The Rich Life

The End of Nursing

2012-01-24T09:02:00.004-07:00

My milk has dried up.

I rented a pump from the hospital, I nursed more frequently, I drank more water, I called the breastfeeding hotline. Yet still, even three hours after nursing, when my supply should have been full, I would only pump ½ ounce.

Jackson had a rough month of sleeping that started with teething, then traveling, followed by croup. But even after he was home and healthy, he was still struggling at night. Turns out my baby was not sleeping well in part because he was hungry. And his frustrated cries after nursing let me know that my pumping sessions were not the only sign that I was not producing enough.

After many tears and prayers and talks with Joey, I decided it was the end of nursing.

The day I rented the hospital pump, I had a clear, calm feeling: You can try this, but this will be your last week of nursing Jackson.

And one evening while I nursed him and tears streamed down my face and I resolved that I would pump more and make sure I got my supply up and fight to make it four more months, I again had a calm, clear impression: It is not up to you.

Almost immediately upon getting heavy supplementation with formula, Jackson started sleeping through the night again. His personality is the same ol’ happy, bouncing, squealing, babbling little boy, but he is sleeping better, and while Joey and I cannot be sure, we think he looks a little chubbier this week. I know, you didn’t think that was possible.

I am grateful for formula. And for Costco which sells formula for less than the grocery store does even with a coupon.

When Jackson was born I had decided to take the advice of the lactation consultants and breastfeeding books and blogs I had read: I was going to nurse for at least a year, and I was NOT going to supplement with formula. Then Jackson got severe jaundice and was hospitalized due to dehydration (babies need sufficient wet and poopy diapers to pass the biliruben out of their systems, or else it will build up and cause jaundice). So on doctor’s orders, I supplemented. And formula was a blessing then as it is now.

There are a couple of things I will try next time around to help my milk supply early on and to continue breastfeeding longer, but if I have problems again, I will again be grateful for formula that allows my baby to be a happy, healthy baby.

What I Do Versus What I Like To Do

2012-01-18T10:31:00.001-07:00

Tuesday and Thursday evenings, I put on a skirt and heels. I grab my bag, kiss my boys, and drive five miles to the university.

I put on music before the start of class. I always have a pen in my hand. I call this habit my teaching tick. We talk commas and rhetorical strategies and topic sentences.

I call my husband as I walk to the car—he asks about my class, I ask about our baby. Fifteen minutes later I am home, and again I kiss my boys.

In the morning, I drag myself out of bed to the living room where I lesson plan and grade papers until my baby wakes up.

It is a nice gig, this teaching two nights a week. It takes a sacrifice of time from Joey, and some lost sleep from me, but it is worth it. Most of the time.

It is something that I do, and it is something I like to do, which is not always that same thing. Recently I have been thinking about this disconnect—what I do versus what I like to do. It sparked when a new visiting teacher asked what I like to do and I didn’t have a good answer.

Part of the problem with answering this question is that so much of my time goes into mothering. There are plenty of thinks I like about mothering—reading books, cuddling my baby fresh from the bath, tickling his little toes, making him laugh. But the answer could sound a little creepy: “I like tickling little toes. What do you like to do?”

And then there are things that I do and spend time on, but don’t particularly like. Some things I have to do—like fold laundry—but other things I just do, and they cut into the time I could spend on what I like.

Since then I have been thinking about what I like and how much time I dedicate to it. I like teaching, but I also like reading, writing, visiting with friends, playing with Jackson, dating my husband, taking gym classes, and finding/cooking/baking new recipes that end with a comment from Joey about it being “hearty” or “the best X I have ever made.”

This year, I want to spend more time on the things that I really like to do, and less on the things that I sometimes just do.

Imitation

2012-01-14T17:06:00.001-07:00

If imitation is the best form of flattery, then it is very clear that Jackson loves his dad. From vibrating his lips to shaking his head back and forth to kicking back on the couch with his legs crossed, Jackson eagerly tries to copy each new action and funny noise his dad does. If his physical and mental ability matched his desire to imitate, we would have a walking, talking, potty-trained boy within a week. Not that I want to wish away this baby phase—he is already growing up too fast—but it sure is cute to watch him practice new tricks until he gets them right.

Book Club For Two

2012-01-10T22:56:00.002-07:00

About a month ago Joey asked me if I wanted to join a book club with him. Only him. Our little book club for two. We would take turns picking the books and would have a month to finish it. Our initial rules required that neither of us have read the book previously (as part of the purpose of the club was to encourage us to read more), though we have debated this point and may abandon it. I said yes, and he said I could pick the first book.

I chose The Tipping Point by Malcom Gladwell. I have finished, Joey is nearly done, and we have been discussing as we go. While I think that Gladwell strings together interesting (but sometimes poorly constructed) social studies/experiments with a very loose thesis and attempts to call non-universal principles “laws,” we have had some interesting discussions from the book. Joey is in the process of choosing book two.

I have never been in book club before. Though ours may not be traditional, I like it. Now I need to find my next book to choose. A new novel? A child development book? We shall see.

7 Months Old

2012-01-08T20:51:00.000-07:00

Jackson actually lost a little bit of weight this month—down from 20.5 to 20.15. We attribute the loss to endless kicking in the bathtub, kicking on the changing table, kicking in his crib, sitting up, rolling over, and dancing. Not quite crawling, but he is sure working those muscles, and apparently his extra workouts are showing up on the scale.

This month started rough with teething. We aren’t fans of teething (or at least not the part that caused Jackson to stop sleeping through the night for a while), but his two little teeth are sure cute. And sharp.

He is still a fan of sucking his thumb, which is awesome for self-soothing. And adorable. Not so adorable? His attachment to my hair—some kids love a particular blanket, Jackson loves my hair. We are working on that.

All Ends Well That Starts Poorly, Or Something Like That

2012-01-03T12:38:00.002-07:00

Sadly, our eventful New Years Eve has no pictures to accompany it. Though we started the evening with a delicious ribeye steak dinner, we followed dinner with a trip to the after-hours pediatrician clinic where Jackson was diagnosed with Croup. As Joey and I were also a little sick, the evening progressed with Joey falling asleep on the couch (at 9:30 PM) and me rocking a sick baby into the wee hours of the morning. Joey took breakfast duty with Jackson while I slept until 10:30 AM, waking up on New Year’s Day still tired and sick.

Great start to 2012, wouldn’t you say?

For those of you keeping track, that makes five times in five months that I have been sick. Do kids suck the life out of you? Do UVU students spread more germ than BYU students? Are family wards more germ infested than married student wards? I suppose a resolution of mine is to try to get healthier this year. My daily vitamins are just not cutting it.

2011 was full of dramatic changes for me—giving birth was the most significant, but I also graduated with my MA and taught my first semester at UVU.

2012 will likely be less eventful for us, but so many things can change in a year. Joey will be taking the GMAT and applying to grad schools, Jackson will be learning to crawl, walk and talk, and I will be teaching, mothering, and perusing personal interests (like, learning how to stay healthy).

Let’s hope that the year ends better than it started. And though I don’t really do holiday posts, I will close with some Christmas pictures of Jackson, because that's what you all come for, right?

Snuggie Texts - Start Your Weekend With a Laugh

2011-12-16T16:34:00.001-07:00

If you have not read this yet, read it now. It is the funniest blog post I have read in a long time, especially because it is real. It was written by Eli McCann, who was in my ward and a fellow history TA back in 2007.

6 Months Old

2011-12-15T17:51:00.001-07:00

So here we are, a few days shy of seven months, finally getting the six months post. I will blame it on the violent stomach flu Jackson and I shared the week he turned six months.

Nevertheless, Jackson weighed in at in at 20.75 lbs (93%tile) and 28.25 inches tall (95%tile). He is a babbling boy; somehow his happy sounds are “dadada” and his whiny sounds are “mamamama,” but I will just take that to mean I am good at giving comfort.

He loves trying new foods, but is not fond of bananas or green beans. He is getting stronger and more active and sits up pretty well. He likes sitting up in shopping carts much better lying in his carseat—and we think he looks pretty cute while he is at it.

Shadow People

2011-12-09T11:33:00.001-07:00

Jackson woke up at 6 AM and wanted to eat. I, the ever obliging mother, got up to nurse him. Before putting him back down to sleep, I changed his diaper. Upon being picked up from the changing pad, he noticed, seemingly for the first time, our shadows on the wall.

Jackson sleeps with the dim light of a small lamp that rests on the bookshelf across from his crib. It gives enough light for late-night diaper changes, but not much else if no light is coming through the window. That is, not much else other than to cast shadows on the wall.

We paused to watch the shadow people. Jackson kept turning his head back and forth between the wall and me, a look of wonderment in his eyes. I held up my hand and made a goose and then a dog, accompanied by their respective noises. I moved his little arms so he could see that he too could make the shadows move. He giggled.

I snuggled him in close for a minute, kissed his little forehead, and tucked him back into his warm crib. I love these magical moments of childhood learning.

things that creep me out

2011-11-22T12:03:00.000-07:00

What creeps up and around the most?

Spiders? Caterpillars? Snails? No. Not these creeping things.

5 pounds, that’s what. Those 5 lbs. are the creepiest and sneakiest things. They take the form of a missed walk here, an extra cupcake there, and before you know it, the scale has crept.

They also take the form of honeymoon bliss, miscarriage sorrow, grad school stress, pregnancy woes, and stay-at-home-mom-brownies.

I got sick last week. Really sick. Stomach virus, hours in the bathroom, can’t move, can’t eat solid food for two days kind of sick. In the first 10 hours of that sickness I lost 5 pounds. It came back once I was re-hydrated, but seeing that number on the scale inspired me.

I keep creeping things out of my house, and now I would like to keep them out of my body.

I would like the scale to creep down each month for three months. That means keeping things in control over the holidays and starting healthy habits before the new year and keeping them up after the party hats are put away.

Weight talk on a public blog can be an awkward thing—I am not looking for comments on how I look, but encouragement on how to keep life stresses from becoming weight-creepers. What methods do you use? Who else is making pre-holiday commitments?

Changes to be Thankful For

2011-11-20T16:26:00.000-07:00

Our family has changed a little since we took Thanksgiving pictures last year, but we are sure thankful for these changes.

Tiger, Tiger

2011-11-02T16:16:00.003-06:00

Tiger, tiger, burning bright

In the forest of the night,

What immortal hand or eye

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

(William Blake)

We dressed as zoo keepers. Someone has to keep this fierce tiger under control!

Harry Potter--Unfiltered

2011-10-30T22:46:00.001-06:00

I have been busy this past month and a half. Busy with things that have kept me up late at night and woke me up early in the morning. I have skipped naps and postponed showers.

