Okay, it's probably not my last final ever, but it was my last final at BYU! I took my take home final on Monday night, and this morning I took my evolutionary biology final. Yeah, it was an easy finals week for me. Before the exam, my professor got us all pumped up with an inspiring pep talk while he played The Eye of the Tiger in the background. It was very funny, and actually a great way to start a final exam. I feel like it went pretty well. We'll see when grades are posted.
So, I'm done! Spencer's not. He has 2 exams and a paper left. Poor guy. He'll be done on Friday though, so we're close.
I have a busy week of not school planned out now. Between visiting teaching, getting things ready for Christmas, finding an outfit for James and Miranda's wedding, and our Anniversary, I'll stay busy. I am SO excited for everyone to come to town for the wedding, and then we're off to Texas to see the rest of our family! Plus, Patrick got home from his mission yesterday! So that's very exciting. I know Spencer's really excited to spend some time with him, and It'll be fun to actually get to know him now that he's been my brother-in-law for two years.
That's all for now. :)
Wednesday, December 18, 2013
Thursday, December 12, 2013
A Weekend Away and Other News
Last weekend we went to Washington! It was great.
First, the week leading up to our little trip was crazy. We were both so busy that neither of us really thought about our trip much until the morning of. But we made it through, and we took our homework with us when we went. Spencer's Aunt Sandy used to work for Alaska Airlines, so they hooked us up with transportation. Her husband, John, was so kind to fly down to Salt Lake, so we could fly for free as his companions. On our way back we got standby tickets through her, so they were cheap (and Dad covered them for us. Thanks, Dad!).
We went there for Spencer's Grandpa's 80th birthday. We both worked and Spencer had class on Friday, so we flew out Friday night and got to Grandma and Grandpa Thornock's house later that evening. We had some yummy dinner and had a really nice time talking and hanging out with everyone. Josh, Katy, and Carrina were there, along with Dad and two of his sisters. It was so good to see family and to meet some, too!
On Saturday most of them went to the Seattle Temple, and I got to spend some time with one of my best friends in the whole world! JUDI!! I haven't seen her for 3 years, I think, so I was really excited to go to Seattle so I could see her. It was so good to catch up and talk and just to see her again. We went to a cute little restaurant for breakfast and then did a little bit of shopping at the mall. After that, we went back to the house and had a little party for Grandpa. We ate a big ham lunch and then had cake and ice cream. We spent the afternoon playing card games and chasing Carrina around, and trying to squeeze some studying in where we could without too much away from our family time. I only took a couple of pictures, but I'll add them when I upload them from my camera.
At our wedding, Grandma had offered a Kitchenaid stand mixer to us if we ever were up in Washington and could get it. I had completely forgotten about that, but she didn't! She gave it to us and we managed to squeeze it into my carry-on and take it back with us! Haha. It was funny to see my suitcase go through the scanner thing at the airport. And a little embarrassing. The security guy promised it's not even close to the strangest thing he's seen go through. I've always wanted one, and I'm so happy to have it! I made some chocolate pies with it last night. :-) So, thanks Grandma! I want to try out some more bread recipes and things with it now.
We flew back home early Sunday morning. The afternoon flight was looking pretty full, so we took the 7 am one to be sure to get home that day. Josh and Katy flew with us, so we got to play with Carrina on the plane. She got a little stir-crazy, but was good. She loves Spencer. We were sad to leave Washington, but we're excited to see Dad again in just a couple of weeks, along with everyone else! We're going to try to take another trip up to Washington before we move out of Utah, too. It was such a nice weekend away, and even though we were worried out our midterms, we needed a break.
I had a midterm on Monday, and Spencer had one on Tuesday. We survived them, though neither of us have scores back yet. On Wednesday (yesterday), I had my dreaded Mammalogy Lab final. I studied on the plane, and over the weekend, and for about 4 hours Monday night, and 2.5 hours on Tuesday night before I hit a wall. Then I just kind of lost all of my motivation. I reviewed some more things on Wednesday before I had it, but I was mostly feeling resigned to my fate. I think it went alright, but I'm SO happy that it's over! I don't have a final in that class, either, so I'm totally done! Phew. That class has been a marathon of memorization. So, last night I got to take a break from studying. I made some french silk pies for a Christmas party in Spencer's office, caught up on some dishes, and bought and set up a little Christmas tree! I was listening to Darwin's Origin of Species on audio book while I did all of that. I have to finish that book before I can take my philosophy of biology final, as it's a requirement for the course. So, it was a productive, and really great night. Plus, having a Christmas tree in our apartment just makes me happy. I could only find 2 decorations and some candy canes for it though, so we might have to have a crafty night soon.
I'm kinda feeling like school is over, but it's not quite yet. I have two finals left and Spencer's got quite a bit of stuff to finish tonight, and then several finals. We're almost there, and I can't wait for break!
