The summer has come to an end.

My three weeks off from school are about to end. It has been nice though. Emily and I got some more done in the kitchen. We put in the counter top, new range hood, painted some of the walls, and some of the cabinets. We still have a way to go but the end is in sight.


On Monday Glade was kind enough to take us to Pine View for some fun. Here are a few pictures from the occasion.

Summer Fun

This summer has been busy for our family. I have been in school for the last eleven weeks and have only one more to go before the summer semester ends. The best part of it is that I will have a three week break before the fall semester starts. Although this summer has been busy for me, we have still had some fun. Below are some pictures of the activities we have done.

Here Maddie and Ashlyn are playing with their cousin Aidan

Maddie and Ashlyn before we go to church

This is Maddie at the going away party for Hilary and Zeb.
Maddie sure misses them.

Here Ashlyn is trying to lull her grief with a tasty smore.
I think it is working.

This is Maddie at Mueller Park with her cousins. They found weeds and flowers and put them in their hair. It was really cute.
This is Maddie that same night. A parent can only keep their child clean so long when in the woods.
Ashlyn follows Maddie's example closely.
Ashlyn on the Frontrunner. We went to the Gateway for some fun.
Maddie and Grandpa came with us.
We did not bring swimsuits to play in the fountain, but that did not stop the girls.
We stopped at the moon and took a picture of Earth in the background. Isn't the Clarke Planitarium great?
Maddie got to ride a pony at the Days of 47 carnival in Bountiful City Park.
Ashlyn got a ride too. I asked the helper the cost of riding a pony. She told me I was too heavy. I told her it would be for the kids. She stated the price of four tickets for two times around. I agreed as long as we could switch riders halfway through. She went for it.
Maddie and Ashlyn sharing a cotton candy.
Ashlyn on the 24'th of July after face planting at the bottom of the water slide. She loved every second of it.
Maddie had some fun too, though after a couple of turns she was happy just to sit in the shade.

Back at it again

Wow, that was a short break. After 10 days off, I am back in school again. Things are going good though. After attending the first class today I am excited because it appears that at least for the first two weeks I should not be too busy and will be able to go out on some appointments for my job. I am really excited to be able to spend more time at my work. I love the job I have.

Emily and I tried to redo our kitchen during the last week. We got a lot accomplished, but we are far from finished. We decided to texture the walls and ceilings and it looks pretty good. We now have to paint the walls, cupboards, and put in new cabinets. When we are through it will look snazzy.

The Semester is Over.

Today was the last of all my finals. I was really worried about this one. I had a hard time sleeping and could not go back to sleep after 3:15. I laid in bed until 4:45 and decided to get up and study. I am glad I did. The test was a doosy, but I think I did ok from all of my studying.

What was bad today was that when I went out to my car it was covered with snow. Here it is, the last day of spring semester, the first day of May, and my car is covered in snow. I am ready for winter to end. I did not feel like a bowl of cereal this morning so I went through the drive through at McDonald's and the McWorker wished me Merry Christmas. It was pretty funny.

I am really glad for this semester to be over. I had this one Chinese teacher name Yuhong Fan. She has been teaching for two years and is really bad at it. She seems to know her stuff, but she cannot communicate if you know what I mean.

The first two weeks of class she kept giving all of this information of a company she kept calling Wok Lin. I thought that was awesome, because I eat at Wok Lin on occasion. The problem was that I never saw any Wok Lin in the book. Finally I asked her to show me the page and paragraph where it talked about Wok Lin. She pointed to Walgreen's. After that I knew I was in trouble.

The worse of it all is that I am going to have her again this Fall. I know that most of the people in her classes gave her bad reviews because of her confusing methods, so hopefully the class will be taught by somebody else but I doubt it.

So now I have 11 days to do a few things for me. Emily and I are going to try to redo our kitchen. I am also going to be studying for my Series 6 so that I will be able to help people set up Roths and buy mutual funds and so forth.

Summer Semester starts May 12 and I am scheduled for 12 credits. I am scheduled for 9 in the Fall. If I do well enough in these classes I will be done. I am so excited. I wish that I would have done things so that I could have been finished before I turn 30, but that is not going to happen. At least I will be done.

Our Trip to Disneyland

During Spring Break Emily and I were fortunate enough to take a trip to Disneyland. We were lucky enough to have a couple of standby tickets that would take us anywhere Southwest flies, as long as seats were available. It turned out that flights to Southern California were wide open, so we got on the plane and headed for the happiest place on Earth.

Emily was so excited. She has always been a big fan of Disneyland. I was glad to go for her but I did not look forward to it the same way she did. It turns out that I had a blast and loved the place. We went on tons of rides and even stayed to watch the fireworks one night. I was very impressed. My favorite rides were Buzz Lightyear and the Hollywood Tower of Terror in the California Adventure park.

Anyway, I am looking forward to my girls growing up a little bit so we can go with them. I will love to see them enjoy that special place.

Spring Semester Coming to an End

I am finishing up the spring semester at Weber State University. I have a couple of homework assignments to finish and finals left to take before I am done but it is getting close. I am registered for twelve hours in the summer and that leaves me nine in the fall to finish up. I am looking forward to finishing school.

In January I accepted a position with Beneficial Financial Group. This is the kind of job that I went back to school for. I hope to be able to help people learn and do the things they need to do to prepare for tomorrow. The biggest problem for me in my employment is that I do not have enough time to do a great job. The time I spend studying for class really takes away from my time working. I will be really glad when I am done with school so I can really focus on my career.

The job I have is really the coolest job in the world. I have only been at it a few months, but I know I have done some good. I have helped people start saving for retirement and set up protection for their families. It feels good to know you are helping people with things that are really important.

Emily continues to be the best ever. She is awesome. She is working the night shift two nights a week and another on call job at a teen treatment center so that I can be in school. I really hope that the things I learn will help me be successful in my career so that Emily will be able to be a full-time mom once again. She deserves it.

No flights available to St. Louis

I guess luck is not on our side for the planned trip to St. Louis. So, we are going to press our luck in Vegas instead. No gambling of course. It is a busy time for Southwest airlines and no seats are open for us to get out. Emily and I are disapointed as we were really looking forward to visiting Peter ad Heather. We are going to hold on to the tickets if we can and try to get out to St. Louis in September or October.

Emily and I are glad that we are at least able to get out and do something for a vacation. We hope that we will be able to find plenty to do with the kids in Vegas.