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Weekly Posts

2012-02-20T01:43:00.002-09:00

Hello all,

January was a month full of stress for me at my work. So far February has also been stressful at work but I'm making a greater effort to separate my work life from my real life. I work full time at a very popular retailer. My job there is not the typical job you might think of when you think of people that work there, I'm the person who gets to pay all of the bills that come to the store. I have found that many people at my work consider this an important job and a good career, I disagree because I think a career is one in which a salary is paid and not an hourly wage. So I, in all of my glory, have been for the past few months preoccupied with worry over this piddly job - to the detriment of my health and happiness.

February, I believe, is far enough from the holidays to have returned to a normal course of life and close enough to the new year to still work on resolutions. I have many. But I feel the most important one to mention at this point in time is my resolution to post weekly on this blog. Be warned, I lead a fairly predictable and somewhat boring life these days. Searching for new and interesting things to share is difficult for me, but I will strive to do this for the few friends and family members that actually view this blog. I find that a big reason why I refrain from posting regularly is lack of visual aids, I apologize for this. I will post weekly with or without photos of our life and I hope that this will be sufficient for our readers :)

On another note, after living here for half a year W and I have learned that Alaska is not our dream state to live in. This experience has been good for us. I think that moving to an entirely new place without work, friends, or family has helped us grow as a couple and it has also helped us learn more about ourselves and what we want in our life together. That said, we have bought tickets to move back to the contiguous United States in July. This will allow us to witness Spring and more of Summer before moving back. I am hopeful that many picture opportunities will occur in the coming months because we will have more daylight hours outside of work to go out and enjoy the nature around Juneau. But, truth be told, I am really looking forward to moving back and being closer to family and friends. I love you all and miss you all very much. I hope that this February can be a time of renewal and refocus for all of you who wish it.

P.S. Happy belated Valentine's Day!

Happy Twelfth Night!

2012-01-05T18:45:00.002-09:00

Our yule celebration this year is now done. W and I celebrate the twelve days of Christmas beginning on Christmas Eve and ending last night. We both had a lot of fun this yule. We played a lot more board games together this year and loved it.

I think my favorite moment from our whole celebration was the moment that W opened his ninth gift. I bought him the game "Dark Tower". It was released in 1981 and shortly after that it was taken off the market because of a lawsuit over who really created the game's concept. W first wanted this game when he was four and, due to its scarcity, has now finally received it (I love ebay). He was so full of joy when he opened it! It made me so happy to see him finally getting something that he has wanted for years.

When I look back on this yuletide I will be able to remember wonderful times spent with the man I love and the excitement I felt, and continue to feel, about sharing my life with him.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!

Moved!

2011-08-16T05:00:00.000-08:00

Well, W and I moved! We're finally going to see if we can live in a place that we've been dreaming about living in for a few years. Where? Watch this youtube video for a BIG hint!

P.S. Pictures to follow!

On the Move

2011-08-05T07:08:00.000-08:00

What a long trip!

We wrapped over 40 hours of travel yesterday afternoon when we arrived at our motel in Bellingham. We had hardly slept during our two nights on the bus and we had eaten only one meal, so we were pretty beat. We ate, we slept, and we slept.

Now we're up and getting ready to board the ship tonight. This is getting exciting.

So far it still feels surreal. To me, it almost feels like we're watching this happen to someone else instead of experiencing it ourselves.

Today, though, it's starting to feel more real. Sleep probably helps that. So does food.

But perhaps another big factor is the weather. When we got to Seattle, it was sunny and hot — nothing like Seattle is supposed to be. This morning, though, it's overcast and cool. And I feel like I'm really here making this journey after all.

Upsetting Alumni Mail

2011-07-26T23:15:00.000-08:00

So I graduated from college with a BA in 2008. I have a diploma and transcripts to prove it. But a while back in the mail I a postcard from my university, addressed to me, which displayed a picture of a person in graduation cap and gown and a diploma - only the person's face was a white blank space that read "your name here" and the diploma displayed these words. The rest of the message on the postcard read, "What's stopping you from filling in the blanks?" I saw this and began to worry, had I just imagined it? Was I lying on job applications? I rifled through my papers to find my transcripts and checked my graduation status online - yes I really have graduated.

Well, two weeks ago I was looking through the alumni directory and thought that it would be fun to see what other people see when they look me up, they had me down as a member of the non-degree alumni. BING! The light turned on and I gave the alumni center a call to set them straight. The girl I talked to said that since I got married and changed my name during my time there my credits probably didn't transfer. I got married really young and changed my name long before I declared my major so I highly doubt that's what happened, but now they at least know that I did fill in the blanks and am an alumna.

Moral of the story? Make sure that when you graduate you talk with the people in charge of alumni stuff at your school so that you don't receive any letters or postcards that could cause a heart attack! ;-p

A New, Small, Addition to the Family

2011-07-24T20:00:00.000-08:00

Recently a friend of ours left a comment, similar to the title of this post, on another post in this blog. I have been waiting a while to post this, about a month and a half. To clarify our friend's comment and share the good news I just have to say . . .

WE BOUGHT ANOTHER NOOK!!!

