Happy Spring or Merry Christmas

Yes, this is good old Arizona. You would think we were in Wyoming on the 23rd of May. Yesterday morning we woke up to a little skiff of snow and it rained and spit snow all day long. Last night it started sticking and this morning we woke up to at least 4 inches of snow (according to dad, anyway). Just thought you aould enjoy seeing pics from home. (by the way - aren't you impressed with my knowledge of technology - you know, taking a picture with my phone camera and posting it on the blog. I amaze myself!)

P.S. Just an update on gramps. He had to stay overnight at the hospital, and got home Tuesday afternoon. He is doing o.k. but still feeling kinda yucky. If you get a chance, give him a call, it will make his day. Love ya all and be good!

Sorry

I think I've figured out why Dad hasn't posted anything on the blog, it's kinda tough to use sometimes. I meant to leave a little post under the last title, but I goofed up. I just wanted to say Happy Birthday to Dad. I've tried to call him today at work and home, but I guess he's become a pathological call screener. I wasn't even going to tease him. All I wanted to say was we were thinking of you and we love you. He probably thought I was going to make some snide comment about how old he is, or he might have thought I was going to ask him some of those funny remember when questions like; Remember when you didn't have indoor plumbing, or remember when you used to walk to school barefooted in the snow, or remember your old buddy Muthusela, how is he doing? I really wasn't going to do anything like that. He hasn't realized that I have blossomed into a mature responsible adult. Oh well, I guess it's his loss. Anyways, Dad we do miss you and hope you had a great day. I don't know if you ever get on here and see what everyone has to say, but if you do, know that we love you and we couldn't have been blessed with a better father.

Jas

Happy Birthday DAD!

NEVER BUY A VOLKSWAGEN!!!!

So we all know how much I love my car..well, I love it even less after today. I left school today in the 107 degree weather and got in my car to go and I could not get it into gear!!! I have to put the brake on to get it into gear, and for some reason it was not registering that the brake was on. So i sat there pumping the brake for awhile (in the meantime I was rolling up my pants and stripping off my shirt cuz it was SO HOT. Luckily, my undershirt was sleeved, so I was not immodest mom, don't worry), anyway, after about half an hour I decided to try calling a volkswagen dealership (thank goodness for google text). Although at first the guy told me that the method of getting it into gear was 'too complicated' to explain over the phone (he may as well have said he couldn't explain such things to a woman), I finally got him to realize that unless someone could explain it to me, I would never be able to get it in to get fixed. So he told me the method, which was not as complicated as he had made it sound (shocker), and I went on my merry little way to the salvage yard where I got the alternator for my car that is now sitting in my closet.

I would like to take a moment for any of you who still may ever have the slightest desire to buy a volkswagen, and tell you what has happened to that car since I have been its owner. When I got it in May the cruise control worked sporadically. By August, when I made my first long trip to Utah, it no longer worked. It was fine, nothing big all the way until last year. The lights on the radio stopped working. Then one day I was driving down the freeway, every possible light that could flash at me started flashing and my car started losing speed. This turned out the be the timing belt, which resulted in a new engine. At this point, the odometer read 92,000 miles. $4,000 later, the engine was fixed. 3 days after getting it back, the driver's side window fell into the door. Calvin fixed that in Round Valley for $20 by putting a board under it to hold it up. It no longer rolls down. I came back to the valley of the sun, and 2 days later the passenger side does the exact same thing. Back to Calvin, now both front windows don't work. About 6 months ago, the car didn't start and since I was told it was the alternator, I got a new one. It turned out to be the battery, the salvage yard wouldn't take the alternator I got back, and so now I have an extra one. Today, this happened. If you need more reasons not to buy a volkswagen, please speak to Jason.

