The New York Post

Last weekend Justin and I went to New York and I have to say it did not start off in a good way. I worked half the day at my internship and the plan was for me to pick up Justin afterward. Well, of course out of all of my half days, this was the first that I had to stay late to finish some paperwork and besides that, it was frustrating because of some issues with one of the employees there. So, I got off to a late start and I hadn't finished packing, so I rushed back to my aunt and uncle's house to get the rest of my stuff and then to pick up Justin and of course on my way to get Justin I had to hit the most terrible traffic I have encountered since being here. I became so agitated in trying to drive that I started talking to myself, actually it was more like yelling. I became so agitated that I became very annoyed with the bus in front of me who left their blinker on for like three miles... it was driving me insane, a blinker! I am usually a pretty calm driver, but as I said before, the morning already started off bad, and now I was running late.

I finally got to Justin's house and we started off. Justin soon realized that it probably would have been better for him to have met me at his parent's house because now we had to back track and of course traffic would be bad. Luckily it wasn't as bad as it was on the way to get him, but I told him I blamed him for my bad mood...he should know better, he lives here! As we left the city and all it's chaos and started off into the serene scene of Pennsylvania's wilderness and all it's beauty, my mood became more calmed. It also helped that I got some food in me. A hungry Kara is NOT a happy Kara...I think Matthew can attest to that!

I had printed out some directions from "Google Maps" and briefly glanced over them before leaving and noticed that we would be going over the Washington Bridge, but once I met up with Justin he informed me that he had a GPS that would show us the way. Well, the GPS sent us through the Lincoln Tunnel instead of over the bridge and for anyone who doesn't know (like me) The Lincoln Tunnel puts you right into New York City...precisely where everyone told me not to drive through!! Actually the worst part about the traffic was before we got through the tunnel, not when we were in the city and I have to say that I was glad that we had that experience. It was a fun introduction to the city...it pushed our travel back by at least an hour, but created an adventure! We were able to see and experience some of the novelties of this unique city, such as:

1) A man wearing headphones, dancing in between the two lanes of cars, tapping on windows for money for his "entertainment."

2) Loads of people at a cross walk, herding their way across the streets (for those of you in Salt Lake...it's like downtown SLC during General Conference weekend...but in my limited experience, New York is always like that...at least in the downtown area)

3) I cut off a cab! (I didn't do it completely on purpose, but I learned quickly that it you want to get anywhere, you have to step on your gas and just do it...which for me is scary in narrow streets and in the dark, but I made Justin proud...and he says that I'm not aggressive enough)

We finally got to my friend Daniela's place around midnight and crashed pretty fast. We planned to make it to the train by no later than 11:30 am the next morning, but some confusion with the departure time of the train led us to miss it and we had to wait for the 12:30 train. I was kind of bummed about loosing time I could have spent in the city, but I was comforted with a great big piece of pizza! It was from Daniela's favorite pizza place in Long Island called "Mama's" and it was delicious!

We took the train to Penn Station and when we rose from the station beneath the city we were greeted by the hustle and bustle of New York. Our first mission was to find Justin a belt. First we stopped into one of the many small clothing stores that are jammed together, and I was surprised at how decent the prices were, but the same decency of price was not shown in the belt selection...so off to the 3 story Kmart we went. I haven't been inside a Kmart for years. After Justin was secured by his belt, we made our way to the Empire State Building.

We went up to the 86th floor observatory. If it didn't cost so much it would have been nice to go to the 102nd floor, but it was still a beautiful site. It is a different beauty than other things I have experienced and the photos I have taken do not give it justice. It was also a hazy day, so that nice crystal clear shot didn't happen, especially since I don't have one of those fancy cameras and I am not great with lighting and such. That is one thing that I would like to learn more about. I love photos and would love to gain a talent in taking beautiful pictures. My sister-in-law Heather has been taking amazing pictures. She has taken on a photo a day challenge for the year and each picture amazes me more than the last.

