dallin's mom offered to fly me home so she could get family pictures. 

Opening presents early with Dick and Rachel.

My nephew Maverick and sister-in-law Brooke.

My mom's new puppy Lulu.

As an early graduation/Christmas present, Dallin gifted me with a digital drawing tablet. I am over the moon. I have spent the past several days drafting out the first chapters of a webcomic I decided to write; it's the same story I have been working on in novel form for several years. I love the concept of illustrating this story given the intense world-building I have invested myself in. 

In other news, I had to take the Christmas tree down because Atticus kept climbing it and thereby knocking it over. Turns out he's a bit of an adrenaline junkie; not only does he not mind going timber, but he also thinks it's fun to dodge the squirt bottle. Poor Arlo got his nail stuck on the fibers connecting the firs to the base; I squirted him mercilessly with the squirt bottle before realizing he wasn't purposely hanging out within the branches of the fallen tree. Once I began trying to help him, he went into full panic mode and started crying, writhing in my arms, and even dragging the dismembered tree around the house while I tried to find the scissors to get him unstuck. Hopefully next year I can invest in a sturdier tree that can't be knocked over by a 7-pound kitten. 

It snowed for a couple days straight. This photo was taken at 11 PM; the snow reflected the light making it appear earlier than it was.  You can't see the snow blowing in the picture, but we had to walk backwards back to our house!

 Dallin's mom Jordie, sister Danielle, and nephew Maverick drove up for a short weekend visit. They brought air mattresses to crash in our living room, and the small space was just fine, as we spent most of the weekend out and about.  When they got there the first night, we crashed on the couch to watch A Nightmare Before Christmas, which I always thought was too creepy growing up but three-year-old Maverick new almost word-for-word! 

On Saturday we bought an Explorer Pass at Thanksgiving Point. With this we had time to see the Butterfly Biosphere, the Museum of Ancient Life, and the farm. 

After that, we got some much-needed caffeine from Swig, ate dinner at Bona Vita Italian Bistro (writing this here to remind future me to go there again -- so good for a decent price!), and then went shopping for home decor (thanks Jordie!). Dallin and Jordie went home to hang out with Mavvies, and then Danielle and I went hot tubbing with our sister-in-law Kaeli.