HE'S DONE!!!

After 4, long, hard years in the Architecture program, Brian graduated today with his Master's degree!

There were a lot of sleepless nights, and times when neither of us thought it would ever end, but here we are.

The other side.

Brian right after getting his diploma (case).

I'll admit, I got a little emotional when he walked off the stage and I gave him a hug.

But it was only because I am so proud of him and all the hard work he's done to get here.

I'll also admit, I screamed the very loudest when his name was called. 

Brian (and other students) will vouch that they could hear me above anyone else.

"Master" Brian & Melissa

Brian & his parents

Derek, Brian & Curtis

Brian & grandparents

 Good job Brian! I'm so proud and I know you'll be great!

I love you!

Brian's Masters Thesis Project

Tonight the Architecture College hosted a reception for the Masters students to show off their Thesis projects down at Trolley Square. They had fancy appetizers and drinks, and it was just a fun time for friends and family to come see what these students have been working on all semester.

Brian in front of his final board

Brian & Melissa

I know I'm biased, but I thought Brian did a great job. He had multiple people, including other students, come up and compliment him on his project and his awesome renderings and models. His great-uncle, Frank, came and he said he really liked Brian's project. That was high praise because he's a pretty well-known architect himself.

~~~

A couple days later, we heard a few more compliments from Frank. He told Brian's grandma that he was really impressed by Brian's project and couldn't stop thinking about it. He said that he wanted to take us out to dinner to discuss Brian's options. (!) He also said that Brian should "cast his net far."

We had originally thought we would only apply in Utah because both of our families are here. But after hearing his uncle say he thinks Brian would do better to work in a bigger city, we are now seriously considering moving out of state. It's a little scary, but also very exciting.

Late Nights

This week is the last week before Brian's Masters Thesis Project is due.

Like every semester, that means each night he gets home later and later.

I'm used to this by now, but it still doesn't stop me from staying up way too late, hoping he might come home early.

So to keep me entertained, here's a list:

Signs It's a Finals Week in the Architecture Program:

• Most of the students have bloodshot eyes, a side effect of not blinking for 12 hours straight while working on the computer.
• People around you are wearing the same clothes you saw them in 24 hours before.
• By the last night, one of the girls has broken down in tears about not being able to finish in time.
• At least one person has cut off part of a finger using an Exacto knife. (And they may or may not go to the hospital, depending on how close they are to finishing.) (Sometimes they just fix it using Superglue.)
• You start talking, pause, and then don't understand why your wife gives you a funny look. Then you realize you finished the sentence in your head.
• People randomly burst out singing, headphones in, but not caring anymore because they're so tired. (Some do it without the headphones.)
• Any loud noise or tipping over of materials makes the whole studio gasp in fear that it's someones model breaking.
• The only sleep you get is in your other classes.
• You're lucky if you remember to put down your Exacto knife and eat something.
• You give your wife a kiss goodnight as she gives you a kiss good morning.

It's nice to know that this is the LAST time though. We're almost there!

Last First Day of School

Today is Brian's Last First Day of School. (Yes, I know in college there are semesters, and that he actually has two semesters left, but he doesn't do summer semester, and I'm too excited to be done, so I'm sticking with my previous statement.)

We're both excited, but nervous. The teachers aren't very encouraging when it comes to the job market right now, but we're hopeful. I know it's early to start the countdown, but considering this has been coming for 3 years now, I'm going to do it anyway.

Good luck babe!

Waiting for Fall

First of all, a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who left comments, or called, or texted, or dropped by, and for all the hugs and tears and prayers. It is all very much appreciated.

We're doing pretty good. The emotions come and go still, but we just keep going, day by day. Which is really the only thing you can do. We know our Heavenly Father has a plan for us and this is just a part of it. He will help us through it.


At some moments my head just wants to skip ahead of all of this and get to the part where I can get pregnant again so I don't have to think about this all of the time. I am a big planner and right now I know I'm not really in the right place to plan for anything yet. Because at other moments I know my heart is telling me, "I need more time! I'm not ready to try and do this all again." And then I worry that maybe we should wait even longer to try again. So I know I'm not ready to really plan these things because my head and my heart are not in sync yet. It just needs more time.

~~

While all of this has been going on, school started for Brian! Obviously, it was a roller coaster of a first week and he ended up missing some classes so he could be with me, which I very much appreciated. But he's getting going this week and seems to be liking his classes just fine. He only has 4 classes and one is only once a week. He says that he thinks it'll be more intense than last year, but they'll give them more time for their projects. I'm sure he'll make it through just fine.

Last night we loaded up the Jeep and took back all of his stuff so he could move into his home at school. :) My house now looks empty. I never realize how much space his stuff takes up until he goes back to school. And I still have models up on all my shelves! He says he'll get rid of those eventually. We'll see. :)

Going back to the Architecture building reminded me of those first few months when he started in the program. We were practically living at the school because we carpooled in from Bountiful every day. It was quite the experience, but we can now look back on it and smile about how late we were there every night and how we ate Wendy's almost every night for dinner. (We didn't eat Wendy's for almost a year after we moved down here.) It was actually a pretty happy time in our lives because we'd only been married for about 6 months and we were just happy to be together.

