My, How Quickly Life Changes

Well, a lot has changed since Easter. In fact, Easter seems like a long time ago now. But before I just jump over Mother's Day, however, I do want to acknowledge my wonderful mother and mother-in-law. They both both treat me as their daughters and I'm grateful for their loving care and support. I hope to one day be a mother as wise and loving and caring as they are.

My father and father-in-law also both had significant birthdays in the last couples weeks as well. I love both of them too and I hope they both had wonderful birthdays.

One of the biggest changes for us in the last couple of weeks has been the fact that Jason quit his job and decided to go back to school. Although the actual day he quit surprised me, the fact that he quite did not surprise me at all. Jason is not a salesman and we both knew that he wouldn't be happy selling for very long. He hadn't been very happy for a while now with all the pressure, etc. so I'm glad it all came to a head a couple weeks ago and he was able to stop working at Qualtrics with just enough time to apply, get accepted, and register for classes at UVU for the summer term.

Jason's new career plan involves becoming an actuary, or someone who uses complex mathematical formulas to calculate risk for companies, such as life insurance, pension plans, business consulting, etc. Jason is actually really good at math, so we both wonder why he didn't take any math at BYU. Well, he actually took one stats class which he really enjoyed, but that's it. Since he doesn't have a college math background, he has some work ahead of him. He took a math placement test on Monday and tested into Calculus, so as soon as he can get in (probably in the Fall) he'll start taking some advanced math classes. In the meantime he's trying to get other educational experience needed to be an actuary, such as accounting, economics, finance, etc. To actually become an actuary you have to pass a series of tests. It will take somewhere between 1-2 years before he'll be prepared to take the first test, and as soon as he passes at least one test, he'll be pretty marketable to get a job. We're both excited to have this new plan and more direction for the future. Interestingly enough, a lot of the jobs for actuaries are on the east coast, so we may find ourselves living out there in a few years.

What we're both excited for though, is a vacation! We're looking forward to our upcoming trip to New York to visit Jason's brother and his family as well as my sister and her family. We're glad we timed it just right though, because my sister's husband Neal just got accepted to teach at BYU-I and so they're moving to Idaho in a few months. We're really excited for their good news and are very happy to have them closer to the rest of the family.

Happy Easter!

I really love Easter time. Being a "grown-up" and not having children makes it a different type of holiday than the way that most people celebrate it, but I still love it. I think the best way Jason and I celebrated Easter this year was by going to the Carl Bloch art exhibit at BYU. Tickets have long been sold out. We tried to go stand-by with Jason's parents, but the line was nearly out the door. Fortunately, some kind people noticed our plight and offered to give us some of their extra tickets so we could get in. It was a really nice exhibit focused on the life of Christ. I checked out an ipad to get the full exhibit tour and enjoyed learning much more about each of the six large altar pieces that hung in the galleries. I liked each piece more the more I learned about it. Carl Bloch was a very talented and insightful man. I'm so glad we got to see the exhibit before it closed and I'm grateful for a chance to study the life of Christ from another perspective.

For Easter I bought a new pair of Sunday shoes. I feel like I don't buy new shoes very often, so this was a treat. It's fun to have something new to wear!

My interesting experience of the week involves driving. On Wed., as I exited the carpool lane freeway exit and came up over the hill, I discovered too late that all the cars on the other side were stopped. I slammed on my brakes, but not soon enough to prevent me from hitting the car in front of me. I've never hit another car before, so I think I was startled and I a little numb. The car in front of me pulled off to the side of the road and I pulled behind him. A man in his late 20's got out of the car, briefly looked at the back of his car, glanced at the front of my car, and then waved me off saying, "You're good." I said, "Are you sure?" "Yeah," he said as he got back in his car and drove off. I was pretty stunned. I pulled back into traffic and drove the remaining seven blocks to work. As soon as I parked I looked at the front of my car: only my license plate was a little bent around the edges. Other than that, I couldn't see any other evidence of hitting another car. I was a little rattled at work for the next hour or so, but I couldn't help feeling so blessed! It could have been so much worse.

Visiting Grandpa B

Grandma June has been in the hospital this last week with pneumonia so we went to keep Grandpa B. company on Sunday with Jason's parents. We had a great time singing around the player piano--well I mostly watched because I didn't know the songs from the 30's, 40's, and 50's.

I'd never seen a player piano up close before, but they are pretty cool! The last song we played was "Some Enchanted Evening" and that song has been played so many times, it was plain worn out. I think we heard it's last performance.

During our visit, Grandpa B's neighbor brought him a hot dinner of pot roast and mashed potatoes. Grandpa B had just eaten not too long before so he offered it to us. We sampled the food and it was delicious! Neighbors are so great!

Road Shows!

Our road show turned out awesome! Thank you to those of you who came, and to those of you who couldn't, I'm sorry you missed out. :)

We performed three times last weekend at the Stake Center and our ward building. After three short weeks of practicing and two rocky dress rehearsals, our youth and stage crew pulled out an amazing performance of "Potter War," our 17 min. play on a spoof of Hogwarts School of Wizardry starring Napolean Dragomite as a new student.

