spring break '09

i had what could possibly have been the most amazing spring break in history (insert sarcasm here).

jk.  in all reality, my spring break was filled with a whole lotta schoolwork, a whole bunch of seminars, and a lot of time spent in cold climates.  let me back up and explain.

as many of you know i am currently working on my doctorate in audiology.  i am a first year student (almost done with my first year in fact) and i have 2 more years here at usu and then it's my fellowship year (kind of like a residency year) and then i am finished forever with my schooling!  there is light at the end of the tunnel... i just have to make it through 3 more grueling years....

but anyway, i thought i'd post a few pictures of my class and the other 2nd and 3rd years in my program.  these pictures were taken in the fall when the grass was green and the sun was out.  kind of like last week but not so much like today.  look how professional we look in those white jackets of ours...

so these are the 1st years... minus the blondie on the back row and the guy in the orange tie standing behind me.  they both decided to drop out of the program at the end of fall semester.  so, that leaves 4 of us left to battle it out.  it's kind of nice having such a small class size, minus the fact that when you're starting to fall asleep during a lecture, everyone in the class knows it, especially the professor.  

so, part of what we do in our clinic as part of our program is fit people with hearing loss with hearing aids.  we test them, figure out how bad their hearing is, and then find the right hearing aid to help them out.  there are a bunch of hearing aid companies out there (and hearing aids are quite expensive) so it's a pretty competitive industry.  so, what do those hearing aid companies do?  they offer to fly us students out to their manufacturing facilities, wine and dine us, and try to convince us to promote only their top of the line hearing aids.  basically it is an all-expense paid trip that none of us wanted to pass up.  this time, it was starkey that wanted us to come and visit.  unfortunately, it was the thursday through saturday before spring break.  and it was in minnesota.  there's nothing in minnesota besides rain, snow, clouds, and the mall of america (so random that it is there) (and i didn't even get the chance to go to it).  triple bummer.  

so, to give a pretty basic run-down of what we did:

when we first arrived, they cleaned out our ears, did hearing tests on us, and then fit us with our very own hearing aids.  sweet, right?  only an audiology student would think so.  basically they gave us a hearing aid to wear so that we will be better at understanding the issues our patients deal with with their own hearing aids.  and we got free (expensive) hearing aids which was a bonus.  

see that guy in the white lab coat?  that is bill austin- founder of the starkey hearing aid company.  he's super old (and super famous, as you will see later) but he has done some amazing things in his lifetime.  he does humanitarian trips all over the world and has helped so many kids with hearing loss.  what a generous guy.  

so basically, bill austin has fit every celebrity and their dog with either hearing aids or some sort of protection for their ears while doing concerts and performing at large venues.  you name the celebrity, they are most likely on one of his many walls of signed celebrity photos.  presidents, musicians, comedians, athletes, astronauts... they're all there...

yup, even chuck.  

we were taught some cool things, given some fabulous starkey embellished loot (backpacks, waterbottles, notebooks, pens, etc), and were put up in a nice marriott with a fabulous pool.  at night, we played a whole lot of pop 500.  for hours.  and hours.  

on the last night, mr austin had us all over to his house for cocktails, dinner, and free reign of his home.  it was a mansion (to say the least) and he had some cool rooms worth exploring.  somehow nikki and i made it into his wife's massive walk in closet- it was a dream come true.  

this is elton john's red grand piano that i am playing.  yep, elton and bill are tight.   
this is a small portion of his autographed guitar collection.  they lined the floor and covered the walls.  everyone from the beach boys to ozzy osbourne to tim mcgraw.  

this was his work out room.  that is nikki with a boxing glove signed by about 2 dozen famous boxers.  i'm sure mr austin wouldn't appreciate her wearing that glove, but we put it back where we found it.  
no biggie- just a signed robe and glove from mohammed ali.  i didn't even get pictures of the rest of the basement- the sports room, the sauna, the lounge area, the hot tub room, the bar (the open bar)... the house was definitely fabulous.  
nikki, bill, and me.  we're besties.  we tried convincing him to let us join him for his next humanitarian mission in egypt.  i'm sure he's still considering it.  
this is us hanging out in a rolls royce.  poor mr austin spent $540,000 on the car so he could auction it off for charity.  unbeknownst to him, the laws in minnesota say that nothing over $500,000 can be donated to charity (what a dumb law) so he just had to keep the car.  rough life.  