~~

Even though I graduated last summer, when school started I was still de-stressing so I couldn't fully enjoy that I didn't have to go back. I wasn't out of the mindset enough to want to do anything but read or cross-stitch.

This year however, seeing everyone start back to school has made me feel a need to be crafty for some reason. I really want to fix up some things around our house, maybe get some projects going, stuff like that. And now that I'm not in school I feel like I have the time. I know that Brian's going to be busy so I want to keep myself busy instead of just vegging like I did last year. We'll see how productive I really can be.

~~

And finally, with the start of school, I think about Fall. I know it's still very hot outside, but I love the fall! I love the crispness in the air and the changing of the leaves. I love that I can start to wear sweaters again and cute jackets. (It's also a plus that it's cooler outside because I have no A/C in my car.) Fall also has the second best holiday, Thanksgiving. Lots of food. Nuff' said.

Fall makes me think of Logan, because honestly, Logan has the prettiest falls ever. I loved the fall in Logan because the campus is covered with huge trees and it's right by the mountains. Taking a walk through or around campus was one of my favorite things to do. It's one of the things I miss about Logan. I might drag Brian up there this fall just to take a drive through Sardine canyon and then take a walk around campus. :)

So even though it's still summer and we've yet to stop reaching the 90's in temperature, I'm waiting for fall to get here. It seems to match my mood and comfort me all at the same time. I can't wait until I can go outside and breathe in that fall smell.

It's always good to have something to look forward to.

He's In!!!

After stressing about receiving a letter last week, and then not getting it before we left, we decided to just enjoy our weekend in St. George and find out our destiny when we got back Sunday night. Imagine our disappointment when we still had no letter on Sunday! We started thinking the worst. Other friends in the program had called or texted Brian earlier saying they got in or had been put on the waiting list. We were worried it meant that we didn't get in and would have to figure out a new plan for the next few years.

At school today Brian found out that a bunch of other people also had never gotten their letters so they had just called the office and asked. He went into the office this morning to see and was told that the lady in charge of that information did not work on Mondays. Aargh!! So we said we would wait one more day.

Luckily, when Brian got home today we checked the mail and his letter was here! Brian was shaking as he opened it and I was almost sick, waiting to hear what our fate was. Luckily, this was the letter we received.

And this is what Brian looked like after finding out he was accepted.

Needless to say, we're both really excited. It's nice to have the definite plan now of what we're going to be doing for the next few years.

Congratulations Brian! I love you and I'm so proud of you!

Yuck

Brian's Bedtime Tuesday night: 7:00 AM Wednesday morning.

Shocking

Our apartment shocks us. I don't mean it's shocking in that it is messy, or the dishes aren't done, or that laundry is on our bedroom floor (all of which is true unfortunately). What I mean is that we receive electric shocks from our apartment. I guess I could blame it on the colder/drier weather, because I don't remember this happening in the summer, but who knows?! I just know that every time I get up from the couch, where I've been messing around on my laptop, and I go to set it down, it shocks me! Or when Brian will come home from school and I go to give him a kiss, we get shocked! (A shock on the lips or nose is SO not fun.) Anyway, we've resorted to touching hands first before any contact with our faces. :)

That wasn't really the point of my post, but it happened right before, so I had to write it down. Moving on.

Today was a good day. Church was good, and I especially loved our Relief Society lesson on Visiting Teaching. I didn't share anything but I did have good feelings about my experience with visiting teaching, so I thought I would share them on here. I was never really good at going visiting teaching, and when we first moved into this ward, my partner wasn't either, so we were lucky if we even discussed going. Luckily, I did have good teachers coming to visit me. I think this helped me realize how important it was. Then there came a point when I didn't really feel like I had any real friends in this ward. I knew some of the sisters, and I liked them, but I didn't feel like I connected with any of them. I just didn't feel like I fit in. Then one Sunday, after having complained to Brian the night before of the very things listed above, we got a new visiting teaching assignment sheet. I had a new partner and new ladies to visit. And it just so happened that these two ladies were two of the very ones that I had wanted to get to know better when I discussed it with Brian the night before. It was a pretty cool experience for me and strengthened my testimony that the Lord knows me and is aware of my struggles and desires. So anyway, ever since then I've tried to do my best to go every month. Also, I love my current visiting teachers, and I love the fact that they'll stay and talk with me for so long because I really need that sometimes. Even when I'm not feeling very chatty myself, it's just nice to sit and listen to conversation. :)

After church we headed over to my parent's house for dinner and my cousin's that are down at BYU came up & ate with us. It was really great to see them and just have a good time.

We got home around 9:30 and spent the next 1 1/2 hours helping Brian write a book review that's due tomorrow. 1,000 words. About the theory of architecture. It's a good thing I was an English major because I totally just b-s-ed my way through it. I actually think it sounds pretty good, and Brian does know what he's talking about. I just tried to make things a little longer, used big words, things like that. :) Now he's back to school and I'm contemplating bed myself. It's hard to go to sleep when he's not here though and I worry about him driving home so late. At least it's only a 3 minute drive instead of the 20 minute drive it was when we lived in Bountiful. :)

I saw this on another blog and thought it was a good idea. I'm going to list one thing I love about Brian every day in honor of Valentine's Day. But then I thought I should do it next month because it's our anniversary so maybe I'll keep going. We'll see how I actually do at it.

