Hi EVERYONE,

I just wanted to take a minute or more and say hi, so "HI!" I have missed keeping notes aka journaling about my life but it has been on Fast Forward so if I wrote anything all you would see is Blurry letters. Anyway can you see the crazy coming out. Dugan and I had a wonderful Christmas with my Family. My sister and I scored tickets from my parent to go see Neil Diamond in concert in July, cant wait. January started off wonderful with a Happy New Year with our Clarks(To fill you in the "Clarks" are our BFF's) The year started out quick with a Studio trip to Vancouver, BC on the 3rd. Our Final studio is based in Downtown Vancouver. It is a Beautiful place. I feel like it's San Francisco meets New York City. They have beautiful Parks and the Ocean. We had a nice time and were back on Sunday to start school on Monday. It was crazy taking a school trip before school was suppose to start but this Final Studio is Flying by so I think we will be grateful. My dear Skeeter was born on Jan 9th. okay so her name isn't really Skeeter it is Allison Paige Clark. It was LOVE at first sight. With it being the first week of school and my BFF having her 3rd Beautiful baby girl it was a crazy week. I was able to see her a lot since the hospital was so close to work and school and they were there for four days. Carrie looked amazing through the whole thing. Her Son Jimmy turned 7 on the 31st and we got to celebrate with a Lago party and dinner at the Olive Garden. Dugan has been dealing with Kidney Stones the past few weeks. We ended up in the ER where they did all sorts of test and he has 2 of them. They gave him drugs and told him that if they didn't pass in a month to come on back. It has just added one more little twist in this crazy life. Back to school, School, School. I am designing an Elementary School and have Learned so much that I hope to share with you all. (Probably this summer) Children's education is changing so much and I love learning and studying all the Theory. Thank you Ted Talks and the Third Teacher. Along with Studio I have an Oil Painting Class, Architecture Law, and an Intense Theory class talking about Religious Architecture. All the weeks have been busy. I am working for MHTN Architects and have been for about 9 months. Oh Thursday's I teach 5th grade elementary kids about Architecture. I LOVED 5th grade (Marine Biology, Greek Mythology, The Civil War) These kids are so Awesome. It is defiantly a highlight of my week. When I walk in the Classroom they all say Hi to me almost in Unison and then for the next hour they think I am so cool. The only thing better then practicing architecture is teaching it and sharing it with other. So that is the first four weeks or so of school. Two weeks ago our ward boundaries were split and we changed wards. We now have 1 o'clock church which I was a little bummed about since I haven't had it for the past 20 years of my life but the first week it actually was pretty nice. But then again we only had Sacrament meeting since it is a new ward and they have only called 70 of the 200 callings. So after sacrament meeting we broke our fast with Milk and Cookies and went home. We had the Clarks over to watch the SuperBowl. This past weekend was a little crazy with the week ahead. I had worked on studio and studied for my Law Midterm. Monday I had work, Studio and then it was Study some more Law time. I studied with my girls Sarah and Jen for about four hours before we called it a night. Tuesday I had Oil Painting, Work and then headed to the school to get in a few more hours of studying before the test. The class is from 6-9 pm since our teacher is a Lawyer. I was at the school an hour or so when the secretary let us know that our Law teachers secretary called and he would not be making it tonight so the test is postponed till next Tuesday(Really Valentines Day). It was Bittersweet. I think we all could use more time to Study but then again we just wanted to get it over with. It was a good thing the test got postponed because around 7:30pm I started feeling really Crummy. So I worked on studio. My sister called to chat for a minute which is exactly what I needed. I told her a little about my lesson (A Testimony of Jesus Christ). We both shared our testimonies with each other and expressed our gratitude for our knowledge of Christ. I also happened upon an amazing quote. The image behind the words showed feet wearing sandals walking on water. The text said, "When you feel like you are drowning in life, don't worry - your lifeguard walks on water." My eyes filled with tears as I shared this quote with my sister on the phone. The conversation was short and full of mini miracles. At that moment I know that I knew I would be just fine this week. The next morning I FELT HORRIBLE. No time for rest. I had work and then Studio. My Nose was runny and stuffy, my ears hurt, my chest was all congested, my eyes were teary. My cough was Horrible and gross. I was miserable. After studio I had to work on my presentation for theory that I had on Friday along with my Schematic Design Review. The worse case scenario is having ANYTHING else the day of a Jury Review. I stayed up till about 2:30am working on the Presentation and Studio. I had to be up by 6am to get to my 7:30am Oil class. I was still feeling pretty Crummy but no time to stop. After oils I worked on Studio and went to work a short day. After work Dugan and I came home and I finished my studio stuff and my Presentation slides. I went to bed around 11pm since I was falling asleep at my computer and I would be presenting twice the following day. I got up at 6 polished my slides and my notes for my presentation. Dugan and I headed to the school. I polished my Studio Presentation off before heading to Theory. I presented my Research in Theory. It went pretty good. I was glad I didn't cough to much during my presentation. I was feeling a lot better but my chest still had me coughing up a lung every 5 minutes. After theory I ate a quick lunch double checked my Studio presentation and then it was time for the Jury. I was third from last so I had a minute to gather my thoughts. 3 of the Jury members were my past studio professors. Which I am still not sure if that was good or bad. My presentation went great. They had lost of thoughts for me and I was happy to receive them. Any help I can get on the early juries will help for the BIG FINAL one. After Studio Dugan and I went to meet my sister and her family for dinner. We had a wonderful dinner to celebrate her 25th Birthday that is on Sunday. I can't express my Love for my sister in Words. I love that Girl sssoo Much. I had a yummy Lobster Corn Chowder and a dessert of Hot Nutella Brownie with Vanilla Ice Cream. After this week that is exactly what I needed. Today I slept in a bit before my Crazy Workout class. Every week I am sore for 2 days after. Loved the class then Dugan and I headed to the school. Finished my Oil painting, worked on studio and finished preparing my Relief Society Lesson. Oh wait, did I forget to mention that I am teaching Relief Society tomorrow. I got the call on Monday night while studying for the Law exam asking if I wouldn't mind teaching since they are still working on callings. I said yes. Some of you may wonder what was I thinking. Well let me tell you. When life gets busy I often feel that my need for the Lords hand in all I do gets more needy but I often find that my scripture study gets the boot. While working on studio I often listen to hours of religious music to help supplement but I knew that if I had to teach the lesson then I would have to prioritize my spiritual studies. My lesson preparations and seeing the hands of God in everything I do and expressing Gratitude for all his love made this week Amazing. On Friday my grin was so big and I was filled with pure JOY!!! The best feeling. I hope that tomorrow the spirit will be with me as I teach my lesson. I am so glad that where my strength ends the Lord is there to help me. I hope you are not all exhausted after reading this. It felt a little exhausting writing it. Well I wont be making any promises for the next clearly written notes about me but I hope you are all Happy and Healthy. You are in our prayers.

Luvs,
Charlotte and Dugan