That's right W and I are now a TWO Nook family instead of just a one Nook family and we love it. Now we both can read to our hearts content with our fairly large digital book collection. Welcome the our family my little nookie Nook, you've been a long time coming! ;-)

Great Basin

2011-07-23T09:51:00.000-08:00

W and I went to Great Basin the weekend after Father's Day. We didn't hike to the top of Wheeler Peak again during this visit or see the Bristlecone Pine Grove. They had more snow this past year then they have had in a long time and most of the higher trails were too snowy to hike on or find. We did however take another tour through Lehman Caves, which was fun. Tara was our tour guide and we became such good friends with her during the tour that she suggested we take the Lehman Caves candlelight tour and even squeezed us in when the tour list was full. It was awesome to see the caves in a way that the first tourists might have seen them over one hundred years ago. I have some pictures, but I can't find the camera that has the pictures we took in the cave, I'll post those later. (I'm beginning to notice a bad pattern here, one of these days I will find all of my camera stuff and keep it close to my computer ;-) ).

Behold Wheeler Peak!

W built a snowman while we were out hiking at the end of June!

This is a picture of the first campfire I ever built by myself!

More fire!

Check out this cool fungus we saw on a hike!

Bryce Canyon

2011-07-22T07:37:00.000-08:00

Well before this year was out and before our America the Beautiful Pass expired we went to Bryce Canyon for my first time. We went to Bryce Canyon with my Dad (it was his first time too) over Father's Day weekend and camped two nights! We spent Saturday going all over the park, seeing everything and hiking around a little bit. My dad took lots of pictures and I did too! I'm really going to enjoy them for years to come. It was the best Father's Day that I've celebrated in a long time.

Here are some of the pictures that we took:

Here is a picture of my two most favorite men at Wall Street!

One of my favorite of the amphitheater!

I'm very afraid of heights and this is a trail that we went on that drops off on both sides, the above picture is a picture of my return from the end of the trail and the below picture is one of me going toward the little hill in the top picture. The whole time that I was doing this I was repeating things to myself like "The only ground that matters is the ground below your feet." "Don't look anywhere but the ground beneath your feet." I'm such a wuss sometimes! :)

Me and my dad!

W and I standing next to a young Bristlecone Pine, this tree is probably only a few hundred years old!

Here's a cool looking Bristlecone!

Same one.

Here's a picture of me with another Bristlecone.

Hair

2011-07-22T07:25:00.000-08:00

W has been growing his hair out and so have I!

Movie Extra

2011-07-22T07:21:00.000-08:00

By the end of May W and I no longer worked at the after school thing because the school year was over. But W did get to be in a low budget movie! He had a small speaking part and a featured extra. They chose him because they thought he would look like a great pioneer and he did! I even got to make him and shirt and suspenders for it. It was fun!

Basket Weaving

2011-07-22T07:07:00.000-08:00

I taught a basket weaving class for the first time this last spring. It was one of those community classes that they do in most areas only I taught it. I had a blast and my students made great baskets. One of them even went on to make dyed baskets for her nieces and nephews for Easter, it was more ambitious than I would have been. I was so proud of all of my students especially the two that were related to me, my mom and dad. :)

My Family

2011-07-22T07:01:00.000-08:00

I failed to mention this earlier, but my family ended up moving here as well! My mom, dad, sister and her husband and kids, and my grandma all live here now. I have loved having them close and have really enjoyed being involved in all of the birthdays and other holidays that I have gotten to spend with them. It so nice to go over and see my nieces and nephew and actually have them recognize me and run up to me for a hug yelling "Auntie S!" I love it every time!

Back to Candy

2011-07-22T06:51:00.000-08:00

After my trip and our trip, I searched for a full time job. I was unsuccessful but I was able to get two part time jobs that would give me more hours than a full time one. I went back to the little candy store I had worked at, my manager was looking for someone else to hire and I was still looking for work. I was able to get a steady schedule there that allowed me to work for a kids after school program. I ended up becoming a site leader at the elementary school where I worked. It was a lot of fun and I love those kids. I also loved working in the candy store again. I had really missed my manager, my coworkers, and the customers, it has been good to be back.

Our First Time in Great Basin

2011-07-22T06:32:00.000-08:00

Shortly after my trip to Montana, W and I went to Great Basin National Park. We only had time for one and a half days there but in that time we both fell in love. Great Basin is in Nevada and it's such a small national park that they don't charge any entrance fees. While there we hiked to the top of Wheeler Peak (13,065 ft). It was the first time I had ever made it to the top of a mountain, I loved it! The next day we were there we went on a tour through Lehman Caves and hiked to the Bristlecone Pine grove. Both experiences were also wonderful. The Lehman Caves are beautiful and full of cave formations. The Bristlecone Pine grove was a much more sacred experience, these trees might be the oldest living organisms that we know of (the oldest ones are around 5,000 years old). It was a great trip for our marriage as well, we learned a lot climbing to the top of that mountain and I'm looking forward to when we can do it together again!

