Bon Voyage

Best wishes to our friends headed off and serving their country - thanks for all you do!

Leftovers

Do you ever feel like you spend your life eating leftovers, and don't seem to remember the actual meals? Does that sound like the beginning to an odd spiritual lesson? Oh well, we enjoyed the leftovers from our trip to Olive Garden with the siblings. Good to see family this week, even when the time was limited due to unforeseen circumstances, thanks for visiting with us.

No Longer Working For CES

No, I have not been fired. The Church Education System has merely changed its name and adjusted focus a little as directed by the Brethren. I now work for S&I. That is how they would like us to abbreviate the new organization name, which is "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: Seminaries & Institutes". This is officially to (1) reflect to others that we work for The Church of Jesus Christ... and (2) to emphasize our separation from the Church owned Universities. (It seems obvious to me why this would be important. They function on a different standard and expectation set for their religious teachings - i.e. School educators are allowed to involve theory, personal opinion and current secular "scholarship" into the classroom without being fired. S&I employees are not. They answer to deans, we answer to Priesthood keys.)

So, if for some odd reason, our profession comes up in conversation with others, please inform them I work for S&I or for The Seminaries and Institutes of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. CES no longer exists.

Graduation

Some of you have asked to be informed about BYU Graduation. David is graduating with a Masters in Educational Leadership and Foundations with an emphasis on religious education. He is top of his class for the department and depending on where the standard is set for the University, David will graduate either Summa Cum Laude or Magna Cum Laude. It will be held Friday April 25, 2008 at 8AM in the Smith Fieldhouse. Seating is by 7:30.

And no, we still do not know where S&I is assigning our family for the upcoming years. Updates will come as those plans are finalized, but if anyone is looking for a fair deal on a nice house in Utah this summer, let us know.

In the hood

The final way a University screws you over is by inviting in some overpriced graduation clothing company. Darn you Herff Jones! But, thanks Mom and Dad for the awesome graduation gift!

Word on the Street

The secretary for the program at BYU that I am in was a former student, and she informed me that I passed the statistics comprehensive exam last night. The others were a walk in the park, so it is unofficially official - I'm done.

Daddy Daughter Date

David took #1 to "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown" the musical put on by the students at Lehi Jr. for this month's daddy daughter date. They sat in the front row. At one point in the play Charlie Brown went on a discourse about how Psychiatrists say that people who eat peanut butter sandwiches are lonely. He made the mistake of looking in #1's general direction as he delivered the line. So... she... responded... to him... *sigh* Loud enough for the first 1/4th of the auditorium to hear:

"Hey! That's not true!"

*hushed whisper* "[#1] remember - we don't talk to the people on the stage"

*Full vocals* "But Dad, he is lying!"

*Trying not to join the audience in laughter* "Yes Maggie, it is a joke."

"It's not very funny!"

Well at least she has some understanding of honesty...

...But where did she learn what a psychiatrist is? We did not teach her that!

She later informed Melissa that when she tried to kiss Dad on the cheek he "pricked" her with his "sharp thorns". Watch out! Apparently the 12 hour "beard" bites back.

How romantic

Some of you may be aware of the white-out blizzard conditions that hit Utah Valley on Wednesday evening. David was on the way home, and Melissa was finishing up the shopping for the week. Things on the roads got really bad. The main route home was stopped up with a 13+ car pile-up and the alternate route up the hill was blocked by a bus that spun out of control. We met up at the parking lot of the nearby grocery store and waited about 4 hours at a restaurant for things to clear up and they only got worse. So we slowly headed by to the Seminary with some of the members of the ward who were also snowed out and set up camp for the night. The emergency three day food storage was gone in a few minutes, but there was heat. David supervised the situation throughout the night while the others slept. So, for Valentines day we got another overnighter!