The Adventures of Evan and Lacey

Best Valentine's Day Ever!

2012-02-17T05:46:00.001-08:00

What a wonderful year this is turning out to be! For Christmas my parents gave Evan and I tickets to the play "My Fair Lady" in OKC. It was February 11th and we counted it as our Valentine's Day celebration. It is such a fun story and we really enjoyed a night on the town.

I am one of those girls that loves getting a bouquet of flowers - so thanks to my sweetie for finding this beautiful arrangement!

And of course, no Valentine's day is complete without buying a house! :) We are looking to close mid-late March (fingers crossed). Here are some fun pictures for y'all to check out. This first one is the SOLD sign! And a good view of the front of the house.

Here's the entry way with the door (one of our favorite features). We are going to change out a few of the light fixtures and things to fit our style more, but those things will come later.

Here is the cute kitchen. It doesn't have a formal dining room, just a cozy little nook right off the kitchen. It's a very open floor plan with the kitchen, dining, and living rooms all one open space.

Here's the living room, with a cool fire place.

The next two pictures are the counter-tops that melted Evan's heart :) They are SO beautiful and I hope these pictures help give you some idea of how unique they are. The first one is of the kitchen island and the second one is from the master bathroom.

Not to mention - the garage. It's technically a 4 car garage. You see the three on the front of the house and the fourth is a tandem with the third and the door faces the back of the house. It can be used as a shed for outdoor equipment, etc...

Ah... and my favorite part: the back porch. I have big plans for this porch. I see a little outdoor cooking area, a beautiful seating area, maybe a hammock... a girl can dream right :) Either way, we are in love with the house and can't wait to make it ours.

Here's a view of our property and where the house sits on it.

We are so grateful for the opportunity to buy this house and want to thank the Bagley's for their continued support. We miss you all and can't wait to have you come visit some time!

We hope you had an amazing Valentine's day and that the rest of your month goes wonderfully too!

Drink up!

2012-02-07T09:08:00.001-08:00

Hi-o! After a weekend stuck indoors being sick I'm... still indoors being sick... I've survived by watching endless amounts of Monk episodes AND drinking water.

This is the subject of my post today: water.

I've been working out and eating right (mostly right) for a whole month. I should have been losing a lot more weight than I was losing and I was getting pretty upset about it. During my hard-core Wednesday work out, my friend suggested drinking more water. It couldn't be... water? No...

So I tried it. I went from 24 oz to 72+ oz a day and have seen dramatic results! I'm now losing the amount of weight I've been working for and feeling great about it!

Now the fun part - friends and family working toward a healthier you - I challenge you to drink more water! Drink up me hearties yo ho!

They say...

2012-01-20T09:28:00.001-08:00

They say the hardest part is getting your shoes on and getting yourself out the door.

Every morning I cringe a little about getting up and going to the gym, but when I get there I'm a powerhouse! I could stay there all day - thanks endorphins!

Evan has a two hour lunch break and uses that time to work out with a friend at the gym on "campus". It's a megaplex of courts, machines, a climbing wall, and even a pool!

We're excited because we're finally doing it. Thanks for all your support!

We love you and we'll see you in April!

It was all for this:

2011-12-19T07:07:00.001-08:00

Hello, hello! Sorry about the hiatus from blogging - but we're back! Instead of doing a recap of everything that's happened, we decided to do a "where are they now".

We moved! We now live in Edmond Oklahoma.

We are in a ground level (finally!) apartment for a year as we do some house-hunting!

Evan successfully defended his thesis and earned his Master's degree in Geology. Go Evan!!

Evan started worked at Chesapeake Energy as an Associate Geologist. He already has some great friends working there and is excited to apply the the knowledge gained from 24 years of schooling (from day one to now)!

I had my last full-time day of work on December 1st, but will be working part-time through January. So, I will be using my time to focus on a strict diet and workout schedule. Evan and I have a long way to go until we're healthy, but with your love and support we know we can do it. And if any of you even so much as mutter mint chocolate chip ice cream to me, I will round-house kick you to the face!

We have new callings at church. We are the Valiant 9 co-teachers and I'm going to, additionally, be working with achievement day girls (any fun activity ideas?).

As always, we love and miss you guys like crazy! We are looking forward to having schedules that give us plenty of time for vacations - hopefully we'll be seeing you sometime in the spring :)

For now, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Best news - EVER!

2011-07-20T21:32:00.001-07:00

Seeking - one top notch geologist. Status - found!

Evan was offered an Associate Geologist position with Chesapeake Energy, of which he quickly accepted.

Breaking news! I've got a first hand account of the whole thing:

"We stopped at a rest stop in Kansas on our way to Minnesota. I checked my e-mail while waiting for Lacey when I noticed a reply to my 'Thank You' e-mail I had sent to one of the interviewers. I opened the letter and it was much larger than I expected. After reading three or four sentences that expressed their appreciation for my visit, I read:

'I am pleased to make the following contingent offer of full time employment as an Associate Geologist in our Oklahoma City office.'

Lacey then arrived and I handed her the phone immediately. She read and read with a shocked look on her face. We did it! I got the job we wanted with the company we wanted in the area we wanted.

I will start work on or before December 5th. All I have to do is finish my thesis and I get to start. This is a good motivator to finish earlier so I can start earlier."

Within the next 9 months we'll buy a house in northern Oklahoma City in or near the city of Edmond. We will move and begin the next phase in our lives.

Holy crap and hooray!!

100 Miles South of the Border

2011-07-20T20:51:00.001-07:00

And we're off! This time we headed to Minnesota. On July 1st Sierra had a baby girl, Sophe Ann!

Both mommy and baby are doing great! She had an easy pregnancy and an even easier delivery.

But I should start at the beginning...

Our first stop was in Duluth to see Zak, Crystal, and boys. Not even just to see them, but we arrived just in time for me to register in a race! Zak ran the 5 mile (in just under 48 mins) while Crystal and I walked the 2 mile (in just over 40 mins). We cooled off with some popsicles, chatted about life, gave them all big hugs, then went on our merry way to Bemidji to see Sophe.

Who looks just like her mom, no her dad, no her auntie... no, just like Sophe :)

One thing is for sure, it was love at first site! She is just so precious and sweet. There is nothing quite like holding a two week old baby...

Or saying congrats to mom and dad in person. Great work you two :)

We couldn't visit the "Land of 10,000 Lakes" without getting out on one! My dad rented a pontoon and we bopped around Cass Lake. I had every intention of staying on it - but I somehow (fully clothed) couldn't resist it's appeal. A clean, beautiful, cool and refreshing dip :) I'm a sucker for lakes.

A little wind blown - but loving it! That fella in front is my parents "adopted son". He's working at a scout camp for the summer and gets to spend his one day off with them - lucky boy. We made it worth it -

On Sunday we dined like kings:

Hearty whole wheat french toast, fresh Minnesota strawberries, and cool whip :)

The boys shot some guns:

Hopefully killing some mosquitos, I forgot how bad they were up there.

We visited with family:

This is my granny, holding Sophe :)

And we all spent a lot of time holding the sweet new baby:

Love her, love her, love her!

Then we waved farewell - goodbye Smiths, we love you!

All we are is dust in the wind.

2011-07-09T13:43:00.001-07:00

A great way to capture an amazing moment is to take a picture. So what does putting multiple pictures together do? Let me know after you read through this blog.

So many of these pictures have been shared on our other family members blogs, but I wanted to share my own spin on things.

It was almost 3 years ago that Evan and I were sealed for time and all eternity in the Columbia River Washington temple! We had a quick moment to reflect on that time by taking pictures outside it on our second evening in WA. It was great to continually point it out as we adventured all around the Tri-Cities area. It was especially pretty from the top of Badger Mountain!

We climbed to the top with Rachel, early Friday morning. It's amazing what you can do if you put your mind to it! Not only was my body invigorated with the climb up but so was my mind as we had a great discussion on the way down.

We spent so much time in the great outdoors! The 80 degree weather was a great vacation from our nasty 100 degrees in OK.

Each day we tried to take a walk. My favorite walks were with the nieces and nephews. There was a llama and some goats by Grandpa's house that we befriended/ harassed on a regular basis.

Race you back to the house!

We also took the opportunity to dig around in Grandpa's garage for things to do. Look what we found:

I now know the proper way to play croquet - anyone up for a game?!

Our adventures outside continued as we supported Charith and Thomas in their Triathlon.

The human banner of family members gave them just the boost they needed to speed through to the finish line. (High five Rachel!) Make that a double high five for the suggestion of going shooting!

6 out of 7 kids showed off their skills and guns were blazing! Watch out for that one with the knife - he's got the maddest skills of them all!

Of course you can't play outside in the summer sun without getting hot. So let's take a dip: 1, 2, 3 - JUMP!

We spent a lovely afternoon in Ryan and Donna's beautiful pool with almost all the family. (Photo courtesy of Rachel.) Craziness ensued and you couldn't wipe the smile off my face if you tried :)

I feel that way about the whole weekend we spent in Washington! We made so many great memories and this post barely scrapes the surface. It was so good to see everyone! We miss you all terribly and are so grateful for your support as we try to figure out our own way though life.

A Couple of Familiar Faces

2011-07-09T12:37:00.001-07:00

We had an amazing visit from Isaac, Breta, Davey, and Izzie! We played disc golf, ate delicious foods, and played Carcassonne way too late into the nights :)

Thanks for taking time to come see us Okies!

Minne-Okie

2011-06-01T09:40:00.001-07:00

Man alive did we make some memories this memorial day weekend! Zak, Crystal, Beau (almost 4), and Renaud (almost 8 months) came all the way down from Duluth to spend the weekend with us.

They arrived Saturday evening. We made some sweet bread pizzas and they got settled in to their room.

On Sunday we went to church - Beau even did primary all by himself! After lunch we cooled off in the pool. Renaud loves the water, he splashed and giggled a lot. Beau and Uncle Evan figured out how to hold the noodle up to the pools jets and spray everyone!

After swimming we were hungry again, so Julia Child (played by yours truly) and Beau baked brownies and cooked meatballs and baked pasta. Beau learned how to speak like Julia saying - "and the wat-ah (water)" over and over :)

Then we headed to campus to show everyone what Uncle Evan does with rocks. We all had fun seeing the incredible minerals on display.