This is Brian last night when he got home. (11:30, actually a little earlier than planned.) He was so tired that he couldn't stand up to brush his teeth.

I love how hard Brian works. He puts so much into school and I know it wears on him. But I know he does it because it's what he loves and because he wants to provide for our family later on. Even though I miss him when he's gone late at night, I appreciate all he's doing. I love you Brian!

Brian's bedtime:

2:45 AM.

I thought this wasn't supposed to happen until the end of the semester. :(

Last Semester of Undergraduate Degree

Well, Brian started school again today. I meant to take a "first day of school" picture, but we ended up accidentally sleeping in, so that didn't happen. Owell. He seems pretty chill about this semester. I think the whole program is a little less stressed this semester. While it's still important to do well, they've already been submitting applications to Grad schools, and they should all know where they're going by March. So no one is quite as concerned about perfection as usual. I think Brian's really happy to be finishing his Undergraduate degree and graduating in May. True, he'll be graduating again in a couple of years with his Master's, but it's still exciting. He's the oldest in his family, and I think the first on either side of his parent's families to graduate from college. I'm very proud of him.

We enjoyed this last week of freedom though, as I posted earlier. We found a Wii, and have used it almost every night. It's really fun and we even like the Wii Fit better than the regular Wii games. We haven't tried them all but we'll get there.

I also forgot to mention, that the other week in Sunday School, when I was teaching, I shared about my divorce (because it applied to what we were talking about). I hadn't done so before, because I wasn't quite ready to share that yet. But I love our ward and I've started to feel even closer to the people in it, so I felt comfortable sharing. It was kind of amazing to do so, because another sister came up to me and shared that she had been through a similar situation. You never think you'll find anyone that's been through something just like yours, but hers was pretty close. I really appreciated that she would share that with me.

Yesterday we had a really good Sacrament Meeting. The talks were about personal conversion. We recently had a couple move into our ward that spoke, and the husband spoke about his personal conversion story, which was amazing. And the wife spoke about the differences of the church here and in England, which is where she's from. The other couple that spoke, talked about some of the conversions they saw on their missions. They all did a very good job and I loved listening to their talks. I also played a musical number.

The last speaker was talking about love and how when he's doing what he's supposed to be doing he feels more love for his wife, because God is love. (I probably slaughtered his thought, but it's been a day and I should've written it down sooner.) Anyway, he also mentioned that he & his wife have been married for only 2 months and they're still all schmoopy (constantly holding hands, hugging, kissing, etc.) And people tell them it'll wear off eventually. I think that's dumb. I'm sure it gets a little less frequent with the arrival of kids and such, but I think it'd shouldn't just wear off. Brian and I laughed a little though, because we've almost been married 2 years and we still are schmoopy, and I love it! I'm very lucky to have him.

Until next time... Don't get mad, Get Glad!

Finals, Parties, and More

Here are a few more pictures of Brian's final project. These are the renderings he has to do to show more detail. (Can you find Iron Man? Look closely.)

From the inside looking out.

The Tower.

The whole building.

Brian is officially finished with finals! He had two tests on Monday and one more little assignment due and his is done! We went out to lunch to celebrate.

Sunday we went to my grandparent's house for their Christmas party. We had great food and fun times as always. Here are the traditional pictures of the cousins with their presents.

The Girls: McKenna, Aubrey, Dani, Sarah, (Nat - not pictured), Brittany, (Marci - Not pictured), Wendi, Me. We got Bracelet/Watches.

The Boys: Brandon, Parker, (Austin - Not Pictured), Brad, Taylor, (McKay - Not Pictured), Chris, (Wade - Not Pictured), (Brendyn - On a Mission), Phil, Brian, Ben. They got Axe Deordorant for the younger ones, and Screwdrivers for the older ones.

We also gave Grandma & Grandpa Walker a photo book that I helped my mom put together. We gathered pictures from all the families of Christmases through the years. My Grandma made costumes for us when we were younger & we would dress up as the Nativity scene. We've since outgrown them, but it's a fond memory we all have. Now they have all the pictures together in one place & they seemed really happy to have it.

On a different note, I made pumpkin pie for the first time ever this weekend. I was a little worried about how it would turn out because for a while there it didn't seem to look quite right. I blame most of it on the fact that my oven is about 2 feet tall and 1 1/2 feet wide and doesn't cook quite hot enough, but they finally turned out. :)

They taste really good and I can't stop eating them. Maybe next year I'll attempt to make my own crusts. One step at a time... I also should probably give one away so we don't eat so much, because they can't be that healthy. But they just taste so darn good. I love pumpkin pie!

We also attended my little brother's first choir concert last night. Brighton had it's annual Holiday concert and Brad is in the A Capella choir this year. He looked a little nervous, and rightly so, as he only had about 2-3 weeks to learn the songs. But they did a good job. And as always, they invited the choir alumni to come up & sing the last two songs with the choir. They're songs they learn every year, so we should all know them. I've never been good at memorizing, so I was not quite belting them out, but we had a lot of fun. We got to see a few people we went to school with and got to say high to the choir director. He's now directed almost all of my siblings, with one more on the way. He just keeps teasing all of them that they're "almost" as loud as me, but not quite. We had a great time, and I love that I get to do those things with Brian, because we were both in choir together.

