¡Feliz Navidad!

I suppose that it is only appropriate that I should wish you all a Merry Christmas en español, as I will be going to Argentina this spring! I will be going with the nursing program at BYU, for six weeks during the spring term. I don't know exact dates yet, or really anything else, but I do know that I will be doing some public health nursing and I will also be working in the maternity hospital in Tucuman. I am very excited, and just slightly apprehensive, as I have never traveled much before! I will keep you all posted as I find out more information.
Other goings-on include finals, a few of which I have finished already. I have an online research final, an oral med- surg. final, and a national standardized pharmacology test to take still, in case you were wondering! I should be done by Wednesday, but I have a lot of studying to do between now and then! One thing that has been hard for me at college is to keep the Christmas spirit and the joy of the season in my heart and mind while the stress of finals looms overhead. But I am trying really hard this year. Although I am not really a huge snow fan, I have appreciated this recent snow because it has made it feel more like Christmas to me (to those from out of state, we have at least 12 inches of snow, all from the past couple of days or so). Another thing that we did that helped me feel the Christmas spirit is watching Charlie Brown's Christmas. I know, it sounds a little silly, but partly, it is tradition, and I also just love the simplicity of the story. Charlie Brown is feeling weighed down by the commercialism of Christmas, and he wants to find out what the true meaning of Christmas is. Linus is the only one able to tell him, and he recites the story of Christ's birth, which helps everyone to see that they need to stop focusing on materialism, and be a little kinder to each other. I think it is a sweet story. Anyway, thanks Danielle and Kirk for letting us borrow that movie from you! That is pretty much the sum of what I have been up to the past few days. I look forward to spending some quality time with all of you or hearing from you soon.

Long time no post...

Thankfully, Rochelle has made up for my lack. We have both been very busy as of late. On the day before Thanksgiving, Rochelle called her mom to ask a question about what to buy one of her siblings. She and Marissa were there together, when they found out that Rochelle's Grandma had passed. Needless to say, they were both very sad, and tears were shed. I met them for lunch just a little while later, and we decided then, that it would be best if the three of us took off and drove to Oregon for the viewing and funeral. I went back to work for a few hours, came home and got the car ready for any emergency, and we took off. We drove into the night, slept for a few hours in a Hotel 8, and took off again in the morning. Weather on the way there was mostly good. There was a little ice on the roads, but not much, and it was mostly safe going. We got there just in time for Thanksgiving dinner. We enjoyed the time we had with her family, and were grateful for the time we had with them. This will be Rochelle's first Christmas away from home, and it will likely be a while before we see her family again. Had we not gone up, it would have nearly been a year without seeing them. So we were happy to be there. We were also glad that we could be there for Rochelle's mom whom was obviously effected by the situation. But everyone seemed to handle it very well. The funeral was nice. I enjoyed hearing the talks about Grandma. I didn't know her very well, and so it was a good time to hear what she was like, and to learn more about the family. I played lots of ping-pong, chess, pool, foosball, cards, and just about any other game we could think of. I enjoy being a big brother. I tease everyone a lot and have fun teaching them how to do things. It is an experience that I have never had before. Well, after the funeral was over, we changed clothes and left for home straight away. The weather home wasn't nearly as good. We hit storms almost immediately, and I was definitely a white knuckle driver that night. Much of the night I was going 30-40 miles per hour feeling like I shouldn't be going over 20, but watching some cars around me go 50-60. It was scary. Several times I could feel the car loose traction and gain it again a moment later. I was grateful that we never lost control. We slept again that night at that same Motel 8, and started again in the morning. The weather on that day was much better... until we got into Salt Lake and Utah valleys. I felt like the last several miles of our freeway drive were as bad as any. Thank-goodness that's all over.

At work, I have become an man with many hats. Lately, I have been wearing the IT hat almost exclusively. We had a small room full of clunky old computers that did a great many things. We bought a bunch of nice new computers that would soon take their places. Oh boy, what a head-ache. As we have redone everything, it has left everyone very stressed and begging for answers, and they usually come to me. With my currently small amount of IT knowledge, I have been trying to fix everything, but everything takes me a lot of time to fix because of the learning curve. There are a lot of things I would do differently if I had to do it all again. Oh well. We are nearing the end of it now, and I may begin to program once again. I have been writing a task management program that is to be integrated in our internal software. It is mostly done, but I have left it alone for a while as we have a been working on these other things.

Oh man, will I sleep well tonight! Anyways, Love you all, and I hope you all have a fantastic night!

BJ

Highlights from our trip to Oregon

BJ and I (and also my sister Marissa) went to Oregon about 2 weeks ago. Although the occasion was sad (we went for my grandmother's funeral) it was good to spend Thanksgiving and that weekend with my family. Here are some of the photos highlighting a few of the things we did:

 
This photo was taken one morning when we didn't have a lot going on. Marissa is doing an Eye Spy book with Anna.

 
This is me, Tayler, and Anna, on the day after Thanks- giving. We went shopping on this day and helped my mom work on some of her choir concert stuff, as well as funeral preparation.

 

Cara grew her hair out to donate it to Locks of Love. She had planned on getting it cut at Christmas time, but I guess it just got too hard to manage! It was an intense moment!






We took some family pictures on Sunday.






"The Girls": Anna, Cara, Marissa, and Rochelle







"The Guys": Tayler, Collin, and BJ








One more family picture. This is in the church after our grandmother's funeral, right before we left for home.

Today is World Hello Day

Hello!
I am done with school for the week (kind of). I am grateful for the break; it has been a pretty intense couple of weeks. As I previously mentioned, I have been going up to LDS Hospital to watch surgeries, and last week I watched some interesting surgeries, mostly orthopedic surgeries. I have also had about 4 papers due recently, and a midterm as well. Needless to say, I am looking forward to Thanksgiving.
Many of you have written your "thankful" lists, which I think is a great idea. I would like to add a few things of my own.

I am thankful for a church that teaches us about Good News, a Plan of Happiness, and the many tender mercies and everlasting love of our Lord. I am thankful for my Savior, and for a living prophet. I am thankful that families can be together forever.

I am grateful for family. All my family- the family I was born into and the family I married into. They are all wonderful, and I am so grateful to have many of them so near. It is great to have my sister living just up the road, and many in BJ's family living only a few minutes away. All the members of our families that are not as close as we like are missed, thought about, and prayed for.

I am thankful for my (and BJ's) grandparents. I appreciate the wisdom of their years and experience that is much greater than my own. I appreciate the sacrifices that they made for their families and for their country.

I feel so blessed to have a kind, patient, fun, and handsome husband! He is a hard worker and a very creative and smart guy. He makes me very happy, and I love him very much.

I am grateful for the opportunities that I have. I realize that BJ's and my situation (school, other responsibilities) is a great blessing, although it seems difficult sometimes. I don't know if I can fully appreciate living in a time and place where women getting a college education is possible, but it is something that has great worth to me. I am thankful for my job, and for BJ's job. Things have worked out for us just when we thought there was no way we could do it on our own.

I am grateful for the world we live in today. Our lives are so much easier than our grandparents' lives, and I take that for granted sometimes. I am grateful to live in a free country, where I can make my own choices. I am grateful for modern conveniences! I'm thankful for email, cell phones, blogs, and airplanes that connect families!

I am grateful for the many beautiful surrounding me. I am grateful to have blue sky and fluffy clouds in November, and mountains with a little snow :) on them. I am grateful for the holidays coming up, and for the wonderful things that we celebrate.

Well, I know I can't possibly write everything I am thankful for, but these things especially have been drifting around in my head for the last couple days. Love to all.