Instead of just walking around campus aimlessly, we decided to explore it while hunting for geocaches. We ended up finding two! We had a blast :)

The next morning we met up with some friends and ran the first annual Minne-Okie 5K. Zak is running a half marathon later this month, so I thought it would be cool to do some training with him. I ended up cutting 8 minutes off my last time! Running together is a new thing for my family, but I hope we stick with it.

After cleaning ourselves up, we headed to iconic Eskimo Joe's for some lunch - aren't they just such a good looking bunch!

Zak picked up a really sweet shirt to capture the memory, now where have I seen that before? :)

Then off to the City for some more adventures! We did a quick stop to show them our amazing temple. After that, we split up:

The boys played at the Oklahoma Science Museum.

And the girls went to $1 Jewelry Galore :) We both came away the victor.

We ate our fill at Texas Road House before heading back home. Sure do love these faces!

Wait! No trip is complete until we've stopped at Pops. They had a fun time picking out pops ranging from Mint to Bulldog Root Beer to Toxic Slime to Vanilla Cream!

Okay, now we can end the day - peace out OKC!

The next morning was spent doing dishes & laundry, watching Doctor Quinn Medicine Woman, making cookies, sending Z & C on a date, and prepping for a POOL PARTY!!

We invited a bunch of friends over for a pool party/ BBQ. It was amazing - thank you everyone for making it truly a day to remember!

We ended the day with a relaxing movie night- Lars and the Real Girl.

The next morning we packed up and hit the open road, they said goodbye to Oklahoma and hello to one of our favorite spots - Branson, Missouri.

Along the way we stopped at the world's largest McDonald's - it was so big it bridged over the highway!

We started our day in Branson just walking around the outdoor mall by the river. Beau got spoiled with a balloon puppy, a mini train ride, a ride on a bull, and a strawberry snow cone - it was glorious :)

Intermission - we had a fun time playing around the mall too :)

Then we went on a Duck ride! They are WWII amphibious assault vehicles turned into tour busses. The best part is that part of the tour is IN the lake and the kids get to drive:

Beau was just tickled!

We also got these ridiculous noise makers that we could play as obnoxiously as we wanted :)

A teething Renaud liked the vibrating chew toy. Uncle Evan is such a trooper!

Then off to dinner at Lambert's Cafe - yes, they really do toss you rolls! (Shout out to Charith!)

Our food was huge and delicious. Crystal ate out of a pan, I ate a mountain of salad, they brought around fried okra, macaroni and tomatoes, fried potatoes, and black-eyed peas. It was a feast!

Then we hugged and kissed their glorious faces and we both went our separate ways.

I am SO happy they came to visit! Hope you all had fun weekends too - peace out,

LB.

Minimal Damage

2011-05-24T17:11:00.001-07:00

And the thunder rolls, and the lightening strikes...

Another love grows cold on a sleepless night.

As the storm blows on - out of control,

Deep in her heart -

The thunder rolls.

Fun with Foo

2011-05-23T20:15:00.001-07:00

We've been having such an amazing summer! Take a look:

Iconic Pops sits just off of Route 66, in between Stillwater and OKC. We've been back and forth to the city a lot lately and always take time for a pop-stop!

Thought I'd do some artsy advertising for it :)

One of our adventures in the city brought us to our favorite spot - the temple.

A couple in our ward had been baptized around a year ago, so this past weekend they went through the temple and then were sealed. Evan and I participated in the whole day and we had just an awesome experience.

Joining us were the Sister missionaries that worked with the couple. They had been off the mission for a 1 year & 1 1/2 years; it was the first time they'd been together since the mission, but it was like no time had passed. They stayed with Evan and I, making it a super fun weekend!

They are the first of a slew of house guests that we'll be having this summer... We might have to get a sign-in book :)

We've been trying to spend more time in the outdoors, here's our Young Married group playing disc golf.

We also tried to fly a kite...

... with some success!

Okay, I've been dragging you along - holding out the goods. Well here they are folks:

Ladies and gentlemen - the Foo Fighters!

It was at the BOK Center in Tulsa and every seat was filled. The 2 1/2 hour show was outstanding! We even got an acoustic encore.

I'm still star struck :) They ended strong with Everlong - Evan thought he had died and gone to Heaven. It was my first big show an the bar has been set very high!

Lastly, it's storm season - FINALLY! Here's a little taste of how awe-some the weather is:

Today we had a full double rainbow after a quick thunderstorm - it was truly spectacular!

We're really looking forward to our fun Memorial Day weekend with Zak, Crystal, Beau, and baby Renaud!!

Evan's Thesis, etc...

2011-05-08T20:11:00.001-07:00

Evan is working on his master's thesis. By working, I mean physically preparing sections of a core for analysis. I wanted to learn a little bit more about what he did, so I went straight to the source - off to the Hazardous Reaction Laboratory (HRL):

My turn? :)

Did I mention we also have a celebrity in our midst?

Recently Evan received a grant to help fund his thesis. Can you find his name among the large list of recipients? We are so grateful to be a part of such a giving community and can't wait until we get to pay it forward to a well deserving student. Thank you so much Herbert and Shirley Davis!

We also had a ward picnic this weekend, it was incredible! It was in Perry, OK at CCC Lake - which was equally as nasty as the other clay based lakes around here :) But we made it a good time.

Evan gave guided pointing tours for everyone in search of sun-bathing turtles.

Recently we had a youth temple trip. We had 3 newbies, 2 were our newly converted YW.

As intense as working with young women can be, the rewards are untouchable! I can't begin to express the emotions that come from seeing the smile on a girl's face as she holds a new set of scriptures and be told they're hers to pour over, or the smile she has after coming up out of the waters of baptism. It's totally worth every effort.

Also, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the gratitude I have for the mothers and other women that have given me and Evan life. Thank you for your long-suffering and cheers of encouragement!

And that's just the first week of May! I hope many more good things are to come :) Hope all is well in your neck of the woods!

Peace out - E & LB

Branson MO

2011-04-23T18:56:00.001-07:00

We have been very busy and needed a mini-vacation. Evan planned it all, leaving most of it a surprise. It was very sweet and he did a fabulous job! Please enjoy the photos:

Using Travel channel's suggestion, we started our trip at Woody's, they serve wood-fire baked pizza; my favorite food. The restaurant is tiny but you get to see the wood-fire stove cook your meal! On to Branson -

A romantic cabin for two in the heart of downtown. It was so relaxing and gave us a sense of being back up North... we both miss it so much!

The next morning we drove around and did some shopping. These photos are some of our best finds:

That last one is my favorite! I laughed until I cried watching Evan squeeze his head into that!

We took the trolley around town, thanks for the great ride Ron! Some of the following are sites from the city:

But no trip is complete without taking a closer look at where we really were, or what was underneath out feet:

Oops... :) Evan wants a badge that says, "but I'm a geologist!"

But we couldn't play around for too long because we had reservations for dinner...

... on a train! It was a beautiful hour long trip through the Ozark's:

It was a really great adventure and delicious dinner!

Our time in Branson was up, so the next morning we headed home. We took the slow, scenic route, with a freaking awesome pit stop:

Down we went, deep into the earth!

Bacon!

Then back to the surface we went - home again, home again, jiggity, jig!

We needed the break and it was perfect! Evan did just a phenomenal job planning the trip :) Oh, and...

... Happy Easter to all!

Racing to the Catfish

2011-04-10T20:19:00.001-07:00

The rest of the story:

We had a great turn out for SNB's 5K for the United Way; 30+ showed up in support of this awesome event.

I was so grateful for the warm, sunny morning! It was pretty windy, but that didn't stop us from doing our thing. The best time was 22.51! That individual got to the finish line, slowed to a walk, and then took off again. He went around twice! I was highly impressed.

I didn't participate in the actual
event, instead I was stationed at the start and finish line while Evan and his friend Nate took care of the mid-way point. I was happy to hear that many runners at the lake that morning appreciated the cups of water they set out. An impromptu service project, you could say :)

The saying goes that you should have balance in all things. This definitely applies to our evening, after the race. A catfish eating competition!

There is this great dive between here and OKC that's famous for it's Catfish challenge. It's even been on Man v Food! So, we got together a big group of friends to say "bring it on Adam Richman!"

His record was 29 fillets. We had 6 guys that all believed they could beat that measly record... Things seemed so easy with an empty stomach :)

More catfish please! We ended up with 3 big competitors: Big Nate Mitchell won with 30 fillets, Carson got to 27, and your very own Evan Bagley got to 25 1/2! We had a blast :)

Nate and Carson reached stardom and made it on the white board - for now... But I think Nate said it best, "I'm not sure whether to be proud or embarrassed"! I know it'll be a fond memory for a long time. Please check out the video on Facebook, it truly embodies the moment.

Hope you are all well and enjoying this spring season!

Charity Never Faileth... to be a Rockin Good Time!

2011-04-01T16:47:00.001-07:00

Team Rockin Rollers at Bowl for Kids' Sake:

We may not have been the best bowlers, but we were the cutest! We went for a '50's theme: poodles, bobby socks, scarves tied around our necks, and fun hair styles. I tried to rock a modern Elvis-like do. It ended up looking a little Snooky-ish, but it's the spirit of it, right?

We raised over $8,500! All of the money will go to Big Brothers Big Sisters of Payne county. They pair up children from broken homes with mentors in the community. This pairing leads to less alcohol consumption and drug use and raises school attendance for the kids involved. I'm so grateful for the opportunity I had to participate in planning this incredible event! It was a huge success :)

Where are they now?

