Well it has been a few months since the last time I wrote. Well things are getting a bit crazy now, since the last time I wrote I finished another semester of school and started my last semester.
The boys are doing GREAT they are growing and learning little things every day.
This month I passed my mock boards. Now I just need to pass my real boards, which I take on April 5th and the last weekend of April.
My parents got off their mission in AZ the other day and I was able to clean my dad's teeth when they came a stopped by on their way to Rexburg, the boys were all giddy when they saw them. It was a great day.
Now I am just studying for my 8 hour test on Monday. Other than that we are doing good and we just take it day by day.
The Hopes
Monday, April 5, 2010
2010 March: Bates
March can be summed up by diet and exercise. The weight-loss competition has pretty much enveloped my time for this month. I spend most of my spare time exercising. But the good news is that I am winning by a lot. My team is in the lead, but we have a much narrower margin. There is only 1 week left, and I have lost 36 pounds (in 5.5 weeks). I am at my ideal weight again, but hope to drop another 10 pounds in the final week, and then build back up to my ideal weight with muscle.
So hopefully a week from today I will be $200 & a 32" TV richer (good timing too, as our TV just started shorting out so that you have to smack it to get it to turn back on).
We went swimming a couple times this month. Orianna is getting more used to the water, but still is rather clingy. Occasionally she will kick and paddle her arms a the same time- but most of the time she wants at least 1 appendage firmly grasping an adult. Luckily Lehi city pool is heated, but even still Orianna is so scrawny that she freezes after an hour. But, it's fun to go for a little while.
We got Orianna an early BDay present (curse your splendiferous deals kids.woot.com!). It's a little nylon-wire maze thing. There are 3 tunnels and 3 cubes, and you can connect them however you want. She has had fun crawling through those with her cousins. We connected it to her Christmas gift (her little bounce-house-ball-pit-tent) and now we have a freaking amazing playroom. So, it looks like we're rich, but each of those gifts cost $20, and were her only gifts (from us anyway- all our relatives spoil her though), so it is in moderation ;) Though it does make me wish I could fit inside all these toys!
We got a silly game for our Wii called "Samba de Amigo." It's kind of like Rock band for Maracas. So all you do is shake the maracas in different directions according to the beat, and occasionally strike a pose. It is fun because it is so silly and makes everyone spaz out. Hopefully we will get some more people to come play it so we can laugh at them... I mean with them.
Lastly, my fried Shaun got me an interview with a company in Lehi who apparently pays much better than my current company. My interview is on Tuesday, so there is a chance I will be changing jobs soon. I'm not sure, but there is a chance. Their office is 3 miles from my house, and a bike path connects my house directly to their office. So, I could bike to work without having to worry about getting run over- which would be awesome.
Well, That's it for us this month. Cheers,
The Bates Family
So hopefully a week from today I will be $200 & a 32" TV richer (good timing too, as our TV just started shorting out so that you have to smack it to get it to turn back on).
We went swimming a couple times this month. Orianna is getting more used to the water, but still is rather clingy. Occasionally she will kick and paddle her arms a the same time- but most of the time she wants at least 1 appendage firmly grasping an adult. Luckily Lehi city pool is heated, but even still Orianna is so scrawny that she freezes after an hour. But, it's fun to go for a little while.
We got Orianna an early BDay present (curse your splendiferous deals kids.woot.com!). It's a little nylon-wire maze thing. There are 3 tunnels and 3 cubes, and you can connect them however you want. She has had fun crawling through those with her cousins. We connected it to her Christmas gift (her little bounce-house-ball-pit-tent) and now we have a freaking amazing playroom. So, it looks like we're rich, but each of those gifts cost $20, and were her only gifts (from us anyway- all our relatives spoil her though), so it is in moderation ;) Though it does make me wish I could fit inside all these toys!
We got a silly game for our Wii called "Samba de Amigo." It's kind of like Rock band for Maracas. So all you do is shake the maracas in different directions according to the beat, and occasionally strike a pose. It is fun because it is so silly and makes everyone spaz out. Hopefully we will get some more people to come play it so we can laugh at them... I mean with them.
Lastly, my fried Shaun got me an interview with a company in Lehi who apparently pays much better than my current company. My interview is on Tuesday, so there is a chance I will be changing jobs soon. I'm not sure, but there is a chance. Their office is 3 miles from my house, and a bike path connects my house directly to their office. So, I could bike to work without having to worry about getting run over- which would be awesome.
Well, That's it for us this month. Cheers,
The Bates Family
2010 March: North
The highlight of March was spring break. There were times when I wasn’t sure I was going to make it, but I tried to take one day at a time, and eventually, it came. Becky had to work for the first few days of the break. I stayed at home, cleaned, read from a couple of books, and watched TV shows on Hulu. It was wonderful to decompress from the stress. On Thursday morning Becky and I loaded the car and headed to Clarksville TN. Becky has a cousin in the military who lives there with his family. The drive over was beautiful. We live in a green, lovely part of the country. I really enjoy the open road. Becky and I have been reading a historical fiction book set in the Revolutionary War, and I really enjoyed listening to her read as we drove through Kentucky’s green mountains and fields. We spent Thursday evening and Friday with her cousin. On Friday we toured some of Nashville with his wife and children (he had to work). We saw the zoo, the Parthenon, and the Grand Ole Opry (actually a big mall that sits right next to the Grand Ole Opry). Some of you are saying “Stewart, the Parthenon is in Greece, not Nashville, you must have plugged in the wrong coordinates to your GPS and accidentally ended up in Greece.” Well it’s true that I have been known to get lost, but I’ve never ended up on the wrong continent before. The City of Nashville commissioned an exact, full-scale replica of the Parthenon be built for its Centennial Celebration. Why the Parthenon? I’m not sure, but it is pretty cool to see. It gave me a sense of appreciation both for the Greeks who built the original for worship, and the architects who built this replica. At the zoo we got to listen to lots of jokes from Becky comparing me and my kin to the animals on exhibit. She thought she was so funny that she posted one on our blog (I love you Becky). There was a lot to see at the mall and the Grand Ole Opry, but the kids were getting tired by that time and so we headed back. We're sorry that we didn't get to see you Hermana Hegerhorst. On Saturday morning Becky and I woke up very early to go to the temple just South of Nashville. I felt refreshed and calm in the temple, what a wonderful place to worship! After the temple we headed for home. We drove all day Saturday and got home late that night. It was a lot of driving for not a lot of site seeing, but it felt good to get out of Lewisburg and leave our daily routine behind. I’m grateful to have my best friend by my side for this adventure of life.