P.S. When I find that dang memory card I'll post some pictures! :)

Wow It's Been A While! / Montana Trip

2011-07-12T17:58:00.001-08:00

Well, It's been over a year since my last post on this blog and I feel pretty bad about letting it go this long, a lot has happened in the past year so I will attempt to catch everyone up. Be ready for a few posts this week. Here's to a new start:

Last June I quit my little candy store job and took a trip up to Montana. I had never been there before and W and I were considering moving there. I also wanted to have the experience of living by myself for a while since I had never done it, I suppose that's what happens when one gets married at nineteen - you move straight from your parent's house in with your husband. I loved my trip! I rented a car and drove a big distance all by myself. I went up and visited Glacier National Park during their centennial, it was beautiful. On this trip I also went to Yellowstone for the first time and it was beautiful in a very different way. Between the two I think I preferred Glacier because it had gorgeous lakes and mountains and felt like home. If I could live there all year round I totally would, it's heaven! I will write more about my trip and include pictures once I find the memory card from my camera!

NOOK!!!

2010-06-02T14:58:00.000-08:00

W and I bought a nook from Barnes&Noble today and we are sooo excited! For anyone who has ever been to our apartment, you've seen the hundreds if not thousands of books that we own. Now with a nook we can have a library that's a bit easier to transport with us while we are still figuring out where exactly we want to settle down. And as a new promotion for the product B&N is offering a free $50 gift card with the purchase of a nook. That's actually why I'm online, so that I can buy ebooks with our new giftcard! I'm so excited!!! :)

Bless My Beautiful Hide

2009-11-13T09:28:00.000-09:00

Well, last Friday we got to go see a production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers with my manager and one of her friends. It was a lot of fun and brought back a lot of memories for W and me. We also had a Greek dinner before hand that was quite yummy.

We also now have callings in our new ward. W gets to teach Sunday School for the 14-15 year-old class and I get to teach Primary for the 9-10 year-old class. I really like W's class but am feeling a bit overwhelmed with mine (half of the class members are trouble makers). I've been thinking about it a lot lately and realizing that I like interacting with kids that are younger than this age and kids that are older, but kids that are right around this age just get under my skin. I find this especially interesting because I've been reading Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood and in it she talks about being this age, and being the mother of two daughters this age, and what a horrible age it is to be a girl (did I mention that my trouble makers are all girls?). I'm just not sure how to connect. Perhaps I'm just over-thinking, maybe I just need to give them more time.

My manager has, somewhat jokingly, mentioned the idea of making me her assistant manager. I think she's been doing this because she wants to get a noncommittal reaction from me. I don't know that it's necessarily going to happen, but it's a slightly new development in my life. W continues to work on his novel and hopes to be done with his first draft by Thanksgiving.

We both are doing well and living life. We're looking forward to the time when our life will reach a higher level of normalcy, but for the mean time we're trying to do what we think is best and what we think He would have us do.

I got a part-time job!

2009-09-12T11:50:00.000-08:00

Well the biggest news for us is that I've been able to find a part-time job to work while we're down here. Man, I really don't have much else to say but I enjoy it. My manager is really cool and I get tips which are always welcome!

We've Moved!

2009-08-21T11:44:00.000-08:00

We're finally all done with school and have moved out of the apartment that we lived in for five years! For the immediate future we are living with my in-laws and hoping to hear back from some jobs I have applied for. W is happy to go with me wherever I am hired! I'm really hoping that I can get a real job and do something that I love doing, and I'm happy that W is going to be with me.

We also celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary recently. I'm hoping to write more about our celebration later. Mostly life is good, but it is slightly frustrating to wait to hear about jobs. :( We hope you all are doing well. Drop us an email if you get the chance, take care!

Independence Day

2009-07-12T19:35:00.000-08:00

I LOVE going to Independence Day festivities here where we live! It's probably one of my main favorite holidays in this community, people go all out. W and I woke up early and donned our "Revolt like it's 1776" t-shirts. Then we walked down to the field where they fill hot air balloons and watched them fill and lift off. Then we went to McDonald's for breakfast, I got a bacon, egg and cheese McMuffin and it was very enjoyable. After that we walked up to the place where the parade starts and followed the path the parade would take until we found and spot where we would be happy watching the parade. Then of course we watched the parade, we even got rained on for part of it which was really fun and cooling. After the parade we went over the the festival and looked around. We sat for a while and watched some Irish folk dancing it was kind of fun to watch. Then we visited Colonial Days for a short time, it changed a lot from last year and we thought that it ended up getting worse instead of better.

After such a full morning and afternoon W and I decided to go back home because we were both pretty tired with all of the walking that we ended up doing. Once home we ended up napping and then when we woke up I made us the Independence Day dinner of our dreams: Beefkey burgers (ground turkey and ground beef mixed together into patties), polish sausages, pork and beans, and some really good potato chips from Costco. Of course we had all the toppings and additions we could want for the beefkey burgers and sausages. We topped it all off with cherry pie and sundaes for dessert. It was a wonderful day and I'm grateful that I got to celebrate it with my favorite person!

I'm happy that the United States or at least the original thirteen colonies created such a beautiful Declaration of Independence and that they all, after a lot of debate and disagreement, agreed to proclaiming themselves free and independent states. The United States has come a long way since then, not always in the best direction in my opinion, but I'm happy that in those very early days of this Nation's conception some very beloved men signed what would become a very beloved document and would create a precedent and example for the world to see and consider. God bless America! Happy Independence Day!

24!