Anyway, back to my description of New York. As I was saying, it is a very unique beauty. It is amazing to me to see so many buildings, so close together. It really was extraordinary. I also bought my New York magnet at the gift store. Matthew and I collect magnets from each place we have visited. We don't have many yet, but after our trip this summer we will have at least twice as many as we have now. It is a good magnet too and surprisingly the price was not any more than what I have paid for our other magnets. My cousin, Justin also picked up a gift for his girlfriend, Erin..."Gorilla Poop." I wish I would have taken a picture of it; really it is just sunflower seeds dipped in chocolate. This container of chocolate covered sunflower seeds just happened to be pink, purple and black. If you knew Justin and Erin, you would know that it was the perfect gift; fun loving and well, just plain funny!

After the Empire State Building, Justin and I took my first adventure on the subway system in New York City! At first it was confusing, but with help of the kind people of New York City and a few subway maps, we were able to find our way to Central Park. We were planning to meet Daniela at the park because she had other plans earlier in the day and luckily when we called her she wasn't too far behind us, so Justin and I took the opportunity to take a short nap on a blanket in the grass. So I can now say I have taken a nap in Central Park. When Daniela met up with us, we wandered around the park and did one of my favorite things to do...people watch! And what better place to people watch than Central Park?! We ran into a big group of people dancing, on roller blades to hip moving music. At first I couldn't believe it. This group of people actually sectioned off a part of the walkway in Central Park to "roller-dance." It was awesome. We also walked by three or four musicians that were singing and/or playing the guitar. One musician was even playing an accordion.

Upon further exploration we ran into a break dancing group that a group of people were watching. We got there just in time to see one of the performers do an aerial stunt over 5 people and lucky me I got it on video! We continued walking and came upon one of the spots were they filmed the movie "Enchanted." I love that movie. If you ask Matthew and his parents, they will tell you that I have a dress that helps me feel in character and break out in song! After wandering around for a bit, Justin and I started to feel the pains of hunger. Justin really wanted a shish-ka-bob, but none of the stands in the park had any, so after much exploration we found a little food stand by a pond and had perogies (a Polish type ravioli of sorts...usually filled with potato) and chicken strips. I was skeptical about the quality of food for the price we paid, but figured it would be that way no matter where we ate at a food stand in New York...and then we got our food...it was actually high quality for a food stand. Needless to say I was impressed and filled!

After Central Park we got back onto the subway to head over to Time Square. When we arrived I began to realize why people came. If there were just the buildings with the huge advertisements I would have been impressed for like 3 seconds and said, what's the big deal, you can do this anywhere, but then I realized that the amazing thing about Time Square is the people. I don't think that there is any other place on earth with as many interesting people in that amount of space. It creates this indescribable atmosphere that is somewhat intoxicating. Everywhere you turn there is something else to look at. Women with gorilla puppets, men dressed up like the joker, people selling food, others playing music, swarms of people rushing to shop, or to a show or to eat or to dance, people hailing taxis, others trying to get you to donate to the homeless or buy a purse or a scarf or a hat, cars crammed together with pedestrians playing a live game of frogger, a man with a snake wrapped around him asking if you want to pay for a picture of you with it around your neck, lights flashing and advertising this Broadway show or that, the smell of roasted peanuts and pretzels and popcorn and meat. The only other thing that I have to compare to it is a State Fair.

While in Time Square we went to the Toys R Us store and rode the ferris wheel inside, then we saw some children with Hershey Factory worker hats on their heads and decided that we wanted to become workers too. We went to M&M World, where I spent way too much money on a bag of M&M's, but on the upside I got to try the new pretzel M&M's...pretty good. After M&M World we went to the Hershey Store and became workers, then we decided food would be a great idea, but upon walking a little further Justin and I realized that our feet wouldn't last. So, Daniela and I got some Honey Roasted Peanuts and Justin got his shish-ka-bob and we started walking back to Penn Station. By the time we got there I truly thought my feet would fall off. We found out that we had about a 30 minute wait until our train came, so Daniela dragged us across the station to an area where we could sit and rest our weary feet. And oh what a blessed rest it was! On the train ride home Justin slumped down in exhaustion and Daniela and I talked. When we got back to Long Island we stopped off for some ice cream. We were going to go somewhere for dinner because Daniela was starving, but because we got back late, nothing was really open, as it was, we got to the ice cream store 5 minutes before they closed and we got crusty looks, so we decided not to take our chances anywhere else and just went back to Daniela's place. She ate some spaghetti and we swapped some photos with one another. Then Justin and I fell asleep while watching an old episode of House.

