Valentine's Day

Well this Valentine's Day didn't exactly go as we would have hoped. This week in school was the week that everyone dreads. Its like when the football team starts practicing and they have one week where they have to practice three times a day with no food or water or rest. That was us this week, studying for three exams a day, with no food and no bathroom breaks. And no sanity. We didn't do a single dish the entire week. We almost had to resort to eating cereal (pretty much the only thing we ate all week) out of Tupperware and mugs. We ran out of food. We ran out of clean clothes. I wish I was joking and that I was that wife that keeps a perfectly clean house despite the circumstances but I am WAY too much of a stress case when it comes to school. Its silly because my grades basically don't matter since I'll just be getting my teaching credentials, yet, I can't stand the thought of not getting A's on my exams. So we studied all week. We didn't even watch The Biggest Loser until all the exams were taken (that's devotion). And all was well. We dominated. Oh ya, schmidt happened this week at BYU. We are so smart. Anyways, our Valentines Day was fairly uneventful. We only got to spend about four hours together, and two of those were spent taking an anatomy exam with the cadavers. Yes, we spent Valentine's Day with dead bodies, labeling their nerves and then learning all the musculature of the lower extremities and pelvic cavity. On the bright side, we did get to go to the movies together! We saw the Vow, which was pretty cute and made me cry for a long time. I never used to cry during movies. I think I've started crying ever since getting married because I can actually imagine how horrible it would be if Matt were to just randomly forget everything that we have together. Unbearable. But we splurged and got super buttery popcorn (and soda, what?!) and watched our movie. Then...back to the books! Oh, I almost forgot, Matthew got me Just Dance 3 for the Xbox Kinect, which is awesome and so hilarious. And he got a book all about freshwater fishing, his new obsession. He hasn't stopped reading it since the last exam ended. I'm so glad my husband has a little redneck in him too :) He is the perfect Valentine.

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Oh The Weather Outside is Frightful.

I woke up this morning to snow coming down. I was like "Seriously, Utah? Seriously?" I hate snow. I grew up my whole childhood in Minnesota, I should love the snow. Maybe it was all those mornings waiting for the school bus in the blizzards and 5 feet of snow that made me hate it. Maybe it was watching my grandma get stuck walking over to our house while holding one of my siblings when they were a baby (though that was pretty funny). Maybe its just the fact that I'm always cold, and snow=cold. I can't exactly pin down where my dislike of snow comes from, but I'm just hoping that eventually life leads us to somewhere warmer than Utah...

 During my very long (although in reality it is very short) walk to campus this morning in the freezing, I was reminiscing back to a much warmer, much less stressful, much more fun time. The honeymoon.

 

 I was thinking about when Matthew and me were in Cancun over the summer and trying to imagine what the warm sand felt like beneath my toes... the incredible animals and sights...

How nice it would be if we could just not think about organic chemistry, cadavers, orthopedic impairments, work, physics, the never-ending dishes that always seem to be in the sink...

Cancun. The most beautiful place I have ever been. One day we will go back and visit you again. 

School out here wouldn't be nearly as difficult if only Utah looked and felt a little bit more like Cancun. Except, if it did, I doubt I would spend much time inside the classroom. Plus, I'm pretty sure the university would be much more popular if that was the case.

 

School...