2009-05-01T18:17:00.000-08:00

No, not the TV show. I turned 24 recently and I must say that I am really enjoying myself. For my birthday W and I went to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and then went to Outback for dinner. We went there for my 21st birthday and I had their "Melbourne" meal: a 20oz T-bone steak and two sides. I had been hoping for a 21oz steak for my 21st, but settled for the 20 since that's the biggest one they have. For this birthday I wanted to prove to myself that I was just as cool and beefy as I had been when I turned 21, the only problem was that they no longer served what they called the "Melbourne." But, not to worry, because after I reviewed the menu again I found that they still served a 20oz T-bone steak and that they just called it "The T-bone." I ordered that, plus two sides and got a free birthday dessert and was able to eat it all!!! (W and my cousin helped me eat my dessert, but I'm still counting it!) So I am still as cool and beefy as I was when I was 21, getting older doesn't seem to be all that bad . . . I do fear the day that I can't handle eating a 20oz steak plus sides all in one sitting, but thankfully that day hasn't come yet.
On another note W is all done with his thesis and will be officially graduating in August. I will leave out more details so that he can post about it if he wants. We still don't know where we will end up, but I'm applying for jobs and we'll see what we can get. If I'm able to get a job in Archeology we might even decide that we need to get a pick-up truck for me to use for travel, which sounds really fun to me! Life is good, uncertain for the future, but we are both certainly happy here in the present. We're looking forward to posting more action in the future! Love you guys!

Latest and Greatest Sum-up

2009-03-18T19:45:00.000-08:00

The latest and greatest news in our life is that we finally have our little car back in the family. W and I feel really really good about that. I'm still working part-time but as close to full-time as they'll schedule me. W is still working on his thesis and will hopefully be officially graduating in August. We hope to move sometime in June or July. We still don't know where we will be moving to, or where we will be working. Anyone know of anyone hiring people with degrees in Anthropology, English, Spanish, or Linguistics in the Western United States?

Our Car

2009-03-18T19:44:00.000-08:00

For those who don't know why our car being fixed is such a big deal let me tell you a little bit more about it. Our car is an oldie but goodie car, it belonged to W's Grandpa so it has sentimental value for him, and it is the car that made it possible for our first date to become something where we both wanted a second and third (no we didn't have a really good make-out session, we drove around for a while and talked) so it has sentimental value for me as well. We both don't ever plan to get rid of it and we hope to use it as long as we can, and once it actually won't run anymore maybe we'll make it into some sort of shrine or something but we pretty much consider it to be part of the family even with it being three years younger than me. In July of 2007 we were making a pretty good weekend trip and it stopped working while I was driving on the freeway, in the fast lane. We had it towed to our apartment and didn't really have the time or money to deal with it so we just let it sit in our spot. In December of 2007 my parents came out for a visit and my dad spent time with W and one of our neighbors trying to figure out why it died and why it wouldn't start. They found out that fuel wasn't getting to the engine and that the fuel pump didn't seem to be working. W and I weren't able to do anything about it until October 2008 when one of our best friends let us use their AAA membership to tow it to the mechanic. We chose to tow it to that particular mechanic because we still didn't have enough money to fix it and we knew this mechanic to take a really long time fixing cars. So, yesterday our car was finally fixed and we had been able to save up enough money to pay for all the work done on it in cash, boy that feels good!

St. Patrick's Day

2009-03-18T19:03:00.000-08:00

Well, admittedly this last St. Patrick's Day wasn't as cool as last year's St. Patrick's Day when I got to go to a lecture by Barry Cunliffe, but it was still a pretty eventful day. W and I started the day off right with green pancakes and green milk to wash them down. Then we got a lucky phone call that we weren't expecting for another month or two, telling us that our car was fixed! So a very nice friend of mine let me borrow her car so that W and I could go to all of the places that we needed to get to before 5 pm! We had to go to the mechanic and get the certificates for the safety and emissions tests that needed to be done to register our car, the bank so that we could get the money that we'd been saving for the car, the DMV so that we could register the car, back the the mechanic to get the car, and then to school to get a parking permit. After that we put gas in our car and in my friend's car and came back home. We had bubble and squeak for dinner, it's an Irish dish that has cabbage, onions and potatoes in it. We also had lime jello, pistachio pudding, o'douls, and mint chocolate chip ice cream. We finished up our night with the "Lucky Charmed" episode of the series "Charmed" and one of our favorite movies, The Quiet Man. Overall it was a good day, even if I didn't wash clothes or dishes and W didn't get more work on his thesis done.

Happy Candlemas/Groundhog Day!

2009-02-02T13:58:00.000-09:00

Tonight W and I are going over to a friend's house that always celebrates Groundhog day. We're both really excited and we're building up our Groundhog Team spirit! January just seemed to whiz right by me. It's amazing to realize that a twelfth of 2009 is already gone. One wonderful thing that we enjoyed in January was W's 30th Birthday!! It's sooo cool being married to a thirty year old, he's such a wonderful man and he gets more wonderful each year. I'm looking forward to how wonderful he'll be when he's sixty!

Good Yule!!!

2009-01-04T22:40:00.000-09:00

It's after midnight on January 5th and W just brought it to my attention that our yule celebration is now over. We celebrate Christmas and Yule over a twelve day period starting on the 24th of December. I have had such a wonderful Christmas and Yule this year, and even though it's over for this time of the year, I wanted to wish all of our friends and family a good Yule, merry Christmas, and a happy new year! Thank you all for being such an enjoyable part of our lives. I hope that this last Christmas season brought you all peace and joy that you will be able to carry with you until the end of the year!