2011-03-19T13:14:00.001-07:00

*Yawn and stretch* We've finally woken from our winter hibernation, just in time for spring :) Instead of doing a "wrap up" I'll give you the "where are they now?" update:

Evan is just finishing up his last semester of classes in his Master's program, here at OSU (go Pokes!). He is still working on his thesis, Geo-Chemical Properties of Atokan Rocks of Kansas and Oklahoma. Hopefully he'll be defending this summer or into early fall. From there? Take that question mark away because we have made a decision! He'll stay on for a Phd in Geology, of course. The department is amazing, our ward and friends are incredible, and Lacey's job is picking up speed. Speaking of ward, he's the Elder's Quorum President. They just put on the annual talent show and it was a huge success! He really feels like he's finally found his footing and is starting to really enjoy the calling :)

Lacey is rockin it in the free world :) My job is amazing! The day to day stuff had stayed the same, I'm just learning so much about banking! Fascinating stuff I tell you. I was suggested to be a director in the SNB Club and definitely took the opportunity; I'm having a lot of fun with it. We spread the love by working with the charity groups in the area. I'm on the Big Brother Big Sisters Bowl for Kids' Sake and the United Way committees. I'm also supporting the Relay for Life group by joining their team. I've been using my graphic design knowledge to design the t-shirts for these events and the Special Olympics group. It's crazy to think that I wanted to get my sociology degree to work with non-profits and though my job at a bank, I get too! I'm still in the YW Presidency as the second counselor. We're prepping for camp, wahoo! I can say that because we have an awesome camp director this year that is helping us out so much! We had our annual bake sale (in conjunction with the Elder's Quorum talent show) last night and raised over $500! With 7 girls going to camp this year, that puts us well over the half way mark.

We have decided that since we are staying in Stillwater, we'd like to settle in to a duplex. We've got our eye on one and are just waiting for a call back from the owner, I'm terrible at being patient about these things... Our lease is up at the end of next month, so we really need to hear something from him soon or we'll have to go hunting again :(

We love and miss you all so much. We look forward to seeing your smiling faces soon as we're planning a trip to Washington sometime this summer!

Peace be the journey -

Geology in the Fall

2010-12-04T14:33:00.001-08:00

Hi everyone! Your pictures of Thanksgiving were incredible! We poured over each one just laughing out heads off, ooing and awing at how big the grand kids are, and were very bummed we could be there. We're glad y'all had fun :)

Here are some updates on our life here in Cowboy country:

At work I've had some awesome opportunities to donate either money or time to the community. For the Thanksgiving season Stillwater does a huge food drive called "Harvest". As a bank we were able to donate over 5,000 lbs! Here is the warehouse were we boxed the cans up to be distributed to local food shelves:

I've mentioned my new hair cut a million times on facebook, so I thought I'd include a picture of Evan getting his hair cut at my favorite new salon: Hello Gorgeous! The gals are just young and fun - you can tell by the leopard print apron:

Our friend's, the McDaniels, visited from Colorado. They surprised us with the announcement that they were going to have a baby! So, Elisa and Tolu surprised them with a baby shower! We had a blast and were so grateful to show them how much they meant to us:

I can't talk about the Fall without bringing up Harry Potter! I was so excited to see this new movie and, like everyone else, wishes that the second half was here already! In some ways it will be nice to have that series done already :) I think the craziest part has been learning that some of my young women weren't even born when the first one came out! I'm not even that old, right?

I hope y'all take the opportunity to scan through all of the pictures from our trip to Arkansas on facebook. We were able to go down for just a day, but it was perfect and we found some incredible specimens:

There are very rare times that I have seen him as happy as he is when we are out checking out rocks.

This is a picture of the most recent slumber party. It was so much fun! We ordered in Chinese food, played Kinect and Wii, watched Elf, and had junk food galore! Those girls are teaching me so much, especially how to have fun and laugh until I cry!

Well as we wrap up this blog, I just wanted to show you a fun project I did at work. I made some "windows" out of construction paper and we're having a department wide snowflake making contest! I mean... we work really, really hard :) I've got incredible bosses that allow me to really explore and be creative within the perimeters of my job and I appreciate that a lot!

I hope the rest of the holiday season treats you well! As always, we miss and love you guys and are so grateful for your continued support as we make our way through this "going to school" period in our little family life, following in some big foot steps. Wishing you well,

Evan and Lacey

Octo-update!

2010-10-17T17:40:00.000-07:00

I guess we'll tell you about our lives. We are having some awesome adventures here in Oklahoma. Just between work life/ school life and church we are continually on the move or hosting activities at our place. Speaking of church, Evan just got called to be the Elder's Quorum President, so just when I thought we were busy :)

I love working with the Young Women. They continually keep me on my toes and are full of surprises that just blow you out of the water when you least expect it. It's been especially wonderful working with the Sister missionaries to bring Jordan into the church. It's been only a couple weeks since her baptism and she's already bringing her boyfriend to church and he's asked to take the discussions. I love how you might seem like missionary work can be impossible, but you just have to find the right person and a whole flood of people will follow!

We've (Evan) been carving pumpkins like crazy (2). Our first one we did for a Young Married Adult FHE activity and the second one is for a charity auction that I'm having at work. What do you think?

Last, but definitely not least, we've got a new nephew! Renaud Edward Smith (pronounced: Ren-o) was born October 8th. Both Mom and baby are doing great! Crystal said she was ready to get out of the hospital and on with life! That makes 24 total nieces and nephews for us (22 Bagleys and 2 Smiths).

As always-keep on rockin' in the free world!

Oh, and Happy Halloween!

Summer End

2010-08-18T11:10:00.000-07:00

This has been a fun and busy summer for us. Lacey has been working hard at her new job at Stillwater National Bank and Evan has been doing research and sleeping in. Our most recent activities include traveling to the wedding of two of Lacey's friends, Abby and Ben.

We left for Bemidji Thursday after work. Lacey had enough overtime to get out earlier at 3 pm. We drove through the night, swapping drivers a couple times, until we arrived in Duluth at 6:40 am to visit Lacey's brother and his expecting family.

Evan took a 3 hour nap at Zak's house while Lacey played with her nephew Beau. We went to lunch a Subway with everyone and we headed for Bemidji and the wedding.

We spent a total of 43 hours in Bemidji before we left for home Sunday morning at 10 am. A thousand miles and 17 hours later, we were home.

Some of the other activities we've been up to include karaoke, recording music, ward activities at the lake, roller derby, helping out with mutual, and Lacey's family visiting.

Lacey has been working at Stillwater National Bank since May. She has been working in "Document Imaging" which is a glorified mail room. She opens mail, sorts it, prepares it to be scanned, and then indexes everything. After working there for 3 1/2 months, she has moved to customer accounting where she deals with high dollar, short-term CDs. She also deals with taxes and inactive accounts. Her official title is "Operation CIF Analyst". She really loves her new job. She has a cubicle and no one sits over her. She says that it is her first real grownup job. We are proud of her.

School is about to start again for Evan. He has been getting ready for it. We have decieded to stay at Oklahoma State University for a PhD. It means that we will be here until at least 2016, so if you want to come and visit us, you have plenty of time. Mom and Dad Bagley will be visiting us next weekend and we look forward to their visit.

Sometime soon I will give you a tour of our new (as of May) apartment.

No Pics-Slow Internet Connection

2010-06-12T23:23:00.000-07:00

Hello world! We have had the craziest past couple weeks and are so glad they're over! After Evan got back from his trip to WA (which was a success because they settled it in full and it has been dismissed with prejudice-meaning no other claims can be brought against him!) we finished our move. Our new apartment is incredible and we are so happy to be in a much safer environment:) As a bonus, the place comes with some sweet amenities, one being a pool! We got our young married adult group together for a fun Saturday afternoon just hanging out. Turns out you can't spend all day in this southern sun-it bites back! I've never in my life experienced a blistering burn like it'll give you. I'll have to change my whole swimming philosophy:(

Then my parents came for a visit! They also brought my brother Eli-who has never been to Oklahoma before. My Mom served in the Oklahoma Tusla mission in '76-'77 and got to see some of her old stomping grounds while they were down. Another fun adventure was taking my family to Pops on Route 66. We had a lot of fun:) The best adventure was when Evan, Eli, and my Dad went Armadillo hunting! Yes, they tried but failed. However, they did find one on the road and had to take pictures for good measure. We also took the opportunity to see the Oklahoma City Memorial and go to the OKC Temple for a session. I had a fabulous time while they were here and I'm so glad they were able to come.

However, time doesn't slow down and I was off to Girl's Camp-just for the last night. We had 3 Beehives go from our ward. It was amazing and I'm so glad I got to spend some time with them. The best had to be the road trip back: 3 girls, 2 hours, 1 giant bag of candy-it was incredible!

Well, we're still going strong and, as always, I'm off for more summer fun-hope you guys are having great summers too!

Words...

2010-05-14T17:47:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone! As we sit watching Larry King Live, I just wanted to update you on how things are going in our lives.

I just got a new job and am loving every minute of it! I work for Stillwater National Bank as a document imaging clerk. The actual tasks are pretty repetitive but my co-workers are really great and make work so much fun. Just after starting work, we started moving. We were just moving three miles away, but it feels like a whole new world! We're definitely still in the middle of moving, but we're passed the hump and getting to where the majority of our things are put up in our new place. Also! I just got called to be the 2nd counselor in the YW Presidency, just in time for camp:) I'm really looking forward to this calling, we've got a small, but great group of girls that will really bring some fun into my life! A lot of changes are going on, but they are all for the good. I'm really enjoying the direction my life is taking right now.

As for Evan...

I'm not going to say much because you guys are going to get to see him in just a couple of days!! Hope you'll take great care of him for me:)

We love you all so much and wish all the best for you!

Respecters of Life

2010-04-23T13:37:00.001-07:00

We were up twiddling around our apartment this morning, when a knock came at the door. There were some maintenance men out front chopping holes in the ceiling. Apparently the men who have been working on the roof of the complex poked a wire and cut off electricity to our neighbors. So... they had to find it and fix it. Since they couldn't find it outside, they had to come inside our apartment and make some giant holes in our ceiling! No big deal, until...

...we walked outside and found a bird's nest destroyed on the cement landing. It would have been okay had there not been four newly hatched baby birds laying there too! We were irate! So, we scooped them up and took them to the vet clinic on campus. One of them did not make it... we just hope the other three are okay.

The holes are now all fixed just like the little birds will be... we hope.

Legacy

2010-04-21T19:05:00.000-07:00

A lot can happen in a week and a half... especially when two people are at either end of the Mississippi River. Here are just a few photos to represent the reason I went to Minnesota.

This is my Grandpa, Robert Dean Smith.

This is his boat storage.

These are his woods.

This is his son, my father, in his woods.

And this is the procession to his funeral.

