Reflections From a Talk Given at Church

Two weeks ago Heather and I spent the weekend watching the semi-annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It was a wonderful opportunity to hear from the leaders of our church.

One week ago the speakers in our ward/congregation were asked to talk about their favorite talks/lessons from the conference.  The last speaker spoke about a lot of different things he had learned from conference and then he extended a challenge to the congregation.  His challenge was to help make women more visible in the church.  With this challenge he gave us several examples of things we could do to increase the visibility of women in the church.  One of his recommendations was to study the words of and quote more frequently female church leaders.

This idea really stuck with me.  The visibility of the women in the church is kind of a hot topic in our ward - or perhaps a sensitive topic - so it has been on my mind for some time.  I decided to take time this past week to listen to all of the sermons given by women at General Conference and take some time to ponder them, including the ones given in the special women's session.  It was such an edifying experience!  In the past I have generally read conference talks in the order they were given and since there are so few women leaders their talks are never juxtaposed.  Studying them all together it was easy to see that they do a much better job of focusing on the family than many of the men do.  I think that is great because the church handbook tells us that one of the basic purposes of the church is to support and strengthen the family.

Not only did they do a fantastic job of focusing on family but they were all very careful to talk about non-traditional families.  In our ward we have several single sisters, a number of divorcees, and a few families where children are being raised by relatives because of problems the parents have had.  I think most wards in the church have a share of non-traditional families and the percentage is growing.  That makes it more important than ever for leaders to understand that simply reading from The Family: A Proclamation to the World is edifying but it is not enough.  The Family: A Proclamation to the World presents an ideal that we hope for but we have to be prepared for the curve-balls that life throws.  I have been blessed to be raised in a family, and now have my own family, that pretty well fits into the ideal presented by The Family: A Proclamation to the World.  That makes it imperative for me to be sensitive to the needs and trials of people who haven't been so lucky.  

Speaking of ideals; there are a lot of ideals presented to us in church.  I think a lot of us carry around an "image" in our head of what the ideal Latter-day Saint is like.  The good thing about having that kind of image is that it helps us to keep our eye focused on the goal of improving ourselves day-by-day.  The bad thing about having that ideal is that we can become depressed by how short we fall in trying to achieve it.  I know a number of people who have stopped trying because of this depression.  I think the only solution to this is to follow the example provided by the people in Sister Rosemary Wixom's talk <https://www.lds.org/general-conference/2015/04/returning-to-faith?lang=eng> from this past General Conference.  The woman in her talk is not struggling with self-doubt but doubts she has about the church, either way I think that how she works through it, and how the people around her help her work through it, is worthy of emulation when we face discouragement or depression while living the gospel.

Nesting Habits

The past couple weeks Heather has been really excited about getting our house/lives ready for the baby.  She keeps reminding me that she is getting into her third trimester and if the baby comes early we need to be ready.  Thankfully we have gotten some help from friends and family with toys, clothes, and blankets.  (A special shoutout to Heather's older sister Sandy who gave us a stroller, carseat, and a bunch of other stuff.)  We have been working on cleaning up our second bedroom so it can function as a bedroom instead of a storage room.  We repurposed our tiny entertainment center as a toy box and bought a cheap dresser form a local thrift store (hooray PTA!) to store his clothes and blankets.

All of this work catalyzed Heather's first impulse buy for our son.  She was walking through the store yesterday and found what she called "the most adorable piggy bank."  She had to have it.  Mommy hormones raging she didn't think twice about putting it in the cart.  Granted it is a pretty awesome piggy bank.

Toothless, the guardian of our son's financial future!
(For you uncultured types out there Toothless is the main dragon from the animated movie
"How to Train Your Dragon.")

Seriously, what better piggy bank than a dragon?  Dragon's love treasure.  Who has ever heard of a pig being big on money or treasure?  Dragon's love to sleep inside beds of gold coins.  Pigs though?

Pumpkins!