Thanks Giving

As I look at my life, I can think of absolutely nothing to complain about. I am indeed grateful for everything that has happened, including many things I wasn't so grateful for at the time. I could make a list of things that I am thankful for, but there are too many things that need more description, and no possible way that I could ever make a list long enough to include everything that I should include. And so I will do this as if you were sitting here talking with me.

First and foremost, I am grateful for a Heavenly Father who loves me. In my challenges, in my triumphs, He was there with me. And I don't mean to say from a distance, but He was there beside me, standing with me to hold me when I needed strength, and to cheer me when I had done well. He has never been far. Though I look forward to the day where I can see Him face to face, I can never see Him more clearly than when I look back at my life, and see all that He has done.

I know also that my Savior lives. He too has been a constant presence in my life. His triumph over sin and death has brought my life hope and joy. His mercy towards me and my mistakes gives me the encouragement I need to continue. His love fills me when I reach for Him.

I must say too that I have the most wonderful wife. I don't mean to brag, but she gives me every reason to. Loving her has taught me what love truly is. I know without her I would not be the person I am today. I am indeed grateful for her and her love for me.

I am grateful for a wonderful family. I have never felt closer to my siblings and my parents than I do now. I think you are all wonderful. I look up to each of you, and learn from all of you. I love you and am proud of all of you. I must say also that I love Rochelle's family too. I have heard horror stories about the "in-laws" and I can't even imagine what that would be like. Whenever people make jokes about staying away from "the wife's family" I don't even know how to respond, because I can't even comprehend how it would be to have those struggles. I think you all are the greatest, and I love you all as my own family. (I'm just glad that I get to be the "big brother" in this one!) ;-)

I am grateful for my job. Ever since I have been home from my mission, Heavenly Father has heard my prayers in regards to my job. I have always had employment, and He has always led me to the jobs that I could learn the most from and that worked the best for me and my skills. I feel a great responsibility towards my jobs too. I feel very strongly that I have received the jobs that I have received in order to care for Rochelle. This is one of those things where I can look back in my life and clearly see Heavenly Father's hand in my life. I got a job as a tester at Waterford quite a while ago. That job didn't require much out of my resume, but gave me much to put on it. It was the basis off of which I have received all of my jobs since. My job at Novell paid me quite well for a student, and gave me the flexible hours I needed to work and go to school. It also gave me much experience and training. I was called in for an interview for my Novell job just a week or two after I met Rochelle. To celebrate my new job, Mom and Dad took me out to dinner, and we sat at the same table as Rochelle (not to mention her then boyfriend Evan). And when I graduated, I received a great job at Property Solutions where I have ample room to grow, and have received much training, as well as great additions to my resume. They hired me on as a salaried employee just in time to pay for Rochelle's tuition this Fall. I can see quite clearly my purpose in working is not to buy myself toys or to build my own ego, but to take care of my family.

I am also grateful for prayer and the scriptures. I know my prayers are heard. I have no doubt about that. And when I read the scriptures, and can feel the Holy Ghost in my life. My daily scripture study gives me strength to do whatever is required of me. It gives me hope, and an optimistic view on life. It keeps life in focus.

I would be foolish to forget one last thing... during my lifetime, I have had some of the best friends one could ever hope for. I could always go to them for council when I needed to make a choice, I have always found great comfort in them when I was struggling, and I have always had some great laughs with them about some of the foolish things that have done. Many of my friends are family to me.

Ok. I have said enough. For those of you who actually get through this list of things, I'm grateful for you too! Have a wonderful Thanks Giving Day (and don't forget... You're Welcomegiving day is Friday too!) ;-)
Love ya!
BJ

Good Tidings to You

Well, this week has been a good week. At work, I have been doing more IT stuff than I have programming. We've bought a bunch of new computers and have been doing what we can to set them up and get everything in order. The business is growing from a small business to a medium business and so the computer infrastructure needs to do the same. I enjoy what I do, but I must admit, I know very little about it. I can only hope I'm doing everything correctly. Rochelle has been VERY busy this week.
She had a paper due on Tuesday that she underestimated and ended up staying up until the wee hours of the morning. I tried to stay up with her, but sacked out around 2. She was up another hour before she went to bed. And then she had to get up bright and early in the morning. She only got three hours of sleep. But she got up and went to class and did her assignments, and even went to institute (which we do for our calling) without a word of complaint. I on the other hand got just a little more sleep than she did, and grumbled about everything. ;-) She is just now catching up on her sleep. I came home and found her awake, but dead tired, and told her to take a nap. She didn't fight that to hard. I'm supposed to wake her up in a bit and then we are going to go running. I don't know how she does it. I just know that I couldn't. She's not alone, I know. Many of you reading this are probably thinking you wouldn't mind taking a nap right now. I don't blame you. My hat's off to each of you. --Please don't mind the messy hair.
On another note--you Taylor family members... it's coming up on Christmas time, and Rochelle and I are wondering what Christmas activities you all would like to be involved in. Here are our ideas, and you can tell me what you think.

Rochelle's family traditionally has a night where everyone gets together and sings Christmas music together. There's a bit of a "talent show" for them, but that isn't necessary if we don't want to do that. The point of it all for them is to simply enjoy the Holiday music together. Would you all be interested?

We were also thinking that it might be fun to go up to temple square the day after Thanksgiving when they turn on the lights for the first time. I think we are planning on going, but if any of you would like to join, I think the more the merrier.

We are also thinking that for all of you who have little ones and need some time to shop or just get away for a bit, Rochelle and I would be happy to come over and tend the kids for an evening to allow you to do that (one family at a time of course). We've been thinking about some fun Christmas activities that we could do with the kids while we are there. If you would like that, the offer is on the table.

I think those are the ideas that we have discussed thus far. I'm sure more are to come. And most of them have come from Rochelle. Hope you all have a good evening!
Love ya!
BJ

A day in the life of a super-hero

Ok, so I'm not much of a super-hero, but I can pretend. Rochelle and I have had a quiet Sunday. Church didn't start until 1:30, and we just finished with dinner of my own make. Good ol' fried rice. Learned how to do it in the mission field, and it has served me well as a "quick fixer". I think we are planning on going to bed early tonight, getting a good-night's sleep in, and getting up in the morning to go exercise. We've been going to the Provo Rec. Center this past week for our exercise as Rochelle mentioned. We are going to try to do that more. It has been good. We've enjoyed the morning time together, and the exercise that we have been getting. It has also forced me to go to bed earlier. I'm typically a night owl, but lately, going to bed around 10 pm sounds really good to me. We have been running together, and I have been playing racquetball with Charles, and some co-workers. I have been constantly sore since I have started, but it has helped me feel better during the week. I'm not quite used to my 8-hour work days yet. They seem awfully long sometimes, but the chance to exercise before I go to work helps me feel like I do something more with my life than sit in a cubical, just barely big enough for me to stretch out my legs. I'm also trying to avoid the "geek physique," you know... the skinny arms and legs, and the big ol' round belly-- usually full of pizza and soda. So... that represents one goal I have in my life that I'm working on. Some other goals that I would like to work on need some attention too. One other goal I have is to get to the temple more often. I should have more time now than I used to, and so temple attendance needs to go up. I also need to start reading more. And that includes all types of reading. Reading for fun, reading for study, and reading to keep up with the times. I keep waiting for some poor desperate scout to come around and offer us a deal on the Daily Herald, so I can say "Yes! I want a paper!" and make his day. It seems like when I was in school, we had one every so often come by and ask, but now that I'm done, we don't see him anymore. Well, I suppose that is fine. I can ready most everything I'm interested in on the internet anyways. But having a paper on your door step is a good reminder that you haven't heard what's happened lately. Rochelle and I are both reading Eragon after mom went and bought herself a copy, and put it into our hands. I'd also like to re-read some of my sociology books that I never got to spend quite as much time in as I would have liked when I was going through the course. Some of them were quite good, but we would have 100 page assignments that I would never get through. I've also been looking at Jesus The Christ lately and thinking... "dare I go at it again?" I read it on my mission, and I remember enjoying it, but I don't remember much else about it anymore, except that it was very slow reading, and a very thick book. I think if I start that one again sometime soon, I'll finish it sometime around my birthday in 2012. ;-)
By the way, the picture is just one that we took up at temple square a couple of months ago. The background was just sky, and didn't turn out so well, and so I made it green.
Well, have a happy Sabbath everyone, and I hope you are all doing well.
BJ

