Finally...An Update! It's only been about 3 1/2 months...

Well, April 28th was the last entry. We aren’t very good at this blog thing.
Near the middle of April, I flew home to California so my mom could help me make modifications to a dress that I needed to wear in a wedding. Not only did we make the dress modest for me, but we played around and it was so much fun! I got to hang out with my family.


After our Segway adventures, we had to go here:

Mom is a HUGE fan of the Crocs store. If you ever need to get her something and you don't know quite what to get, a Crocs gift card will make her happy as a clam.
I also got to hang out with my nieces and nephews. They are SO precious!
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Atalie, Wyatt, Me, Cozette and Scottie
May was a really busy month at work for me. It generally is as you wind down a school year. I was busy trying to wrap up my old job while I was training for my new one. I was also in my friend Twyla's wedding, but I don't have any pictures of me yet. I am hoping to get a couple from her. I was fortunate enough to have a five week break from June 8th – July 12th. Tom was teaching up at the University of Kansas during this time. While I admit the break was nice, I will also admit that I spent quite a bit of time at my place of employment trying to get things set up so that when I started back to work for real it wouldn’t seem so overwhelming.
Tom did have to delay the receipt of his Master’s degree due to a small little item that a certain individual in the history department forgot to mention. Tom signed a contract in January to teach during the summer. At the end of February, beginning of March he set up his MA exams with the same lady that he signed the contract with. After the completion of his MA exams, which he passed with honors, this lady e-mailed him (on a Friday afternoon at about 4:55pm) to let him know that since he received his Master’s degree and was no longer part of the history department that he wasn’t eligible to teach the summer class. Long story short, Tom accepted an incomplete grade in a class that he finished in February. He wrote a paper for this class which won an award and everything. The incomplete was on his transcript until after he started teaching the class, then his advisor changed the grade back to the “A” that it was all along!
Due to overlapping work schedules, we weren’t able to really go anywhere this summer. We did buy plane tickets to California for Christmas though. We are looking forward to that.
In church news, I am no longer the Relief Society President. Tom was also released from the Activities Committee Chairperson. His new calling is Ward Clerk, and mine is the Temple Trip Coordinator for our ward. I think that we are both enjoying the change of pace.
I think this year will prove to be extremely busy for both Tom and I. All of Tom’s classes are in the evening from like 4-7, or 7-10pm. He will also be supervising student teachers here and there and everywhere. I will be busy working my normal 8 hours a day on top of all of the extra duty things I have signed up for, this includes supervision at sporting events (football, basketball, wrestling, volleyball) school dances, concerts etc….as well as being the person who goes to certain meetings to take notes.
We recently bought a car. It is a 2003 Nissan Altima. It is black and it is very nice looking! We have been a 1 car family for the past 4 years, and have LOVED not having a car payment, but between both of our hectic schedules, it wasn’t really possible for us to be a one car family anymore. I think we did really well in selecting a car that fits our budget. We don’t feel as if we are going to break the bank.


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Well, I think that we are all caught up for now. Hopefully it won’t be another 4 months before we write again!

Tom and Erin go to the bar!!!

One of the things that Erin and I really like about Lawrence is that we have all these different restaurants with great food. Our favorites are Bigg’s BBQ, Set’em up Jacks, and Jason’s Deli. We recently started eating at Dempsey’s Irish Pub, after it was highly recommended to us. The burgers there are RADICAL! Erin usually gets a regular classic burger and I get one that is Kobe beef, however, last week they had one made from lamb, which was interesting, but really good. Also, we normally get these truffle fried that are great. Erin and I normally just sit at the bar watch TV and maybe chat with people, while we keep pounding down our Pepsi ad Diet Pepsi. Thank you for free refills. Occasionally, we like to joke around that we are going to go hang out at the bar. But, in reality this bar with the adoption of a grill starting in February has become more of a restaurant; as most people are coming there now for the food.

With the semester is coming to an end, I have a lot of grading that I need to get done, lectures I need to write for the summer course I am teaching, and I need to finish writing my section for this primary source book that is due in July that is suppose to be published at the end of this year. Plus, any day now I should be getting back to articles I submitted with the reviewers feedback. Erin is also busy getting ready for Twyla’s wedding and her new job. Erin and I are planning on going camping sometime in the future at Clinton Lake. But, I think we rather go to Bass Lake.

Where is our luck coming from?

So the last couple of weeks have been rather exciting for us. First, the administrative assistant at Erin’s school retired and Erin applied for the position; which she got! Erin will now be an 11-month employee instead of 9month. Plus, she gets a nice little raise. Erin is really excited, but I think a littler nervous because of some of the new responsibilities. As Erin has posted below, I took my MA exams and passed with honors, which was a real surprise. The exam was not as bad as I thought it would be. But, I have to postpone my graduation till the summers so I can teach a course at KU for the summer . . . don’t ask.

Other then that Erin and I are doing well. I have start my annual assault on our yard to get grass going. I have gotten to the point were I just throw seed and fertilizer out, water daily, and pray for divine intervention. We will see how it goes this year.

HE DID IT!!!

Tom took his MA exams today and he passed.......with honors!!!

YAY!

Spring Break Pics Finally!!!!

Okay so I took a while to pu tup these pics, hope you enjoy.

