Tender Mercies

Do you ever have those moments when you think back over the past few days and all of a sudden you realize that some string of random events is actually a string of tiny (or not so tiny) blessings and answered prayers? 

This week is the end of first block. The middle week of the semester means that first block classes have finals and final projects due, classes with 1 midterm have a midterm, and classes with 3 midterms have a midterm. I could see from the beginning of the semester that this week and into next week were going to be that time in the semester -- the really awful time that makes you hate school and life temporarily. I actually had a week similar to that about a month ago when I got sick, so I was bracing for the storm. I was so on top of my school work a week and a half ago. I started doing assignments as soon as they were assigned, keeping a running tally of everything I have that I need to be working on, and trying to study early for my exams so I'm not just cramming and panicking the night before each of them. My schedule has a Plant Classification test (my hardest class) Thursday (today), a big test tomorrow in Plant Biodiversity (close runner-up for difficulty), and next Monday to Wednesday a comprehensive Geology final and an Ecology midterm in the testing center. Plus all the assignments, quizzes, and papers on top of that. Surviving this week and a half has been a common theme in my prayers for the last little bit. This is how some things have turned out. Each one seems small, but I'm feeling pretty grateful. 

I had a 5 page paper due last Thursday, which I found out in class (after writing 4 of the 5 pages) that it wasn't due until Tuesday. HUGE lifesaver. If I had known it wasn't due until Tuesday, guess what I would have been doing all night on Monday? (Although, I wouldn't say that the extra time actually improved the paper much... just helped my schedule.)

My Plant Classification test has been moved to next Tuesday because of my professor will be out of town presenting something at a conference. That splits up my hardest tests.

My Geology final was opened today instead of Monday to accomodate some students who will be going into the MTC (Missionary Training Center) next week and were just taking block classes. I took it today to get it out of the way, and it feels awesome to be totally done with that block class. 

My Ecology exam has been pushed back until the end of next week because we are behind in our class lectures. 

Oh, and not to mention that about a third of the material on my Plant Biodiversity exam was covered on last month's Plant Classification exam, so it's review for me. 

This week or so has still been a lot of work, but I'm surviving and I'm feeling pretty happy about how things are going so far. Spencer's had a busy exam week, too, but he's pretty much done for a bit. It sounds like he did alright on his o-chem exam and he did pretty well on his Immunology exam. He's a hard worker, and a good studier. He's also good at not whining about it like me. I could learn a few things from that guy. Anyway, I need to get to bed now. It's late and I have an exam in the morning.

Valentine's Date

Valentine's Day is one of those holidays... I just don't really know what to do for it. I feel like we should do something nice, but I also kinda feel like it's just an excuse to spend money. Anyway, this year Valentine's Day was on a Thursday, so we didn't do anything for it on the day of. Spencer got me a coupon for two tickets to see a movie and to go out to dinner. I made him a canned valentine. The food science department on campus has a fund-raiser where you can bring candy or whatever and buy a can to decorate. They seal it for you. I got spencer some bookstore fudge and candies. Let's be honest, I ate at least half of it anyway. :-)

On President's day we didn't have class, so we went on our date. It was so fun. We went to see Warm Bodies, a romantic comedy about zombies, and then we went to Gloria's Little Italy for dinner. Warm Bodies was funny, and I'm glad we went to see it. Gloria's Little Italy was pretty good, and we had some 50% off coupons from BYU Hitlist so that was good! We'd never go there without them. Their entrees are about $15, which is more than we like spending when we go out to eat. The food was good though, and we even dressed up for our date! I was planning on taking pictures, but I didn't. 

It was a super fun date, and we definitely needed some time together not studying that day. :) It's been a busy couple of weeks with tests and schoolwork, but hopefully that'll slow down once we get through these next couple of midterms. Spencer's pretty much the best. 

Worst Weekend Ever?

Alright, it probably wasn't the worst weekend ever, but there have been happier ones. That cough I got on Thursday is still working it's way out of my system. I stayed home from work and class on Friday. Saturday I went to campus for a while in the morning to do a walk-in geology lab (we just go name the rocks) and study for a little bit with Benjamin. Spencer had a physiology exam and an MCAT study session with Ben. He did really well on his exam, by the way. He's a smartie. I'm pretty sure I slept for most of the afternoon when we got home. I tried my best to get some more studying in, but I'm less than productive when I'm sick and stressed out. I had a big plant classification midterm to study for, along with the geology and plant biodiversity tests this week. Spencer gave me a blessing, and that helped a lot. It mostly helped me calm down and feel less stressed about all my school work.