Despite all of the sadness, I can honestly say that I came back from Minnesota a stronger woman. There is a legacy that we leave for those walking behind us on the path of life. My grandfather left a strong legacy of loyalty and I cannot do more for him than step into my place, into his footsteps, and continue what he started. As my dad described it, he used a metaphor of a ladder in hopes that we will take from where was left off and only continue improving what we were given to work with. I hope I can live up to their expectations.

Easter

2010-04-04T09:53:00.000-07:00

It has been a while, so here is whats new:

School has being busy for Evan. He is taking three classes, teaching a lab, research, and thesis work. One of his classes is the "Imperial Barrel Competition". Graduate programs around the world are given data and students have to figure out if there is oil or gas and if it is economical to drill. The OSU team won the regional competition and they will be competing in the international AAPG Conference in New Orleans this next weekend. Evan will be flying out on Thursday the 8th and will come back on Tuesday the 14th.

Lacey has been looking for a job with no luck. There have been some promising interviews and great jobs, nothing has worked out. She has been busy developing her talents. She has been painting pictures to decorate our apartment with. She also has been busy sewing. She has made a few skirts for herself and the sister missionaries.

Saturday, April 3rd, Lacey's grandfather Bob Smith had what appeared to be a stroke. He has been battling cancer for a while. The stroke was so severe that the doctors decided not to attempt to stop the internal bleeding. At about 12:30 am Sunday morning, he passed away.

Evan drove Lacey to Tulsa to catch the 1:15 am Greyhound. She will arrive at 7:45 pm in Bemidji today. She will be in Minnesota for eleven days so she can be at the funeral. She then will catch the Greyhound on the 14th and Evan will pick her up in Tulsa Thursday, April 15th.

Our New Addition

2010-02-20T22:09:00.001-08:00

Many of us have taken notice to the craze in America: the snuggie. I may have been a little bit jealous... but I kept that to myself and kept cozy with a blanket. That all changed when this showed up on our doorstep! Enjoy the photos:

Yes he is wearing a robe with his snuggie... why? Why not.

Now grab your own and snuggie up!

Oklah-who?

2009-09-28T17:10:00.001-07:00

As always, it's been a long time and a lot of things have transpired since we last updated you on our lives. So, here are a few major things:

I graduated with my Bachelors in Sociology!! My family was there the whole week before to help us pack and get ready for our big trek to Oklahoma! I don't know what we would have done without them! My dad had a gastric bypass in January, so if you don't recognize him, don't feel bad. He'd lost almost 100 pounds by the time we got to see him in July. He's officially down 130 pounds now and feeling incredible! His life has finally begun, is his new favorite saying. Not wanting to be bigger than her husband, my mom has also slimmed down almost 50 pounds, the natural way. So, go family! I'm so proud of their hard work!

I can't remember who pointed this out to us, but we thought this was so funny! It's eVan's moving truck!

This is my ultra artsy picture depicting the beautiful trip we had over the mountains and through the plains!

Bridge 0.000 meant that we were just an 1 and 1/2 away from Stillwater!

And we made it! It was a very, very long trip and we were so glad when we saw the light at the end of the tunnel... and then we opened the back of the truck and realized that we were no where close to being done with moving!!

Overwhelmed is definitely a great word to describe how we felt. But, school was three weeks away and I didn't have a job yet, so we pumped things out and now our apartment looks great! We still have those lingering boxes that may just never get unpacked :)

Another big event that we celebrated was our 1 year anniversary, August 16th! Can you believe time has passed so quickly? I know many of you are reading this and thinking back on your 1 years... I know, I know... Evan and I have a long way to go :) We'll looking forward to every step and bump that's along out journey together! So! To celebrate, we got back in the car and took a trip down memory lane, visiting Evan's old mission territory: Arkansas!

This is Evan's big grin outside of the Mean Pig BBQ, our first stop :) He refuses to eat pulled pork anywhere else. Now I understand why!To those of you who picked Evan up from his mission, this may be a trip down memory lane for you too. He also took me to the old mill that was apart of the movie "Gone with the Wind". It was absolutely picturesque!

I took most of the pictures while Evan played by the turtle pond! He was trying to reach through the water to get one "this little" (see photo above) but we were both afraid that he was going to get his hand bit off by the huge guys waiting protectively under the steps for stupid tourists :)

We traveled around the city more, checking out the capital building and the Clinton library/ museum. However, we were tuckered out after all that driving and decided to call it a night.

Now in keeping with some promises he made me, Evan surprised me and we went camping instead of staying in a hotel! I know, who wants to spend there anniversary in a tent... well... me. So, thankfully I have a wonderful husband who's willing to make compromises... you guys raised him right :)

For some reason we decided it would be an excellent idea to get up as soon as possible and hike up a mountain... It was absolutely spectacular with the morning's light. It was also extremely challenging and exciting to push ourselves up such a great obstacle. Perhaps it was even very symbolic hike for us.

Maybe not so healthy and symbolic is what we decided to have for breakfast after our hike... We decided to eat at Waffle House! If you haven't heard Jim Gaffigan's comedic sketch about it, please check it out asap. It definitely proved to be an adventure :) And the adventures weren't stopping there, the whole day was incredible!

Our next step was an alligator farm/ petting zoo. Yeah... yeah... it was just absolutely and wonderfully backwoods! It is home to over 200 alligators.

These little guys reminded me of some crazy alien movie... it was just creepy/ cool looking. There were, what seemed like, hundreds of them in a glowing, murky pool of, what I'm guessing is just, water. The larger alligators looked like animatronics, truly bizarre.

Of course we had to spend some quality time with the massive turtles they had at the end of the tour. These are big loggerhead turtles and can grow to be 800 pounds and almost 4 feet long!

Next we visited a huge horse racing track. I'd never seen/ been to one before. The track was closed, but the betting floor was open. It was just incredible to see so many people there. Definitely a cool thing to experience, if you ever get the chance.

Our last stop was in Hot Springs, AK. There is literally a street lined with old bath houses that are supplied by natural hot springs. We spontaneously decided that after a hike up the mountain and a day of fun we needed a bath! So, we got some swim suits, found one that was still in operation, and took a dip. It was such a cool experience! Especially thinking about the period of time in which they were the political and social centers of that community. Again, if you ever get the chance, please don't pass it up.

As always, the sun set on a splendid day and we were home again home again jiggity-jig. Hold on tight readers, I'm just about done... I promise!

Here's Evan showing off on his first day of school. He wanted to look super cool and fit in. He pulls it off, yeah? Random fact: not only do the students wear bright orange almost every day of the week, so does everyone else in Stillwater! If you come visit, make sure you only pack ultra-bright orange shirts :)

And here I am ready for a wonderful day at my first real 8-5! I'm a secretary for a non-profit that helps handicapped adults find jobs in the community. If they aren't able to work in the community then they do simple projects on site. Its not super challenging, but it's a really good foot in the door, as my goal is to be the director of a non-profit (preferably the United Way).

Besides school and work we spend most of our time with some new friends: Steven, Natasha, their 18 month old Elliot, and unborn son Malcolm (who's coming any day now!). They moved here from Rexburg just six months before us. Out ward is fantastic! We've already babysat for a family with five kids, I've given a talk, and Evan's taught Sunday school. I also have a calling, I'm the primary teacher for the 9 year old's. I never realized how many plain and simple truths have slipped from my mind, so I'm really looking forward to going over them with my class.

Or we can be found supporting the greatest football team ever! GO COWBOYS! We went to the opening game and saw T. Boone Pickens in the flesh! The stadium, named for its biggest donor, holds 60,000 people and is very state of the art.

We're having just a great time here and look forward to seeing all of our Bagley family members during the Thanksgiving season!

Celebrating the Exemplary

2009-07-11T15:37:00.000-07:00

We haven't explained what we got to do for Father's Day weekend yet, sorry if you've just been on edge waiting for these pictures! We went to Yellowstone for free National Parks weekend and it was incredible!

We definitely saw some amazing geyser action! We were just too late for Old Faithful, but we'd both seen her and decided to go hiking around some other geysers instead. They still showed us a good time.

On our first day we drove all the way though the park and headed up to Bear Tooth Pass: 10,950 feet. We climbed the rest of the way: 11,000 feet. It was freezing! Evan and I had a quick discussion of the beautiful glacial features. I love geology!!

We also went to see a fault scarp caused by a massive earthquake in 1959. We did some exploring because the area is just so beautiful. If you take the mountain out, I feel like its a picture of Minnesota :)

Naturally there were buffalo close to and all over the road. It was an awesome adventure. We had so much fun that we decided to stay all weekend. It was very romantic!

After a quick reboot, we headed to Tri-cities. We saw this hot air balloon on the way there and it reminded us of the most amazing movie in the whole world: UP! I suggest it to anyone :)

Sorry for showing some skin, but everyone talked about how amazing the slip and slide was... we wanted to show the true side of the slip and slide, the untold story. It is not exaggerated, this is really how bad it was! Crazy, but Evan says it was worth the pain. I believe it, I wish I could have captured his face after getting up!

We definitely loved the fireworks show and enjoyed being surrounded by all of our loved ones!

The grand finale! Freedom is a great blessing in all of our lives. We are free to express ourselves: physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. "We are driven by five genetic needs: survival, love and belonging, power, freedom, and fun." -William Glasser. Thanks for giving us all of them this weekend!

We are also free to graduate from college! I'll be getting my Bachelors of Science in Sociology on July 23rd. It will be great to be free from school :) This was at the grad night event, I mostly took it to show off the new skirt I made, what do you think?

We love you guys! Thanks for such an awesome weekend! We miss the pool... I mean you... already and hope that you have fun at the family reunion this weekend!

10 out of 11 Days: Rain

2009-06-13T13:52:00.000-07:00

Our lives have been jammed pack with stuff since our last blog in February! Here are as many highlights as possible without making this a dissertation:

We'll start things off on a more spiritual note. As is tradition in church, we'll play a game:) Eye-spy? This is of Evan practicing as his group sang for the weekly devotional before we headed off to Utah for the big production.

We were so lucky to have my brother Zak, his wife Crystal, and baby Beau join us for the adventure. They brought Crystal's parents out so they could experience General Conference in Utah for the first time. This picture is of us in front of the Provo temple. It's where both groups of parents were sealed for time and all eternity.