Well, I can't believe that it is Thursday already! This week has just zoomed on by. On Sunday, we woke up early, not remembering daylight savings, and then had an "extra" hour before church. BJ had some fun with his camera, and he took some pictures of us with his remote. Here is one of them:
On Sunday night, BJ, Marissa, and I went up to visit Darla, Doug, and their family (Darla is our cousin) and to have dinner with them. We really enjoyed visiting and playing games with all of them.
BJ and I started running/ working out at the rec center this week (Monday is the first time we have gone together). We are going to be going early in the morning before work/ class. I am hoping to run a half marathon this spring with Marissa and several of my friends from nursing classes, so it's time to get exercising! BJ has also been going there a few times a week to play raquetball with various different people, co-workers and friends.
On Tuesday, we were lucky enough to hear from President Hinckley at our devotional! We had a hard time getting seats, and by the time devotional started, there was hardly a free seat left, even in the bleachers behind the stand. President Hinckley's appearance wasn't really announced way ahead of time, for security purposes, I assume, but enough people found out--it was completely packed. His address was a series of vignettes and short stories/ experiences that he told us had shaped his life and made him into the person he is now. Some of the stories were very somber, and some were lighthearted. He encouraged us to write down things that make impressions upon us, help us to grow, etc. and to read over those things often. I enjoyed everything he said, and was especially impressed with two things. First, the Spirit that accompanies our prophet. As he entered the room, a feeling of reverence and love filled the room so strongly! Even with nearly 23,000 people in the room, you could practically hear President Hinckley's footsteps as he walked in. This spirit remained in the room for the whole devotional. Second, I was impressed with President Hinckley's ablility to connect and communicate with his audience. Not only were his comments very poignant, but I think most people felt that his comments were applicable to them. We were all hanging on every word. As he finished speaking, I found myself wishing that it wouldn't end! The devotional finished, and as he left, he turned and waved in all directions to the students. It was a very sweet moment. Everybody quietly and with the utmost respect, waved back! I felt so blessed to have been in the presence of a latter- day prophet. My outlook was changed, and I felt uplifted, able to bear the many hours of work and school ahead of me that day.
I only worked 10 hours instead of 12 hours today in clinical... we have been getting out early because we have more clinical hours than all the groups at other hospitals (since we have little driving time). During the next two weeks I will be in the OR watching surgeries. I really have little idea of what to expect. It should be exciting though.
There's not too much else to report... BJ and I are both reading a book that most of you have probably already read, and which has been very highly recommended to us- Eragon. I haven't gotten that far into it, but I am impressed with the creativity and rich descriptions this very young author uses! I wish I had more time to read, but alas! There is reading, and midterms, and research papers, and case studies- all waiting to be done... Well, such is life!

Count your many blessings...

So, Rochelle last blogged on Thursday when she was feeling quite grandiose. Then Friday hit, and she didn't want to get out of bed. In fact her whole weekend has been full of ups and downs. Feeling better and then feeling worse. I'm not sure that there is a pattern other than we had prayed that she would be able to get through her clinical rotation on Thursday. We were fairly specific in our prayers, and Heavenly Father was just as specific in His blessings. But we still feel blessed. I count myself lucky to have someone to take care of, and the health and ability to do so. I feel like we have been very blessed as a couple. I think back to when I met Rochelle, and how I was making $7 an hour fixing machines at BYU. Shortly thereafter I get a call out of nowhere asking me to come in for an interview. I wasn't even looking for a job at the time. I put out my application in August, and here is was February and I had an interview. Well, considering how much I loved fixing those smelly machines, I interviewed, and got a job. Little did I know, but that was the first blessing I had received so I could better take care of my dear soon to be wife. I have no need of going into detail on every blessing we've received for the last two years we have been married, but I feel like they have been many. And I have noticed something in common with many of them. With every blessing I receive, I have been better able to serve Rochelle or some other person who is in need. It has been an eye opening experience for me. It has made me consider things in a new light. What are blessings for? I have been taught ever since I was old enough to pass the sacrament that the priesthood was given to man for the serving of others. I have never supposed though, that in reality, every blessing given to us is an opportunity to serve others. And in fact, many of the challenges we face, and the trials we meet are in fact an opportunity for others to serve. For example, read the following verse: "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Most of my life, when I read this verse, I get out of it one point, and one point only. That the ultimate demonstration of love is to give up your life for another. But it never occurred to me what trials the friends were going through. It seems to me that "his friends" were in serious trouble. It does not say whether they were in trouble because they put themselves there or by no fault of their own. But were it not for the sacrifice of another, they would soon perish. But because of their "trial" and the sacrifice of the one, blessings were poured out on all. The one who laid down his life would be blessed in heaven for his great act of service and love. The others would be blessed by feeling so loved, and cared for by another. They would appreciate their lives more, and be more willing to serve others in the future. They would have learned a great lesson. And so it is with us. We have trials so that the Savior can save us. He has already laid down His life for our own. He has already made the ultimate sacrifice of love. We have our trials so we can learn to seek Him out and trust in Him. Our trials also offer others a chance to emulate Him. Your trials may give me a chance to serve you. So when it comes down to it, everything -- both blessings and trials -- give us a chance to serve and be served, to love and be loved, and our testimonies of the Savior and His sacrifice grow regardless of which side of the service we are on. Anyways, these are the thoughts that came to me today. I hope you all had a good Sabbath.
Love you all.
BJ

Sickies

BJ and I have been sick! I felt like I was coming down with the flu earlier this week, and then it turned into a bad cold. BJ has been taking care of me... now I'm mostly better, and he is feeling more down, so it's my turn to take care of him now, I guess! That's ok- he takes such good care of me- he would make a good nurse! - as long as no blood is involved!
Today I worked in IV therapy. That is where people come to get IV hydration, blood transfusions, immunoglobulins, antibiotic therapy, and other treatments on an outpatient basis, and also the nurses are specially trained to do IV services on patients who are in the hospital. Those might include inserting PICC lines (which I actually got to help with today!!! -not the actual insertion, but as the "float") or doing "therapeutic phlebotomy". I would explain these things more, but I know that some of you don't want to know! So, just ask me when you see me, and I will tell you more about it! (A note to Suzanne: I have an answer to your question about units of blood. Remind me to tell you about it!!)
Another exciting thing has happened- we got a breadmaker! Danielle and Kirk (BJ's sister and her husband) have graciously allowed us to use theirs since they dont use it. We couldn't be more thrilled... it has been something that we have wanted for a long time, and now we can easily have fresh bread!
Something else this week was my mom's birthday. I got to talk to her on the phone, but I was sad I couldn't see her and give her a hug! My sister Marissa and I decided to actually make her a present together this year (in memory of our younger years, I guess) so we spent a couple of afternoons together working on it. It took longer to make than we thought. Hopefully it has arrived by now.
Now I have to go get ready for our dinner with BJ's parents and Bobbie and Gary (aunt and uncle). Should be fun!

