Friday, December 31, 2010

Holiday Recap

After a long and grueling semester a break was much needed. Courtney was grateful for an opportunity to see more of me. It is funny that Christmas has come and gone by so fast. Court and I had were able to fly out and see her family and spend Christmas with them. It was a lot of fun!

Day one and I already had a new friend in my sister-in-laws little boy Dante! He and his sister are getting so big. We had fun playing with them and spending time with the rest of Court's family. Christmas went great! The next day we were hit by a big storm. Dad asked me to post some pictures.

Here are some Christmas pics.The picture of the table is because we spent much of our time here eating delicious home made foods and desserts!! Yum!






Here are some pics of the snow. It was up to 3 feet in some places and just under 2 feet in others. The wind blew the snow everywhere.


Sadly, our fun had to come to an end and even worse we flew out on my birthday. Due to all the snow, many flights were canceled, so we had quite the trip coming home and missed all of my birthday. I did appreciate all the texts, calls and messages on Facebook! Thanks everyone! Court and I celebrated the next day instead and had a great day! The funny thing is that we woke up to  almost 6 inches of snow!  We tried to go to Salt Lake to go to the Melting Pot but another storm came in and we could barely see let alone drive North 45 minutes. So we turned around and celebrated at Chili's instead.

Talk about a small window. We might not have made it home had we flown later. Needless to say it rained and then froze here. Fun fun fun! Since then we have been cleaning, organizing, relaxing and playing some awesome Wii games we just got. Just in case you were interested, Donkey Kong Returns and Lego Harry Potter are addictive! Anyways, things are great and we are hoping that our break will extend as long as possible! We wish you all the best and a Happy New Year!

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

This one is for you!

Dad,

Typically I send you a birthday card on your birthday. This year I wanted to write to you on my blog and celebrate you to friends and family as well. I know that anyone who as ever come in contact with you walks away knowing that you are special. They see your genuine love and kind nature. You draw others to you and they become better people because of the way you are able to touch their hearts. You are a teacher, a friend, a husband and most special to me, a father.

I'm over a thousand miles away but I know that if there is ever anything I need I can call you and you will be there ready to listen and share your experience and council. Thanks for never passing up an opportunity to tell me you love me! There has never been a time when I doubted that fact. You are an amazing man! You are my example of how I can be happy in life. Thanks for all you do! I love you!

On your birthday today I want to celebrate you! Anyone who knows or has met my dad and would like to celebrate him please comment on this post and I'll make sure he checks back and reads your comments! Thanks.

Happy Birthday Dad!!

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Answers in unexpected places

Courtney and I had an interesting Thanksgiving break this past week. Let me go back a bit before Thanksgiving in order to paint you a better picture.

This semester has been a crazy semester for me and it has been increasingly so as the end of the semester approaches. The few weeks before Thanksgiving I was home long enough to have dinner and then I was back to school again. Saturdays were spent catching up on missed homework and other assignments. Needless to say, Courtney and I were looking for a chance to get away. We decided we were going to run away to Bear Lake for Thanksgiving break and shut out all responsibility and just be together and recoup. We did this hoping it would be enough to get us through the rest of the semester and all the way to Christmas break.

Our plan was to leave Tuesday and come back Saturday night. The Monday of Thanksgiving week we heard news of a storm that was coming in. We were told it would hit Tuesday. We decided to ignore warnings. Tuesday came and it was a beautiful clear day. However, throughout the day we were bombarded with emails and text messages warning of this coming storm. I crossed my fingers and continued to believe it wouldn't be bad and we would still be able make it 3 hours north to the Idaho border where Bear Lake was waiting for us. Later that day we received word that campus was closing and we were to get off work early. I was excited. I thought Court and I could leave earlier and get a ahead of the storm. Boy, was I wrong!

Leaving Provo, everything was great. However, as we got closer and closer to Salt Lake the weather got worse and worse. It was so bad that we were slipping, sliding and could barely see. By the time we got to North Salt Lake we had to turn around and go home. We were sad to have to turn around, but glad to be heading back safely.

The next day is when the interesting part begins. We left Provo around 9:30am the next day in hopes to get to Bear Lake shortly after lunch some time. We decided to replace our wiper blades because they were in much need of replacing. As we were leaving Walmart I tried to clean the windshield with no luck. We assumed our wiper fluid was out, so I went back in and got some wiper fluid. I filled up the dispenser and tried again, no luck. We decided we were going to push through anyway. As you probably guessed we had to stop once in Salt Lake just clear off our windshield and then 15 minutes later in Bountiful we had to stop at an auto repair place to see if we could get it fixed. We were pretty frustrated. We were not having any luck getting away to our relaxing Thanksgiving break. Before we left Tuesday and Wednesday we prayed we would arrive safely and we were arriving at Bear Lake like we had planned.

The auto repair shop said everything was working but our wiper fluid froze over solid. They asked if we put water in it. I was a little mad at him asking that because I was the only one that ever filled it and I always used the wiper fluid rated for like 20 below zero. We okayed them to pull it out and thaw it which was going to cost $100 for everything. While we were waiting in the lobby the repair guy came out with our front driver's side tire. He showed me that it had a huge slice on the inside that was so bad, I don't know how it hadn't blown out sooner with all our slipping and sliding. About $800 later we ourselves a set of four new tires.

Three hours later the car was good to go and we continued on to Bear Lake where we arrived safely and had a wonderful relaxing time. We were able to forget about school and work and relax and enjoy our time together. We that we didn't touch the car for 3 or 4 days until we headed back to Provo and the weather was below freezing the whole time.  The funny thing is the wiper fluid didn't freeze over at all. As we talked about the whole situation we realized something interesting. We had prayed to arrive safely after our travels. However, we hadn't thought about our wiper fluid being an answer to those prayers. Our wiper fluid shouldn't have frozen over at all. If it hadn't we would have been able to see just fine through our windshield and we never would have stopped. We never would have found the tire being badly sliced and we could have had the tire blow out while we were driving, even worse, it could have been while we were going over the pass on the bad roads and could  have had a bad accident.

