New post finally

We decorated our Christmas tree last weekend! One of our favorite traditions every year is going out and choosing the perfect tree and decorating it together! This year it had the perfect top for the star, which Jimmy Joe got the honor of putting on.
















































And, why I don't believe in global warming. The top number measures the outside temperature and the bottom is inside. As you can see there are dashes, that means it's negative.


















Also of note, we watched Julie and Julia- such a GREAT movie!! I loved it!! I think it made it up there with Confessions of a Shopaholic as one of my favorites. I am now inspired to check out Julia Child's cookbook and butter massage a chicken. I highly recommend this movie to everyone!

Halloween

Here are some Halloween pictures. We borrowed costumes this year which was great. I also made a fondant cake! I wanted to try my hand at fondant, and it went really well. I would love to make more. We went to our friend's house for a party that night. There were great treats and great company! Then we went later to Jimmy Joe's brother's house and had another get together. Another fun thing we did was go to a Haunted Laboratory on campus at BYU, put on by the civil engineers. It was actually really scary, and free!

Cambodia Trip

It has been a while, but we finally have some pictures up from our trip to Cambodia. We put together a slide show. We were there Aug. 5-22. First, you will see us in Phnom Penh, the capitol city of about 2 million people. In Phnom Penh we visited the Royal Palace, the Killing Fields, and the markets. Then you will be whisked away to Mondulkiri. We spent 2 days there. It is the most sparsely populated province in the country despite being the largest in land area. There are only about 60,000 people in the whole province. We went on an elephant trek there. Our guide was a local minority called Phnong. These people live and hunt in the jungle. They speak a tribal language, but he spoke Cambodian also, so I could talk to him. It was about a 4 hour trek through the jungle. It was awesome! From Mondulkiri we traveled to Siem Reap. In this province we spent three days exploring the old Hindu and Buddhist temple ruins. This is the most touristy part of Cambodia. We got a deal online with our Entertainment book, and got to stay in a beautiful 4 star hotel for only 25 dollars a night. After Siem Reap we went to Battambang for 2 days. This was a province that first opened while I was on my mission. Some of the families I taught there have now been sealed in the temple! You will see pictures of these families. It was so fun to have Joanna meet these special people. We then went back to Phnom Penh and on to Sihanoukville, a port city in southern Cambodia on the Gulf of Thailand. We stayed here for three days. We went snorkeling, hiked in the jungle, and played on the beach. We then went back to Phnom Penh, and the next day flew back to America.

The video is 14 minutes long. It is kind of long, but this is about 1/100th of our pictures. It was hard to choose. I hope you enjoy it!

Keith Urban ROCKS!

We went to the Keith Urban concert Wednesday night, and it was the BEST concert I've ever been to! He plays the guitar so crazy good. All those solos in his songs, that's him playing. And he can play them while singing, walking through the crowd, and dancing. He is such a fantastic performer, it was just one song right after another. We had SO much fun! It's so fun going to a concert where you know every single song, and they are all huge hits. Best concert ever!

Hey everyone. Here is the video that shows the charity portion of our trip. Thanks to everyone who donated!

We're back!

We are back from Cambodia!! We left Aug. 5 and got home late on the 22nd. It was a blast! I actually miss it a lot. A longer post is coming. We are sorting through a myriad of pictures and will post some soon. It was an amazing experience. I admit, I was a little terrified the closer the trip got, but I should have just relaxed. Once we got there, I saw how it was just a normal place, just a little more chaotic! We were able to do a lot of stuff there. I think we are the energizer tourists.

But...we turned a little bit Cambodian while we were there!

Cambodia

Joanna and I have been planning out how much we wanted to spend on charity items for when we go to Cambodia. We decided to let everyone else in on it too! We made a blogspot for this cause. You can read more about it there. Please take a look. Here is the link:

http://helpwithcambodia.blogspot.com/

Also- If you have a blog and feel so inclined, please make a post about this, including the link above. That way even more people can hear about what we are doing.

Mater

This is our tomato plant, Mater. He has struggled a lot, but we are proud of him. He had a rough start because we didn't transplant him into a bigger pot fast enough when we bought him. And then we watered him too much. And then too little. Nevertheless, he has survived deer, children, and construction vehicles and produced these 3 little beauties. I am excited to eat them! Time will tell if he will make any more tomatoes, but I think he might be done.

Fun Summer Weekend

We had a fun, HOT summer weekend! It was so hot. But I love it! I love this so much more than the frigid winter, which I prefer not to think about.

My sister Jessica and her family passed through Provo so we met up to eat at the Creamery on 9th. I've actually never had a burger there before but it was really good! We don't get to see each other often, and it was really fun to hang out! Her kids are a riot, they are so fun.



