Things previously mentioned and not expounded upon

As BJ hinted, we celebrated his birthday on Friday instead of Thursday because I was gone all day Thursday. At lunch time, we went to Gandalfos for sandwiches, and to a camera store for some accessories to go with BJ's new digital camera. We ate dinner at the Macaroni Grill, which was good, and we invited Charles and Marissa (Marissa couldn't come because she had to work late that night)over for birthday cake and BJ opening his presents. BJ got some nice new dress shirts & ties, two- way radios, a signed and framed Del Parson painting (actually a print), and a paper shredder, among other things. It was a fun day.
I have been working at the hospital on various floors and with various nurses. So far, it has been a really valuable experience, and I have been lucky enough to be paired with nurses who are happy to have students follow them around/ learn from them. Some days have been kind of slow, but other days, like last week, were so busy that the only time I ever sat down during my 12 hour shift was during my 30- minute lunch! I have had interesting patients... one has even proposed to me! That was... exciting... kind of different.
We have also been wanting to improve our Emergency Preparedness plans. We decided what we would do in the case of a natural disaster, etc. where we would meet, what channel to use on our 2- way radios, and we are planning to prepare a couple of backpacks with supplies in them that we are going to keep in our cars. We have a little food storage, and we want to get more, and learn how to make things without certain ingredients- like perishable foods etc.

Last week we drove up the canyon with BJ's parents, his sister Danielle & her family, and my sister Marissa. We took pictures in the fall leaves, shown above, and enjoyed the beautiful scenery. The pictures are of Marissa, me and Kimmy, and there's one of just Marissa and I. Although temperatures had previously been quite chilly, that afternoon turned out to be very warm... almost too warm. Nevertheless, we all enjoyed getting away from the city and and being so close to the mountains, trees, and streams.

Mom has a new laptop...

...and I'm writing this blog on it. It's a nice laptop. It has a nice big screen (wide) and isn't very heavy. I like it. And it is much more comfortable to work on it while sitting on the couch than it is to sit in that hard chair and work on their other computer. ;-)

It's Saturday night, and I'm pooped. I don't know why I'm tired, but I am. I haven't worked particularly hard this week. I haven't done anything particularly extrenuous. I have done very little out of the norm. I'm fairly certain that anyone who is reading this probably has had a much busier week than I have, but I'm still tired. Maybe it's because I have time to rest now, that my body has decided that it needs to catch up on rest. I don't know... but I do know that I probably should get some exercise. Otherwise I'm going to end up like most programmers and techies (no offence to those of you who are...), and live on pizza, soda, and have a beer belly. Yes, even now I can begin to see the buldge. Ok, so I haven't got much of one, but I don't want one either. I think I need to start exercising. I'm going to try to get my coworkers to join me in that too. I've heard that some of them play racquetball, and I'm going to see if that is true. ;-) Anyways, I want to get them to go play basketball and whatever else they would do to get some exercise. I think that would help my energy level. Rochelle has been quite busy lately... she has been working and homeworking and nursing like mad and has nearly gone mad trying to do it all. But she has gotten much of it done, and is feeling a little less stressed now.

Anyways, I'm going to go to sleep now... goodnight!
BJ

One very tired BJ and Rochelle

This week thus far has been a doozie. On Monday, I worked for 10 hours. On Tuesday I worked for 16 hours, and today, 7. I'm still recovering from yesterday. Rochelle on the other hand has had to deal with my absence. And now that my schedule is going back to normal, she gets to go to the hospital tomorrow for 12 and a half hours. We decided that this probably wasn't the best way to spend my birthday, and so we are going to celebrate on Friday instead. That way, we can have a little more time together, and a little more flexibility to do what we want. One thing about working for a web site company is that when they decide to update their online software, they nearly always need to do large updates at night when the least amount of people are using it. Therefore, we stay up quite late to work on it. I worked until 2 am, while some of my collegues stayed up until 4 and 6. Quite the day. I do alright staying up late. I can work well into the night, but doing so works on me for the next couple of days. Rochelle stayed up late last night waiting for me and so she is tired too. However we were able to sleep in this morning which was nice.

Conference is coming up. This is the traditional time for Rochelle and I to go take pictures of the fall leaves. It is a beautiful season. I love how the mountains turn red. And if you watch the sunset in the evening, the mountians look like they are on fire. Rochelle's red hair does well in pictures with those surroundings. Her coloring fits right in. I think Saturday or Sunday we are going to go do that. I'm not sure which day, but at would be fun. I think Mom and Dad are taking me out to lunch on Saturday for my birthday so it may be Sunday that we go. Or maybe we'll just have to go on Monday. We'll see.
BJ

A cornucopia of wonderful things

This has got to be one of my favorite words. Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia. I started to sing it to the tune of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. I think the latter is one syllable longer than the former. What does it mean? Well, ironically enough… it means "the fear of long words". I can just imagine some poor soul being told he has Hippopotomonstrosesquippedaliophobia. It would be a nightmare experience for anybody with the phobia. I think it’s hilarious. Well, back to normal life. Rochelle and I have been released from our former calling of Gospel Doctrine teachers. We really enjoyed that calling, and are sad to let it go, but that’s life in student wards. The plus side is that most callings that you don’t enjoy likewise don’t stay around very long. Now we have the calling of institute representatives. What does that mean? We don’t fully know, but likely little more than just going to institute and making announcements in our ward. It’s a calling that I have had before, and it was never my favorite calling, but if the Lord wants us there, there we will be. I have always loved teaching, and so it was sad to say goodbye to that calling. Especially considering that we just bought some chalk and an eraser to have for ourselves so we no longer have to rely on the unreliable ward librarians for that. Oh well. Such is life. I’m sure we will be teachers again some day. However, it is entirely possible that we may never have the opportunity to teach together like we did the past year. That was a singular experience, and one that I thoroughly enjoyed. Rochelle, and I made a great team, even if I do say so myself. Yesterday we went on a bit of a shopping splurge. I went to the grocery store, and saw some "decorative gourds". I brought them home, and Rochelle looked at me and wondered what they were. When I explained that they were for decoration, she decided that she needed to arrange them. She tried to do so with the bowls that we have, but they were wholly insufficient. So we went out and bought ourselves a cornucopia. I’ve always wanted a cornucopia. Yes, I know I’m a bit odd, but I always thought that they were the essence of fall and Thanksgiving time. But we didn’t stop with the cornucopia. We also bought some plastic fruit and veggies to go with the decorative gourds that we already had. And then we bought a pretty candle, candle holder, and potpourri to go with the decorations so that our unsmelly decorations might have a more pleasant smell to go with them. The result is a very decorative center piece for our table that makes the apartment smell nice. We also bought a berry wreath for our front door. I have to say, I love the seasons. I even bought a spaghetti squash yesterday, and cooked it. I think I under cooked it unfortunately, and so it wasn’t quite as good as we had hoped it would be. Rochelle isn’t big on new foods and so she only had a bite or two, but I had a small serving of it and it wasn’t bad. Just a little too crunchy. I’ll probably try it again some day… but I’ll give Rochelle a little time before I try to feed it to her a second time. I also bought a lot of fruits and veggies for our snacking on. It’s amazing all the variety of foods that are available in the fall. I love it. Fall didn’t used to be a favorite season of mine, because it meant that winter was coming on, and that the summer was over. But I think I’m starting to appreciate it a lot more now. All of the foods, all of the colors in the mountains, the crisp air... this is a nice season. It seems that there is a bright side to everything if you are looking for it.

BJ

I'm Ba-aack!