We were and are very thankful to our Father in Heaven for answering our prayers and helping us to be safe over our Thanksgiving break. We are sad to have to spend a lot of money replacing our tires but grateful that we were able to see God's hand in our lives and know that he hears and answers our prayers.

Here are some pictures from our Thanksgiving break. This is just the food that didn't need to be refrigerated or frozen that we took with us.
 Dad, here is the picture of the Lake from our patio. It is in the back left of the picture.

 Here I'm cutting our Turkey breast on Thanksgiving Day.
 Here is our awesome spread. We had turkey, potatoes, sweet potato soufle, rolls, salad and pecan pie. It was wonderful and we had plenty of leftovers.
We hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving break too!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Funny Dreams!

Apparently, the other night I woke my wife up in the middle of the night because I was laughing in my sleep. I wish I could remember the dream that caused me to laugh in my sleep. I thought it was funny. My wife didn't think it was so funny.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Halloween

I thought I would share some pictures of our Halloween this year. We were happy to have a record number of kids come trick or treat this year. I think the total was 7 kids! Funny that that would be a lot for us. Here in Utah since Halloween was Sunday it was celebrated on Saturday. It was way confusing. Anyways, Courtney and I dressed up so she could go to school dressed up for her kids. We didn't have too much time to prep for it with us being so busy. So we went as a doctor and a nurse just because it was quick easy and not expensive. Friday night we got together with my coworkers and their spouses and played games and right after that we got together with other friends to carve pumpkins. It was a fun and low maintenance Halloween. We are still trying to get rid of our candy, we bought way too much. Anyways, here are the pictures.

These pictures are from when we went on a hay ride to a pumpkin patch to pick pumpkins with our congregation a couple weeks prior to Halloween. It was a lot of fun!






Here is the first snow that actually stuck of the year. I think it was a lot earlier than last year. Needless to say this is what we saw first thing in the morning as we were leaving to school and work and we weren't very thrilled.
These last ones are our pumpkins we carved and pictures of our friends' kids at Halloween.


Friday, October 29, 2010

A limited time offer

It seems more and more people are moving to digital when it comes to anything and everything. If you are one of those people who want to store videos on your computer, here is irresistible offer.

At this website you can download software for free to rip your videos to your computer in any format you will need. You could even put them on your iPods and iPhones! Be sure to click the green link midway down the page to download. If you are using a PC the registration code comes attached to the downloaded file and if you are using a Mac the file will be listed on the website above the download button.  The catch is the fact that this offer expires November 1st. Hurry and get it before the offer is over.

If you have any questions, be sure to ask!

Monday, October 11, 2010

Entering the unknown with a little bit of вдохновение

Here is another interesting experience I had while in an interview. (Surprisingly, I was interviewing with the church again. What does that say about the interviewers? That is whole other story)

I was in an interview, and the interviewer asked me a strange question, "Can I give you some advice?" Caught a little off guard, I answered "Sure, why not." He then proceeded to tell me some of my strengths that he has noticed and suggested that if I were dead set on getting a Masters to look into two specific Masters Programs. I had never considered it before. I had blinders on, you might say, and was completely set on doing this one thing that I had never considered other options that might fit me better and make me more marketable in the work force.

I'm not sure what I'll do as of this moment. I'll do some research and be sure to let you know how things end up. I feel the interviewer was inspired and am grateful for him being worthy and willing to share with me those insights.

By the way, вдохновение, pronounced vdox-no-ve-nia, in Russian  means inspiration. You are now smarter for having read this.

Saturday, October 2, 2010

Conference Weekend

It is General Conference weekend. General Conference happens twice a year. During this weekend we hear from the leaders of the church as well as from the Prophet of God. What an exciting time.

We just learned they are building another Temple in Hartford Connecticut!! Yay. That is within 45 minutes of Court's family!!

If you are interested you can watch it here.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Embarrassing

My blog is back up. If you didn't notice, it was down. It looks as though my gmail account was compromised. Sorry if you got any junk email from me recently. Hopefully I was able to take care of it. Let me know if you continue to have problems of me sending spam emails to you.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Breathe!

I have a lot of respect for those who work and go to school. It is a lot of work. I have even more respect for those who do it and have kids as well. Things are pretty crazy here.

Court's family was here and we had lots of fun with them. They spoiled us rotten that is for sure. Another highlight of this week was an interview with PepsiCo!! I think it went really well. Next week I have three more interviews with three other companies. I hope they go well. I've been told that once the recruiting ends in September, October feels very laid back and far less stressful. Is it bad that I yearn for October to come now??

Anywho, Court and I are doing well and are happy. We look forward to the moments we get to sit and relax together without having to worry about school work or other responsibilities for two seconds. Have a great week and wish me luck.

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Back to School

It is that time again. You know, when all time for fun and games comes to an end. School is back and it slowly sucks the life out of you with all of its assignments and late nights. Students yearn for those three day weekends, or any other break,so they can get away for some relaxation and fun.

Ok, it isn't that bad. My first week back is over. To be honest it will be a challenging semester. This will be the first time that I'm working and going to school. You are probably saying right now, "I have always had to work and go to school!" I'm deeply in awe of you who do this. It is not easy to put 50+ hours into school and then work on top of that. Then add family and church responsibilities and pretty soon you are cutting out meals and time to sleep.

I'm reminded of William Madison's words:
Back to school. Back to school. To prove to Daddy I'm not a fool. I've got my lunch pack packed, and my shoes tied tight. I hope I don't get in a fight.
I just had to do it. I hope you'll forgive my childishness.

I do have one class right now that I love. It is Business Ethics. It is 3 hours straight each Friday. You'd think that is way too long to be focused in class; however, this class is mostly discussion and quite interesting. I enjoy the discussion and am learning just because something feels unethical doesn't mean it is unethical. We are being taught how to analyze things in order to know whether or not they are ethical. Kind of random, but I enjoy it.