Here's a neat picture of the guys just getting off the train after Evan sang in the Priesthood session. They all enjoyed the experience so much!

Continuing out little Eye-spy game, can you tell who this is?

It's our wonderful Prophet! We got tickets for the Sunday morning session also, thank you so much Rachel! It's such a sweet experience to be in the conference center during General Conference.

I thought this was a neat picture, you can see how many people were there. Each terrace was packed full!

Here's us at the temple where Evan's parents were sealed. Afterwards we walked around Temple Square for a little bit and then headed on our way home... a short but very, very sweet weekend.

We made it home but were there only long enough to repack and head down to SLC again to get on a plane to San Diego!

Evan had to hold going to the bathroom until we made it to Salt Lake. He couldn't hold it long enough to get to the airport though:) He had to find a secret spot in the middle of the huge parking lot to relieve himself!

We got to San Diego, checked out our hostel, and walked directly to Petco park to watch a ball game. I will be the first to let you know that it was not the most riveting adventure, but it now I can say I've seen a Major League game...

We didn't get to go inside the temple but we spent a really beautiful evening with our group walking around and taking fun pictures outside of it. It is absolutely as beautiful as everyone said it was going to be!

Our group broke up one day and played tourists. Some went to the zoo, some to sea world, our group went and toured the old missions, drove down to the border, and visited the beach one last time. It was a lot of fun!

I said we drove to the border, this was as close as we got:) We were freaking out that we would have to go through border patrol without passports and that we would get in trouble... that was until we saw our saving grace :)

Our next stop in California was to stay with my old roommate in L.A. It's really too bad that she lives there because we had to visit Disneyland while we were there!

Before we hit the rides, we had to fuel ourselves. It was Evan's first time to IN-N-OUT, he liked it, but didn't love it. We'll have to keep going until I can get him addicted too :)

We made it! This was my first time to Disneyland and boy was I excited!

I didn't know standing in line for the rides was going to be as exciting as the rides themselves! We went on every big ride the park offered! We decided to enjoy it and do it however we wanted before we have kids to help us decide how we get to vacation. To chill out from running around we ate at the Blue Bayou, it was so romantic!

I was so happy to spend so much time with my knight and shining armor. We had an awesome trip!

I didn't think I meant that kind of trip... At the end of the day it was an overload and we headed back and crashed for the night.

Our first adventure back was to relive memories from the mission, Evan wanted to make deep fried Twinkies!

Step one: skewer the Twinkies, while wrapped, with a durable stick. Keep them in the freezer until you deep fry them.

Step two: dip the Twinkie in batter. We used a funnel cake dipping recipe.

Step three: fry it up!

Step four: douse with a healthy amount of powdered sugar.

Step five: enjoy and laugh at those who dare try and eat them:)

Our friends are all at points in their lives where they are moving forward and away from Rexburg. We spent time with them before we all headed out. You know most of the couples: the Dominoes, the Becks, the Forts, and, of course, the Bagleys:

Here we are for our last ladies night at the Dominoes.

We had a BBQ for the Fort's before they left. Here are the boys being goofy :)

Last and most recently, Evan took me camping at Crater's of the Moon. This is the only picture we have from that trip as our camera was not charged :(

Thank you for spending your whole afternoon reading our long update. We hope you enjoyed the pictures as much as we enjoyed making the memories! We love and miss all of you. For family members, we can't wait to see you on the 4th of July!

We're at the Top of the World

2009-02-24T09:40:00.000-08:00

We've had a lot going on! I sadly didn't take any pictures when we were visiting family, so thank you Rachel for posting them! Here are some fun things that have happened to the Rexburg division of the Bagley family:

Evan and I both took turns with the dreaded illness. I started things off with a simple sore throat and we both ended it with a couple days stuck in bed. However, it's nothing that a lot of drugs can't fix! Within the next week we were good as new!

Another great thing to help the sickness is to bring in a little healthy air. Evan and I invested in a humidifier, aka, a little bit of Minnesota air! The best part about it is that it glows blue! Evan seems to think he's a wizard or a conjurer of something spectacular!
The middle of winter does something to a girl and big changes seem to help get me closer to summer! So I dyed my hair! Not only did I dye it...

I had Steve Johnson help with some high lights! It was just a little touch of sun... I can't wait for the sun to come back! I was a little anxious at first...

...but pleasantly surprised with the results! If you ever need a good hair dresser I highly suggest him!

Evan also needed to do something to occupy these long winter days... So he finally caved and bought a talk box! Trevor, the lead singer of Madeline Walks, rigged one together with an old stereo and speaker from DI. This is when Evan made the final decision and it's been so much fun! Here's a video to give you a brief introduction to all the fun!

I hope you all have had a very enjoyable month!

Whipped Cream Tastes Best When It's Made With Heavy Cream

2009-01-21T22:37:00.000-08:00

Here are a lot of pictures from our month vacation in Washington and Minnesota to celebrate the holidays with everyone we love!

I begins with a long trip to Washington, so long that the car began to grow:

And grow...

There was many things to do in Washington. Sledding with the kids was incredible, they are so funny!
Pictionary with the whole family makes for a lot of laughs.

The best part of Christmas is the look on a child's face:

So are the looks on the face of a birthday-boy!

Or birthday girl!

Our trip to Minnesota started with some ice fishing. Little did we know that the fish just jump out of the lake already frozen!

So, ice fishing was a whole lot of waiting and playing cards...

The number one question everyone has when you go fishing is : what do you do when you have to go number one? My brother provides us with the perfect solution:

Here is how beautiful I think ice fishing on Lake Bemidji can be.

New Year's turned out to be an alcohol free party at my place! We played Settler's of Catan, Evan won of course!

Now that we're married it's okay for us to cheat at games right? :)

Macarah and Chance had a great time with the Rock'em Sock'em's my parents got the kids (my siblings) to keep them occupied until it was time for Christmas morning!

Abby and Ben show us the happiness that comes when you get a New Year's kiss!

New Year's Day was spent on the Cass Lake Indian reservation, with some friends in the ward. Here we are showing off the game we played: Redneck Life! It was like the game of life, with an incredibly hilarious twist!

To curb any baby hunger Ev or I may have, we have turned our attention on to puppies! There was an incredible puppy at the party that day! Evan couldn't take his hands off him... who am I kidding, neither could I!

My favorite thing about having a man in my life is that I'm protected 100% of the time!

But enough of that, it's time to get home.

Tri-cities lights, guided our flights!

We had to get back for the serious Halo challenges. Evan and I were far from the best, but you better believe we have been practicing. Bring it on!

Well, enough is enough and the best part of a vacation is getting back home.

Thank you all for the incredible adventures! I hope you enjoyed Christmas vacation as much as we did!

Merry Almost Christmas

2008-12-10T20:16:00.000-08:00

Evan and I put together a little number tonight while I was taking a break from homework. We hope you enjoy the video!

Oh yeah, Merry Christmas. We'll see you soon!

The Secret Life of Afton

2008-12-02T19:49:00.000-08:00

Here are some secrets that we've been keeping that we hope brighten your day a little! This was a secret photo shoot that Afton, Uncle Evan, and Aunt Lacey did together one day. Enjoy!

You think we're done? Oh no my dear friends and relatives, we've just gotten started!

You all are laughing at how funny we look, but you have to remember that we are related and hold a strong family resemblance!

So here's lookin' at you! Thanks for a fun vacation, we can't wait for Christmas!

Octuba

2008-10-06T09:48:00.000-07:00

First off, we are alive. No harm has come upon us. We haven't crashed our car in a ravine. Lacey hasn't killed me for my money. No one has died from dysentery. So, we are alive and ticking.

Lacey has been busy with homework. I've been busy with teaching and helping my students. We now have certified copies of our wedding license, thanks to mom. Today, Lacey will take her driving test so she can get a new drivers license with her new last name. Then later, we'll drive down to Idaho Falls to get her a new social security card with her new name. The school let her change her name with our temple certificate. The bank surprisingly let us do the same. She should officially be a Bagley sometime this evening.

We just got down our weekly routine. Our schedules workout such that we have a lunch break at the same time, so we usually go home and have leftovers or sandwiches. We go through the temple every Wednesday at 4:30pm with Cari Fort while Lyle is in class until 9pm. We have been going on walks every so often, but we are planning on working out MWF evenings.

We've got our budget down. It is amazing how many little things there are to plan for. And when you only get 2/3 of your paycheck because of taxes, you get frustrated with the government. If they want me to spend money to spark the economy, let me have more of my money to spend.

Minnesota

2008-06-01T21:50:00.001-07:00

Here are a few pictures:

Bagley, Minnesota

Bagley Dental in Bagley, Minnesota

Crossing the Mississippi River at the headwaters

Walking along the Mississippi River

Lacey and her nephew Beau

A nice cold drink from a 16 gal keg of rootbeer

Our disks that we use when we play Frisbee golf.

Meet the Family

2008-05-12T11:23:00.000-07:00

Lacey and I had a great weekend visiting Kirk's and Rachel's family in Logan. Here are some pictures and a video. Enjoy!

Guitars Unplugged

2008-04-04T16:15:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures:

Work Stuff

2008-04-02T15:29:00.000-07:00

I received my contract today. Here is some of the benefits and privileges just for summer:

1. Free tuition each semester up to four credits
2. Faculty ID Card
3. Library privileges
4. Check cashing privileges
5. Bookstore discout
6. Parking privileges
7. Entertainment, cultural, and athletic events
8. Use of facilities in the Hart Building (Fitness center, pool, etc)
9. Industrial compensation insurance
10. Private office
11. Keys to the department and building

Part-time Faculty
Pay: $700 per credit
Credits: 11.8
Total pay: $8,260

Classes teaching:
Geology 101 Sections 3, 4, 5
Geology 102 Sections 10, 11, 12, 13

Only in Horseshoes and Hand-grenades...

2008-03-30T00:45:00.000-07:00

This upcoming week should be full of resolutions. First, I should find out if I have an apartment. It is the $395 /mo place. It sounds like I may be able to start moving things in next week. I hope I get it before the semester ends so that I am able to move my friends furniture that he is giving me into the apartment when he graduates next month.