What a week! Where to begin?! I'll start with last Saturday... It all started out with me going to my Professional Rescuer CRP/AED class, which is required yearly for nursing students. BJ called me and said he was going to go test drive a car. To make a long story short, when I finished my class, we went and... bought the car! For those of you who haven't seen it, here is the picture of our new car! We decided not to get a Yaris... helped along by the complete lack of Yaris' to be had... and we got its cousin, the Scion xA. A similar car, but it has 4 doors, and looks a little different. But it still has good gas mileage, and it has a manual transmission. I had a manual in highschool, so I knew how to drive it, and BJ has had a little experience driving one (he learned on my car, on our honeymoon, and he had driven a few other people's cars) but in his own words, "I'm still learning!" Ha ha...! Actually he is improving really quickly. BJ's favorite thing about our new car is that it has "really cool" cupholder illumination. There are about 5 different colors, and there is a blue lamp that lights up the floor. As far as I can tell, there is no useful purpose for these features, but BJ insists that it is awesome, and I can't really disagree.
I had my first clinical at UVRMC this week. It was an 8-hour shift instead of the 12-hour shift it will be starting next week! Mostly we were just supposed to shaddow our nurse, but I got to help do/ watch some cool things. I decided I am going to have to find some more comfortable shoes if I dont want my feet to be in a world of pain after 5 hours.
The rest of my classes are (for the most part) on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I have a few other classes throughout the week, including the aerobics class I am taking with Marissa! I am really enjoying it. They give you a great cardio workout. At the end of class, if you are working it hard enough, you can hardly lift your arms. It's awesome, and most people work out really hard because everyone else can see them, and no one wants to look like a slacker!
Next week we are excited to celebrate BJ's birthday! You can ask him how old he is going to be! ;) Or maybe you should ask me, because he asks me too! We'll have to let you know how that goes/ what we decide to do. I can't write too much right now, because he will read this!
Today's just a normal Saturday- grocery shopping, filling up the tanks, cleaning, laundry, etc. Marissa has been kept pretty busy these last couple of days. She has already worked at 2 banquets, and she is putting in about 10 hours today at one of the banquets at the football game. Luckily, it has warmed up a bit from yesterday, although I don't know if she has to spend too much time outside.
Anyway, I hope everyone is enjoying the weekend, and we'll update soon!

Our Sabbatical

Rochelle is taking a sabbatical. Please forgive her absence. Unfortunately for you, BJ is not on sabbatical as well. ;-) As many of you may know, Rochelle and I are looking to get a new car. We are looking at the Toyota Yaris.Nobody has one for us to test drive, but we will probably go get one anyway. We will probably have to put $500 down on the car we want before the dealer even has it for us to look at. That’s how one goes about buying a Yaris right now. They don’t stay around very long. They get a shipment of them, and then they are gone within the next day or two. We like the Yaris because it is quite cheap, and it is quite frugal on the gas. We can expect around 40 mpg on the highway. We could probably make it to Rochelle’s house from our own on two tanks of gas. With gas prices going up, that’s something we’ll be grateful for. It will make road trips possible. Our current car we don’t trust enough to take on long trips without any help near by. And maybe in a year or so, we will have enough vacation time to go on a road trip. Now I know a Yaris is no car to go 4-wheeling in, but we would also like to go camping. We happened by a sporting goods store the other day, and they had a 3 man tent on sale that we bought. And thanks to Rochelle’s parents, we have also been endowed with sleeping bags. So we have the basic necessities for camping now. I’ve thought about going this fall. If we do, we’ll have to bundle up, because it will be cold up there, but it would be nice to get away from it all for a bit. Even for just a night would be fun. (Hopefully, in a new car!) Anyways, I think we’ve heard enough from me for the time being. I hope you all have had (or are having) a fabulous day.

Take care all,

BJ

The new world is here...

... and it is much like the old one. Now that I am graduated, I still don't seem to find a lot of time to do extra things. I seemed to be able to find more time to blog before, for example, than I do now. But that may change. As Rochelle gets more into her schooling, I may find that there is more time where I don't know what to do with myself. I think right now we are still catching up from the many things that have been going on. Just after I graduated, Rochelle's family came for a visit. They were here for over a week, and we spent most of our free time with them. We, of course, enjoyed their visit and were very happy to see them, but our "To do" list got quite long. And before they were even gone, my beloved grandparents (mother's side) came for a visit. They were only here for a little more than a weekend, and so I wanted to be with them as much as possible. I miss being able to see them for a week every summer like I used to when I was growing up. By the time they went home, Rochelle and I had about 3 weeks of laundry to do, and lots of little errands that had to get done. Since I am working every day until around 5:30, that’s when we start running our errands and doing laundry. And so I haven’t hardly sat down at this computer for quite a while, and therefore haven’t spent a moment checking email or blogging.

Briefly, (Rochelle just told me it was time to go to bed) work has been good lately. I have been doing odd things for them here and there. I have been useful for them, but not as useful as I’d like to be. But I am still just a new employee. It will take me time to get engrained into their processes. Something that I’m sure I’ll talk about more in future blogs.

Ah well, I guess I better go to bed. Have a good night all.

BJ

BJ is gwaduated

This was written to a few friends and family on the day I graduated, August 8th:

Hey All,
Some of you I just saw today, others of you I haven't heard from in a
while. I hope you are all doing well, and I thought I'd just drop a
note to let you know that today I graduated. Hurray! …Applause…
Thank you, thank you. Now I hope I didn't startle any of you too
much, but yes, it seems that I finally got there. I graduated in
Sociology with no official minor, but a slew of computer science
classes under my belt. (Computer Science doesn't offer any minors.)
Now where to from here? Well, for now, I go to work. I recently got
a new job with Property Solutions, as their one and only Quality
Assurance Engineer. Really, I can kinda have any title I want, and so
I have also thought of Director of Quality Assurance, or
Vice-President of Quality Assurance, but really I'm just directing
myself for now, so the titles are just that… titles. I started with
them two weeks ago, and I'm enjoying my time there. They are a new
business, less than 20 people, but they seem to be constantly hiring
so they seem to be growing right now. In a few years, when the time
is right, I will head back to school to get an MBA so I can have
another title under my belt. They like to have students with
experience, and so it really isn't feasible to go now. Kirk and Andy
(brothers in law) both recently graduated from the MBA, and Ryan
(brother) did it years ago with his law degree. I'm starting to feel
left out. Rochelle is continuing in her nursing school. She has one
semester down and 4 to go (or 2 years). She will be a fantastic
nurse. She is currently TAing for a class, and helping teachers do
research.
Anyways, we have a new web page up… and it IS new. Incomplete and
unfinished, but still worthy of your browsing I hope. Please visit it
at http://somedayhappened.net Inside you will find pictures and a
blog, both of which will be updated soon. For those who would like to
log in, just send us an email, and we will send you an email that will
let you create your own account. Currently logging in allows you to
add recipes to the recipe page, and potentially see family birthdays
when the page is working right (also soon to be redone). We hope to
be expanding the web page soon with my new found free time, so check
back from time to time, and feel free to drop us a line.
Take care all,
BJ