We later went to a natural water slide up by Alpine. It is basically just smoothed rock that you can slide down into the pool of water below. It was really fun! Although for some reason, I bumped around more going down than Jimmy Joe (as you can see from the video!). He says that the faster you try to throw yourself down it, the less it hurt. I didn't buy that. It felt so good to be in the cold mountain water since it was so hot out.





















On the way home from the water slide, we went to my FAVORITE Hawaiian shaved ice stand, in Lindon. It is SO good and pretty cheap. They used to have it located in the parking lot by Cafe Rio in Provo, but ever since last summer it has been at this spot in Lindon. It's so worth the jaunt to go there though. The ice is really fine and the ice cream on the bottom is the best! I got the "Timp Special": peach, raspberry and blueberry. Mmm!

The Fallacy of Megapixels

I have reached a new conclusion: It seems as though new point and shoot cameras are not as good as older models. Jimmy Joe and I have been on a hunt for a point and shoot upgrade with higher resolution for video. The camera we have right now is a Sony Cybershot my Dad picked out 4 years ago for me, with 6 MegaPixel photo quality and standard definition video. I have decided it can't be beat by any of the new point and shoots available. We purchased one of the newer Sony Cybershots that goes up to 12.1 MP, purported to be a great camera with HD video. So the video was better than our current camera, but all pictures were grainy- whether in low light, indoors, outdoors, whatever. After some research, it seems this is the problem: the higher MP cameras have so many little sensors (microscopic lenses), one for each individual MP, packed into the whole sensor. Because they have to make room for all these little sensors the normal partitioning walls that separate them are lost. Thus, information spills over into adjacent sensors, creating more noise-- hence the grainy look. This doesn't happen with lower MP cameras because there are fewer sensors for the fewer megapixels, and the partitions remain and are effective. The images we took on the newer model just seemed blurry, blurred edges, and blurred colors. Not blurring from motion, more a grainy blur quality. So we returned it and got our money back. I think we are going to stick with our oldy but goody, with its definitively crisp and clear photos. Conclusion: It appears that more isn't better, and that older point and shoots with lower MP capability have crisper and cleaner photos that newer ones. Any thoughts?

*Note: This does not apply to DSLRs. They have a larger sensor that avoids this problem. They are awesome.

Freezer Jam and Rainbow

I made strawberry freezer jam a little while ago. I've never made jam before, but it turned out great! Strawberries were $0.77 a lb so I bought a ton. We froze most of them for shakes, and the rest went to jam. I am excited I made jam! It's really not that hard, although real (not freezer) jam is a lot more work. I am a fan of freezer jam. Here is a picture I took of one of the containers.























And....there was a really pretty rainbow a few weeks ago . Jimmy Joe ran up the hill behind our apartment and took a cool picture of it. It was so pretty because you could see both ends. Think we'll have good luck? I hope so!

Air Show

We went to the Air Force air show a few weeks ago. It was so cool. We took some cool pictures with a really fast shutter speed so the planes weren't just a blur. Here is a short slide show.

Kentucky

In May, during the week between my spring and summer semesters, Jimmy Joe and I went to Kentucky to visit my family. My parents and oldest brother live there, and my oldest sister was able to come down with her family from Illinois for half the time! We had a lot of fun. I miss my family so much! It had been a year since I'd seen anyone, and it gets hard not seeing your family! I loved going back and visiting. While we were there we went to Mammoth Caves, the Louisville Zoo, Squire Boone Cavern (the brother of Daniel Boone), Churchill Downs- the horse racing track where they race the Kentucky Derby, and we went fishing for a day on the lake in their community.

I LOVED how green it was there and all of the trees!!!!! I miss trees!













In "Fat Man's Misery" in Mammoth Caves.














My parents, Trent and us before going in Mammoth Cave.













My cute little nephew Luke helping me reel in the fishing line.













Churchill Downs













Me before I placed a $2 bet on a horse. They wouldn't take just a dollar.


















Me after my horse lost. Jimmy Joe was happy because "I learned my lesson" :)













My adorable niece Clara checking out the races

Lots coming soon on our blog- our trip to Kentucky, Memorial Day camping, and Antelope Island. Stay tuned.

New Haircut

After having similar variations on the same haircut for 2 years, I decided to change up my hair a lot! April (my sister-in-law) cut if for me, and she did a great job- thanks April! I just told her to do whatever she wanted. It's a lot shorter and a ton thinner. My hair is so thick that if it's not thinned out it gets really heavy. After she cut it, there was enough hair on the ground for a full wig. I love it!

School, heart, and more!

So I have not posted in a long time. I have been very busy lately. This semester has been the hardest time I have ever had in school (so far). I have always been really busy, but this semester has been especially hard because of the classes that I am taking. I have been doing about 6 hours of homework a day and going to class and work too. There is no way I could do it without Joanna. She has been there encouraging me along the way on nights that I have felt like pulling my hair out or having my brain explode, whichever came first. She has also been so helpful in making dinner when she herself is very busy and tired too. The semester is not over yet, but almost. So recently I have been trying to tell myself that this will all be worth it someday. Sometimes I think that I must be crazy to want to do this and more for another four years to get my PhD. All I know is that I am not yet content with what I know. I am starting to think that I never will be.