The next morning we slept in and then said goodbye to Daniela. We took a different route home than we did coming into New York. This time we did cross the Washington Bridge and it was a beautiful drive. All in all it was a good trip, a little to fast for me, but it was nice to get a little glimpse a such a diverse place.

Explorations

So the past 2 weeks I have been exploring the city of Pittsburgh and I have to say that it is a beautiful place!

Last weekend I decided that I would take a tour with a company called Just Ducky Tours. It is the only land and water tour in Pittsburgh. They use old military vehicles that were made to drive on the land and in the water. It was pretty cool and really interesting, plus I was given the opportunity to "drive", really it was more like steer, the boat while on the Ohio River! I soon discovered that even if I just spent my 10 weekends in Pittsburgh, I probably still wouldn't be able to see and do all that there is possible to see and do here, but I suppose you could say that about many big cities. It has helped me to appreciate Salt Lake and one of my goals when I get back is to do more to take advantage of all it has to offer.

After my explorations of the city were complete, I returned to my aunt and uncle's house and my aunt Kristi said that there was a sale at the mall that we had to get to. She said that she wanted to get me some clothes for my upcoming birthday, so off to Macy's we went. We picked out some cute clothes to try on and were off to the dressing rooms. Surprisingly a few pair of the pants that I first picked out fit me very well, which doesn't happen often. I was trying to determine which pair to get, when my aunt said that we were getting all of it. I wasn't sure about it because it was a lot of clothes, and Macy's isn't the cheapest of places, but my aunt insisted saying it was on sale. I was afraid to see the total, but was very surprised to see that it was under $50, later I found out that it was indeed a REALLY good sale. A flood of gratitude swept over me on the drive home. I think it was partially because I have been pretty bummed out about Matthew not getting a Seminary job and worrying about our future and, as always, having the money needed for all that we want to accomplish, but in my heart I knew in that moment that this was a blessing from the Lord.

So, my CI has been asking me questions about the church because she is reading a book for her book club about a woman who has left the church. It has been interesting to me while being here to be around so many people who really don't know much, if anything at all about the church. I have tried to approach it based on the basic beliefs and teachings of the church, but that is hard, because of this book she is reading. The book brings up things that I hold as sacred, but in my mind it tries to twist or exaggerate the truth or even, as far as I know, lie about my beliefs and practices. Luckily, my CI approaches it in a healthy way that makes me feel that she really just wants to understand and learn more about the church. I only hope that I can be a good example and follow the Lord's promptings, so that a good impact is left and maybe a tiny seed planted.

Friday I was determined to work hard and get things done so that I could spend my birthday on Saturday doing only things that included having fun and not thinking about school. With this strong determination I was able to accomplish my goal of reading and making tables for all of the articles I have found for my doctoral project. There is still a lot to be done, but I am happy with the progress I am making. After finishing that up, I took a break and watched a movie. After that I pulled out the book I have been typing for a gentleman in my branch and planned on working on it until my cousin Justin came to pick me up for an evening of dancing. When 9:30pm rolled around and Justin had not come over, I went to my phone and discovered that he had left a message saying that he would not be able to come over until 10:30pm, so I went back to the book for a little bit, whereupon I discovered that I was overcome with much sleepiness and so, alas I backed out of what I am sure would have been a spicy night of salsa dancing to sleep. I know it sounds a bit lame, but if only you could understand the many sleepless nights I have had since being here, you would have done the same, and besides, Saturday was to be filled with fun!

And so it was! For my birthday on Saturday, my aunt Kristi and I had a fun day planned. I found out from one of the therapists at my internship that Pittsburgh was going to try and break the world record for the number of canoes and kayaks connected by hands in a free-floating flotilla on a river for 30 seconds on my birthday and I decided that what could be better than trying to break a world record on your birthday! So Kristi, Justin and I set out to the Point, which is the point were the three rivers surrounding Pittsburgh (Allegheny, Ohio and Monongahela) meet. It was a fun adventure and at least in numbers, the people of Pittsburgh definitely broke the record, but the results of whether or not it was truly broken won't be announced by Guinness World Records for a few months. After attempting to break the world record, it began to pour down rain and even with rain coats on we were soaked to the bone. We decided that it would be best to go back to the house and change clothes and then go and get something to eat.

