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!

Kelsie, Benjamin, Sydney, Ben, Abbey, and Spencer's pumpkins

 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.

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.

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!

Hiking the Narrows

Alright, I was going wait to post this until I got all the pictures from Ben's camera, but it's been a while since I've posted, so you can read it. Check back for more pictures later though. :)

Last weekend we finally did it. We actually went down to Zion National Park with the Ottos. I didn't think it was going to happen once school started, but it turned out that my chemistry test went until Monday without a late fee so we could go! Ben, Sydney, Nate, and Laura were already planning on going down and I'm so glad that we were able to join them. That trip was one of the most fun things I've done since I came out to school here. We hiked the Narrows from the top down in one day. And that, my friends, is an accomplishment to be proud of.

Friday night after class we hit the road to meet Ben and Nate, who went down early to try to get us a campsite. The campsites were all full, so we ended up staying in a motel all together. It was a pretty nice motel, and it was so much fun hanging out there. We got there around 9:00 and wandered around a gift shop for a while, got some ice cream, and just goofed around before going to bed.

Sydney, Ben, Spencer, Abbey, Laura, and Nate

These two are goofy. 

We started our day bright and early on Saturday to catch our 6:30 shuttle up to Chamberlain’s Ranch. It's a fairly long and bumpy ride up to the ranch and we started our 16 mile hike at about 8:30, before the sun really had a chance to warm things up. Someone (Nate) told Laura she didn't need to bring a sweatshirt. Luckily, Spencer was willing to give up his, and after a little bit of walking I gave her my (Spencer's, but I was wearing them) sweatpants.

We took our sweet time for the first 4 hours or so of our hike. There's lots of zigzagging across the river, and at first we were looking for the best way to cross without getting our shoes wet. After a while I realized it was pointless, and just waded through wherever seemed easiest. We ended up spending almost as much time in the river as we did along the banks, with water up to our waists at a few spots. The water isn't very high or fast at the beginning, but as more little streams feed into the river and the canyon gets narrower, the current picks up.

Me and Spencer

The Waterfall about 1/3 of the way.

We stopped for lunch at about 12:30 and had the best bagel sandwiches I've ever eaten, along with fruit, trail mix, and granola bars. Then we looked at the map and realized that we were only about a third of the way along the trail. We picked up our pace a little bit with some concerns about getting out before it got dark. Which we didn't.

The canyon was beautiful! I just wish we would have had more time to look at the scenery instead of our feet. The trail and river were really rocky. I think we all twisted our ankles many, many times throughout the trip.

I slipped. Honestly.

Around 5 we got to the Oasis, which is supposed to be about 4 hours from the end. We ran into some hikers from India who came up from the other direction, and they told us it was 2 hours to the end, so we were pretty excited. A little before we ran into them we decided to split up. Ben, Sydney, Spencer, and I were going ahead to make sure we'd catch the last shuttle back to the Visitor's Center. Laura's leg was hurting, so they needed to take more breaks. I think this was one of her first real hikes, but he was a trooper! I think some boys sweet talked this 16 mile hike through a river to convince her to come. They said, their mom did it like 2 years ago with no problems. Um, their mom is extremely active and their family hikes all the time. Anyway, we did end up taking 3 and a half hour to get out after the Oasis. Those Indian guys were fast hikers. I doubt they did it in 2 hours though. The sun went down at about 8 and we had one flashlight for the 4 of us. We were booking it to try to get out of there before it got dark, but the darn canyon just kept on going. I kept thinking we'd walk around the corner and see the end, but it never came. Okay, it came eventually, but we were all exhausted, sore, and it was dark. The trail ends with a little paved walkway that goes on for like a MILE AND A HALF!! I was happy to be out of the river, but I really thought the shuttle stop would have been a little bit closer to the end of the trail.

We talked to the shuttle driver that was there and found out there would be 2 more shuttles (one every half hour) after his. His was the 8:30 one. So we took off our shoes and wet things and waited and prayed that Nate and Laura were alright and would be out in time for the shuttle. I had given them my headlight that I brought and Nate had one, so they were doing better than us for lights at least. We were prepared to send some people on the shuttle go to get a car and drive back up there to meet the rest of us, but we convinced the shuttle driver to wait an extra minute and just as he was about to leave their headlights came around the corner. Which is extremely lucky, because it would have been a 30 minute shuttle ride down to the car, then a 20 minute car ride back up to the stop to get them. We took 12 hours to hike it and Laura and Nate were done in 13. Not too bad for a 16 mile hike down a river. Plus, you cross that river so many times that it's gotta be at least 20 miles of hiking.

We drove back that night, getting into Provo at about 2:30. Sydney drove for a while, then Spencer did and I tried my best to stay awake to talk with him so he didn't get sleepy. He did great, but I was just so tired after that long day of hiking.When we got home I could hardly move and Spencer's poor ankles were so swollen. Mine were, too, but not as badly. EVERYTHING hurt. And when we woke up on Sunday morning everything hurt even more. I have never been so sore in my life. I could barely stand up. We spent most of the day laughing at each other trying to walk and get off of the couch. The hike was all downhill, but your ankles and knees really take a beating. So does your back and shoulders, and arm from carrying your walking stick, and hand from holding your walking stick, and elbow from falling on it.

Maybe you can't tell, but Spencer's ankles are super swollen. 

If I ever do a hike that long again it will be in two days. But it was so much fun.

Here are some more pictures. I finally got them from Sydney, but I don't feel like rearranging the post to put them in, so here they are.

Family

It's been a while since I've written on here and a lot of good things have happened. Spencer's family came to visit for a while, Dad and Tyler came to visit for a little while, and we're still alive after a week and a half of class.

I love when family comes to visit. Mom, Dad, and Mikayla drove through here and stayed for a while on their way to bring Mikayla up to school in Idaho. We didn't get to see them as much as we'd have liked because we have class all day and most evenings, but we met up with them for dinner most nights. We played games, chatted, and even went disk golfing, which was a first for me. It was fun. The first night they came into town we had them and Josh and Katy over for dinner at our apartment. We made Indian food, including na'an, and it turned out really well. We were sad to see them go Friday morning, but then we got to see Dad and Tyler!

Dad and Tyler flew in for the BYU game on Thursday night, but since I have evening classes, and they were at the game we didn't see them until Friday. We watched the game at Josh and Katy's with everyone, so that was fun. Friday morning I had some time between classes and met with Dad on campus for a while, then we all hung out Friday night. On Saturday we took a trip up to Thanksgiving Point to go to the Museum of Ancient Life, a dinosaur museum. It's a really nice museum. It was just so nice to spend time with family and we even had monday off for Labor day so we didn't have to worry about homework over the weekend!

On Saturday morning we all met with Benjamin's bishop and Benjamin was ordained. It was a special occasion, and I'm glad that Dad got to fly out to do it. I did take a picture after that, so one of these days I'll put it up on here.

Classes have been going pretty well, but I've been tired. I have a lot of classes, and even though they aren't too homework-heavy, it's tiring just to keep them all organized and to keep up with the reading in all of them. This is going to be a long semester and midterms haven't even started yet. My first chem midterm is coming up in a week though. I'll survive. Spencer's seem to be going pretty well, too. His o-chem will probably get a lot harder in the next couple weeks.