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.