This week is kind of a catch up week for Brian. He gets to catch up on sleep, and relax, and work on his portfolio for Grad school applications. I think he's enjoying it so far. Hopefully we'll be able to get some shopping done for the rest of our Christmas gifts this week as there are only 8 days until Christmas! I'm so excited. My little sister and her husband will be here on Wednesday and then we get to spend the whole day getting ready for the big Christmas Eve party. Yay!!

Almost there...

This past week was crazy for Brian. But that's pretty normal for finals week in architecture. He never got home before midnight any night this week. And it got progressively worse. Tuesday - 2 AM, Wednesday - 4 AM, Thursday 6:30 AM. Yeah, and then he had to be back there are 8 every morning, except Friday when they presented. The projects really wear them out. And by Friday they all have bloodshot eyes from lack of sleep, and staring at computer screens all day and night. So then they present and they all look high or something, but luckily their judges are usually architects themselves, so they understand. :) Here are a few pictures of his project.

This is the overall picture. There's a lot that goes into presenting and it takes quite a while to get all together.

They were to design an apartment complex that could cater to all different types of people. Disabled, Single apartments, double, or family.

They worked in teams of two, and this is the unit Brian did. You can't see it very well but they etched bricks on the outside, to scale. So they're pretty tiny, but cool looking.

A lot of detail goes into these models. I think this is 1/16 inch =1 foot scale. So that tall tower is only about 6 inches high, I think. And notice the trees, cars, and people. Yes, they have to cut each one of those out individually. They spent about 6 hours on the laser cutter.

I'm so proud of Brian. He worked really hard and he's still getting over the sleep deprivation. He has two finals on Monday and a smaller simple project due Tuesday, and then he's done! I know he's so excited. He needs a break. But it won't be much of a break, because now he has to really work on his portfolio, & apply to Graduate schools. Everything is due around January 1st, and then we'll find out in March where we're going to be for the next two years. I can't believe we're so close to being done with school. (We still have forever still he's licensed, but still.) One step at a time right?

In other news, 11 days til Christmas! I'm so excited. We had a family party on Friday night, then another one tonight, then Thursday. We may have more in there that I'm not aware of yet, but I love it! We even have half of our shopping already done. That's saying a lot as we usually don't get any done until after finals are totally over and Brian has time to think. We'll try and remember to take pictures at more of these parties. :)

Oh, and it snowed!

General Conference Weekend

I love General Conference. Every six months I realize once again how lucky I am and how great it is to get this council from our leaders. Sure, part of the fun is getting to stay home and listen while in comfy clothes, and snack on treats, but it's more than that. Here are a few of my favorite thoughts/quotes from this weekend:

I do not know everything, but I know enough.

The first thing we need to do to deal with disappointment/anger/trials: Learn to Laugh.

The gospel is easy, Life is hard. But Life is also Simple.

Christian Courage does not mean "fighting" back.

There were lots more, but I left my notes at home. These were the few that really affected me.

Saturday Brian had to work on a project so he went to school for a few hours, then to work for a few hours, and then back to school for a few hours. It was a rainy day, so the shop wasn't that busy. This was a blessing because he had so much work to do & he needed that extra time.

I ended up watching Conference by myself but that was fine. Brian came home for 2 minutes to change before Priesthood, and then I left to go to dinner with some friends. Marci, Lisa, Adrianna, Jaime, Kat, and I all went to Red Robin. It was so much fun! I was so happy we did that because it gave us a chance to get to know each other better. Half of us stay home with kids all day, and the other half work all day so we don't always have a chance to get together, so that was really fun. I hope we can do it again soon.

After dinner and the Priesthood session was over, Brian & I went to his grandparent's house for the traditional ice cream after Priesthood session. :) A favorite of mine.

And then after that, Brian had to go back to school & keep working. I ended up falling asleep on the couch waiting for him. He got home at 1:30. Yuck.

Sunday we went out to Sandy & had breakfast with his family & watched the morning session with them. Then Brian dropped me off at my parent's house & he went back to school. After the last session, I drove with my parents to my grandparent's house for dinner. Brian met us there. I love going to family dinners up there. We're all getting so much older & the family just keeps growing. It's so much fun.

We couldn't stay long, because Brian had to go back to school again. This time I managed to stay awake until 1 before I gave up. I went to bed & Brian told me that he finally got home around 3. Double Yuck!!

His presentation was yesterday & he said he did a really good job & felt really good about it. He's such a stud! He's got another presentation due today, which meant he was back at school yesterday until 11, but that's better than 3 right?

Same old, same old

Well, Brian's second year of architecture, while not quite as hard because he knows what he's doing more, is still just as time consuming. He's doing a little bit better at managing the time and it helps that we live so close this year. But still, I only get to see him for an hour every night for dinner. Maybe two hours if we go out to dinner, but that usually includes shopping time for supplies for his projects.

Our FHE this week consisted of my taking 5 minutes to show him how to do indexing for genealogy stuff, and he didn't even have time to really go through it. We just try and fit in what we can. Maybe it'd be different if he could study or something at home, but he has to go back to school to work on projects, so I spend a lot of time chilling by myself.


He usually doesn't get home until around 12, give or take a half hour. But he's doing really well at staying enough ahead that he can still come home and get at least 6 hours sleep. Most of the architecture students don't get that much. A few of them even end up bringing in cots to sleep at the school. Brian is smart enough to realize that he needs to get away for at least a little while to clear his mind. I think it does help a lot. At least Fall Break is in about a week. Then he'll have time to relax a little. Maybe we'll even take a trip. :)