Things are good. As soon as I settle into a habit with school things will hopefully calm down and be a lot smoother.

Interesting thought. By November of this year I need to apply for Graduation for April 2011!!!! Crazy huh! I don't know if I'll still be in school this time next year studying for my Master's Degree. But one thing is sure, come April 2011, I will have a B.S. in Information Systems!!! Awesome!! Thanks to my wonderful wife, Courtney, my Mom and Dad and to everyone else who helped me get here!! I love you!

Sunday, August 22, 2010

I'm seeing green.

Court and I decided this weekend that we would paint our apartment. It was too blah for us and we needed some color and excitement for a change.

Here is the before picture.



Here are some pictures during the painting process.









Here is the finished product.




The color is actually 'Grape Leaves'. It was either that or 'Asparagus'. Courtney picked it out and we both love it. It is almost like we have a new apartment. Sometimes we forget about it and when we walk in, it surprises us. That was part of our fun weekend. Hope you enjoy.

Monday, August 16, 2010

The gloves are off.

I've decided to stop apologizing for my constant posts. Sometimes I go weeks without writing. From now on I'll post when I feel I have something to post.

I recently shaved my head! Yes, I did it. I came to the conclusion that I could really care less about where or how I get haircuts. From now on Court will give me haircuts. For no reason other than to do something new and interesting, I asked her to shave it really short. Afterward, for a couple of days she would just laugh when she saw me. She would often forget it was cut short. Once in the store she came out of the restroom and busted out laughing. I asked why and she said it was because she didn't recognize me. Needless to say, it took some getting used to. Now I think we both actually like it.

Here is the before.

From Aug. 2010 Haircut

Here is a shot during.

From Aug. 2010 Haircut

And finally, the end results.

From Aug. 2010 Haircut

From Aug. 2010 Haircut

From Aug. 2010 Haircut

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Heartbroken

Sorry. When you are gone for a month you have a lot to catch up on. I prmise this is my last blog for about another week or so.

Recently, I received an email from a friend with a link to an article about the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints(Mormons). Below is the link.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/in-new-tv-ad-campaign-mormons-pitch-message-to-middle-america

The article was pretty accurate. I had the feeling that the writer truly thinks the new advertising for the church was really only to prepare for Mitt Romney to run for President again. It is not true.

The thing that really bothered me were the comments afterward. I only made it through about 20 before I was literally sick to my stomach. I couldn't believe that people could be so crude and inappropriate. Some comments were not supported by truth. Some were sad truths. People make mistakes, nobody is perfect. I don't expect people to agree with our beliefs. I don't expect everyone to like us. However, I do expect that people treat us respectfully. I try to treat others with respect. I'm not perfect and if I have offended anyone I will personally apologize and try to make it right.

If you ever have questions about what we believe as members of this church, don't hesitate to ask me. I'd love to explain what we believe. If there ever comes a time when people are saying inappropriate things about yours or others beliefs, I hope that all of us will be able to stand up and demand that everyone is treated with the same respect we would expect for ourselves. I'm grateful for all my friends growing up who treated me respectfully. I hope that they felt that respect in return.

Saturday, August 14, 2010

A double shot of blog.

It's true. You are hearing from me again for a second time today. I apologize if the last one was enough for one day. If you want you can stop now and read this later.

Directly following the Court's family trip to Europe, Court and I went to spend a week with my family on the Oregon coast. What a difference between this week and the two previous weeks. We went from hot weather, a small family and lots to see to a week of no plans, cooler weather and a whole lot of family.

I have a six siblings, all of which and are married and having kids but one. all of us made it but two. We rented a huge house, that fit all of us, right on the Oregon coast. Although the weather was not the best it didn't stop us from relaxing and enjoying being with family.

We had a great time, each of the children took care of food for one day. This was fun because we got different kinds of food and no one was stuck cooking all week. Midweek we took family pictures on the beach. It was quite a task to get everyone looking and smiling at the same time.

I thought it was funny that I don't really read to many books during the year. However, after this three, almost four week vacation, I read almost five books, one of which was the seventh Harry Potter book. Interesting.

Anyway, here are some pictures. Enjoy.

Oregon Beach - 2010

A long time coming.

It has been a few weeks now since we have been back from our vacationing. Court is napping and I have nothing to do. This is probably a good time to blog.

Courtney and I were lucky to be invited to go along with her family on a cruise in the Mediterranean followed by a week in Italy! Awesome, I know! My extent traveling before this was the Northwest, the Northeast to visit Court and her family, Russia when I served there as a missionary, and our honeymoon to the Dominican Republic. Needless to say, I was excited.

We flew into Venice, Italy the day before our cruise. That night we took a gondola ride and ate at an Italian Restaurant. Dad, who speaks Italian, made friends quickly with the owner. That is one of his talents. He can make friends with anyone.

The next day we got on our cruise. We went to Dubrovnik, Croatia first. Then we went to Athens, Katakolon and Olympia in Greece. The food was great, it was relaxing and we had a great time. I ate escargot, duck and many more delicious things. I would recommend a cruise to anyone. They are so fun and relaxing.

After the cruise we ended up back in Italy. We did some site seeing and then traveled to Padua, Verona(home of Romeo and Juliet) and Milan. We did the site seeing thing and had a great time. I would say the only down side to this whole trip was the fact that they were having a major heat wave. It was in the high 90's the whole time with humidity of like 83%. It was killer, but overall well worth it.

While we did our site seeing thing in Italy we stayed in a hotel in the top of the mountains. The hotel was huge, and it used to be a old ski resort. Have you ever seen the shining? It was that creepy. There weren't tons of people there and it smelled funny, but the view was amazing. Did I mention I ate horse too!? Crazy huh!?

One of the highlights of Milan was that we actually, with our own eyes, had 15 minutes to see "The Last Supper". It was an amazing thing to witness. I never knew it was in a small church in Milan. Had we not been on a tour I never would have known. The church was in an obscure place, no big lines or fancy signs saying here is The Last Supper. It was a really neat experience .

