I've had some requests to show some pictures of our new place, so I figured what better way to show you then to have our crazy dog Dilly give you a tour. The video link is at the bottom. I think she might have found some sugar...or else we didn't give her enough exercise today. Sometimes she just sleeps all the time, and some nights she goes nuts running around and around in circles. We really try to exercies a lot with her but sometimes its just not enough and other times she's had too much...she might have mental problems because she is always bonking her head on something. Needless to say she gives us a good laugh at least twice a day. Today she was trying so hard to pee all at once outside that she had to balance on her two front legs, and tonight she was "happy wrestling" with her toy cow and ended up doing a somersault from over exertion.

I am sad to say, and I know my brothers will jump on this one, but I no longer fit well into size 34 inch waist pants. I have to go for 36 now...I never thought the day would come. I remember being my same height and gradually going from 28 to 30 to 32" in high school. I maintained the trim figure while working at Lowes, but now its just all gone downhill. Joni says I actually have a booty now, who would have thought. That's a nice image for all you buns appreciators out there...click, click...deleted.

Its funny, I miss a lot of things at times, but one thing I miss more than anything right now is USU basketball. I loved going to those games. We're going to our first A&M bball game but I don't think it will compare even though they are a nationally ranked team. Sorry, I am just writing because the blog is taking forever to download the video...I'm going to take a shower and come back...another nice image, sorry.

Here's a little project I completed during the break. I could never build it myself, we bought it at Salvation Army for ten bucks and restored it. It was a lot more beat up than the picture shows, but we wanted that look, so I reinforced it a bit and added a little, and now it is the perfect tv stand. DVD player goes in the middle. We want to add another shelf in the middle. You can't tell but we beat it with hammer quite a bit too.

My last Friday before school starts up again, I have been really spoiled with this break. Reality hit me again yesterday when I spent $700 on textbooks, and I recieved two new syllabuses from my new professors. Something definately seems wrong about paying $170 for one small textbook, but that is the price we pay for an education right? I am excited to start up again but not quite as excited as I was at the beginning of last semester. Last night I volunteered to babysit nursery kids during enrichment...Lets just say I am glad to have just a puppy right now. I remember babies smelling sweet, but last night I couldn't get the smell of poo out of my system until I was home watching tv for a good 30 mintues. Do things change when it is your own child? I love kids but 6 or 7 at one time is a little nuts.

We have a whole new sunday school class now. We were really starting to like our class and everyone was participating, then the 14 year olds left and now we have fresh out of primary 12 and 13 year olds. Its amazing how much kids have an influence on each other at that age. The "leaders" of the last class would participate and everyone else decided to participate too. Now the most outspoken kid has a bad attitude, and so all of them act bored and pretend to hate participating all of the sudden. We'll see how long it takes everyone to warm up to us.

I got Joni a satellite radio for Christmas and it is the best thing ever. I can listen to it while I am online too, but my favorite station is the pure jazz station...holy crap I'm turning into my dad. Last night while driving to the church I was listening to Oscar Peterson, then Wynton Marsalis, and it put me in the best mood. I wish I would have kept up with piano but I hope to learn a little more someday soon. I think I was definately raised different than most kids because of my parent's appreciation for all music. My mom got me into musicals and my dad got me into jazz. How many kids can say their favorite musician was Al Jerreau growing up? Joni's influence was classic rock and 80's from her dad fixing cars in the garage, and I think church hymns from her mom. Of course her brother introduced her to hard rock and grunge. Now she likes all kinds of stuff. Music is one of the greatest gifts I think we can have. Its amazing how many movies are that much better because of a good soundtrack.

I HATE MOVING!!! Once again, we moved this last weekend for the sixth time since we were married over 3 1/2 years ago. It's really making us rethink our plans as far as waiting longer to find a place to settle down. I guess we'll go wherever and whenever opportunities take us, but I'm getting tired of the nomadic lifestyle. I had four guyfriends planning to help me but two had to work, one was really sick, and another had his flight bumped in Las Vegas to another day. So me and the sick friend did what we could, he helped me with the big stuff and then I sent him home cause I felt so bad. I know I could have mentioned something to the ward but there's just something that didn't feel right about asking for help to move twice in six months. So Joni and I worked from 8am to 12:30 am New Years Day, and then I was at it from 8am to 8pm the next day by myself. That sounds like I'm looking for some pity but I think I just sound stupid. Besides, I needed the exercise up and down the stairs since I am about to hit 180. I feel like I have let go of myself physically over the past couple of weeks because I am not in school, I haven't shaved, and I babysit a puppy all day long...at least I'm not watching Days of Our Lives or All my Children.