Happy Halloween!  Heather and I have decided to start a tradition of doing neat pumpkins.  "Neat" being something besides that standard toothy smile and two eyes.  Heather really wanted to try to do Smaug/the Lonely Mountain this year so I decided to do a Middle Earth theme as well.  Unfortunately we are pretty sure that lighted pumpkins are against our neighborhood's rules because ours were the only ones out tonight... We lit ours long enough to take pictures and show the kids next door.

Heather's rendition of the Lonely Mountain!

 

My version of a balrog,

Heather did two sides of her pumpkin.  The second was a home from the Shire but she wasn't as pleased with it.

It's a Boy!

First things first, yes, Heather is pregnant with a baby boy!  She is 20 weeks along and we are super excited.  We just found out the gender this past week.  It was a fun ultrasound, our son was curled into a ball and would not straighten out so the tech could measure his length.  She even tried poking Heather's belly and rubbing vigorously with the ultrasound receiver/emitter (whatever its called).  He was unmoved. They were able to estimate his weight and I'm proud to say that he is exactly average!  I know with our genes there isn't much chance of that continuing throughout his life but I can hope.

Heather is still working in Raleigh as an RD at a retirement community/nursing home.  She enjoys getting to know her patients and her coworkers.  It has been a little difficult because most of her patients are at the end of their lives and Heather has seen several pass away.  It makes her sad and wish she could do more but she takes comfort in knowing that death is not the end.

I recently scheduled my preliminary oral defense for November 3rd.  I'm pretty stoked because 1) I might get an increased stipend once I finish it, 2) it puts me in a position to finish my degree quicker than average.  I have one paper in the works and in the next week or two I should finish up a study that will provide enough data to write a second paper.

On Wednesday Heather's parents drove up to our house on their way to our niece's wedding in Washington D.C.  We rode up there with them on Thursday, the ceremony was on Friday morning.  I had never been to the Washington D.C. temple before.  It is really beautiful.  We say the lights come on Thursday night while we walked the grounds, it was impressive. I love the peace the temple brings into my life.

At the Washington D.C. temple.

So this is Heather speaking.  Life is crazy sometimes.  It's been almost a year since we last posted.  Here's the update.  I'm still working at Springmoor part-time, Robert's still in school working with his professor on photovoltaics.  We still love each other after 3 years of marriage, and we both still feel lucky to have each other.

Just after my last post, my knee had issues, so the  exercise thing was put on hold (since our last post had that going on in it). Still taking it slow, but at least walking is not a problem, just scared to run on it.  It's still a goal.

In October of last year we miscarried.  A sad occurrence, but we know we will see that special spirit in the next world and will be able to have them in our family.   Thank heavens for the knowledge and peace the Gospel brings.

We did go to a Ren Faire in November last year and I had an absolute blast and plan to go again this year.  I've discovered painting board game miniatures can be fun... slow, but fun; and they look awesome afterward.  Christmas was spent with our families, which was good.  It's always nice to see family.

Other things I've discovered about myself: that Spring is my favorite season, I love gardening and miss my parent's farm so much that sometimes it hurts ( I miss my parents too ;) ); though maybe it's just missing the secluded farm-life in general. Continuing on though, I wish I had a talent that I was known for, I care too much what others think,  I love Indian and Mediterranean foods, I like Lynn Kurland books for they are the right amount of romance and fantasy fiction for me, I still feel like I should be 21 and in college at times (time sure does fly), I want a hobbit-hole for a house and am drawing up floor plans for it.

Robert's younger brother, James, is still on his mission  for our church in Chile, and was asked to have an extension to go be on Robinson Crusoe Island for the last part, which means he'll be gone a little longer.  We think that's pretty cool he gets to do that though.  My niece, Sara, is serving a mission now in Denver, Colorado area, which is also pretty cool.  I think it will be a great experience for her.

I've recently reinitiated daily scripture reading, which I've done in the past, but once I got in the dietetics program, I let my reading slack and had trouble getting back in the habit.  Daily reading has already blessed my life and the underlying peace with the knowledge that my Heavenly Father will always be there to take care of me is strengthened.  I am grateful for my savior, Jesus Christ, and his atonement that allows me to return to my Heavenly Father.  I am grateful for the scriptures and the restoration of the Gospel to the earth.  I know that by living the Gospel, I can have peace, and that peace allows me to be happy.  I am grateful for the resurrection that will take place and that I have been sealed to Robert for time and all eternity and that I will be able to be with all of my family forever.

