I know you want to know what I got for Christmas

So I'll tell you.

- a pearl necklace (from monte)
- a new swimsuit, pink (from monte)
- two necklaces (from my mom)
- a homemade denim quilt (from my mom)
- a frilly shirt (from monte)
- an argyle sweater (from monte)
- a down comforter, queen size (from my in-laws)
- some monies (from my in-laws)
- a cheesy Jack Weyland novel (from micquel)
... and I can't think of anything else. I think that's it. I was completely satisfied. I got more than I could ever want. It was fun to give gifts to Monte and Maecy & Kenneth. It's been pretty crazy with the whole Mena family down here sleeping at my and Chris's apartments. What a doozy. But it's been fun, too. They're going home tomorrow sometime.

I guess I should mention how awesome our anniversary vacation was. Here's a brief description of our adventures:
Saturday: flew into San Diego airport at 10:30pm. Took the shuttle to the rental car place; got ripped off by rental car place. Drove away with a 2010 red Toyota Corolla. Monte proceeded to be paranoid the entire trip that something would happen to it. We went to bed at about 1:30am after finally locating our hotel.
Sunday: Slept in, watched some TV, went to a singles ward (it's the only one we could find), walked around on the beach/pier. Had a good time.
Monday: Went to the ZOO! We decided that was what we really wanted to do. The highlight was when a jaguar shoved her paw through the fenced and swatted an asian girl. Twice, about 5 minutes apart. Yeah, don't ask me where the girl's parents were. We left the zoo for lunch and to wander around Balboa Park. We went back to the zoo at nighttime so we could ride the sky tram and see all the Christmas lights. They weren't that cool, though, and it was getting a bit chilly, so we left right after that.
Tuesday: We went and did a session at the San Diego temple. It was so beautiful. The Celestial Room is insane. I've never seen anything like it. Multi-level and multi-rooms. You feel like you're in a perfect palace. After that we went and met Monte's friend Stephanie and her boyfriend and had lunch. We also had to purchase some flip-flops for Monte because he left his at the hotel and was wearing black shoes and socks with shorts and a t-shirt at this point. Thank goodness for Old Navy. We just relaxed the rest of the night at our hotel and went to the hot tub. We would have stayed in the hot tub for longer, but there were two unattended children under the age of 8 who would not stop talking to us. Good thing we weren't pedophiles or kidnappers.
Wednesday: Woke up at 5 am to make sure we had time to fill up the car with gas, drop it off, take the shuttle to the airport, and make our flight. We barely made it. It's so hard to find a gas station in downtown San Diego.

All in all we had a fantastic vacation and got to spend some quality time together. Happy anniversary, Monte. I love you and can't wait for our next year together.

missed the bus

so I'm sitting in the Open Access computer lab appeasing the 2-3 readers of my blog. I hope you two are happy.

I took my third final today. I only got an 87 (I should have gotten at least 90 because it's an easy religion class) because the test was very poorly written. Even Monte, who usually never gets below like a 92 on any test (it's disturbing, really) only got an 89 on it. I think we're going to email the teacher to complain about a few questions that made NO sense.

On the bright side, work went by super fast today. I worked from 1-5 at Women's Services. I looked up at the clock at 3 and was amazed because it felt like I'd only been there for a half hour! It was amazing. That's what happens when 4 girls get together to brainstorm ideas.

I'm so excited to go to San Diego on Saturday! I'm also really excited for Debbie and Jared to get married. I can't believe I've been married for a year. So bizarre. It seems like it's only been a couple of months since we tied the knot and now we're gallivanting off on our first anniversary. Who'd have thought that I would get married as a wee 21 year old. I sure didn't. But it's been great, besides the fact that I hardly ever see any of my friends anymore. I'm just too busy with working 28+ hours per week and going to school full time. Oh well. I graduate in a year!

Tye (and her 2 adorable girls) are flying in from Florida tomorrow. That should be fun. Kyle will be here in about week, I think. Also, SHAWN and Shaylee (with Ian) are flying in on Christmas Eve from South Carolina. Shawn hasn't visited us since they got married, I think, so this is quite a big deal. Hopefully we won't scare/annoy him too much. All in all, this holiday season is looking like it will be fantastic.

Another piece of good news: my books for next semester only cost $138. That's a lot better than $300 last semester. I was really excited.

Bigfoot Caught on Tape! Amazing Footage!