it was an open bar.  and i'm a lush.  so what.  

the gang on our last night in minneapolis.

well, the fun didn't stop there.  maria (a 2nd year) and joe (a 3rd year) and i were picked to participate in a grant where we get to work with other students and professionals in an interdisciplinary program focusing on families and children with special needs.  because of our involvement with this grant, we were sent to dallas, tx for a conference focusing on early childhood detection and intervention of hearing loss.  sounds way too cool, right?  it was a big conference with hundreds and hundreds of professionals all gathering together to talk about things they are doing in their own practices and things we can all do to improve our knowledge and continuing education.  how lucky were we that this conference was taking place over our spring break?

it was 4 long days of seminars, meetings talking about state legislature, mixing and mingling with other students, and getting the "in" with audiologists in other states.  we learned a whole lot, but at times it was almost too overwhelming.  i was happy to have some fellow students with me so we could endure it all together.  one thing that we were hoping for was some sunshine and warm weather!  but alas, we are unlucky souls and brought the cold front that hovered over us in minnesota to dallas.  it was sunny the first day we got there, but never again.  from sunday to wednesday it was windy, cloudy, and chilly.  definitely not what we expected.  but, we survived, and probably learned a lot more than we would have had we played hooky to sit outside and soak up the sun.  funny thing is, i didn't take a single picture while we were in dallas (probably because the only exciting things we did were eat at some fabulous authentic texas bbq restaurants and shop at the galleria, a massive mall they had about 5 minutes from our hotel).  

i was gone for a week, but it felt like an eternity being away from josh.  poor guy didn't get much of a spring break either because he was stuck working his 40 hours just like any other week.  after i returned home on that wednesday, i ran some errands, cleaned up a bit, and prepared for 3 days straight of working doubles at sabor.  how's that for topping off a spring break with a bang?   

i'm thinking we're due for an update...

so, i have tried to update this blog many times in the last week but for some reason, my drafts were never saved and everything was deleted (numerous times).  so, this will probably be a condensed version of what has been going on just in case my computer deletes it once again.   josh and i have had a busy month between homework, tests, reports, work, church meetings and activities, working out, running errands, traveling, etc.  i'm going to try better to keep this blog updated because i dread catching up after an entire month.  

*my parents came up a few weekends ago to play with us.  my mom and i went to my womens conference while josh and my dad hit up all of the local establishments (cookies/crackers from pepperidge farm, cheese curds from gossners, and chips and salsa from cafe sabor).  after our meeting, we did lunch and then a sealing session at the temple.  i really liked doing sealings because i think it is a great reminder of the things that were said to us just under a year ago on our wedding day.  after the temple, we headed to get some aggie ice cream (no trip to logan would be complete for my dad without some aggie ice cream).  it was a great day and i am especially grateful for the loads and loads of groceries they brought us!  it was a great surprise and i love that my parents know us well enough to bring us all the stuff that we love, but rarely buy for ourselves.  i've also loved the fact that i haven't had to go to the grocery store since!  thanks again!

*the next weekend, my little sisters laura and katie came to visit us.  while josh was at work, we slept in, made breakfast, and then worked on crafts all day.  it was a great way to spend our saturday afternoon and we definitely want to make it a tradition.  we topped the day off by giving each other pedicures.  laura always does my toes (i am obsessed with acrylic toes) and i decided to take a shot at doing hers.  i didn't do as good of a job as she did, but for a first timer, i felt like they weren't too bad!