I actually grew the beard because Joni likes it, and I thought I would be like Rocky during my break when he went to Russia to train and grow a beard...then when I shaved I would magically be in shape. That didn't work too well, so I am just going to shave tomorrow and work out later. I've tried to think of some New Years Resolutions, and since I never do very well after the first week, I have decided I just want to be a better person than I was last year. Sounds pretty simple but that's what I want to do. If I do that every year maybe I'll turn out to be a pretty good person someday.

I don't have much to update besides the move. I go back to school next week, and I have had more than one multiple hour MarioKart party with friends over the last couple of weeks. Joni is working very long hours to prepare for state inspections and she is really stressed about that. The puppy is as cute and troublesome as ever. We are still waiting for winter, its 75 degrees at 10:30 pm and I am sweating. Enjoy your snow all you lucky duck's.

I think I posted this pic once but it IS tacky sweater season, and I am sending subliminal messages to Joel to post his turtleneck party pics soon.

By request, we uploaded a couple more videos and pics of the new dog. The last few days have helped me realize what it will take to be a parent just a little bit more. By no means am I saying that its like having a baby, but Dilly is a handful to say the least. She makes us laugh a lot, but it seems like I am the disciplinarian with her more often than I would like. She loves crotches, and sleeping on my head when I am lying down, and she loves to wake up at 6am after staying up and bothering us most of the night. She has been pouting ever since we put a collar on her for the first time, and she jumps around like a wild bronco when I use the leash. Every time she sees a kid she'll run to them, it's wierd, she just loves kids and babies. The potty training is slow, but its getting better, especially since we took down the tree. All I am hoping is that she can handle me being back in school because right now she is spoiled as ever with me around her all day. We put her in her kennel a couple hours a day to get her used to it.

Okay, I am boring myself. Christmas was fun and interesting being alone with Joni. We watched a few episodes of Lost during the day. That show just makes me mad sometimes, I don't know if there are too many writers that don't tie things up or what, but Joni loves it. I guess nothing will be like 24 to me, I love that show. We now have all 3 seasons of the Office, so we are happy about that too. I have considered getting into Heroes, but we'll see if the time allows. Joni loves Greys Anatomy, but doesn't every girl? How did I go from puppy to television shows? So Christmas was fun, we made a nice dinner and relaxed a lot. We got a lot of cool and fun presents, thank you for helping our first Christmas alone be as good as it could have been.

Drumroll please...

The newest member of our family is Dilly...I know, wierd name that has no meaning, but who are we trying to impress anyways? We were thinking about Deely...not that that is much different or meaningful either. It's hard to name a girl dog. I was thinking since we took her away from her mom and brothers and sisters she was pretty traumitized, and I told Joni "it was probably because she was still sucking on her mom's dealy"...so that's where that name came from. Good thing I didn't say "nipple" or we'd have some worse name ideas on our list. So why a dog you ask? We have been thinking about it for a couple of years now, and we actually had our names on an adoption list at the humane society. I kept shooting the idea down when I thought too much about it. When my mom and family were here we went into this store called the Puppy Store. The store is kinda sad but fun to go into, I held a little rat terrier that I fell in love with, but there was no way I was going to shell out 360 bones for it (that's not dog talk, I mean $360). So we left, but I told Joni about it and she had to see it. We stopped by after church just to see if he was still there and hold him. Right when we got there, another couple was buying him. You should have seen the look on Joni's face when she saw it and realized it was being purchased. I'm not usually a sucker for those kind of looks but this was different. So that night I did my research on the internet, read all about rat terriers and how to take care of them, and I found a lady who breeds them and sells them for $150 here in Bryan. When I went out there I was sold on the littlest girl in the litter who stumbled right over my feet and looked up at me. When I surprised Joni she just about pooped her pants. I have always loved dogs, and I can't think of a better companion for Joni when I am away this summer. She is an 8 week old Rat Terrier, she'll get to be the size of a large cat.

Despite the fact that she is completely adorable, she is the weaniest, whiniest little thing right now. I am constantly babysitting. She woke up at 5:30am this morning and had no intentions of letting me sleep any longer. We figure we'll give her a week to be like this because of what she's been through, but then we are hoping to socialize her as much as possible. Thanks for the warm bottle idea in her cage mom, that worked for a little while. So my break is not so much a break anymore, except for when she is sleeping. Any suggestions on raising and/or training a puppy I am all ears.

