I'M BACK!!

My time in Michigan was wonderful! I miss my family a lot. It was wonderful to be able to hold 2 babies that you love soooo much. I didn’t get a picture that I really wanted though; I wanted all 4 nephews in my lap, 2 giving me kisses on my cheeks while I juggled the newborns. Richard and Jonathan got sick, so when I thought to do the picture, it was too late. Oh well, over Christmas I guess.

It has been fun trying to get back to normal life since Thursday. Ryan picked me up at the airport with a dozen red roses and then we went to Rodizios, an authentic Brazilian grill. We tried about 10 different varieties of meat. The drink was a pineapple and lime juice mixed with crème. MmmmMmmm!!!!! I highly recommend the restaurant. It is in Trolley Square in Salt Lake City, UT. In order to get the waiter to come around with delectable skewers of meat, you need to get the buffet. It is tempting to eat a ton from the buffet, but let me warn you, you will NOT be able to eat much of the meat if you do!!!! The meat is the best part!!!! Definitely try some stuff from the salad bar that look yummy…but only a bite or two of each. Trust me…you want the meat!! It is the best meat you may ever try!!

I have to get back into the groove of life. The day I got back I sent a resume out and had an interview the next day. I would be working at UCMT. I want to have a massage job on top of a regular job so that I don’t have to beat myself up doing massage full time. I don’t know if I want to work at the school quite yet though. Getting off for Christmas would be harder.

Rick showed me what acupuncture feels like. He put a needle in 2 points, then I put one in him, and then in myself. It was fun. He sent me home with a book, point finder and needles. I know acupressure which is acupuncture without needles. It isn’t hard to do acupuncture. I won’t be as specific as a professional, but what I can do isn’t harmful.

Our stake conference was wonderful today. President Monson presided over the meeting with Elder Wirthlin and Elder Samuelson. It was quite an enjoyable meeting. It was broadcast from the Marriot Center on the BYU campus. I really like the change in how stake conference is going to be from now on. I think it will be much more effective, and allow the brethren to become more real to us. Elder Monson was very personal, uplifting, bluntly honest, funny and informal. It was not your typical general authority talk, with that tone of voice that they all have. In better words, it wasn’t General Conference. Don’t get me wrong, I love General Conference!!!! But this was very much a fun personal time with an apostle. The message given by all three of the men was powerful, enjoyable and applicable to the people whose ears were in reach. I feel like I just had some one on one time with a friend...an enjoyable conversation. They are truly men of God. It was wonderful!!

Well, I hope you continue on to read all the wonderful things my sweet Ryan has to say:

I also enjoyed our Sunday meetings very much. I feel very good in our new congregation. A funny thing that always happens to me every Sunday is that I look for a friend of mine, who attends the Spanish ward, and end up seeing someone else that I know. This time it was my friend Matt Hill who is a talented member of my Spanish Translation program. Like most of the members of the program, he has no intention of being a translator.

I just received two family emails from uncles Jim and Greg so I’ll comment briefly on them. Greg, when I heard that you were going on a 120 mile hike out in Sierra Nevadas, I thought you were pretty nuts. I’ve been wanting to go camping lately but not that much. I’m glad that you’re home safe and sound in spite of your daring hobbies. Jim, I’ve had a cold these past couple days and I feel for you. I hate being sick, especially when I’ve got a lot to do and I’ve got a lot to do this week. Hang in there with your church service. Some of the most meaningful people who have influenced us all most positively have been church leaders and I feel confident that you are influencing many people for good. As an aside, I’d like to tell everyone that I’ve been saving all of the missionary and family letters that I’ve received for the past year or so. It’s my small way of doing family history.

School started for me last Wednesday and my first class of the day is Geology. Yep, I’ve been putting off my science GE classes and this semester I’ve decided to bite the bullet and take two! Dr. Nixon (no, I don’t think there’s any relation) worked for Mobile oil for about ten years before they paid him to go back to school and get his doctorate. He had some much fun getting his degree that he retired from Mobile about five years later and has been teaching for the last 15. He says that he’ll try to make the class entertaining, we start each class with someone telling a joke, and not to give us any “busy work.” My kind of guy.

Next I have a Brazilian culture class which will probably be my favorite. Most of our tests are written, as opposed to multiple-choice which I’m lousy at, and the professor and people in my class are a lot of fun. It’s been my experience that people who have spent time in Brazil turn out being a lot of fun. Maybe some of the Brazilian’s fun-loving nature rubs off on them. I have a sneaky suspicion that we will have an end-of-the-semester party in this class.

After that I enter a class of 200+ students. This Physical Science class scares me. I weaseled my way out of taking any physics in high school so I have no point of reference. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any chemistry either and that was my other option to fulfill this GE requirement. Physics is reported to have a lower mortality rate than chemistry and that’s why I chose it. I ended up getting an A- in biology three years ago so maybe there’s hope after all.

I end the day in my Spanish Translation class. My poor English to Spanish professor has undergone another surgery but has a higher wheelchair, which makes her happy. She informed us that our Spanish to English professor just tore both of his rotator-cuffs but we still have hope that he will recover in time to teach our class during the second quarter. Being a Spanish professor seems to be a little risky if you ask me.

I would like to call everyone’s attention to the “Links” section of this blog. Although I have not read it yet, I would like to encourage everyone to read Grant’s first chapter, which was recently posted on his blog, and give him some feed-back. I would also like to point out that, if anyone is interested, I’ll be placing a link to a movie trailer that I think is funny, noteworthy or not very well known on this page. As the name suggests, there will be a different trailer every week.

Well, I’ve prattled on long enough. We love you all and hope that you all are doing well. Thanks for your love and support, until next week!