But don’t worry I have not lost sight of what is really important. The other day while I was pondering some things. I thought about when Joanna and I will start our family, and suddenly all my worries about Kinetics, Thermodynamics and Mass transfer suddenly seemed so insignificant. I know what I am really here for, to raise an eternal family and teach them how to become more like Christ; to be the best husband and father that I can be.

Another thing that has been occupying my time is trying to solve some unanswered questions with my dent in my chest. So there is a syndrome called Marfans syndrome. One of the signs of this disorder is pectus excavatum (dented chest). I have never been too worried about it, but I (and Joanna) wanted to make sure that I did not have it because people who have it usually have heart troubles. The main thing that can happen is having aortic dissections. This means that your aorta can rip and you die. There are also other heart problems you can have like regurgitation (some of your blood goes the wrong way in your heart).

So I went to the doctor and he did not think that I had anything wrong with me, but there were some signs of it that were close. Also my chest kind of hurt. I did not know if it was my muscles or my heart. So to be safe, first he took a chest X-ray and then an EKG (measures the heart electrical signals). In the X-ray you could see that I had very mild scoliosis (your back is curved right or left). That is another sign of Marfans, but a lot of people have scoliosis a little bit. So just to be sure, we decided to have me go in to the hospital and get an echocardiogram. This is pretty much an ultrasound on your heart, but they measure your heart cavities, the thickness of your aorta and they can also measure the velocity of the blood pumping in the heart. Well I was very nervous to have that done because needless to say I do not want to have heart problems. After an hour of looking at everything and having the cardiologist look at the movies and pictures he determined that there were no signs of Marfans, or anything wrong with my heart. I was very relieved. Although nothing was ever really wrong, this has made me so grateful for good health. This also has really opened my eyes to all the things that can go wrong with our fragile bodies.

In getting the echocardiogram you get to watch the monitor while they are doing their stuff. I have to say how amazing and humbling it was to see my own heart beating, and seeing the valves open and close. I was humbled to know that that little muscle contracting and releasing is what is keeping me alive. I have seen hearts before in cadavers, but to see my own heart valves open and close was amazing. We have an amazing architect. I have included a short video, it is hard to see what is going on. The video is a side view of my heart, if you look close you can see the valves open and close. The colors on the heart are showing the velocity profile of my blood going through the valves. So when you see color, that is the flow of blood going through the heart chambers.



And finally, Joanna and I are going to Cambodia!! We bought tickets and we are going this summer. I am so excited. It will be awesome! Well that is all.

Promontory Point, Utah!

It's time for a post!

We wanted to share these pictures from back in January. For Martin Luther King, Jr. day we went and spent the night up at Amanda (Jimmy Joe's sister) and Zach's house in Logan. We had a great time with them. On the way home on the freeway, I saw the exit sign for Promontory Point, where the Transcontinental Railroad was completed. On the spur of the moment, we decided we needed to go visit this famous place! It was really fun! I recommend it to everyone. It's a great place to experience a little bit of important history.















Standing where the last railroad tie and spike, the "Golden Spike," were placed, completing the railroad across the entire United States!















You can see it in this picture- it's the lighter one with the plaque on it


















They have replicas of the two trains that met, one from the Pacific side, one from the Atlantic side. In the summer they do reenactments of nailing in the Golden Spike, with the trains on either side of the track.

White coat ceremony

So lots of things have happened and we haven't really written anything for a while. Most notably, I had my White Coat Ceremony last Thursday night. It was pretty exciting. We got to bring guests, and had hor d'oeuvres before the ceremony started (yummy shrimp, fruit, crackers and cheese and desserts). It was kind of a little formal shindig. Our program's medical director and a community doctor spoke about the significance and symbolism of a white coat and the responsibility we have as medical providers. Then we stood up by our tutorial groups (groups that we practice skills in every week) and our clinical advisor put on our coats. It's exciting! We are finally taking our next step in our training.

Here's the video of me getting my coat. Jimmy Joe got it from the audience!

My tutorial group after getting our coats.













Pretty excited...!













My whole class.














My group again. Jeff in the middle is our Clinical Advisor. He is a PA on the faculty that is over our group, teaches us skills when we meet every week, and gives us feedback any assignments.













Me and Jimmy Joe- the most supportive husband ever!













A picture with some of the girls from class!













The final picture at the end of the night

Jimmy Joe is 25!

Happy Birthday Jimmy Joe!! He turned 25 on Jan. 4 and we had a little party with his fam. I thought I'd put up some pics. I made him a German chocolate lion cake. He picked out the kind of cake he wanted and the shape. It was so good! It was my first time making German chocolate frosting from scratch and it was so much better than the store bought kind.