I do have to say that even though this happened on the first day of a two day heat advisory, I am pretty lucky. It happened AFTER I got out of class on a test day. Imagine if I had missed my test! I didn't have anywhere else I HAD to be, so I could spare the 2 hours it took to finally get it to the repair shop. I have an online class for school tomorrow, so we are not required to go to the school. Jason knew what was wrong with it, and probably saved me from excessive tears worrying that my brakes were out or something. Mom calmed me down and said a prayer for me (for the record, I had said a couple) and shortly after that I was driving. Her prayers must have higher priority than mine. It happened when Jacob was back, so I had someone to come pick me up. And he went above an beyond by bringing me some of a quesadilla and a dr. pepper from Cafe Rio, since he was there eating with his sister when I called. He said he knew I would probably be hungry. What a great guy. So thanks to mom, jason, and jacob. And to everyone else, don't buy a volkswagen!!!! (Sorry Justin, but this really required exclamation points.)

Change in Plans

Sam and I are moving our wedding day. Just wanted to let you all know the definite plans. We are only moving it one day, so hopefully it won't cause any major problems! We are still getting married in Mt. Timpanogas, and it will be on the 19th (Saturday) instead of Friday. The blessed event will take place at 2:00.

A Little Bit of News

Just thought I would let everyone know the latest news (other than Sam & Heather's engagement). Brooke & Brad are expecting a baby around the middle of November, and Waylon & Chelsey are expecting around the middle of December. Lots of little 2nd cousins will be running around by next year. It's awesome. Also, Grandma just told me thins morning that Gramps is having bladder surgery on Monday -- she didn't know what time as of yet. Please remember him in your prayers. Thanks to each of you for your lovely Mother's Day gifts. You are wonderful children. You must follow after your father! Love ya all and BE GOOD!

I'm Engaged!

Surprise! I am getting married. Sam gave me the ring yesterday, as a Mother's Day gift. (He actually gave it to me the other day, but it had to be sized.) This is the real deal. I'm not used to this much bling yet and often find myself mesmerized by the sparkly rocks on my hand. It's beautiful. He knows how to pick diamonds (and women). The date is set for Friday, July 18th at 3:00 p.m. at the Mt. Timp temple. Truthfully, it's still sinking in. We are super excited and can't wait to see you all!

Change of Plans

Well, I think I'll start by apologizing to Jas and Heidi. I would often shake my head with how often you seemed to change your minds or wanted to change your minds. I have flirted with a few different ideas all along, but always convinced myself that I would just stay the course and finish what I started. I have come to grips with not getting in to vet school and with not finding a very good and enticing job in Fort Collins for a year. I'm sure people would love to hire me, they just don't know how they would go on living without me after one short year. Anyway, Sherrie has good insurance, we've almost met our yearly deductible, and I have a lot of horses to shoe here. These are all good reasons to stay, but I went and talked to a professor and he told me to get into a Master's program and re-evaluate after two years. At USU there are graduate programs called Departmental Assistantships, which means basically that they give you free tuition and a $1000-$1500 monthly pay for being TA or working in one of their labs. He told me that the positions are probably already filled, but even if they were that He would pay me instead. He said he has lots of money for his lab and would love to have me. So I talked to the Department Head and he said that there are actually 2 positions still open. Either way, my school would be paid for and I would have some money on top of that, plus all of the horses I still have to shoe. He said that the last guy to leave his lab with his PhD is making around $200,000 working with a company that does genetic engineered embryo transfers. Not bad eh? So if you are all making fun of us then feel free. We still think this is the best thing. There is a song that says something like, "If you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans." This probably wont be our first change of plans either, but at least it's a start. 

The end is in SIGHT!

So, I am almost officially done with my first year of college! Doesn't that make all of you feel extremely old?? =) Ha just kidding. I am just waiting to walk up to campus ( uphill in the snow, I might add) to take my last final. Yesterday I had two killers right in a row, Chemistry and then Nutrition. I did well on the Nutrition one, but chem was pretty bad. It was 15 pages of hell! I thought my little brain was going to explode from all of the stress I have been putting it through. Luckily for me, it held strong. Now all I have is my math final which could be interesting. I have already had this level of math, but for the life of me I can't seem to remember anything that good ol' Mr. Fritz taught me except for maybe the 2 prong fork lesson, and a few others. Isn't that so sad? So wish me luck, even though by the time that you all read this my final will probably be over and done with, and I will already be joyously celebrating my release from academic responsibility (even if it's only for 3 months) . I hope you are all doing well, and that you all miss me terribly......Toodles for now!