The other big thing happening this week is that my contract should be ready for me to sign. The contract was all typed up Friday and was given to the Dean of the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences. It should eventually make it to Dr. Moore, the head of the Geology Department. When he gets it, then I will sign it. That means I should be getting my building keys, ID card, and office. That'll be exciting.

My roommate is also leaving this week. He is going on a two week cruise to the Caribbean. I'm really not jealous. I get to go on a Geology field trip to Hawaii July 27th to August 5th. We'll be going to the active lava flows on the big island. We'll also collect lots of great samples for personal and academic purposes. The black beach sand as well as the green beach sand. I'm really excited. I was thinking that if Dad covered the fees, then that'll count for the cruise he says he owes me.

PS. I do have a girlfriend. Don't get too excited. The thought of marriage hasn't entered our minds, well not seriously yet. Well, at least my mind. Her name is Lacey. She is from Bemidji, Minnesota which is next to Bagley, Minnesota.

Still looking

2008-03-08T08:30:00.000-08:00

Things have been getting busy around here. I've been preparing to teach next semester. I have my power point presentations. I need to practice with them. The paperwork isn't done yet. The administration should finish writing up my contract sometime next week.

I got a job this week in the Geology Department. I tried earlier to get a job with them, but they could hire me. After talking with the head of the department, Dr. Moore, he figured a way how to hire me. I am a project-based temporary employee. There are several little jobs that need to be done around the geology department. I am right now working on two. I'm helping with making some educational posters that will be put up around the building. The posters display information about different rocks and how they form. It is designed to be supplemental information for those in introductory geology courses.

Another project I am working on is the rearrangement of the rock and mineral samples in our labs. We are moving all igneous and metamorphic rocks into one lab along with all the mineral samples. Our large lab will have all the sedimentary rocks and paleontology samples. Most of these samples are in drawers, so I'm swapping drawers. We run into drawers full of rocks that no one knew we had. Any miscellaneous samples we find have to be integrated into our other collections. I enjoy working in the department. I occasionally help out the struggling freshmen. I really enjoy teaching. The pay is great. Most campus jobs for students are around $7 hr, but I'm getting payed $12.40. I have also been given a faculty parking permit which I really enjoy.

Wednesday morning, my roommate and I helped out with baptisms for the dead in the Rexburg temple. It was fun, except that it was a 6am. I was the recorder the whole time. But after we finished, I was asked if I wanted to be baptized. Since I had already brought another change of clothing, I said yes. I was baptized for five Englishmen by my roommate. Almost every time I went down, I hit my knee on the stairs. I was fine, but I thought it was funny.

I'm heading to Jackson Hole today. One of my friends flies out of there today at 3pm. Someone he's related to passed away. The earliest flight he could find was a direct flight from Jackson to Chicago. Apparently flying out of IF was already full. I'm bringing a few friends along to make the trip more enjoyable.

My band, Madeline Walks, made it into Guitars Unplugged again. This is my 5th Guitars Unplugged. We are doing a cover of "First Date" by the band Blink-182. It will be fun.

It's still a little cold here. Its been getting in the single digits at night. There is still a lot snow. I probably should take a picture. I've also been busy looking for an apartment. I found a place that I'm hoping to get. It is $395 /mo but that doesn't include gas or electricity. It doesn't have cable, but I really don't care about that. There is no dishwasher or laundry. It is probably the cheapest place around that isn't literally falling apart. The average price people pay around here, according to the college, is $550. I know of a place that is $500 and includes everything. I'm hoping to get either one. All the other places I've found are too expensive. They are either $500 with no utilities or they are $600+. I just wish I could stay in student housing because its cheap and it has everything included.

Plow Day!

2008-02-14T13:00:00.000-08:00

Today, the parking lot is being plowed at my complex. Everyone had to park their cars somewhere else. The ice sheet on our lot is over three inches thick in some places. They are using a caterpillar bulldozer to plow it. The mountain of snow at the end of our lot is over ten feet tall. Its even taller than the bulldozer.

What have I been up to? Well, I've met with the head of the geology department, Dr. Moore, about the teaching position. He'll soon give me some powerpoint presentations to get ready for next semester. I'll be teaching 13 credit hours. The teaching contract should be all done by the end of the month for me to sign and make everything official. I'm getting excited. I already have my schedule. I thought that I would have to be teaching night classes, but I ended up being done teaching by about three in the afternoon. The only downside to finishing early is that I start teaching at about 7:45 every morning. But I have no problem. It will be a great experience and good pay.

I've been housekeeper since I've got here. It isn't too bad because my roommates haven't been very messy. They've seen me clean up so much that it has influenced them to stay tidy, kinda. Since I'm in complete control of what I eat and since I have time to cook. I've been doing well. I have no temptation to drink pop or eat candy since I have none. I also have been starting to workout. I haven't made it to the gym yet, but I some friends who want to go. We just need to find a time that works for all of us.

I'm over the cold I developed just before I left Pasco. I guess it helps being away from other sick people and kids. I feel good. I'm glad to be back.

M.T.A.

2008-02-04T13:13:00.000-08:00

I have had my car for a little over a week now, but the pass is continuously bad. I'm almost to the point of buying 4 studded tires and a shovel and heading back to Rexburg. The thought of selling my car and getting a beat-up 4x4 has crossed my mind, but I guess I have to be patient. I was planning on leaving today, but Mom and Dad don't want me to go since its worse up there than the day of my accident. I've been also checking the northern route through Montana, but that looks just as bad. I guess I'll make another attempt on Saturday. Things are supposed to warm up this week, so I'm hoping that means that the road will clear up.

I'm running out of things to do (except for cleaning). I sold my platinum, gold, and silver and made a 45% profit in roughly two years. Mom and Dad received their ballots for the primary last week, but I hadn't received mine yet. I called in and they said that I was set to inactive because I was living outside Franklin County. That happened because I was supposedly summoned for jury duty, but Mom and/or Dad replied that I was in Idaho. I explained to them that I was away for college, so they set me as active and my ballot should show up in two or three days.

I think I got something from Derek. My throat is starting to itch again. I started coughing a little last night. I hope I can get over this quicker than last time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VMSGrY-IlU

Home Alone 5: The Missionaries Strike Back

2008-01-20T18:14:00.000-08:00

Sorry for not updating. I just haven't been doing anything very exciting that hasn't been mentioned my Mom and Dad. Here is a recap of December:

The first two weeks of December consisted of 13-15 hour days on campus, including Saturday, working on my projects in Physics, Applied GIS, and my senior thesis. I lived on Dr. Pepper. I started to get regular Monday morning headaches. I figured it was due to a caffine dependance because I get caffine from the drinks I buy at either the gas station or fast-food. Since I don't do that on Sunday, my body gets upset. I'm proud to say that I haven't drank any caffine for three to four weeks now.

December 14th was commencement. Mom and Dad came down for it. It was fun. There were some great speakers. But that day was pretty hectic. I had a calculus take home test due that day, I took an in-class calculus final, I sold books back, had lunch with Mom and Dad, commencment, convocation, and hit the road to Logan. I got a little rushed there at the end, resulting in forgetting a few things I wanted to bring.

I had fun down in Utah with Mom, Dad, Kirk, Rachel, Chair-lift, Brian, and kids.
Christmas was fun. I missed Rachel's family. I hung out with Lyle Fort and his family a little.
I got a cold five days after christmas which I finally got over.

January (so far):

New Year's was fun. It was good to see Ryan's and Andrew's family. Ryan and Andrew had me collect the mail everyday while they were gone on their cruise. One of the nights I picked up the mail, there was an SUV parked in their lot. I got the color, make, model, and lisence plate number of the vehicle just in case.

I found out that I didn't graduate. I hadn't taken a class that was never offered. My advisor said that he was going to get it waived seven months ago. He'd aparently forgot. I was going to fill out the waiver paperwork out when I got back to Rexburg, but I changed my mind after realizing I was stuck in Washington longer than expected. So I looked at the catologue year requirements and realized that if I change my catologue year from 2004 to 2005, this issue would be resolved. I called BYU-Idaho and they changed it. I am now graduated. My diploma should be showing up here in Pasco in a week or two.

This weekend, Mom and Dad went to Utah. I kinda wanted to go. I'm still a little hesitant due to what happended two weeks ago. But, since the missionaries were moving in, I needed to stay here to help them move and settle in. It has been interesting having them here. My evenings are completly different than usual. I seldom watch TV downstairs so not to disturb the misssionaries.

Since Mom and Dad are gone, I just relax on thier bed watching tv with my guitar while planning out my day, or rather, figure out a to do list. This list has been rather useful. I got Dad's van serviced, cleaned the basement, vacuumed the whole house, burned the garbage, crushed the cans, rearranged the white shelves to give the elders more space, cleaned and straitened the garage, and kept things clean and tidy. When I'm in a clean house, I get too lazy to clean up a big mess, so I don't allow a big mess to build.

I have no clue what I'm doing to celebrate Martin Luther King's birthday. I think it may have a little bit to do with Goodwill and a dumpster. And when I say Goodwill, I'm not talking about an attitude. Oh, there is some furniture in the garage from the missionaries' apartment if anyone wants stuff. That is aimed mostly to Derek and Shellee.

Oh yeah, I am now teaching Geology at BYU-Idaho for the Summer and Fall Semesters.

PS: I'll see if I can get some pictures of my car for everyone to enjoy.

29th November 2007

2007-11-29T22:06:00.000-08:00

Well, it is finally hitting me. I went to Grad Night here at BYU-Idaho and got some free goodies. I spoke to some friends that I haven't seen for a while. Graduation is in 15 days. I feel it too, with tests coming up and projects due.

I've figured out what I'm doing so far. I'll be here in Rexburg through the end of the summer semester. Winter semester will consist of me applying to graduate school and possibly working in the geology department. I'll be adjunct faculty here for just the summer. I've filled out the application for the position, and I'll know in a week or so if it is a done deal.

I've been looking at several options for grad school:
BYU
U Wyoming
Utah State
U Colorado
Colorado School of Mines
Oklahoma State
Baylor

It is a large list, but I've learned from Ryan's experience with Dental School not to limit yourself to only a few options. Oklahoma State is the one that looks like the best deal.

