Between Here and There

I love June. I think it might be one of my favorite months of the year. The days are long and the evenings are lovely.

We are thoroughly enjoying our summer in Logan so far. Logan is really gorgeous in the summertime! Although, it feels like we spend almost as much time in Salt Lake as we do here. This past weekend was our first weekend in Logan in almost a month! The weedend before that was Memorial Day weekend. We went with my mom and step-dad, Todd and his three daughters, and my grandparents to Schofield Reservoir.It was a really fun trip! It is a rare moment when all of my step-sisters and I are together these days because of our busy hectic schedules. It also gave Jayson and Todd

PAPA TODD

some good bonding time while they fished off of the shore. On Memorial Day my Grandpa Norm turned 85! He is still going strong too. It was also really great to see my grandparents. I don't get to see them as much as I'd like.

JAYSON AND SHELBIE

The weekend before Memorial weekend we were in Salt Lake because our cousin (on Jayson's mom's side), Jordan, gave his homecoming talk! It was a really fabulous talk and it is always fun when that side of the family gets together. There are so many of us that there is always something interesting going on at the get-together. That whole extended family is really close and I absolutely love it! That same weekend was also the end of Birthday week. Birthday week begins with May 13th, Justie's (my step-mom) and goes as follows: 14th, my dad's, 15th Jana's (Jayson's little sister), and 16th, Todd's. Whoa buddy. My dad also had a taxidermy show at Cabella's. It was really fantastic! He got first place in the master's division, which is as high as you can go. He did a peice where a few ducks were hanging from a shelf type of thing and then there were shot gun shells and lots of random stuff at the bottom. Justie says it won because it was her birthday present. Cabella's is also a really cool store. There's real fish there! Tons! If you haven't gone yet, you should.

The weekend before that was when Jordan came home from his mission, so we were in town for that as well. It was also Mother's Day. Man oh man, I can't belive how May has flown by!!!

Jayson:

He finished all of the Harry Potter books, and well, of course, his life is changed forever. We are looking forward with great anticipation to the upcoming movie! Jayson also decided not to work for Cutco Knives. He went to the training and decided it sounded a bit fishy. So, he is currently being homemaker and looking for a job. I think I should take homemaking lessons from him. He's a much better cook than I am. He's really being so good about it though, he always has been. When I'm in a terribly busy state (which I all too often am) he's always so willing to help out. He had an interview to be an ESCROW agent, which basically means he'd be looking at and overviewing documents from property transactions, today. So...we are praying hard and keeping our fingers crossed! He said the interview went really well and should know sometime next week. It involves A LOT of talking to people too! So, naturally, he'd love it.

As for what I am up to on an everyday basis, I am doing my online classes. I am doing really well in my Social Skills Intervention class. I haven't started much yet on my apprentiship class, but for it I have to do two huge projects. That's basically all that the class is. I have to do an applied project and a research project, 45 hours of each. For the applied I am going to be working with a group called CAPSA, which stands for Community Abuse Prevention Services Agency. That's the one I was doing all of the training for. The training was really excellent and very informative. Parts of it were SO hard to listen to. You would honestly not believe how much abuse and sexual assult happens every day. Did you know that 1 out of every 4 women will be sexually assulted in her lifetime? ONE FOURTH!! It is also estimated that these numbers are actually higher because many sexual assult instances go unreported. It is also estimated that 42% of all murdered women are killed by their husbands. I can't even imagine how it would feel to have your home be the most dangerous place in the world for you. Hearing and seeing all of the facts on domestic violence and sexual assult and realizing how hard it really is for people to cope with these things was heart wrenching. I am almost positive I had tears in my eyes just about every night of training. Near the end of it this quote was shown to me:

"The way to fight the evil of domestic violence is to expose it.......to shine the light of day on it.