This weekend is General Conference. We are sitting at home enjoying the spiritual uplift that we feel. Yesterday was my birthday. Becky worked hard to make it a good day for me; unfortunately I am fighting a cold right now, so I haven’t been much fun to be around. We hope things are going well for you all.
Love,
Stewart and Becky
This weekend is General Conference. We are sitting at home enjoying the spiritual uplift that we feel. Yesterday was my birthday. Becky worked hard to make it a good day for me; unfortunately I am fighting a cold right now, so I haven’t been much fun to be around. We hope things are going well for you all.
Love,
Stewart and Becky
2010 March: Robertson
Greetings everyone,
March has been a busy but good month for all of us. We have spent most of the month trying to figure out what the future will hold for us. We have started to hear back from the Ph.D. programs that we applied to. We were rejected from two, accepted to one, and waitlisted for our fourth. So, Idaho State admitted us into their program – we have hesitantly accepted. We are still waiting to hear back for a final word from our waitlisted school Washington State. So, unless we have a good offer from Washington, we will be headed to Pocatello for the next few years to finish this part of schooling. The only problem is that ISU is not able at this time to offer much financial support, so we have been looking at possible jobs in the area to help pay for the first year or so of school.
I was contacted by BYU-Idaho about two weeks ago telling me that they are going to offer a couple one year appointments for the English department, and they wanted to know if I was interested in applying. I said yes, and long story short – I am flying out to Idaho on Tuesday to interview for the position – on the University’s bill of course. I hope that I will be able to do well in the interviews and get the job. It would be a blessing, for sure. They have me interviewing with several people in the department along with an associate vice president, the dean, and a member of the seventy. I will then get to give a teaching demonstration. It will be a stressful and busy three days.
The other big event in March was a conference I attended in Fargo, ND. This year Morgan was able to go with me. We dropped the kids off at Morgan’s parents’ place and we traveled to the near-flooded city. The conference was okay. I presented a paper, but there was hardly anyone in the session – there was hardly anyone at the conference for that matter. But Morgan and I had a good time in spite of everything else. We were able to go out to a great Italian place in downtown Fargo and enjoy each other’s company.
In health news, March brought on an onslaught of various illness to our house. Almost everyone had a cold at some time or another. Morgan also came down with pink eye and Kyla got an ear infection. The drugs have been flowing freely at our place to say the least. I think that does it for us here in Winona. I guess I could say that we also just lived through the warmest March in Minnesota for over 100 years – not a lick of snow and temps up into the 80s some days. We’ll see if April follows suit.
We love you all.
The Robertsons
March has been a busy but good month for all of us. We have spent most of the month trying to figure out what the future will hold for us. We have started to hear back from the Ph.D. programs that we applied to. We were rejected from two, accepted to one, and waitlisted for our fourth. So, Idaho State admitted us into their program – we have hesitantly accepted. We are still waiting to hear back for a final word from our waitlisted school Washington State. So, unless we have a good offer from Washington, we will be headed to Pocatello for the next few years to finish this part of schooling. The only problem is that ISU is not able at this time to offer much financial support, so we have been looking at possible jobs in the area to help pay for the first year or so of school.
I was contacted by BYU-Idaho about two weeks ago telling me that they are going to offer a couple one year appointments for the English department, and they wanted to know if I was interested in applying. I said yes, and long story short – I am flying out to Idaho on Tuesday to interview for the position – on the University’s bill of course. I hope that I will be able to do well in the interviews and get the job. It would be a blessing, for sure. They have me interviewing with several people in the department along with an associate vice president, the dean, and a member of the seventy. I will then get to give a teaching demonstration. It will be a stressful and busy three days.
The other big event in March was a conference I attended in Fargo, ND. This year Morgan was able to go with me. We dropped the kids off at Morgan’s parents’ place and we traveled to the near-flooded city. The conference was okay. I presented a paper, but there was hardly anyone in the session – there was hardly anyone at the conference for that matter. But Morgan and I had a good time in spite of everything else. We were able to go out to a great Italian place in downtown Fargo and enjoy each other’s company.
In health news, March brought on an onslaught of various illness to our house. Almost everyone had a cold at some time or another. Morgan also came down with pink eye and Kyla got an ear infection. The drugs have been flowing freely at our place to say the least. I think that does it for us here in Winona. I guess I could say that we also just lived through the warmest March in Minnesota for over 100 years – not a lick of snow and temps up into the 80s some days. We’ll see if April follows suit.
We love you all.
The Robertsons
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