End of the Semester Papers, Presentation and Finals!

Well Bekah has been so busy so I thought I would provide a blog update!

In 10 days we will be halfway done with our Masters Programs! This is so exciting! Until then we will be busy at work finishing (and starting) papers, presentations, and finally studying for Final Exams. Bekah has the bulk of her work this week, and since her program doesn't believe in tests/finals she will be free of school after Thursday. She is then planning on relaxing, going to Barnes and Noble to start her summer book reading collection, and is also going to run a 5K on Saturday. Not to mention that this bekahs birthday is on Wednesday so we will be doing some major partying (on Thursday once she is done with school)!

I am so proud of her hard work this school year, she has learned a lot in school and has also really enjoyed her first practicum. She has been a real trooper commuting down to Indianapolis 2 days a week (sometimes in really bad Indiana weather). For her practicum she worked at Tippacanoe County Council on Aging. This organization runs the Local Senior Center, Meals on Wheels Program, and SHARP (Senior Housing Assistance Repair Program). She has been heavily involved in modernizing the SHARP program and has made a big difference in the program. All the staff and seniors at the center really love her and will miss her.

I will be done with classes on Thursday. For one of my classes instead of a Final we had a big presentation which was this last week so that class is done! Now I have one final paper to do this week, and then it is on to studying for Finals! I have 3 next week. One on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, with an additional presentation on Tuesday for my 5th class this semester. I will then need to enter all of my students grades in and call it quits for the semester. Yay!

We are looking forward to a break from school, a change of scenery, and hopefully seeing each other more.

It will all be worth it in the end.

I promise we're still alive; we're just really ridiculously busy. I just keep telling myself that it will all be worth it in the end because as of late I'm beginning to wonder what I was thinking!! I'm barely keeping my head above water at this point and Chad is taking 18 credits this mod, so he's just as busy. What that really means is that we say goodbye to each other on Sunday night and don't really see each other until Thursday. Don't get me wrong, we love school. We both feel very blessed to have been afforded this opportunity. If we had to go back, we'd choose to do it all over again in a heartbeat. But this is probably the hardest thing we've ever done.



It will all be worth it in the end...



At least it will all be worth it when we're sailing toward the Caribbean on the Carnival Destiny, catching up on leisurely reading, and sipping fruity drinks (sin alcohol, of course) on the beaches of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands.



Oh how May 9th can't come soon enough.

Chad's Birthday

Chad turned 25 last Saturday. Here's the handsome birthday boy donning his smashing new blazer, compliments of his loving wife. (I did good didn't I!?!)

Blowing out the candles (with Mokie)

Happy Birthday, babe!

Valentine's in Nauvoo

For Valentine's weekend we went to Nauvoo, which is probably one of my most favorite places. Chad had never been before so it was fun showing him around! Here's what we did:

Stayed at a cute little B & B

Took a freezing cold Conestoga wagon ride...

Did a session at the temple

Got our brick at the Brick Yard

Visited the Smith Family Cemetery (resting places of Joseph, Hyrum, Emma, Joseph Sr., and Lucy Mack)

Stood at the part of the Mississippi where the pioneers crossed

Made our own rope at the Family Living Center

Shared a delicious dinner (and dessert) at The Mercantile

Visited Carthage (Joseph fell to his death out of the top right window after being shot)

That was our trip! We had such a good time and enjoyed the much needed break from our busy schedules. If anyone wants to come visit, we're only 5 hours away and we'd love to go back! =)

We're Baaa-aack! (But not for long)

Well, it's been a solid month since I've posted anything on this blog and I was recently reminded that I hadn't posted pictures from our Christmas in Florida. Without further ado, or obnoxious captions, here is our trip to Florida with my sister and her family over our Christmas break. It was beautiful, warm, and just the kind of relaxing vacation we needed (the company was pretty fun, too):

Greg

Greg and Alexa

Greg, Mike, and Zach

Greg, Jim, Zach, Alexa, and Mike

Chad and Bekah

Chad

Bekah

Zach

Shamu

Alexa, Mike, and Greg

Bekah, Jen, Zach, and Jim

Dolphin

The crew with the stingrays

Greg, Bekah, and Chad

Mike, Alexa, and Greg

Alexa, Bekah, and Jen

NASA

Zach

Mike, Chad, and Greg

Greg

Mike


The cats

There ya have it! Hope you enjoyed the montage. You can check out our smugmug address if you'd like to see all 200-something pictures.

