Graduate School

We are currently being faced with making the decision of where Richard should go to graduate school...stay here or go somewhere else...that is the question. He doesn't graduate until April 2010, but this is a decision that is supposed to be made quite a bit in advance. He will take the GRE next summer and needs to know which schools he wants it sent to because they will send his score straight to four schools for him. So in order to get some help on making this decision we attended a Civil Engineering Graduate Banquet that was put on by BYU's Civil Engineering Faculty. It was a lot of fun, and really informative. They had faculty sitting at each table, so that was really great for Richard to be able to talk to some faculty. The best part about that was that Dr. Gerber was the professor at our table and he specializes in Geotechnichal Engineering, which is what Richard wants to do, so that was GREAT!
The banquet started at 6:30 and we had a delicious meal catered by BYU (always good)! First we had salad and rolls. Followed by chicken and broccoli alfredo for dinner. That was all topped off with personal chocolate cream pies (so fun!), the had whipped cream and chocolate chips, and it was DELICIOUS! I wish I had thought to take a picture so tha I could make you all jealous, but I didn't, so you'll just have to imagine it. :)
After dinner there were a few different speakers talking about the advantages of graduate school. They informed us that starting in 2015 it is going to be a requirement to have a Master's Degree in order to become a professional engineer. Therefore, now is the time to do it because it 7 years they are going to be competing with young engineers who all have Master's Degrees.
It was a great night and it was really fun to meet some of Richard's friends from his classes! We had a great night!

My feelings on the new Prop 8 developments...

Before writing this, I want to make it clear that this is in no way a note concerning discrimination against those who are homosexual or those who voted no (or would have if they lived in California) on proposition 8. I have nothing against those on the no side of prop 8, but that will not keep me from standing up for the things that I believe in.
It disgusts me that people are more than happy to vote on issues when they think that their side will win, but as soon as it doesn't they are right back there being disrespectful towards the people that have been doing the same thing as them, standing up for what they believe in. Many people are accusing the LDS church for the Yes on 8 passing, what they fail to realize is that the Catholic church and many people who have no religious affiliation at all are also standing up for prop 8. Yes, the church took a strong stand, which it usually avoids, but this is a crucial stand for the future generations of our nation. 70% of the African-American population in California also voted yes on Prop 8, they went out in record numbers to show their love, support, and respect for president-elect Obama and in turn voted yes on Prop 8 while they were there. Prop 8 passed, telling us that in the state of California there are more people in favor of traditional marriage than not, deal with it, propositions just like this one are passing all over the nation, not just in CA, Florida and Arizona also passed a ban on same sex marriage on Tuesday, as did a few other states. Be respectful and be good citizens, abide by the law of the land.
If you feel you must keep fighting it, do so respectfully and lawfully. Put it back on the ballot in a few years, until then, respect EVERYBODY and EVERYTHING, especially those things which are sacred in the religion of others, we will not protest in front of your religious symbols, don't we deserve the same respect? Respect is not conditional, all people deserve it from everybody, not just those with the same ideas, beliefs, and values.

Sundays are a wonderful day!

Last Sunday we spent the morning sleeping....until approximately 10:40 (because we don't have church til 1:20). Pathetic, I know, but it is the only day we have to sleep in so we take full advantage of that opportunity! :) After church we went over to my house to spend some time there celebrating my dad's birthday. Lorie and the girls also went over there. We had a delicious dinner of spaghetti (YUMMY! I love spaghetti!) and then we of course had cake and ice cream and watched dad open his presents.
This Sunday (yesterday) we were invited up to Richard's uncle's house for dinner and games. They live up in Ogden (about 1 1/2 hour drive) so we decided to go to Richard's grandma's church at 9 in order to get up there at a decent hour. So after a wonderful block of church meetings we started the drive up to Ogden. I sat in the back and slept while Richard and his Grandma enjoyed a conversation (don't worry...I REALLY enjoyed my nap!). We got up to his uncle's house around 2:00, just in time for a delicious dinner of lasagna, breadsticks, and salad. YUMMY! Then we played an intense 12 rounds of Scattegories! I love that game, it was really fun, but I didn't win...:( Grandma Christensen kicked our butts! :) It was a very fun evening. I love spending time with our families on Sundays it is a great and relaxing break from our ridiculously busy weeks! :)