Coming home we got stuck in Amsterdam and our luggage was lost too. It was a hard way to end such a wonderful trip. There was tons of things more to say but I figured it would bore everyone to read it all. I took almost 500 pictures too. I'll add a link to some of them. If you want to hear more about the trip just let me know.

Cruise - Italy Trip

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Stewart Falls

Last Saturday the Stuarts invited us to go hiking. It was a lot of fun. The weather was great and we all had fun. Even Tommy loved it!

Apparently I can link to my album on Picasa. I hope this works.
Stewart Falls

Friday, July 2, 2010

Michael 1 Vending Machine 0

In most buildings here on campus you can find some type of vending machine. The building I happen to work in does not. Whenever there is a need for computer support in the neighboring building we often stop at the vending machine.

Today we were called over to help out. So on the way back we stopped. Micheal, one of my coworkers decided he would try this new bag of chips. He paid, made his selection and as the chip bag fell, it got stuck. This is bad you would think, but no, the vending machine kept spooling and another bag fell out. This bag got stuck on top of the other. Now that is ironic. However, another bag was spooled out and dropped to the bottom. Well, we couldn't just leave those bags sitting there. Michael decided to buy a Butterfinger which was directly behind the trapped bags of chips. Did he want the Butterfinger, no, but he wanted to knock the chips down. It was successful! Michael bought 2 items and walked away with 4. The best part, the chips were delicious. Finally, we were able to strike back at the vending machine for all people everywhere who have had a selected item get stuck.

Michael 1 Vending Machine 0!!

Friday, June 25, 2010

Something Random

Here at work I get to help a lot of professors with computer problems and the like. Recently one of them showed this article to me. I thought it was interesting. Check it out if you'd like.

Mormon Mission Biz Article

For anyone, who is interested, no there is no such thing as a Mormon Mafia; however, that could be cool to have good Christian people in high positions that only did good for other people in a Mafia like setting. Maybe I'll pitch that as a movie idea. Second, missionaries from the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints often are out teaching people about the Book of Mormon. Yes we believe in the Bible. We also believe in the Book of Mormon and believe that it has been given as a second witness of the divinity of Christ. Check it out.

If you have any thoughts, comments or questions on the video or anything, feel free to ask.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Only The Lonely

Courtney is gone, and I am not! Sad. Courtney's little sister Kara is graduating High School Friday, so, Courtney flew out yesterday to go and witness this special occasion. Her whole family is getting together for it. I'm excited that they all get to be there to celebrate and be together as a family before Kara goes off to college this next fall. However, I'm a little sad I won't be there. I'll be ok. I'm trying to keep myself busy so that it won't be so bad. Hopefully, Tuesday will come really fast. I'm inviting my coworkers over to play one night. We have a ward temple night another night. I'm going to a farewell party for some friends and Sunday will keep me busy with meetings, so, I think I'll survive . . . just barely. It is true that absence makes the heart grow fonder. I love and miss you Court. Have a great time!

Friday, June 4, 2010

How Do We View Our Teachers?

This was sent to Courtney from a retired teacher.

Are you sick of highly paid teachers?

Teachers' hefty salaries are driving up taxes, and they only work 9 or 10 months a year! It's time we put things in perspective and pay them for what they do - baby sit! We can get that for less than minimum wage.

That's right. Let's give them $3.00 an hour and only the hours they worked; not any of that silly planning time, or any time they spend before or after school. That would be $19.50 a day (7:45 to 3:00 PM with 45 min. off for lunch and plan -- that equals 6 1/2 hours). Each parent should pay $19.50 a day for these teachers to baby-sit their children.

Now how many students do they teach in a day...maybe 30? So that's $19.50 x 30 = $585.00 a day. However, remember they only work 180 days
a year!!! I am not going to pay them for any vacations. LET'S SEE.... That's $585 X 180= $105,300 per year. (Hold on! My calculator needs new batteries).

What about those special education teachers and the ones with Master's degrees? Well, we could pay them minimum wage ($7.75), and just to be
fair, round it off to $8.00 an hour. That would be $8 X 6 1/2 hours X 30 children X 180 days = $280,800 per year.

Wait a minute -- there's something wrong here!

There sure is! The average teacher's salary (nation wide) is $50,000. $50,000/180 days
= $277.77/per day/30 students=$9.25/6.5 hours = $1.42 per hour per student--a very inexpensive baby-sitter and they even EDUCATE your kids!) WHAT A DEAL!!!!

Make a teacher smile; send this to someone who appreciates teachers. J

If you know anyone who teaches, you understand what they go through day in and day out. I want to echo J's comments, take the time to show your appreciation to a teacher you know. Trust me, it will make their day!

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Bonus Fun

So, Courtney got a little bonus with her last paycheck and we thought we'd have a little fun. We decided to upgrade our entertainment center.

Here is the before.




Here is the after.

We've never had a TV this big. It is really exciting. We love it. If you have the urge to play some Wii or watch some movies, don't hesitate to ask.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Minor Setbacks

I'm a firm believer that God is willing to bless us with anything we ask of him in faith, nothing wavering. However, this last weekend I was reminded of the words of James found in chapter 2 verse 17, that faith without works is dead. Let me explain.

I found out last week that I was not accepted into the Masters Program for Information Systems here at Brigham Young University. I had prepared myself for whatever may come, but it was still crushing when I heard the news. Elder Bednar said, "I long have been impressed with the truth that meaningful prayer requires both holy communication and consecrated work." I did not feel that God had let me down, only that I had let myself down. As Elder Bednar explains in his address in the link above, prayers of faith must be followed by action on our part. It is a really good talk about faith. You should read it.

