Today is Mom's birthday, so I spent a lot of time thinking about her throughout the day. I am so grateful to have such a wonderful mom. She has been my inspiration and my example for my entire life. I've always wanted to emulate her example and be as much like her as I can manage. I guess I don't have that many specific memories, but I remember that she was fun. I remember her helping my friends (or siblings) and I make cookies. I remember asking her if I could use the bathroom (while she was having a conversation with someone in our kitchen) and her telling me that I didn't have to ask to use the bathroom and that I drove her nuts. I laughed. I remember Mom doing all the girls' hair, usually curled, before school each day. I remember Mom singing "You are my Sunshine" to me at bedtime one night. That song still makes me cry every time I hear it. She made the most beautiful birthday cakes. She loves us so much, and I can still feel her influence in my life. I felt her presence with me when Spencer and I got married, and sometimes when life is tough I can feel her encouragement from beyond the veil and I know she's proud of me for what I accomplish.
I am so grateful to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I'm grateful that Mom and Dad were sealed in the temple so our family can be together forever. Nothing has been more important in my life than my knowledge of those blessings. I love Mom and I miss her, but I know that we'll have eternity to share. In the grand scheme of things our time apart is just a moment.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Pumpkins!
On Saturday we went to a pumpkin patch/ corn maze with Ben, Sydney, Benjamin, and Kelsie. It was so much fun! I don't really get into Halloween very much, but I have always loved carving pumpkins and we did a pretty good job this year!
We went to this little place called HeeHaw Farms up in Pleasant Grove. There were a bunch of fun "courtyard" activities for little kids like a petting farm, pig chases (which were so funny to watch), and slides. Not too much for adults, but it was fun to wander around for a while. Then we were off to find the corn maze. I'm not convinced the corn maze is real. We walked through a field of corn, but it wasn't a maze and then we ended up in the middle of the pumpkin patch. So, we picked out pumpkins. It was still really fun, but if you're planning on finding a fun corn maze, this wasn't the place.
Finding the perfect pumpkin was a big task and I think everyone took it pretty seriously. This is the group of pumpkins we ended up with to choose from.
And that's a squash Spencer found growing off a sun flower stalk. Okay, it just twisted up around it, but it looked like it was growing straight from it.
It's the pumpkin life cycle! Ending in the cupcake pumpkin.
I love this picture.
These were the best two in the whole field.
After we all found our pumpkins we took the hayride back to the
courtyard to pay for our pumpkins and we went home to carve them!
Ben and Sydney had a pumpkin carving kit with punch-out stencils.
It took Spencer forever to punch out his pattern pieces. For. Ever.
I love these two people. We wouldn't have friends without them.
Benjamin didn't use a stencil. But I love his pumpkin.
And on Sunday Sydney came over to work on a sewing project with me for a while. The boys got to have some fun times together.
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| Kelsie, Benjamin, Sydney, Ben, Abbey, and Spencer's pumpkins |
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Thursday
Thursday's are good. It means we're past Wednesday, which is my busiest day, and practically to the weekend. Plus, it's only 11 in the morning and I already have my physiology exam done and out of the way. It feels nice to take the exam the day it opens.
Spencer and I have been working on putting together our schedules for next semester since registration is coming up in about a week. It looks like another 19 credit hour semester for me, but I have officially figured everything out so I can get all my classes done in time AND have a summer term off. For a while I thought I would have to take classes next spring and summer terms, which would be rough. I don't mind taking just spring term. It's kind of strange being at this point in our education. I'm down to two semesters and one term of classes after this! I'll also have a semester of student teaching, but that's got to be easier than a 19 credit class load. Next year at this time we should be hearing back from medical and PT schools for interviews. We hope. Spencer will start his MCAT prep course this January and I should think about getting prepared for the GRE at some point. Really, what does the GRE have to do with physical therapy school? Nothing. I'll probably be taking that next spring or summer though, so I should start working on vocab words.
I mentioned in my last post that I'm done with my education class. It was a block class. The class was so different from what I'm used to that I didn't really like it. It just didn't seem very academic. We learned about teaching strategies and classroom management. Overall it was good, though. I am still glad that I changed my major, because if something gets in the way of physical therapy school I do think I'd enjoy teaching, but it has helped me be more determined to find a way to make PT school work with Med school. I guess the biggest realization that I've had is that teaching takes a lot of time. Sure, you get summers off and you get a nice Christmas break, but to really be a good teacher there is so much prep time that goes on at home and before and after school. I know some people do it, but I won't be able to teach when we have little kids. Before the youngest is school age, I just won't be willing to take that much time away from my kids for teaching. I think as a physical therapist I'd really be able to work part time and leave work at work. Plus, I love studying about the body and PT school will teach me tons. Other biology classes are good, but not nearly as interesting to me as studying anatomy and physiology type stuff.
I've been working on making a list of schools for each of us to apply to. The trick will be getting into schools within an hour of each other. I don't really want to drive more than 30 minutes each way every day. Ideally, we'll both be accepted to schools in the same city, but that's less likely. Right now the goal school for each of us is University of Michigan. Spencer would be at the Ann Arbor campus and I'd be at the Flint campus, but it looks like there are some nice towns with less-expensive housing between the two. I just have to find a time to squeeze in a couple extra prerequisites and at least 100 more shadowing hours with a physical therapist or two. I'm excited to see where we end up two years from now.