Now that I've posted this, don't be surprised if we fall off the face of the planet. We both started yet another semester of graduate school, and while this one should be slightly less work for Chad, my workload has somehow tripled. In addition, American Idol season 8 started on Tuesday which pretty much tops the priority cake. So, don't say I didn't warn you. =)

Trying out the New Camera

I think I'm in love with my new toy =) I'll love it even more once I figure out how to use it!

Action shot!

So sorry...

For the absence lately.


Here's what we've been up to: (By the way, this post somehow turned into a novel, and a pretty boring one at that. My apologies. Feel free to skip to the pictures, which I know is the only reason you people read blogs.)

• We spent 5 days in Michigan for Thanksgiving with my sister, her husband, and their four cute kids. It was delightful. We ate to our heart's content, played the Wii with the children, solved world problems (kidding, of course), and worked on homework.
• We ate our very first brined turkey. It was delish. I will never be able to cook a regular turkey again.
• I spent most of the week sick. Go figure.
• After we came home, we resumed our busy schedules.
• I wrote 5 papers, a total of 50 pages, between Saturday night and Wednesday night. I am a machine, folks.
• Chad spent practically the entire week on campus. (Blasted Quant II and Finance)
• I made chocolate chip cookies on Sunday night. (Mom, everytime I make these cookies people go crazy over them. It's hilarious. I mean, who'd have thought that people would go crazy over something that I bake.)
• I finished my first semester of grad school. (That probably should have been first...It's pretty exciting.)
• Chad continues to work his tail off at school. 2 more weeks!!
  

Here are my plans for the next few weeks while Chad will be studying like a fiend.

• We just purchased a new SLR camera for Christmas. With the help of our friend, we found an incredible deal and couldn't pass it up. For those of you who do camera stuff, it's the Canon Rebel XTi. It's big. There's lots of buttons. And I feel like a pro when I'm snapping pictures, when it's on the "Auto" mode, of course. =) I'm going to try and teach myself how to use this thing...obviously not within the next two weeks, but maybe within the next two years. Any tips would be helpful!
• I am going to read, read, read. I really miss reading for fun while I'm in school. I usually have to read something for fun a few minutes a day or else I go crazy, but while I'm in school I don't get this opportunity very often. So, I will be finishing the Chronicles of Narnia. I'm almost finished with the first book, The Magicians Nephew, and will be moving on to The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe tomorrow.
• I am going to decorate for Christmas. We're not getting a tree this year because we are leaving the 19th of December to go to Florida for a week, so really there's not much of a point. So, in order to make our place feel like Christmas I am going to bring out the decor and maybe string some lights in our place.
• Practice the piano. I'm playing for our church choir and it just so happens that the two songs the choir director picked are for virtuoso pianists (Ok, maybe they're not that hard, but for an out-of-practice pianist, pieces with 3 and 4 flats and 4 sharps are just not easy). Of which, I am not.
• That's all. Seriously. For two weeks this is all I want to do, and I think I've earned it.
  
  Here are the pics. Sorry there are none of Chad and I. I'll work on that. (These are pre-new camera)

The Porcaro kids at the talent show with my brother-in-law's family.

Zach-a-roo bein' cute.

I left the room for like 5 minutes to go to the bathroom. Before I left, the children were playing ping-pong while the adults were watching (Jim, Jen, and Chad). When I came back from the bathroom, the kids were gone and the adults were having a who-can-bounce-the-ball-on-the-paddle-the-longest contest. Awesome. Oh, and Jen totally won, by the way. Look at that form!

The cute turkey name cards that the kids made for our place settings.

The beautiful table!

Happy late Thanksgiving everyone!