And the best way to do that is by having the entire community take responsibility for the problem"

-Sgt. Mark Wynn

This quote truly ispired me. From the moment I heard this quote I knew that now that I know what I know about this I can't turn my back on it. It's something I'll fight for the rest of my life. I urge you all, do something, anything you can for this cause. Volunteer, give donations to organizations like CAPSA. Do all you can. It may seem like we can't stop such a huge thing, but we HAVE to try.

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, comitted citizens, can change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

-Margaret Mead

Durning my training there were so many times that I thought to myself, "What am I doing here? How can I do this? I'm not cut out for this." But something an officer said when he came in to speak to us really struck me. He said something along the lines of, "this will probably be one of the hardest things you ever do, but if you don't do it, who will?"

I don't know how many of you remember, and any guys that read this probably didn't hear it, but a couple of months ago in the Visiting Teaching message there was a quote that talked about how we all really need to pull together as a community. It is our duty to do all we can to correct the wrongs we see in our community. Unity is the answer.

For my research project I am working with one of my favorite professor's, Dr. Bates. I'm helping him with a study on academic success in collegiate athletes. He has found that a lot of the people that don't end up finishing their higher education are ahtletes and he wants to know why and how intervention can be put to use on the problem. I might even get to help him conduct a study on it next semester, so it should be pretty rad.

Work is going well, I'm really starting to love the participants. I'm actually not doing the summer program at BRASC like I thought, but I am doing a different program there where I stay with a couple of the participants after their day activites (or school) is over because they're parents work a little later than their activities go for. I was a little dissapointed with this at first because it means that I won't get to go out and do fun stuff with them during the day, but it has actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Because of this, I actually have been able to start working earlier than I thought I would (I wasn't suppose to start until two weeks from now!) I have also acquired a lot more hours than I was originally hired for. Because Jayson has had trouble finding a good job this has truly blessed our lives. What also makes it wonderful is that it's actually a job that I enjoy doing!

Other than that we're just having a great time spending our time with our friends! We sure are going to miss that when we leave for Logan.

Upcoming:

We still have our vactaions ahead of us (except for havasupai, which the Kim family had to cancel because we're all trying to be smart about our money spending in the down economy. However, in lou of that we may be venturing to a gorgeous fishing place in Montana.) One of my dearest friends Daniel Clark is also returning from his mission next week. In one month from now, we're going to have a new nephew! Plus, at the end of July our cousin Josh (on my side, Jayson hasn't met him yet!) is coming home! I'm so excited. This summer just keeps getting better and better.

Our Logan Summer

I can't believe It's really summer! The semester is over and all went well. Jayson successfully got straight A's again and my grades were pretty great, two A-'s and a B+ so far, and one of my grades hasn't been posted yet.

We LOVE summer. Summer means sunshine, lots of family trips, and best of all....

We met in the summer! So, that will be a celebration of it'self! June 29th we will have officially known eachother for a year! I know, I know, you're thinking: Gasp! They've been married for 4 1/2 months and we haven't even known eachother for a whole year!

Don't judge.

We're just living proof that these kind of things can work out. I think the Kim boys are just quick at those types of things.

Personally, summer is my all time favorite season. We're excited for fishing too! (well, Jayson is excited to actually fish, I'm excited to sit and read next time him while he fishes, but we're both thrilled to eat the fish!) And in summer there are flowers. I have gained a new obsession for flowers!

Our summer plans:

Jobs:

-I have a job working at a Summer Program for menatlly challenged children. We are going to do all sorts of activities with them this summer and it's going to be loads of fun!

-Jayson is selling knives for Cutco. I know what you're thinking....A sale's job?! Bleh! That's what most people think. That's what I feel like if it were my job, but not Jayson. Jayson is actually excited for this job. I even asked him if he was just resorting to this so he could stop the daunting task of job searching. Nope. He's genuinely excited for this job. He really likes the company and it pays pretty well. Every day that he comes home from training he is more excited. And, let's be honest, he totally has the personality to be a great salesman. The people there already love him.