I think that pretty much covers the updates.  I will ask Robert to make his own post to fill in any of the holes. Until next time!

Back to Blogging!

We've had a bit of a hiatus from blogging for the past several months.  Its been a pretty crazy year.  Heather passed her RD exam, got a job, left it, and got a much better job.  I studied my butt off and passed my Ph.D. qualifying exam and got into the lab I wanted to work in.  So here is a brief update on us.

Heather is working at Springmoor Lifecare Retirement Community three days a week.  She works with the diets of patients who are there for full-time care and does occasional activities about food and eating with the other residents. She likes it pretty well despite the commute.  Lately she has been trying to get back into exercising.  So far she is doing pretty well even on the days she works.  She also put together a small garden on our back patio (peppers, tomatoes, squash, blueberries, and raspberries) and spearheaded getting our 72-hour kits together.  Yeah, she's pretty awesome.

Heather after a run with her beloved plants in the background.

After six years of studying Physics and two degrees in it I am learning Chemistry.  No joke.  We want to do a few chemical measurements on some materials for solar devices and rather than be dependent on the Chemistry department for them my professor has asked me to set them all up in our lab.  This of course means learning about the experiments, buying the equipment, and learning how to mix the chemicals we need.  Its pretty exciting since I haven't had a Chemistry class since high school but it has been a fun learning experience.

In other news it has been raining a ton here and there was some flooding in Chapel Hill but we are quite dry in our house so no worries.

Well, things have been interesting since the last post.  We have moved again.  This time, no roaches, no bed bugs, no cigarette smoke from neighbors, no music vibrating our floors.  :)  Happy days at home.

I got a job.  Though it is a full-time job and has helped us pay the bills, its charm has worn off and I just don't feel like I'm a good fit.  We'll see what happens. It has definitely been a learning experience.  I now know a whole lot more about what happens when people are discharged home on tube feeds.  It's been busy working a ton. On my fourth day working one of the other RDs got fired.  Craziness ensued trying to learn and figure things out with the help of the sales RD.  The two of us trying to do three peoples jobs. I did have a week of training in Tampa, FL, but that didn't help as much as I think it should have at times and at others I am glad I had it. We eventually got another RD, but it's just not what I thought it would be.  At least the constant working of 50 hrs a week is over.

Robert is still doing school after successfully completing his first semester at UNC.  Hooray!  Robert even has a professor okaying Robert to work with him on projects in areas that interest Robert more.  He has been working hard.  And to make things more difficult for him the last week and a half I've been sick.  I got the flu and my tonsils have some sort of infection that is not quite going away.  He's been cooking and helping me when he can, which he has done a lot.

Today I am grateful for the blessings of good doctors/nurse practitioners, time at home, nice people at the pharmacy who gave us a discount on my antibiotics when I forgot my prescription card, warm food, and the fact that our flat tire last weekend got us new tires before the sleet and ice hit.  I'll let Robert add his own to this as he feels a need to correct any of my statements. :)

We are just finishing a very busy three weeks!  We moved into a none-bedbug and cockroach infested apartment.  The last day we were moving out of the previous apartment Heather discovered a whole nest of dead bedbugs in a room we had used for storage.  From what the exterminator told us, if the bugs came in after we moved in they should have been living in the bedroom or the living room, places we spent a lot of time.  They should not have been in the extra bedroom, that wasn't close enough to a meal.  Take from that as you will, but we are pretty sure the apartment had bedbugs when we moved into it.

Yesterday Heather passed her Registered Dietician exam so she is now Heather Call R.D.  I am super proud of her and how hard she worked for that.  It is the culmination of almost four years of work for her.  After the test she said she just felt relieved but it slowly became happiness.  Unfortunately we didn't get much time to celebrate.  We were in charge of getting food together for a church activity last night and right as it started we got a call from our good friends the Stewarts.

