Lish had a Birthday

Shout hooray!

It was a great birthday too, if I do say so myself! His birthday was on Friday, and of course I had to work that day. So I woke up early that morning and got ready for work, but I headed out to the grocery store first. I picked up some cinnamon rolls and some chocolate milk (his favorite breakfast) and made those for him so he could eat them when he woke up. That night we didn't do anything too special. We had an Easter primary activity for the kids in our ward, so I had to go help with that right after work, and Lish came to help as well. Afterward, we just went out to dinner with another couple and just chatted. It was low key, but fun!About a month ago Lish told me he wanted to have a BBQ with some close friends for his birthday. So we held that yesterday. We had a great turnout (everyone who was invited came) and we had a lot of fun! We went to the park and made some burgers and hot dogs, ate a lot, let the dogs play, and enjoyed being outside. It was a beautiful day and a great birthday party!

(The delicious cupcakes I made, thanks to these girls.)

I hope Lish knows how much I love him and how much his family and friends love him. And I hope he had a magnificent birthday!

Family Get-Together in Jupiter

(I'm not sure why blogger won't let me move my pictures down right now, so you just get to enjoy them all up front and out of order!)

Lish and I had the wonderful opportunity to go down to Jupiter, FL this past weekend. For those who don't remember, his grandparents live down there part time. The school that his sister teaches at had their spring break, and his mom and stepdad were going to fly out. So we all got to meet up down in sunny south Florida! It was such a great trip!

We drove down last Thursday. We got in, dropped Jazz off with the grandparents, picked Maggie up and headed to our hotel. Of course we stopped by a grocery store after we saw the freezer in our room, to pick up a couple half gallons of ice cream. Karen and Scott got in late that night. Friday we went to visit the grandparents, then headed over to the beach to soak up some rays. That night we went out to dinner with the grandparents, which was followed by a walk on the beach and a movie.

Saturday was fabulous. A bunch of Lish's family (cousins, aunts, uncles, great aunts, second cousins) all got together at Adele and Yale's (the grandparents) house. It was so fun to me to get to meet a few more family members and to get to chat with everyone. We never got a picture with the whole crew though, which was too bad.

Then on Sunday we headed down to Miami. I hadn't been down there before. We went to a newly built park, South Point Park, right by South Beach. Then we headed to South Beach. Not too many crazies down there, but there were still a slew of people. Then we went to a delicious Cuban restaurant. After that we got to go visit one of Karen's childhood friends, Elaine. (They've been friends since the 3rd grade, and Elaine even made it out to our wedding.) It was fun to see her again and her family. After that we drove back up to Jupiter, and met up with Aunt Beth and Uncle Bob for dinner. That night we ate more ice cream and chatted.

Monday was spent packing up. Then we went to lunch with Adele and Yale, and Beth and Bob. After lunch, Lish and I hit the road to make the long drive home. I guess it's not too long, but still. It was such a great trip and we're so happy we could spend so much time with everyone! We sure love our family and are so grateful for all they did for us!

Sittin', Waitin', Wishin'

Lish and I have been waiting a lot it seems. Waiting for something or someone to tell us where we should go at the end of the summer. Lish is finishing up his PhD program, yay! He has been working on his dissertation since last summer, and he's making some good progress. He applied for jobs last fall, and we're still waiting to hear back from several schools. (Reminder: he wants to be a professor.)

The application process for becoming a professor is very long. The applicants apply a year before they want to teach. They have to get the curriculum vitae, published papers, letters of recommendation, letter of intent, etc. all together, mail them all off, and then it's completely out of our hands. For months. It's very annoying to not be able to have any control over the situation.

Then the schools start going through their applicants. They narrow them down and call several who they are interested in. After the telephone interview, they narrow it down even more, to three or four candidates. The schools invite these few people to come onto their campus for a campus interview. The campus interview lasts all day, usually. The candidate meets most of the faculty, talks with them, dines with them, and then teaches them. They either teach a class or do a presentation about their dissertation, depending on what the school asks of them.

After the campus interview, the candidates are sent home and told to continue waiting for a few more weeks while they make the decision. The faculty then votes on a candidate, the name gets passed to someone higher up in the college or university for approval, the approval moves back down to the department chair, the department chair then calls the approved candidate, the candidate takes a couple days to decides yay or nay, gets word back to the school, and then the rest of the candidates find out their fate.

Waiting and waiting and waiting...

I'm tired of waiting! I know we don't have much longer to wait until we can finally determine our near future, but my patience is being pushed. We're hoping for some very good news! We shall keep you updated.

Disney World and Lakers Game

We had such a fun weekend!

We were so glad we made it to the temple on Friday night, even after we got stuck in some weird traffic. And we had an amazing time at Epcot. Our feet were tired and sore afterwards, and I think Lish was sick of the camera, but we had such a fun time! And the Lakers vs. Magic game was really fun too. We got there early so we got to participate in some of the activities they had going on beforehand. We even got a free caricature! Too bad the Lakers lost, but at least it was a good game!

I liked many of the pictures we took, so I made a couple collages for your enjoyment.

March is Good!

Not gonna lie, I am SO excited about this movie. Sadly, we won't be able to make it this weekend. We're going on our Orlando trip!

Did you know about this trip? We've had it planned since the NBA schedule came out last year. Lish really wanted to make it to a Lakers game. Remember what a big fan he is? Put a bumper sticker on the car and everything. Anyway, the game is on Sunday but we're heading down tomorrow. (We know we're breaking the Sabbath.) Gonna hit up the temple tomorrow night, and then go to Epcot on Saturday. (Lish hasn't been to Epcot and I've only been once, my junior year of high school.) Can't wait! It's going to be a great weekend!

And next weekend will be too. That's when we'll go to the movie.

The weekend after that will be amazing too. Lots of family time down in Jupiter!

And the next weekend after that will be good. Lish's birthday!

Good things are happening! Go month of March!

Bumper Stickers...

...are almost as permanent as tattoos.

Oh, they're not? Well, I think they are.

They scare me. Yes, I am slightly afraid of bumper stickers. Especially the ones where once you put them on, there's no going back.

Being in the car, amongst other cars, I tend to see a lot of bumper stickers. Some make me laugh, some make me confused, and others make me think "Why in the world...?" Yesterday, I saw a car that had four different stickers about animals, for saving animals in pet shelters, supporting the Humane Society, and so on. Then I started thinking, "Am I passionate enough about anything to put it on my car?" The only thing I could come up with would be a cute little dancer. I know for sure I'm passionate about dance. But I couldn't give my entire bumper to dance bumper stickers. That's just an overload. And maybe if someone close to me got breast cancer (which I pray doesn't happen), I would get one of the "Save the Ta-Ta's" stickers. Those make me laugh.

So props to those who feel comfortable covering their car with stickers. I can't get the courage to accomplish such a feat.

And maybe someday soon I'll write a post that says what Lish and I have been up too. We've been busy, I swear!

Oh, and by the way, there IS a bumper sticker on our car. I didn't put it on there and if you saw it, you would know that too. It's an LA Lakers sticker. Lish is trying to turn me into a fan.