Work is going fine for me. I like being here every day, but the downside is that I'm efficient. Why is that a downside you say? Because I have finished all the projects given to me and now I have nothing to do! But I get paid by the hour, so I have to be here to earn money. So I sit and do little things, like answer the phone every other hour or so, and open the mail, and just try and look busy. Then other days I get slammed and my boss thinks it'll take three days to catch up with everything, but I get it done the next day. Owell. As long as he's willing to pay me for just being here, I'll be here.


One thing Brian and I have enjoyed together lately is listening to books on CD. We intended to listen to each book at the same time, because we can't actually sit together and listen. But because Brian has so much time at school to listen while he's building models, he's gotten about two books ahead of me. We're currently listening to the Tennis Shoes Adventure Series.

Brian has read about half of them previously, and I've read all of them, but it's been a long time. So we're listening to them again. I think they're great and Brian really loves them. He says it helps make the time go by faster while he's working on things. I think next we'll listen to the Work & the Glory series. Brian's never read them, but I have and I love them.

Something I've been doing to keep myself busy while Brian's at school is indexing. This is a genealogical project our ward is doing. When I informed Brian that I had started doing it, he told me he's actually on the committee for it. Who knew? So I guess it's good that I finally got around to doing it. The church has scanned copies of old census reports and things like that, but they need people to go in and transcribe the writing into the computer. So you download a scanned image, and then type up the names and ages, etc. Then you submit your work. It seemed a little intimidating because who wants to be responsible for messing up a spelling or something and completely stopping someones research? But that's not how it works. You do a batch, then someone else does the same batch, then it's sent to a supervisor to double double check it. So that way you know that it will be done correctly.

I really like doing it, because it's really easy and fast for me to do. And if you can't read the list you're given, you can simply return the batch and download a different one. It's interesting to me to see the different names and occupations and ages of the people and where they came from. Right now I'm working on lists from an 1870 New York Census. I've found a few families of Walkers, and Walsh's, both names I connect to. It may seem kind of boring to others, but I finally feel like I'm contributing to someones family history work. It may not be my own, but I'm helping someone.

Other than that I'm working on a new cross stitch that's bigger than any I've done before. And I'm still trying to get my house decorated to my satisfaction. My Relief Society is having an activity called Parade of Homes next week. We'll be going to other ladies' homes in the ward and getting to see how they've decorated and such. I'm way excited because I need ideas.

One Month Recap

So even though I'm not in school, I seem to be able to keep coming up with excuses as to why I never update this thing. I don't have all the pictures, nothing exciting really happened, I want to spend a little time with my husband when he's home.... etc. But here it is, September in Summary:

Girl's Weekend 2008

So my mom & I headed down to St. George early the Friday before Labor Day. We listened to The Host on her Ipod. I loved it, by the way. When we got down there we went to dinner with Nat and then the store to pick up supplies. We hung out at the condo until Brian, Brad & Dani got there. Then we picked up Dani, went back to the condo and watched a movie. My mom also got us cute girlie things like loofahs, and body mousse and way cute pajama pants. They're Sleepless in Seattle pants! My favorite movie!

Take pity on this picture. It was bed time when she sprung these on us so we have no make-up on and our hair is undone. :)

Of course Nat & Dani fell asleep during the movie. But I didn't! It's a miracle!

The next day we gave each other pedicures and watched movies & played card games. My mom, Nat & I did a puzzle, which Dani refused to do with us. It's just not her thing.

We went out to the best fast food place in St. George, Frostop. If you ever go down, eat there! I love it. Then we went back and played more games and hung out. We had Papa Murphy's for dinner and then went to the late showing of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 movie. Way cute! My mom made fun of how loud I laughed, but there were only 17 people in the theatre! Including us. :)

Sunday we went to church with they boys, because it was Nat & Adam's ward. We had a family lunch for Nat's birthday, which was earlier that week. Then we split again and us girls went back and watched Titanic, the edited version. We all met up that evening for a party for Nat with Adam's family. We of course had ice cream cake. :) Then we all played Hand & Foot, which I really like but haven't played forever.

Of course, when we got home, we chose that night to stay up way late talking about everything. Dani unfortunately wasn't feeling good all weekend so she went to bed early. The rest of us stayed up until 1:30 talking. It was great! I love talking with my mom and Nat.

Monday morning Dani really wanted to go swimming, but it wasn't quite as warm so we only dipped our feet in and then went back to get ready to go home.

It was another great trip, and I'm so glad that my mom decided to start doing this. Next year it's going to be up north, I think in Midway. I can't wait.

No School

Being out of school has been a lot of fun for me. I've started tons of projects like: decorating my house. We went and bought some garland to cover the empty shelves in our living room. Brian is an awesome interior designer and he draped the garland over picture frames and wicker baskets we had just laying around. It looks awesome. I might do the same thing in the kitchen.

...organizing my music. I have stacks and stacks of music and I finally had the chance to go through it, organize it alphabetically, and put it into page protectors and binders. There is still a little stack left because I need more page protectors, but it's so nice to have it all organized. Now I just need to play a little more.

