ch-ch-ch-changes

Okaaaay okay I know I said I would update again soon, but I didn't. I feel like life has been on fast forward lately! The weeks go by so quickly.  Here are a couple points of news that have yet to be documented:

1) Started working part time at the LDS Church Office Building back in May. I work with the Research Information Division, doing research stuff about different programs in the Church. Specifically, I mostly work with Perpetual Education, LDS Family Services, Seminary & Institute, and Member Trends. I have to do a lot of statistics at work. Seriously wishing I had paid more attention in my research methods and data analysis classes! The work is really interesting and it's been a great experience so far. PLUS, the COB is right up the street from Matt's work so we get to carpool a couple times a week!! AND sometimes we walk to lunch with each other! I love love it. Another thing I love about working at the COB is on Fridays there are a lot of brides taking pictures outside in Temple Square, and sometimes I run into couples about to be married in the elevators in the parking garage. I love it. One thing I don't love: the dress code is "sister missionary", and people seem to take that pretty seriously.

Matt took this picture of me before I left for my first day:

2) Turns out I CAN eat wheat! WAhooo! I'm not a silly-axe anymore! I don't really feel like writing all the medical details here, but basically I had a couple scopes done and I just have other "conditions" instead, but they are ones I can take medication for, so it's all good. Life has been a lot different in the food department over the last couple weeks. For example, I had four orange rolls for breakfast this morning. And I made a whole batch of cookie dough and ate it all over the course of a few days. Yeah, I am aware I might gain ten pounds and I am absolutely okay with that. I feel like a baby eating food for the first time. I was ALMOST moved to tears when I had key lime cheesecake last week.

We picked up pizza before one of Matt's softball games a couple weeks ago and had a little picnic.

Look at me, I'm eating PIZZA!

Costa Rica

I just realized I had no updates in May. Matt reminded me that I never wrote about Costa Rica. I DID actually keep a very detailed journal while we were there. But it was on the back of a map that I left in the rental car. oops! Well, the trip was amazing. We went with our friends Jake and Emily. Costa Rica is a beautiful country. I wish I could say the people were friendly, but we got robbed within a couple hours of arriving and that kinda tainted our judge of character for the rest of the trip... About being robbed, all I have to say is that it could have been a lot worse, it reminds you that stuff is just stuff and can be replaced, and when you have a gut feeling- don't ignore it! I did snap a pic of Matt talking to the police, who were actually probably in on the whole heist.

We stayed our first few days at The Sanctuary Resort on the beach. It was kind of a ghost town. Almost completely empty. I loved it though. The staff there was very friendly, and the food was REALLY GOOD. This meal was called a Traditional Costa Rican Barbecue.

Let me point out here that this meal includes sausage, pork, steak, chicken, plantains, potatoes, veggies, corn, and tortillas. Matt polished off his plate and almost half of mine. A waiter came by and patted Matt on the back and said, "Wow! We have a winner!!" Hahahah. 

I loved the beaches, mostly because they were completely empty and it was really hot. They had black sand (which you can't see in this picture) which was also kinda fun. We spent a lot of time playing frisbee in the water and diving through the waves. I miss that!

After leaving The Sanctuary we drove about 6 hours to our next destination: The Springs Resort in Arenal, right at the volcano. One of the worst drives of my life. We knew it was going to be dirt roads the whole way, and that we would likely be on small 2 way streets. We did not know that dirt = painfully bumpy rocks, that the straight shot on the map actually turned out to be hair pin curves for hours on end, and that we would get lost, and the one lone man we could ask for directions was wielding a large machete. Hahah! We can laugh about it now, but that was a looong day. When we finally arrived at The Springs it felt like a mirage. How could this beautiful paradise be at the end of such a miserable road?? We immediately went to explore the 30+ natural mineral hot springs on the property. Nothing I could say would give this place justice. Even looking back, it feels like a dream. 

Apart from spending hours and hours in the hot springs, we also did an UNBELIEVABLE zip-line canopy tour, rode an ATV around the jungle and to the wild life preserve (I got to pet a mountain lion!), and hiked down to a waterfall. 

Ah writing about it now is bringing back all the fun memories. Our other favorite part was waking up in the morning and looking out the window at the massive volcano! No hot lava though :) they said it wouldn't be bubbling again for another few years. Our trip back was fairly uneventful (thankfully), and we were lucky to stay the night with Matt's relatives in Houston during our layover! They fed us some serious Texas bbq. Well we've been back for awhile now and this post is long over due, so I'll update on our last month sometime soon... maybe. Love you all!

