Thanksgiving Break! And what a wonderful break it was!

Thank goodness for Thanksgiving! Seriously, the two weeks leading up to Thanksgiving break were easily the most stressful of the semester and possibly the most stressful of my life. I had 3 (!!!) big midterms in my 3 hardest classes. Chemistry, Biodiversity, and Physiology. That's 11 credits of classes right there. For Chemistry I had to memorize dozens of steps for reactions that happen in our bodies with the mechanisms and enzymes for each step (glycolysis, kreb's cycle, glycogenolysis, ect... for those that care), and understand them conceptually. I spent many hours filling, erasing, and refilling whiteboards in empty classrooms. In biodiversity we changed professors for the vertebrate half of the class. This professor is hilarious, and vertebrates are cool. If you need any cool facts about sharks, lizards, frogs, or salamanders, just ask! But a new professor means a new style of testing, and my his style of testing includes (but is not limited to) memorizing phylogenetic trees. And filling them in on the test. Again with the whiteboards. I just need to get a nice big one for my apartment, I think. Physiology wouldn't have been that bad if I had had ANY time to study, but I only got about 4 hours of studying in (for 260 slides... really?) and I'm pretty sure I got a C on the test. It's about what I expected though. I had to prioritize. My professor said he might replace one of our midterm grades with our final grade if we have an unusually bad midterm, so I'm hoping for that. It was time for a break!

Spencer's whole family was in town, and it was wonderful! Mom, Dad, and Brigham drove and got into town Sunday night, and Mikayla came down Tuesday after she was done with class. Mom and Dad needed to meet sweet little Carrina, and Brigham needed a new hat from the BYU Bookstore. ;-)

We spent tons of time hanging out. We played games, ate way too much food, watched a couple movies, wandered around the bookstore, visited the museum of paleontology at BYU, went to Joann's (the girls), and went to a basketball game on Saturday. We had FUN!


Somehow I was under the impression that even though we were eating Thanksgiving dinner at our apartment (Thanks to this nice table and set of chairs from the Waltons!), I wouldn't be doing the turkey because I had no clue how to do it. Well, we brought the turkey over to our apartment on Wednesday night, and Thursday morning everyone went to the turkeybowl football, and I stayed to sleep in a little and finish getting the apartment ready. At 11:30 I saw a text from Spencer that said Mom said I should start the turkey at about 11:00. Oh boy. So I called Dad in a panic and had a nice time skyping with him and all the kiddos at AnnaMarie's while he talked me through getting the turkey going. I knew about the bag of gizzards, but why on earth do they put the turkey neck in it? I probably would have left it in there if Dad didn't tell me about it. Anyway, I got it going and it turned out tasting like a turkey, so I guess it was a success. :-)


Dinner was so good, and I think everyone ate way too much. And we have lots of yummy leftovers in our fridge. That's the way I like it. Mom and Katy made most of the other stuff, and Dad carved the turkey. So, I didn't really do that much. I made a french silk chocolate pie to share. We had dessert at Spencer's Aunt and Uncle's in Pleasant Grove (or somewhere), which was fun. Not that I really knew anyone else there.

 

On Sunday little Carrina May Thornock was blessed in church. We went to Josh and Katy's ward to be there for it. Baby blessings are always so beautiful and touching. Josh did a great job. (Not that I've ever seen someone give a bad baby blessing.) Carrina is about 7 or 8 weeks old now, and she is so sweet. I love those tiny baby snuggles, and this week she got much better at making eye contact and she even started giving Josh some real smiles and coos. I'm happy that we get to see her grow up for a little while before we move away.

On Sunday night we had dinner at Katy's parent's house, and then went back to Josh and Katy's apartment to play games. We had a family home evening all together, except Mikayla, who had to drive back to Idaho. We each shared our favorite scripture and bore our testimonies. It was really nice. This Thanksgiving I have a lot to be thankful for, but at the top of the list is my family, and my Savior, Jesus Christ. His sacrifices make it possible for us to be with our families for eternity. To seal and bind husbands to wives, mothers to daughters, grandparents to grandchildren forever. That is the beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Not only personal salvation and exaltation, but to share that with the ones you love.

Mom, Dad, and Brigham hit the road for Michigan this morning. We'll miss them lots, and hopefully we'll be able to see them again before next Christmas.

Spencer's Birthday!

Last Friday was Spencer's birthday, and we had such a fun weekend celebrating it. I had a test Friday night, but I finished a little before 5 and Spencer came back to campus to pick me up. We went home to eat a snack and so Spencer could open his birthday present. I got him a new set of scriptures. It's probably not the most exciting present, but they are a little bit expensive, so we probably wouldn't go buy them on a whim. Besides, he needed some. After that, we went to see Batman: The Dark Knight Rises. We didn't see it when it came out, but it's in the dollar theater now. We both liked it, but it was long! The movie ended at like 9:30 (started at 6:30) and we went to Buffalo Wild Wings. I'm pretty sure that's Spencer's favorite restaurant ever. It's about 30 minutes away (in Lehi), but it was fun to go. Spencer even got a free bottle of sauce for his birthday! He got the Asian Zing flavor, so we'll have to make some chicken wings some night. By the time we got back from dinner it was almost 11:00, so we went home. It was a fun night. It's been a while since we've had a real date night and haven't had to spend Friday night studying.

On Saturday we had a tie dying birthday party for him! I'll be honest. Pretty much the only reason we had a tie dye theme was because I wanted to make THIS!

Seriously, this cake was so fun to make. Plus, it looked and tasted amazing. I was a little worried since I had never tried the recipe before and I made some changes as I was going along. The original recipe didn't call for white sugar or butter. Which is weird. So I added some. It was pumpkin-chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting. I wish we had more of it. Can you believe I've been lucky enough to make this guy's last 3 birthday cakes??

The party was fun. Everyone we invited came, so it was a full house... basement. Not everyone brought things to tie dye, but I hope everyone had fun. The things we did dye turned out well. I love our pillowcases that we did for camping. Josh brought over his Xbox, and I'm pretty sure that was the hit of the party. Here are some pictures. :-)

Our pillowcases! Mine's on the left, Spencer's is on the right.

I added pictures the The Narrows post.

Finally. Go check them out if you want to. :)

Happy Birthday Mom

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.

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!