Vacations and Parties!

These last two weeks have been great! School was fairly easy, and last weekend Jake and I went to my family's cabin in Schofield! It was so much fun! We spent our days laying around, watching videos, playing with siblings, and riding 4-wheelers. It was exactly the break I needed to recharge and plow forward for another couple weeks. Fall semester is over in approximately 5 weeks, and I'm really excited. I love my classes and the interesting things I'm learning, but it starts to get pretty draining when you're constantly working with deadlines.

After we got back from the cabin last Saturday afternoon, I was craving Indian food so badly, that I made Jake take me to the Bombay House in Provo. It was delicious! I believe Indian cuisine is my new favorite food.

We went to church with Jake's parents that Sunday, and it was fun to visit a family ward. I had forgotten how crazy sacrament meeting can be when there are tons of kids making all kinds of noise and doing funny things. We sat behind the cutest little family, and I watched the little girl and her mom play Princess. The women made me feel very welcome in the ward, and I enjoyed being there.

Jake's brother, Jeff, had the Swine Flu, and the whole time we were visiting the Baileys, Jake kept doing funny things to Jeff. I told him to be careful and make sure he washed his hands and not touch his face while we were there, because I didn't want either of us getting sick, and he, being Jake, took it to the extreme. He would walk over to Jeff's door and say, "Come out here Jeff I need to talk to you." Then when Jeff would open the door, Jake would throw his hands over his face in a dramatic manner and say, "I can't look at you because you might make me sick," and they would carry on in this crazy way. Jake even got some candy bars and shoved them under Jeff's door because Jeff was being quarantined. Jeff put on a doctor's mask so he could come out and socialize with us. It was pretty ridiculous, but funny. I always enjoy spending time with my in-laws.

This weekend was my aunt Geri's 50th birthday. Geri is mentally handicapped, and so doesn't have the opportunity to get married in this life, and it's been pretty hard on her. She cried at my wedding because she wanted to get married so badly. My sweet aunts decided to throw her a huge reception for her birthday, and invited everyone from the community who knew Geri. It was spectacular! There were all kinds of treats and goodies, and the cake was gorgeous! I made a video montage of Geri's life that played in the background, and it made my grandma and aunts cry. The best part was that it was all a secret. They secretly found her favorite dress and got her a tiara, jewelry, a corsage, and had her take pictures. She looked beautiful! My aunt Sandy told me that while she was doing Geri's hair and makeup, Geri said, "I look so beautiful, I look like Shannon! Don't tell her I said that!" I just laughed. She felt just like a princess, and I am so glad she was able to have her time to shine.

Today was our Stake Conference and the Spectrum was packed! We had Elder Ballard and Eyring come and speak to us. They said just what I needed to hear. Jake was distracted by the two sets of couples in front of us. There were these two girls that talked through the entire meeting, showing each other pictures off their phones, and the other couple sat there nuzzling each other and doing things that would have been better in private. I felt embarrassed for them. Overall, it had been a great meeting.