25 November 2024 - 5 January 2025
Okay, I meant to write the last week of December... but I missed the mark. But hey, only five days later isn't too bad ;). But, to be fair, I've been very good at writing in my journal lately, so I have a lot of things about my personal challenges and triumphs recorded in there for future posterity! Well, and mostly just for my future self to look back and see the progress I've made and feel joy in accomplishment. I have a ton of pictures from the last month to share, and I'll talk a little about each one, but there are some things that happened that I didn't get photos of that I want to share. I attended an EFIT training that really helped me grasp the model better and feel more confident in the work I am doing. I also met a new friend, Madison, and we hung out since then and had a really enjoyable time. We met up by the Mesa temple and viewed the lights and got BYU ice cream from Sweet Retreat. We spoke for almost 3 hours and it was so cool to get to know her better and find that we have a lot in common and could be curious and hold space for each other's differences. I also finally got to meet up with Aselin Maloney, who I met at the AZ YSA Conference, and we talked over lunch about coaching vs therapy and even my own areas where my thinking was getting me stuck. It was super cool and helpful, and yes, I definitely cried a bit. But it felt so nice to recognize God leading the right people into my life. Let's see... oh, yeah, plus we also talked about K-Dramas for a bit, which is always fun!! Hahaha. Oh right! And I found a K-Drama tour that a lady puts on and I feel SO EXCITED and good about going, so... I'm going! I haven't bought the tickets or finalized it yet, but I will. It'll be in April, and I'm so SO excited to be able to visit and tour a bunch of K-Drama sites, network, connect, and learn from an LMFT (who hosts the tour) about mental health and how to improve it using K-Dramas. I will also be able to film some content for my YouTube channel and I'm planning on attending some other therapy/cultural diversity trainings. This will be a huge opportunity to expand my network, connections, and bring so many opportunities like speaking and growing my own audience and influence. This lady is doing a lot of the things I really want to do: speaking, YouTubing, authoring books, etc. So I am pumped to be able to observe and learn from her so I can apply some of these things into my own plans... and also just enjoy the experience and connect with new people! Also, I have felt my own confidence in being myself allowing my therapy work to go easier as I integrate my spirituality into my therapy. Long story there with lots of journal entries, so I won't go into more depth, but I will say that I am learning to be truer to myself, to God, and as I do so, it is freeing and energizing and uplifting! Okay, now time for the photo dump!
They had a deal on the food so mom and dad took us out to eat at Chiles. Gracelyn is cute! Dad and Sean are behind my head, not featured in the photo.
Thanksgiving day, pic with grandpa, plus one with Symantha and mom to follow.
Nightscrawlers Christmas Party! Lots of good food and great company! We did a book & basket exchange, and I ended up with a giant box that doubles as a filing cabinet, and I put in my therapy office. It looks super cool plus is helpful. I also gave a presentation on skin care. Man, you can tell how red my face is in this photo plus one of the previous ones... I ran out of my toner and I think that actually helped reduce redness. I read it in reviews that it helped others and during my week of not having it, I definitely think I was a lot redder... so, thank goodness I have my toner again, haha! But all the ladies loved my presentation, and I left a bit after midnight, so it was quite the fun night. I also got some crystals from Lisa in exchange for helping to review her book.
For our Arizona Connection Counseling Christmas party, we did escape rooms! We won our room with about five minutes to spare! Phew! We had to split our big group into teams of 4.
Relief Society Christmas Party. We ate dinner and painted ornaments. It's been so fun having Lucy down on break and getting to do things with her.
We went shopping at Deseret Book to get Lucy's clothing for the temple! We took a pic since we were matching white shirts. I got some shoes for being a temple worker. Lucy did great going through the temple, and we went out to lunch at Cafe Rio with everyone who came. Lucy also got mom a puzzle here for her Christmas present.
Hanna stopped by with her husband and dropped off a pack of these drinks as a Christmas gift! She is THE CUTEST ever! They really liked the citrus we dropped off earlier in the month for them.
Day before Christmas, after the gym, mom treated us to Acai Bowls!
Face masks! And we watched a Christmas movie together (Red One).
Lu wanted more acai so I bought her some and we had a mini girl-date-night. It was kinda cold tho!
Sunday before Christmas, Lucy and I rode our unicycles down to the church bldg just off Pecos at the end of our street!
All eight of us kiddos plus dad rode electric unicycles around Christmas afternoon, plus mom, Symantha, and Gracelyn took the electric ranger. It was a lot of fun, and the funniest thing happened! We were crossing Lindsay road to go to those office buildings across the way, and Sean and Dad were ahead and had pushed the button. The light turned green before we made it up, so I laid on the speed and tried to go faster to make the light, and everyone followed suite... except Porter was so worried he wouldn't make the light because he couldn't ride it very fast. So apparently he thinks to himself, "I can run faster than this." So he PICKS UP the 25lb+ unicycle and starts SPRINTING with it across the street! We were all laughing so hard. Everyone stopped at the light watched in amazement as all of us rode by and as Porter ran across. When he got to the other side, he bent down to get back on it, and a random dude in a truck yelled, "You can do it!" Symantha got lots of videos of us.
The author of this book is Jeanie Chang, Korean American, and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. She has a popular YouTube channel where she discussed Mental Health and K-Dramas, and she started giving tours a couple years ago, which I really want to go on and learn from! I feel like THIS is the reason I didn't plan a trip earlier/felt bad about trying to buy tickets on cyber Monday and go on my own. It'll be so much more incredible to have the trip planned out so I can make the most of my time there, even if it is more expensive.
Sean's gift to me! I'm excited to continue studying and improving my language abilities!! I already started skimming through it and recognized a lot of it, which is a huge testament to my progress.
Christmas evening, after everyone left, us four just spent some time outside around the fire and talking, which mom says is her favorite thing to do, just sit and visit with family.
I cannot get non-blurry photos with this little one. She likes to move too much!
HA. HA. HA! Dad accidentally put on mom's skinny jeans and came out for dinner... so you best better believe we took pictures and laughed a lot. Mom was so put off that he "stole" her pants.
Monday night, Dec 31, we attended the YSA New Year's dance. It was basically the same as last year, just with a few less things to do. It was okay... but we did make a new friend! Sydney was visiting and didn't know many people and asked if she could hang with us, so she made things a lot more fun. We also ran into three of our cousins there!
Mom and dad went to a couple's house in the ward to celebrate New Year's Eve and got this fun headband that they brought back. Lucy and I went to Valerie and Porter's house and ate snacks and played games. Well, I accidentally rang the doorbell on the wrong house in the neighborhood over. I had my arms full of snacks and this dude answers the door. We make eyecontact, I immediately say "wrong house" and he says "no problem" and then I turn and rush away back to my car! Lucy just laughed at me. But it made for a good story. We played JackBox TV games and had a grand time. Then for new years day, Val and Porter came over and mom and dad smoked pizzas and we had a good evening together. So, what a way to usher in the new year, haha!
Much love,
Emily J. Burnham (에밀리 진 버넘)