* i had one week that was crazy busy with a bunch of school work, projects, and applications due for a position i was applying for within my program.  josh is such a sweetheart and came home one day with roses, candy, a new cd, and some magazines.  it totally made my day and i am so lucky to have such a thoughtful husband that will do just about anything to make his wifey happy!* speaking of that program at my school... i got the position!  it's called sound beginnings and basically it is a 2 year program set up to help children with hearing loss develop spoken language at a young age.  these little kids have hearing aids and cochlear implants.  i'll be doing at home visits, toddler groups, preschool, and offering parental assistance and information.  i'm really excited about this opportunity, i am fully aware that it is going to be a lot of work, but i'm hoping that this position will help me get some extra experience in being a pediatric audiologist!
* this last week i was in minneapolis and dallas for some school stuff.  i will post later about those trips.  

* i survived my first month of booty camp, and am doing it again this month.  i am excited that i am finally at the point where my entire body doesn't ache the day after and think that this month will be just the push i need to get my butt in gear.  i'm thinking about running in a half marathon in august if anyone is feeling a bit ambitious and wants to join me!

*we had a ward pinewood derby last week and it was way fun!  they passed out cars about a week ago and josh has been hard at work trying to decide exactly what to do to his car to make it extra fast and super cool.  it was a "no rules" competition, just no combustibles, nothing taller than 6 inches, and nothing weighing more than 3 lbs.  with those liberties, the boys in our ward went crazy.  josh knew the competition would be fierce- mostly because we have quite a few engineers in our ward- so he worked hard on his little car and it paid off!  he took 2nd place overall and had a great time doing it.  his car had a few motors in it and was pretty sweet.  the winning car was super sweet- it had a few motors plus it had gears and would shift gears as it went down the track.  i don't know much about how it worked, but it was pretty dang cool.  josh is excited to one day have a little boy that he can teach how to make super sweet racing cars.  

*so last week nate dawg (josh's youngest brother) got his mission call.  he's going to kennewick, washington, spanish speaking, leaving june 10th.  we are super excited for nate and know he'll be one awesome missionary!  while he's gone maybe we'll even learn a little spanish... i'll have to ask the cooks at my restaurant to give me some lessons....

* speaking of kennewick, washington... a good friend of ours, zach call, just got back from that same mission a few days before nate got his call.  josh and i were able to meet up with him and catch up on the last 2 years.  it was great to see him and we're hoping that he decides to come back to logan for school so josh can have another friend to play with :)

he loves me

ok, so i am finally getting around to the valentine's post.  but before i get to that, i want to thank everyone for their kind words in response to my last post.  i survived my illness (somehow) and have finally been able to get up off the couch and be productive again.  i was all sorts of worried that josh would get the flu-bug from me, but he didn't.  instead he got a sinus infection.  two very sick people living in a house together makes for one messy, germ infested living space.  once i was able to move around a bit, my house was disinfected like it had never been done before and everything was spotless.  let's hope those germs are gone gone gone!

ok, back to valentines day.  it's one of my favorite holidays.  i'm really not sure why.  i love valentines candy, decorations, cards, etc.  i love the idea of telling the people you love just how much you really do love them.  it's a mushy, cheesy day but i love it.  and josh knows it.  so, this year valentines day was on his "to-do" list.  and i told him i wanted it to be a surprise.  josh hates surprises... i love them.  i think the last time josh surprised me with anything was when he proposed to me.  but alas, he came through for me this year.  he had to work that morning but as soon as he got off we headed down to salt lake.  we stopped off and visited with my family for a bit and then we headed to dinner.  josh had made reservations at one of my favorite restaurants aristos.  it is an amazing greek restaurant by the u and i couldn't have been more excited to eat there.  for those who had reservations, they had a part of the restaurant set up with dim lights, candles everywhere, and rose petals on all the tables.  it was definitely a romantic setting!  they also had a special valentines day menu.  at first i was a little disappointed because i usually get the same thing every time i go, but this forced me to be a little adventurous and i'm sure glad i tried something new!  i got a fabulous rosemary chicken stuffed with feta cheese and red peppers and josh got some sort of braised lamb pasta thing.  if you ever go there, make sure to try their pita bread... it is fantastic!  when we paid the bill, the waitress brought out a long stem red rose for me.  it made the dinner experience perfect!