I have this English class, which I have been dreading more than anything else, and have been putting off since I first came to BYU. Since I am in my last semester, I suppose I didn't have the option to put it off any longer. We get assigned to a group and then work with them on big projects all throughout the semester. I was kind of dreading it, but I assumed it would be helpful.  Three of us are Exercise Science majors, one is a Tourism major. I also didn't see how that was going to pan out. Our first assignment was to create a poster or some kind of technical description. We decided on Malaria. Writing all the medical descriptions of the symptoms and everything was fine, not hard at all. Then we had to design this poster. We didn't even know what program to use. It was seriously like watching a bunch of five year olds try to do calculus. We ended up not even bolding our title because we couldn't figure out how to do it in the stupid program we were using. Almost two hours later we pretty much just gave up and printed it. After the peer review in class today we received comments like, "Why does your poster about Malaria: A Deadly Disease look happy and like a Monopoly Board?" and "Why isn't anything bolded?" and "Why aren't your colored boxes even lined up?" The answer, classmates, is because we are all SCIENCE people. We cannot wrap our minds around design, or asthetics, or anything made by Apple. Numbers, body parts, science. That's all we've got! So despite the serious kick to our egos, I revamped it today and hopefully we won't fail now due to a lack of creativity.
(Special thanks to the kind soul in my english class who introduced me to a much simpler, pc program)

Home Is Where The Heart Is

Today, I thought I would do a little background on my family, since they are so important to me. I have them to thank for everything that I have today and everything that I am today.

This is my beautiful family. Starting from the left is Jacob, he's 12, and is such a little nerd. He loves the computer and Star Craft (whatever that is) but still can ball with the best on the soccer field. You can always count on him to make you laugh and be your friend. Next to Jake is Alex, my sole family out here is Utah. She's almost 19 and is in her second year at BYU. She's an English person, reading and reading and reading and writing and writing and writing... I guess I can't really talk though since I'm now spending my free time writing too. She keeps me company out here and we love each other when we're homesick. Next is Bubba (aka Nicholas). He's graduating high school this year and is 18 right now. He is slowly turning into a big brother of sorts, as he is now much stronger than I will ever be. He is a mechanic and a genius at repairing all things. Just like my Daddy, who is next. He is the first man I ever loved and I am still Daddy's girl to this day. He can do everything. 

My Mommy can also do everything, she is one of the strongest, most capable people I have ever known. She will take on any challenge and do it better than anyone could have imagined. She's also a pretty good nag for when we're not working up to her standards ;) We always joke that she's not smart enough to teach normal kids, and that's why she teaches special ed, but we all know its because she has more patience than anyone on earth (she never killed any of us growing up!) Next is my wonderful husband, Matthew, who I'm sure I'll eventually write more about that anyone will ever want to know. I am standing in between Matt and Zac (with no 'h' at the end because then it would be za-ch, and that's not his name). He is the youngest and probably the cutest of all of us. He's a combination of all the strengths that everyone older than him has. His whole life he's wanted to play with the big kids and that means he pretty much dominates everything he tries. He hit the boxes his first day snowboarding ever. Last but not least is Cameron, who everyone says is a clone of me. "We look like twins" according to everyone, though we're still not seeing it. We both work hard at everything we do, love sports, working with special ed kids, being a little strange, and flashcards!

That's my family, the good, the bad, and the ugly. They've all helped me become who I am right now, and for that I am so grateful. They make me laugh so hard I cry at the dinner table often. To this day every time I have to leave California I still end up crying in the car after we leave. 

They're the greatest family I could ever ask for.

The Beginning

Welcome to my very first blogging experience! I've recently had my eyes opened to the fact that blogging is a good way to record the happenings in my life (and the life of my incredibly handsome husband) so that we can always remember the fun things we've done. I'm terrible at writing down things, but hopefully this will be an alternative that I can actually remember to keep up on, and the ability to use pictures is already getting me excited! 


This is the two of us at our wedding on May 7, 2011. We were married in the Sacramento, California temple for time and all eternity. His is my big, tall, basketball playing hunk. He's recently developed a love for wood carving, fishing, and pretty much anything manly. I've started learning to sew, I love cooking new things (especially things involving chocolate), and doing anything fun. 

 

We are both finishing up our studies at BYU in Provo and are looking forward to going somewhere else on a new adventure. We are both studying Exercise Science and love anatomy and everything to do with the human body (its our nerdy love). We're hoping for Dental School in the next year or so, but we are ready for whatever life brings our way!