 On Sunday I slept in and tried going to church. We made it halfway through the 2nd hour and came home. I don't study on Sundays in order to make the day more about Christ, so I did my best not to worry about my tests. Spencer gave me some nice hugs and snuggles while I tried to sleep. I wasn't sleeping well and had spent most of night before trying to sleep in  a chair in the living room. I thought it would help my cough to be sitting up and I figured Spencer might as well get some sleep, even if I'm not. I did spend a couple hours working on my dress on Sunday before church though, so that was nice.

Monday I went to school and made it through one class (barely) before I had Spencer bring me home. I slept most of the day away, but I felt a little better when I woke up, so I got some studying in. And I managed to finish all of the random homework assignments I had to do. I seem to have a lot of busy work in a few of my classes this semester.

I slept much better last night, and I think I am finally getting better. I woke up early this morning to finish cramming for my plant classification test. It was in class at 8:00 this morning, and it went alright. It was just about as hard as I had anticipated though. I don't know what I got on it yet, but I'm feeling blessed. I really didn't have the time I had planned on using to study for it. I'm still a little stuffed up, but I'm not as exhausted as I was, so I'm very happy about that! Now on to studying for geology and plant biodiversity! Then I'll have a little break from midterms, and it will be great. I'm planning on a fun Saturday with Spencer to thank him for taking such good care of me while I was sick. He gets to pick the activities, so we might end up playing computer and iPad games all day... anything for that guy. :-)

Phantom of the Opera!

I don't think I mentioned it before on here, but for our anniversary Spencer got us tickets to go see BYU's performace of Phantom of the Opera! Well yesterday was finally the day!

It was fabulous! I'm not going to pretend I'm some theater know-it-all, but the singing and acting was incredible and the stage effects were really cool. BYU has some amazing talent, even if I make fun of all the music, dance, and theater majors. :-) I've never seen the musical of it before, but I grew up watching the old movie at Grandma and Papa's when I'd have sleepovers with Janet, and I love the soundtrack from the newer version. Anyway, it was great, and I was glad to have a fun weeknight out with Spencer.

The evening leading up the show was not exactly what I had been hoping for though. On Wednesday night I started getting this cough and I thought it was just from all the air pollution stuck in the valley because of this inversion we're having. (We're way over government-approved air pollution levels right now -- whatever that means -- and the smog is so thick that the mountains look hazy.) I didn't think much of it, but I woke up achy and sore Thrusday morning. Although some of that may have been from my workout the day before. I went to school and work and by 4:00 I was completely miserable, had super bad chills, and a little headache to boot. Spencer finished up around 4:45 and I went home even though the lab didn't close for another 15 minutes. On the way to the car the cold air and my cough made it hard for me to breathe and I had a mini asthma type attack that kinda freaked me out. We stopped to get me some medicine and I took a nap for a while before we went to the show. I just couldn't waste our tickets. And I'm happy we went. I had envisioned getting all dressed up and curling my hair and looking really nice for our date, but I suppose most of it was spent in the dark anyway, so who cares if I looked pale and tired? Spencer didn't. Isn't he the best? :) I'm home sick today, even with the medicine, but I'm hoping that I'll feel better soon. I have 3 midterms next week that I've really got to study for and I can't afford to spend all weekend in bed.

Hodge Podge

I keep thinking that I need to blog a little bit, but nothing very big has really happened. So I'll just write about the random things that have been going on.

Last Saturday we went to Sushi with James and Miranda and a couple of their friends. We ended up going to this all-you-can-eat place in American Fork. It wasn't buffet style, and it was good. It was on the expensive end of what we actually spend to go out to eat (plus there's a sushi place in Orem), so we probably won't ever go there again, but it was fun and James really wanted us to try it out.

We got Patrick's Christmas present in the mail on Monday. He had mailed it to Mom and Dad, and they added some things and forwarded it to us. He got us a mini ping pong table! It's a lot of fun. That was our family home evening activity on Monday. Mom and Dad sent us both socks, which is exciting. I like new socks. And Mom got me a pretty bracelet that I really like. Thanks Mom and Dad! (and Patrick, but he won't see this)

We finally got the last of our textbooks in the mail, so that's good. Now I just have to start reading them... I've been good about reading for geology, just not for my plant classes.