Do you ever hear an old song or a group and it totally warps you back into a different decade? I was driving home with the window down and 75 degrees outside (after it was 40's and raining the whole week family was here), and Van Halen came on...I warped back into High School with my buddies driving up to ski at Bogus Basin after school every other day. It felt good, then the song "I'm just a girl" by No Doubt came on, which isn't a bad song either, but it was then that I realized this little "girl dog" has me by the...okay, so you get the point. I am nominating myself for the husband and pet owner of the year award.

Pictures are worth a thousand...

I thought these two pictures were funny...girls just want to have fun, and guys...just want to stick their hands in their pockets and watch.

We had a fun Thanksgiving. Spent some time with friends here, and then went to our friend's the Christenson's for the weekend. Plenty of turkey to go around at both places. We love thier little girls, they have another one as of last week.

The week of my finals Joni's mom and sister came and we had a great time. We left our camera at the Christenson's so no pics were taken, but we had a blast. I was stuck at the library most of the time but I still got some time in with them. They are probably three of the most unique women I know when they get together, I just sit back and enjoy the show. The day after they left, my mom, two brothers, and Erin (Joel's girlfriend) came into town. For some reason they decided to fly into two different airports in Houston, so by the time we all met and got home it was 3am. We went to the Broncos-Texans game Thursday night, and although the Broncos didn't play so well, we had a blast. We met some nutty people who we almost got in a fight with in the first quarter, but then we were friends for the rest of the game. I think by their 15th beer they started to warm up to us a bit. I got harrassed quite a bit in my orange Elway jersey the whole time. We were in a pretty rowdy section and we stood up the whole game....AWESOME seats right by the field.

Joni couldn't resist taking pictures of all the interesting outfits, like Santa's hot little helper. I don't know what goes through some people's minds when they come out in public like this.

Mom and Elvis...the older version of Elvis I'm guessing.

Don't know what this guy was, but he was super nice and a little bit stinky.

Our awesome seats. We saw Deion Sanders, Marshall Faulk, and some other announcers right up close. Plus, all the Broncos warmed up in the end zone right in front of us. We were yelling stuff at them and they were waving at us. One of the recievers was playing catch with some fans in the stands and Glen caught the ball but couldn't keep it of course. Two of my buddies Josh and Clint came with us. You can tell in the picture below I was more concerned with setting the car alarm than smiling. Everyone looks so happy...props to Joni for the pants.

So now we are going through people withdrawls. I am officially done with school for a month, and we have no visitors. We are going to do everything we can to make sure this Christmas isn't lonely. We had so much fun the last couple of weeks and we are thankful to have people we care about and who care about us. Thanks for coming to see us, for those of you who can't, that's why we blog. Have a great week!

Zippy Lockel Stockels

I got this image in an email a while ago and it made me laugh. It's an image scanned from some kids math test. If you ask me I think he deserves full credit for the problem!

Okay, so I know Paul is the one who got tagged for the "6 things", but I feel like writing a blog because it has been a while! So here are 6 things you may not know about me (Joni).

1. Paul and I have a highly technical term for my toes... Zippy Lockel Stockels. Strange? Yes. Here is a little background. I love to run - pretty sure all of you know that - but all that running makes my feet look awful. I ALWAYS have several blisters and/or caluses on my poor lil toes. "Zippy" is just the word for plain old toes. The "lockel stockels" part comes in when I have blisters all over from my most recent run. If you ask us how this term came about we can't really explain it, because we don't really know.

2. My mom used to force me to take Beano as a child. In retrospect I can't say I blame her. I was (and still am) a gassy McGee. I like to think I just have a healthy, and very active GI system. I also have been blessed with the gift of my gassy outbursts sounding like words. I admit that more than one time since we've been married, I have passed gas a room away from Paul and he said "What was that Joni?".

3. In my head, numbers have always had colors assigned to them. One is white, two is yellow, three is light blue, four is pink, five is green, six is orange, seven has never had a color, eight is royal blue. Then it skips 9 and 10 but eleven is definately black. I've always thought if numbers had personalities that evens would be the nice, goody-two-shoes, happy types. Odds would be the the ones who were edgy, cool, and unpredictable.

4. I hate to have my face and my body wet at the same time. In fact, I usually take a bath and wash my hair and everything without getting my face wet. Then once I am out and dryed off I will wash my face. I really have no idea when this little quirk developed. Swimming bugs me a lot for this reason, but I will usually go anyways because it's fun.

5. I am soooo gonna regret putting this next one down next week when it happens ... here goes nothing ... I have never been stung by a bee or broken a bone. KNOCK ON WOOD!!

6. My closet is totally color coded. Its like a giant rainbow. This might seem odd for anyone who knows me because I am NOT a very organized person. Honestly I just think it looks great.