Anyways, what it all comes down to is that I procrastinated studying for and taking my test and only have myself to blame. I know that this was an opportunity for God to teach me. I plan on retaking the GMAT and reapplying for the Masters here. The option of getting an MBA or applying somewhere else for the Masters is also floating around in my mind. I plan on taking a GMAT prep course, as well as taking the test early so that I can retake it before my application is due. This time I will be prepared.

Minor setback and an opportunity for growth.

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Three Years Today and Counting!!

Three years ago today, I made the best decision in my life when I married my best friend Courtney! With three years of marriage have come high times and low times, disagreements and frustrations, as well as joyous times and times of great unity. Through it all my love for Courtney has only gotten stronger. I appreciate her for who she is and who she wants to become. I admire her courage, her faith and her example of service. She makes me want to be a better person, a better husband and a better father (when the time comes).


Courtney, I love you. Thanks for being patient with me through it all, the good and the bad. I look forward to spending the rest of eternity with you. I'm grateful to know that Heavenly Father loves us and allows for us to be with families forever if we love him and follow his son Jesus Christ. I'm grateful for the sacrifice of my Savior that allows me to repent and become a better person. I'm grateful for a wife who is able to look past my faults and love me for who I really am. I love you Courtney! Happy Anniversary!

Saturday, April 24, 2010

CNN Live

I was just watching CNN Live and heard some disturbing things. Apparently teachers are selfish, greedy people who don't care about children at all, according to Steve Harper reporting from Hartford, Connecticut. Steve was reporting on the state of the economy and the need for some change in education. It is either cut 100,000 jobs nation wide or require all teachers to not receive raises in years when the economy is down.

He explained that education is paid for through property taxes. So when the economy is down the money available goes down. That makes sense to me. Less property taxes less money to pay teachers. However, the money received does not correlate to the size of classes and the amount of work teachers to do. So if the economy is in a two to three year slump classes can still increase in size each year, as well as class workloads.

Shouldn't the education of our nation's children be one of our highest priorities? Freezing raises in salary until the economy gets better is a good idea and most teachers would be willing to do it but teachers are worried that that day when the economy is good enough to start giving raises will never come.

Starting teacher salary in Utah is less than $28,000 a year. People don't get into teaching for the money. Then for Steve to assume they are only teaching for the money is ridiculous. My wife love's teaching. She loves when she can help student s understand new concepts. She loves teaching, she hates grading and everything else that goes with it.

One school District forced teachers to show up one minute before school and required them to leave no later than 10 minutes after school got out so they could pay them less. That is ridiculous. Those teachers are still going to work as many as 60+ hours a week because they love teaching. Now they are getting paid less for their work.

Another example, one school fired or laid off all of its employees and then rehired them all at lower salaries. If that were to happen in an actual company would that be legal? Seriously, I'm interested to know.

I tried to post a comment on the CNN website. I could not find an appropriate place to post my comments. it makes me mad that they can say such things and not allow for people to post their comments. So now I'm forced to hear people say my wife is greedy, selfish and doesn't care about the students.

I see how attitudes are changing toward education both from the students perspective and the rest of the country and it worries me. it seems to be less and less about the quality of the education and the learning that comes from it and more about the grade and how cheap they can make it.

They were giving out grants(extra money) to math and science teachers here in Utah because they were short on them. Less and less people are going into those fields here because of how ridiculous things here are getting.

Sorry about my rant. This is actually better than it would be if Courtney were to speak her mind. She was pretty upset listening to it this morning.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Ghost Town

It is that time again. Finals are done. Today is the last day of graduation. It is already pretty quiet around here. After this weekend this town will be like a ghost town. . . I can't wait.

I love that I can drive anywhere without tons of traffic no matter what time of day. I love the fact that I can go to eat on a Friday night and lines will almost be non-existent where ever we go. Don't get me wrong, I love having everyone here Fall/Winter. However, summer is great when it is quiet. I feel like I can relax and do anything I want.

Work is slow, yes. I'll just learn to use my time productively to get things done and learn new things. It could be an adventure. Who knows?! We shall see.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Words Can Not Describe

Things have been crazy. I just finished finals and just before that I took the GMAT. The GMAT will decide, along with my grades, whether or not I will get into grad school.

I am somewhat disappointed in the outcome of the GMAT and my finals. I, by no means, performed horribly. I was just expecting more. I'm applying for grad school and should here back some time next month. The good thing is it is over. I can now relax and enjoy my free time everyday after work. I can't wait. I'm planning on accomplishing a lot this summer. I'll be sure to share what things I do accomplish.

Court still has a little over a month left of teaching. She can not wait to be done with it and to be able to relax and play this summer too. Things are well and we are trying to stay out of trouble. Until next time.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Oops I forgot to add . . .

On the checkout page for our website you need to enter the date in this format for credit card expiration date yyyy-mm-dd and the credit card has to be more than 6 digits long. Thanks Kate for catching that.

Thursday, April 8, 2010

My Year in the Junior Core

I've been studying Information Systems (I Sys) for the past year now. Information Systems is a mix of business and computers. I learn both sides in order to help improve a company's system. These systems handle all their information, from sales to customer preferences. This field is ever changing and opens up opportunities to its graduates in all area of the work force, whether it is working with databases, programming or management. These are just a few of the many different areas I Sys students can go.

This past year we have been learning about systems. Specifically, how to create a system proposal, design and implement these systems into real working systems. Last semester we were given an assignment to put together a proposal for a fictional company. This semester we spent the whole 4 months designing and implementing this system. It includes a functioning in-store system that handles sales, rentals, and repairs, as well as creating management reports. We have also created a web based site that allows for online sales. Check it out here. Click on "Product". Type "c" in the search field. As you type AJAX will go to the database and return with information making changes to the web page with refreshing the whole page. Click on one of the results. AJAX again will populate the product info without refreshing the page. Click "buy". After you enter in information(PLEASE make it bogus information because this really will get saved into our database. I don't want your real information floating around) When you hit "checkout" all your information will get carried over to the confirmation page and our database will create the transaction as a sale! Cool huh!?