We started with a puppet show, complete with puppet theater, and showcased four 30-sec. dances including: Popular, from Wicked; Teach Me How to Jimmer, from youtube; Get Your Head in the Game, from High School Musical; and Dynamite, from the radio. :)

I choreographed the basketball dance staring Ron Weasley and his group. They never got it quite right with the basketballs until they performed it, and then they did an awesome job.

Our scenery, costumes, and props were all fabulous, and we won a very deserving award for the best acting. I've listened to the script so many times I practically have it all memorized, and there were so many great one-liners that I'm sure the youth with be quoting it for some time to come. Although I was called as a co-director, the credit really goes to many, many ward members who helped with building and painting scenery, creating props, and coaching the leads in their acting. Hopefully I learned a few tricks along the way in case I ever get asked to do one of these again--although I'd be even more happy to support them from the audience!

Jason's Survey Project for Work

For my job at Qualtrics, I created a survey using the tool our company sells. I need to present an analysis of the results, however, I need more responses in order to do this. So, if you're not in our family (I already e-mailed them the link), please take this survey about jobs and priorities. It is taking most respondents 10-15 minutes.

Click here to take a survey.

Thank you for your help.

-Jason

An Interesting Sunday

I think I'm coming down with Spring Fever. I have all the symptoms: wishing for sunny, warm weather, wanting to be outside more, getting tired of the daily work routine, and a seeming need to get away for a vacation. Maybe I just need a good General Conference to lighten my load since I won't get any vacation until the end of May. I really do look forward to Conference weekend, and this weekend is no exception.

My last couple of weeks have been filled with Road show. I really enjoy the co-director I work with and most of the youth are really great. We had our first two practices this week--two hours on Tuesday and 3 hours on Saturday, with smaller group practices inbetween. It's coming together but we still have quite a ways to go.

Today was kind of an unusual Sunday. First, I was asked to teach Singing Time in Primary. I haven't been in a real Primary since I was in Primary as a child. The normal chorister had lots of great props and suggestions which made preparing very easy. The children and the pianist were great helpers and singers. Unfortunately, my pictures and words got mixed up for a new (and unfamiliar to me) song that I was teaching them. I got a little flustered, but things worked out okay in the end.

Second, when I got Sunday School I realized that I had forgotten my scriptures at home. I seriously can't remember the last time I forgot to bring my scriptures to church, but it's been well over ten years for sure. I had a hard time concentrating since I was reliving my Singing Time experience in my head, and not having scriptures to follow along didn't help.

Finally, when I got to Sacrament Meeting, the scheduled pianist wasn't there and the Sacrament Meeting chorister kindly passed the word on to the frazzled bishopric member that I played the piano. He came right up to me and asked if I would play, which I did. I asked to change the Sacrament hymn to No. 169, but I left the others as they were (No. 19, 21). I did fine on the first two, but had to sight read a little more on the third one that I wasn't as familiar with. Overall it went fine, just an unexpected ending to an interesting day. Our landlord commented to Jason afterward, "I didn't know your wife had this hidden talent. Where does she practice?" He answered, "That's the amazing thing, she doesn't." Now I definitely think I get a lot of help when I play in church, and I hope that the "not practicing" part isn't permanent. I really miss playing the piano and wish I could have one. It's such a relaxing and satisfying thing to do.

March Madness

March has been a little crazy for a number of reasons, only one of which involves basketball. Speaking of basketball though, I really do look forward to watching the NCAA basketball games. We listened to the game against New Mexico on the radio on Friday and watched the game against San Diego State on Saturday. They are so fun, even more fun to watch than the NBA games for sure. I just hope that BYU does well this year after having such an awesome season. It's times like these that I really wish we had a working TV with cable so we could get the games. Oh well, I'm pretty sure our family is just glad we have another reason to visit them.

Last Friday we went to a U of U gymnastics meet with the YM and YW in our ward. I thought it was fun to watch, but I don't think Jason is a big gymnastics fan, although he is a good trooper. :)

Last Saturday we both went to the temple in the afternoon and then had dinner at my friend Marilee's. She and her husband have a nice home in Lehi. We enjoyed a yummy dinner and played a farming game. Jason and I had such back luck in that game that we decided never to become farmers. :)

Last Sunday Jason's parents came over for dinner. We had a really nice visit and a very yummy dinner. We grateful for all the friends and family that share such good food with us.

The good news of this week is that I got my computer back and the internet is finally working!!! I took it to the Apple store at the Gateway as a last resort. They diagnosed it in 15 minutes, ordered all the parts and fixed it over the weekend for free since it had already been "repaired" before at another Apple repair store. Hooray! I'm still waiting for a new battery to be shipped here since my other one died in the middle of all this computer drama, but that should be here any day. Thanks Ebay, for saving me $65 on a new battery! It is so nice to get the internet on my computer again!