Wish Me Well

Because of the way my semesters are structured, I'm only in two classes at any given time and have finals every 5 or 10 weeks. For the next week, however, I have take home finals in both of my classes (Financial Management and Data Analysis/Statistics). I have a love/hate relationship with take home finals, but mostly a hate relationship, as they are always far more difficult than any exam in class would be. The students last year spent about 20 hours on the Financial Management final - ouch. Where on earth am I going to find 20 hours, especially over an inventory weekend?

I need to get a B- in both classes to not have to retake - wish me well. I really don't want to redo these ones.

Laurel Reunion

I grew up in a fabulous ward. We moved in when I was five and for the most part of the past twenty years I've lived there. I know everyone, and they know me. I know everyone's kids, and their careers. And I grew up with an absolutely fabulous group of girls - I feel lucky to have such happy memories with the girls that I spent all those years with.

Sometime last year I realized that it had been a number of years since I've had any contact with some of them - as long as 5-7 years for a few. Because becoming fixated on things is something I excel at, I got the idea to put together a reunion with the girls and wouldn't let it rest. I did wait some months to take it up (poor TJ has been begging in his prayers for me not to take up any new stressful things...) but I finally started what ended up being a six-week adventure to make contact with 28 girls that were within 4 years of my age. Two days before the reunion was scheduled, I did it.

Turns out I belong to a mighty impressive group of girls. I put together a silly little "Guess Who?" game for everyone to do while chatting. We live across the nation, from New York to Oregon, doing everything from running spas to facilitating adoptions. We have an event planner and an insurance agent, a prosthetic rep and a business owner. A number of us are college graduates, from colleges around the state, including USU, UVU, the U of U, BYU and CEU. One of us is in Pharmacy school, another is a tree farmer's wife. The group has seen many countries around the world, from China and Mexico to Italy and Spain. A number are married, and several have children. Many are single, and some are dating. We have four girls that have gone through divorces, one who's had a daughter pass away, and a few who struggle with infertility. Each has gone their own way - all have their own success and triumphs, as well as their struggles and failures. But I feel confident saying that each of us appreciates the strong roots that we have, and in every instance that I'm aware of, we have all stayed strong with our testimonies and our faith - and there is not a feeling in the world that compares to that.

Evie and Grady

This is maybe like stalking, but we couldn't help but grab some pictures of Evie and Grady as they played in the snow a couple weeks ago. It was one of the surprise storms, where we'd had sun for 4-5 days and then we got slammed with snow and they were so excited they went to play in it in their pajamas - the snow was sticking to their pants and everything, but they were having a grand time. They made snow angels, jumped on the tramp, rolled onthe ground, and carried this enormous tree together to the trampoline.


We took pictures so that in 10 years when we tell them about the things they did, they'll believe us. :)

Date #7: Adobo's

Jenni's dad is from Puerto Rico, so she has a special love for island food. :) She found this great spot (Adobos) that we did a triple date to. It was great! The food was wonderful and the company was fantastic. So glad we went.


Mike and Megan (with her adorable hair cut):



Mike and Jenni:


TJ and me (hope you can see us in there):


TJ and I arrived first and had abuelo come talk to us. We asked him what was good and, like any good restaurant owner, he told us anything. :) It was a family-run restaurant, which TJ especially loved. We had a great time.

St. Patrick's Day

This is how we celebrated - pancakes and eggs. :) I tried to make them festive. TJ was very nice about saying how wonderful they are.


Please don't let the eggs gross you out - I wanted to put them in a lucky shape. :)

LUCKY US!

Austin's Game

Sadly, we only made it to one of Austin's indoor games, but I'm glad we went.


At one point when they were down and things were looking grim, they put Austin and his friend Ethan in - I smiled at TJ and said "They're putting in the big guns." They did great together.


Here's the whole gang - a good looking group, no?

Olive Garden

After a movie at the District, the Petersons and the chidwinks let us join them for dinner at the Olive Garden.

I love these kids - all of those grins are downright genuine. I'm so glad we went - life is so much happier with family around.

Baby John

Have to post this picture of baby John - look at those cheeks.

I miss you, Em - thinking of you, especially with Easter.

Merry Christmas

My parents got us an incredible freezer for Christmas - perfect present. After way too long (sorry, Mom), TJ borrowed his dad's truck for us to take it home.


I asked Parker to pick it up for us - he really was trying.

Blasted Weight

Because of a medication that I have to take each day, I've gained 30 pounds in the past two years. That's a lot of weight. I haven't changed my diet and I exercise way more now than before, but it just keeps going up. It's very frustrating, especially because, in many ways, I feel like it's out of my control.

Help Wanted

Wanted: happy people that can help us put our yard in

When: soon

How Long: longer than we care to admit - likely an entire Saturday, at least

Why: because we'd really like a yard, but we confess we can't do it on our own