josh had one more surprise for me after dinner.  he had gotten us tickets to see romeo and juliet at the pioneer theater company.  it was a fabulous performance and i was excited that he thought of something that i would enjoy so much (even though i think he got a little bored at the end).  it was great to spend the day with my hunky husband and it was nice to tell him over and over again how much i love him without him thinking i was a weirdo.  
now i can back-track to some of the other things we've been doing.  the weekend before valentines day my sister laura and our good friend kevin came up to visit.  we decided to take them to a usu game because, well, we're awesome, and it was a great game!  laura and kevin were laughing so hard at the things our fans were yelling at the other team, however they didn't appreciate all the signing that went on throughout the game.  i guess you just to be an aggie to appreciate the school spirit.  
as mentioned in my earlier post, i've been doing a fitness bootcamp (or as i like to call it, booty camp) this whole month.  there were 8 of us from my work that signed up for it together and it has been quite the adventure.  we all wanted to get our butts worked into shape and i think it's safe to say that we're going to get our money's worth.  we've been doing it since feb. 1st and finally this week i'm not sore after one of our classes.  that may tell you how out of shape i was to begin with!  all of the guys at our work had bets on who would quit first and i'm proud to say that 3 girls have pretty much dropped out, but i'm still going strong!  my friend kendra and i are thinking about doing it again next month.  hopefully all this work pays off when i'm in a swimsuit in costa rica.  
in other exciting news, one of my very best friends got engaged a few weeks ago.  chana and zach have been dating for over a year and he finally popped the question on night while they were on a drive up the canyon.  chana and i have been friends since our first day of college and were pretty much inseparable after that.  we lived together for 4 years at usu, lived together for 2 summers in juneau alaska, co-managed the santa booth and easter bunny booth at the cache valley mall, co-managed del sol and alaska apparel in juneau, took a cross country road trip to tennessee, went on two cruises together (one to the mexican riviera, one to the western caribbean), been to vegas a few times, disneyland and six flags, took a fabulous trip to costa rica, been to all the surrounding states a few times (including our spring break trip to denver, and our exciting stop at bear world in idaho).  she was the one i went to with all my guy problems and she even told me when josh and i weren't even talking to each other that i was going to marry him one day.  she has been around me and my family so much that we pretty much consider her one of us.  she is the one i share almost all of my crazy college stories and experiences with.  we have done things together that most people only dream of- helicopter rides, dogsledding on glaciers, snorkeling in the caribbean, ziplining in through numerous rainforests in alaska and in costa rica, snowmobiling, white water rafting, 4 wheeling in mexico, visited buffalo bills' grave, and many more things that i don't have the time to mention.  she has been a great example to me of what a loving and thoughtful friend should be and i'm grateful that she has finally met the man of her dreams and the guy she wants to spend her life with.
chana and zach are looking at getting married the end of the summer/early fall.  we wish them the very best and are excited for them!
and to celebrate their engagement, our friends met at leatherby's in taylorsville for some fantastic ice cream (a favorite of mine and chana's).  it's always fun to get together with our salt lake friends and catch up because we feel like we never see anyone anymore living up here in logan!  if any of you haven't been to leatherby's, go!  it isn't good for my diet, but it's good for my soul and that's how i justify it.  

i don't have time for this

if someone would have been home today with me and took a picture, this is exactly what i would have looked like.  i never get the nausea, vomitting, headache, cramping sicknesses.  ever.  so of course it hits me like a ton of bricks today when i have about a thousand other things to get done.

i thought i was just feeling super out of shape and weak at this morning's booty camp (details on booty camp will have to come another time).  i kept feeling sickly but i figured it was just because i had done about 200 squats and 150 lunges in less than an hour and my legs felt like jello.

