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.

Monday, February 1, 2010

For Posting Sake

I'm writing this morning for the fact that I want this to become a habit. Even if I don't feel there is anything special to share, I want this to be part of my weekly inventory of things to accomplish.

Things are going well. Courtney and I are staying really busy. I spent about 30+ hours Thursday through Saturday working on a project that was due Saturday night. However, I think I did a good job at stopping at a decent hour to spend the evening with Courtney. This following Sunday will be three weeks with out a calling in church. I enjoy the break form service, but at the same time I like being a part of things and having some sort of opportunity to serve. I'm told I will have a calling soon. I'll be sure to let you know when it comes.

Courtney is sick with her fifth cold this school year. Courtney is a strong woman. If I were to list her one weakness it would be  being sick. I know that sounds funny, weakness and sick. She is sick so often that it wears her down emotionally really easy. She has a hard time dealing with it. I'm grateful to the doctor who was able to bring peace to her when he said that he too is often sick. He explained that as a teacher or a doctor you are exposed to a lot more strains of the cold virus and therefor catch more strains that a typical person. That was able to help her handle this a little better. School is going well for her. She is staying on top of her classes and coming home earlier than before break. I'm proud of her and enjoy seeing more of her.

Last night we had some friends over for dinner, Wii Super Mario Brothers, and some other games and visiting. The main purpose was to catch up with our friend Ben Sparks and his new wife. Ben is form our freshman ward and recently was married. We also had Richard, Kate and Adelle over, as well as, Cory, Rachel and Tommy. It was a lot of fun. The only sad news is we have all the dishes for dinner and desert still sitting in our sink. normally I would do them right away or when I go home for lunch, but today I have to finish the printed portion of my project today and I won't get home until late tonight. If you know me at all you know I'm going crazy knowing those dishes are there and need to be washed.

My Family is doing well. My dad went back to work and is feeling well. He lost five pounds this last week and my mom, Courtney and I all lost about two pounds. Yay for us! That is our past week. Hopefully in the near future I'm going to post a web video. I thought it would be fun to post a video of myself. My friend Nate explained how to do it. I hope I can get it to work. Wish me luck.