Moving on

Well, it has been a while since I have posted. Rochelle does well in keeping ya'all up to date in our lives. I guess the biggest thing I have to write on is the fact that I am graduating this week, and that I got a new job last week. As momentous of an occasion this is, I really don't feel like it is that special. To be honest, I am rather embarrassed that I haven't graduated already. But I guess I was just enjoying my education... maybe a little too much. I think part of the reason I stayed in school so long was because I was determined to get married, and not so determined to graduate for a long time. And when I did (finally) get married, I finally looked at my schooling, and determined that it was time for me to be done. I have been going to school for the last 2 years straight. I am a wee bit tired. Ready for a break. So what am I going to do with my new found liberty? I haven't quite decided yet. I think there are a few things I'd like to do. I never really developed my piano playing skills like I'd like to. I've had one year of piano lessons, after which I quit because I didn't like it. But when I got into 8th or 9th grade, I started wishing that I knew a little bit more than I did. And so I went back to my old piano books, and taught myself how to play. I can play a little now. I'd like to be able to really play though. But I know that will take a fair bit of practice. I might be up for that. We'll see. I'd also like to give more time to my photography. I'm getting a new digital SLR camera, and am anxious to start learning the differences between film and digital, and how they affect the photos you take. I've taken a fair amount of photos for other people, and I love doing it. I have mostly done it charging nothing more than cost to those who ask me to take their picture, and I'm content to continue that way. I enjoy doing that service for friends. A few people have truly been grateful when they got their pictures. I'd take that kind of payment any day over dollars and cents. I like serving people in a meaningful way. It gives me "warm fuzzies". Another thing I might be working on is a little software program that creates ward directories. I have created one already, but I think it could use some major reworking so that it is a little easier to run. That could take some serious time too. Also our web page needs some updating. I have lots that I'd like to do that way. Oh, another thing I want to work on it cooking/baking. I love to make food. Largely because I love to eat it, but also because it is something that I can do for Rochelle. I'd like to start cooking and baking more. I really know very little about baking, especially breads. I'd like to do more. I think we will get a bread machine, so that will be a little less difficult, but all the same, there are lots of food recopies that I'd like to try. I'm hoping that I can make our recipe web site a little more useful for ourselves. I've also got a lot of reading that I'd like to do. Rochelle has a stack of books that she would like me to read, and I have another stack that I'd like to read.

Anyways, that's enough about that. I started my new job on Monday, and I really like the people who work there. They all seem to be very nice. They are very much a small company in every sense of the word. Things seem to be changing rapidly, and the CEO works in programming right along with a bunch of other developers. Everyone seems to be quite bright. They have a talented bunch of people working for them. I think I'll like working there. It should be fun.

Well, our home teachers should be here shortly, so I better be getting off of here. Have a good Sunday all.

~BJ

Well, I guess I'm past due on giving an update on our life... we have just been doing our normal routine (work, and school for BJ) for the most part. I helped throw a baby shower on Saturday for a girl in my ward. I have never done that before, and it was fun. We had it at our apartment, which worked out perfectly. On Friday, BJ and I went out to lunch with his co-workers, since it was his last day, and one other guy's last day as well.
BJ and I team teach a Sunday School class in our ward, and we are supposed to teach once a month, or every other week.... but we have taught 4 out of the past 5 weeks... which is fine, but unusual! A lot of people are moving out and/ or into our ward, so there aren't many teachers I guess. We are staying here (we are not especially fond of moving, and we like it here) for another year. I will try to put up some pictures of our apartment.
I have read some good books lately; the last one I read was Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl. I think a lot of people had to read that one in school, but I never did... although I realized while I was reading it, that I had read part of it for a research project I did when I was a senior in high school. It was such an interesting, thought provoking book. I especially like what he says about trials/ suffering not being bad- they can give your life meaning, if you look at them the right way. He says that there are a lot of things that can give our lives meaning (not just suffering). My favorite quote from the book was a response to the people who said that they had nothing to expect from life any more, and therefore did not want to go on living (in the concentration camp): "What was really needed was a fundamental change in our attitude toward life. We had to learn ourselves and, furthermore, we had to teach the despairing men, that it did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life- daily and hourly. Our answer must consist, not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual."
I have also read several other books these last couple weeks; a Louis Lamour western (a fluffy book), Complications (a book about how the medical profession is not an exact, but more of an approximate, evolving science- very interesting book), and the Holographic Universe (I'm not actually finished reading this one... it has a very interesting premise, but it has a lot of physics and abstract ideas in it, and that makes it slow going for me).
I am going to start interviewing nurses this week for the research I am helping with, so that should be interesting, and I am also planning on (finally!) starting to scrapbook all our wedding pictures! I also have a bunch of errands to run. Anyway, that makes for a busy week, which I like way better than not having much to do!
Below are the pictures of our apartment: our living room, our "dining area", and our kitchen.

Everything has gone to the birds

Well, I haven't blogged for a while, and so Rochelle has requested that I update you all on our lives. I guess there is much to be said though, this could end up being a book. I'm tempted to break this up into chapters. ;-) So be it.

Chapter 1:
Rochelle is officially an adult. She has turned 21. We had a party of two, and had fun. I had taken her shopping for her birthday because she wants clothes, but I don't dare buy her clothes if she isn't there. Any guy knows that it isn't easy to buy women clothes. And so she knew most of what she was getting before she got it. I did surprise her with some scrapbook stuff, but it wasn't much. Mostly it was stuff she picked out for her self. For breakfast we had apple-cake, which I have never made before but had fun making. Thank you CindyMom and Marissa for your help with finding that recipe. I had to go to work and class after that, but after class we went directly to the theater to watch "Lake House". Now both Cara and Marissa loved the movie and so Rochelle was excited to see it, and we'll just say that I was excited for her. ;-) But it didn't turn out to be bad at all. It isn't my favorite movie, or Rochelle's, but we did like it. The movie is one of those movies that plays with time travel. No, the people didn't travel, but their letters traveled to each other through time. It was cute, but not too logical. It neatly side-stepped all sorts of problems that the time travel created. But as long as you just nod your head and smile, and try not to think too much about anything besides the main plot line, it was an enjoyable movie. Rochelle had similar thoughts as I did. After the movie, I made dinner for Rochelle, and we ate and had pop cake for her birthday cake... a recipe which I got from my mom. Thanks mom! I think she enjoyed the day. I hope so. I'll let her fill in the details.

Chapter 2:
A day or two before Rochelle's birthday, I had an interview with a company called Property Solutions. I was recommended to them by the wife of my home teacher who works there. The interview was done simultaneously by three different people, one of which is the CEO of the company. The company, as you may have guessed, is not incredibly large. But they do seem like a good company, they had a poster on the wall of them on the cover of a Fortune magazine for being a small company with a great idea. The interview seemed to go well. The next day, they called and informed me that they would like to extend a job offer to me. I was happy to hear that, but told them to put in writing, and that I would talk it over with Rochelle. We did, and I decided to accept. Yea! My first real full time job! I start August 7th, and it should be fun. I'll have to tell you more later.

Chapter 3:
Today as I was on my way home from work, I saw a bird trying to make its way through grass. It didn't seem normal and so initially I wondered if it was sick. On second glance I realized that it was a cockatiel. Not a bird native to Utah. I tried to get it to perch on my hand, and it flew away, but I could tell it was tame, because it wasn't acting scared of me, just like it didn't want to perch on my hand. I tried to get it out of the tree it landed in, but it just ended up flying to another tree higher up. So I went into my office and got a box and some cheese crackers, and brought them outside. The bird was right where I left it. I put some of the crackers on the ground in plain sight of the bird, but it didn't seem that interested. In fact it seemed like it was going to go asleep. And so I started whistling to it. When I did that, it seemed to perk up and look at me. After a little bit of waiting, it came down. I think it meant to go towards the crackers, but it over flew, and landed in the bush. It got stuck and gave me the perfect opportunity to grab it and put it in the box. Rochelle was quite surprised to see it. She isn't exactly what you would call a bird lover. But she humored me and allowed me to keep it until we can find it a better home. For now it is in a makeshift box with a hanger for a perch, and some food and water. I took it out for just a bit, but it keeps trying to fly around, and it doesn't seem like it is a good flyer. It tried to land on top of our desk, but ended up falling off and into a box. I think it is ok. It is probably a little sick and it did seem quite hungry. I think it is just used to being in a cage, and therefore doesn't know how to fly. Either that or it normally has its wings clipped to the point that it can't. But even when I handled it, it didn't bite me, at least not hard. Birds typically don't like it when you hold them from the top. They have no control that way, but it didn't get too mad when I did to keep it from flying away again. And as long as I'm not doing that, it doesn't bite at all. It does seem like a very friendly bird, just one that doesn't know where it is, or who is holding it. It may take it some time to attach itself to somebody again so it’s not scared of being held. Anyways, here's a picture of the bird.