Another Day, Another Dish Washed

2008-11-13T22:08:00.000-09:00

Well I quite enjoyed my day off today. I slept in and then took a long shower. Then I trimmed my hair, at least it started out as a trim and then became more of a hair cut. I definitely have healthy ends now! I can't wait until all of my dyed hair has grown out and I can cut it all off, I miss my brown hair a lot. Most of my day was spent waiting around for the maintenance workers to repair some things in our bath tub, but everything is fixed now and it's really nice to not have a drippy faucet. I've spent some of today washing dishes, hence the title of this post. It feels so good to get dishes washed.

Later today W called me when he was on campus today and invited me to a Ball on December 6th. It's a medieval ball and so I'm thinking about whether or not I would be able to make us clothes to wear before December 6th. I'm thinking that I can, but we'll see about that. I'm really looking forward to going. I really miss going out and dancing with W, and hopefully we'll be able to go and have a great time. I can't wait!

4 years

2008-09-06T23:19:00.000-08:00

W and I recently celebrated our fourth anniversary!!! It was awesome! I had to work that day, but after work we went to the grocery store and got food to try and recreate one of our first dates! We bought Chinese food and ate it while sitting on W's sleeping bag laid out on our floor. We also watched Tin Cup while eating and we actually understood most of the golf terms and references!

Recently W and I bought a golf game for my Playstation 2 and we love playing it with one another. So after playing plenty of it together we can now watch golf games or golf movies and understand what is going on. And besides, the green fees that we have to pay are super cheap! ;-)

We also recently celebrated our fifth anniversary! That is the fifth anniversary of the day we met. When we met one of the first things W did was compliment my necklace, a necklace that I had accidentally broken while we were engaged. Since I work at a craft store before my shift began that day I was able to buy what I needed to repair that necklace. Then during my lunch break, which was right around the time of day that W and I met, we had a picnic together. It was wonderful!

It's amazing to think about how much has happened to us over the past five years. I am so grateful for all of it and am so grateful that we are where we are now. The only thing I would ever change from my past would be to have married W sooner then I did. He is such a blessing in my life and I thank the Lord for him often.

I haven't written in a while

2008-07-09T14:38:00.000-08:00

W and I went out to CA in June to help my parents move and I have finally moved completely out of their house! Now our small one bedroom is packed with stuff and it's kind of frustrating. On Independence Day W and I enjoyed in the many festivities that are to be had here and I got to participate in Colonial Days and answer peoples questions about Appalachian basket weaving. Currently I am looking for a job. I would like to try being a waitress somewhere, I've always wanted to try that. But we'll see what I can find. Well, that's pretty much what's up right now.

Vita-Mix!

2008-07-09T14:24:00.000-08:00

On Monday W and I went to Costco and stood for several minutes watching a Vita-Mix demonstration. We were both really impressed with the power and versatility of the Vita-Mix blender. We went home and verified whether we had deposited our economic stimulus check yet and we hadn't! So yesterday we went back to Costco and got one!!! They are expensive, but they are the same blenders that places like Jamba Juice or Orange Julius use and so we thought if this is what the commercial professionals in smoothie making are using then it'd certainly a blender worth owning. And it comes with a 7 year warranty. The Vita-Mix blenders not only make smoothies, but ice cream, sorbet, soup, salsa, dip, salad dressing, jelly, and even peanut butter! And if you get the extra dry container you can also grind wheat, coffee, any other foods you might want to grind, and knead dough! I am so excited to start up our smoothie making this summer! In fact I'm going to head out to the store pretty soon here to get more fruits and veggies! Last night we made some strawberry frozen yogurt and it was wonderful! I can't wait to make more things with our newest addition to our appliances!!!

Lately

2008-05-14T23:07:00.001-08:00

Sorry it's been a while, not much has been happening lately. Right now W and I are staying up late so that he can work on the final draft of his thesis and so that I can bake him cookies. I'm baking chocolate chip cookies and I baked some chocolate chip brownies just before that. I think cookies and brownies can be quite helpful for keeping people awake, W thinks so too, he asked me to bake them. I will admit that I don't really enjoy baking cookies, but brownies are a different story! I love brownies!

I'm planning on taking our car to the mechanic tomorrow morning, the fuel pump isn't working. Hopefully our car will be repaired within a week. Sometime next week W and I plan on taking a trip out to California to pick up my remaining stuff from my parents. The things that I am most looking forward to picking up are a freezer, mechanical type writer, and my unicorn collection. Yes, I have a unicorn collection, I'll be the first to admit that it's kind of corny, but I can't help liking them, their cool. It will be fun to see my parents and sister and her family. I'm also hoping that W and I will get to visit with some of my aunts and uncles that live out there. We might even be able to go out camping, just the two of us, for a day or two. I'm looking forward to it and hope that everything goes well.

I've run out of stuff to write.

I graduated!

2008-04-29T19:16:00.000-08:00

It's been a long time coming, but I finally did it! I graduated from college!!! My parents and sister and her family came up for it and W and I had a great time visiting with them. One of the best moments was when all the potential graduates stood up and our respective degrees were conferred upon us!

