Drought

Well, blogging events certainly happen in spurts. We are currently in a drought, I suppose. However, in case you're wondering what we're up to:

Stephen is:
-anxiously awaiting to hear back from MPA programs. EARLIEST possible letter back: February 12th. Our top 2 choices: George Washington and BYU
-trying to find a summer job at a city government office (or something similar)
-taking a World Religions class from one of his favorite professors. We will likely attend a Jewish synagogue this semester :)
-volunteering at a reading group for 2 hours per week at the Utah State Hospital for his abnormal psychology class
-writing a small novel for his Writing Fiction class which he is taking from one of his favorite authors: Brandon Sanderson

Heather is:
-interning 3 days a week at Kids on the Move, an early intervention program in Utah County. Basically I make home visits to kids under 3 who can't talk/can hardly talk and educate parents about ways to encourage more language and speech development (the truth is I play with kids all day!!!). I LOVE it!
-meeting with a stuttering client and a little boy with Down Syndrome at the BYU clinic to get enough hours to graduate
-tutoring 3 girls with various articulation problems
-sitting in on a Hearing Tests class for the FIFTH time (on semester as a student, now 4 as a TA)
-plodding along on my thesis (the good news: according to my thesis chair, I can graduate in August if I keep doing what I'm doing!)

Photos from Dad

Over the past several years my dad has really gotten into photography. While we tease him a lot about the ridiculous amount of pictures he takes, his hobby has really brought our family closer together. We seem to have so many more memories to reminisce about because we can actually remember them now! He took some great photos of us this Christmas:


Mary and Joseph (yes I know I look more like a gypsy with a short tunic than like Mary but our motivation to create awesome costumes has decreased over the years)


The whole gang minus the narrator/photographer.

The candid-ness of this picture is priceless.

I know I look like a dork to be so excited about electronic toothbrushes but it's another good photo and they actually are REALLY cool (we don't feel so worried that we haven't been to the dentist in over a year).

Awww, for cute (ignore the tag coming out of Steve's shirt).

This is the last Christmas picture you'll see for another year, I promise.

My sister

Wow, sorry for half a million posts in one weekend, but this is too cool not to blog about!

Every year a dress company in Utah, Modest by Design, holds a dress design contest for high school students. The winner gets to have her dress designed and made especially for her as well as a photo shoot for her prom. My sister, Krista, is an amazing artist and loves designing dresses, shoes, etc. We all encouraged her to enter the contest this year and guess what? She won!!

'This year's winner is Krista Purser from Murray, Utah. Her dress design will be made for next year's show. Purser explained in her essay: "There is power in confidence. Immodesty is no part of confidence. It is, instead, the mask of confidence, an outward appearance that hides insecurities. ... Modesty is courageous." '

Her design:

Her essay (which is fantastic! I didn't know my high school sister could write so well!): http://www.modestbydesign.com/Contests

You know you've got a cute wife...

You know you've got a cute wife if you walk into the kitchen and see a plate full of heart-shaped cookies with cookies of your initials in the middle.

That's right folks...that's my wife, the cutie.

Christmas break: part 2

Aside from Steve taking the GRE, we finished off break with a lot of fun things:

Trip to the zoo (the Hogle Zoo is free every last Wednesday of the month, just during Winter I think)

Giraffes are the strangest looking creatures. The giraffe house also happens to have a very strange smell.

The classic gorilla shot.

A real gorilla (hard to see because of the reflective glass and it was dark inside).

I'd never seen BLACK swans before. It was cool.

Do you think the first sentence applies to Humans too?

Family time

LOTS of family time :) This included hours upon hours of board games and Wii games (we beat Super Mario Galaxy after one of year of sporadic playing)

Steve's family spent Christmas in Thailand. One of the things they brough back was this sweet bag!

New Years

Last half hour of New Years Eve playing Mad Gab Mania


Red Mango frozen yogurt on New Years Day... mmmmmm!

Rearranging

Good news! If you come to our house for a double date you can actually sit down (we'll even give up the love seat so you can sit together :) ). Up until now the only seating in our living room has been a small love seat. We are happy to say that we found a way to rearrange to fit a chair. So if you count the computer folding chair we have 4 seats.

We found this cute glider at D.I. It will be nice to have another seat, and hopefully we'll be able to use it in the next few years for a baby (no that's not an announcement)

GRE

I don't mean to brag... well, actually I do! Steve took the GRE on Friday and got a 1310, which is well above the average for the MPA programs he's applying for. Hopefully that means acceptance + scholarships. I am really proud of him for working so hard!