I started working out 3 days a week in the mornings. That has felt great. I've been sore for the last week and a half, but it means that I'm doing something good for myself. Usually when I try to get into shape I focus mainly on running, but I've been doing an even mix of using the tredmill and weights because I want to actually tone up a bit.

Spencer's new favorite thing is the BYU hitlist. It's a website that advertises for companies in the Provo area and you click for a number. You can win coupons and prizes if your number matches the next winning number. He swears that today is the day we will win the $200 gift card. And if it's not today, it will be tomorrow. :-) It's kind of a cool marketing idea. The companies pay to advertise on it and "pay" the audience in coupons and gift cards. We're going to go use our free 3 oz of  frozen yogurt coupons tonight at Yogurtland!

Other than that I think we've just had school and work. Spencer and Ben started studying for the MCAT and will be taking it 4 months from today!! That's scary and exciting. Western Michigan and Central Michigan are both opening up brand new medical schools though, so we're happy about that and are feeling confident that we'll get in somewhere in Michigan, with 5 options there that we're planning on applying to. I think 4 of them have a PT school nearby.

We have a long weekend this weekend, so hopefully we'll find something fun to go do.

And it begins....

Classes started today. We had a nice, much-needed break this year. We had almost a week back here in Provo, so we worked a little, relaxed a lot, bought our textbooks, and caught up with some friends. We had  a game night with Ben and Sydney. (We are the Canasta champions! Nobody can beat us!) On Saturday I went shopping for fabric for a new dress with Sydney. And with coupons the materials for the dress only cost me like 15 dollars! Hopefully it'll be wearable when it's done. On Sunday we had a little reunion with our friend Dan. Dan was our friend freshman year, and he just got back from his mission. We made pizza and shared pictures, and tried to catch him up on missed youtube videos. It was nice to see him again. Oh, and I also worked on a little baby quilt for Caroline. I had extra fabric from the one that I made for Carrina and I had cut it all into squares months ago. It was pretty quick to piece the top and now I'm working on quilting it! It's little, but it's cute.

Classes this semester are looking pretty good. 19 credits again, this semester, but no evening classes. Just being able to go home at 5 each day will make a huge difference. Pretty much all of them are a little outside of my comfort zone as a student. I have two plant classes (biodiversity and classification) and a geology class. I'm trying to stay optimistic about them but, quite frankly, I don't think plants and rocks are all that exciting. But we shall see. Then I've got a few education classes, which have all been a waste of time in my experience so far. They aren't hard though. Oh, and I'm taking ecology. I don't even really know what you learn about in an ecology class, but I have had the professor before and I like him. I'll learn lots of new things this semester, even if none of them are super interesting. ;-) I actually do think that the classes will end up being more interesting than they sound. Benjamin is in my geology class with me and our professor is hilarious, so I'm excited for that one.

Spencer is taking the second half of o-chem, advanced human physiology with a lab, some microbiology classes, and a seminar about applying to medical school. It sounds like his first day went well, so that's good. We'll stay busy.

New Year's Resolutions

I've never really been a big "New Year's resolutions" fan. Something about calling it that makes me feel like I'll fail. haha. However, I do try to set goals and resolutions at the beginning of each semester, so I guess it's basically the same thing. I try not to set very many new goals at a time, because then I get overwhelmed and don't make progress at all. So, here they are.

I don't have class until 10:00 on M,W,F, but Spencer has class at 8:00, so I'm going to use the time to work out. It's been a while since I've really taken good care of my body, and this is a great opportunity. I am usually the one with 8:00 classes everyday. I could work or do homework during that time, but this is important too. I guess the way I've always felt about working out is not to be a certain weight, but to feel good about my body. I want to feel strong and capable. I want to not be huffing and puffing by the time I get up the hill to campus. I want to get to the point where going out for a run feels good and doesn't end in me wanting to cry. So, my goal is get into shape and take better care of my body. Not to be able to run 5 miles or a half-marathon, just to feel good.

Spencer and I want to improve our temple attendance. Going to the temple is such a sweet experience, and we are so blessed to have a temple 5 minutes away from us. Life gets busy, but we need to take advantage of that because we won't always be so lucky. I don't know why it's so hard to make time for it when every time we go I feel closer to God and my Savior and I feel peace, regardless of what's going on in my life. It's a blessing that we need to reach out and take more frequently.