Oh, I almost forgot. I finally got my student teaching assignment! I'll be teaching 7th grade at a school just 2 miles north of campus, which is awesome because we share a car. I'll have 6 periods of 7th grade biology, with about 200 students total. Yikes. But, it's just one lesson to plan each day, so that's good. I'm excited. 7th graders are fun/crazy. My first day there will be January 7th.
Spencer's still waiting to hear from more medical schools. University of Michigan emailed him to let him know that, while they can't offer him an interview at this time, his application is still open. They might invite him to go interview in the future, but maybe not. So, that's that. It's not bad news, but it's like being on a wait list for interviews. So, we wait. And someday we'll know something.
Tonight we're going to the midnight showing of the Hobbit with James and Miranda. I can't wait!
First, the week leading up to our little trip was crazy. We were both so busy that neither of us really thought about our trip much until the morning of. But we made it through, and we took our homework with us when we went. Spencer's Aunt Sandy used to work for Alaska Airlines, so they hooked us up with transportation. Her husband, John, was so kind to fly down to Salt Lake, so we could fly for free as his companions. On our way back we got standby tickets through her, so they were cheap (and Dad covered them for us. Thanks, Dad!).
We went there for Spencer's Grandpa's 80th birthday. We both worked and Spencer had class on Friday, so we flew out Friday night and got to Grandma and Grandpa Thornock's house later that evening. We had some yummy dinner and had a really nice time talking and hanging out with everyone. Josh, Katy, and Carrina were there, along with Dad and two of his sisters. It was so good to see family and to meet some, too!
On Saturday most of them went to the Seattle Temple, and I got to spend some time with one of my best friends in the whole world! JUDI!! I haven't seen her for 3 years, I think, so I was really excited to go to Seattle so I could see her. It was so good to catch up and talk and just to see her again. We went to a cute little restaurant for breakfast and then did a little bit of shopping at the mall. After that, we went back to the house and had a little party for Grandpa. We ate a big ham lunch and then had cake and ice cream. We spent the afternoon playing card games and chasing Carrina around, and trying to squeeze some studying in where we could without too much away from our family time. I only took a couple of pictures, but I'll add them when I upload them from my camera.
At our wedding, Grandma had offered a Kitchenaid stand mixer to us if we ever were up in Washington and could get it. I had completely forgotten about that, but she didn't! She gave it to us and we managed to squeeze it into my carry-on and take it back with us! Haha. It was funny to see my suitcase go through the scanner thing at the airport. And a little embarrassing. The security guy promised it's not even close to the strangest thing he's seen go through. I've always wanted one, and I'm so happy to have it! I made some chocolate pies with it last night. :-) So, thanks Grandma! I want to try out some more bread recipes and things with it now.
We flew back home early Sunday morning. The afternoon flight was looking pretty full, so we took the 7 am one to be sure to get home that day. Josh and Katy flew with us, so we got to play with Carrina on the plane. She got a little stir-crazy, but was good. She loves Spencer. We were sad to leave Washington, but we're excited to see Dad again in just a couple of weeks, along with everyone else! We're going to try to take another trip up to Washington before we move out of Utah, too. It was such a nice weekend away, and even though we were worried out our midterms, we needed a break.
I had a midterm on Monday, and Spencer had one on Tuesday. We survived them, though neither of us have scores back yet. On Wednesday (yesterday), I had my dreaded Mammalogy Lab final. I studied on the plane, and over the weekend, and for about 4 hours Monday night, and 2.5 hours on Tuesday night before I hit a wall. Then I just kind of lost all of my motivation. I reviewed some more things on Wednesday before I had it, but I was mostly feeling resigned to my fate. I think it went alright, but I'm SO happy that it's over! I don't have a final in that class, either, so I'm totally done! Phew. That class has been a marathon of memorization. So, last night I got to take a break from studying. I made some french silk pies for a Christmas party in Spencer's office, caught up on some dishes, and bought and set up a little Christmas tree! I was listening to Darwin's Origin of Species on audio book while I did all of that. I have to finish that book before I can take my philosophy of biology final, as it's a requirement for the course. So, it was a productive, and really great night. Plus, having a Christmas tree in our apartment just makes me happy. I could only find 2 decorations and some candy canes for it though, so we might have to have a crafty night soon.
I'm kinda feeling like school is over, but it's not quite yet. I have two finals left and Spencer's got quite a bit of stuff to finish tonight, and then several finals. We're almost there, and I can't wait for break!
Oh, I almost forgot. I finally got my student teaching assignment! I'll be teaching 7th grade at a school just 2 miles north of campus, which is awesome because we share a car. I'll have 6 periods of 7th grade biology, with about 200 students total. Yikes. But, it's just one lesson to plan each day, so that's good. I'm excited. 7th graders are fun/crazy. My first day there will be January 7th.
Spencer's still waiting to hear from more medical schools. University of Michigan emailed him to let him know that, while they can't offer him an interview at this time, his application is still open. They might invite him to go interview in the future, but maybe not. So, that's that. It's not bad news, but it's like being on a wait list for interviews. So, we wait. And someday we'll know something.