I now have a bachelor's degree in anthropology and it doesn't feel very different, but I have gotten more recognition from people already. I don't know what it is about a silly degree that would cause people to respect you better, but they do. I think that reflects an interesting set of moral priorities in our culture, but I don't think I want to talk about that all right now.

I just thought I would type in an update. W and I are doing well and trying to adjust to my new found freedom. I hope everyone is doing well and has a good day!

Special Day!

2008-04-21T15:16:00.000-08:00

Today is, of course, a special day in our family! Those of you who know us know why. And, this is the last year when this day will fall during finals week, so this is the last time we'll spend it finishing term papers, studying for final exams, taking final exams, and crashing from the effort of finishing up a semester. At the moment, S is napping after doing most of the other activities I've just discussed, while I (W) take some long-missed time blogging.

We wish all who honor this day an enjoyable day and a memorable time commemorating the cherished occasion this day represents.

My First Snowman: A Promise is a Promise

2008-04-01T08:56:00.000-08:00

I remember nearly five years ago when I knew that I was going to be coming out here to go to school, my sister made me promise that I would make a snowman for her and take a picture of it. On Sunday we received what might be the last snow of the season, and thinking back on this promise I made, I decided that this would be the snow that I would use to make my first snowman and keep that promise to B. On Sunday I didn't, then Monday I didn't, so here we are Tuesday and I thought "This is probably going to be the last time that I will be able to make a snowman here while I'm a student" so I did it! Apparently old snow and late snow in the season is not very conducive to easy snowman making, but I was determined! And after my efforts I was able to make a snowman that stands somewhere between 2' and 3' high. I haven't forgotten the promise I made to my sister, so here are a few pictures of that snowman. Here you go B!

Future Plans?

2008-03-31T09:29:00.000-08:00

So yesterday I went VTeaching and we all talked about what our plans are, since most of the people in the ward are graduating this April. One family is going to grad school in Ohio, another is taking a job offer in Washington, and what are we doing? We have general plans, but no particulars as of yet. We've thought about staying here, or moving to Idaho, Western Montana, or Alaska. We hope to eventually experience living in Alaska, but we might not be able to do it right away since Alaska is pretty expensive.

After we went to that lecture by Barry Cunliffe W said to me "After hearing about how Dr. Cunliffe has been known to stand at the top of a metal platform to get a picture during a lightening storm, remained digging down in a burrow in pouring rain because it was the last day of the dig, and the other crazy things he's done I thought why wouldn't S want to go on and study in this field?" Then he went on to say that if I wanted to go to grad school he would fully support me in it. I told him that I don't want to go on to grad school right away because I have been in school since preschool and need a break. I was also concerned about our family plans and how grad school might affect our having children and W said that plenty of people have kids while they're in grad school - he didn't know how they did it - but he was sure that we could figure it out if grad school is something that I really want to do.

It was so wonderful to hear these things, I have felt so supported and free. I don't have to try to fit myself into a pre-made mold where I have to be a mom and my kids have to be the most important thing in my life. Don't get me wrong, I love kids, and want them someday, but I don't want them to be "my whole life" that title has already been given to W and he's the person that deserves to bear it. I certainly want kids to be a big and an important part of my life but I don't want to feel like I'm defined by them and by my role as a mother. I want myself to be defined by me and what I choose for myself. And I think that I would really enjoy going on in my field, to do that I need to learn a whole lot more Norwegian and German since those are the main languages that are used in the field I hope to go into. Because of this, the idea of staying somewhere here in the area is looking much more appealing. The Norwegian Instructor here would be happy to let me sit in on Norwegian 201 and 202 next year, and the library here has plenty of archaeology books in German and Norwegian, it also has a really good inter-library loan system. So as I consider what I want to accomplish in my future and what W and I want to accomplish in ours I think that staying in the area might just be the best option for the coming year.

I look forward to the time when he and I have definite plans, and I look forward to continuing my life with him after graduation, he's my best friend and I can't wait to spend more time with him!

A Silly Online Compatibility Test

2008-03-27T07:59:00.000-08:00

We passed!

W
&
S

83% Compatible

♥ W and S have been romantically-together for a long time. That alone demonstrates a degree of compatibility. The age difference may create some difficulties in terms of compatibility. However, their shared faith will help form a bond between them. They both abstain from drinking, so that helps compatibility. They are also both gamers. W may complain that S is too sloppy. Furthermore, their astrological signs are not in harmony. But their views on children are similar. The fact that both W and S are somewhat dominant reduces compatibility, as opposites in this area attract. Overall, W and S are quite compatible. There are a few rough spots, but nothing that cannot be overcome. ♥

The Dating Compatibility Test by Dating Diversions

I'm glad some javascript program on some far-flung server is content with our relationship. Now we know we can make it for the long haul!

Better yet, I'm glad we're all free agents, because that way we know we can have a happy, rewarding relationship anytime we both feel like it.

