Masters Program Here We Come ( I mean here we are)

Monday~ I woke up way to early today. Maybe it was excitement? As I got ready I hardly recognized myself in the mirror. My face is tan and my hair is platinum. That's what the sun did to me this summer. Dugan and I have our first class at 8:00 am. It is a fun class where we will continue to learn how to use new software programs and try and do new and different things. I will often refer to this class as Tony's class. It will be very time consuming and will be a little frustrating because of the amount of time I will be spending on the Windows side of my Mac computer. Plus sometimes computers are just frustrating. Then I have about an hour and a half break before I have Japanese Architecture. I have been interested in taking this class for a long time and I am very excited about it. Plus there will be No test. I will still attend every class period its just all the names I don't know how to pronounce or spell I wont be tested on. Dugan has a different class while I am in Japanese Architecture. He is taking a Theories of an Argument class. He seems to think it will be a pretty good class. Then we have an hour or so break before Studio. To tell you the truth one of the most stressful things at school is the first day of studio. You have to pick your seat. In most classes this wouldn't really seem like a big deal but the seat you choose in Studio is pretty much your home for the next 3 months and the people who sit next to you are your constant neighbors. It actually didn't end up being as bad as I thought it would be. We talked about what our studio project is going to be this semester. I am very excited about it. After studio I took Dugan to work. I ran a few errands, went and worked out and then went and picked him up. I made dinner and then we went for a little walk. I can't believe how tired I am. Welcome back to over using my brain. I am happy to be back in school and am excited that I really only have 2 more years. The light at the end of the tunnel.

Tuesday~ Woke up groaning. I had work at 6:00am but I woke up at 4:00 and couldn't go back to sleep. Work was fun though. I Love markdowns. I like it because you feel predictive and it doesn't let my mind wonder because I am looking up numbers. It was fun to see all my coworkers that I haven't really see all summer. Ran a few errands on my way home from work. I got home and Dugan had already left for work. He wasn't gone to long. He came home and we had a late lunch. Then we started loading stuff up to take to the school. It's time to start moving in. We had class at 6:00 pm which has now been changed to 9:10 am in Tuesday's so we will see when I am going to be able to work now. It is a class pretty much about Concrete. It sounds like I will be getting my hands dirty. Then we went home and I made dinner and went for a walk. It will be nice not have a class till 9:00pm. I am sssoooo a Morning pearson.

Wednesday~ In Tony's class we started playing with Rhino. It is a pretty cool 3D program. I am just getting use to the commands. It is like 3D max which I haven't used recently. After class I was told I had a paper that I needed to fill out for my scholarship. I filled out the paper in 2 minutes and went to give it to the secretary she asked did you see the back? aaahhh nope. She said oh you will love the back. I turn the paper over where I see two boxes on with the heading Personal Statement the other How will this scholarship help me? ok so I spent the next hour or so answering those questions and got it turned in. I was impressed that I was so on top of it. Then I had Japanese Architecture. LOVE It. Today we talked about Shinto. Then I did some reading. Dugan came back from class and we had lunch together. Then we had to get ready for Studio because we would be leaving the school for site visits a little early. Dugan had to meet his group at the Trax and my group was headed up to the marmalade district near the capital. I went to two sites. The old children's museum and an old church house that was built in 1909. The children's museum was a little creepy. It was if they had moved out in a hurry and left a few random things behind. The ward house has been a day care and a Architecture Firm so it had the form of a ward house with nice cubicles where benches in the chapel once were. Then I took the girls that I had taken with me back to the school. I decided to just stay at the school and read. I decided to sign up to present in my Japanese class on Monday. I figure why not get it out of the way before there is lots of other stuff going on. It is a lot of reading plus I need to research a case study to present. Dugan text me and I went to pick him up from work. We came home I made dinner, we went for a walk and then I kept reading. Bedtime.