I have been reading Harry Potter.

I had not read the series before, you see, because when they first came out I was a too-cool junior higher who did not want to read her little brothers’ books. I watched the movies and thought that was good enough.

I was a fool.

The series grows and develops with the characters—as the characters age, the storylines become more intricate, the decisions more complex. While I think a few of the books could easily cut 50-100 pages (how obsessed with Draco does Harry really have to be for us to get that Draco is up to no good?), Rowling does a fantastic job of foreshadowing without giving everything away. After I finished each book I re-watched the movies (except for Deathly Hallows Part II, which comes out on DVD in a couple weeks). As a natural consequence of transforming 700ish pages into 120ish minutes, the movies leave a lot out. Some characters are condensed, some side stories are completely cut, and the significance of each decision is boiled down and reduced to simple, easy-to-portray motivations.

This experience reminded me of the importance of going to the original source for things that are good. The movies are good, but the books are better. Facebook and blogs are good, but in-person interaction, when possible, is better. Sunday School lessons are (sometimes) good, but regular, personal scripture study is better. Sometimes value is lost when things are experienced through a filter.

Now what series to move on to?

5 Months Old

2011-10-28T11:46:00.001-06:00

At five months, Jackson is loving his dinners. Rice or oatmeal cereal and then squash or sweet potatoes. Bland vegetables over single grain mush never tasted so good.

He loves to play with toys, hang out in his activity center (thank you Kendra and Caleb), roll over, and grab for anything in reach. If he achieves his goal, whatever he grabs ends up in his mouth. Yum.

He is generally smiley and happy, and of course, chubby.

His eyes are looking like they will stay this beautiful blue.

He is trying to sit up on his own now and can do it for short periods of time before toppling over.

He is still sleeping like a champ. Most nights he sleeps from about 11 PM to 7 AM, wakes up to eat, then sleeps in until about 10:30 AM. Perfect for giving his mommy time to grade and plan lessons.

Twenty-Four

2011-10-14T15:17:00.000-06:00

I am a wife. I am a mother. I am a teacher.

I subscribe to the local newspaper—for coupons.

I write the check for rent, gas, electric, and internet.

You would think I have felt like an adult for some time now.

But something about turning twenty-four feels very. . . adult. I am now solidly in my mid-twenties. I expect that the great mass of knowledge and wisdom that adults are supposed to hold will hit me any minute.

While I wait, I will go out with Joey to a surprise dinner and celebrate my birthday with cupcakes from The Sweet Tooth Fairy.

The Proof

2011-09-20T09:09:00.001-06:00

In case anyone was wondering if Jackson is still sweet and chubby as ever, here is the proof:

Twelvish Year Plan

2011-09-18T20:28:00.003-06:00

Lately I have been working on the Twelvish Years Plan. Not to be confused with Elvish years. . . I haven’t read LOTR. There are so many contingencies to the number twelve in my plan that I cannot possibly hold that number down, but the twelvish is the number of years I can somewhat anticipate being a mostly-stay-at-home mom with kids who are younger than first graders. What are the contingencies? The number of kids we have, how far apart they are, fertility issues (miscarriages, surprise babies), the many assumptions of having healthy kids, Joey and I remaining healthy ourselves, and having relative financial security, etc. A lot could change this time frame and this plan. However, goals do not wait for you to know all the answers about your future. If you do not set goals, you will never accomplish them. Enter the twelvish year plan. At the end of this time I might choose to go back to school for a PhD, teach more, or any number of things including. . . deciding I should still be a mostly-stay-at-home mom.

While the actual number could just as easily be 10 or 14, I like the number 12 because it works out conveniently with the number of months in a year. So if I think of doing one thing towards a particular goal per month, it ends up being 144 things at the end of 12 years.

Like if I were to read one book per month (though I hope to read many more), I would read 144 books in 12 years. One book a month doesn’t sound like very much. . . but 144 books? That sounds significant. The more I read per month the more that number multiplies. 5 books per month = 720 books in 12 years. I could go on, but I am sure my readers can do math.

While reading books is for myself, what if I were to do particular acts of service once a month? Like give out an average of one meal a month to a family in need (due to new babies, sickness, etc.) That could be 144 meals in 12 years. With one temple trip a month, that could be a lot of work done for others.

I don’t yet know what I want to set for all my goals, and I am sure they will evolve over the years, but I like the motivation the plan brings as I see how small things build up to become big, significant things.

4 Months Old

2011-09-17T23:41:00.001-06:00

Jackson at a few days old

Blink and you will miss something, he changes that fast. In the last few of weeks he has gone from being able to grasp toys in his hands to purposely move them (read: put them in his mouth) to being able to apply force, squeeze and pull on them. He has moved up to the next level of his plastic bathtub—no longer is he lounging in the little hammock thing, but reclining/sitting up in the main baby tub (read: legs free to kick and splash, his new favorite pastime). He is almost rolling over back-to-belly; he gets up completely on his side, but rolls back instead of over. And the biggest milestone: after the go-ahead from our pediatrician, he has had a little rice cereal the last couple of nights and has loved it.

At four months, Jackson is still rocking the 97%tile in his weight at 18 lbs 8 oz, but has moved down to the 87%tile in his height at 26 inches. He loves to coo and babble, make what we call raptor sounds, and laugh, especially when tickled. He has not been sleeping as well this week after coming down with his first virus; Monday and Tuesday nights had him waking up crying nearly every hour, but he has continued to get better and slept a straight 5 ½ hours last night, so we are close to sleeping through the night again. Last Saturday (before getting sick) he slept 12 hours straight without even waking up to eat. We love watching him grow and learn and we cannot get enough of his chubby little legs.

Jackson this afternoon at Sears Portrait Studio

Can You Feel So Now?

2011-09-13T23:00:00.001-06:00

Alma 5:26 “And now behold, I say unto you, my brethren, if you have experienced a change of heart, and if you have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can you feel so now?”

I have thought about this scripture from The Book of Mormon a lot in the last few weeks. It first came to mind because I read through my journals from 2002 and 2003; there are several entries where I bare my testimony of Jesus Christ in clear and powerful language. I described how I felt the power of the Spirit testifying to me that Jesus is the Christ, that he is my Redeemer, and that I am a daughter of God.

I still know that to be true, but I don’t always take the opportunity to write it down. E. M. Forester once wrote, “How can I tell what I think until I see what I say?” That quote rested directly in front of my seat in English my sophomore year of high school. I read it every day, but I didn’t really understand it until years later when I struggled to clarify my ideas in writing. My writing was not clear because my thoughts were not clear. When I saw what I had to say, I better understood my own thoughts and beliefs. While that application had to do with papers in graduate school, I know it can be true with my testimony as well.

Jesus is the Christ. He is my Redeemer. I am a daughter of God.

I know this. I know this because I have “felt to sing the song of redeeming love.” I have felt the power of God in my life. I have felt the immense power of the atonement of Jesus Christ. I believe Alma asks the question, “can you feel so now?” because it is so easy to forget that feeling. Life happens, we get busy, and, if we do not continually anchor ourselves in Christ, we forget. Or at least the feeling dims. I have allowed the feeling to dim too often, but I am grateful for the times when I have written my testimony and the experiences when I have seen God’s hand in my life. I can remember that feeling and rekindle the change of heart it caused at the time.

If you would like a copy of The Book of Mormon which stands with the Holy Bible as a second testimony of Jesus Christ, please message me on facebook or email me at katierich87 at gmail dot com. It is free, no strings attached.

The Real Deal

2011-09-06T13:31:00.002-06:00

A lot has changed over the past four months—I am not a formal student anymore and I consider spit-up an accessory I cannot leave the house without. However, as I walked into class last week to teach, I was reminded of how much I love teaching and working with students.

In addition to a new university and a new course (similar to what I have taught before, but with a stronger focus on research), I have had some firsts. I had my first student to make a rude exit. After I finished going over my syllabus, a student stood up and told me he would be finding a different professor for this course because my policies were too strict for a student who was paying tuition to be there. He then walked out of class. For a split second my heart stopped, fearing that the rest of the students would stand up and make a mass exodus. Fortunately, the other students laughed and said how ridiculous and rude he was. My heart started pumping again, and class carried on smoothly.

A combination of having finished my master’s degree and the four months break I had from teaching have helped me gain a new confidence. I have had time to reflect on my teaching and make some changes to my pedagogy. However, I have not changed my practice of playing music before class. I started the semester with this song. It was a good choice. As much as I still have to learn about teaching and writing, I feel like the real deal. Sort of.

As for balancing work with life as a new mom, I am fortunate to teach only two nights a week at a job that goes in four-month cycles. So, for now, Joey gets to enjoy some alone time with Jackson two nights a week, and every four months we will re-evaluate how this is going for me and for our family.

3 Months Old

2011-08-26T09:18:00.002-06:00

This little boy is starting to laugh and play, and we love it. He will crack up to his dad’s funny sounds, or when playing peek-a-boo by hiding his face in mom’s arms and then looking up quickly. He is generally very smiley and happy. He has started to be more content hanging out without being held, as long as he can see us (thanks Carly for lending us the swing & bumbo chair!). He didn’t have a weight check at the doctor’s this month, but our best guess with our home scale is a little over 18 pounds. He is mostly wearing size 6 month clothes now, the little chunk. Most nights he is sleeping very well, usually going to bed by 10:30 or 11 PM, sleeping until about 7 AM, then after eating and having his diaper changed, he goes back to sleep until 10:30 or 11 AM. This makes it really nice for me to be able to lesson plan and prepare for my class in the mornings (school starts on Tuesday). He loves going outside to the park, reading books, and “talking” with mom and dad. And we are very much in love with him.

Stop While You're Ahead

2011-08-24T15:15:00.000-06:00

Most of the time Jackson is a pretty good sport for the camera:

Or at least he doesn't mind too much:

But sometimes you just have to stop while you are ahead:

Elevator of the Pioneers

2011-08-17T18:05:00.001-06:00

I opened the large door to the elevator and saw the metal bars that had just retracted to the side. I had never been inside an elevator this old before, and I lacked confidence that it would deliver me safely to the floor I desired. The building was completed in 1900, and from the looks of it, the elevator was as well.

Jackson and had I walked to lunch today at the old Knight Building in downtown Provo. I had been there many times before to visit a client when I worked at the law office and to eat at restaurants housed in the first floor and the basement, but I had always used the stairs. I knew the building was old, but the elevator certainly showed its age.