As for the Daily Attack, S is working on a take-home test for her computer programming class, and I have a docket full of similarly time-demanding things. I think we'll get to see each other again in April. It's always difficult when we both have major projects to work on, because neither of us ever wants to do things that separate us for more than a couple of hours at a time. And since we're both here in the same room in the same 550-sq-ft apartment, it's really tempting to take a lot of breaks to spend time together. That reduces our ability to work on the projects that need to get done. If we had a two-bedroom apartment and could use the second bedroom as an office, we'd probably get a lot more done between the two of us. We're just too much in love to be very productive otherwise!

And that makes me question the real value of productivity.

What's been happening lately . . .

2008-03-26T13:58:00.000-08:00

Well, we didn't actually watch the Passion on Friday night, we watched it on Sunday night instead. I am always so amazed at how that movie touches me. I think it's so cool that all of the people in the movie are catholic, it must have been such a faith building experience for each and every one of them. I am so grateful that Jesus Christ atoned for our sins.

On Saturday W and I walked to a few different stores in search of an Easter ham, you know the kind that actually is attached to a bone and is preferably spiral cut and comes with a little glaze packet. Well, the first store we went to only had ham sandwich meat, and the second store had different kinds of ham, but they were all boneless. I just couldn't bring myself to buying pressed ham for Easter, it would just be wrong. The second store we went to didn't even seem to have ever had the kind of ham that is traditional for Easter, instead they had a bunch of turkeys. Turkey is not for Easter, plain and simple. Either eat rabbit or ham, but turkey just shouldn't be an option.

Sunday was a good day, and we did buy a few slices of ham so that we could enjoy a little bit of ham for Easter.

W worked really hard on Monday and Tuesday to finish what we hope is his final draft of his thesis before his defense, and didn't get very much sleep. I got plenty of sleep but don't really remember much about what happened on Monday, so I'm afraid that I'll have to not really right about that. In fact, I have a midterm that I should be working on, so I should probably just end this post.

I just remembered on Monday W's sister A along with her kids E, S, and J stopped by on their way home. It was really fun to see them. They all seemed pretty tired but in good spirits. It's kind of sad when we get the chance to visit with family because once they are gone I realize more fully just how much I have missed them and how much it sucks to not see them so often. I really like A and her kids and hope to make more time to spend with them in the future, I'm sure W wouldn't mind that. ;)

Good Friday and Spring Shearing

2008-03-21T15:42:00.000-08:00

We wish you all a wonderful Good Friday! In a way, it's a special treat every year to be able to spend a whole day remembering the death of our Saviour for all our sins.

"We would to God that we could persuade all men to believe in Christ, and view his death, and suffer his cross." — Jacob 1:8

We are grateful today and all days for his sacrifice for us.

Also in the Pack news today, I shaved my mustache for spring (this is W writing, by the way). Now that the weather is starting to get warmer, I felt I could go without it. My lip is cold! Even as I sit here typing, the breeze from my nostrils as I exhale chills me!

This evening, S and I are planning to watch The Passion of the Christ. It's a yearly tradition for us.

Enjoy pondering our Lord's sacrifice for all mankind!

Free Time!

2008-03-20T18:24:00.000-08:00

So we finally did it! We have declared our temporal independence from the government and switched over to free time! Now the clocks in our home are all set to local mean time instead of the officially sanctioned government time for our area. The difference between our local mean time and government time is about an hour and a half: a pretty noticeable offset. But we just figure that all our appointments occur ninety minutes earlier than we used to think of them as occurring and it works out fine.

One of the best things about the switch was tonight at sunset. As you know, we're just about at the equinox, when the night is as long as the day all around the world. As you would expect, midday on the equinox would be six hours after sunrise and six hours before sunset for the twelve-hour day. And what do you know? At six o'clock tonight, the sun was setting! It felt so natural and wholesome.

Of course, local mean time isn't the same as real time. Real time varies over the course of the year. In some seasons, the days are more than 24 hours long while in other seasons they're less than 24 hours long. It's because the earth, like any satellite, doesn't orbit the sun at a constant speed. But at most, we're only 17 minutes off of real time at any given point of the year, which is a good sight better than an hour and a half off.

We decided to switch to local time when we both got kind of upset about the early onset of Daylight Saving Time this year. It just felt really wrong. I mean, here we are still in winter and the government is shoving us into a summer time schedule. So we decided to reject the oppression and forge into a new frontier! And it feels good.

If you want to switch to local mean time, too, it's pretty easy. The easiest way is to calculate the difference between your local mean time and Greenwich mean time, which is the local mean time at the prime meridian (longitude zero degrees).

To do that, first find your longitude. You could use a GPS device if you have one handy: that's what we did. An alternative would be to look up your hometown on Wikipedia. Say you live in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. Go to Wikipedia's page for that city and notice the page title with a horizontal line right under it. Under the horizontal line, you'll see on the left a statement like "From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia". On the right, you'll see the coordinates for the bustling metropolis of Punxsutawney (right over the photo of the Groundhog Day celebration in the case of this particular city). Notice that the longitude of Punxsutawney is listed as -78.975175 (you know that one's the longitude because longitude is parallel to the y-axis on a typical Mercator map, and the y-coordinate is always listed second).

Once you've got your longitude, divide it by 360 and multiply the quotient by 24. This gives you the difference, in hours, between Greenwich mean time and your own local mean time. So in the case of Punxsutawney, -78.975175 divided by 360 is -0.219375486111111. . . . Multiply that by 24, and you get -5.26501166666. . . hours (or -5 hours, 15 minutes, 54 seconds) off of Greenwich mean time for Punxsutawney mean time.