The Stewarts just moved into the ward about a month ago from Oregon.  He called because mine was the only number they had for someone in the ward and their baby decided to come yesterday even though it was a few weeks early.  They called because their babysitters had another commitment and they needed someone to step in for them.  Heather and I grabbed plates of food from the activity and went to their house to watch the two kids until their Dad could be home.  It took a while but their third child was born early this morning and he and his mom are in very good health.  Busy day, but absolutely worth it!

As for me I just finished a week of TA training and will be starting classes on Tuesday.  It is going to be a crazy busy semester, hopefully I can stay on top of things, though I already feel like I am behind.  Three Sundays ago I was also asked to be the Sunday School President in the ward.  That means I am something like a "teaching specialist" and it is my responsibility to make sure the classes have teachers every week and make sure the teachers are all trained.  I've been doing a lot of reading for that to figure out everything I need to do, I think it will turn out okay.

One last anecdote from the last few weeks.  The week after we moved into our new apartment we were asked by a family at church to house sit for them while they were on vacation.  We agreed to do it and it was great blessing.  That week we cleaned an organized our house but went home every evening to their beautiful home.  They had this dog named  Indy that Heather fell in love with.  It was hard for her to say goodbye to Indy.  Anyways, so the anecdote...

Indy the dog.  She and Heather loved playing together and going on walks.

One evening while we were at this house Heather decided to practice the piano.  I was doing some work in a nearby room but as she played I couldn't resist going in to where she was and sitting down to listen.  She played a number of primary songs from church, they were all beautiful.  As I sat there I remembered my grandparents in Utah.  Sometimes Grandpa asks Grandma to play and he goes and sits in his recliner.  He closes his eyes and gets this smile on his face and the peace in their home becomes so very profound.  Usually Grandma plays church songs and that makes the spirit fill the whole house.  I felt like Grandpa sitting in that chair and Heather felt like Grandma.  I hope that in the future we can be more like them, there isn't a better set of role models anywhere.


    

We are slowly settling back into normal life after our visits to family.  Though at the moment we are facing some changes not so far on the horizon.  Since we moved in we've had a problem with second hand smoke in our apartment (all of our adjacent neighbors smoke quite a bit) and the complex we are in doesn't have another, similar apartment they could move us to.  The solution (just approved on Friday) is that we will be moving to one of their sister complexes at the beginning of August.  We will actually have a little more space at the other apartment and the company isn't going to charge us the extravagant cancellation fee ($1200) for ending our lease early.  All in all we feel pretty blessed with how it is working out.

Lately Heather and I have been getting into some new book series that we are very much enjoying.  Heather is reading the Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan.  We own his Percy Jackson series and really like them so when Heather saw these at the library she decided to give them a try.  (We also have some good friends who like them, shout out to Brigham and Stephanina!)  I've been jumping around to lots of different books but finally decided it was time for me to give the Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan a try.  I know a number of people, who have somewhat similar tastes to my own, that have really enjoyed them so I thought they might be good.

The other day I had the chance to go out with the missionaries here in Chapel Hill to visit a family.  They are refugees from Burma, I'm not sure of all the circumstances surrounding that.  It was a really neat experience.  The two teenage kids spoke decent English but the parents really had a hard time understanding us.  In the end we promised to get them a Book of Mormon in their native language so they could read it, the dad was very excited about that.  Also, I guess there is a young man in our ward who is in a similar situation to the family and speaks what they speak (it isn't Burmese, but I can't remember what it's called) so the missionaries will try bringing him next time.  It was a neat experience despite the language barriers, it was nice to go out with the missionaries again.

It's Father's Day!  Not that I am a father yet but I still think it's a good day.

Heather and I just got back from a week and a half trip to visit our families.  We spent four days with Heather's family and four days with mine and two days at a wedding (one of Heather's friends).  It was a lot of driving (almost 2600 miles) but it was worth it.  In Kentucky we worked on the farm a lot, did some visiting, and found a huge patch of raspberries on the farm (though most of the berries weren't ripe yet).  In Indiana my whole family was there to say farewell to my brother James.  He is leaving to serve a mission in Chile next month and will be gone for two years.  He will spend his time there preaching and doing volunteer service for the community he is assigned to.  We are very proud of him.