My fear of this elevator was not entirely unfounded. While I rarely have any worry when I step on an elevator, I had been trapped in one twice before in my life. The first time was in Las Vegas when I was ten years old. My family was touring an exhibit of old cars and got on the elevator to leave the building; another family of rather large people decided they could not wait for the next elevator and piled in, even as the buzzer sounded for exceeding the weight limit. Fortunately, we were not stuck for long as it would have been mightily uncomfortable. The second time was at a hospital in Modesto when I was twelve years old. My brothers and I were leaving after visiting my mom who was in recovery after surgery. We got in the elevator, it started to move, and then lurched to a stop. It was over an hour later when we finally made it out.

So this afternoon when the elevator stopped and the metal bars retracted and I was left facing a one-foot thick metal door with no handle, I became a little worried. Fortunately, with a little effort, the door could be pushed open, and I wheeled Jackson’s stroller over the gap in the floor to safety at Gandalpho’s Deli. An employee told me that it was the oldest elevator in Utah and that he had been stuck in there more than once, but that the maintenance crew usually gets people out of there quickly.

Oh, good, I thought. The elevator that I would need to take to leave does in fact break down often. Comforting.

In the end we made it out just fine, but I will think twice about visiting again with the stroller. The stairs in that building suit me just fine.

Better than Wheaties

2011-08-09T14:36:00.002-06:00

Jackson is definitely a night owl. He likes to party until 12:30, 1:30, or, like last night, 2:30 am. He then sleeps for 6-8 hours, wakes up to eat, and sleeps for another 2-4 hours. So while my mornings typically start after he wakes up the first time, Jackson starts most of his mornings with our walk. We get out of the house, I get some exercise in, and he, well, looks like this most of the time:

One day last week I made the mistake of heading out at 1 pm on a way-too-long walk given the heat. Jackson was sure to let me know what a mistake that was. However, when we get out of the house early enough and stick to the mostly-shaded streets, it is pretty nice. Not a bad way for us to start the day.

Happy Monday

2011-08-01T20:33:00.000-06:00

It's going to be a good week. We can feel it.

Sick Day

2011-07-27T16:17:00.001-06:00

I started feeling sick last night, and it progressed through the morning. My throat is tight, my head foggy, nose congested and becoming runny. While I can’t exactly call in sick as a mom, Jackson has been great today and has been taking extra naps too. Joey will be home in a little over an hour with dinner and he will hang out with Jackson while I nap.

In some ways, today is a perfect example of how I have been feeling lately—my problems are such nice problems to have. I don’t feel well today, but I get to stay at home with my beautiful baby boy. Jackson’s room is a mess right now because last week Joey’s mom’s friend gave us several boxes of clothes in sizes 3 months to 24 months (several things new with tags) that her grandson has outgrown. On top of the clothes friends and family have already given us and what we have bought means we don’t have enough space for them. I ordered some space saver vacuum bags that arrived today and will help, but too many clothes is a very nice problem to deal with. I don’t get as much sleep as I would like, but Jackson has started sleeping a lot more at night and has even slept through the night four times this week! 6-7 hours of sleep at a time has never felt so nice. I have great friends and family and I have felt the Lord’s help in our lives so much lately.

I want to take a minute and record this feeling because sometimes it is so easy to focus on things that are difficult that I forget how good things really are. And life really is so good right now.

2 Months Old

2011-07-15T12:11:00.002-06:00

People always comment that Jackson looks big. Some guess he is four months old. I knew he was getting big and was shocked the other day when a 0-3 month sized sleep suit didn’t fit anymore, but I didn’t realize HOW big. He is now 14 lbs. 9.5 oz. (98%tile) and 24.75 in. long (97%tile). Like I said, big. Luckily for me and for his nearly pound-a-week gaining habit, he has started going longer between feedings. He is now usually 2 ½ –3 hours during the day and 3–4 ½ hours at night. Jackson has been making progress on tummy time, lasting for longer periods of time and happier throughout the whole process. He has a small panda bear that makes music; I usually set it up for him during tummy time, and I often catch him smiling and cooing at it. He is working on sucking his thumb, but doesn’t have the fist-with-thumb-out thing down, so he sucks on his thumb with his other fingers out wandering all over his face—it is one of the cutest things I have ever seen. He loves bath time, snuggles, and kisses from mommy and daddy.

7 Weeks. . .

2011-07-06T13:16:00.001-06:00

. . . And growing like crazy. Jackson is getting stronger and can hold his head up on his own for much longer periods of time, though still needs support a lot of the time. He is smiling a lot and loves to cuddle. He makes a lot of noises and coos, especially when hanging out with both mommy and daddy. He is sleeping for longer periods of time at night, oftentimes 4.5 hours of sleep, then he eats, followed by 3 hours. So while he is still not sleeping through the night, we are very happy about this progress (and we are much more rested ourselves). As you can see, he is getting chubbier by the day, and we love it.

On Death

2011-07-05T18:39:00.002-06:00

You never think that it will happen to you. You hear of it happening to other people—their devastation, frustration, anger. You think that maybe you are too smart, too lucky, too savvy—it won’t happen to you. And then it does.

Your flash drive dies. And you lose irreplaceable information. Like all of your lesson plans from technical communication. Like the last year of your journal. And that thought you had about printing your journal on what turned out to be the day before your flash drive died? You wish that you didn’t think you should wait until you go to campus next time. You wish you did it right away.

Fortunately, as you work through your stages of grief, and after BYU computer repair tells you that the information is gone forever, you realize that google is a pretty good back-up. You are grateful that you emailed to yourself your thesis, thesis research, and sent out your coolest PowerPoints and lesson plans to other instructors. You feel fortunate that you can retrieve your tax return and old versions of your budget, which can work as a nice skeleton for your current budget. You remember that you were smart a year ago and backed up the information to that point. Why you didn’t do it again you don’t know. Yet you also realize that you have a blog and a physical journal that you have been keeping for your son—so while you do not write in either very regularly, you have several posts/entries that can help piece together what you would want to record in your journal.

As you come to accept the death, you commit to make the next flash drive live better. You will back it up monthly, and hope that the pain of this loss will act as motivation to help you avoid ever suffering this way again.

The Time Conundrum – A Call For Help

2011-06-28T20:07:00.002-06:00

As a new mother I feel like in some ways I have no time for myself – showering and eating meals during the day are snuck in during Jackson’s moments of contentment or naps when I am not trying to do the other things that need to get done without holding a baby. And yet, I have approximately four to five hours a day/night when I am nursing Jackson. That is a lot of time sitting when I have the potential to read, write, watch TV, etc. I want to start using that time more efficiently. Soon I plan to use some of that time to familiarize myself with UVU’s first year writing materials and begin making lesson plans (because I got a job for the fall teaching an evening class that meets once a week), but sometimes I am just too dang tired to read/think and need to passively watch something to keep me awake. Like at 4 AM.

So I am asking for advice. We just got Netflix, and I have access to the internet during most nursing sessions. I live five blocks away from the public library. What interesting and uplifting movies, lectures, or TV shows have you watched lately that I can find on Netflix or the internet? What books would you recommend? I tend to prefer young adult fiction or nonfiction about health, economics, or world affairs. What cool blogs do you read that you think I would find interesting? I have so many things that I could potentially do during this time, but I often squander it on facebook or a lame show. Sometimes I just want to pay attention to Jackson and think about what a beautiful little boy he is. However, I hope to make a list of interesting, educational, and uplifting things to read and watch.

The Difference Five Weeks Makes

2011-06-21T23:22:00.000-06:00

Newborn No More

2011-06-17T12:23:00.001-06:00

Today after I finish the laundry I am packing up Jackson’s newborn outfits. I probably could have done this for most of his newborn outfits last week. I can’t believe he is growing so fast! Actually, yes I can, because he eats a ton. His once skinny legs are now sporting chubby rolls that we love so much. His slim belly is getting more portly. His face gets rounder each day. I suppose the benefit of him eating so much is I have lost 80% of my pregnancy weight in 4 weeks.

Here are some pics that my mom took earlier this week.

The Delivery

2011-06-03T01:11:00.000-06:00

I will start with this—what I had in a difficult pregnancy was in part made up for in one of the easiest deliveries known to man.

We checked into the hospital at 6:30 AM. After about an hour and a half of a nurse taking my medical history and monitoring me and Jackson, Dr. Judd came by and broke my water. Contractions got serious at that point, but I only had about an hour of hard contractions before my epidural. I cannot sing the praises of an epidural enough! Mine was fantastic. I could still move my legs and shift in bed if I needed, but once the medicine kicked in I did not feel pain for the rest of the experience (until recovery, that is).

My epidural was so nice, in fact, that Joey and I took naps, watched a movie, read, and talked together while I progressed at about 1 cm an hour. The girl in the next room was also a patient of my doctor’s and we were neck and neck most of the day. Dr. Judd wanted to finish work at the office and then come deliver both of our babies back to back, and it worked out great.

A little after 6:30 PM Dr. Judd came by to check on me after having just delivered the other girl’s baby, and I was nearly ready to go. He told me that Jackson was slightly turned in the wrong direction, so he would have to use forceps (I had been told by several nurses that Dr. Judd was a master with the forceps, so I was not worried about it). He said I had two options—I could labor for 2 more hours, he could come back, use forceps, and deliver the baby, or he could use forceps and I could deliver the baby right now. I opted for right now.

After I said I wanted to deliver, the nurses took about 5 minutes to set everything up. After that they told me how to push, and within 10 minutes Jackson was born. I felt no pain during any of it. I had to have an episiotomy, which I was disappointed about, but otherwise, things went perfectly.

The best part? We got this beautiful little baby boy out of it. We love him so much.

New Arrival

2011-05-21T10:45:00.000-06:00

Jackson Charles Rich, 8 lbs. 5 oz., 21.5 inches, and perfect in every way. We sure love this little boy. I will write more about him and his delivery later, but for now I need to get some sleep.

Eviction Notice

2011-05-13T15:10:00.001-06:00

Dear Baby,

We regret to inform you that we must insist that you leave at once your current residence. Your contract for a nine months stay has expired and the space you currently occupy must be cleared so that regular eating and breathing can be re-initiated at the premises. We also demand that the actions you take to cause daily vomiting cease at once. We will be subtracting the dental bill from your security deposit.

While we insist that you make a speedy exit from the premises, we understand that such an eviction can cause difficulty, and we are willing to compensate you for your troubles. We would like to offer you a much more spacious living accommodation for the next eighteen years or so, complete with food, clothes, books, toys, and a lot of love.

Sincerely,

Mom and Dad

Three Years Later

2011-05-03T21:26:00.000-06:00

Still goin' strong.