In response to the Pirates in question

Well, I have to say, Marissa, and Cara, that Pirates was not as scary as you led me to believe! Oh, I admit, it was suspenseful, but I think the fact that you told me that it was so suspenseful made me expect things more. I enjoyed it, though. The ending left a lot of questions and speculation in my mind, as I am sure it did in others'.
Our routine lately has been mostly ordinary. BJ has his last class, his job at Novell, and The Job Search, which seems to be going well. I have research and TA work to do, and I have been doing various other things at home, such as TaeBo, sewing projects, card- making and scrapbooking projects, reading books (Right now I am reading The Hiding Place) and a bunch of other stuff. Currently I am also planning a baby shower for a friend. Last spring, two of my nursing friends and I ran a 5K, and the plan is to do another one in the fall, so guess who has to start running again? ME! And BJ will come with me for moral support. :) Well, it is now almost tomorrow, which is that one really cool day. I will have to write more about that later...

Update

It feels like we have been in a whirlwind ever since we got back from Oregon! We are lucky to have BJ's sister, Rhonda, with her kids Taylor and Emily in town- that means the whole family is here. We were all able to get together for a Fourth of July celebration, fireworks, and a barbeque (actually we got together the day before), which was fun. On Independance Day itself, we went to the big 4th of July parade. It goes right down the street next to our apartment, so we didn't have to go far to find it. Then we walked over to the Art Festival which is held outdoors every year downtown. We had a fun time window shopping. ;) It is a very fun event, with vendors selling food, art, clothing, etc. There is also some free stuff, mostly for children, and there is live entertainment. We also got to barbeque with our friends Danielle and Scott, which was fun. Since we had done fireworks the night before, and because of bad weather, we did not go see/ do any fireworks on the Fourth.
Since then, we have been busy working, BJ is going to class and looking for a job, I spent the night with my grandmother in the hospital a couple of times, and BJ took wedding pictures for some friends of the family. We are still working on our website, and I am working on my cardmaking hobby. I am hoping to work on some other hobbies this summer: sewing, reading, piano, and... other fun stuff when I think of it. I would also like to try Utah camping. I have been camping (more backpacking, really) a bunch in Oregon, but not at all in Utah, so I am eager to try it out.
Oh, I also got a haircut. I got it cut and layered about up to my collarbone. Still long, but not down to my waist or anything anymore. I also got a few bangs cut. I think I like it, but I am still deciding.
I am looking forward to seeing Pirates of the Carribbean II tomorrow. Actually, I am looking forward with some trepidation. The reason is that even the previews frightened me, and my sister Marissa warned my that it was so suspensful that I might have heart problems. My sister Cara advised me that I might be crawling up my seat and that it was very suspensful. Sooooo.... I'll let you know how it goes, if I am not in the hospital with heart palpitations.

A week with the in-laws

Alrighty, we got here last Wednesday, and are leaving tomorrow, which means, sadly, that our vacation is coming to a close. :-( We have had fun being here with Rochelle's family. Her siblings are lots of fun to be with. It has been abominably hot for Oregon, 95 plus every day, and way too humid for my taste. The weather has kept us hiding from the sun inside, but we have managed to have fun despite ourselves. Tayler, Collin and I have played lots of ping-pong, pool, and chess, along with some pente and a little paint ball on the side. Collin is currently reading to me a list of jokes that got in the email some time ago, and has kept in a folder. We have also been witness to a bunch of different events while here. First of which, and our main reason for being here, was Anna's baptism. Other things we saw were Collin's piano recital, the Dance festival in which Marissa, Tayler, and Cara were all a part. Marissa also received her Personal Progress completion award. And last but not least Tayler recieved his Eagle Scout award. Well, I could write much more about all of this, and I probably will, but I think it shall wait until I'm at home wishing I could get another round of ping-pong in.

Procrastination is my (temporary) answer

Well, as the title implies, I have other things that I should be doing, and yet here I am, hoping against all odds that the material I should be studying will somehow seep into my brain while I do something... anything (!) else. Right now, "something" is giving the update on our fascinating life! Ok, so maybe it is not so fascinating, but it seems to be quite a whirlwind right now.
BJ and I had the pleasure of having both our fathers here with us on Father's Day yesterday. This was not exactly planned; but through a series of what you might call unfortunate events, we were able to host both of them. Now, don't get me wrong, it was not unfortunate for us that they were here! We were delighted to have both of them at the same time. No, the unfortunate part was some of the circumstances surrounding this event. To explain: We knew BJ's dad was coming; his wife (BJ's mom) was out of town, and we invited him over for Father's Day dinner. Then, I received news that my grandmother here in Utah was having emergency surgery, and that my dad was coming to be here with her and his siblings. He was here until Sunday night (Father's Day). So, while the reasons for him being here were less than desirable, we were delighted to have this unique opportunity. We all got to have dinner together (some of the recipes we used are posted in the recipe section of our website) and then we promptly left to take my dad back to the airport. Whew! As a note, my grandmother's condition is improving, but she will have a long recovery ahead of her. Our thoughts and prayers are with her, of course.
Today was the last day of classes for Spring Term, 2006! BJ has one more class to take before he graduates, and I have... dozens! Oh well, at least I am now finished with my generals. Anyway, we are leaving the day after tomorrow to go visit my family. The day after tomorrow also happens to be the first day of finals, and that means that we are taking our finals early. Tomorrow. Yikes. That is why I should be studying. I have a tremendous amount of material to cover by 9:00 tomorrow morning, and I feel like I have a long night ahead of me, as I have not made much headway on studying yet. That said, I guess I have had a long enough break, and will resume my dismal task.

Busy Day

Today has been one of the busiest days ever! In a good, mostly non- stressful way, of course. I worked this morning, as usual. BJ and I actually babysat our nieces for a good portion of the rest of the day. BJ had the girls for a few hours, then picked me up from work. We spent some time with the girls at the Bean Museum, the park, playing games (the likes of Chutes and Ladders, Candyland, and dominoes) etc. BJ went back to work for part of the time, then came back for an hour or two. I love children, and I have a lot of respect for parents in general. I usually experience a surge of that respect right after babysitting multiple children. I am not suggesting anything about my nieces (I think they are adorable, very smart, and fairly good- natured). It's just that babysitting kids makes me appreciate what moms and dads do, and the fact that parenting is a neverending babysitting job. I feel lucky, in that the parents that BJ and I have, and all of the members of our family who are parents, are great examples of good parents.
We were supposed to go to our dance class in the evening, but we were late, and pretty tired, (not to mention the fact that we are auditing the class, and are not trying to earn a grade) so we went home, only to walk 3 miles to go get ice cream at Stan's. Incidentally, THE Stan that "Stan's" is named after is BJ's grandfather. He sold the restaraunt quite a while ago, but the whole family still frequents the 1950's classic burger joint. It definitely has character, and some of the best fast food you'll ever try. Stan's is one of those places where if you have lived in Provo for any amount of time, you understand the kind of tradition that Stan's is; kind of a permanent fixture that draws college students, teenagers, and their parents alike. Everyone likes Stan's.

Today mate!