Tonight we're going to the midnight showing of the Hobbit with James and Miranda. I can't wait!
Wednesday, December 4, 2013
Thanksgiving Break
Thanksgiving break was so wonderful! We had to work on Wednesday morning, so we had our car all packed up and hit the road around 12:30. We drove down to Arizona to spend the week with AnnaMarie and the Ferrell family! We went through Flagstaff, AZ and hit a closed road. We called Tyler and 40 miles later we were back on track. We finally got there around 11:15. It's a long drive, and since it gets dark so early the last half of it felt like an eternity. We stayed up and chatted with AnnaMarie and Tyler for a while then went to bed.
Oh, and Spencer got an email from Wayne state before we left on Wednesday. He's been placed in the alternate category, but we don't know where in that category he is ranked. Hopefully we'll hear better news from them in the future. We're hoping for a couple more interview offers from other schools this month. So, we're disappointed, but still hopeful.
On Thursday when I got up, Katie and Jane were SO excited to see me! They were really excited to see Spencer when he got up, too. The boys warmed up to us pretty quickly and we had a nice day of playing with the kiddos and feeling useless because apparently there was nothing we could help with. Thanksgiving lunch was fantastic, and we all ate way too much. Tyler and his brother deep fried a turkey for us AND his parents roasted one. I think there were like 15 pounds of leftover turkey.
Spencer went shooting with all the boys on Friday in the morning, and then the girls went out for our own outing. We went to a little bakery for a treat, then we decide to do a little bit of shopping for student teaching clothes for me! It was really successful, and that's fantastic. I got 4 skirts, 2 cardigans, and a couple tops. Now all I need to get for student teaching is a couple pairs of good shoes and a few more blouses. We spent lots of time playing with the kids on Friday, too. It was really nice.
We all went to the temple on Saturday morning, and that was so good. It's been a while since Spencer and I have gone. Plus, I found out that my temple recommend expired at the end of November (I thought it was December), so I need to set up some interview appointments before James and Miranda's wedding. Anyway, the rest of Saturday was just spent hanging out and eating. We went to lunch at Red Lobster, and later we went to dinner at a BBQ place that was really good.
We left on Sunday morning, finally getting back into Provo around 8pm. We weren't awesome about doing homework over break, so we are both kind of paying for that this week. It was worth it, though. It was so much fun to see AnnaMarie and Tyler and the kids are hilarious. The twins were a blast, and Aiden especially loved Spencer. The girls are fun, and they pretty much just do their own thing now. Jane would sometimes sit with me and jabber about stuff. That's fun.
So, we're back. One week of class left, not counting today. I think I'm done with all my homework assignments and papers. I just have quizzes and finals left! So, that's it for now. I didn't take any pictures over break, but I might add some from AnnaMarie at some point.
Oh, and Spencer got an email from Wayne state before we left on Wednesday. He's been placed in the alternate category, but we don't know where in that category he is ranked. Hopefully we'll hear better news from them in the future. We're hoping for a couple more interview offers from other schools this month. So, we're disappointed, but still hopeful.
On Thursday when I got up, Katie and Jane were SO excited to see me! They were really excited to see Spencer when he got up, too. The boys warmed up to us pretty quickly and we had a nice day of playing with the kiddos and feeling useless because apparently there was nothing we could help with. Thanksgiving lunch was fantastic, and we all ate way too much. Tyler and his brother deep fried a turkey for us AND his parents roasted one. I think there were like 15 pounds of leftover turkey.
Spencer went shooting with all the boys on Friday in the morning, and then the girls went out for our own outing. We went to a little bakery for a treat, then we decide to do a little bit of shopping for student teaching clothes for me! It was really successful, and that's fantastic. I got 4 skirts, 2 cardigans, and a couple tops. Now all I need to get for student teaching is a couple pairs of good shoes and a few more blouses. We spent lots of time playing with the kids on Friday, too. It was really nice.
We all went to the temple on Saturday morning, and that was so good. It's been a while since Spencer and I have gone. Plus, I found out that my temple recommend expired at the end of November (I thought it was December), so I need to set up some interview appointments before James and Miranda's wedding. Anyway, the rest of Saturday was just spent hanging out and eating. We went to lunch at Red Lobster, and later we went to dinner at a BBQ place that was really good.
We left on Sunday morning, finally getting back into Provo around 8pm. We weren't awesome about doing homework over break, so we are both kind of paying for that this week. It was worth it, though. It was so much fun to see AnnaMarie and Tyler and the kids are hilarious. The twins were a blast, and Aiden especially loved Spencer. The girls are fun, and they pretty much just do their own thing now. Jane would sometimes sit with me and jabber about stuff. That's fun.
So, we're back. One week of class left, not counting today. I think I'm done with all my homework assignments and papers. I just have quizzes and finals left! So, that's it for now. I didn't take any pictures over break, but I might add some from AnnaMarie at some point.
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