Waddling Across the Stage

2011-05-02T22:26:00.000-06:00

I am generally not a fan of graduation ceremonies. That being said, I was genuinely surprised when I got a little teary eyed at mine last week. For both commencement and convocation I got to sit next to my cohort of English MA students—we started the program together, and while some finished early (like Marianne who had a baby 12 hours after her thesis defense in October) and others do not officially graduate until June though we are done with everything and have defended our theses (like me), we got to finish together. We were missing some friends who will not graduate, or at least not cross the stage, until August (like my SIL Sarita who will be walking with her younger sister in August), but a good number of us were there.

I looked around me in the Marriott Center and was overwhelmed how after three years in my bachelor’s and two years in my master’s, I am done with school. Other than one year between my degrees when I worked at a law firm, school has been such a huge part of my life since, well, kindergarten. I may someday go back for a PhD, but it is likely that I am done with degree-seeking higher education. I felt so blessed to have had the opportunity to study at BYU. I have had great professors, wonderful friends, and incredible job opportunities.

And while I hope to teach part time in future semesters, it is in many ways time to move on.

Last week was busy with a lot of family in town—Dad and Kaylene, Mom and Rob, Grandma Laylander, Barbara and Charles, my brother Scott (who just got back from his mission in India!)—all there for my graduation. I felt very loved. Once everyone left life was suddenly less busy—no job, no school, no baby (yet).

I have two days of work on campus this week for a project with the University Writing Office, but I am otherwise commitment free. I am transitioning to the life of a stay-at-home mom. This year has already brought big changes and many more are to come in the next few weeks.

Let’s see if my degree will help me console a crying baby.

Excuse me While I Give you an Infomercial

2011-05-02T13:11:00.000-06:00

So many big things have happened over the past months (not the least of which is my seriously BIG belly), that I have been unsure of where to start with a blog update. I decided that before I try to cover big things, I will start with the small, namely, Lemi Shine.

Our glasses and dishes had become so covered with hard water spots that it was getting embarrassing. We knew that we washed our dishes, that they had been sanitized, but they looked dirty. Not exactly what you want when you serve a guest a glass of water ("Oh, never mind that your glass looks disgusting. . . it is clean!"). Shauna blogged about Lemi Shine and what it did for her glasses with hard water spots and I had been thinking about it for weeks. When Joey mentioned how dirty our glasses looked yesterday, I decided we had waited long enough. I picked up a bottle of Lemi Shine powder at Smith's today and put it to work. It did not disappoint.

33 Weeks

2011-04-11T14:49:00.000-06:00

Thank you to those who commented on my last post. Tomorrow my final seminar paper is due and my classes are wrapping up soon. I am so looking forward to graduating and meeting my little guy!

And. . . I Passed

2011-04-06T22:27:00.002-06:00

I was nervous. Not about my thesis being good enough—my committee, and especially my thesis chair, had worked with me enough that I was confident the draft would be approved—but I was less confident about my ability to intelligently discuss the broader implications of my thesis. I was afraid of what small citation they might pick up on to ask me to discuss in more depth.

I was worried. Due to my pregnancy, I have been mostly tired these last few months, but still throwing up along with other fun symptoms of housing a tiny human. I did not study as much as I thought I should have. I studied, but I told myself I should have started earlier, should have spent more time, should have been taking notes like this all along (just like they told me in my first semester of the program).

Joey tells me I love to stress. I wouldn’t say that I love it, but I am certainly good at it.

After all the nerves, worry, and stress, it was over before I knew it. I had defended my thesis. I had discussed my reading list. I did not always have perfect answers, but most of the time, I had answers, and sometimes, really good answers.

And I passed. With distinction. But not without much prayer and support from family and friends. Especially Joey who bought me treats and massaged my shoulders on study breaks in the long evenings leading up to my defense.

Now all I have left is a book review, the final draft of a seminar paper, and a ton of grading.

In two weeks I will waddle across the stage (because let’s be honest—eight months pregnant women do not “walk”).

And then I will be a master. And soon, a mother.

Someday, but Not Today

2011-03-15T17:55:00.003-06:00

Someday I will blog regularly. Someday I will post about the funny things Joey says, or adventures we have together, or my thoughts on work/school/life, and hopefully, in not too long, about the birth of our healthy baby boy (I told him that after I graduate in April, as long as his lungs and other organs are fully developed, he is welcome to come - no need to wait until the end of May). Someday I will write about these things. But not today.

Today I need to go study for my thesis defense. Why? Because I have finished my thesis. I have printed the final draft and have begun distributing it and getting the signatures I need from my committee. That process will be finished tomorrow. In two weeks, I will have a two-hour oral examination - one hour on my thesis, the other hour on any book, article, theory, or concept I read or discussed over the last two years. Hence the need to study.

So someday I will be able to blog again, but not today.

Update

2011-02-16T00:01:00.003-07:00

Because you are dying to know, I am still throwing up. Nearly every day, at least once a day. Thankfully, though, it has not been more than twice a day for a while.

My doctor said that if I am still throwing up at this point, I should expect to be throwing up on the delivery table. Fantastic.

Why I Love Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T16:20:00.000-07:00

Heart-shaped sugar cookies, chocolate, and flowers? Yes, thank you.

I love Valentine’s Day. Even though I never had a real “valentine” to celebrate with until Joey and I were engaged, I have always loved it. Growing up, my mom would buy me chocolate and fun valentine’s socks. In my single college days, my roomates and I would go to a ward party or out to dinner together. Now, Joey and I don’t like to spend a lot of money on Valentine’s, but I fully embrace the small gifts, chocolate, and an evening out. This year, we saved a gift card to Outback Steak House my Dad and Kaylene gave us for Christmas so we could go out do a nice dinner without stretching the budget (we usually like to keep eating out to around $20).

Personally, I like to keep my religious, national, and secular holidays separate. Valentine's and Halloween fall under the secular categories.While they have vague Christian and Pagan roots, they do not pretend to be religious holidays cloaked in commercialization, or commercial holidays cloaked in religion. In American culture and in my religious tradition, these holidays are about fun and candy.

To me, Christmas and Easter have great meaning—they celebrate the birth and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I think the focus of those holidays should be Christ, family, service, and expressions of love—not Santa or the Easter Bunny. While I will teach my kids about Santa and the Easter Bunny, it will be as fun stories, not as REAL characters. In the culture we live in, I have no expectations of hiding or completely rejecting the secularized aspects of these religious holidays, but I want to make a real effort to keep the focus where it should be.

The focus of Valentines, however, is chocolate. And love. And cards.

I am fine with that.

And Then We Packed Our Bags

2011-01-30T20:10:00.004-07:00

I finished teaching Friday morning and went up the elevator to the fourth floor of the JFSB, which houses the English Department. Last Monday I turned in a draft of my thesis to my committee, and I knew there was a chance that my readers would have their comments ready on Friday, but possibly not until early next week. I knocked on their doors—early next week it would be. Suddenly, my weekend of thesis revising cleared up. I had nothing I had to do. My grading was finished, I was ahead on my reading for my other class, and I didn’t want to revise a section of my thesis that my committee would suggest to cut anyway. I knew that this weekend (work-free and childless) was a gift that would not come around again for a while. So I called Joey, and two hours later we had a weekend getaway booked.

I hopped on Priceline and named my own price for a 2 ½ start hotel in Cedar City, UT. We would stay there Friday night and then continue on to Zion National Park Saturday morning. I packed a cooler, loaded some bags with snacks and lunch supplies, and packed my personal bag. Joey got home from work a little after 4 PM, packed his bags, and we hit the road (after a necessary stop at the Sweet Tooth Fairy, of course). We felt spontaneous and free as we embarked on our “baby moon.”

Friday evening was nice—Café Rio and the indoor pool. We woke up in the morning to a surprisingly good complementary hotel breakfast, got ready for the day, and made our way south to Zion.

I am not in condition for heavy hiking, so we did a couple of the easier, smaller hikes Zion has to offer. Our first stop was the Zion Canyon Overlook trail. We had a good view of the beautiful canyon and had fun exploring the side trails. After that hike, we drove up through the park and stopped for a picnic lunch. We continued on to the top of the park (or at least the furthest that cars/busses can go) and walked the river trail. We loved the sunshine and 50 degree weather (compared to the 30s that Provo has been). It was nice to have so much time to just be together, not worrying about grocery shopping, laundry, or cleaning the apartment like we usually do on Saturdays.

We are very excited to have our baby, and I am eager to finish my thesis and graduate, but it felt so good to take advantage of this time while it is still just us.

Oh, My Brilliance

2011-01-25T11:55:00.001-07:00

I have an idea that I think can make me millions. I should invent some sort of system that predicts and forecasts the weather. It can go on major news networks, newspapers, websites—everywhere that people go to get information. It could tell them things like "it is going to snow today." People would love to have this kind of information! That way they can wear something other than canvas flats that soak up water. They would be able to walk from one location to the other without their shoes getting destroyed. It would keep them from being freezing for the rest of the day. All they would have to do is “check the weather” before they leave the house! I am brilliant.

Second Trimester Bliss

2011-01-19T23:40:00.000-07:00

I heard rumors that the second trimester of pregnancy is nice. Rumors that told me at 12, 14, or 16 weeks I would feel so much better. Well, at 16 weeks I was still throwing up 3-6 times a day. I did not feel better

But now. . . oh how I am loving the second half of the second trimester! People laugh when I say how nice it is to throw up only once a day, but I am not joking. Once a day I can handle. Feeling extra tired? I can take a nap. I am clearly showing my baby bump, so I am not feeling too self-conscious about looking simply fat.

I love being able to eat dinner and then still do something afterward. I am no longer tethered to the couch with a bowl next to me, hoping that I do not throw up. Sure, I still lose the occasional dinner, but the threat is so much nicer than the promise.

I have been to the gym more times in January than in all of October, November, and December combined. Granted that record was not hard to beat, as I believe it was a whopping 4 or 5 times. It is hard to get the motivation to work out when it is tied to the promise that I will throw up. I have been to pilates twice this week alone, and it is only Wednesday. My doctor said that I could not hurt the baby doing crunches even if I tried, so I hope to keep on with pilates until my body begs me to stop.

I hear that the third trimester brings its own “joys” of discomfort, but I will take those when they come. For now, I will revel in second trimester bliss.

Ode to Darkwing

2011-01-13T08:07:00.003-07:00

Just remembering this little guy. You can read more about him here.

The Story I Didn’t Tell Today

2011-01-09T16:23:00.000-07:00

I taught Relief Society today, like I have done on the second Sunday of every month for the past several months. It is truly my favorite calling. I taught about fasting—the reasons we fast, the blessings we and others gain, and the examples in the New Testament of the Savior fasting. There was something that I wanted to share, but didn’t. I had limited time and I opted to share and discuss the examples from the scriptures instead of my own experiences. But I still want to share this story.