The Great Adventures of Public Transportation

Richard is currently taking a transportation class for his major and one of his assignments is that he has to ride the bus 10 times by this Friday. Before last night he had one done (he is going to be riding the bus ALOT this week) so we made it part of FHE to go ride the bus to Cold Stone with one of his friends who is also in the class. We had no idea what an adventure that was going to be. So first off, you have to have the exact amount of money to get on the bus and it is $2.25 each, but we didn't have any cash. However, there is a gas station right by our house and the bus stop where we were going to begin our adventures so we decided to go buy something to get cash back. Upon finding out the candy bars are now .99 (rip off...what happened to .50???) we opted for a .10 laffy taffy so that we could get ten dollars back...in one dollar bills. hahaha!I don't think the gas station lady liked that very much, she claimed she was low on ones so we ended up with a 5 and 5 1's. We were trying to get as many bus rides as we could within three hours (that is how long a transfer ticket is good for) so we went online before leaving and staked out all of the starting points and destinations that we wanted to hit, which buses would get us there and what time and then which bus to get back on and what time for the next destination. We were all prepared and had it all written down on a handy dandy piece of paper. But being the smart people that we are we left that wonderful piece of paper on the couch at our apartment (I am pretty sure it is still there...). And of course all of the busses start with 83 (830, 831, 832) and we could not remember which one we were supposed to get on so we decided to let the 831 go by and jump on the 832. So we thought we were good until the bus driver told us she doesn't go as far up as the dollar theater/cold stone area. So she said she would drive us to BYU where we could catch up with the 830 that would get us there, so we said "sure, why not?" So we got on the 830 and began to become very skeptical as to whether or not this bus would actually get us to our destination...so we decided to jump off at a stop we knew was somewhat close to where we wanted to be and walk the rest of the way (just a few blocks).

As we were walking we were keeping our eyes open to see if there was in fact a stop that was closer. Turns out there was a bus stop right where we wanted to be! Was it the 830 which we had just been on! Of course it was...but guess what else...it was also a stop for the 832, which we had been on in the first place!!!! (the bus driver apparently thought we meant the cold stone and dollar theater at the University Mall)

So after that wonderful adventure we had our ice cream and then ventured to find the bus stop that would pick us up and get us back to Gabe's house (Richard's friend) to play Wii for a bit. So we started walking to find the 831 because that is the one that Gabe knows stops right by his house! But of course the only stops anywhere to be found were for 830 adn 832 so after wandering aimlessly for about 15 minutes we finally had to have Gabe's wife turn around and come pick us up (she was the only smart one to drive instead of hop on the bus!) in the Denny's parking lot after we walked there from the dollar theater!

After playing Wii for a bit Richard and I walked to the bus stop to get home, and it was the wonderful 832 with the same driver we got the first time that told us to switch to the 830. haha. But that ride went smoothly and all was well.

Moral of the story: beware, public transportation is more confusing than you think!

Long overdue pictures from lots of different things

At Richard's house after eating a delicious dinner of lasagna and baked vegetables!

Riding the "T" (train) around Boston.

Hiking in New Hampshire -- the day before we got engaged! :)
I went to New Hampshire with Richard after winter semester so I could meet his family. This is us looking over the ocean in Maine a few days before we got engaged. (You might recognize this from our wedding announcement!)
Richard took a trip with me and my family to California for a week in April. This is us on the carousel (Grandma's favorite ride) at Knott's Berry Farm.
Richard and I love going up to Idaho Falls to visit his brother and sister-in-law when we need a break from Provo. This is us snowshoeing in the Tetons in Wyoming on one of our trips up there

Conference Weekend

We had a great conference weekend, spent mostly in our pajamas! :) On Saturday we had a couple from our ward over for belgian waffles before the first session of conference. It was a lot of fun! After the session was over we played our Wii for a little while to entertain us until the next session. Then Richard and I watched some football games until it was time for him to go to Priesthood session.

On Sunday we went over to Richard's grandma's house to watch conference. We ate BLT's for lunch and played a few rounds of Ticket to Ride (we LOOOOVE board games!). Then we enjoyed the last session of conference before going to my house to hang out with my family and eat soup in bread bowls for dinner!

A Friday at the Dentist...

So as a part of my new commitment to doing better on keeping my blog updated, here is my first story...

I have a tooth that has been bothering me for quite some time so before the wedding I got a temporary medicated filling put in so that I wouldn't have to worry about the pain for at least a couple of months. So the time came to get the temporary filling taken out and the permanent one put in about 2 weeks ago. I did this only to find that my tooth absolutely killed when anything cold touched it. So bad that I couldn't drink anything except through a straw on the opposite side of my mouth. I couldn't even brush my teeth with cold water because it hurt so bad.

So after dealing with this pain for a couple of days I decided it was unbearable and called the dentist to see if I could get another temporary filling put in only to hear that the next step was to get a root canal. So that is how I spent my Friday morning, in the dentist's office having the nerve in my tooth removed. Woohoo. Luckily I was so numb that I didn't feel a thing and I used it as an excuse to miss my classes. :) Which is nice every once in a while. I also got to spend the day with my mom in her classroom because I didn't want to go back to Provo for my classes. So I ate school lunch with my mom and corrected some spelling tests.

My mouth was a little sore over the weekend, but now I am doing much better and my tooth no longer hurts! Woohoo! So I guess it was all worth it in the end! :)