i told you i was bad at blogging

Oh, hello Mr. 8 Months Later.

Well, I honestly thought about giving up (again) on blogging, simply because it does take time away from my day; once school started, it was hard to make it important enough. 

Now that school is almost over, let me update you:

1. I passed my culminating oral exams!!!!!! HALLELUJAH!!! It was really hard.
2. After one more grueling year, I still love music and conducting and am so amazed I got to learn so much about it all!
3. Teaching classes is hard sometimes.
4. I'm SO EXCITED to be almost done.
5. I am going to get my doctorate, hopefully starting it in fall 2014, depending on that whole thing where you have to get accepted.

Great! Now that we are up to date: The End (for now).

See you after I graduate, but maybe sooner!

return to the land of the living.

Yes. I know. It has been a while. Let's just say July just kind of ran right by without so much as a quick stop to say hello to me!

David and I have both been busy, busy, busy with work and school.

For the Fourth of July, we went backpacking in the Uintas! It was beautiful and awesome until David got very sick and we had to go home after only 2 days. :( But we enjoyed many movies and herbal teas while he recovered. It was still a very nice vacation.

One week after the 4th was David's birthday! David turned 25, so it was a big deal. We went to Goodwood BBQ, spent birthday money on SO MANY new games to play, opened presents, ate angel-food cake with strawberries (which he has done every year since almost forever), and played all our new games. He said it was a very good birthday!

Other than that, the two weeks since his birthday sort of flashed by us. Between his tests and my time-sensitive research, it was suddenly two weeks later! So. July happened, apparently.

Oh and we found the cutest little kitten! His name is Fitzwilliam Darcy III (I and II being Colin Firth and whoever the guy in the Keira Knightley version is). We call him Fitz. We aren't sure how old he is but we think between 9 and 11 weeks. We love him. :)

Also I framed our wedding invitation.

Other than that, I am appalled and slightly offended that school is starting in a mere 29 days. This summer has been so nice and lazy, but with some fun new adventures like Europe and backpacking and kittens. Way back in May, when I got back from tour, three months seemed like such a looooooong time. And June went on forever, too. But once I got that job, everything kind of sped up. I guess school is coming no matter what! At least it is my last year for forever!!!!!!!....unless I decide to get my Doctorate. But even then, that won't be right away, so at least my last year of school for a long time!!!!!!!

That pretty much catches everything up. Not a lot going on here, as you can tell. Have a happy week!

<3

good news.

Some news is wonderful!!

     1. I was able to get more hours with my research job so I no longer have to work an early morning custodial shift!!

     2. This week, David got ALL week off for fourth of July!!

     3. Thanks to David's sister, we found an AWESOME park with an amazing playground. We will have to play there many times this summer! It has a giant, giant climbing pyramid made out of cables. It's somewhere in Saratoga Springs. SO FUN. It's called Neptune Park. 

Otherwise, all is normal. 

I hope all of you have a happy, happy 4th! 

too many words.

Already behind.

Well I have good reasons, I swear!

I kept meaning to update starting last Saturday, but this whole last week got so crazy, I didn't have time to do anything besides work!

Oh yeah. By the way, I got two jobs that equal 40 hours a week (20 hours each). Yay!

It was so odd to go from having absolutely nothing going on in my life, just lazing away the summer and being bored, and the next day BOOM. I have two jobs and one freelance project with deadlines all on the same day. I can't complain, though, because it was such a blessing for everything work out so immediately. Just busy!

But now, everything has calmed down; deadlines are past and life has returned to a normal paced, regular work schedule. 

So now I can update this. I have been thinking about what to post for the last week or so and have has so many different thoughts and ideas. Have you ever had so many ideas that you become overwhelmed and decide not to post at all? That is another reason for the delay in this post. In the end, I made a promise to post and so here it is! 

So first: I have had two big adventures since my last post. Backpacking (just a one day practice run for our big trip in July) and shooting! 

***After trying to upload some pictures***

Apparently the picture uploader isn't working. So..........imagine some cool pictures of wilderness, hiking, a tent, and then me and David shooting a rifle. I guess I'll upload them later. 

Well. I know words are way more boring than pictures, but you will just have to deal with it until next time, I guess!

I have been thinking a lot lately about family and technology. It is really amazing how a family can be spread all across the country, but we can still see each other and communicate through skype, phones, email, facebook, etc....

Yet, even with all these amazing features to connect us, sometimes we forget to make the effort. I am literally the worst about this! So, I want to 1.) apologize to my siblings for hardly talking to them 2.) invite all of them to come visit me anytime!!!! and 3.) make a goal to contact at least one sibling per week and catch up on their life. 

Maybe you will join me! I am sure some of you have family or friends that you have been meaning to connect with, but haven't made the time. Just do it! Even if it's a sentence on their facebook wall or through email. It's really fun to remember and nourish our close relationships. 

life updates:

1. David started classes this week. So far so good!

2. I still need to practice the piano

3. and I still need to clean the kitchen. 

4. nothing too much in our life right now, I guess...

xoxo

yet another beginning.

Welcome! Once upon several times, I started a blog. Well the one I started last summer has disappeared! I am not sure why, but it is absolutely nowhere to be found. I am pretty sure that it was because I didn't use it enough.

So here is a new one.

I am going to start with two lists: 

An update list: 

1. I finally got half a job. I say half because it is only 20 hours per week; it's an exciting job, though, doing research in the education department at BYU. 
2. I am typing up my Europe Tour experience. Actually, I just recently remembered about the book-making company/app I have called Blurb (thanks Katie!!), and thought it would be perfect to document my tour journal and pictures in a book. But I will still email the content to family, as well. 
3. I really miss tour. It was an incredible experience!
4. But it's good to be home, too. 
5. David starts classes in two weeks. 
6. I am loving summer so far! Mostly because I am not taking classes!

A summer goal list: 

1. Read 25 books (I am on book 2 and 3 right now--yes I am reading them at the same time)
2. Have at least one more new, amazing adventure (tour was the first adventure). 
3. Keep a regular blog...
4. Re-do something. I finished recovering that chair several months ago; since that was my "big project" (that actually ended up only taking about a day and half once I finally sat down and did it!), I haven't had anything crafty to do lately. 
5. Practice the piano more. 
6. Keep a clean kitchen (sooo guilty...)

And I am going to end with a picture of me and husband going to a concert. He took work off (since he usually works until 10:30PM), and took me to a concert in Salt Lake. Happy 3 years+1 month (on Saturday)!