Christmas Vacation

After each semester of law school that I have had, I have found that I have the same problem: What to do with the countless hours now turned free until next semester begins and every waking moment becomes occupied again. Well, over the Christmas holidays here’s a few of the things I did to occupy myself:

· Went on a daddy daughter date with Auri to Disney land, and in three hours managed to go on: Small World, the Tea Cups, Pinocchio, Snow White, the Carrousel, Story Land, the Train Ride, and the Boat ride.

· Went to the St. George temple with my wife

· Took Auri to her first movie, the Fantastic Mr. Fox, and spent most of the time giving her treats to try to keep her sitting in her seat and to keep her from singing “Jingle Bells” at the top of her lungs.

· Got caught up on current events

· Engaged in several political discussions with my dad and older brother Jason

· Read the first few chapters of Jesus the Christ by James E. Talmage

· Read 30 pages of “Slaughterhouse Five” by Kurt Vonnegut.

· Finished recording a song, started recording another song, and started writing a new song, all three of which are skinhead reggae. (Skinhead reggae is a more aggressive type of reggae, and has nothing to do with the group a racists that are commonly called "skinheads).

· Made mix cds to give as gifts

· Watched Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, 500 Days of Summer, the Fantastic Mr. Fox, One Good Man, Serendipity, and Blind Side

· Spent Christmas Eve with Kylee’s family

· Had a fantastic Christmas day watching Auri open all of her presents, most of which were provided by the grandparents (the spoilers).

· Spent a day helping my dad fell a large cotton wood tree in his back yard, dismantled it with a chainsaw, and stacked the wood for a future use which has yet to be determined

· Played old Sega games such as “Golden Axe” and “Streets of Rage” with my brother Nate.

· Got to see spend time with my long time friend Ben and his wife Ashley when they came down to St. George to see us.

· Spent an evening playing a card game with friends Matt and Abbey, but to Matt's frustration, paid more attention to making jokes and telling anecdotes than playing the game

· Spent New Years Eve with friends Dave and Lindsay, eating “Fackrell Balls” and watching Ryan Seacrest on tv. Also lit 30 flowers outside of Dave’s house to ring in the new year, at least 25 of which, upon lighting, Dave threw at me or vice versa.

· Made “Fackrell Balls” (an old family recipe) for two occasions: Fackrell balls are made by melting a cube of butter, a pound of caramels, and a can of sweetened condensed milk in a medium pan, and then dipping marshmellos in the melted goo, and then rolling the goo covered marshmallows in rice crispies. Kylee (My wife) coined the name for the treat, seeing is how we don't know where my grandma got the little recipe, or what they are supposed to be called.

· Learned a series of new gibberish words from Auri; for instance did you know that a “pepper schtock” is “a tiny little toot”?

· Played hide and go seek with Auri about 100 times

· Got to spend a rare two days with my older brother Jackson

· Celebrated my sister-in-law Tiffany’s birthday