Now that you know the difference between Greenwich mean time and your own local mean time, all you need to do is set your clock that far off of Greenwich mean time. To do that, you need to know what Greenwich mean time is. Here is the website we used to find Greenwich mean time. You can also get it here or here. Now you just add the difference you found in the previous step to Greenwich mean time and you get the local mean time for your area. For Punxsutawney, then, you'd subtract 5 hours, 15 minutes, 54 seconds from Greenwich mean time and set your clock to that (remember that adding a negative number is the same as subtracting a positive number).

For the western hemisphere, I find it helps to set your clock right at noon. If I were in Punxsutawney, I'd go to my computer some time near midday and get to a website that told me Greenwich mean time. Meanwhile, I'd set my computer clock to noon even and wait before clicking 'Apply' or 'OK'. As soon as Greenwich mean time hit 5:15:54 pm, I'd click 'Apply' and set my computer's time to noon, exactly 5 hours, 15 minutes, and 54 seconds behind Greenwich mean time. Then I'd set a watch or small, portable clock to match my computer's time, and I would then take that watch to every clock in my house to set each one to Punxsutawney mean time.

Of course, you can also calculate local mean time yourself by observing the local real time. To do that, just find the time when the sun is highest in the sky (which you can do with a stick stuck straight into the ground and see when the shadow is shortest and/or when it points due north or due south) and then use the equation of time to calculate local mean time based on the observation.

If you decide to join us in using your own local mean time, then enjoy the free time!

Tuesday

2008-03-20T00:35:00.000-08:00

After class today W and I walked home had a little lunch and then went on a walk to the mall. It was a lovely walk. At the mall I had an Blackberry smoothie from Orange Julius (it was very yummy!) We shopped around and W bought me a new pair of nice shoes which I have included a picture of, I bought W a penny whistle from a music store at the mall, we also got some cheesy bacon popcorn from a store called Popcorn Poppin'. We looked at the game stores that we always like going to and we also visited the new Disney store in the mall. The Disney store was really fun especially because it has a glittery floor! While there we discovered that they were selling the movie "Enchanted," which W and I really enjoy so W kept talking about how we needed to get it and became sort of impatient with me because I was spending most of my time looking at the Disney princess stuff. So I gave in and we when to the counter to buy "Enchanted" only to discover that the store was only selling full screen copies, so W and I left the store somewhat saddened. Soon the thought came to us that they might have widescreen copies of "Enchanted" at Costco, which is very near the mall, so we headed over there and bought ourselves a copy of it. We made it back to the mall in time to catch the bus home. At home we had homemade macaroni and cheese and watched the movie "Enchanted," we also enjoyed some of the cheesy bacon popcorn while we watched. It was another good day in the life of the Packs. :)

St. Patrick's Day

2008-03-20T00:12:00.000-08:00

So apparently Monday was not really St. Patrick's Day because of holy week. W and I didn't really get that memo so we still celebrated it, green milk and all. I curled my hair for St. Patrick's Day and it turned out pretty good.

We went to a lecture given by Barry Cunliffe on the topic of the Celts. For those who don't know, Barry Cunliffe is a top European archaeologist, who specializes in the Celts. My textbook for European archaeology was written by him. Before W and I went to the lecture, I joked with W about bringing along my textbook to get it signed and W said that I should do it, so I did. After the lecture and the question and answer session I went up and my European archaeology professor introduced me and I got to talk with Dr. Cunliffe a little while he signed my textbook. It was awesome!!! What an amazing man!

After the lecture W and I went to Burger King for dinner and then went for a walk along the river. I never realized just how much there is to do in this city, and how many beautiful places there are. We really enjoyed our walk together. Once we got home I realized that I needed to turn in some library books, so W walked down to the library with me. Upon returning home W worked a little bit on his blog and I did some other things. Then we watched "The Quiet Man" together for St. Patrick's Day and enjoyed pistachio pudding and lime jello, foods that aren't very traditional but they were green so it was fun. Overall I had a fantastic St. Patrick's Day and a wonderful time with my husband!

A Hike, a Game, and a Movie

2008-03-16T15:20:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we walked up Rock Canyon a ways. There's a little hollow up there that, from the canyon floor, looks like a cave. In reality it's just a bit of hollowed out area that's been blackened by people's fires. Its elevation (thanks for the GPS, Dad H.!) is about 5400 feet, which is 700 feet above our home. It was fun for us to go up there, but we couldn't stay long — we got back just before it started snowing.

Then back at home we played a fun game: Yellowstone. Each player controls a herd of wildlife and guides it from its winter range at the start of spring to its summer range and then back to its winter range by the end of autumn. You have to avoid predators, natural hazards, and other worries while getting food and having offspring to increase your herd's size and strength. At the end, after winter starvation takes its toll, the herd with the most and best animals wins the game.

To round out the night, we watched an old John Wayne favorite: North to Alaska. It was S's first time seeing it, and she loved it. Plus she got to learn the source of a few of my favorite quotes! I fell asleep in the middle of it (around 1:00 am), but she pushed through to the end. It was fun to get to spend so much time together!