RoseE's Update

So life with me. It's good. I've been spending the last year figuring out how to be a grown up, learning about things like 401(k)s, oil pressure, spring-form pans, and interest payments. It's been quite the education. I'm living about two blocks away from my parents, in a room I rent from a sister in our ward, and working downtown for the Church at peculiar hours. My job's getting progressively less fun, so the master plan is to hold onto it through May, then go back to my beloved French camp for the summer and start grad school in the fall. My application for grad school is ready to go. I've filled in all the blanks, taken the GRE (not as nice as I would have liked on the written--it was my lowest score--but the reading was nothing to sneeze at, so we should be okay, I think), and am ready to click 'Send' . . . now I just have to work up the nerve. Yeah, yeah, I know, I'm a wuss. A super wuss. I've heard 'The worst they can say is no,' but this isn't true. The worst they can say is 'No, because you're worthless and untalented and we don't want to have to associate with you for two years, and you smell funny, and your mother is an aardvark.' I suppose the odds that anyone would actually say this are slim to nil, but the possibility's there and it annoys me that people won't acknowledge it. So in the last little while I've figured out how to repair a busted oil pressure sensor, apply eyeshadow, goad results out of management, run a cub scout troop, walk in three-inch heels, hitchhike to Disneyland, cook fish, and belly dance some more. (Those darn taxims are still giving me trouble, though.) And that's the news from Lake Woebegone, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.

Tatiana's Post

Hey girls! We're in VA where Ross is on yr 2 of a post-doc. We have Mikey age 4, Charlotte age 2, and Joseph (JoeJoe) 6 months on Sunday. I've been busy doing those things that I always thought sounded dull, like doing a 72hr kit, and a yr supply of food storage (It's done!). Turns out it can really be fun! I've got lots of awesome whole wheat recipes now, and always interested in new ones. Mikey is in a preschool coop which meets twice a week and I teach every 5 weeks. Its been fun but he might be going into a full-time preschool soon, we'll see. We are hoping to find a job in UT starting in Aug, we'll see how that goes :). So fun to read about you guys! Miss you all! PS, the pic is 6 mo old, but oh well...

Laura's Update

Me? I'm tired and hungry/nauseous most days (yes I looked up how to spell that..) but mostly relieved that my EXTREME forgetfulness is justified! I join the ranks with Felicia and Monica, I too am preggers. Oh wait?! Who all has been invited to join this blog?! I haven't gotten to everyone yet!! And I forgot about 95% of all October birthdays within our group, and without, so there.

I just had two really vivid dreams lately, two people I don't know but that I interacted with in my dream and woke up very clearly remembering their faces. The second dream was of a newborn baby in my arms, it was a boy. ^_^ Ha ha don't tell my family members yet, I'm not sure they're ready to hear that kind of news. Job sure wasn't!! It's all good, I'm planning on learning how to sew homemade ties so my menfolk can all be matching for Easter and all those other fun holidays..

My parents moved away from Provo, lived in SLC for almost 3 years and now are doing their absolute best to move back but this time into a super ritzy neighborhood north of the city. Too bad it wasn't timed up with Halloween, I hear they give out king-sized, or at least full-sized candy bars around those parts! Speaking of candy bars... who still hasn't shelled out..? ..Sarai??

Monica's update!

We are in Mesa, AZ. Justin is finishing up medical school this year and will be done in the spring. Blake is 4.5yrs, Emma and Rebekah are 18 months and we are expecting another girl (Hannah) in February. {yes we are crazy}

I actually just became an official business owner of Craftswithasideofyou. I sale custom crafts and vinyl lettering. It is busy and exciting. Because this is working for me, I probably will discontinue teaching preschool. I took off the last two years because of the twins and it is kind of nice to have a more flexible work schedule.

We most likely will stay in Mesa, Justin has a lot of great contacts here and my family is here as well.

I am excited to stay in touch with you all better!

Monica

Felicia's Update

This will be short, but I wanted to do something before I put it off and forgot. Big news in our family is Jonathon is a final away from finishing his online English course which has been a year and a half battle, one I think he gained quite a bit from, both in writing skills and more importantly, discipline and working passed mental barriers. I can now return my focus to my thesis which I want desperately to defend before Thanksgiving. I am expecting number 2, another little girl, December 19th. Hailey is set on naming her "sister". She is also insistent taht she is a toddler and not a baby because she is 2. Hailey is speaking in full and completely understandable sentences and continues to amaze me everyday with her knowledge and skills. I love it when she makes up songs to sing to me. Our favorite of late is "creepy toddler".

Sarai's Update!

Lots of fun things are up with me but I'll start with the basics. I graduated from BYU last year in Marriage, Family and Human Development. I haven't been working in that field because as it turns out I love doing technical theatre much more. I was working at the Covey Center for the Arts here in Provo but I felt like I needed to work less and focus on other things. Which turned out really well because they started hiring freelancers at really bad rates so it was good that I left. I've worked freelance a lot at a much better pay rate and for much better people so that's good and I'm still going to take those jobs when they come up.

So I am dating a wonderful guy! His name is Kawika Heftel, pronounced Kavika - it's a Hawaiian name. He is 29, owns a recording studio and has a full time job making online games for kids. He is a double major in computer science and sound recording. He only has a few classes left to graduate but he is so busy that he can only take one class a semester. He is part Caucasian and part Japanese. He lived in Hawaii when he was younger and then moved to Provo when he was a teenager. We met through Buck who works at Kawika's recording studio.

Now I'm going to gush. He is smart and nerdy in the good way that I like. He is so sweet and great at expressing his love. He's funny and fun. We can be serious and silly together. We are both so open with each other. We have a lot in common. Common interests like love of music, technology, and sound technology. Common values. Common ideas and feelings about many important things in life. We have this list of 161 questions from a professor at BYU of things you should discuss before marriage and it's really cool to go through them and see how well our ideas align with each other. We've gone through ups and downs together and worked through disagreements. which is really good.

And we are talking about marriage!

Welcome!

Yay for our newsletter blog! Thanks for joining. I'm super excited about this because I feel that I'm never up to date with everyone. This newsletter doesn't have to be a big deal or take a lot of time; just post every now and then about what's new with you and your family. If you want, you can even just repost something you posted on your personal blog if you have one. If you have questions about how this works, please let me know. Thanks!