In November 2009 I had a miscarriage, and Joey and I were heartbroken. I did not anticipate how deeply the miscarriage would affect me. . . how much I would cry, how little I would feel like doing, how much Joey would have to push me to finish my semester strong, how it would sting each time a sister in Relief Society announced her good news for several months to come. I was surprised at how much I needed other people. Joey to hold me and let me cry. Family members to talk on the phone either about it or about nothing at all. Women who had been through similar experiences. Friends. So many good friends. Especially Brie who would take me to Yozone and let me cry. In public. And just listen. Or talk and distract me.

What surprised me the most was the way that the prayers and fasting of others on mine and Joey’s behalf sustained me. How in the moments of my deepest despair, I would feel a light peace telling me that I would be okay. Joey and I would have children, but not yet. I would be able to feel happy for other couples, but not yet. I would feel whole again, but not yet. The Lord would be with me each step of the way, and it was okay if my first steps were small.

I cried at random times for many months. I gained weight because I felt I could not handle my grief, school, and my health at the same time. Eventually I passed my due date. We began trying again. It took longer this time. I worried. Soon, I became pregnant again. And nervous. Much more nervous than the first time. I would spot. The doctor told me I had a bleeding issue that I need not worry about. My online reading made it sound much scarier than my doctor did. I passed the one year anniversary of my miscarriage. Many tears that week, and then, relief. Peace. Comfort in looking forward to this new baby. A noticeable absence of pain when I thought about my miscarriage.

More fasts and prayers on my behalf. This pregnancy moved forward, past the week I miscarried last time. Past the first trimester. Reached the half way mark, everything looking good.

I felt the spirit confirm to me that the peace that I could feel was due in large part to those who were fasting and praying for me. The power of prayer is real. So often we may feel like we aren’t doing anything when we hear of someone else’s sickness or misfortune and say, “I will pray for you.” That is not so. It does do something. Something miraculous.

The Final Stretch

2011-01-04T13:03:00.000-07:00

Not as in stretch marks, because I am sure I will have many more of those to come before May.

As in school. Today began what I expect to be my last semester as a graduate student. Why qualify my statement with “expect,” you ask? Because I haven’t defended my thesis yet (which is to be done in the semester I graduate), and if I do not pass I will have another semester. In order to pass, I must get my eyes reading and fingers typing to finish my draft, send it to my committee for revision, then revise and resubmit, and finally revise, resubmit, and successfully defend. So I expect to graduate in April. Wish me luck and send me prayers that the baby will cooperate. Last semester he did not. The second qualification in “expect” is I have not ruled out a PhD in the future (my post-babies and toddlers future), but I have no current or immediate plans to continue my education beyond my MA.

The benefit of majoring in history and English is that my “work” is reading, writing, and thinking. Those activities do not end (or at least do not have to end) when I get my degree.

In the spirit of continuing at least reading and thinking, I have a request. Do any of you know the titles of good articles and books on child development, early childhood education, baby programs, etc.? For now I need to devote myself to twentieth century American literature, but come April I hope to do more motherhood preparation reading. I would love advice on good websites, magazines, and books.

B is For. . .

2010-12-29T00:46:00.001-07:00

Baby! I am growing a tiny human inside of me right now, so I am sorry for not having been blogging lately. This little one takes a lot out of me. . . as in 7 weeks of throwing up 3-6 times a day, even with prescription anti-nausea medicine, followed by another 4 weeks of 1-4 times a day. This past week and a half has been a LOT better, but the vomiting is not over yet.

Boy! One of the many benefits of having a sister-in-law who is an OB-GYN is having her sneak me in for an early ultrasound, which she did on Sunday. We are about 80% sure it is a boy, which we will try to confirm in two weeks at my scheduled ultrasound. Now if only we can find boy names we both love and agree on. . . ideas?

Break! Two full weeks of vacation for both me and Joey. Joey met his goals at work, as did his team, and the entire company, so he was able to take off for Christmas break at the same time my semester ended. We have been seeing friends and family in California and love it.

Blessings. All the time. We have been doing a whole lot of praying lately. One small blessing is that I thought I would be getting the first B of my college career this semester (you know, due to the 2 months I spent lying on the couch unsuccessfully trying not to puke instead of reading/writing), but I got an A- in that class instead.

Baby. Again. Because, really, he is what I think about 99% of the time.

The Picture You Didn't See

2010-12-14T08:31:00.004-07:00

Me rockin' the bump. As in baby bump. As in, Joey and I are going to have a baby at the end of May. We are excited.

Thanksgiving Walk

2010-11-28T20:35:00.007-07:00

We had a great Thanksgiving dinner with Jesse and Sarita in Murray, UT, but before we drove up for the festivities Joey and I went on a little walk in Provo Canyon. It was cold and there were patches of snow on the ground and chunks of ice in the stream, but we had a good time walking around and flirting with eachother. We like having the canyon so close to have a little place to escape to every now and then. We missed seeing more of our families over the holiday, but it was nice to be able to spend some quality time together.

Maybe someday we will have someone go with us to take pictures so that we can get pictures together that include more than just our faces. Maybe.

In CJane’s Green Room

2010-11-18T23:35:00.002-07:00

Earlier this week CJane posted about hosting Terryl Givens in her green room for a private fireside.

Well, Joey and I were there.

And we loved it.

Courtney posted on facebook that she would be holding this fireside and to let her know if we wanted to come. I wasn’t sure if this was only for people who she was friends with in “real life,” but I figured that since I have met her several times now, she knows my name, and Joey and I were pictured in a previous blog post on her Provo blog, I would give it a try. I emailed her, and she responded that she would love for us to come. She sent her address and the time, and we went.

I was incredibly excited. I have been reading CJane’s blog on a near daily basis for over two years now; I love her writing and what she does for the Provo community. Along with my excitement of being in CJane’s house, I was fascinated by the lecture and discussion led by Terryl Givens.

Dr. Givens is a professor at the University of Richmond. One of his many publications is By the Hand of Mormon, the first study of the Book of Mormon to be published by a major academic press (Oxford University Press, no less). I loved hearing about his process of writing about the Church for an academic audience, about searching through the archives for the best information he can find to sort out the truth in our records, to face questions of doubt and fight through them with scholarship and with faith. It was the most inspiring lecture I have been to this year, both academically and spiritually (I call this a lecture to distinguish it from a “talk” in strictly church settings). Joey and I had deep, interesting discussions sparked by Dr. Givens for many hours later that evening and the next day.

I feel a renewed inspiration to be an excellent scholar. I needed that right now.

So thank you, CJane, for letting us into your home.

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-31T20:25:00.002-06:00

King of the Lab

2010-10-27T12:46:00.001-06:00

On the TV show “Bones,” Dr. Jack Hodgins is the bugs and slime guy of the lab. He makes some awesome discoveries that help solve cases, and in competition to find the best information, he deems himself “King of the Lab.” At times he fights for the title with lab interns, but sometimes the competition is just with himself. It pushes him to find more and better information.

So, why am I writing about this? I started a “King of the Lab” challenge with my students today. They are beginning their big research paper and I want them to be excited about research. I want them to work for discoveries, to find seemingly impossible to find information, to get the best research they can. Each class period they will have an opportunity to let me know why they should be King of the Lab that day.

I promised prizes, so I better figure those out.

My students seemed excited about the competition—we shall see if it leads to better research, better papers, and better scholars.

Okay. I Give In.

2010-10-26T13:06:00.001-06:00

Life has been busy, and when that happens, blogging slips to the side of my to-do list. Priorities, blah, blah, blah. Part of me wanted to wait until I had a particularly cool post, but that could keep me waiting for a while. So, I will share a few highlights of late, and will plan to post some pictures in the future:

1. Abby entered the MTC in preparation to serve in the Belgium Netherlands Mission. Barbara and Charles brought her out to Provo and we had a nice visit with them before Abby left on her 18 month adventure.

2. I turned 23! Joey made me a nice steak dinner the night of, and we headed to The Cheesecake Factory the next night to celebrate. My brother Richard told me that 23 is my Michael Jordan year, so bring on the international fame and fortune!

3. No one teaching moment in particular, but teaching is going well and I like my students. Except for when they don’t read, but I think I have sufficiently scared them into reading for the rest of the semester.

4. Fall activities: haunted corn maze at Thanksgiving Point, walking with Joey through the fall leaves in Provo Canyon, and carving pumpkins with the Hedlunds. We still don’t have costumes for the ward Halloween party this weekend—any ideas?

Missing These Peope

2010-10-03T13:41:00.002-06:00

As much as I do love Provo, I hate that as a college town most of our friends move away when they finish school. They may move for bigger and better things like real jobs and graduate school, but it is sad to see them go.

You Did It!

2010-09-25T22:36:00.000-06:00

We received a $10 rewards card from GAP in the mail this week. Whenever we “earn” enough points from spending money on our GAP Visa card, we get a rewards card. However, it cracks me up that on the card it says, “You Did It!” as though spending a lot of money at GAP is worth a big congratulations. It makes me feel like we just graduated from college, had a baby, or got a big promotion at work. We did it! Yeah for us!

All week Joey and I have been congratulating each other for little things. Finished the dishes? You did it! Made the bed? You did it! Found a cool video on YouTube? You did it!

So thank you for reading this post. You did it! Congratulations!

Emergency!

2010-09-22T16:18:00.002-06:00

Preparedness, that is.

Joey and I have deemed the next month’s worth of FHEs to focus on evaluating our emergency preparedness and making goals for necessary changes or improvements. This week we took a look at our water storage. Given that we are in an apartment with not a lot of storage space, we have deemed our water storage capabilities to be one week’s worth of emergency water. At one gallon per person, per day, we have about 14 gallons of water on hand. We are good on the amount that we need/can handle storing, but we are in the process of washing out and refilling water containers that we filled ourselves two years ago.

While we have been fortunate enough to not experience any natural disasters so far, we have had to use our water storage on a few occasions. At our last complex the water was turned off two or three times over a two year period for maintenance reasons. Remember this post when Joey’s quick thinking saved the day? Other times we have used some of our water storage to wash our hair, brush our teeth and so forth until the water was turned back on.

14 gallons of water is not a lot, but it is enough to give us some peace of mind about our ability to withstand the initial stages of a natural disaster (if our apartment were left in-tact, of course).

My Favorite Thing

2010-09-20T12:28:00.002-06:00

Joey and I took off Friday afternoon for a one-night camping trip at Payson Lakes. While sitting cozy by the fire, Joey asked me, "What's your favorite thing about camping?"
I thought for a minute: "Snuggling."
"Katie, that's your favorite thing about life."

