Our Little Getaway

This morning Jason tried to finish some of his school projects and I got my grades mostly taken care of for the semester. That afternoon we packed up and drove to Logan. Jason’s dad had an extra night’s hotel stay at a Holiday Inn that was about to expire, so we ended up taking it so we could see Doug and Tracy Smith sealed in the Logan temple. We made it to the Hotel at about 5:30pm and then went out to eat at Chilie’s Restaurant. We did a little Christmas shopping at the nearby stores and then went back to our hotel and watched a movie called Amazing Grace about the end of the slave trade in England. It was a really inspiring movie and Jason especially liked it.

The next day we ate a yummy continental breakfast and then headed over to the Logan Temple for the 10:00 session where Doug and Tracy received their endowments. Tracy’s grandparents, sister, and aunt were there, as well as Kathie, Dennis, and Marilee. Right after the session they ushered us into a sealing room for their sealing and then brought in their three daughters to be sealed to them. The spirit was so strong in the sealing room and it was a neat experience to be there for that. After the sealing we all went down to the cafeteria for lunch and then took a few pictures afterwards. It was at least 2:00 by the time we left and the snow had just started coming down. It snowed most of the way home to Provo that afternoon, but fortunately it didn’t get too slippery or dangerous.

Dec. 20, 2009

Hooray, I’m done with the semester!! (minus submitting grades) This has seemed like a loooooong week in some ways. I can’t really complain though because I only had one final and one project and Jason had four finals and three projects. After working on mine most of the week, I turned in all of my class work Thursday at 10:00pm and most the rest of my work stuff on Saturday. Jason spent all week on his and took his last and hardest final the last day he could at 9:00pm. He still has one small project and one big project left to finish up, but essentially we’ll officially started Christmas break.

During the last week we did fit in a few other things

1. Made the yummiest and most amazing cinnamon rolls ever
2. Delivered the yummiest and most amazing cinnamon rolls to several families in the ward
3. Went caroling at an assisted living center in Orem
4. Decorated a few cookies at a friend’s house
5. Attended the sealing and wedding luncheon of Jason's cousin
   
6. Watched my parents sing in the Elijah Choir and then walked around afterwards to see the lights

Church Talks

Jason and I were assigned to be the speakers for our Christmas program today. We found out a couple of weeks ago and have been studying more about the life of Jesus Christ. It’s been really nice to have more of a motivation to focus on Christ during this season. Jason and I were up late last night sharing our talks with each other and finalizing our thoughts and ideas. This morning Jason woke up early for his meetings, but I did not wake up that early. I actually tried a few times, but I was light-headed and dizzy when I got out of bed. I even showered to try and shake it off, but with no luck. I did not feel well enough to finish getting ready for church let alone stand up and give a talk in sacrament meeting. I called Jason to let him know an hour before church started. He finished his meetings a little early and then asked someone to give him a ride to our apartments so he could give me a blessing. He was only home for 20 min. before he had to leave again for sacrament meeting. When he went to leave however, he discovered another couple from our ward that had slid down the ramp into the lower parking garage and into the closest parked car. Because of the thick slush and snow, they couldn’t back up their big Expedition up the ramp and it was completely blocking the ramp so many other couples couldn’t leave to go to church either. Realizing that he needed to get back to church before the Bishop lost both of his speakers for the day, Jason was able to find a couple from our ward leaving for church that had parked on the upper parking tier and caught a ride arriving just before the congregation sang the opening hymn. What a crazy day for Jason! Fortunately I was able to sleep off the dizziness and unsettled stomach and felt much better this afternoon.

Job Interviews

I spent Monday and Tuesday trying to do my best to finish up a prototype of my master’s project simulation to present it at our department seminar Wednesday afternoon. I was one of six presenters and had about ten minutes to explain my project to the attending faculty and other graduate students in the department. I invited Jason to come as well and he really liked the presentation. In fact he kept telling me all day that my presentation was the best one, but I think he may be just a little biased. J I did receive a lot of compliments and positive feedback on my project after the seminar, which helped make the time I’ve spent on it worth it.

Thursday I had two job interviews for instructional design positions. I decided a few weeks ago that I wouldn’t mind getting a little more formal instructional design experience before I graduate. Two interesting job postings floated through my email and I updated my resume and applied to both of them. Both positions found me worth at least interviewing and both jobs scheduled the interview for the same day. The 9:00 interview was with an e-learning corporate company called K12 Inc. located here in Provo. This company puts together curriculum packages primarily for students who are home schooled and for virtual charter schools. Their headquarters are located in Virginia, but they have a small office extension here in Provo. The position is full-time and would start in January. The interview was an hour long and pretty exhausting. I interviewed with one of their directors that had flown in from Virginia to do the interviewing. We talked for about half an hour and then he introduced me to two instructional designers in their Provo office and I talked with them as well. I think I was more excited about the job before the job interview than afterwards. It would be a good job and good experience, but I don’t know if I’m ready for a full time position on top of working to finish my project this coming semester. Depending on how things go, I may have an additional phone interview from instructional designers in Virginia. We’ll see.