The only focus of this site was to learn to use AJAX, and how to add a back end database and connect that all together using a web server. It has been very challenging and very exciting. It seems simple enough; however, there is so much more than meets the eye. Many times I have come home to show Courtney what I have done and she is very supportive and excited for me, but she has a only a small idea of what went into making things function and work the way that they do.

I just wanted to share a little bit of what my life has been these past 8 months. I'm prepping for my presentation where we present our finished system to the client and hand them the system as well as almost 150 pages in system documentation. Wish me luck.

Friday, April 2, 2010

April Fool's Day

Just in case you still believe the last post was true, it isn't. It would have been nice if the post were true and we were pregnant but we aren't. I apologize if anyone is upset. I enjoyed the congratulations from friends and the frustration from my sister who couldn't believe I posted it online before telling her.

At the end of the last post, if you were to look closer, you would have noticed the word "December" had a link. Had you clicked it, you would have been taken too a Wiki page about April fool's Day.

I say things hinting about us might being pregnant so much Courtney doesn't think anyone will believe us when it is true. Once when my mom didn't answer her cell phone, I left a message saying call us back if you want to know whether or not we are pregnant. They called expecting us to tell them we were and we weren't. I'm horrible. Good things my parents have a sense of humor. Courtney says we'll have to have proof when it is true like a sonogram picture or something.

Again, I hope you didn't mind my little joke. I hope your April Fool's Day was a fun one.

Thursday, April 1, 2010

A new addition to our family!!

Yes, that's right you guessed it. Courtney is pregnant!! We just found out and can't be more excited. After almost 3 years of marriage we are soon to welcome a new addition to our happy family.

We've already started to think about boys and girls names for the baby. We are very lucky to already be in a 2-bedroom apartment which will help the transition of having a baby be a little bit easier(no moving etc).

All our friends gave their babies funny names until they found out if it is a boy or girl. I'm pushing to call the baby "Kumquat". You know, so I can say things like, "how is our little kumquat doing today?" we'll see if I can get that by Court.

We are not sure on the exact due date. We'll let you know when we go to the doctor. We think it should be some time around late December early January. That would be cool if the baby was born on my birthday! Courtney is doing well, no morning sickness yet(knock on wood). We'll be sure to keep you up to date.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Patience

I don't think it matters who you are, where your from or from what situation in life you come from, there will always be opportunities in life that require your patience. Whether it is patience needed that can be caused by certain situations or patience needed when dealing with other people. In my life I have been both good and bad at having the proper amount of patience needed to deal these different things.

I remember when I was studying Russian before I went to Russia to serve as a missionary for two years. One brother who was learning with me picked it up really fast and seemed to be able to speak and understand a lot better than I could. It was really difficult to see that as I struggled to grasp even simple things. I'm a firm believer that whatsoever we ask God in faith, believing that he will give it to us, he will give it to us. I made the mistake of asking for patience as I tried to learn the language. I'll explain.

I've learned over my many years that we ask for and how we receive those answers can be completely different than how god chooses to answer our prayers. Example. If I wanted patience then God will bless me with opportunities to be patient. In my case he did and I quickly learned to be certain I was ready to receive what I was asking for. I learned that patience is a virtue and that it is received through our learning to be patient when patience is necessary and with help from God as we pray for it.

There is an awesome scripture that I have often thought about found in Luke 21:19 It reads "In your patience possess ye your souls". I love the imagery. As I ponder on this more and more I get new meanings and deeper understanding of this simple phrase. I think love/charity go hand in hand with patience. Those who have patience either have a love of God or for the people with whom they show that patience to. It could be both. But when we have patience we are controlling our thoughts and emotions and in a way we possess our souls. This is just one interpretation. I have found others. What are your thoughts on patience or this scripture in general?

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

I'm Humbled.

I wanted my blog to be a place where I could keep a journal. I also thought it could be a good way to get others opinions on things and to share my thoughts with them as well. In order to do the latter, I recently created a group on Facebook inviting everyone I know to follow my blog. I was humbled that within days I had dozens of people interested in reading what I have to say. I never thought I was that interesting. My wife assures me I am.

With that in my mind. I would love to hear your opinions and comments. I will try not to waste your time with my posts. Hopefully you will get what you want out of this. Thanks.

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

What will they think up next?

Usually I don't pay too much attention to legislation and things that are going on in the government, unless it directly affects me. Having a wife who works for the government as a Middle School teacher, I am more aware of things going on.

One of Utah's Legislators is crazy. He tried to get rid of the 12th grade in order to save money. That is just one of his many bright ideas. Recently, legislation passed, in my mind, a horrific bill that in effect cuts pensions in half and erases the retirement age completely. This would affect any new government employees starting after this year. Some of my details could be wrong, but this is how i understood what my wife relayed to me.

I consider this decision horrific because it effectually discourages anyone from becoming a policeman, fireman, teacher and any other government employee this would affect. Now you can't just retire at 65. You have to work x amount of years to retire. So if you get into the field later in life you would have to work past the age of 65 to retire and receive your pension which would be smaller than prior to this bill.

Legislators are quick to save a buck, but slow to see the consequences. From my wife's experience, class sizes are already to big. With less incentive to teach we will have fewer teachers. In turn, we will have bigger classes. The children will suffer. In my eyes these are our future. What are we telling them? Which police officer would show up to one of these legislators calls? I would say a very Christ-like police officer!

I know times are tough. I know lots of money has been thrown around to try to help the situation. Some of it has been successful, some not so successful. Sometimes it feels as though those decision makers in the government, in this instance state government, have no clue what they are doing. It seems as though they are out of touch with the needs of the people. Sure this may solve their problem for the time being(without touching their pocketbooks), but what about down the road? I am just sharing it like I see it. What do you think?

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Worth

Today in church we had a lesson about worth. It was very interesting and thought provoking to me and I thought I would share some of the highlights.