Rexburg is being it's old self. A little bit of snow, sub-freezing temperatures, and horrible wind. Maybe I'm being prepared to work in Antarctica. If I went to Oklahoma State, I could end up doing research in Antarctica. I've been needing to get a hair cut, but the wind chill has persuaded me not to. I also need an oil change. Hopefully I'll get to that Saturday along with the haircut. My band has a show next Friday. We are playing at the Westwood, an old movie theater. We've done a show there before. It is a really neat place. It is very old and has a lot of beautiful architecture and art.

November 9th, 2007

2007-11-09T20:54:00.000-08:00

The past few weeks have been rather busy with exams and projects. I had a calculus exam. I'm not sure how I feel about it. We will finally find out our scores Monday. Calculus has been pretty hard, but I am doing better than I thought I would. I also had a lot due in my Micro
Applications class. I had eight assignments, two quizzes, and one exam all in a matter of four days. I got everything submitted early. I'm trying to get ahead in that class right now so I won't have much to do during Thanksgiving break.

Halloween wasn't anything special. I had to work in the geology rock lab from 7 to 11pm. I TA a night lab during that. I was invited to two different parties, but I couldn't make it to either.

Last Sunday was stake conference. It was nice to finish church by noon. Church is normally from 1:30-4:30. Elder Christofferson of the seventy spoke. Our stake presidency was changed. We remembered the time change, but quite a few people didn't. It made for an entertaining day.

I received e-mails about several internship opportunities. One is at the church beef farm in Florida. Another was with the PNL. I applied to both to increase my options. If I get one of those, I'll be out of Rexburg Jan-March. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do next semester. I'll have graduated, so I don't have to live in approved housing. That increases my options if I stay. I may be able to get a job with the geology department during that semester.

I'm not sure if I should stay or come back to the Tri-Cities. Most of my friends are hear, and I don't really want to leave. It makes more financial sense to head home and work at the office for three months. I know mom would love it. I just don't want to deal with the hassle of moving all my stuff. I've sold or given to DI some things. See dad, I even have to get rid of stuff. I'm bringing home some books and rocks during thanksgiving break.

About the break, it is the entire week. From how it sounds, we may be leaving Saturday morning. I'll be bringing Lyle Fort, his wife, her brother, and Christi Perkes. Good thing I have a roomier car than most people up here.

My band and I are playing in Grand Pianos Live this Saturday. We are doing a cover of "Penny Lane" by the Beatles. It will be our drummer, myself on bass, and our lead singer singing and playing piano.

Job offer

2007-10-27T23:42:00.000-07:00

I interviewed with a few oil companies when I was at Laramie a month ago. I've been waiting ever since for a phone call letting me know if I got a job or not. These companies are now calling people to let them know. I have two friends that have received offers. I'm expecting a phone call any day now.

While I was at school Friday, one of my professors called me into his office. I didn't know what he wanted. He is the head of the Geology department here at BYU-Idaho. He asked me when I was graduating and what my plans are. We talked about how I am waiting to here if I got an internship. He asked me when I was planning on going to graduate school.

We discussed a few more things and then he asked me something I didn't expect. He asked me if I was interersted in teaching. He told me that the school needs someone to teach some introdutionary geology lectures and labs Summer 2008, Fall 2008, and Winter 2009.

I've been a lab assistant and a teacher's assistant for the past two years and have really enjoyed it. I've wanted to eventually teach geology at a small college or university, so I expressed to my professor my interest in the job. He told me that it will be a great experience, a powerful resume item, and great pay. I told this to Lyle Fort, and he said that he'll try to take one of the courses I'll teach.

October 22, 2007

2007-10-22T22:02:00.000-07:00

Things have been more relaxed the past few days. I had quite a few assignments and test a couple weeks ago. I got an 89% on my calculus test, so I feel pretty good right now. That puts me at an A to A- in the class, including all other assignments.

The weather doesn't know what it wants to do here. Some days are borderline jacket/no jacket while others require a winter jacket. It has snowed twice already. The snow usually melts in a day, then it is beautiful the next. Most days have been overcast. That makes things a little depressing. That, combined with the lack of due dates, have made the past week a little too lazy. I just need to kick it up before it gets me into trouble.

My band made it to the Best of Guitars Unplugged. It was a lot of fun. It was my third time to the best of. There is a amazing feeling when you play in front of over 4000 people. We are having a little show this Friday. Some friends from Spokane are coming down. It'll be fun.

Friday, October 5th, 2007

2007-10-05T22:46:00.000-07:00

I've been busy the last few weeks. I went to Laramie, Wyoming to the AAPG Rocky Mountain Rendezvou where students mingle with companies. I had four formal interviews and 5 informal interviews. There are a few companies that I'm interested in. I'm holding out until I get a response from some of the larger companies. One company I am hoping to work for is El Paso. They are a mid-sized company that would expose me to the many aspects of oil and gas exploration and production. I have a few offers already from two companies who provide great pay and exposure, but they are very low level jobs with small exposure to whats out there.

This past week has been one of long days. I've spent 41 hours on campus the past three days. A former student did a senior thesis that he never finished his poster for and he is too busy to work on. I've been asked to work on his poster, which will be presented at the AAPG annual meeting in Snowbird, UT. I was offered free travel, hotel, and food if I wanted to go down to it and present the poster myself, but that will be on a Tuesday, the worst day for me to miss any class. My professor will present it on my behalf. Since I am the one putting everything together, I am the primary author. This will be something good for my resume. Undergraduates usually do not present posters, especially in a meeting this big. I have another long day ahead of me Saturday to finish the poster, finish some online homework for my excel class, and study for calculus.

My band, Madeline Walks, auditioned for Guitars Unplugged again here at BYU-Idaho. We are the first act on Friday night. We usually play one of our own songs at Guitars Unplugged, but we decided to cover "Sadie Hawkins Dance" by the band Reliant K. It is a fun song.

First week of the last semester.

2007-09-18T21:54:00.000-07:00

Today has officially ended the first week of the Fall semester. My schedule isn't too bad, with one little exception. I am doing a senior project that I need to do in a week. I have all the data, I just need to spend a few hours a day combining the data and making a poster that I will present in a professional meeting at the end of the month. We discovered a significant tectonic fault where we worked this past summer.

The other classes I am taking are calculus 1 (Math 112), physics lab (PH150), Applied GIS (Geol 440), and CIT 140, a database management class using Excel and Access. I have calculus M-F, physics on Tuesdays, and GIS on Tuesdays and Thursdays. My CIT 140 class is online and my senior project is the rest of the time. So far, I'm keeping up. Nothing too crazy yet.

Monday, we had a ward family home evening. We received out group assignments. The M\F ratio is such that there are 3 guys and 7 girls in my group. Most of the girls are 18.
the bishop said that our ward usually has a high number of freshmen girls compared with most wards. Being 24, this is a little weird.

For work, I only TA one class. I spend most of my time in the computer lab or the rock lab. I have usually been stuck working a lot of nights and the weekend. I've been lucky this time around. I was assigned two evenings, but I switched my Friday night shift with an earlier one. I also wasn't assigned to work Saturday.

I like my new apartment. Overall, it is a nicer place. We have larger bedrooms, but our front room isn't as big. We only have four people here, so it's not so bad. My last apartment held six. I've been slowly going through my things and decluttering. What we did with Mom's stuff at home has got me doing the same here. It is nice that I moved into a new place. It makes me want to move as little as possible, so I really realize what is excess.

The open house for the temple was announced. It starts December 29th. It will be dedicated in February. So much construction is going on around here, and it is all finished after I graduate. The new 15,000 seat auditorium and the new student center will be done 2009. Campus is nearly cut in half by the construction of those two buildings.

Sorry that I don't update this more often. Moving back to Rexburg and re-adjusting has kept me busy. Since I will be spending a lot of time on a computer with my projects, I should do better soon.

Summer Cleaning and stuff

2007-07-31T21:29:00.000-07:00

I've been home from school for a little over a week now. Things have been pretty busy and hectic.

My last final was Wednesday the 18th. It was an oral presentation berfore the class and the faculty. I presented my poster which includes information on what I studied and mapped in the Beaverhead Mountains. After presentations, I made the fixes to my poster that the professors wanted me to. I reprinted it, and it is now hanging in my room. The printer ran out of blue ink while printing, so when I get back to school, I'll reprint it for the professors.

The rest if the 18th and all day on the 19th and 20th involved moving my stuff into Lyle Fort's house to store over the break. I packed my stuff up and cleaned the apartment. I was the last one out, so I made sure everything was clean. I had to be out on the 19th, so I spent that night at Lyle's.

Lyle, his wife, and I caravaned to Spokane to visit the Johnson family for the weekend. I always enjoy being with them. They are a great family. Visiting their house and playing on their pianos is a plus. It is amazing how nice a Bosendorfer Model 290 Imperial 97-keyed 9' 6" Grand Piano sounds. We went to Pizza Pipeline and got the 26" pizza. It fed 8 very hungry people. We later went downtown to the park and stopped by Dick's for some burgers.

I had been planning on heading to Spokane for a couple weeks when I found out that Voyle was flying in there. He was supposed to get there Saturday night. He got bumped to Sunday morning and routed through Denver. When he got to Denver, his flight to Spokane had already left. He was then put on a flight that showed up at 1pm. This allowed me to spend more time with my friends and to go to sacrament meeting with the Johnsons. I picked Voyle up and we stopped at Zips in Ritzville for lunch. We got home that evening and played some card games.

I ran some errends with mom Monday morning and made it to work in the afternoon. I did the usual sweeping of the cobwebs around the building and sweeping the stairwell. Tuesday involved running around and getting errands done. Wednesday, Voyle and I ran to some car audio places and then I took him to Loren's office. While he was there I lubed my car, renewed my driver's license, applied for a concealed weapons permit, and ran to the bank. We then went home and stared cleaning the basement and shop. While running around during the week, Voyle and I have been eating a taco wagons since Toronto doesn't have real Mexican food.

The next couple days involved disposing of 800lbs of stuff from the shop and organizing what was left. I know that I need to go through the small stuff in the back of the shop during the next few weeks. I also have to go through the toys to dispose of broken toys.

The weekend involved giving my car to Voyle for a couple of days, not knowing what was happening, and pure confusion.

Monday, I pulled up the RV and did some cleaning and prep for the family reunion. I just now need to contact Pimp My Ride.