Thursday~ I have no classes on Thursday's which is so nice. I t gave me time to began working on my Japanese Presentation that is on Monday. I figured it would be best to do it when there wasn't lots of stuff due later in the semester. After doing some researching I started to find that all the information I was looking for was in Japanese. The day went well. I can't believe tomorrow is already Friday. Wow school makes life go by fast.

Friday~ Tony's class is way to early in the morning for even a morning person. Then we had our concrete class that was moved from Tuesday nights to Tuesday and Friday mornings. Another site visit for studio. The big decision today was which site to pick. I went with the Warm Springs (children museum) site. I hope it is a good one.

Saturday~ Oh Yes school is back and so is working Saturday's. I was at work at 6:00 am. Lets skip all the details and say it was one of the worst day's of work I have had in 6 years. I was able to think rationally enough to not walk out but left very angry. I had lots to do on my Japanese Project and spent most of the day at the school. Our friends the Clarks gave us a break by inviting us to the drive-in with them. We saw Toy Story 3 and I slept through Despicable Me. I will have to rent it from redbox when it comes out.

Sunday~ Work meeting, Jjjjjaaapppppaaaaannnnneeeeeesssssseeeeee Project is taking so much time to get ready. Can't wait to present tomorrow and have it over with.

Monday~ Tony's class again to early, Last finishing touches on Presentation. Japanese Architecture Presentation went pretty good. It was hard to be the first presentation and I just don't think my brain is in the mind set of all this school and presenting yet. I will get there. I was so happy when the 2 hour presentation was OVER. Then it was time to work on the Studio work that I hadn't been working on all weekend due to my presentation. Started going my part of the Group Site Analysis. I am learning lots and am getting a little more excited about the project. I am loving my Studio Professor. I can't tell if it is just the way he does things or the fact that it is Grad school that I am enjoying. After Studio I had Turbo Kick. I can't even began to explain how funny my teacher is. I swear she is a bouncy ball. Class was awesome. The next class was Body Works. This class is ssssooooo HARD. This class makes me realize I would never survive in the military. I left the class thinking I probably wont be able to get out of bed tomorrow. Dugan came and got me. We had a nice dinner, went for a walk and had a nice evening together.

Tuesday~ I woke up a little stiff but not really sore. That is wonderful. We had our concrete class that changed to mornings today. Then I had my abs and gluts workout class. Took Dugan to work. Came home and ran a few errands. Did 45 minutes on the elliptical. Picked Dugan up from work. Came home made dinner and then we went back to the school to finish up our models for Tony's class.

Wednesday~ Tony's, Japanese Architecture, Studio Site visit to the Draper Library. Another night of Turbo Kick and Body Works. Came home and made dinner. Finished up some homework and went to bed. Goodnight

Thursday~ I had work at 9:00. It was a good day at work then I headed to the school to work on homework. Came home and made dinner then Dugan and I went back to the school. But you have to understand the first U of U game of the year was tonight so traffic was CRAZY. Anyway I had my Yoga Flow class which was wonderful and then Dugan and I did homework till it was time for bed.

Friday~ Wow!!! Another week come and gone. Tony's, Concrete class, Studio (which for the last hour I couldn't even focus) I get this Friday itch where for the last hour of Studio every Friday I am pretty much not Productive at all. The clock finally hit 5:00 and I went to my Zumba class. After Zumba one of my friends from school and I decided we needed to leave the building. We went and shared crepes together. After work Dugan came and picked me up and we went to dinner. He was craving Ribs. After dinner we came home and I tried not to work on homework.

Saturday~ Good Saturday morning. I got up early and went to the farmers market before I had to go to work. Work was fun. After work I came home and cleaned. When Dugan got home from work we headed up to the school to work on some homework. We were there till we came home and had a late dinner of Coconut Shrimp and then it was bed time.

Sunday~ Well I am still on the hunt for our new location to attend Church. Today church was nice. We will see what ward we go to next week. I really want to settle into one soon so we can have our records transferred. As for the rest of the day.

So pretty much the last two weeks have consisted of lots of writing, reading, designing, working out, stressing, traveling and learning some key points about my life. I figure I was feeling like I wouldn't get caught up so I will just have to skip ahead.

