Summer Vacation

Andrea and I decided to go on a cruise last week.  We had been talking about going on one all Winter long, and about a week and half before the departure date, we booked it.  We had a ton of fun!

I'd never been on a cruise before, and walking up to the ship was an experience.  This thing was immense:

Here's a picture of the boat

We were excited for a few days of rest and relaxation.  We woke up late, laid around by the pool, on the deck, in the sun, in the shade, and read books.  The cruise was a good time to get ready for summer.  We were very excited for our stop in Cozumel Mexico.  The beach was beautiful and we got to kayak and snorkel.

One of the best things about the cruise was all the food we got to eat.  Buffet's were available all day long, and we made sure to take advantage of them.  The dinners were spectacular.  One night they asked everyone to dress up:

 Our waiter was funny and made each of us feel comfortable.  We met three couples at the dinner table, and became fast friends with them.

But I think my favorite part of all the food was the deserts.  We could have as many deserts as we wanted to, and they always had an ice cream soft serve machine available.  This is what I ordered one night:

Yes, I ordered the special Mother's Day desert.  It looked delicious.  And I think I ordered a chocolate lava cake every night as well.

Another great thing about the cruise was the fact that we didn't have to make the bed, and our room got cleaned twice a day.  Every night, the staff  used towels to create animals:

Before we left for the cruise, I had applied for an internship, and we set up the interview time for Monday at 11:00 am. Our cruise was supposed to be over at 8:00 am, giving me plenty of time (I thought) to make it to Houston for the interview. Well, Saturday night, after we left Cozumel, the Captain made an announcement. He informed us that someone needed immediate medical attention, and we were returning to Cozumel so she could get to the hospital. We had been traveling for nearly six hours, and turned around. Andrea and I went to the front of the boat, and we were cruising! The boat was going fast trying to get back to Cozumel quickly. The Captain thought that we would try to make up lost time Saturday night and Sunday, but I guess they decided against that. Sunday morning, they informed us we would not be arriving until 3:30 Monday afternoon. You can just imagine the outcry from the passengers, but the cruise opened up the internet and phone lines so people could rearrange schedules. I wasn't quite sure if the internship was going to work for me, because it was part-time in Houston, so I took this as a sign to decline the interview. I emailed the company, and thanked them for the opportunity, but declined the interview. The extra few hours on the boat were nice. We were able to sleep in, and eat a good meal (or two) before debarking.

I also interviewed for 2 different GAR's (Graduate Assistant Researcher) at the Bush school over the last week, but on Thursday, I was informed that I did not receive either. I felt that either GAR would be perfect for me, and one of them wanted me to work in the summer which would have been wonderful! I thought it was a great fit for both me and the GAR, but I guess it wasn't meant to be. So right now, the plan is for me to intern at the Financial Aid Office for 20 hours a week, and I decided to sign up for 2 classes this summer. I'm going to take some finance courses, trying to strengthen my skills in hopes for a job next year. Classes don't start until after Memorial Day, so I have a nice break before then. Andrea and I are hoping something will come up for me that works with my schedule, especially for the fall, but we'll continue to trust the Lord that He has a plan for us and continue to try and keep the commandments.

Torts, Sports, and Derby's

I am in an education law course this semester and it has been a lot of work.  My professor assigned us over 200 court cases to read.  Like I said, a lot of work.

I had a group assignment on Wednesday. I got to class and was put into a group, and we were given a scenario to respond to.  We had an hour to craft our response using case law, other books we read, and important legislation.

After this project, the professor said he would hand out our final.

We finished the presentation, and he passed out the final in a sealed envelope and told us not to open it until everyone had their envelope.

We all had our envelopes and opened them at the same time. . .

You can only imagine the sighs of relief and smiles that appeared on our faces when we read this.  Everyone started to laugh, and the professor looked pleased.  I think he only does this so he can watch the looks on our faces which are probably pretty amusing.  But it was a great surprise!


Last Saturday we went to an Aggie Baseball game!

We went with some friends of ours from my program.  This was the only picture we got of the game but it was an experience.

Texas A&M has many traditions, people joke that "if it happens once and works, it's a tradition."  I almost believe that's true here at A&M.  Baseball is no different.  Unfortunately I don't know all the traditions that go along with the baseball games, but I'll try to explain a few

• The stadium is right next to the train tracks and whenever a train comes by and blows it's horn, everyone holds up how many fingers for how many engines will be on the train.
• Mound Conferences: During opposing mound conferences, Aggies implore the manager to pinch the pitchers butt by pinching their fingers together and yelling at the manager. If he does, he's a "Dirty Old Man," if not, he's a "Tease."
• If you are on your cell phone walking up to the stands, fans will pretend to know you and raise their hand as if to say "come here for your seat."