Spencer and I have been working on putting together our schedules for next semester since registration is coming up in about a week. It looks like another 19 credit hour semester for me, but I have officially figured everything out so I can get all my classes done in time AND have a summer term off. For a while I thought I would have to take classes next spring and summer terms, which would be rough. I don't mind taking just spring term. It's kind of strange being at this point in our education. I'm down to two semesters and one term of classes after this! I'll also have a semester of student teaching, but that's got to be easier than a 19 credit class load. Next year at this time we should be hearing back from medical and PT schools for interviews. We hope. Spencer will start his MCAT prep course this January and I should think about getting prepared for the GRE at some point. Really, what does the GRE have to do with physical therapy school? Nothing. I'll probably be taking that next spring or summer though, so I should start working on vocab words.
I mentioned in my last post that I'm done with my education class. It was a block class. The class was so different from what I'm used to that I didn't really like it. It just didn't seem very academic. We learned about teaching strategies and classroom management. Overall it was good, though. I am still glad that I changed my major, because if something gets in the way of physical therapy school I do think I'd enjoy teaching, but it has helped me be more determined to find a way to make PT school work with Med school. I guess the biggest realization that I've had is that teaching takes a lot of time. Sure, you get summers off and you get a nice Christmas break, but to really be a good teacher there is so much prep time that goes on at home and before and after school. I know some people do it, but I won't be able to teach when we have little kids. Before the youngest is school age, I just won't be willing to take that much time away from my kids for teaching. I think as a physical therapist I'd really be able to work part time and leave work at work. Plus, I love studying about the body and PT school will teach me tons. Other biology classes are good, but not nearly as interesting to me as studying anatomy and physiology type stuff.
I've been working on making a list of schools for each of us to apply to. The trick will be getting into schools within an hour of each other. I don't really want to drive more than 30 minutes each way every day. Ideally, we'll both be accepted to schools in the same city, but that's less likely. Right now the goal school for each of us is University of Michigan. Spencer would be at the Ann Arbor campus and I'd be at the Flint campus, but it looks like there are some nice towns with less-expensive housing between the two. I just have to find a time to squeeze in a couple extra prerequisites and at least 100 more shadowing hours with a physical therapist or two. I'm excited to see where we end up two years from now.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Mid-semester Update
Well, it's been a while since I've written anything on here, so here's a little update. The most exciting thing that has happened is that our new niece, Carinna May Thornock was born on September 29th! She's beautiful and I love getting those little baby snuggles. I need to bring my camera next time we go over to Josh and Katy's to hang out.
In other news, we are half way through the semester! I always hit a wall around the second set of midterms and a couple weeks ago, right before my second chem midterm I had a breakdown. School just gets so stressful and I was feeling lost and behind in a few of my classes (especially Chemistry). Since then I've been working extra hard to get back on top of my reading for classes, studying for exams more in advance, and taking better notes. Again, specifically in chemistry. It's like I go in there and just try to get it all down on my paper, then I go back to look at it and I have no idea what half of it means. Anyway, I've been working hard and I hope that the upcoming set of exams goes a little bit better. Or at least that I don't feel as stressed out about it all. I finished my education class yesterday, and started a second block class today. The little change in my schedule will be nice.
General conference was wonderful, of course. We went up to the Conference Center in Salt Lake for the Saturday morning session with Benjamin, Kelsie, and Mikayla, who came down from Idaho to visit little Carinna. It was so fun to go up all together and it was a great experience to see a session live. The announcement about the change for the missionary age (to 18 for men and 19 for women now) was fun. Mikayla, Kelsie, and Benjamin all are potentially effected by it and the entire conference center gasped when it was announced. Conference weekend is just such a great time to recharge and refocus and it came exactly when I needed it this semester.
That's really about all that's been happening. We're both really busy with classwork. Sometimes on the weekends we hang out with Ben and Sydney or James and Miranda. Last weekend we went to the Divine Comedy show with James and Miranda. It was lots of fun. And it was like we went on a real date, even though I brought stuff to study while we waited for the show to start. :-) We've been having fun and studying a lot. Spencer's birthday is coming up, so I've been deciding on what we want to do for that. That's it for now!
In other news, we are half way through the semester! I always hit a wall around the second set of midterms and a couple weeks ago, right before my second chem midterm I had a breakdown. School just gets so stressful and I was feeling lost and behind in a few of my classes (especially Chemistry). Since then I've been working extra hard to get back on top of my reading for classes, studying for exams more in advance, and taking better notes. Again, specifically in chemistry. It's like I go in there and just try to get it all down on my paper, then I go back to look at it and I have no idea what half of it means. Anyway, I've been working hard and I hope that the upcoming set of exams goes a little bit better. Or at least that I don't feel as stressed out about it all. I finished my education class yesterday, and started a second block class today. The little change in my schedule will be nice.
General conference was wonderful, of course. We went up to the Conference Center in Salt Lake for the Saturday morning session with Benjamin, Kelsie, and Mikayla, who came down from Idaho to visit little Carinna. It was so fun to go up all together and it was a great experience to see a session live. The announcement about the change for the missionary age (to 18 for men and 19 for women now) was fun. Mikayla, Kelsie, and Benjamin all are potentially effected by it and the entire conference center gasped when it was announced. Conference weekend is just such a great time to recharge and refocus and it came exactly when I needed it this semester.
That's really about all that's been happening. We're both really busy with classwork. Sometimes on the weekends we hang out with Ben and Sydney or James and Miranda. Last weekend we went to the Divine Comedy show with James and Miranda. It was lots of fun. And it was like we went on a real date, even though I brought stuff to study while we waited for the show to start. :-) We've been having fun and studying a lot. Spencer's birthday is coming up, so I've been deciding on what we want to do for that. That's it for now!
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