I had friend who told me that, while I was in the Tri-Cities, I was to be on the lookout for a Nintendo Wii for him. So, while I was getting a part for my car stereo at Best Buy, I found two. I got one and informed him to get controllers and games. I've been testing it out the last few days. It really is amazing and fun. I highly suggest getting one to those curious. He will be down here to pick it up from me later this week, so I guess I need to use it as much as possible.

Finals Week: Summer 07

2007-07-16T20:45:00.000-07:00

It is now finals week here in Rexburg. We got back to town last Friday afternoon to conclude our last time up in the mountains. I spent 7 hours in the geology computer lab Saturday working on my map. I was on campus today for about 6 hours today and I finished my map. I began to put in in Adobe Illustrator to make my poster that I'll present in front of the geology faculty on Wednesday. I'm working on my report right now. I should finish that tomorrow along with my poster.

I spent 5 hours cleaning our front room and misc. areas of the apartment. I also ran some stuff over to Lyle Fort's house for safekeeping during the 7-week break that begins later this week. I'm staying here in Rexburg until Friday. I'll carpool with Lyle and his wife to Spokane to visit the Johnsons. We'll stay there till Sunday then we'll head to Pasco. I should be there Sunday night.

P.S. - I lost 40 lbs. during field camp.

Week 5: Beaverheads, 4th, and fun.

2007-07-06T19:52:00.000-07:00

This week was pretty short. We were only in the field Monday and Tuesday. I had the rest of the week off. I hiked around my area to some critical areas on Monday. Tuesday, I spent with Drew, another student, and we went over some faulting that runs through both our areas.

Kirk's family arrived up here Tuesday afternoon. We went to lunch Wednesday. It was good to see them. I spent the rest of the day along the Snake River in Idaho Falls to secure a spot for the fireworks that night. I hung out with some friends, but mostly friends of Drew. Mitt Romney was there, but I wasn't sure where he was, so I didn't go see him. I sat in the shade and played Risk and read the Illiad. The firework show was impressive as it always is here in Idaho Falls. They supposedly have the 5th ranked firework show west of the Mississippi.

Thursday and Friday involved straitening and cleaning. I picked up some boxes behind Kmart and have been packing some stuff up, mostly books and notebooks. I'll be home for about 7 weeks from July 21st to early September. I'm also moving to another apartment with a few friends.

The new place doesn't have the mold problems this place has. The bathroom here had to be completely ripped out and redone. The rest of the apartment will be gutted and fixed during the 7 week break, so I can't keep anything here. Lyle Fort and his wife, Cari, have a basement that they have offered to store my stuff for however long I need to store it. Chairith made sure I knew that her family had space available, but I think this should be fine, thanks.

Tomorrow will involve making my map on the computer on campus. I need to correlate my data with another student, Dave. He has been out of town, preventing me from getting it done already. I'm also working with Drew so we can finish our maps. We have one more week in the Beaverheads to double check and solve problems with our maps. We've found some major faults that haven't been mapped before. One of them will help solve a big puzzle with some of the major mountain building events here in North America.

Week 4: Beaverhead Mountains

2007-06-30T23:35:00.000-07:00

Long Canyon, Beaverheads: The southern part of my mapping area.

A series of Z-folds in a chert/shale unit.

Folded vertical layers.

The west side of Copper Mountain in my area, 10,303'.

They told me to do it, or rather attempt it.

Field Camp - Week 3: Spring Mountain Canyon, Lemhi Range

2007-06-23T11:56:00.000-07:00

Spring Mountain Cirque.

Top of Big Windy Peak, 10,380'.

Meadow Lake, 9,140'. Meadow Peak, 10,727'

Long Distance Rock Hammer, Horseshoe Gulch, 8,940'

Bear Killer, 50 Cal. Armor Piercing Round.

Week 2: Big Hole Mountains

2007-06-16T09:37:00.001-07:00

A view looking east from the 7724' peak we climbed. Tetons in the background.

The view looking south. Thompson Peak in the background.

April flowers bring May snow showers!

2007-05-22T12:15:00.000-07:00

Robin Williams' Plan for Peace!

2007-05-16T14:48:00.000-07:00

Robin Williams' plan...

"I see a lot of people yelling for peace but I have not heard of a plan for peace. So, here's one plan."

1) "The US will apologize to the world for our "interference" in their affairs, past & present. You know, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Tojo, Noriega, Milosevic, Hussein, and the rest of those "good 'ole' boys," we will never "interfere" again.

2) We will withdraw our troops from all over the world, starting with Germany, South Korea, the Middle East, and the Philippines. They don't want us there. We would station troops at our borders. No one allowed sneaking through holes in the fence.

3) All illegal aliens have 90 days to get their affairs together and leave. We'll give them a free trip home. After 90 days the remainder will be gathered up and deported immediately, regardless of whom or where they are. They're illegal!!! France will welcome them.

4) All future visitors will be thoroughly checked and limited to 90 days unless given a special permit!!!! No one from a terrorist nation will be allowed in. If you don't like it there, change it yourself and don't hide here. Asylum would never be available
to anyone. We don't need any more cab drivers or 7-11 cashiers.

5) No foreign "students" over age 21. The older ones are the bombers. If they don't attend classes, they get a "D" and it's back home baby.

6) The US will make a strong effort
to become self-sufficient energy wise. This will include developing nonpolluting sources of energy but will require a temporary drilling of oil in t he Alaskan wilderness. The caribou will have to cope for a while.

7) Offer Saudi Arabia and other oil producing countries $10 a barrel for their oil. If they don't like it, we go someplace else. They can go somewhere else to sell their production. (About a week of the wells filling up the storage sites would be enough.)

8) If there is a famine or other natural catastrophe in the world, we will not "interfere." They can pray to Allah or whomever, for seeds, rain, cement or whatever they need. Besides most of what we give them is stolen or given
to the army. The people who need
it most get very little, if anything.

9) Ship the UN Headquarters to an isolated island someplace. We don't need the spies and fair weather friends here. Besides, t he building would make a good homeless shelter or lockup for illegal aliens.

10) All Americans must go to charm and beauty school. That way, no one can call us "Ugly Americans" any longer. The Language we speak is ENGLISH...learn it...or LEAVE...Now, isn't that a winner of a plan?

"The Statue of Liberty is no longer
saying "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses." She's got a baseball bat and she's yelling, 'you want a piece of me?' "

Not much so far ...

2007-05-12T17:46:00.000-07:00

The first half of this semester has been going fast. I only have one class this first half, Book of Mormon 2. This allows me to get a few more hours at work. I'm getting 16 or more hours every week. The school doesn't want me to work more than 20. I get close to that sometimes.

What I do for work varies. I am a Teaching Assistant for a lab that meets twice a week. It is Geology 102, a generals class. I also give tours of the mineral museum to elementary and middle school kids. Some other duties are proctoring tests, grading tests and assignments, tutoring, and being a lab assistant. I am the acting president of the Geology Society here. That, along with being the president of the BYU-Idaho student chapter of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

Since I can see the light at the end of the BYU-Idaho tunnel, I've been going through my stuff and selling what I don't need. When you settle down, you end up amassing greats amounts of junk/stuff. This is the reason why Mom and Dad can't move.

My field camp starts May 30th. We'll spend the first and last weeks here in Rexburg, but the rest of the time we'll be in the Big Hole and Beaverhead Mountains of eastern Idaho mapping. We'll be dry camping, so that means no shaving or showering. I want to stay somewhat sanitary while out there, so I'm thinking on getting baby wipes or something like that and AXE for daily personal hygiene. Any suggestions on what to do are welcome.

I'm not sure what I'm doing this Memorial Day. I was thinking of heading down to Utah or possibly Washington. I'm able to get someone to cover me at work for my few hours on Friday, so I would be able to head out about 12:30pm on Thursday and have a four-day weekend. But with everyone coming down here the next weekend, I'm not sure what to do.

I woke up to a snow covered Rexburg last Saturday and now it is sunny and 80 degrees here and the only AC in my car. It warmed up to fast.

Dearly departed ..

2007-04-18T17:20:00.000-07:00

Random Photos

2007-04-16T14:54:00.000-07:00

This is the view atop Beartooth Pass in Montana. This was during my week long field trip in the beginning of Fall semester 2006. 10,974 feet above sea level.

My housemate, Stephen Johnson, after recording a song about my roommate Mikey.

Back to School

2007-04-16T11:46:00.000-07:00

I got back to Rexburg at about 8pm. I dropped off the two passengers I had and unloaded my stuff. My new car runs fine. This one lacks some of the nice features that my old car had, but this came with some others. Give and take I guess.
I've been on the phone with the insurance company today. I also asked Derek if he could run to the wrecking yard and get my CD player and speakers. Since my new car is the same model, the speakers will work. I guess I should have asked him to take a picture or two of the car.
My schedual this semester is great. I have one class during the first half of this semester that meets for two hours twice a week. It is a Book of Mormon class. I also work 15 1/2 hours a week on campus. Two of those hours are tutoring GE geology classes. The second half of this semester is filled with camping, so that'll be fun.

Springbreak doings:

2007-04-14T20:19:00.000-07:00

More things I did:

Read the "Bathroom Trivia Book".
Celebrated Shiloh's Birthday.
Helped the Easter Bunny hide eggs.
Attempted to go shooting.
"Dukes of Hazard", too bad the "General Lee" didn't survive.
When car shopping.
Bought a car.
Took some Tylenol.
Entertained some children.

Spring Break

2007-04-13T13:21:00.000-07:00

What have I done so far?

Work at Dad's office.
Bug-bombed things at home.
Vacuumed the house.
Babysat twice Derek's kids.
Went out to eat lunch almost everyday.
Drank pop like no tommorrow.
Went to the bathroom like no tommorrow.
Costco.
Setup Mom and Dad's Blog.
Setup a new blog for myself.
Played card games.
Showed off my 3.6 GPA for this semester to Mom and Dad.
Had my 12-string guitar restrung, waxed, and polished.
Looked up possible configurations for a new front computer at Dad's office.
Drove Mom around to several places and helped her order a foreign film online.
Beat Peggles.
Recorded Music Videos that play at night and watched some of them.
Exposed Mom to a Prince video, "Kiss".