2009 October: Hope

Pending... (how embarrassing)

2009 October: Bates

Another month of hectic running. Sometimes if I close my metaphoric eyes, I run into metaphoric objects at high mmph (metaphoric miles per hour).
I know we are all busy, but sometimes I feel like I have the least diversity in my busy-ness. The last year has just been LOADs of work at my full time job, leaving little time to work on all my side jobs, and house projects.

But, enough boring stuff: Tamara & I are expecting another child. She is due around the middle of July. So, we are pretty excited about that.
Orianna had a blast this Halloween. She chose her own costume (a white kitty outfit). We were just thumbing through the rack of used costumes, and she latched on and kept saying "kitty" (or something roughly equivalent to that). I took her into the dressing room and was VERY glad that it fit her (or there would have been weeping, wailing, & gnashing of teeth... and gums).

My old roomate Shaun got me a video game called "Borderlands" and I have been dedicating time previously allocated to sleep to enjoy that with him. It is a pretty fun mix of FPS and RPG.

The only other news we have is that UDOT might end up bulldozing our home without ever telling us. They are building a freeway from my house, to the next big road to the west. They bought our neightbors on both sides of our house, and are going to demolish them. Naturally I called them asking if they were going to demolish my home. The nice lady on the line confidently assured me that they wouldn't, before telling me that she is new to this project and really doesn't know anything (very reassuring).
So, my new hope is that they will wreck our home while we are in it, and then pay us several times its value so that we wont interview with any local newspapers. So, maybe in a few months I will invite you all to my UDOT purchased mansion ;-) Here's hoping!

Well, we wish you all well,
-Rob, Tamara, Orianna, and androgynous-fetus

2009 October: North

What a busy month! Early on in the month I learned that I won the election for a spot on the student senate at my school. It was a tough campaign season with lots of speeches, fundraising and mudslinging. I won with a landslide victory receiving 100% of the votes cast for my position! (yes, I admit it, I was the only one running for my spot) The Student Senate meets about once a month and discusses issues affecting the students. The meetings are run under Robert’s Rules, which means you have to do all those parliamentary procedures, it’s kind of intimidating. Our first senate meeting was a few weeks ago. The most contentious item on the agenda was a big fancy dance that the school is putting on in a couple of weeks. The debate was over how much students should have to pay. The final decision: $90 per person. That means that if a guy wants to bring a date he has to pay $180! Last time I checked I was still a student, not a doctor, and $180 is too much to pay for one night of dancing and food. Sadly, I was in the minority.

Anatomy is done and I got a B. I’m proud of myself. It was very challenging, and there near the end I lost all motivation to study. But I pushed through and did my best. Becky was my ever-faithful companion all the way through. She always supported me when I had to spend 5 evenings per week studying from dinner until bedtime. I wish I could say that my schedule has lightened up after anatomy, and it has a little bit, but I still spend most of my evenings studying.

I had a Friday off this month and Becky and I decided to take advantage of it and go visit the Nation’s capital. We left early Friday morning and arrived by lunch time. We spent several hours in the D.C. temple Friday afternoon. It was so nice to be back in the temple. And what a beautiful temple it is! I have missed the spirit of the temple. Friday evening we had dinner with one of my former roommates. It was good to catch up on old times. Thank you Josh. On Saturday we went to the National Mall and saw several of the sites there in the area. We spent a few hours in the holocaust museum. That is a powerful exhibit. It makes you appreciate your freedoms and blessings.

Becky got a job this month! Derik do you remember emailing us before we moved out here and joking about a place called the North House, how it was all prepared for us? Well that’s where Becky got a job. It’s the local museum. The man who built the house was named Charles North. It would be interesting to find out if we are related. Becky went there shortly after we arrived and volunteered to conduct tours, or do anything else they needed. Her volunteering eventually turned into a job. It’s the perfect job for her. She works 12-15 hours/week, and makes a decent wage. It will give us some extra spending money and still allow her time her at home to manage our household. It is a perfect fit for our needs!

I finally broke down and signed up for Facebook. I think it’s neat to be able to see how friends and family are doing on a regular basis. I committed myself to not spending more than 15 min. per day on Fb. So far I’ve maintained that; the last thing I need is another way to waste time.

We hope that you are all doing well. Feel free to drop me a line and let me know.

Stewart and Becky North

2009 October: Robertson

Hello One and All,

October has been a quick month for us. We started it with my mom with us to help with Jamis. She was a great help and we all enjoyed her stay with us. She left to go back Rexburg on the 7^th. That was the day that almost everything fell apart. The girls were distraught that grandma went away. Being distraught for them translates into being destructive. They went on a distraught destructive rampage. Morgan and I were watching in wonder and horror. But that didn’t last long. They both calmed down fast in the afternoon and Daria kept calming way down. She eventually became lethargic. By the time it was bed time, she wasn’t interested in anything. When Morgan and I went to bed a few hours later, I checked on the girls. Daria was still awake and having a hard time breathing. I ended up taking her into the emergency room. She had advanced bronchitis and a tear in her lung tissue. But everyone in the ER was really nice to her. She walked away (or I carried her away) with stickers, candy, and a new stuffed animal. After a few days on antibiotics, she was beck to her old self. Luckily, no one else got sick to that extent.

Speaking of sickness. All of us has been down and out at some time this month with the cold. However, we have watched as the flu knocked out a good chunk of our branch and some of our neighbors. But, we have been able to avoid it.

I took the GRE this month and did fairly well on it. My math scores could have been better; however, the programs I want to get into are much more concerned with my analytic and verbal scores. In both sections I scored somewhere in the 90^th percentiles. So I have decided to start to apply to doctoral programs and see what happens.

For the rest of the month we had general conference, stake conference, several trips to Rochester for parties, and chauffeuring missionaries. I also had the young men over to our place for a pizza night where we played games. I also took the youth to do a highway cleanup. I was worried during the week leading up to the clean-up since it rained buckets every single day. The day before the clean-up Rochester had about four inches of snow, but the day of the cleanup was sunny and the ground was clear.

Morgan has been busy with Jamis and getting ready for the primary program and keeping the girls from smothering Jamis with love and kisses. She keeps recovering from the delivery bit by bit and is more and more back to her old self. She has more energy and is able to get up and do the things she wants to do. She is now in full swinging preparing for our trip to Idaho in a little over a month. We are really excited to be coming out to visit. I think that does it for us this month.

Bless you all,

The Robertsons