It was a good time.  It was good to talk to our parents about our new home.  We had lots of fun playing with nieces and nephews and brothers and sisters.  Space was a little tight in Indiana and we ended up in the basement but it was worth it.  Being able to be with our families forever will be a tremendous blessing and I hope that we can live up to it.  (If you don't know what I'm talking about see http://mormon.org/family/)  

HAPPY NATIONAL DOUGHNUT DAY!!!

Well here we are in North Carolina!  We don't have all of the boxes unpacked yet but we did get our new driver's licenses yesterday.  Our new apartment is definitely bigger than the one in Logan but at the same time there is less space to store things.  We used the last of our gift cards from getting married to buy a couple shelves for the kitchen since it only has a couple cupboards for storage.  We also got a couch from Craigslist and a couple of pieces of furniture from Goodwill.  All in all it is shaping up very nice.

Heather currently has three (or maybe its four) job applications that she is waiting to hear back about.  Of all the jobs she is most excited about a couple of pediatric nutrition jobs in the UNC Healthcare system.  We could definitely use some prayers on that front though.

I have been working for one of my new professors this past week.  He only has enough money to hire me for two months this summer but I hope I can find some other project to do during August.  For my Physics buddies who will understand this: we are working on a Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) system.  Right now I am writing a LabVIEW program that looks at data from one computer and uses it to tell another computer whether it should open or close some shutters between the source elements and the sample.  Technically I believe the setup is called "phase lock epitaxy."  It isn't a new idea by any means but our lab has never done it before so it is new to us.

Pictures are forthcoming in the next post!

It is official, I will be a Tar Heel this fall.  Within the Call family Heather and I have dubbed ourselves the "Carolina Calls."  We are excited to be going but it is happening very fast.  Currently we are in the process of deciding what to take and what to leave behind.  Logan has been a pretty awesome place for us and we are sad to leave but we are very excited for what the future holds.

The plan is for me to do summer research in the Physics department and Heather is currently applying for jobs in different labs on campus.  She wants to work for a year and then try applying again next year.  She will also be studying for the RD (Registered Dietitian) exam this summer.  I will also be correcting the formatting problems on my thesis and probably doing some more analysis for my USU advisor while he looks for a new student.  Hopefully between those things we can find time to get to know our new neighborhood and enjoy the fun of living in a new place.

I (Robert) just finished a visit to Case Western Reserve University yesterday.  I was checking out the area and the Physics program to see if that is where we would like to spend the next five years.  Cleveland was impressive to say the least.  Once we got into the city I only saw two fast food restaurants: one Popeyes, and one Subway.  All the other places were small restaurants, many of them one of a kind.  So they get and A+ for food.

They also get and A+ for opportunities for Heather and an A- for opportunities for me.  Everyone was very cordial when I spoke with them.  Professors were excited about their research and students enjoyed being there.  It is only about 1.5-2 times the size of USU's Physics department so it felt like a nice fit for me.  It was a wonderful trip which makes my decision very difficult.

I have not visited UNC but I have talked to many professors there via phone and e-mail.  A couple of guys I know have also been accepted there so I talked to them about their experiences.  It sounds like a great place but definitely different than Case.  In they end I'm not really sure where we will end up for the next few years but we are going to try and decide before the end of the week.

By way of a quick update about Heather: she found out recently that her service hours are due April 15 instead of May 1 like she had thought so life is getting very busy for her.  I'm confident she will make it through but she is stressed pretty badly right now.  Hooray for looking ahead to the end of the semester!

Here is a quick news update from us a little more than half way through the semester.  Thursday morning we got the call that Heather's Grandaddy had passed away.  It is a sad time for her (complicated by tests on Thursday and Friday) but we know he is in a better place now.  She flew out early Saturday morning to be with her family and attend the funeral.  I am going to work hard while she is gone to try and write as much of my Master's thesis as I possibly can.