Dugan and I had a lot of fun on our class trip to L.A. Last week. We were pretty much free after 5 each night. One night Dugan and I got to go alone into Hollywood and did the tourist thing looking at Star studded sidewalks, concrete imprinted famous hands and ate at a Wonderful little restaurant called the The Hungry Cat. (We counted it as celebrating our 12 year dating anniversary that is September 15.) The whole trip we saw some wonderful Architecture, Museums and shared some fun time together and with classmates. Getty, Tar Pits, LACMA, Disney Concert Hall, The Cathedral of our Lady, High School #9, Bradbury Building and Multiple projects done by Eric Moss. It was a crazy week back getting caught up and writing a 2000 word (8 page) Manifesto, Made a mini movie and researched Lots about Libraries. The weekend is here and Dugan and I are doing wonderful.

End of Summer

Holding a really big Snake

The view from our Private Balcony at Pineview

I know I am totally behind so I am going to get caught up right away so here are the last two weeks of summer

Monday~ I found out my kids are a little younger this week. We spent the day at the Bean Museum in Provo.

Tuesday~ We went swimming

Wednesday~ Our camp Mascot the Rubber Chicken named Skibo was part of a CSI activity that we had to solve. It was fun but a few of my kids were a little traumatized. I went with my friend Carrie to dinner at CPK, we went and saw Eat, Pary, Love (Which was okay but pretty slow) Then we had some frozen yogurt. It was a fun girls night out.

Thursday~ My kids went ice skating.

Friday~ Went to Pineview Reservoir with the kids

Funny part is that Dugan had made plans for us to have a romantic (but close) get away this weekend and it was in Huntsville where Pineview is. I came home on the bus with the kids and when Dugan got off work we went right back up to where I had just come from. We stayed in a Beautiful Condo with a private balcony, with a Hot Tub.

Saturday~ Went and saw downtown Huntsville which consisted of 3 cabins. The condo we were staying at was fully stocked so we decided to just bring food with us and were able to eat at the condo instead of going out.

Sunday~ We were sad to come home on Sunday night but it was a wonderful weekend of R&R. Thank You to my wonderful Husband.

Aug 16- 22 Water week #2

Monday ~ Today started the last week of camp. We were super lucky to have the firefighters come with there truck and we all got soaking wet from the hoses they hooked up to the fire hydrant.

Tuesday~ We did the fountain Dam activity, and went swimming

Wednesday~ Played Sand Volleyball and went to Kearns Oquirrh Park (a little water park)

Thursday~ Had an awesome activity with Snakes and turtles, Then we went to the Living Planet Aquarium. Which was so cool.

Friday~ I got to bring my friend Carrie and her Son Jimmy to work with me. We went to Raging Waters. My friend was coming as a volunteer. It was so much fun. After getting back to campus we had our last Popsicle Friday. My favorite little girl came over to hug me goodbye and I lost it. My tears were dripping on her shirt. I could tell by the look on her face that she thought I was crazy. I will miss her so much. I tried to get a grip on my emotions before having our final counselor meeting. No one told me that when I started work at the beginning of the summer the I would Love it so much. We all went to the Pie together and then all parted ways. I will miss it so much, but life is full of fun things. School starts Monday.

Saturday~ Dugan and I got up early and went to the Farmers Market together. Then we went school shopping for new shoes. It was a wonderful day.

Sunday~ We went to church with our friends which was so good. I loved being there. The talks and lessons were wonderful. After church we had our last summer bbq with them. We were suppose to go up the canyon but the weather did not cooperate. Sssooo my super smart fiends thought of a way that we could use there camping flame thing and we roasted SUPER large special “campfire marshmallows.” I love Smore’s. I had two, which gave me sugar over load and I didn’t feel very good. We played a few games and then it was time to go. We have class at 8:00am tomorrow. Goodbye Summer