I'm afraid that my life is just not very interesting. I got up, went to work, came home, had dinner and went to dance class with Rochelle. Dance class wasn't especially exciting. We are in swing right now, and I enjoy that. It is my favorite dance, and although I already know most of the steps, it's fun to dance them, especially when Rochelle and I dance together. But now we are home, and the day is all but gone, and I have little to report here. And so, the best I can do for this blog is find some issue that I have feelings on, and speak my mind about it. Today's issue is found here: http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=296414 It's about the senate, and how they are elected. This may seem like a strange idea to many, but the senate has not always been voted for by the people, and it really isn't a good idea to have them voted in office by the people. They used to be voted in by the state legislature. It gave the states more power. Right now, the states have very little power on capitol hill. Right now, if the senate is to be concerned with state rights, it is because the people from that state are concerned with state rights. But honestly, how many people do you know who worry about the state government that they are in? In general, people feel that as long as the kids have a school to go to, and we have roads to travel on, I don't care who is in charge. But when the states don't have power, it destroys the structure that the founders set up for us. The founders gave us a very week national government, because they knew that there would be very little that the national government could do better than the states. Those few things (such as armies, and international affairs) were given to the national government to worry about, and the rest to the state government. So why should the states have power? Wouldn't that just mean that more states would mess everything up? No, not really. Every state wants to do well, otherwise they too get kicked out of office. The difference that is created here is that every state gets to do things a little different... they experiment, and the states that do the best get imitated by everyone else. So if we are having problems with our schools, let the states experiment with it, and keep the national government out. One or more of the states are likely to come up with some good ideas that work, and then we can all benefit. If the National Government is in charge, they aren't as likely to find a good solution. And we also have to consider the fact that every state is different. They are made up of different cities, and different people, and so maybe some states need one type of program while other states need another. The national government can't account for this. They simply give everyone the same plan, and hope it works for most of them. Of course, there are times when the national government needs to step in. When the civil rights movement was going on, the national government took control of some schools in some states because the states were not doing things right. This is a check on the states power, and is good. But this check does not mean that the states no longer get to make any more decisions. It means they made one very bad decision, and the national government needed to stop it. And so while I think it is unlikely, I want the 17th amendment repealed, and power given back to the states.

Back to School, Back to School!

Well, our short vacation is finally over. BJ and I have class and work today. I worked at the Bean Museum. I compile statistical reports and make/ give the employee of the month award. It has been a good job; I have been there longer than any of the other students working there now! I will only be working there a little longer, though.
Lately, we have been working on a new website. We had an old one that BJ made shortly after we were married, but we decided to buy a real domain name and get a site started that we could do more with. Well, BJ has wanted to do it for a long time, but was always too busy with classes. Now, with him graduating soon, he finally convinced me it was a good ideal, and we decided to have a go at it. It has been a lot of fun. It is not fully functional yet, but it has a few pictures up. We hope to have a bunch of cool stuff on it, like a family birthday calendar, more pictures, family recipes, games, BJ's photography portfolio, and other stuff as we come across it. It was fun to come up with the design for the main page. We made kind of a scrap-booky look by scanning things in that I made, and digitally altering them.
Something that I am pretty excited about is that my sister Marissa got in to BYU and will be attending in the fall. I am trying to help her find a good apartment; let me know if you have any good suggestions. We hope to have her contract all done with pretty soon.

Happy Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day, and therefore a day off from school and work. Rochelle and I will be using it to wash cars, work on our web page, and study. Holidays are never as much fun as they should be when you are in school. But all the same, we slept in and have enjoyed the day thus far. I recently read the talk by President Hinckley from the Priesthood session of last conference. It is a sad thing that racism is still as prevalent as it is. There are many differing opinions on it at the time. Some people think it is all but gone, others think that it has improved but little since the 60's when there were riots and legal discrimination. I think I fall somewhere in-between. But I know it is definitely still there. In our previous ward, there was a couple who I met with for one of my classes. The guy was white, and the girl was black. The guy said that he was amazed at how differently they were treated when he was doing something and when his wife was doing something. They felt like people often looked at them as they were holding hands walking down the street. For that same class, we watched a video of a white guy and a black guy that were similar in almost ever respect besides for their skin. The white guy didn't always have an advantage, but he often did. As they sought for places to live, the white guy was given applications, and the black guy was told that the apartment had just been taken. If they went to get a car, the white guy got a better percentage rate, and a lower price. Jobs were open to him, and filled to the black guy in many cases. Racism is definitely still alive. Right now President Bush is trying to secure the Mexican border because of "terrorists." I doubt it has much to do with terrorists. Terrorists often are educated and well-off; they are probably more likely to come through normal routes than try to jump a fence with the National Guard right there. And yet we don't worry about the Canadian border. But these are all complicated problems, and don't have easy solutions. But one thing is for sure. President Hinckley is right. We need to treat all of our neighbors with love and respect, and though he didn't say it, I might add especially those who are discriminated against for any reason.

Stuff

As BJ wrote, we are attending school at BYU this spring. It is great weather- sunny almost everyday. A lot of people don't like how hot it is already, but I find that I don't mind very much, as long as it isn't cloudy. Sunshine= happy Rochelle. I am finishing up my general ed classes this spring. I am taking Humanities and Geology. I am planning to continue working at the Monte L. Bean Life Science Museum until the end of the term. When the summer term starts, I will start my new job as a research/ teaching assistant in the college of nursing (for one of my previous professors). I really enjoyed my classes last semester. It was great to finally be able to start putting all the things I have learned about medicine and nursing into practice. I did a clinical rotation at Orem Nursing and Rehab, along with 7 other girls. I had such a great clinical group; we all became good friends. I was sad to see the semester end.
This fall I will be up at American Fork Hospital. I am very excited. BJ is working on one of his last classes before he graduates in August, and he is keeping very busy working at Novell. We are taking one class together- Dance 280 (The Social Dance class we met in 2 1/2 years ago). We are mostly just taking it for old time's sake, as we have already taken several higher level dance classes together. It is a blast! BJ is such a good dancer, and this class is one of the highlights of my week.

Hi all you blogging bloggers

So, Rochelle decided that she wanted to become a blogger for some unknown reason to me, and guess who she assigns to write the first post, ... ME! Well so be it.

Today has been a busy day. This spring has nice because we get to sleep in fairly late every morning. We don't have to be anywhere until 10 am. That's unusual for us. And we make the most of those morning hours. We don't let a single one of them go to waste! We sleep until we absolutely have to get up, and then we get up. Rochelle will note that I'm worse than she is because I sleep longer than she does. Well, I can get ready in half the time, and so I sleep the other half. If our roles were swapped, I'm sure she'd do the same. Well anyways, Rochelle and I both went to work around 10 am. From here on it gets quite boring. I program. And I program some more. And I program some more. Once in a while, I'll talk to a fellow Homo Sapian, but for the most part, it is me and "Wasp", my computer. Programming can be fairly addicting though. I love doing web pages. I don't know why either. I try to get into other aspects of programming, but they just don't excite me much. I've even tried games that are for programmers where you program little bots to do battle with other programmed bots... nerdy I know, but I thought it might be good practice. But, alas, it was of no avail. I'm just not interested in programming unless it has to do with the internet. But I think internet programming is facinating for some reason. Don't ask me why. I don't know. But right now I'm programming a web page for work, and I have a hard time putting it down long enough to do anything else. I just learned a new protocol called XMLHTTP Request. It allows the web page to actively get more information to display and makes it much faster to use. For some odd reason, I thought it was one of the coolest things ever. Other people I showed it to were like... "uh, whatever..." but that's my life. People rarely understand the computer things that I am facinated by. Oh well. Well, Rochelle is now wanting me off the computer. My moment on the computer is over I suppose. Now I get to try and distract her while she is working... he he he. :-D
Hasta.
BJ