The Merits of Being Easily Distracted

Well this was going to be a post about how incredible Costa Rica was, but that will have to wait until later. I was then also going to write about how much FUN it was visiting Stephanie, David, and Madeleine (and the Miskins!) in Idaho this last weekend (I am having serious baby withdrawal) but that will have to wait now also. Instead, it is now imperative that I justify my thesis procrastination by writing this little diddy on all the good things my short attention span has brought to me.

1) When I work out at the gym, I sometimes get so distracted by having cable TV that I'll spend an extra 20 or 30 minutes on the elliptical watching commercials or waiting to see the "after" on the style network.

2) I learn A LOT of things from my Google Reader when I'm putting off work and thesis writing.

3) I was going to say that I can entertain myself during long road trips or boring talks, but sometimes I can't and then I just get REALLY BORED.

Those are actually the only good things I can think of.  Now all I can think of is how many times I've burned things (mostly just myself and food and the carpet). Ok no more excuses. Wait just one more. My most recent draft of my thesis was on our laptop that was stolen in Costa Rica. Of the many inconveniences being robbed has caused, this one really makes me want to take a machete down there and hunt those thieves down.

Good things

Spriiiiing is officially here! The season has brought good tidings my way so far. For example: for the first time ever, I successfully fancy parked my car on the first try! I was so proud I took a picture:

Last week we went to a really fancy dinner that we got invited to through Matt's work, and we totally felt like grown ups getting all dressed up on a Wednesday night for dinner at the Grand America Hotel. It was to honor Bishop H. David Burton with the "Giant in our City" award. It was a really neat event, and we felt lucky to be a part of it. Plus we got to see the whole first presidency and the governor!

We did some serious spring cleaning and organizing this weekend. I didn't take before and after pictures but I did take a during picture:

It reminded me of Sunday afternoons growing up when Stephanie and I would have the bright idea of  re-decorating our bedrooms. We would then dump everything on our floor, then get distracted with something and our rooms would stay messy for about 2 weeks. The only difference here is that Matt helped keep the motivation levels up so we only had clothes all over our floor for about a day!

Prospectus passed!

I passed my prospectus defense!! Yahooo! It really wasn't as bad as I expected, and I was told that my defense was much less painful than is normal. Thank goodness. I needed that. Now I have my work cut out for me for the next few months. I'm so excited to be moving forward! That faint light at the end of the tunnel is starting to grow, just a little bit.

Scripture Study

Emily and I are trying to be better at reading the scriptures more often. We recently started the Book of Mormon from the beginning with the plan of reading one chapter a day. We read 5 verses each rotating back and forth and at the end of each turn add some commentary. It’s not necessary to add commentary at the end of every turn but the idea is that when a thought or inspiration comes while reading the scriptures then we could stop and have a discussion about it. It’s been a good exercise thus far and we’ve had some good times with it. Here are our commentary and thoughts when reading in 1 Nephi Chapter 3.


Matt’s Scripture: 1 Nephi 3:15 (Nephi is speaking)

“But behold I said unto them that: As the Lord liveth, and as we live, we will not go down unto our father in the wilderness until we have accomplished the thing which the Lord hath commanded us.”

Matt’s Commentary:

We read so often 1 Nephi 3:7 which is a remarkable demonstration of Nephi’s commitment to do the Lord’s will and the faith to accomplish it. It is a powerful scripture and a great example of the type of faith we can develop by obeying the commandments and making countless correct decisions. Nephi was determined to start and accomplish this mission and his faith fortified those desires.

However, I like 1 Nephi 3:15 better. In this verse Nephi had already approached Laban and had been seriously rejected. This powerful man had also threatened Nephi if he ever came back. Nephi could have easily felt like he had tried and subsequently given up. He could have felt like “what’s the use”? He could have let doubt or disbelief creep in. Yet despite this major rejection and threat on his life, Nephi still had the same unwavering faith he had in 1 Nephi 3:7 when he was just starting his mission. I like 1 Nephi 3:15 because he was unshakable in his faith even after the first and second blows, he had the faith to finish what he started even in the face of adversity.

(Side Note: Nephi and his brethren then face further threats and challenges but in Chapter 4 verse 1 and 2 Nephi demonstrates the same rock solid faith. Another rejection and still no questioning the Lord. Rather, every time an obstacle comes up, his faith finds a way through, over, or around it)


Emily’s Scripture: 1 Nephi 3: 27 (Nephi is again speaking)

“And it came to pass that we fled into the wilderness, and the servants of Laban did not overtake us, and we hid ourselves in the cavity of a rock.”

Emily’s Commentary:

- Man that rock needs to brush its teeth!

Prospectus

My prospectus defense is a week from today... send me all of your positive energy!  I'm crossing my fingers that this will keep me on track for August graduation. I created the Wordle below to sum up the whole thing and save you the trouble of reading the long boring version ;)