Fall semester 2008

As many of you know Ken and I began school this last Tuesday. One thing a lot of our friends have asked is, "Are you excited to go back to school?" There are a lot of reasons on both sides of the issue for me. For example I have really enjoyed the past three weeks of vacation (getting stuff done-wise) and thus dread the beginning of the semester. On the other hand, I was also quite lonely near the end especially and there is such a fulfilling energy on campus in the fall!

This fall marks the beginning of Ken's capstone year (Capstone = giant senior project that takes up too much time). So it is pretty hard to look forward to the next four months that may be virtually Ken-free. But I guess I'll be busy too. I am enrolled in my senior classes, grading for two German courses (currently 96 students, but we'll see if that lasts), and trying to keep up with social/religious obligations.

I think I'll be able to handle this semester alright though. I've been using a planner pretty consistently lately, much to Ken's delight. I also have adopted a new program for prioritizing (must do, should do, nice to do). And I think (desperately hope) that I've gained a little experience/wisdom over the past year to help deal with stress. Hopefully, if I keep telling myself how well it will go, I'll make that happen.

On a more interesting note, Ken has been working on his History of Creativity Project (which I did summer term). He is actually taking the first half of the class and will be covering ancient history to the year 1499. During summer term he emailed his professor for permission to start on his project because of his Capstone project. He is a good ways along in making his own version of Settlers of Catan, but in a Mayan style. He has carved all the pieces and is now painting the details on the last few board pieces.


And finally, even though our car was totaled we decided to buy it back and fix it up and see how long it will last us. Our trunk now closes thanks to a sledgehammer and Ken has secured the side panel with a very discreet bolt. Finally our car looks like it belongs to poor college students. JOY!

Something funny

I was absolutely astonished when Ken told me, but something unbelievable happened last night... WE GOT REAR ENDED!!! Ken had driven the rental van down to the Creamery (lazy, I know, but we were in a hurry) to pick up some essentials and as soon as he parked a pick up truck driven by a couple in their 80's ran into the back of the minivan and didn't notice! They drove off as Ken was chasing after them. Luckily there was a nice woman who volunteered herself as a witness and gave Ken some paper so he could write their license number down.
We talked to Enterprise today and thankfully this isn't going to affect us at all, but Geez! Two fender benders in less than two weeks! Maybe God is trying to teach us a lesson in patience or forgiveness or something...

The past few weeks have been quite exciting! We've had three weddings:

Angela and Eric

Amy and Dave

Laura and Dave

Amid all of this marital bliss, We were able to take a mini-vacation and spend the weekend at my Aunt and Uncle's house up in Herriman. It was so nice to get away from Provo, our apartment and responsibility for a few days at least. I spent most of my time reading and Ken still was working when we were there, but we got to go to the Copper Canyon Mine!



We also drove just a couple of miles to go and see the Oquirrh Mountain Temple


One of the main reasons we went up was to watch their dog Isabelle while they were up in Oregon.

The sad part about our trip however was the car accident. It wasn't our fault at all, but of course it's still an inconvenience.
And now we are just trying to get in gear and get ready for fall semester to start!

We found a giant Panda in the Crabtree (engineering) building.

Kelsey finished her project and turned it in this morning. She spent all night working on it. I think it looks absolutely Amazing!

Kelsey's Amazing Needle Punching Project

Kelsey is doing this needle punch project for her History of Creativity class. It is Stary Night by Van Gogh but will have Provo at the bottom. She is going to by pretty busy tomorrow because the project is due on Wednesday.

Survey from Clarissa

I don't think I've done one of this since high school.

10 years ago: It was the summer after 5th grade, so I'm not exactly sure what I was doing. Probably reading like a maniac- perhaps 1998 was my Anne of Green Gables summer, if I am remembering correctly. Also I imagine Ruth and I spent quite a bit of time out around the pond exploring and playing.

5 years ago: I thought of this last week actually. 5 years ago I was getting back from EFY and Youth Conference to work for very poor pay at Ponderosa. I really wasn't a very good waitress at all though. And Ken was just entering the MTC almost exactly 5 years ago. It's weird to him that it's been that long.

5 months ago: I was just doing school work and getting ready for Valentine's day. I graded papers for my class and was looking for the perfect Key lime pie recipe for Ken. Looking back in my planner, I also went shopping 5 months ago for the things I needed to make my curtains.

5 things on my to do list:

• work on my needle punching project
• go grocery shopping
• get reports ready for Sunday
• make a dental appointment (there's a place in Orem, where it's FREE!)
• Make some phone calls

5 snacks:

• oatmeal with craisins and almonds
• peanut butter and chocolate chips
• carrots
• milk
• sherbet

5 billionaire things:

• Buy a condo or duplex here
• Buy Ken a motorcycle, if he still wanted one
• Invest most of it in bonds
• Go shopping for not DI clothes
• Take Ken to Europe
  

5 places I have lived:

• Oshkosh, WI
• Dreieich-Dreieichenhein, Germany
• Provo, UT
• Berlin, Germany
• I think I spent at least a month living with my grandparents in Maryland when I was really little- I hope that counts!
  

5 things you may not know about me:

• I'm taking Mission Preparation for one of my religion electives. My shy 18 year old male classmates don't like to talk to me
• I have a weak spot for EFY music. I'd listen to it all the time if I had more of it!
• In high school I wanted to be a psychologist. Once I really found out that the job isn't like being a YW's leader, I was less interested.
• Last year I lost my wallet approximately 8 times.
• I can only wink with my left eye. I only was able to get the left one after many nights of not being able to fall asleep.
  

5 people I tag: Mattie, Carrie, Annalisa, Peter, Kersti

Independence day

Over the 4th of July weekend, Ken and I went up to Rexburg to be with Ben and Yanghee. And it was amazing!
Of course to start things off, we had a traditional Ross family barbeque, including Marcie's potato salad recipe.

It was such a fun weekend because we just did a lot of hanging around. We went to the park and played frisbee. Ken and I watched as Yanghee and Ben played Korean balance games. We all learned a Korean game that's similar to Jacks. Yanghee won.

We made Old fashioned custard and watched the fireworks next to the Snake river.

We got to Idaho Falls pretty early so we could get a good spot, which we did. After waiting for a few hours for the fireworks, they started. Behind us, blocked by a large tree. They had moved the location of the fireworks from last year, so we and everyone around us got up quickly and squished in another location to see the show.
It was a great memory!