but then i had to take a test at 9 am this morning and i couldn't even read the test questions.  my eyes kept wigging out on me and i was getting hot flashes (and i know it's a little too early to be going through menopause).  i pretty much turned in my test and ran to the bathroom and sat there for like 10 minutes with my heart racing, my head throbbing, and my breathing out of control.  

mondays are super busy for me and i had so much to get done today, but i left school early (didn't even stay for a hearing aid evaluation that i had at 10:30), made it to the porcelain throne just in time (3 different times... sorry for the over-share) and have been laying on the couch ever since.  

and to make matters worse, the snowstorm outside is covering my satellite dish.  that means no television for the evening (because i'm too weak and tired to go scrape it off) which means no bachelor.  i'm basically freaking out and can't wait till the episode gets put on abc.com.  in the meantime, i'll lay here and wallow in my own self pitty.  

the month of january

this is a picture recap of where our time has gone this past month (no particular order)

of course we'll start with the important things:

i absolutely loved jason on last season's "the bachelorette" and was more than excited when i heard he was the new bachelor for this season.  my monday nights are fully dedicated to him. 

these are the two girls that i love.  melissa (above) is my absolute favorite.  i hope she wins because she is so dang pretty and i love her humor and personality.  molly (below) is my 2nd favorite.  if it comes down to these two girls, jason would be one lucky guy.
of course we still watch every jazz game.  it's pretty much what we do.  too bad the jazz are on a downward spiral and can't win games consistently. 

since directTV has decided to stop carrying kjzz, we are forced to watch those games at local restaurants.  one saturday night we went to firehouse to catch the last half of the game and ran into stacie & mckade and aubree & riley.  they were kind enough to invite us to eat dinner with them and play games with them afterward.  we appreciated them reaching out to us because we thought we were going to be friend-less for the evening.  :)  

 

krissey and i threw a double baby shower for andrea and michelle.  we went with a valentines theme because they were both having baby girls.  we had donuts and a little hot chocolate bar set up.  
and yes, those are chocolate dipped spoons rolled in peppermint... not suckers (it's ok girls, you gave us a good laugh!)
these two girls got some fabulous stuff and we were grateful for everyone who came.  michelle had her baby girl rachel 3 days later and she sure is a beauty.  andrea is due in about 3 1/2 weeks and we can't wait to see that little one!
for a creative arts assignment, josh had to attend the art museum on campus.  we turned it into a day date and i was kind of excited about it.  then it turned out to be a pretty boring experience so we tried to get josh's assignment done and out of there asap.  this painting was super random.
this was the best part of the museum.  this was called a klompen... it is a massive musical instrument made out of clogs from holland.  they were hooked together by these cables and had little magnetic devices inside of them that would produce sound when activated.  that's a pretty dreadful explanation of what it is- but basically you put a quarter in the machine and played 1 of 20 compositions.  i think i spent $2 worth of quarters on this gizmo.  

my parents got us tickets to attend the draper temple open house.  it was awesome and i loved it... well worth the lines and the long wait!  i haven't been to a temple open house since the bountiful temple many years ago so i was excited to be able to tour this temple and see the differences between this temple and the other temples i have been to.  it is amazing how much the church is growing and it impresses me that our salt lake valley alone will have 4 operating temples by the end of this year.  i was excited to hear the questions that investigators were asking as we toured the temple and i felt that it was a great missionary experience in showing people of other faiths what we believe.  

we were able to find a night to attend a usu basketball game.  i love going to the games- the student fans are ruthless and definitely give the other team a hard time.  it's hilarious to watch and it's fun to be a part of.  our team is 21-1 this year which is pretty awesome.
besides those few things, josh and i have spent the rest of our time studying and working. i know... super exciting.  

we have been able to plan a few trips that we have in the next few months- i am going to minneapolis, minnesota and dallas, texas over spring break.  then, right after school gets out i'll be heading to costa rica for just over a week and then josh is meeting me in florida for a little beach style vacation.  knowing that we have a few vacations to look forward to are what keeps us trekking along everyday.