So true.

7.5 Months

2010-09-08T22:13:00.001-06:00

I am 7.5 months away from my master’s degree. There are moments when I wish that I had much longer in school so that I could take more classes and indulge my desire to learn. Then, inevitably, come the moments when I cannot wait to be done with homework and papers and realize that even when my formal education is done I still have a lifetime of learning to look forward to. Right now I have the security of graduate teaching jobs, but afterward I will have the chance at higher paying jobs—maybe even benefits. Or maybe full-time mommyhood for a while, and then a chance at jobs with benefits. Or maybe a PhD someday where I will repeat the cycle of counting down semesters while wishing I could stay and learn forever.

For now, I hope to take advantage of the opportunities that I have, while using 7.5 months and counting as motivation to push through the tough parts.

Winner!

2010-08-27T14:13:00.001-06:00

Congratulations to Amanda! Email me your address and I will send the book your way. Katierich87 at gmail dot com

Student Feedback

2010-08-23T22:37:00.002-06:00

(Note - you can still enter the book giveaway by commenting on the post below.)

I received the course evaluation report for my summer term class today. I am not sure why, but this was my favorite comment: "Just one comment: I love the music. School is stressful, and I basically dread walking into any class because I know it's gonna be hard and stressful. However, when I walked in to the music it calmed me down so much. That's all."

I had some students say some nice things about my teaching, which is probably more important in the long run, but I was happy that my pre-class music every day really helped at least one student.

I played this song and this song several times.

Giveaway: Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen

2010-08-22T21:51:00.002-06:00

Previously I mentioned that I would soon be hosting a giveaway of this book. The day has come. I finished the book a couple of weeks ago, but have not had time until now to post some thoughts.

Rhoda Janzen was raised Mennonite in a large, traditional family (complete with the lunch pails filled with Bortscht and tales of being paid for babysitting with potatoes). In her late teens/early twenties, Janzen breaks from her Mennonite faith and pursues a career in academia. Her memoir begins as she has just been left by her husband of fifteen years for his boyfriend Bob who he met on Gay.com. To make matter worse, the week that he left she is in a terrible car accident. So now at age 40, she takes a six month leave from the university and returns home to her Mennonite parents for some healing and recovery. Her memoir offers insight into her own troubled marriage and divorce (warning: the f-bomb is dropped multiple times, though usually when quoting her ex-husband), her physical and emotional recovery, and how she came to find hope and move forward. She is quick, witty, and smart. I laughed out loud several times while reading. While my like for the book may be in part because she is an English professor—the academic connection is the reason Alex gave me the book in the first place—Janzen is easy to relate with. If nothing else, her mother’s off-beat and hilarious advice is worth reading for. It was also fun to learn more about Mennonites—the appendix of the book is a primer on Mennonite history, explaining the differences between them and the Amish. Want to know the difference? Enter the blog contest, win, and read about it for yourself.

How can you enter, you ask? Do one of the following: add me to your RSS feed on the side of your own blog, follow me on google friend connect, or if you do not use gmail and do not have a blog, post a link to my blog on your facebook status. Then just post a comment with at least your name and a note to me (like, “Hey! I read your blog but I never comment! Now I want to win something, so I am going to de-lurk!). Already doing one of the requirements? Comment away. On Friday I will select a winner at random. I will ship the book anywhere in the U.S.

I hope you win.

You and Me?

2010-08-22T12:05:00.001-06:00

On our second night of camping in Yellowstone Joey gained a fan club. 6-year-old Jeremy and 3-year-old Justin pulled up a couple sites down from us with their grandpa. Justin came riding over on his little bike and said, “’Sup,” to Joey. Joey said hi, and Justin asked, “You got a dirtbike?” Joey did not, but he did have a longboard in the trunk. That was all it took for the boys to decide Joey was their new best friend. They wanted us to watch them ride their bikes up and down the hill doing various tricks like riding side-saddle. They went back to their campsite, but came back later while Joey and I were looking at the GPS on his phone trying to figure out how long it would take us to get to Pocatello, ID to visit Jon, Sabrina and Avery. Justin approached and asked what we were doing. Joey showed him the map on his phone with the position of our campsite next to Yellowstone Lake. Joey wanted to zoom in to see how close and accurate the GPS picture could get, so he said, “Let’s see how close we can get.” Justin moved his head in real close to Joey and said, “You and me?” That made my night.

Hoback

2010-08-17T11:03:00.008-06:00

We spent our first night camping near Jackson Hole, Wyoming (specifically at the Hoback Campgrounds along the Hoback River a few miles east of Hoback Junction). Our site was enclosed by shrubbery and we had a beautiful view of the small river. It was one of the most relaxing evenings I can remember. Summer Term was over, I had submitted grades already, and I had turned in a (very rough) draft of my thesis, so I did not need to worry about that for a few days.

So while Joey did this (gather driftwood for the fire):

I did this (read Eat, Pray, Love – unexpectedly relaxing and inspiring):

We were surrounded by pine tree covered mountains, wildflowers, and the sound of rushing water. When I woke up in the morning I was simply struck by the beauty around me. Apparently the way I said “It’s so beautiful!” reminded Joey of this:

So despite a little teasing, we had a great time. In the morning we packed up and drove through Grand Teton National Park on our way to Yellowstone:

Turns out we accidentally planned our trip really well and went up the weekend on free entrance to national parks, so we did not have to pay the $25 entrance fee to Grand Teton and Yellowstone.

And We're Back

2010-08-16T23:28:00.004-06:00

Back from Yellowstone where we saw some of these:

And a lot of these:

And beautiful scenery:

And where Joey let me take cheesy pictures like this:

More to come.

A Girl Can Dream. . .

2010-08-11T21:33:00.010-06:00

Dreaming of going back to these places:

Who's with me?

The Wrong Way to Eat a Reese's

2010-08-10T22:47:00.000-06:00

For FHE last night, Joey and I went to the dollar theater. As usual, we bought treats before the movie. I chose my regular Hershey’s Cookies ‘N Cream bar, while Joey veered from his usual course of Nestlé’s Flips and went for the 10-pack Reese’s Cups that were on sale. He only ate one while in the theatre, so when we got home he placed the remaining nine on the kitchen table. Though I was not trying to be sneaky, I ate one while he was apparently not paying attention. When he realized this he asked, “Did you steal one of my Reese’s?”

I said, “Steal? Well, there’s no wrong way to eat a Reese’s.”

He responded, “That’s what they used to say.”

I searched my brain trying to remember if they have a new ad campaign. “What, did they find a wrong way to eat a Reese’s?”

“Yeah, when a wife steals one.”

Recipe for a Self-Esteem Boost

2010-08-08T10:23:00.002-06:00

1. Have a family reunion (we used the Rich family reunion, though you may be able to substitute any family reunion that includes several kids under age 8).

2. Have the kids jump up and down when you walk through the door and have their parents tell you they have been waiting to play with you all day (even if they are a little more excited to see your husband, the recipe will still work).

3. Have the kids beg to play with you every minute that you are not already playing with them (set up a rule that you get to give yourselves “time-outs” of five minutes, knowing they do not have watches to determine when those five-minutes are up).

4. Have races (either to a tree, to a fence, or to a husband who can be tackled—any will work), and run with the slowest kid telling him/her that the race is to beat you. Let him/her beat you. Tell the kids how fast they are.

5. At this point, the kids may have started making up names for you (like joe-gee for Joey, even when they can all say Joey, or they may start calling you “second-daddy” and “second-mommy”). If they still call you by your real name, then the recipe can still turn out fine.

6. Watch the kids spontaneously want to share with you prizes from the piñata or any dessert that they really liked.

7. Tell their parents about the water park close to your apartments and hope that they bring them so you can play again soon.

8. Realize that even though you are tired and bug-bitten from playing on the grass, it feels pretty darn good to be so wanted.

Don’t have a family reunion coming up with which to boost your self-esteem? That’s okay. Check out this blog post by our friend Dan. I promise you will laugh, and laughter can feel pretty good too.

Universe, I Hear You

2010-08-03T11:40:00.002-06:00

The universe is sending me a message: do not research this morning.

I was in the midst of some great research when the fire alarm in the JKB went off, forcing me to vacate my office. I moved to the library, where after 10 minutes of chatting with Joey and 10 minutes of reading, an irregular, but near-constant loud vibrating began. I think it is from the remodeling of the bathroom on the floor below the one I am on.

Do I dare move again in order to research and fight the (very loud and clear) message the universe is sending me, or do I give up for now and try again this afternoon?

What Good Food and Good Books Have in Common

2010-08-01T20:40:00.001-06:00

Joey and I had a nice surprise today. A really nice, tasty surprise. We got out of church at 5:30 PM (yes, I know how ridiculously late that is) and had to do something on campus, so we got home around 6:30. We started preparations for our dinner of beef tacos; the meat was defrosting and I was cutting up a tomato when we got a knock on the door. I opened it and found our downstairs neighbor with dinner for us: Steak, homemade guacamole, Mexican rice and beans, and corn tortillas. We cut up the steak and ate the absolutely delicious steak tacos—way better than the ground-beef tacos we were about to make.

This is the first surprise dinner that has been dropped off at my door that I remember (that is, to me as an adult). Roommates or family members have made me dinner, Joey has taken me out to eat on a whim, but this is the first time a neighbor (who is not even a ward member!) has just dropped dinner off. It was nice. So nice that it makes me want to pass off the kindness to an unsuspecting neighbor sometime.

In another kindness, the other day I went out to lunch with my friend Alex. After lunch she drove me back to campus; before I got out of the car she offered me a book she had recently read and liked—Mennonite in a Little Black Dress by Rhoda Janzen. Alex is graduating in August, so I asked how long she would still be in town so I could get it back to her in time. She told me to keep the book. I have only read the first chapter, but I am liking it so far. I have decided to follow Alex’s example: when I finish the book I will host my first give-away on this blog. I like the idea of passing around good books. Directions for the give-away will follow in a future post.

Good food and good books should be shared. Lesson learned.

When Less Becomes More

2010-07-19T08:43:00.002-06:00

We do not have the internet set up at our new apartment yet. I expect this to change this week, but when Veracity at our old place was so cheap, it is hard to swallow the bill of Comcast or Qwest. Maybe we can find a friendly neighbor who will share a router and split the monthly bill. We are actually able to get limited internet access through tethering our laptops to Joey’s phone; we can stream videos and do our budget meeting, but it is somewhat inconsistent and does not seem to like gmail. We have the necessities—we both have internet access at work and we can access our email through our phones—but I have spent a lot less time browsing and reading blogs.