A few weeks ago I was accepted to Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH.  We are still waiting to hear from the other schools but I will be visiting Case Western later this month to check out the program.  Anyone who has helpful advice about a possible move to Cleveland please comment on this.

Today our nephew Matthew was blessed in church.  My Dad flew out for the occasion and stayed with me last night.  This morning on our way to the blessing we stopped at the cemetery in Brigham City and looked around for my great-grandfather's gravestone.  Dad found some Bywaters (his grandma's line) pretty quickly but it took us 20-30 minutes to find B.C. Call's.  It is a massive stone inscribed with his and his wife's names on the front and their kids names on the back.  

B.C. Call's gravestone at Brigham City cemetery

Obviously I never met B.C. Call but Dad remembers him quite clearly.  He was a tremendous man.  He was the first player-coach of the Brigham Young Academy (now BYU) football team.  Later in life he became a lawyer and was made an honorary Indian chief for the legal help he gave to a Native American tribe.  I think my favorite story about him is about his reputation in Brigham City during the great depression.  People knew to send any vagrants or drifters who came through town to B.C. Call's house because he would give them a place to stay, food to eat, and help them find work.  When asked why, he said that if any of his sons ever found themselves in that kind of situation he hoped somebody would do the same for them.

I'm on here again... Robert might worry he's created a monster. I just have to say I am sooo excited today.  I am a nutrition coach for an elementary school as part of a grant on of my professors is working with.  I don't get paid, I am strictly a student who volunteered to help.  I had grand dreams of transforming the children in the school to vegetable eating machines, who didn't just eat vegetables, but loved them.  After a year of working with it, and having many days of anger, frustration, fears, and tears, I have begun to feel that fulfilling feeling that can only come from success...even thought it is a small success.

I implemented a program I called the "Golden Apple" there that I based off of their "Golden Tennis Shoe" program already going at the school.  The idea is that the kids could gain points for doing food related activities or writing projects.  I had mentioned prizes at the beginning of the school year, but let's just say participation was very, very low.  It was low, that is until today.  About two weeks ago I had the PE teacher post a poster in the lobby next to my "Nutrition Corner" that showed pictures of the prizes and listed the leaderboard of those who had earned their small amount of points.  This week I went in to pick up any papers from my box and it had SO many pieces of papers with drawings of fruits or vegetables, recipes, and ABC's of fruits and vegetables.  I also have a place to do my parent classes that I have had in the works for months.  My first Tasty Table was even performed at the school last week and it feels SO good to have things actually going.  I feel like I'm doing what I was sent there to do.  I had abandoned my dream of starting a school garden there, but after 6 months of trying to push myself (and others) I realized it just wasn't the best time, but maybe the next nutrition coach can make it work.  Even though I let that go, now I feel like the other things being done are starting to succeed with more time to work on them.  

My biggest lesson learned: Even if you have a LOT of good ideas that can make a difference you really have to think about what is achievable with the people around you.  Also, sometimes a few really good and well executed projects are more easily achieved and successful than a lot of great ideas that you won't have time to do well or effectively.

So this is officially my first blog... Robert has done the ones prior to this.  The deal was simple. If I wanted to change the background, I had to make a post.  So here it goes.

Life has been rather hectic this semester and graduation can't seem to come soon enough.  At least what appear to be my two biggest projects are done now.  Still between Andy Anderson's anatomy class and my advanced micronutrient class I have a LOT of learning to do.  The other classes don't seem to require as much brain power. I just need to get all my hours and try to keep my GPA up.

So far in my anatomy lab we had just been studying the bones and not looking at the cadavers.  Tonight was the first night when those bags were opened and the smell of stalled putrefaction was allowed to fill the air.  (Thank goodness  they hit the switch that circulated fresh air in and attempted to suck the foul-smelling air out.)   I must admit it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but still, looking at a dead person is not exactly ideal before coming home and trying to sleep. All-in-all I just think I will have trouble with memorizing the muscles... not where they are, just keeping straight where they originate and insert.