Here are just a few more tidbits that didn't make the big six list. My favorite shape is a STAR, I have a phobia of dirty elevator buttons and will only push them with my knuckles, I have seen the movie Liar Liar like 50 times, I eat 2 packets of maple and brown sugar oatmeal every day for lunch, I'm pretty sure I have seen a UFO and ghost lady wearing a blue jump suit (not at the same time), I have only done Paul's laundry one time and he has never done mine, I smile whenever I hear the name Chuck Norris, I am awesome at arm wrestling and hardly ever lose (to women anyways), and last but not least ... after a long day of swimming I always crave a Whopper!

Thanks to everyone who called to wish us Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone had an awesome holiday.

Much love, JONI

Hey everyone,

For some reason I have decided to write a blog in letter format. I feel like I should be giving you some great or tragic news...or announce my resignation...or something. I feel like I have become quite the expert on writing e-mails and letters lately starting off with a sentence or two of butt kissing, then a question, then a sentence or two of thank you's and stuff. Who really talks like that in real life? I often wonder what the recipient of the e-mail on the other side is thinking, or if anyone else thinks, "allright already...cut to the point". I guess the important thing is to be geniune because you can tell right away when the person wants something.

I hope everyone is excited for Thanksgiving, we will miss all of you stuffing your faces and hanging out and playing games...or in the case of last Christmas...throwing up all night. I had a pretty good time in Connecticut. I got a little freaked out becuase my baggage was left in Atlanta. Can you imagine me showing up for a job interview in a t-shirt and sandles? I got it back a couple of hours before the Forum started, so I was okay. I have a cool portable blue comb that folds in half that the airline gave me for the trouble...seriously? So if anyone wants a comb, I don't think I will be using it any time soon. That's like saying to a big tough guy in a leather jacket, "We're sorry about your luggage but why don't you enjoy this free copy of My Little Pony the musical on us". Or to an old lady with no teeth, enjoy your beef jerky and a toothbrush.

So everyone at Forum was really nice to me..."that's cause you got big jugs, I mean, your boobs are huge" (sorry for the movie quote, I couldn't resist). Some of you are probably really confused right now. But everyone was really cool, in fact, I would not have felt depressed if I did not get an offer because of how awesome the candidates were. There is absolutely nothing that makes someone better for going to a "better" school, that was obvious from the start. Everyone that was there was there because they were good, fun people. So...I got an offer. I don't know where yet, but I will be in the consumer and industrial division (appliances, lightbulbs, and airport security). I will likely intern at a large manufacturing plant in the midwest or southeast.

We are excited to possibly try our first Black Friday this Friday, wait in line at 4am. We are eating Thanksgiving with a bunch of young couples in the ward, then we have the big Texas game Friday, and then we're going to Houston to see our friends there for the weekend. So we'll try and take lots of pictures. I miss you guys already just thinking about family and friends during this time of year. Have a great holiday!

Love,
Paul and Joni

I can't believe how time has flown the last couple of months, I am off tomorrow to Hartford, Connecticut for a couple of days to attend "Forum" with General Electric as my second round of interviews. I have been thinking about this thing since the beginning of September, and I am getting to the constant stomach turning, poop every hour stage...okay that was a little gross but when I get nervous that's what happens. I know I just need to relax and be myself but let's be real and realize that everyone gets nervous. This is a crazy time of year with end of semester projects and presentations coming up, and I have a lot on my mind. I have had to schedule time just to have time to research the company. I will get into Hartford around midnight tomorrow, then starting at 2pm on Wednesday the fun begins. I am basically competing with about 60 other MBA's and Masters students across the country for about 35-40 internship spots.

I have been told that the process lasts 24 hours. I will have three hours to meet with executives from all of the GE industries including NBC, aviation, energy, infrastructure, finance, transportation, and healthcare to name a few. After that I am supposed to pick my top three, this is huge because I will interview with those three the next morning. Then after interviews I get rushed back to the airport while all the executives get together and make their choices. I would be lying if I told you I am not intimidated. A fellow student gave me some good advice, she said that when you get there and meet some of the other candidates you'll be thinking "why the hell am I here?". She said you'll have to rely on your personality to get you by...I'm screwed. So off I go with my little degree from Utah State University, and 1/2 a semester of HR under my belt, to compete with some of the best in the country...I think I have to poop again.

I guess what I want to do more than anything is leave everything I've got on the table before I come home, so I can leave with no regrets. If I don't make it I'll find something else; I may even be cliche and say that it wasn't meant to be. But for now I can only hope that they see what I have to offer, and if they don't want it, I still have a beautiful wife to come home to who loves to inflict pain by popping my zits.