The question was asked, "What is worth?" an accounting major answered that "it is the sum of one's assets minus their liabilities." Another person answered, "it is the perceived value someone gives to someone or some thing." These responses were followed by the question, "What gives something worth?" there were many responses. Some responses were, "If it is in demand that makes it worth a lot" or "if it is rare, then it will be worth more" and many other responses. During the discussion it was mentioned that you can see what is worth to someone by the time spent doing something, or the care put into something. Something of worth is treated differently than something of less worth. Perception has a lot to do with what gives something worth. What might be worth a lot to one person could be worthless to another.

With these thoughts and ideas the conversation swung toward people and worth. The question was then asked, "How do you show the worth of others?" We talked about how when we love, care and serve others we show that they have value to us. That in turn increases their own self worth. Also, our vision of their worth increases as we come to know, love and serve them. Interestingly, it was said that our own worth grows too. One, as the Lord blesses us. Two, as the people we serve come to know and love us they will value us more.

In the Doctrine and Covenants(to learn about the Doctrine and Covenants visit Mormon.org) in section 18 verse 10 it reads, "Remember the worth of souls is great in the sight of the Lord." We talked about how each and every person has great worth to God. That will never change. He loves us all the same and always will. However, our perspective changes and we see people differently. When we come to know, love and serve other people, we begin to see them as God sees them. We come to see how much or worth they really are.

It is my hope that we all, myself included, can take the time to serve others around us, even those people we struggle to love, that we may see them as God sees them. I know that as we do this we will see the worth in those people and we will increase our own self worth as well as theirs. I know that this will bring happiness into our lives and into the lives of those we serve.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

Reflections

The title of this post gives the idea that this will be a very contemplative and deep discussion of things learned. Sorry, no promises. This post will touch on recent things past some things deeper than others. I'll start light.

Last week, I went in to find out the results of my sleep test that I had done a few weeks prior. It turns out on a good night I have upwards of 83 awakenings per night!! Crazy huh?! That was a good night of sleep for me. The doctor said I was just shy of getting 8 hours of sleep. So when you combine all 83 awakenings it totaled about a half an hour in all. That surprised me. I found out I have mild obstructive sleep apnea. It was explained to me that there is no high risk of any health problems. It was my choice whether or not to pursue anything further. Well, I went in because I can't remember the last time I woke up feeling refreshed, feeling that I had a good night sleep. I'm tired of being tired all the time. Court and I decided to do what needs to be done to get better sleep.

Our doctor explained I had three options. One, Surgery. Two, a mouth guard that would hold my jaw forward. Three, a CPAP machine that would keep my airway open during the night by forcing air into my mouth and or nose. She explained that the third option was best. So, March 19th I have another sleep test to find out what pressure of air is needed to keep may airway open. After which I will get a machine to sleep with. It seems odd to me that I, a 26 year old, would be sleeping with this kind of machine. I see it is something someone older would use like my parents. Well I guess if it helps me, and in turn Courtney, sleep better than I'm all for it.

This is now my second week of work with the IT department for the Religious Department at BYU. I love it! It is a fun job, when I'm not helping someone, I'm getting paid to play with new software and learn new things to better be able to do my job. Last Friday I played with Adobe Photoshop and took some tutorials while there was nothing else to do. Most of the time I have never addressed problems that I'm asked to solve. Usually with the help of google and other resources I am able to figure out these problems. I just have to laugh. I guess I'm getting paid because I'm good at finding answers to problems and am good at following instructions on how to solve things. I guess you could say I'm good at troubleshooting too. All in all, it is a fun job. I like the people I work with. My only worry, is that working this job will be time away from my school work. On some projects there doesn't seem to be enough time in the world to finish. I hope the Lord sees fit to magnify me and my time to be able to balance my time out well and get things done that need to be done.

Courtney and  I are still sick. It has almost been two weeks now. We are doing much better though, and we can't wait to finally rid ourselves of this. This past weekend we flew out for the funeral of my Grandpa Ward. It was a very nice funeral. It was good to be with family and to remember his life. I heard a lot of stories about him that I had never heard before. He was, and is a great man. I think the most eye opening experience was dressing his body for the funeral. What an experience to be there with my father, brothers, and uncles dressing my grandpa to prepare his body for the life to come. I know that after we die we go to the spirit world and that are bodies lie here until they are called during the resurrection. For some reason I have been uncomfortable at funerals. I shrink at seeing dead people. However, as we were dressing my grandpa, I knew he was not there. It was just his body. He was in a better place.

I know that Heavenly Father lives and loves us! I know his plan for us was to allow us to have experiences in this life, to learn and to grow and then return home to him again. I know Jesus Christ is center to that plan. I know that he lived as our exemplar. I know that he suffered for us in Gethsemane and died on the cross and was resurrected three days later. I know that he loves us! If we come unto him and repent, he can make us clean. It is only through him that we can return to our Heavenly Father again! I'm grateful for this knowledge and the peace and happiness it brings to me. I'm grateful that families can be together forever. I know that I'll see my grandpa again.

Friday, February 26, 2010

He Will Be Missed!

Late Tuesday night, my grandpa(on my fathers side) passed away. Court and I will be attending the funeral this weekend in Washington.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Stocked Up, Snowed In, Home Sick on a Sunday

Last week was great. I didn't get much accomplished with all the distractions around me, but it was a fun week. Courtney's parents were in town and it was nice to spend time with them. Poor things were sick the whole time, hopefully they were able to relax and enjoy themselves. We are grateful for them stocking our fridge, freezer and cupboards. I don't think we'll have to buy much the next month. It is awesome. I don't think we ever have this much food at one time.

Unfortunately, Courtney and I got sick too. I got a really bad flu Thursday night with a fever of 102 that didn't break until later Friday night. Now Courtney and I are just trying to shake our congestion, coughs and sore throats. We haven't slept too well this weekend and haven't really left our couch. I guess we should have waited a week to clean it.(funny how that works)

We got some snow over the weekend. Courtney says it is melting away. I wouldn't know, I haven't really looked outside.