We've Got Talent

Monday~ Found out that I have the best group of kids EVER. Today was so much fun. After check in we took the bus to Gateway to go to the movies. We were so lucky to be able to participate in a Sneak Preview of the Movie Nanny McPhee Returns. I never saw the first one so I didn't know what to expect. It was so funny. I am sure that it helped that I was surrounded by children that made funny comments to me through out the whole movie. It is so fun to watch a kid movie with kids. After the funny movie we headed over to the fountains to have lunch and play in the water. The day was so much fun I wanted to do something a little extra so we went and got a little frozen yogurt. They were so well behaved. We took the bus back to campus where we got a jump start on our piece for the talent show. After the kids got picked up the counselors had a meeting where we practiced our dance for the talent show. We will see how it all turns out. I came home and had a good training workout. Dugan and I had fun night learning about Sharks. We LOVE SHARK Week.

Tuesday~ In the morning we met with our elective groups where I took the kids Fencing. They had a fun time. After lunch my kids and I found a free room and planned out our skit and dance for the talent show. It was so fun to have it be what they wanted. I let them choose everything. We ended up starting with a skit where the kids are playing a game. I come in and tell them that one of the girls has to practice the piano. The girls who's talent was playing the piano played a little bit. Then she stands up and says "I'm sick of practicing, I just want to Move It." Then all the kids break into a dance they made up to the song "I like to Move It, Move It" from Madagascar. After they are done I come in and ask if the girl had practiced. They said yes then they all tell what one of there memories from camp is. The End! I am so excited for tomorrow. After camp we had a counselor dance practice again. Then I had to go and pick up a few more things for there costumes. That night I made 5 create paper grass skirts and 3 create paper vest. Each kid also had a different color leis. I was watching a movie with Dugan while making the costumes and told him I thought it was a little funny because I thought it would have been a lot longer before I would be making costumes for kids. ( I was thinking of my own future kids of course) But it was really fun. Then I got my 80's costume together for the counselors piece. I was lucky to get in an abs workout in even though I had been dancing for hours already. It was a busy night. When it came time to go to bed I was so excited I could hardly sleep. Hope everything goes well.

Wednesday~ Took the kids to there second day of fencing. As soon as we were done we headed back to switch all the kids back to there original counselors. I had my kids go through our piece twice. Then we went in and got our seats for the talent show. It was so fun to have my friend Carrie come with her two kids to see us preform. Thanks for the support Carrie. The talent show began. All the groups had worked so hard considering we had less then 3 hours total to get ready. There were also some good individual talents. It finally came to intermission. I got my kids into there hula skirts and the boys into there vest. We went on and preformed wonderfully. As my kids walked off the stage after they had finished I was overwhelmingly proud of my kids. It had been such a rush hoping everything would go well and they did perfect. There were a few more talents and then it was time for the counselors to do our dance. My kids cheered so loud for me. I had a fun costume on and had a fun time dancing. The talent show was soon over and the parents where there to pick up there kids. What a wonderful day at camp. As I started to walk the 8 minute walk back to my car it began to pour rain. I looked over at one of the other counselors that was walking with me and just smiled and said Today has been so amazing I don't even care if I get soaking wet. I got to go and see a fun big house of my friends boss. Then Dugan and I got to go and see a Free Sneak Preview of the movie The Other Guys. Thanks to my friend who gave us the tickets. It was so much a sneak preview that we had to leave our phones in the car and they had a metal detector that was checking us as we went into the theater. A lot of the seats were reserved for people from the press. I was only in the theater when my eyes began to get heavy and I was out. I slept through almost the whole thing. I was just to tired from the day. Oh well what I did see was fun and Dugan enjoyed it. We came home and I went to bed. Goodnight!

Thursday~ Today seemed very chill after the past few days. We had our last day of Fencing, The kids were getting pretty good and they looked cute in there white garb and masks. Then we had lunch and went swimming. Other then going off the high dive a few weeks ago I haven't been on a diving board in over 10 year. Today at the pool the kids got me to do a flip off the low diving board. It was really fun and they were so proud of me. It was a nice day at the pool. As the kids were getting picked up I became sad. It was the last day for a few of my kids. I am going to miss them so much. I went out to sushi with a few co-workers. We had fun but I was laughing so hard that I gave myself a stomach ache for the rest of the night. I came home and had a good workout. The rest of the night I spent getting my rock and roll costume ready for tomorrow, getting packed and tiding up before Dugan and I leave to go out of town tomorrow.