This is one of those posts that I don't even know if I'll decide to post it or not, but I just feel like writing...so if you are reading this now I guess I decided to post it. I think I just really don't want to study, sometimes it is so hard to sit down and do what needs to be done, especially if whatever you need to do doesn't need to be done for a while but you are just trying to get ahead. Today has been one of those days that I really appreciate what I have. When Joni got home today I was paying complete attention to her and asking her about her day and I really just wanted to listen to her and hug her even though she didn't want to be hugged, let alone talk. She asked if I was okay because usually I say hi and then pay attention to the tv when she wants to talk. Now Joni is off running and I am just counting down the minutes until she gets back. She'll probably laugh at this if she reads it because our lives get so hectic at times that I'll miss her while she is gone, but then when she gets home I'll be doing other things.

I guess the older you get, you either get closer to the true meaning of life, or you get further away from it. A lot of times I find myself worrying about the next step, and how big of a company I can work for etc, etc. But then I'll relax and listen to a really good song, or talk to a stranger, and suddenly doing homework doesn't seem to matter as much anymore. I think old people in nursing homes probably understand this more than anyone else, and parents whose kids have grown older and moved out (sorry to relate parents to old people in nursing homes). Why do we spend so much time on things that don't really matter? Why not take a sick day every once in a while, and do something we enjoy? I bet if I learned a new song on the guitar for every minute I watched ESPN I would be pretty good.

Some things I really enjoyed doing this week:

-teaching 13 year olds about sacrifice and how to use an index to find topics in the scriptures

-driving to Houston for no reason other than to hang out with family in a new place

-lifting weights, running a mile, beating a bunch of young punks in a bball game, and ping pong all in one day. Then getting home with a sore back and blistered feet and taking a shower.

-talking with lots of family members on the phone and in person

-laughing at Joni and her "isms"

-forcing Joni to swallow a Gas-X to get rid of her gas (it worked with the help of 2 other people)

-Introducing Colby to some of my favorite music that he has never heard of

-drinking egg nog

-flaming pumpkins

Making a list of things you do or intend to do is a good way to gauge what you value as being important in your life, maybe I'll have to do it more often to keep myself on track. Until then, back to my homework...booooorrrring.

For as much as we brought around the camera with us, we hardly took any pictures this weekend, maybe that's a sign you are having a good time cause you forget about the pics sometimes.

This is a classic example of how putting on a hat makes you feel a certain way, then changing to a new hat also changes your personality. My gigantic head doesn't allow me to wear hats the way they are supposed to be worn...but hey, who's measuring?

Crazy Sean drilling a hole into the side of my "Bart man" pumpkin. We decided to spray hairspray into the flame and hopefully flames would come out the sides for a good picture. The room ended up stinking really bad, and we had some black pumpkins. In case you are wondering, yes, we did take video of this event and yes we posted it below.

We can in NO way take credit for the cool halloween food. Pigs in a blaket to look like spiders, and lizard sandwhiches. They also had homemade rootbeer. Before you go craving ice cream just know that the stuff in bowls is ketchup and ranch...the Carroll's went as far as making spider web patterns in the dip. We brought boring brownies and spinach dip.

I love this picture cause it shows how in love Joni is with me...or else how lame she thinks I am for always posing. We didn't dress up this year but we did carve a pumpkin for the first time in forever. Most of the night was spent making flaming pumpkins and choking on the smell. We are excited for our first visitors to come see us since moving to Bryan. Joni's aunt and uncle and cousin are coming for the weekend. I think it is so cool how supportive they are of us. How many aunts and uncles...let alone immediate family, make the effort to visit for no other reason but to see us and have fun. My aunt Rae was always like that too, but I think it's pretty cool that they like us enough to do that. We both feel pretty lucky to have such cool families we can hang with and who love and support us. Enjoy the flaming pumpkin, I hope the video works.

We decided to go for a little bike ride on Sunday and take some pictures of campus for those of you who will probably never make it out here. The campus is really pretty, lots of trees and all the buildings are off white and tan. I can't tell you the exact size but I would guess its two or three miles long by a 1/2 mile wide. The buildings are mostly bunched together and the tallest one is about 10 stories. Each college has its own library, which is pretty cool. I guess you have to do that with 46,000 students.

Joni always finds a good shot, I wonder if anyone else has ever done that before?

My building...looks pretty boring. One of the newer buildings on campus, Joni calls it the wiener building, its actually Wehner (way...ner).