In addition to working part time I'm going to be taking two online classes and volunteering at this place that does all sorts of things to prevent and assist with people who have already experienced domestic violence and sexual assult. I'm doing some pretty intense training (40 hours!) right now, but I am loving it and I'm really excited for it.

Vacations:

• We have a few vacations planned for the summer that we're really stoked about: Memorial weekend: Schofield, camping with my family on my mom's side. This is our annual campout, my family goes every year! All of my step-sisters are coming too, which is wonderful. It's a rare moment when we're all together at once these days.


• Bear Lake trips (at least two) with the Kims! Jayson's family also goes to their shore-line property each year multiple times for family vacations. These are great because usually the entire immediate family is there, and there are so many and they're all full of personality so there is never a dull moment.


• Starvation trips: My dad owns property that overlooks Starvation Resevoir, so we'll be sure to take some trips up there too! My dad has always wanted to own property and his dreams are finally coming true! He's already built an amazing shed up there to keep the 4-wheelers in and he wants to get a cabin up there one day. I'm so excited for Jayson to see it!


• Havasupai! Every year the Kim's take an annual "boys trip", which actually isn't just for boys anymore. It's usually a big hiking trip. This year we're hiking the Havasupai trail in the Grand Canyon. I'm so excited! Their main attraction: AMAZING waterfalls. Of course, I am in.

We're also just excited to spend our first and only summer in Logan with our friends we have up here। We don't have as much time up here as we thought anymore and we want to soak up every minute of it! It's going to be an incredibly busy and fabulous summer.
Note: Jayson will not actually be selling knives, after two days of training, he decided that everything sounded a little fishy.

Change of Life Plans...ready...GO.

This week we've had a great change of life plans, and we're pretty excited about them...

As of right now, Jayson has been working on a major that basically splits three majors into one: physics, chemistry, and teaching. He began to realize that splitting a major among three doesn't give a whole lot of chance to get deep into any one of them.

Then, one beautiful day we were eating our lunch outside and who should walk by but our friends, fellow ward members, and dance instructors...The Eimans. They are doing a program called Teach For America and are moving in just a couple of weeks. They began to tell us about it..

Basically, the program is a two-year program where any one with a bachelor's degree can apply. You go and teach at an inner-city school where they are in need of good teachers to help children in low socioeconomic status families. You stay for two years, you get paid a regular teaching salary according to which state you live in, they give you a master's degree in teaching and they pay for it, and you are teaching certified by the end. After hearing about this, Jayson became increasingly interested. One of my best friends, Marni, happened to be sitting there with us and she said it sounds like a great idea because her husband is doing student teaching this year and she was telling us about how difficult it is because it's hard to work during that time, as it's like having a job, except you don't get paid.

So, we researched and thought and thought and pondered and prayed about it. Jayson realized he could do a double major in chemistry and physics and then do this program. That way he'd get the best of everything! no unpaid student teaching, he gets to go deeper into his majors, he gets great teaching experience, and it's for a really great cause.

Our conclusion: we feel great about it, so Jayson is doing it! We're both really stoked about it. There are about fifteen or so cities that we could end up going to, so it will be incredibly exciting to find out where they'll send us!

Personally, I'm hoping for Honolulu, but I'm really just excited for anywhere! It's going to be a great adventure.

Also, because we're going to be away from our family for a couple of years, we decided that after I graduate we're moving back to the Salt Lake area and Jayson is going to transfer to the U to finish off. This is also especially great because They have amazing science programs!

So, that is our new, near-future plan.

Just Because I Feel Great

I have nothing in particular to say. I am just in a very 'writey' mood. This past week (with the exception of my slight onneryness last night because of my late-night studying) I have had a new zest for life. The warm weather is coming. Well....it's coming, going, coming, and going again, but the sun really makes me happy. I have felt so determined and just plain happy. Life is wonderful.