For the first two weeks of living in our new place we did not have cable TV set up. The complex pays for Comcast, but we needed a Comcast worker to come set up some sort of converter box with our TV, and it took them a couple weeks to come out (apparently they can “reschedule” appointments without contacting anyone—great business practice). Also, the position of the TV is different from our last apartment, so I cannot watch TV while cooking in the kitchen. I can listen to something, but TV is a lot less appealing that way.

So with less internet and less TV, I have been reading for fun a lot more. Last night alone I read Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. I finished Marilynne Robinson’s Housekeeping, which I highly recommend for its beautiful language and interesting twist in the story. I am halfway through a second reading of Eclipse—apparently watching the movie twice so far was not quite enough (don’t judge me). I read the first few chapters of Robert Cormier’s The Chocolate War, but stopped after the I don’t even know what number reference to teenage boy sexuality/masturbation/pornography. I read good portions of Dave Ramsey’s The Total Money Makeover; while the tone indicates it is targeted towards people who really struggle with the ideas of not spending more than they have, it is probably good to have the occasional “look at the man in the mirror” talk to take personal responsibility for your own financial situation. I am excited for the next book, which if I can get a hold of it will be the first book of Fablehaven.

Given that I am in the midst of thesis research/outlining and soon-to-be writing, it is nice to take a break in the evenings to read something else.

Old Spice, New Spice

2010-07-16T14:15:00.003-06:00

Just when I thought that the Old Spice commercials could not get any better, they did. The Old Spice guy started responded to questions asked him on facebook, twitter, yahoo questions and the like.

And then just when I really needed the BYU library to get a little better (after a terrible experience with an employee there), they did. Or at least BYU's commedy group Humor U did, which is good enough for me.

Moving On, Together

2010-07-09T13:38:00.002-06:00

In a recent conversation, a friend asked me a question that caught me off guard. We had been talking about her new love interest, and when that conversation started to taper off she asked how long I had been married. I said a little over two years. Then she asked, “How is that going?”

When we were in the dating stages, I would often get that kind of question: “So how are things with you and Joey?” When we were first married, people would always ask, “So how is married life?” I think that question is a lot like, “How was your mission?” Something so completely life changing and important cannot be summed up in a one word response like “good,” “great,” or “amazing.” Most people just asked because that was the biggest and most significant change in my life at that time and they wanted to be polite.

However, at some point, people stopped asking about my marriage unless it was a really close friend or family member in a conversation where real answers could be given, and where boundaries could be respected.

I thought about it for a second, and realized that moving into our second apartment together does make me think more about our marriage. When we first got married we moved into a furnished apartment, added some furniture and decorations of our own, and established a “home.” Now we have left that home, but together. We have together made decisions about paint, couches, mattresses and all the things we did not have to buy the first time. We have experienced that it is the two of us together that make our marriage, and not the place we live or the habits of going to a particular place for work or school each day and then coming back.

It feels nice to move on together.

Loving This Song Today

2010-07-09T13:23:00.002-06:00

Almost as Good as Vacation, Almost

2010-06-29T13:27:00.001-06:00

Living out of two different apartments feels a lot like living out of a hotel while on vacation. I use my travel size shampoo and conditioner bottles, my clothes for the day come out of a duffle bag, and it simply does not feel like home. Unfortunately, however, there is no room service or free continental breakfast in the morning. Also like on vacation, we are eating a disproportionate amount of fast food; we don’t want to load up our old kitchen with food and then have to move it, and our new kitchen is not set up yet. Who knew that Galdolfo’s Deli has such great chocolate chip cheesecake? I wish that I didn’t, because now I want more. And, after all, we are not really on vacation, so none of those “I can eat this because we are on vacation” excuses really work. They probably shouldn’t ever work.

Hopefully there will only be a two more days of living like this. We should be completely moved out of our old place by tomorrow night, and we hope it will not take us too long to finish setting up the new place. We definitely feel like we are upgrading, so the work will be worth it, and we have had some help from excellent friends who have made it all easier.

Now if only I can convince Joey that our new mattress will be more comfortable to sleep on than our new leather couch. . .

Sleep is for the Weak

2010-06-26T02:13:00.002-06:00

Who needs sleep when you can stay up all night painting your new apartment instead? Not me. Apparently.

Still Waiting For That Report

2010-06-23T23:18:00.001-06:00

When Joey falls asleep on his leather chair in the living room, waking him up to go to bed is next to impossible. Getting him to open his eyes takes effort, diligence, and patience, let alone convincing him to walk to the next room. If I am up late grading papers or researching, I usually start trying to get him to move an hour or so before I am ready to sleep. Sometimes though, the funny things he says make the effort all worth it.

One night I was successful in getting him to move to the bed without too much effort. Our apartment gets pretty hot in the summer, so when he got into bed the room was uncomfortably warm. We have a floor fan that we use to keep the cooler air from outside moving through the room. Joey knows I don’t love how loud the fan is, but that night I had simply not gotten around to turning it on quite yet.

Joey laid down and sleepily asked, “Is the fan on?”

I said, “No, not yet.”

He replied, “Katie, do it. I will expect a full report in the morning,” and then closed his eyes for the night.

Joey did not remember this in the morning, but once I reminded him, he asked for the report. He is still waiting.

“Nice Try, Sucka!” Or What Not to Write on Student Papers

2010-06-23T00:00:00.002-06:00

One of the greatest challenges of teaching writing is learning how best to comment on student papers. Praise should be earned, but criticism should be charitable. Comments should be forward looking to focus on what they can improve on for future papers, but students also expect to have a justification of their score on a particular paper. Research has shown that comments like “awkward” or “unclear” or “?”, if standing alone, are only frustrating for students to receive and are not helpful. However, comments like “good” or “excellent” can be just as useless if students do not know what specifically they are doing well (is it the thought that is good? Sentence structure?).

Sometimes, papers are bad. Really bad. So bad that I have to take a break after reading them to prevent myself from writing something like, “What were you thinking you idiot?” or “Hopeless.”

Other times, papers are really good, especially if read immediately following a bad paper. However, in my short experience I have found that overly praising papers, even if they are legitimately strong, can prevent sufficient revision or cause students to slack off on future papers because they forget how much effort it took to get the “excellent” paper.

From the research I have read, it is best to leave specific, forward looking comments that indicate areas that are strong and others that need to be improved. For example, “This topic sentence is strong, specific, and directs the paragraph well. I would like to see more of your topic sentences looking like this one.” With this type of comment, students see that they have the ability to succeed with what I am asking them to do. By commenting in first person, I remind them that I am an actual reader and that I recognize them as an individual. This type of commenting is not easy to do. It takes time, effort, and patience. It is so much easier to write “good” or “unclear.” I am working on this as part of my teaching pedagogy. I definitely fall back to the less helpful comments at times, but I am making goals to write more useful comments.

I would like to hear from you. What comments have you received from instructors that have been especially inspiring or harmful? If you teach, what have you done to help make your comments more useful?

Asphalt

2010-06-22T08:42:00.002-06:00

The irony of my educational path and chosen profession is that I cannot spell, and grammar and I are not exactly BFFs. In eighth grade I took the required standardized tests of California. When I received my scores I was in the 90th percentile in every area except one: spelling. I scored in the 50th percentile there, much the chagrin of my high school placement counselor as I begged for him to place me in advanced English anyway.

True story –I was the copy editor of my high school year book my junior year. When I was offered the position I thought it was a joke, and I had to seriously consider it. I think my hesitation confused the instructor as he was not aware of my spelling problem. He did know that I could be an excellent leader though, so he extended the offer with the intention that I would be groomed to become editor-in-chief the following year. The trouble with being the copy-editor is that I edit my own writing and then hand it over to the instructor to be edited rather than to another student. I wrote the article for the cross-country team (yes, our yearbook had articles, not just photo collages). I thought the article was in good shape, so I passed it off to the boss. The next day he called me over and told me how when he read the article night before he had to stop, double check something, and was then rolling on the floor laughing. I was confused—it was a nice article as far as I could tell. Apparently I had misspelled a word. I thought, okay, let’s fix it, no big deal. The word was asphalt. I spelled it ass-vault. WHAT!?! Was I serious? Unfortunately yes.

Hooked on Phonics did not work for me.

The instructor joked about making me a shirt with a donkey pole-vaulting. I was humiliated, but probably did not stop laughing for a week.

I told Joey this story on our second date. He laughed really hard, but if I had to bet, this story (and my willingness to tell it) was what kept him interested.

Our Visitor Revealed

2010-06-21T12:06:00.006-06:00

On Tuesday afternoon Joey got home from work a few minutes before I got back from school. I knocked on the door, which is unusual because normally I would just use my key and walk in. When he opened the door I was standing there with a duckling in my hand and a pleading face. He let me in.

I walk past the duck pond on my way to and from campus every day. Coming home on Tuesday I encountered a lone duckling who could not walk more than two steps without falling down. Small spots on his back were bare, signifying he had been picked on. My heart broke. I wanted to help heal this hurt little guy, so I picked him up and took him home to Joey who has raised chickens and ducks. We called over our friends Jeff and Brie to see our little friend. Jeff helped Joey create a short-term home for the duck while Brie and I watched the little guy fluff all his feathers after a swim in the tub. Jeff and Brie duck-sat while we went out to get duck feed.

The first night our little guy could barely stand up to eat. He would let us hold him and snuggle him a little, but he barely made a peep. After holding him up to eat several times and resting for the night, he was already stronger the next day. By the second evening, he could stand on his own to eat. Thursday afternoon, he could walk stronger and eat on his own, though I am now convinced that one of his legs is permanently gimpy. The longer he was with us and the stronger he got, the more ornery he became. He is definitely a wild duck, which is good. We could not keep him, we just wanted to help him.

Thursday afternoon before we left on our trip to California, we took him back to the duck pond. He is stronger, though I am still concerned about his future because his walking is really weak and his wings have not really developed yet. Hopefully in a few months I will see a bigger, stronger, though still somewhat gimpy duck so I can know that he was successful.

Teaser

2010-06-19T00:19:00.002-06:00

Our exciting visitor has left (or rather, has been delivered to a better and more permanent home). Details (and pictures) will follow shortly. Hint: he has feathers, a beak, and says quack (or really mostly squeaks).

(here is another set of parenthesis just for good measure)

First Day of Class Jitters

2010-06-17T10:11:00.003-06:00

The first day of teaching each semester I get the jitters. I stress over what to wear. I somehow need to use the bathroom about 5X more than normal. Even if I am hungry, I do not want to eat. My sweat glands start to overact (to the extent that on the first day of teaching last fall I considered buying a new shirt at the BYU Bookstore if my pits didn’t dry out quickly enough before class started). I tell myself that I should not be so nervous—after all, I give out the grades. But inevitably, I am nervous.