Campus is shady for the most part, I have no idea if the trees will shed their leaves or not. We love all the crooked branches. I attached a video below that hopefully works, we wanted to invite ya'll on a bike ride with us, we tried to switch holding the camera while it was recording on another video but that didn't work out so well. I saw President Bush the first last night which was cool because I have never seen a President in real life. I guess he is here all the time, he has an apartment and his own little fly fishing pond on campus by his library. There are so many cool buildings and hangouts that I wish I could show all of you, but I guess if you want the real experience you'll just have to come. Enjoy the bike ride with us.

By the way, I think there is a mile high city curse. Did anyone else notice that the Rockies amazing streak happened while the Broncos lost 3 weeks in a row? Then the Broncos won, and the Rockies got swept. You can never have both teams be successful in Denver, My money is on the Broncos for Monday Night Football.

Actually it's only Dr Pepper, Texas for 2 weeks out of the year, they change all the signs and the postal addresses. Every other day its Dublin, Texas...population 3,873. If you look on a map you won't find much near it. We drove 2 1/2 hours just to get there and we already live in a sort of small town. Our friends the Carroll's are DP fanatics, or so I think because they made a clock out of Dr Pepper pop cans. Anyways, we went to the original DP factory that still runs once a week. They still make DP with imperial sugar instead of the fake stuff, I can't taste a huge difference, but people travel all the way to this place to stock up on the original stuff...The Carroll's happen to be two of those people. We did buy some DP cake mix, we'll see how that tastes. This town is just like you might imagine a small Texas town, I wish I would have taken some pics of the down home places we saw on the way there...and I saw my first Texas longhorns.

Sean was excited, I think the tour girl had a crush on him. I was just listening intently as always...Joni will slap me for that one.

They gave us some free samples, Joni looks like its already sinking in.

Get in my belly!!! It smelled like poop right there though so the moment was ruined.

We look so relaxed...two seconds earlier Joni was sprinting over to me in order to get into the picture. This picture sreams small town Texas...where's my hat and some straw to put in my mouth? Waitin for Billy Bob to come pick me up in his truck so we can go shoot some rabbits...wait, that's Vernal. HAHA.

I actually like this picture a lot, Joni is so good.

Tomorrow we are going apartment hunting again, that's right, and we just got settled in. Long story, but we never signed an actual contract (not our fault), and we want to take advantage of the moment to move somewhere closer to school and Joni's work but still be in the ward. We live out on the edge of town between the Juvi center and the prison because Joni was going to have to commute to Waco. Now that she has a job in town it makes no sense to live clear out here. I absolutely hate moving, probably because we have moved 6 times in the last 3 1/2 years, but this should be the last time we have to move on our own (I expect my next job to move us). I feel like we'll never settle down and buy a house because all of the places I am looking into for employment have a 2 or 3 year leadership development program that involes a substantial move about every 8 months., oh well. We love getting to know the world...I mean the U.S...whatever.

With all my midterms out of the way, all I have now are group projects and finals to look forward to, its excting. Joni is done with her test, things are getting normal again around our place. We got memberships to Sam's Club yesterday, and now we have a two years supply of Starbursts. I was thinking about buying a bucket of pickles even though I hate them just because of how cool it would be to show everyone my bucket of pickles. Candy is the best thing in the world for a 13 year old Sunday school class, good thing they like Starbursts.

By far one of my favorite pictures of Joel, look at the poster on the wall that Joni is pointing to and you will see he looks exactly like the guy from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. This in on our fridge hall of fame.

Joel with a mohawk and burns, just wanted to wish my brother Joel a HAPPY BIRTHDAY from afar. And of course, who could forget Freddy Mike tomorrow, Happpy Birthday Dad! He is the one behind the dufus trying to look big and tough.

I wanted to download more pictures but I can't for some reason, of course I will call you guys later but there's nothing like a little blog birthday tribute. Speaking of tribute, I wouldn't feel right to not mention my boys the Colorado Rockies for keeping alive the most amazing baseball winning streak into the playoffs of all time. I have been glued to the tv when I should be studying, if you haven't already jumped on the bandwagon you'd better get on quick.

I hope you birthday boys have an awesome birthday!

JONI PASSED!!!

Just wanted to let everyone know that Joni passed her RD exam!!! She is an official dietitian. I am not surprised, but this thing has consumed all of her free time every single night for a very long time. I think she may have multiple ulcers from worrying so much, and maybe even pulled out a few hairs...but fortunately for her they will grow back. After my midterms are done next Friday, we will go celebrate, but for now Joni can be normal again. To let you know how stressed she has been, she hasn't even gone running for a week and a half so as to maximize study time...that's nuts if you know Joni. Congrats Jonerface!