Friday~ Today was so fun. I spent a few extra minutes getting ready this morning. I had to tease my hair and make it as big as possible, add a little extra dark eye make up and put color in my hair. I felt a little funny when the first parent dropped off there kid. I thought to myself are they sure they want to trust there kids with me looking like this. But all the parents also told me it was ok to spray there kids hair with a bunch of crazy colors. Dugan was so sweet and brought me my camera on his way to work because I had forgot it. As soon as the buses where there we were on and ready to go. We arrived to Classic skating in no time. http://www.classicskating.com/sandy/sandyhome.html

When we got there the kids had there buddies and they could go on the skating rink, play in this bounce house area or in the jungle course thing. I went skating with a few of the kids who needed help. All the kids were having so much fun. They were a little bummed when I made them stop long enough to eat lunch. After lunch a few of the kids put on their swimsuits and went out to the water slides outside. I spent the rest of the time holding hands and skating with all the kids that needed help. My arms were hurting from all the flexing to help the kids from falling. Every time I went to check on my kids I was so happy to see that they were all staying with there buddies. The whole time I kept having little flashbacks of going to the Classic Skating in Orem when I was younger. We had such a fun day. When I told the kids it was time to go they got ready so fast. The bus ride from Sandy was nothing. We made it back to campus in time for Popsicle Friday and awards. My kids got the award for the Most Loving Listeners.

It was such a wonderful week. I was at the Pie (Pizza Place called the Pie) for a little bit before I had to hurry home and get all cleaned up before Dugan got home and we had to leave. We drove to Orem where we met up with my good friend Rachel and her husband. They are moving to Arizona on Monday and we were so lucky to get to see them one last time before they left. We had a wonderful time talking and enjoying a nice dinner at Outback. It was getting late and Dugan and I still had to drive to Cedar City so we had to go. We got to Cedar around 1:00 am. Goodnight!

Saturday~ We slept in!!! It has been a crazy week. We had lunch with my sister, her husband and there little boy. Then we hung out till it was time to go to dinner. It is kind of a tradition to go to this restaurant up the canyon for my moms birthday when we are in Cedar City every year. We had a nice time and made it back in plenty of time to get everything ready before we went to our play. We went over for the orientation of the play we were seeing. We went to the Greenshow and had our yearly summer berry tart and Dugan got some chocolate. When the show was over we headed over to the play. We saw The 39 Steps. It was sssoooo Funny. They were so clever with the way they did things. This is the description of the play.

What do you get when you blend Alfred Hitchcock with Monty Python? A hilarious mystery spoof that will keep you guessing! Murder, betrayal, and espionage intertwine with sly and hysterical nods to many of Hitchcock’s films, resulting in one of the funniest plays to ever hit Broadway. See if you can figure out whodunit as this cast of four transforms into over 150 farcical characters!

http://www.bard.org/plays/39steps.html

After the play we hung out with my parents for a bit and then went to bed.

Sunday~ I woke up early waiting to hear from my mom and dad so I could go over and say goodbye before they left. My mom called me and we met to talk for a bit before my dad got up. I had a nice cheat with my grandma and grandpa Taysom while my parents finished packing up. It was hard to say goodbye but I will see them again at Christmas. After waving goodbye I got Dugan up and we got all ready to go. We made good time driving back to Salt Lake City. We had a quite afternoon at home. I made dinner and then I was missing my parents so made a small batch of my mom's chocolate chip cookie recipe.

What a wonderful week. Two more weeks of camp and then school start. I will just have to embrace every minute.

Working on my kids costumes.

Dressed up in my Rock n Roll costume for camp.

Dugan and I in Cedar City at the Shakespearian Festival.