In our teacher training last August, we were advised to NOT show up early on the first day of class. Walk in no sooner than one minute before the bell rings—maybe even come in a minute or two late—to avoid the potentially awkward student-teacher stare down. I tried that fall semester. I walked in very shortly before the bell rang, and because I did not have sufficient time to set up, my anxiety outweighed the potential awkwardness of being in the same room as my students without having been introduced.

Winter semester, I changed my plan. I came in 10 minutes early. I set up all of my stuff, I played music from my laptop, I prepared everything I needed to have projected on the screen, and I wrote their first writing prompt on the board. When class started, the students knew that I was prepared and had it together. It was clear that I was their instructor and not just a fumbling student coming in almost late (though I am sure I felt more fumbling than I actually looked last fall).

I start teaching a new section of English 150 on Monday. While I am sure I will still get the jitters, you better believe I will be playing my favorite songs before class starts.

What Stories Would You Like to Hear?

2010-06-16T15:15:00.002-06:00

When I was in high school I would get home in the late afternoon, go into to the kitchen where my step-mom Kaylene was preparing dinner, and start the stories of my day with an exasperated “Okay.” No need to say hello – it was story time. Now I view this blog as a space to tell the stories of my life to the people I do not have the luxury of meeting up with in my kitchen everyday. I give updates on me and Joey, my thoughts on school, work, and whatever else strikes my interest. I would like to blog more often, but oftentimes I do not because I am not sure what to write about. So this is my call to my lovely readers – friends, family, and bloghoppers alike. What would you like to hear about? Teaching, school, marriage, my faith, books I am reading, life in Provo, future goals? Something else? Let me know by commenting on this post.

PS – for the news on our exciting visitor, you will have to be patient for at least a few days. I know, I know. . . the anticipation is killing you.

News of an Exciting Visitor

2010-06-15T23:25:00.003-06:00

We have an exciting visitor right now. I cannot reveal the details until a certain situation is resolved. However, be ready for an excellent story to come.

On Twilight

2010-06-14T09:53:00.003-06:00

There is a lot of Twilight bashing that goes around in my program—something about grammar problems, low literary quality, bad role models for teenage girls and things like that. I don’t know if I can even count how many times I have heard professors or fellow students begin a Twilight bashing session both in class and in casual conversations outside of class. No, that was not a joke about my terrible math skills. My thoughts on this are twofold: first, if you don’t like it, don’t waste your breath discussing something that you think is so beneath you (the conversations tend to be highly biased and hardly scholarly); second, I understand all of the arguments against it, but I like it anyway. I am not about to put up a poster of Robert Pattinson on my closet door, but I have read all of the books at least once and I will see all of the movies.

It was while reading Twilight that I decided to get my Master’s in English. Okay, stop laughing now, because I am serious.

I was pre-law during my undergrad until the semester before I graduated; I did an internship at a law firm in Washington, DC and decided that law was not the right path for me. Then I graduated, got married, and began working as a secretary at a law firm to pay the bills and decide what I wanted to do with my education. I felt a confirmation that law was not the right avenue for me, but I was lost about what to do. I had been praying about it a lot, talking to Joey and other friends and family, but I was not sure. I thought maybe a MA in history and teaching. Then I read Twilight.

Most of the girls I worked with at the firm were really into Twilight and they convinced me to give it a try. I never had time to read it before I graduated and had resisted because I was never really into fantasy novels. I gave in, and loved it. I read the first three books in July 2008, then the final book when it came out that August. It was while reading Twilight that I remembered how much I loved reading for fun. I felt strongly to look into programs focused on literature and writing, and found the BYU English MA program. I feel like this program has been an excellent decision. I love what I study, and I love teaching. I am excited to begin my third semester of teaching next Monday.

I have no intentions of studying Twilight as a literary scholar, but I still twinge a little when my peers decide to go on an anti-Twilight rampage.

Saving Birds While Cleaning my Dishes

2010-06-09T14:19:00.002-06:00

Given my location, limited knowledge, and very few financial resources, I do not know how to help clean up the BP oil spill. However, right after the oil spill crisis began, Joey and I had to buy liquid dish soap at the grocery store. Rather than buy the cheapest generic brand that we usually purchase, we went with the more expensive Dawn soap. For each bottle of Dawn purchased, they donate $1 to help save wildlife hurt by oil spills. Not only did we feel good about our small effort to help in this huge cause, but we found that Dawn was far superior to any other dish soap we had previously tried. It gets our dishes cleaner, has lasted longer, feels better on my skin, and is working towards saving animals.

Selling our Apartment Contract

2010-06-06T17:32:00.001-06:00

We are moving!. That is, if we can sell our current apartment contact, so we would like your help! If you know of a young couple looking for a fully-furnished, one-bedroom apartment just a few blocks south of BYU campus, please send them our way. The apartment is available July 1 or sooner with 7 days notice. Look here for some pictures of our place. Note to local friends and family: we are moving to a place less than a mile away from where we live now, so we will still be close :)

Sick Joke

2010-05-24T08:40:00.001-06:00

It was snow-raining on my way to school today. It wasn't quite full snow, but definitely not only rain. Slush coming from the sky. On May 24. And now I am in class with the bottom half of my pants wet and cold. This is ridiculous.

PUSH

2010-05-19T15:10:00.000-06:00

In high school, I took a class at the Modesto Fitness and Racquet Club called PUSH. Other gyms had similar versions sometimes called Body Pump. It was a low-weight, high-repetition training class that offers a full-body workout and some cardio. I loved it. I loved how much body fat I lost (though very little weight) while taking the class, and more than anything, I loved my instructor Danielle. She was so sweet, funny and motivating. She had some awesome motivational phrases that she would yell out at tough parts of the workout:

“Remember that extra piece of chocolate cake you ate this weekend? Your thighs do.”

“It is good if it hurts—it’s not supposed to feel good. Chocolate feels good and that’s what got you here in the first place.”

I am channeling Danielle for my gym session today. Unfortunately, the free BYU gym does not offer any free classes, so I will have to be yelling at myself. In my head, that is, because I don’t need everyone thinking I am crazy.

We Love Summer

2010-05-10T23:47:00.013-06:00

Spring/Summer terms are off to a nice start with three weekends in a row of vacation. First, it was Disneyland with Joey’s family. We had a lot of fun and I really got to feel like “Aunt Katie.” Then it was a one night get-away to Park City, UT for our two-year anniversary. This past weekend was a last-minute camping trip with our friends Amber and Travis to Antelope Canyon, AZ.

We technically camped in Utah on Bureau of Land Management open land (ie – no bathrooms, no camp rangers, not even any rocks or trees in the Utah desert). We had a fun time going through the amazing canyon, dipping our toes in Lake Powell and making tin-foil dinners at night. Our campfire was visited by about 15 curious cows who roam the open land—it was a little scary because some of them were so big, but they were probably more scared of us than we were of them.

Our location for the first night of camping:

Horseshoe Bend on the Colorado River:

Lake Powell:

Camping our second night:

Some of our friendly visitors:

Antelope Canyon, AZ:

Peru: One Year Later

2010-05-07T15:42:00.002-06:00

Last year at this time Joey and I spent a month in Peru doing a micro-credit internship with Eagle Condor Humanitarian. Of all the clients we visited, I think of this woman most often. She lived in a mud-brick house with dirt floors and a stick roof. She ran a small store out of her house, but because she had to watch her grandchildren all day she had little time for the store. She only made a few cents a day selling candy and other small items. Her main source of income was the straw hats she would weave, but again because of her time constraints she could only make about one per week.

I love the pictures that Joey took on this visit. They remind me of this strong, resilient woman who worked hard for her family. I think back on her two-year-old granddaughter who was glued to her side during our visit. I looked in the beautiful, dark brown eyes of this little girl and wished so badly that she would have opportunities for education. While to some people this may sound like cultural superiority—that I think my lifestyle is better than theirs—but that is not the case. I was constantly humbled by the people we met and how faithful, kind, and hardworking they were. I was constantly reminded at how much I have to learn from them. However, I hope that this little girl will not be crippled by poverty so that she can make choices for her life.

I also hope that I can remember that even when I feel my opportunities are limited or when I feel like I do not have enough money or “things,” that I am incredibly blessed and can do so much more for others than I typically do.

“You’ll love Albuquerque”

2010-05-05T15:21:00.000-06:00

In February I went to the Southwest/Texas American Culture and Popular Culture Association literary conference. It was my first time traveling completely alone—I have done plenty of traveling in my life, but never before when I neither had anyone going with me or greeting me at my destination. According to the conference program, there was another BYU professor there, but I did not know him. I felt alone, but also excited for this step in my professionalization as a scholar (or at least a scholar in training).

My first night there I ordered a pizza to-go from a small Italian restaurant across from The Hotel Blue where I was staying. While I waited for my order I talked a little with the waitress. She was somewhat spacey, always forgetting what she was in the process of doing, but very friendly. She hummed as she walked and called me terms of endearment like “honey.” She had spent her entire life in Albuquerque and told me I would love it there. I didn’t, but I liked her.

The conference spanned three days and was filled with one hour and fifteen minute long panels with different topics relating to literature, teaching, and popular culture. I presented on a panel for historical fiction. My topic was how Jana Richman’s novel The Last Cowgirl works as a literary protest against the US Government for the chemical weapons stockpiling, testing, and incineration done in Tooele County, Utah since the 1940s. My audience was small, and the presentation went well, except for the part in the question and answer period where a man on the panel declared that the three of us presenting were collectively calling for a socialist revolution. I was not, in fact, calling for any revolution at all. He was sure that there were government microphones picking up what we were discussing. Call me ignorant, but I don’t think so.

One of my favorite parts of the conference is when I met a female graduate student from Canada and went out to lunch between sessions. We talked Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which she was presenting on), Twilight (which she was researching and writing on), Stephenie Meyer, BYU, Mormonism, dating/marriage (she was engaged), Canada, families, the conference, and a number of other things. We were from different countries, had different academic interests had different lifestyles, but I loved how much common ground we were able to find.

While I really enjoyed the conference, the people that I met, and ideas for teaching I picked up, I was glad to come home. I found downtown Albuquerque to be a little scary in the evenings. My hotel was only 4 blocks away from the conference hotel, but I have never been more afraid for my safety than when I made that walk back to my hotel one evening. It was nice arrive at the SLC airport to have Joey pick me up for our Valentines date.

While I do not think I would move to Albuquerque, it was a great first conference. Who knows? Maybe if I go back and get to see more than just downtown I really will love Albuquerque. Maybe.