Funny stuff

I am really video happy ever since I realized there was a video link thingy. There is nothing like studying all weekend and then watching something funny. I still remember sitting in my dad's lap as a kid watching the Road Runner and Coyote show and he would laugh until he cried, I loved the show just because of how funny HE thought it was. My favorite thing now is during America's Funniest Home Videos when they do the music montage thing with all of the falls without all the commentary...by the end I am hiccupping because I can't breathe from all the laughing...maybe that is an acid reflux problem though, I don't know. Also, the Office is hilarious, I don't care what anyone says about this season, I still think it is totally funny. Pranks are good for laughs...sorry mom. And I absolutely love watching movies with people that love to laugh because it makes the movie so much better...unless you are laughing during the Last Samurai because Tom Cruise's hair is flowing in the wind (Joni's sister). Don't know how I started blogging because I was just planning to post a video but this one of Joni is awesome. You have to turn up the volume so you can hear her reaction at the end when she realizes she was being watched. And in case you missed it, I posted the one of my dad getting hit by a stream of water while sleeping below.

To add to the top 5 movies, we are thinking of soundtracks now. Best ones I can think of are Rudy, Dances with Wolves, Remember the Titans, Rocky, and Top Gun. I know I'll get made fun of for those last two. Have a great week.

Just thought I would try out the video link, this is the one I talked about a few blogs back, enjoy!

I am blogging today just because I am going through some typing withdrawls already. I have been working on a case study and typing my feelings about proper business practices in South Korea for the past few days, and I finished about an hour ago. I guess I feel like I am not done expressing myself...which is probably not a good sign because my professor told the class to ask "why" until you can't ask why any more when writing a paper. So now I feel everything I write down has to have an explanation. I love grad school. I was the worst test taker when it came to multiple choice and true false questions because I would always think there was something beyond what the question was really asking, when all the teacher wanted was a textbook definition. I love having the opportunity to explain things the way I see them working without worrying about getting an answer right or wrong. This is probably why I feel so laid back about school that its scaring me because I feel like I should be worrying more...which doesn't sound like I am laid back, but I sure feel like I am. We are taking on real projects with real companies, and figuring out why they were successful or not, it's pretty cool stuff. My classmates think I am retarded when I tell them how I feel about all of this, but everything I am learning just excites me.
Something else that excites me is this new straw we found called a "sipahh", just google it.
Probably the coolest invention ever. It is a straw with a filter in it that is filled with chocolate, strawberry or other flavors, and you stick it in a regular glass of milk. If you have a chocolate sipahh the milk will taste like chocolate milk simply by going through the chocolate flavor filter to your mouth. I know, I know, why not just make chocolate milk? It is the coolness of the invention that makes you try it. By the time you drink the whole glass, the straw is empty. Beware of cookies and cream flavor, it made me want to yak because of how strong it was, but chocolate is good for sure.
I learned today the power a simple Jolly Rancher has over 12 and 13 year olds. Our class went really well...not only could you feel the spirit but it smelled like apples and watermelons the whole time. Galations chapter 5 talks about the fruits of the spirit...nah, sorry I couldn't resist. I love baseball playoff time, the regular season is rediculously long, but I follow the Rockies and the Cubs. The Rockies are in a one game playoff tomorrow to see if they can make the playoffs for the first time since '95, they won 11 in a row to get there. And we all know the Cubs have had thier woes forever. Wierd, I have never blogged about baseball before. How about the crazy college football shakeup this weekend? What am I doing? I should be concentrating on school. Joni and I have been trying to make an all time top 5 favorite movie list and it is really hard because we love so many movies. We came up with Forrest Gump for sure because it has all the qualities of a good movie, and maybe the Sixth Sense, Remember the Titans, and Rudy, but we need some help...what are some of yours?

My foot is in pain today, I can't remember if it was from the killer fire ants that ate my foot on Saturday, or from the bike that fell on my foot today. Don't you hate that when you don't know where the pain is coming from? If it hangs around too long you start to think you could die, and then you wonder how many people will come to your funeral since you live 1500 miles away from any relatives, and if you'll have on clean underwear when you are rushed to the hospital...then you just realize that all you really want is a hug and a cupcake. Okay so I think a lot. Speaking of cupcakes, I think I am getting a muffin top...can boys get those or is it just for girls that wear really tight pants with no pockets? So here is a funny thing about my pants besides the fact that they aren't loose anymore. One of my favorite pair of shorts is a pair of old green scout pants that I cut off to make the perfect shorts. They used to be pretty big, but now I don't require a belt and I think the zipper is loose, or my "muffin" is pushing it down, and by muffin I mean my tummy...don't get dirty ladies. So about every few minutes today I found myself pulling up the top of my zipper, thats when I realized the waistline of my pants looked like it was flexing and straining to maintain a casual relationship with my hips. To make matters worse, on the way home my seatbelt snuck its way under my belly to create a nice big handle to grab onto...not many people can claim to have a belly that eats seatbelts. Happy freakin 28th huh? where's the cake and ice cream? I am feeding 5 over here!