The 3:00 job interview was for a part-time job for the Training Office at Student Academic and Advisement Services at BYU. This job would entail helping to develop training materials for this department. I felt a little better about this job interview even though they grilled me just as much as the other company. They said they would let me know by the end of the week whether or not they would offer me the job.

Well, in the middle of all these stressful job interviews Jason and I discovered our heater was broken and our apartment stayed at a chilly 55 degrees. Jason went into the apartment office in the morning, but they didn’t come to look at it until after 4:30 and because they said it would take a long time to replace it, they brought us a couple of space heaters for the night. The whole heater ordeal was kind of stressful and cold, but now that they have installed a brand new heater unit, I think it was worth it. This new heater actually has a thermometer on it that automatically turns itself on and off according to a set temperature –what a novel idea. Anyway, that means that it has been MUCH warmer when we wake up in the mornings and come home after a long day at school.

Crandall's Printing Press

Monday night I went with Jason on a class fieldtrip to the Crandall Printing Museum here in Provo. It was really fascinating albeit a little long. We had three very seasoned gentlemen tell us about the history of printing for two hours starting with the invention of the printing press by Johann Guttenberg around 1450 making it possible for the first bibles to be printed and distributed much more quickly than by hand copying it. I thought it was pretty cool how detailed they explained and demonstrated the process of creating and casting the molds for the individual letters of the alphabet. They explained the updates in printing presses through the years and explained the major role that the printing press played in the publishing of the Bible, “The Crisis” by Thomas Paine, The Declaration of Independence, The Book of Mormon, the updated versions of the scriptures, and the Deseret News. I learned a lot about printing, a little more about history, and gained a better appreciation for the Lord’s hand in bringing forth the scriptures and furthering His work.

Where is November going?

I'm going to attempt to make an uneventful week appear exciting. Let's see how I do.

Today we had our ward's primary program in sacrament meeting. Fortunately, as the Primary President, I wasn't in charge of it. Our primary consists of 6 children under three-years-old and we're happy if they can say "Jesus," "Joseph Smith," and “prayer.” So needless to say our primary didn't actually do anything for the primary program. The ward music chairman organized it all. It included six 2 1/2 min. talks and six musical numbers from the Children's Songbook. My only part in it included accompanying one of the couples that sang "A Child's Prayer." It turned out really well and was a nice change of pace.

Jason and I also had tithing settlement. What it really turned out to be was a chance for our Bishop to tell me how wonderful my husband is and how much he appreciates having him serve as the ward clerk. I already knew this of course, and just nodded my head and smiled while Jason sat beside me blushing. (Jason's accuracy would make me delete the part about him blushing, but it just makes the story sound better. ☺) I think he said a few nice things about me too. ☺

Friday night and Saturday morning Jason spent about nine hours taking four Korean tests for the Defense Language Institute (Military branch of language studies). They paid him to take the tests so they could "test out the test." We both thought he would enjoy doing it, but unfortunately each of the tests consisted of 58 problems of reading a passage anywhere from a paragraph to a page of Korean text and then only ONE corresponding question. Jason said he could only do about the first 14 problems and the rest were too hard for him. Not surprisingly however, he spent the rest of the allotment of time trying to read and understand the other 44 problems. It turned out to be a very frustrating and not fun experience.

To make up for it, Jason volunteered at the MTC, we watched most of the BYU v. New Mexico game, and that night we watched the movie Cheaper by the Dozen 2. It was a fun, silly movie and I think Jason laughed more than I did.

This week I also started Christmas shopping a little. This might be the earliest I've ever started Christmas shopping. I'm sure it was only by accident though because I went the mall for one thing and found a really great sale at JC Penny. Jason wasn't with me and he really doesn't like shopping, so instead of dragging him to the mall, I brought the mall to him. I just bought several things that I thought he would like so he could try it on at home. In the end we both were happy because Jason actually liked the stuff I brought home and he didn't have to make a trip to the mall. I think that by itself is like a Christmas gift to him. (Okay, so I may be exaggerating a little. ☺ )

October Ends

This is going to be short, but I just wanted to mention a few highlights from last week. Jason spent a lot of week trying to finish an ORCA grant proposal. It took him a lot longer than he thought, but he got it in by the deadline. Unfortunately that meant that he read several hundred pages of a book on Sat. and Mon. so he could take a test. Fortunately, he did really well on his test.

My sister Kristilyn had a birthday and we celebrated on Saturday by shopping at the mall. I haven't been to a mall in several months, so it was kind of fun to go with my sister. I'm not a big shopper myself, but Jason really, really dislikes it, so someone has to go. :) He was especially glad that I went shopping with my sister so that he didn't have to go. :) After several hours, we found a lot of good stuff for her, but I was enjoying her company so much that I didn't find anything to buy for myself. It was a nice break for both of us. I really enjoy talking to Kristilyn. She introduced me to California Pizza Kitchen which was really, really yummy. I hope to go back again sometime.