There are probably more traditions, but I couldn't hear clearly what people were saying.  The baseball team was creamed on Saturday night, but they are ranked 6th in the nation right now.


I'm in Cub Scouts, helping the Webelos, and on Tuesday we had our annual Pinewood Derby.  The church was amazing!

The race track was set up to sync with a computer to keep track of the boys times.  Each boy got to race four times.  When the boys put their cars on the track, one of the leaders pressed a button and the track said "ready."  After that, one of the boys at the end of the track would press a button and and the race would begin!

We had a few technical difficulties, but for the most part the event ran smoothly, and we were able to finish by 8:00 so I could make it to a volleyball game!

Our den won first place, and we got a ribbon!

Blue Bonnets and NCAA Final Four

We are still trying to decide what we'll be doing this summer, and where we will be.  I sent in an application to the FDIC over a month ago, and they haven't made any decisions yet on internships.  I called them last week, and they said they had my application (which is good) but still don't know who they will select.  One of my professors at school worked at The Federal Reserve in Dallas for a while, and she gave me the email of her boss, and I emailed him, but haven't heard anything since.

I have spoken to the Financial Aid office at Texas A&M, and they have a part-time internship they can offer me (paid) for 20 hours a week.  The Admissions Office at Texas A&M also has a part-time internship (unpaid) that is available.  So we are still waiting to hear from the FDIC before making any decisions.

We did decide to live in our same apartment next year.  The price is fairly reasonable, and we really like the location. 


Yesterday Andrea and I went to the Blue Bonnet festival in a town called Chappell Hill.  Some friends from my program had talked about going so we met them there.  We thought we'd get to see lots of blue bonnets and finally take some pictures with them.  Much to our dismay, we got there and there were no blue bonnets!  Not a single one.  There were lots of booths set up for events and activities, but no blue bonnets.  We luckily found some on the side of the road, so I took a picture for us to remember.

Last weekend we had a lot of fun!  We went to Houston and spent the weekend with Andrea's sister and went to some of the final fours activities! Downtown Houston had a huge concert and events where people could go and win prizes.

 I went to the Final Four games with Brock, and two of Brock's brothers.  It was a ton of fun!  The atmosphere was electric.  It was interesting looking at the different teams.  UCONN didn't have any fans there.  Butler and VCU both outnumbered.  Kentucky outnumbered everyone, and they were pretty depressed they lost.

I loved this saying for the Final Four.  It was perfect for Houston.  When they started the games, they would have a recording playing from a rocket getting ready to blast off.  Really cool.

This is where I watched the Final Four and my view:

 And this is where I watched the National Championship game:

Little different view, right?

She's Gone Country :)

Sorry for not keeping the blog more up-to-date.  I got busy, we weren't taking pictures and I didn't want to bore with you my words.

This weekend we went to the Houston Rodeo (THE Rodeo, apparently).  Andrea was very excited for the Rodeo, so she went and bought herself a new outfit!

Andrea dressed up for the rodeo, I on the other hand wore shorts and t-shirt.  She called me boring, but I wanted to be comfortable :). 

We went with The Griffiths and had a blast.  The kids enjoyed going to the carnival before.  Mason even won a stuffed Pokemon!

The weather was perfect.  It was probably 74 degrees, and a little breezy.  We wanted to try some fried snickers, but by the time we went to the line, it was packed, and the rodeo event was starting.

We went to the Reliant Center (Where the Texans play football) to watch the Rodeo.  It wasn't very crowded when we showed up.  We had to walk up a huge ramp that probably took us a good 10 minutes to walk up.  Our seats were nearly at the top.  We didn't go to the very top, but to the section right below it.  The Rodeo portion was fun for a while, but I felt it dragged a little, probably because I was excited for Lady Antebellum!
We got there around 7:00 pm, and watched different Rodeo events.

We watched cowboy's ride bronco's and bulls, and then we watched a really fun event where a bunch of sheep were released and teenagers tried to tackle them, rope them up, and drag them to the middle.  We than watched "Mutton Busting."  It's like bull riding, but instead of staying on bulls, the participants have to stay on sheep.  Little kids, 5-6 years old participated.  They grabbed onto those sheep as tight as their little hands could.

Finally, Lady Antebellum came on stage!





The concert was a lot of fun!  The performance was great, and we liked the atmosphere a lot.