Jayson is amazing. He is Acing two classes at USU that so many have trouble with, Chemistry 1210 and Calculus 2. The joke around campus is that it's called Calc 2 because everyone takes it twice. He had a test in Chemistry yesterday and he scored 100%! AMAZING. We also just recently attended his Mission Reunion, which great for both of us. He got to see his old mission chums and I got to finally put faces to all of these people that he talks about! One of his converts is coming to Salt Lake this summer! He's very excited to see her and I'm way excited to meet her! At the Mission Reunion his former mission president, President Fillmore gave a FABULOUS talk and I got to see all of his energy that Jayson has been telling me about. I have met him before, as he is the one sealed us, but he wasn't quite so full of energy in temple, which is probably a good thing. He is fabulous.

For many years of my life I have hated spring time. Spring time to me has always meant the most stressful time of school and Mad Season. Mad Season is when everyone truly goes crazy. Some go hormonally crazy. Some get mean. Some are just plain crazy. Spring time is usually when my drive starts depleting and I only find hope in the fact that school will soon be over and that means spring will be too. However, last year I had no spring. I went straight from spring into summer. By the time I left Logan spring hadn't started yet and I got to Salt Lake and it was nearly over. And to my astonishment...I missed it! In the words of the Beatles, it was a long, cold, lonely winter. This year I have vowed to love spring. I love the flowers, the blossoms, and....again, to my astonishment....my drive actually kicked in full gear. My drive in full gear though, can sometimes be dangerous. I usually end up overworking myself and then getting sick. I am going to work on controlling that....

This past weekend we were in Salt Lake visiting family, which is always great. We even got to attend one of the big family dinners that Jayson's side of the family has twice a month. I can't wait to move closer to home so that we can always go! They are so much fun.

In essence of my happiness, my new favorite song as of late (compliments of Meet The Robinson's and Rob Thomas) is "Little Wonders"

Let it go,
Let it roll right off your shoulder
Don't you know
The hardest part is over
Let it in,Let your clarity define you
In the end
We will only just remember how it feels
Our lives are made

In these small hours
These little wonders,
These twists & turns of fate
Time falls away,
But these small hours,
These small hours still remain
Let it slide,
Let your troubles fall behind you
Let it shine

Until you feel it all around you
And I don't mind

If it's me you need to turn to
We'll get by,
It's the heart that really matters in the end
Our lives are made

In these small hours
These little wonders,
These twists & turns of fate
Time falls away,
But these small hours,
These small hours still remain
All of my regret
Will wash away some how
But I can not forget
The way I feel right now

In these small hours
These little wonders
These twists & turns of fate
These twists & turns of fate
Time falls away but these small hours
These small hours, still remain,
Still remain
These little wonders
These twists & turns of fate
Time falls away
But these small hours
These little wonders still remain

In other news....my favorite band, Death Cab for Cutie, recently released an EP album with the demo version of one of my favorite of their songs, Talking Bird. The demo version is fabulous. I bought the song in itunes last night while I was taking a break from the History of Psychology and I am in love.

Also, it is the season for Reese's Eggs. The best candy...EVER. And...the season for Cadbury Eggs, which Jayson would say is the best candy.

And....there you have it. The random going-ons of our lives. So much to love.

Unemployed and the Future

Tuesday was my last day of baking. I left with many mixed feelings. I truly love my job. However, the hours were killing me, my relationship with my friends, my school work, etc. My grades were seriously hurting, and these week I've completely rocked all of my tests as of late. I also started working out again! (which actually didn't last too long, as I've become rathere ill, but am feeling much better). I also am really going to miss my work friends and the free food. So, the plan is to remain unemployed until summer comes so I can finish off the semester strong. Do not worry though, despite the poor, young, married, student persona, we will surely have enough money to get us through until May, and then some.

