Lazer Assault
Last night, a group of us went to Lazer Assault in Provo. It's a lazer tag arena! It was the first time that I ever played lazer tag. We signed up for a 30 min. session. It was a LOT of fun! Our team ended up winning. I was our number two guy on our team. I would run around with Tyson and Dan, being their wingman. They would get my back and I would get theirs. It was great!

After Lazer Assault, we went back to our place to play cards and eat snacks. I made an onion dip from onion soup mix and sour cream. It was genious! We played some UNO and some dominos. It was really a lot of fun. It was the first time that I had ever organized an event where I planned everything. It was cool. I can see why adults do it all the time!

Sacrament with the Prophet
Since my family was up here for the weekend, we decided to go to Music and the Spoken Word in the Tabernacle in Salt Lake. It was cool! The Mormon Tabernacle Choir is REALLY good!!! I had never been to it before. My dad tells me that everytime he is up in Utah for the weekend, he always goes. Afterwards, my dad told us about a secret sacrament meeting that takes place in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. You have to go around to a secret side entrance and sneak in that way.

As we were walking to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, my dad was telling us that it's not unusual for a general authority of the Church to drop in for sacrament. We were all joking on him, like, "Yeah right...", "No way...". Sure enough, just after we sat down in our pew, everyone in the chapel stood up. What was going on? We looked up to the front and President Gordon B. Hinckley and James E. Faust walked into the chapel! It was crazy!

It was fast Sunday, so all the local members of the ward (18th ward?) got up and bore their testimonies. Most of the testimonies were pretty pretentious, each bearer trying to impress the Prophet with their holiness ("I served 5 missions and set up a trust fund so that all the generations that follow me will be able to serve as well", and, my favorite, "I searched and prayed and searched and finally found, and did, all the work in family history back to Father Adam.")

Since the local members were carrying on, my eyes started to wander around the room and, lo and behold, there was Sister Hinckley... TWO SEATS BEHIND ME! It was very cool!

President Hinckley and President Faust didn't bear their testimonies, but they were wispering back a forth quite a bit. Probably talking about new doctrines and whatnot.

P.S.: The deacons served the sacrament to the following people in the following order:
1. President Hinckley
2. President Faust
3. Stake President
4. Bishop

Back in Provo
Well, Christmas break is over and we are back in Provo. We got back here on Jan. 1st (New Year's Day). My family flew up here to go snowboarding and to check out BYU and UVSC. Matt, my youngest brother, is a sophmore in high school. He didn't really want to come up here to Utah for college, but after having been to Sundance Ski Resort, the dollar theater, sleding, and to the nickelcade, he's starting to warm up to the idea of Provo for college.

The Saturday night before they left, we went to Tucanos, a Brazillian restaurant in the River Woods Mall. All you can eat meat, with a huge salad buffet. They (they waiters) have huge skewers with different meats and kabobs on them, and they'll walk around and slice off a piece for you. You have a coaster on you table that's green on one side and red on the other. If you want more meat, you keep the green side up... that way, they can see. If you don't want anymore, red! It was great!

Provo is a nice place to visit. But I will be glad to go. It's not so much the enviroment, it's just that I think I need a change of pace.

The Hike
    

The few days after Christmas and before New Years day, the Schramms go for a trip. Some of the trips in the past have been to historic sites around Georgia, North Carolina, and Florida. This year they decided to go on a hike to Jacks River Falls in Northern Georgia. It was about 3 miles in. Once there, we played around the waterfalls and made a fire to cook hot dogs and marshmallows. It was great!

I'm still studying for the GRE, so I took my flash cards and studied them as I hiked. I plan to take the GRE on Jan. 3 in Provo.

My Christmas in Georgia
This is my first Christmas since I was married (June 7, 2003). Emily and I decided to spend this Christmas at her home in Marietta, Georgia. It turned out to be a lot of fun!

This was my first real Christmas away from home and I was feeling a little homesick. The Schramms treated me like a member of their family! My mom and Sis. Schramm had conspired together and sent out my Christmas stocking out here to Georgia. It was great having a little bit of home here on Christmas morning to greet me!

I got lots of presents for Christmas! Some of the highlights include:
+Linksys Wireless-G pcmcia card for laptop
+3.2 megapixel camera
+basketball (big ballin!)
+basketball shorts

It was a good Christmas in the dirty south.

Christmas Morning
   
Christmas morning in the Schramm home. We all got up late (about 10:30 am) and opened presents.

Otis

These are a pair of new dentures that Bro. Schramm got for Christmas.

New haircut
  
For a Christmas present, Emily got a new haircut from Cecil.