...reading. OK, it's not really a project, but I am still so happy about it. I've actually started getting a lot of books on CD, and putting them on my computer. I put them on my Ipod and on Brian's. He loves it because it makes the time go by much faster, and he's reading (listening) to more books than ever. I love it because I can listen to a book and still be doing things, like cleaning or organizing or cross stitching.

Also, I got my diploma the other day and Brian bought me a nice frame to put it in.

Progressive Dinner

If anyone has never done this, I would highly encourage it. Our ward does it about twice a year. You have people volunteer to host the appetizer or the dinner, and then you all meet as a large group. You're divided up so about one or two couples go to each house (plus the host couple) for the appetizer. Then you meet again, and switch the groups around, and go eat dinner. We all then meet together for dessert and maybe a game or two, but it's a really great way to get to know more people in either your ward or neighborhood.

I was especially thrilled with we got to have waffles and ice cream for dinner! I've had it for breakfast, but I know have justification to have it for dinner. :) Brian's thrilled I'm sure. We had a really great time, and I even got to hold the cutest little girl almost all night. Such a sweetie!

I can't wait for the next one. Maybe I'll even host something. If the house is all decorated. :)

Road Race

On Saturday, Brian participated in his first ever Road Bike Race. My mom's company helps in this charity every year, called Bikes for Kids. They raise money to give 1,000 bikes to 1,000 underprivileged kids, including helmets, locks, etc. This wasn't the main event where they actually give the bikes away, but it was to raise money. It was also a fun BYU v. UofU contest.

Brian of course, raced for the U. It was out in Draper, and was 3 miles long. Doesn't seem that long you say? Well it was also 1300 feet of vertical climbing. So it was pretty tough. Brian did a great job though.

Just starting out. Still smiling.

Right at the finish line. He sprinted past two other bikers to finish ahead of them. That's his mom in the car taking a picture of him.

We stood at the finish line and cheered on the racers until we saw Brian. Then I know at least my volume tripled. I screamed so hard for him. He said he heard me from probably a quarter mile away. :) That's a trait I get from my parents. He said it really helped though to keep him going. I was so proud of him. He finished with a time of 22:07, which is about what he wanted. For never having ridden in a road bike race, and for not having any training for this, just jumping on the bike and going, I say he did a really good job. :)

This is us right after his finished. He's exhausted, and had to leave quickly after to go cool down. He said he felt like throwing up, and some bikers did. That was way nasty.

Go Brian!

Nat & Adam came up for the weekend and were there to help support. Brian had to go back to school for a few hours, but we spent the rest of the day just relaxing and watching the football games.

I taught Sunday School again on Sunday, and I felt a little bit more comfortable. I still get nervous, but I think it will get better. This Sunday was interesting though, because there were a few comments I didn't really know how to handle. But I think I did OK. And there were a bunch more people participating, which is always nice.

So there you go. Our month in summary. I'll try and be a little better at posting, but life is just the same old stuff since Brian started back to school. You never know though. It's when life settles down that you have to worry, because things tend to get exciting real fast. :)

Broken Record

This post will probably start to sound really old by this Thursday, but I have time at work right now, and if I practice anymore I may throw up.

I have my final Spanish presentation tonight. Well, I'm either last tonight, or first tomorrow. Either way, I'm almost done. It's supposed to be 10 minutes. Mine will probably end up being only around 7-8. I really don't care. It's supposed to be memorized. Mine is all typed out in Spanish so I can just refer to it when I need to. I really don't care. I get really nervous talking in front of people, so talking in a different language just isn't going to happen. If I get docked points for it, owell. After tonight, (or tomorrow) I will be done. There's nothing more I can do. Once again, I just hope that I pass.

After class tonight I need to throw together my final project for my English class and get some last minute studying in for the final tomorrow. I hope I do okay. Once again, I just hope that I pass.

After tomorrow, I'll only have one more final to take on Thursday morning which I'm not too worried about. I'm pretty confident I'm passing that class. Which is nice. If nothing else, I'll end my semester with an easy final and then I can go play. SO EXCITED.

So that's all I really had to say. I'm so nervous for tonight, but all I can say to calm myself is, "I really don't care." I just want to be done. Wish me luck!

Quick Post

So, this past weekend was a blast at my family reunion. I have a few pictures and am waiting on some from my mother, so I'll post about that later. But I thought, since I'm bored at work, that I'd give a quick update on other things in our life.

First, I was called a couple weeks ago to be a Gospel Doctrine teacher in our ward. When the bishop asked me, I almost started to cry. This is the most terrifying calling to me. He assured me that he thinks I will do really well. Gratefully, he also has told the Sunday School president not to put me in the teaching rotation until after I'm done with school. This is a huge blessing because I just don't think I could do both right now. Brian seems to think that teasing me and making me more nervous about teaching is the way to help me. Not! I told him that because he's been such a smart-alec he has to sit on the front row and answer every question if there's more than a five second pause after I ask a question. :) My mom thinks this calling is pay back because I told her she had to learn to love her Young Women's calling before they're release her. We'll see how it goes. I really am just so scared it makes me sick.

And here's the schedule for my last week of school:

Tonight: Spanish test, Spanish Composition due, Spanish redo test due