Us in line for our food at Casa Bonita (Erin, Becky, Paul and Tom . . . whose last name I can't recall)


Eating in the cave as Casa Bonita


We went to the park for "Paul to play," but it was the oposite.



We are looking forward to Tom, Becky and Paual visiting us soon.

SPRING BREAK!!!!

So for Spring Break Erin and I went to Jenks, OK (right outside of Tulsa) for the weekend to visit Erin’s cousin Tom and Becky. However, I am surprised that Tom even knew that Erin was her cousin since he did not know our last name. The drive to Tom and Becky’s house is pretty easy. We drive about a mile West from our house get on a road going south and then stay on that same road for 4 hours till we get to Tulsa. It is a no brainer.

The highlight for me was going to this little “hole in the wall” restaurant that made homemade root beer. That stuff was so good! Erin and I for like a week after were craving root beer. But, by far the coolest thing ever was going to Casa Bonita! Imagine a Blue Bayou (the restaurant in Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland) like Mexican restaurant that allows you eat in a cave with ehhhhh quality microwave assembly-line food that has a magic show! Plus I did not see a Hispanic person in the whole restaurant. The place is just cheesy, but totally radical at the same time! They have another restaurant in Denver that has divers and other crazy things . . . definitely on one of my places to visit before I die. Check it out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casa_Bonita

Sunday night we all had fondue, which was really delicious. Tom and Becky’s son Paul is also really cute. That kid is so smart . . . I am amazed. Plus he makes sure Tom drives the speed limit.

On the way back to Lawrence, Erin and I stopped at a lot of antique shops in all these small little towns on the way home. Erin bought some stuff she liked, and I found a couple more cola bottles to add to my collection. It was fun, plus we got to drink a lot of root beer on the way home.

I have to say I thought this Spring Break was way better then the one we spent in Troy, Ohio. Next Year, Erin and I will either go to Dodge, KS or New Ulm, MN (it’s the Polka capital of the U.S.).

30 and Spoiled

Well, Friday, February 27th, I turned 30. I had a great day. It started on Thursday evening when I got home from work. I came home and this was on my kitchen table. It is from our tenant and friend Virginia.


Then, Tom said he was going to go and get me something for my birthday. He then said, "What do you want." I was of no help. Why? Because I didn't know what I wanted. Finally I came up with the idea of a Yankee Candle because mine had just burnt out a few days before. Tom comes back from shopping with a Bed Bath & Beyond bag, and sure enough inside of that bag was a yankee candle. Then he started acting a little weird and said he had actually bought me something else but he needed me to help him carry it in. We went out to the car and came back into the house with this:

and this:

Fast forward to Friday morning. I am getting ready to leave for work. I opened the front door and found this:

and this:

These items are from my friends Chelsea and Amber.
Friday at work I got some flowers from my friend and boss Lisa:

Twyla got me these items: earrings and this wax thing that you actually rub on your hands and it is lotion!

Friday night, Dave and Amber, Ryan and Chelsea came over and brought me this:

Saturday night we went to dinner with some friends. Our friends Jen and Jason got me this:

Also, Mom and Dad and Papa, thanks for the money! I appreciate it. I have great people that surround me!

Basketball, exams, and IOUs

So basketball season is about to end . . . well at Erin’s jr. high school it is. Since we went back to school in, January I have started to walk down to Erin’s school to watch the jr. high school kids play. Erin has to be at the games because of the cheerleaders, as she is the assistant cheer coach. Its nice to go down there and watch the games with her and step away from the writing, reading, or whatever work I have hanging over my head.

The games are fun and its good to see them play. I also get to see other jr high school students there and how they act. Some are better then others . . . I try to remind myself that they are kids and not college students. However, I still firmly hold to the belief that I wish stupidity hurt. Maybe some would learn faster!

Well I have my MA exams in April, so I am preparing the last article need for that. I hope to have the first rough draft submitted by next week for revisions. I am also waiting for my acceptance letter into the PhD program in curriculum and teaching . . . I have already been told that I got in unofficially, but I am waiting to heat what kind of funding I got. I pray it's a fellowship.

So Kansas is broke . . . like California. We also get an IOU from the state. NO wonder our governor accepted a position today in Obama’s cabinet. I would probably cut and run as well.

No place like boring home!

Well Erin and I are pretty boring people. In the past month or so I have started making a Japanese dish that Erin seems to like called, katsu curry. Basically, it a fired piece of pork that's been breaded placed on top of rice and then covered with Japanese curry. The curry is really mild compared to Indian curry, which is why I think people like it. We also eat a lot of edamae . . .which I really like.

Speaking of food . . . Erin has been buying this generic Dillon’s brand of Crystal Light and I tell you what that stuff is so good. I cannot seem to get enough of it. I woke up in the middle of the night craving it.

It also seems like we are having a heat wave the last week or so. But, Kansas weather is weird we have a week or so of nice weather, then all of a sudden it is -10.

Okay well I’m going back to watching the Jayhawks play . . .

It's Been Awhile...

We are still alive. I guess neither one of us has really been in the blogging mood.

A quick update:

We are credit card debt free! That feels so good. Erin has lost 4.4 pounds this month. Tom has a job teaching summer school at KU. If we get any sort of vacation, it will be to St. Louis or something.

Other than that, not a whole lot going on. Hopefully better and more interesting posts will come soon.