Joni got me a bunch of Texas A&M stuff for my birthday, I feel like I am cheating on Utah State a little bit, but someday when I have an office we are going for a theme I guess. She framed some pictures of the stadium for me, and I got some shorts, a pillow, a towel, and a couple shirts. Not that we'll hang shorts on an office wall, but they went along with the theme. Joel got me a book about pirates...cause I guess he has a thing for pirates, dunno. It's actually pretty blibbin funny, and makes for excellent bathroom reading. Now I can take care of business while learning to speak like a pirate. I'd hate to think what people might think if they walk by the bathroom door and hear me practicing "arrrrrggggh, Beezelbub himself could hardly desire better company."

I got invited to the 2nd round of interviews with IBM. I feel pretty excited to have them and GE as internship possibilities. Joni is still going strong training for her marathon in Houston, and studying for her RD exam. We just got called to teach the 12-13 year olds in church together, which is exciting and a little crazy. So with that, and our spare time with friends, we are staying pretty busy. We have "our" time to talk about our crazy days over the phone and right before bed...maybe this is all preparing us for our inevitable time apart this summer. Here are some pics of our bbq with friends on Saturday.

This is us with the Snideman's and the Carroll's. We are the couples without kids so everyone else bugged out early while we swam and burnt ourselves to a crisp. It was a pretty fun time, next time we want to rent jet ski's. The Carroll's have a floating hotel that really outperformed our 97 cent floaters.

As promised, here are some pics from the football game.

It was pretty crowded, here I am playing the role of little spoon with the guy behind me...

And here I am playing the role of big spoon. Even though I am smiling here I enjoyed the role of little spoon facing Joni a little more than spooning the big guy. There isn't enough room to stand straight, so when the teams get closer to your side of the field, you have to switch angles.

The game was really fun, as wierd as it sounds though we always get a little mad when we go because we wish we could "share" the experience with family. So if you plan on visiting us sometime, come during football season. If we can't go to the game at least we can go to yell practice the night before.

School is going well. Right now I am doing a lot of interviewing with companies for internships. There are a lot of companies that come right to our campus just for our program. We apply for the companies we are interested in, then we have to be selected just to interview. It's hard because you have all of your homework and classes to worry about, but then there are company presentations and information sessions almost every night, and interviews during the day. I have had to research a lot of companies before these sessions so I didn't sound like an idiot when I talked to them so that's pretty time consuming too. Tuesday I interview with Shell, Wednesday IBM, and Thursday British Petroleum...who knows what next week will be like. My first interview was with General Electric(GE) and it went pretty well, in fact I got a call from the corporate headquarters 2 days later and they want to fly me out to Connecticut in November to attend what they call "forum". They bring in about 100 students from all over the country to compete for about 60 internship positions. I am really excited about it and I feel like I have a pretty good shot. GE is an awesome company, little did I know that appliances and lightbulbs are actually thier smallest industry. They own NBC and they make jet engines, they were responsible for some of the Apollo missions to the moon, and the electronics of the Panama Canal...do I sound excited? Once again I am confident that our move here was the right one. I never could have dreamed of experiencing any of this in Utah, it's just crazy how close the ties are between these companies and the University. Being a return missionary is actually something that sets you apart here instead of blending in with the crowd.

The one thing that might be a "downer" is that there is a good chance I could live in a different city than Joni for about 3 months. That could be really hard but necessary if I want a good experience...especially an experience that isn't an oil and gas company. Another thing is most of the companies have training programs that last about the first 2 years you work for them. They move you to a different place every few months to get the all around experience, including other countires, then after 2 years you can make a decision where you want to go. It sounds crazy but we both love the idea of experiencing life in different places while we are still young. I am glad Joni supports me through all of this...but I had to laugh when she told me she would move anywhere but Mexico City. I guess when she saw how big it is when we flew into the city for our honeymoon, she got a little scared.

Joni is fitting right in at her job, I tease her because she has a little "soul power" in her. After being around her co-workers all day she comes home and talks like them, she even does the head sway thing while waving one finger in the air...it's seriously hilarious to catch her doing it when she doesn't even know what she did.