(The teacher informed us all last week that we had all pretty much failed the last test, because we all answered the question one way, but he was asking for a different way. This makes no sense to any of us. Doesn't it stand to reason that if we ALL failed, not just some or a few, that it means he's the bad teacher and not us? Anyway, we got the chance to redo the test at home, but we were only given two days, at the same time we had to write a composition, and study for the next test. I HATE this teacher.)

Monday: Possibly Spanish presentation (which I haven't started, and has to be memorized, for 10 minutes. That is this weekend's major goal.)

Tuesday: Final paper due for one English class, (shouldn't be too awful.) Final project due for other English class, (also, shouldn't be too awful) and final exam in one English class (this I'm freaking out about because it's a Modernist poetry class and I have no idea. I guess I'll just wing it.) And Spanish presentation if I didn't go on Monday.

Wednesday: Last day of Spanish, if there's any presentations left to do.

Thursday: Last English final, which I'm not too worried about.

Then I'M DONE!!!!

I can't believe I only have about 5 more days of school. I'm still freaking out though, because I'm really worried that I won't pass Spanish. I do not want to have to take it over again. And my whole class agrees that this teacher is an idiot. Not that he doesn't know what he's teaching, he just doesn't realize what level we're at. He's asking us to analyze and writes essay responses on tests when we're still trying to understand basic grammar. It drives me crazy. I end up crying every night because of the stress. (I just realized that I must sound like the biggest baby on here, because I cry so much. I promise, I really do not cry all the time, I'm just overly stressed right now.) Anyway, Brian's been a big help. We've stayed up late the past two nights just trying to get my Spanish homework done and done well so I can have a better chance at passing.

I'm already planning what I'm doing the minute I get out of my last class. Brian's picking me up, and we're driving to Park City, where we'll have lunch and go shopping for as long as I want. Then we'll come home, go out to dinner at the new Red Robin they just built by us, and then go to a movie, or rent a movie, and just relax and stay up as late as I want. Well, probably not too late because it's a Thursday and Brian still has work the next day. I may or may not be working on that Friday, and I am treating myself to a day of pampering. I'm getting a Mani/pedi, and maybe a new hair do. And then again, just chilling at home, with about a bazillion new books I'm going to buy or check out from the library, and just start reading until I can't see anymore. I'm SO excited, can you tell? It's a good thing I get paid on that Thursday or else I wouldn't be able to celebrate at all and that would be totally lame.

So yeah, I'll post pics later, maybe even tonight, and write more about the reunion then.

5 MORE DAYS!!!

(K, I just realized that I didn't post anything about Brian. :( Sorry Brian. I'm so self-focused right now.

Brian is doing well. Still just working at the bike shop. He is currently selling both of his bikes. He took his new one on one ride and decided he didn't like it. It's not what he wanted. So both are up on eBay right now. (Look under Trek Fuel EX 8 or Specialized Pitch if you're interested.) We're constantly checking both of them to see if he gets the amount he wants. It looks pretty good so far. My only concern was if we'd get enough to pay off the credit card, which we have, and any amount over that is Brian's to spend on his new bike. He has been really worried about spending so much on a bike, but I really want him to have a bike he likes. You know how some people get depressed in the winter because there's no sun? Well, Brian gets depressed when he can't ride his bike. It's his outlet for stress. When he can't ride he's just not as happy. So him getting a bike is not just a material thing. It's essential to our marriage. Well, that's kind of exaggerating. I'm sure he would figure out another way if he couldn't have a bike, but I want him to be happy.

Other than that he's doing well. Being an awesome husband by keeping the house clean and doing the dishes and laundry because I'm never home. Just one more week, babe! We can do it!)

Carpet!

I never thought I would be so excited over carpet, but when you've lived without it, you realize how great it is. Our entire apartment has tile floors. Living room, bedroom, everywhere. Now, for the kitchen and the bathroom that's not so bad, but it really stinks to have tile floors in the bedroom, especially in the winter when you get out of bed. Very cold toes.

So anyway, my cousin & her husband recently bought a home & decided to redo the carpet. They generously offered us their old carpet. Granted, it's an old design and there's no pad underneath, but I absolutely love it! It really changes the feel of our house. I helped Brian put it in the bedroom on Tuesday night and then last night he put it in the living room. We cleaned everything up and moved it all back and now it looks great.

On a school note, I still hate it. I hate that I have to keep going even though there's only 2 weeks left. And actually I really don't mind my English classes, there's only 2 left. But my Spanish class is going to kill me. I'm really worried I won't pass, just because it's a huge fear that I'll have to do it again. But another reason is because it messes up my plans. My best friend is pregnant. The only shower I thought I was going to be able to attend is on Monday night. I was going to miss Spanish to go to it, but I found out tonight that I definitely cannot miss Monday night. So I have to miss her shower. It's her first baby and I won't have been to any showers for her. Totally sucks. I just started crying after class because the stress of everything and then feeling like a bad friend.

I've felt like such a bad wife this summer because I'm never around to do anything for Brian or dinner or around the house. And then adding this on top, I'm now a bad friend. I just have to make it through two more weeks. 6 more days of classes. I don't know if I'll make it. Though I probably will, and I'll just have a nervous breakdown at the end.

Almost there...

I just got out of my last Gender & Sexuality class! Woohoo! This marks the halfway point of summer school. That class is over, except for the final paper and take home exam, but Thursday marks two more classes starting. I'm finishing the summer big with Spanish 2020, 20th Century American Lit, and Diversity in American Lit. I just hope I can make it through alive. Because after I do, I'm DONE!!! I'm so excited. This first 6 weeks really flew by. Hopefully the second half goes by as quickly.