It was really funny during the concert, we looked over at the Griffiths, and every one of them had their eyes closed :)  The four boys slept through most of the concert and it took a while for them to wake up at the end.

On Saturday, we went to the Kemah Boardwalk and walked around for a while.  That was fun, but we had already been to a carnival the day before, so we weren't that excited to go on some rides.





The best part of the day (I think) was as we were walking around, we saw a game where one of the prizes was a BYU basketball.  We couldn't believe that a BYU basketball was a prize in Texas, so I played the game to win the ball!




We had a lot of fun on our mini Spring Break vacation to Houston!

Birthday

This week was Andrea's birthday.  I'm very grateful for her, and I like to tease her about how old she is now :)

H - Hot
A - Awesome
P - Patient
P - Persistent
Y - Youthful

B - Bright
I - Intelligent
R - (Always) Right
T - Talented - in many things: piano, teaching, music, friendly to others, outgoing. . .
H - Happy
D - Dependable
A - Amazing
Y - A BYU fan!
(It's hard to come up with adjectives for the letter "Y")

We didn't spend as much time together on her birthday as we would have liked.  I decided to change one of my classes from Program Evaluation to Game Theory, but Game Theory is from 3-6 pm on Tuesday's, and then I am a Webelos Scout Leader, so I have Cub Scouts from 6-7.  Before I changed classes, Andrea was going to take Tuesday off from work, and we were going to spend all day together, but after my class change, we only got to spend a few hours.

We went out to eat Cafe Capri, a little Italian cafe in downtown Bryan.  The food was delicious.  Andrea is more adventurous than I am when it comes to trying new foods.  I know what I like, and I almost always order it, while Andrea likes to try new things.  She ordered a lobster penne which was a little spicy, and I ordered Parmesan Chicken.  Andrea joked before going that she knew what I was going to order and she was right!

For her birthday, I ordered flowers.  It's hard to surprise Andrea with flowers because we only have one car:
Andrea: "Where are you going?"
Me: "The store to pick up some things."
Andrea: "Oh, what things?"
Me: "Surprises"
Andrea. . .
It's really hard.  So this year, I decided to order flowers online and have them delivered to her at work!

She said she loved getting the flowers, and some of her coworkers said their husbands needed to take lessons from me :).

She dropped a hint that she wanted to try some peanut butter chocolate girl scout cookies, so like the good and obedient husband that I am, I found some girl scouts and bought cookies for her birthday:

She's very excited!

This week I went to the business school career fair.  This turned out to be a disaster.  Apparently, they already know who they wanted for internships, and weren't interested in talking with me.  Every time I told someone that I was an MPA student, they abruptly ended the conversation and said there might be jobs available online, but they weren't offering any for me.  I was pretty disappointed.  I even had nice business cards to hand out!

I'm still trying to find an internship for the summer.  I just emailed the financial aid office at Texas A&M and Sam Houston State University.  Hopefully I'll be able to find something sooner rather than later so we can decide what we'll do during the summer (i.e. where we'll live, if Andrea will keep her job).

We're excited for Valentine's Day tomorrow.  Andrea's parents sent us some delicious chocolate covered strawberries to celebrate.  Thank you!

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

Snow Day

This week I got a day off of school and work because of snow!  I guess I had to leave Utah, to finally enjoy a snow day.  Never once do I remember missing school because of snow; I only remember missing church once.

Well, all week we had heard of huge snow storm coming our way.  On Thursday, Texas A&M issued this announcement:

How does a university shut down because of an expected snow storm?  I can't tell you how many times I've heard while here in Texas: "If you don't like the weather, wait 15 minutes and it will change."  Nevertheless, campus was announced to be closed until 11:30 Friday morning (Friday morning they sent out a campus-wide alert notifying us that campus would be closed the entire day).

Well, during the night, it did indeed snow:

Yeah, we were covered.  Andrea even built a snowman :). (It was two inches tall)

Here is a picture someone took from the building I work in.   You can see in the front, the huge ring that people like to take pictures by.


I wasn't complaining though, I got to stay at home and work on homework all day.  So if turned out pretty good.  Andrea on the other hand needed to go to work.  I didn't want to let her out of the house, because I'd heard how bad Texan drivers were at driving in the snow.  While all of the roads were very icy, it turns out that no one wanted to go over 5mph.  Even on the freeway everyone was driving with their hazards going super slow.  It took Andrea almost 30 minutes to get to work, when normally it would have taken 15.

Our friend sent us a funny movie:



Tonight we are heading to a couple's house from my program.  We are going to play some games and watch the Superbowl.  Andrea has me rooting for the Packers!