Robert and I are still waiting to hear back from graduate schools.  Frankly, I believe he has a better shot than I do, but we'll see if anyone is interested in the skills I have to offer.  We did hear from Case Western Reserve University, but the official letter hasn't come.  So we will wait for the final say, but the preliminary seems to have been passed easily.  They make a pretty compelling offer, but we'll see what the other schools have to offer us and make our decision then. Let's just hope they do so soon.  I am ready to make plans for the summer and fall and to know what direction life and our Heavenly Father are taking us.  Patience has never been a very good virtue of mine (that's generally Robert's forte), but I am working on it.

My grandaddy is approaching the end of his life.  It has been good and difficult (bitter/sweet) at the same time, as well as a time for reflection.  He has been separated from his eternal companion for nearly 20 years and it will be a great reunion I am sure when they can finally be together again, never to be separated again.   I think this is something he has looked forward to for a while now.  Still, for those whom he is leaving behind it is more of a struggle.  I worry mainly for my mom and uncle, but they have accepted what is to come, which is a big part of beginning the necessary process of letting go and of grieving. My prayers are with them every day, but I rejoice in the blessings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and that we have the opportunity to be with our families for all eternity.  How blessed is the Plan of Salvation that we can return to the presence of our Heavenly Father and live together in our families.  Grandaddy, though you may leave us here, we will see you again.

Christmas Break is almost over but Heather and I made the most of it.  We took the train out to Elkhart, IN where my brother Phil picked us up.  We spent the next days split between my parents and Heather's parents.  In fact her whole family was there which was a lot of fun.  We went to the Dayton Air Force Museum, recorded our own copies of home movies, played lots of games, went to the temple, and enjoyed a break dancing demonstration from Heather's two year old nephew.  It was awesome.

The train was a new experience for us.  It took about 34 hours to go from Salt Lake City to Chicago.  The seats are bigger than an airplane and you have a lot more leg room.  All in all it wasn't a bad experience, it kind of forced us to relax since all we did for a day and half was sit in a chair and entertain ourselves.  Here are a couple pictures Heather took while we were on the train.

Top picture is the old train station in Grand Junction, Co; Bottom is
the sun rising in southern UT.

School starts on Monday and I think we are ready to get back... I guess we'll see.  I need to write my thesis this semester and Heather finishes her program.  We are still applying to graduate schools.  That is going to be the hardest thing about this semester is waiting to find out where we will be in the fall.

Well finals are over and done!  Hooray!!  Now we are just waiting for grades to come in and applying to graduate schools for next fall.  We just applied to UNC Chapel Hill and we are working out the rest of our list, hopefully this weekend.  We spent the last two days helping my sister Amanda watch her kids while her husband was at work.  Amanda just had their third baby a week ago.  We had a fun time playing with the older two and we did our best to help out around the house.  Heather even gave their dog, Hank, a bath!

We carved Christmas Pumpkins with Robert and Alaina.  They were a big help.

In sadder news our Aggies did lose to Ohio at the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl but it was a close game and after so many 4 win seasons I am still super impressed at how well the team did this year.  Way to go Aggies!

This is Heather's finished Christmas Pumpkin.

In the spirit of trying to post more often than once a month I thought I would blog about the third "member" of our family.  He is a Leopard Gecko, his name is Toothless. (Yes, like the dragon from How to Train Your Dragon.)  We got him over the summer because I was going to campus everyday and Heather was left at home by herself.  She began to feel lonely so she asked if we could get a pet.  A lizard was not her first choice but it fit the bill of Heather being able to hold him and owning him would not get us kicked out of our apartment.  We like him a lot, especially since he decided we are okay a couple months ago.  Since then we've been able to touch him and pick him up without him hissing at us.  Here are a couple picks of Toothless in his terrarium.

Today is Heather's last day at the hospital!!!  It has been a crazy busy semester for her and I'll be glad when it is over and she can relax.  Her only final is an online one due tonight.  I also only have one final but it is in Classical Electrodynamics which seems to be the class that a number of my professors did not enjoy when they were graduate students.