Well I'm off to write those papers and keep reading. One of these days I'll get a chance to read all the books on my own list instead of the ones on a syllabus. One of these days....

Catch up time

Well, I said I would write about my brother's Eagle Court of Honor. I wanted to make sure and do it too, because I'm very proud of him. He's a great kid & I love him so much.

Brad & my parents. Both of their sons now have their Eagles.

Brad & his crazy older sisters.

We were waiting to take a picture with Brad and he was taking too long, so we took it without him.

All the siblings.

The whole family.

The next week there was no school, but that just meant that I worked full time. Brian took the opportunity to go biking three times with his cousin. :) It was good that he got a little time off though, he needed it.

On the 12th, school started again. Right now I only have 2 classes. One that 1 1/2 hours long and one that's 3 hours long. So I'm in school from 10 to 3 every Tuesday & Thursday. The first day though, for some reason, I thought class started at 10:30 so as I was getting ready I wasn't in a big hurry. Then I checked my schedule to make sure I knew what room it was in, and realized I was late. I booked it to class. The teacher was just going over introductory stuff though, and it's a 2700 level class so it's not way crazy. And it goes all summer, so it's not like I missed much. 10 minutes after I got there, she let us go early. Owell.

My second class went the full 3 hours the first day, because it's only 6 weeks long, so she was packing everything in. It was kind of intimidating at first, but I've done pretty well on all my assignments so far. So I'm feeling good about it. I just need to pass. That's what I keep telling myself.

The major downside to school right now though, is the reading material. I've said it before, but the U tries so hard not to be the Y that they push the envelope a little too much. The second day in class I came out of my "Diversity in American Lit" class almost wanting to puke. We had to watch "The Kite Runner" and I would definitely not recommend it to anyone. And then in that same class we had to read "Fox Girl" and I wouldn't recommend that to anyone either. I hated reading it every second, and I broke down in tears more than once. It got so bad that I almost had a nervous breakdown one night. Brian gave me a blessing which really helped. It's still not easy, but I know I can get through it. My Gender & Sexuality in Lit class isn't as bad, except all we talk about is homosexuality.

One thing that's helped though, is that I've decided that I'm not going to do any homework on Sunday. I just had a feeling that this would help me, because first of all, I never get much done if I try and do it on Sunday, and second, it's not the type of stuff I want to be reading on a Sunday. So far, it's really helped. And even though I have one less day to work on things, I haven't stressed as much, which I think is part of the blessing.

Saturday the 17th was my cousin Marci's wedding. It was a beautiful day and such a great experience to go see them married in the temple.

Me & Brian.

Me & Wendi. (Standard picture at most events.) (And Ben, doing something with his finger and his nose.... I have no idea.)

Most of the cousins that were there to support Marci & Matt.

Me, Marci & Wendi. This is the traditional picture that we've taken at all of our weddings. So we each have one where we are in a wedding dress. This was a way fun day, because it marked the point where we've all gotten married, in the temple. Good times.

The 20th was Brian's birthday, but I had school, so he just got a day to himself. Then after school we got to spend some time together, and then went to his parents house for cake & ice cream.

For Memorial Day weekend, we went to Gardner Village on Saturday, just to walk around and look at all the shops. It was kind of a late birthday for me, even though I ended up not buying anything. It was fun for me to just walk around and look and spend time with Brian. We went to lunch at Archibald's and then at the end got some Twix fudge. Yummy!

I did see a couple plaques though, that I thought about buying. One said, "True Love is Friendship set on Fire" and the other said, "Well Behaved Women rarely make History" :) I loved it.

That night we had a BBQ at Brian's parent's house.

Sunday we had a BBQ at my parent's house.

Monday we were planning on going biking with Brian's brothers but it ended up raining all day. So I did homework and then we went bowling with his family. His mom got a 112 and I got a 108 and we beat all the guys by at least 20 points. It was awesome.

This last Friday night was our Ward Camp out. It was over by Deer Creek Reservoir, and we had a great time. I love our ward so much. They're great. We had turkey dinner and cobbler for dessert. It was still camping in a tent, which I don't love so much, but it was fun.

Saturday morning, my parents left for an Alaskan cruise. My grandparent's 50th anniversary is this year, so they took all their kids & spouses on a cruise for a week. So after we got back from our camp out we headed over to my parent's house to watch Brad & Dani. Before we left though, Kyle & Megs dropped by! They live in Cedar City and were just up for the weekend. It was great to see them and catch up.

We went out to lunch with Brad & Dani and then my friend Heather came over and we watched some more Grey's. I love that show.

That night Brad went out with friends and Dani went babysitting, so me and Brian had the whole house to ourselves. Except before she left, Dani showed Brian a very addicting game on the computer and so he played that, while I played on my New LAPTOP! My dad bought it before he left, and had it waiting for me at the house. I love it! I've been playing with it all weekend.

Yesterday Brian had to get up early and go to our home ward, because he's the Exec Sec, and I took the kids to their ward. Then I left early to go to our ward choir practice because I'm the pianist. The song we're learning is really hard to sing and play and we perform next week. I'm so worried.

After church Brian's parents had us all over for dinner and then we watched a movie. Then we came home and just chilled together. It was a great weekend.

Now it's back to work and school, though last Thursday marked the halfway point in one of my classes, which is really nice. I hope the second half goes by as quick.