I'm writing because I start work Tuesday and I don't know how much time I'll have to write during the week. this is my way of staying in the habit of posting something. My hope is that next time it'll be more interesting.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Good Things Come in Groups

Yesterday was a crazy day. First, and most important, I've become and uncle for the 13th time!!!! Scott and Jessica gave birth to a cute little girl named Alix yesterday! I don't have any pictures other than the one on my phone to share. Both Jessica and Alix are doing well. I'll leave it to them to share pictures and stories of the whole thing. Courtney and I are happy for them!

Second, I received a phone call yesterday from my new boss. Yes, that is right. I got a job. It is working in the Religious Department of BYU for IT that handles all of their needs. So there will be some customer service, some web development, and some networking as they replace 1/3 of their computers each year. I was hesitant to get a job during school; however, seeing as I have never gotten a call back for any internship I've applied for, getting some job experience was a close second. I figured getting the job now and carrying it through the summer would be easier than looking only for the summer seeing as how there was a need to fill this position. I was able to be flexible and few people if any new of the job making my chances of getting it greater. We don't need the money but I need the experience. I'm excited and hope that this turns out well.

Sadly, with that news comes some sad news. Due to the extra 15 -20 hours a week of work I'll be adding. I will have to say goodbye to working in the temple. I've been working in the temple the past year now with Courtney and we have loved it. We have been grateful to the Lord for the experience. We will miss it. Hopefully this will not be the last time we serve in the temple. Some of my projects for school have been taking me upwards of 50+ hours, so with work added on to that I didn't feel I could handle everything.

Lastly, Courtney's parents are visiting. We spent the day with them in Salt Lake City Monday. Tuesday they spent the day with Courtney's grandpa. They are spending the rest of the week here with us through Friday. Courtney and I are really excited to have the two of them here with us. Hopefully they can relax and enjoy themselves a little before heading home.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

An Interesting Night Away

Yes, it is really before 7am on a Saturday morning. I just got done cleaning up after my sleep test last night.

For as long as I can remember(which if you know me could be as far back as yesterday) I have had problems sleeping.  I've tried melatonin, a pill that has the body's natural chemical to help you sleep, and other sleep aids. My problem is not falling asleep, it is staying asleep. I wake up a lot during the night. So nothing has helped. One doctor suggested that it is brought on by my weight gain, but I have had this back as far as high school and at that time I was at a healthy weight. I'm always tired. I can't remember the last time I woke up feeling refreshed. Doesn't matter if I'm in bed for 10 hours or 5 hours. It is the same.

I finally got tired of it. I talked to my doctor and he referred me to this sleep study. That is what I did last night. I left poor Courtney home alone to go and do my sleep test. They had me fill out a questionnaire and then they started hooking me up with wires. They put them on my legs, head, face and chest. The funny thing is they pasted them on. So when Courtney came to pick me up this morning I had paste in my hair and on my face. Next they put straps around my waist and chest so they could monitor in what position I was sleeping when things occurred etc. Then they put something on my finger and something to measure my breathing in my nose. It was quite an ordeal. Finally they let me go to sleep.

It was quite an evening. When I'd wake up I would want to roll over. However, when you have lots of wires coming out of you it is a very interesting task.I had to carefully move and try not to rip anything out. All in all it was a success. I came home and cleaned all the paste off of me. Courtney is glad to have me back. She said she woke up last night and was sad I wasn't there. It's over now and I made it through the night in one piece and hopefully will have some answers soon. That was my interesting night away.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Our New Website

If you haven't noticed already, I usually post really early in the morning. it is because I get to school early and have nothing to do most of the time but play. So with this time I've been blogging. recently I decided to create a website for Courtney and I. It might not be permanent, but I thought it would be fun.

I haven't completely finished it. Some things are what is remaining from the template. So if you see something that seems random, out of place, or in no way related to Courtney and I that is because I have yet to replace it. Here is the link   https://sites.google.com/site/shawnandcourtneyward/home  if you wish to check it out. It has some pictures and other things on it. I'll try to post on my blog when anything drastic changes to it that you should check out.

After making it, I wondered what I could do with it once it is done. Most updates would come in the source of a blog and since I already have one the website will remain somewhat the same, except for any pictures we take (which we rarely take anymore). Oh well, maybe I'll come up with some creative things to do with it.

Let me know your feedback. Do you like it? Do you hate it? What things could I do to make you come back to it? Thanks. Have a wonderful day!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Light Bulb Moment

I'm not sure anyone other than Courtney has really seen how down I have been recently. I'm sure even Courtney knows every reason why and to what extent.

With the beginning of the semester came a huge work load, which brought the feeling of being thrown into a graduate level class three weeks into the semester. Piled on top of that the need to find an internship and quick. Followed by the fact that I still haven't started preparing for the G-MAT(business test required to get into graduate school to receive a masters degree) and that time was running out to study and take it before the application into the master's program is due.

All of this left me in a real funk the early part of March. Thanks to Courtney's love and support, she pushed me to get me to the temple on the evening of January 14th. Going was what broke me out of my funk. Feeling better and realizing all was in the Lord's hands I've continued on still wondering the same questions. Not sure what i was going to do.

Today I had 5 interviews with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints IT departments for different internship opportunities. At the end of one interview I asked what I could do to improve my value to recruiters in the future, seeing as I have no actual work experience other than these classes and most of my classmates do. She said something in combination with the spirit of the Lord that changed me. She said I'm not looking for experience so much as I'm looking for desire and a passion for the work.

This simple sentence seems small and insignificant, however, to me it was what I needed to hear. I have value!!! I knew that the Lord feels I have value. I knew that I had something to offer these companies that I'm applying to. I don't have experience, but I do have a desire and a passion.


I'm grateful to a Heavenly father who loves me and sees my value. I know things will be ok in the future and that I have something to offer when I go into an interview. I love my wife for her love and support. I know as we turn to our Father in Heaven he will always be waiting with his arms outstretched to us.