As for plans for the future....
It has recently dawned on me that I am graduating in a year from now. I just realized I could do it! I don't know how it happened. For almost my entire college career I thought I'd have to do at least one extra semester in order to graduate on time, and I don't. I am, however, doing one summer semester this coming summer, but I'm only taking two classes. I'm opting to do this so as to not cram every cass I need into my last two semesters. When I first realized I was graduating next spring I became incredibly excited. However, now that I've been thinking about it the past few days, I'm almost disapointed. There are so many more classes that I want to take that I'm not going to be able to. There are classes in my major and minor like Neglect and Abuse, Adolesence, Health Psychology, to name a few. There are also classes that have nothing to do with my major, such as, Greek History, Perspectives in Literature, Child Literature, Sculpting, Painting...to name a few. I also really want to learn Spanish, but Jayson can help me with that. Don't get me wrong, I've taken many classes that didn't have to do with my major so I could get a lot of different things out of my education. So, now, I have come to a cross roads. Part of me so badly want to be done with college, and it's very thrilling that I'm finally graduating...and on time! Another part of me is being persuaded to just stay for one more semester and take some more great classes. What to do, what to do.

One thing that is for sure, I am so excited for the upcoming summer. Even though I'll be in school and most likely working part time, the summer is sure to be full of sunshine, great friend time, and some great family trips.

Viva La Spring Break!

This is my kiss of love to the warm weather of Southern Utah. Three cheers for Spring Break!

For Spring Break we went to Salt Lake for a few days, visited family, ate some Cafe Rio, and went to the Draper Temple Open House (which is INCREDIBLY gorgeous). Then...

We went to Zion's National Park! Since My Dad's fiance is so fabulous, she let us borrow her convertable, since her and my dad were in Colorado anyways: my Dad to hunt, and Justie to take pictures. :) The weather was in the high sixties, surely warm enough for a couple of Loganites to drive in the canyon with the top down.

Jayson was VERY excited about this.

We set up camp and found ourselves very proud of ourselves. It was our first camping trip by ourselves, without any other people. We set up everything, built a fire, and cooked dinner on it, all by ourselves. Twice.

All grown up. hahaha.

The first day we saw the Weeping Rock, which is this really great rock that weeps. You see, the top of it is apparently very weak, and water can go right through it, but as it goes lower the water can't go through, so it comes right out the side and makes these goregous water lines!

We also hiked Ange's Landing, which was amazing. We went clear to the peak of a giant mountainous rock!!!

we climbed all the way up there. So awesome.

And there was a really great tree with crazy roots growing out of the rock up at the top!!!

The view was SPECTACULAR! Well worth the hike.

Then we hiked the East Temple Hike. When they said this path wasn't well paved, they surely were NOT kidding. For about 1/8 of the hike there was a nice path. Then we climbed thousands and thousands (1100 to be exact) of feet up rock like this:

I figured that once we got to the top there would be nice trail to go down the other side. But, when we got to the top it looked like this:

Clearly, there was no way down. One of the most spectacular views I've ever seen (these pictures do it absolutely no justice), but no way down. Jayson decided to go a little higher to see if there was something we couldn't see. He came back down and said, "Would you like to say a prayer?" By this time I was panicing! So, we said one, and I actually felt very comforted. Jayson explored further, and sure enough, he found quite an easy path into the bowl of trees. The rest of the hike was followed by more obsticals, random landmarks to find, and no path. However, we did find some sand and there were foot prints that reassured us that we were going in the right direction. We finally reached the dried up river bed we were suppose to get to. There we saw a really cool skeleton of a deer, a snake track (not incredibly comforting, but cool nonetheless). We reached the road to our car JUST before the sun went down.

The next day we took it easy and hiked to The Emerald Pools. A pretty easy hike, but really gorgeous. They are these waterfalls and pools that have algae that turn a particularly brilliant green!

.LOVE.

P.S.

Why is the blog two colors you ask?

Apparently, I'm not blog savvy.