After changing, Kristi, Justin and his girlfriend Erin, and I all went out for some pizza at a pizza place in Oakmont called Veltre's Pizza. It was really good; we ordered a Mediterranean Chicken Pizza and a Fresh tomato, pepperoni and sausage pizza. After linner (yes I called it that) we went back to the house and watched the new "Alice in Wonderland" with Johnny Depp and Anne Hathaway. It was a good movie, even though it was not what I was expecting. The only other version of the movie I have seen is the cartoon one. I know it is based off of a book, but I am not sure how closely it follows it. I suppose that is a book that will go on my reading list!

After the movie and cake and ice cream, we (Justin, Erin, Aunt Kristi, Uncle Leeland and I) went to the Three Rivers Art Festival to see/hear the band Guster play. I liked the music, they have a cool sound, although I have to say that I was disappointed that they went half way through the concert without one hint profanity and then, only after I decided that I liked them, did they swear. Needless to say I did not buy their album. I may add a few of their songs to my playlist, but I don't want to buy a CD that I will only listen to half of the songs. While at the concert I did record a portion of their song "Satellite", mostly so Matthew could hear it. During a few of the songs I also realized how much I miss my Matthew. Being apart has helped me to appreciate him more. I am definitely excited to see him in a few weeks!

All in all it was a wonderful birthday! Oh, I have to tell you about what Matthew did for me. Friday was my day off this past week and in the early afternoon as I was working on my project, my aunt and uncle's phone rang. Well, I was the only one around, so I answered and on the other end was a woman from a flower shop. And when she asked for me, I was very surprised, as this was not my house! She was calling because she had some flowers for me, but was uncertain as to how she should get to my location. I gave her some directions and she said she would be here in an hour. After hanging up, I promptly called Matthew to thank him for the flowers. He asked if I liked them and then I told him I wasn't sure yet, which confused him for a moment. I then explained to him what had happened and he was disappointed that his surprise had been ruined, but I told him that it was still a surprise because I didn't know that he had done it! About an hour later the flowers showed up and they were beautiful! (There are a picture of the flowers with the picture of me blowing out the candles on my cake)

A Lone Man in the Wilderness

Well, since my wife left me 22 days ago (not that I'm counting), I have made every effort to stay as busy as possible. I have also avoided being home much except to sleep. Doing these things helps me avoid facing the reality of my loneliness. This afternoon is the first significant exception to my extreme business. How have I kept myself so busy you ask? Let me tell you:

• Student teaching at Jordan Seminary (and prepping lessons too)
• Working at Access RV
• Serving as counselor in branch presidency and branch clerk to Friendship Branch
• Spending time with family
  
• Traveling everywhere by bicycle, bus and train (while the car is in Pittsburgh with Kara)
• Talking with Kara on the phone and on Skype during whatever free time I have
  

Today, I find myself suddenly with significantly more free time for one main reason: the end of the school year at Jordan Seminary. This is an enormous weight lifted. Teaching has consumed me. I've loved it and I am sad to see it end, but it's a lot of work. I am also sad that it also marks the end of my brief career with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Seminaries and Institutes of Religion. I had a very candid conversation with one of my seminary pre-service trainers on Tuesday after he observed my class. It was good.

On Wednesday afternoon, he called and informed me that I would not be invited to continue to student teach for the next school year. That was hard news to receive. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to attend a dinner and testimony meeting held for Jordan Seminary seniors that evening. I was uplifted, edified, touched and strengthened by the wise words of teenagers. (And the food was great, too.) Then I had the opportunity to attend two more testimony meetings Thursday morning and yet another testimony meeting on Friday morning. I will also get to attend Jordan High School graduation on Wednesday morning. I ask you, from what other job would you receive such a sendoff?

So I am disappointed that my seminary career hasn't worked out, but I'm certain it's for the best. There must be greater things in store for me. The difficulty is figuring out what those things are and being patient to see how life unfolds.

The only other event I wish to log here is my time with the Taylor children Friday and Saturday this week. My sister and her husband recently celebrated ten years of marriage. This week they celebrated by spending a few days in Zion National Park. When they left Thursday morning, my brother-in-law's parents were there to take care of their four children, ages two to eight. Then on Friday evening, I took charge of them until their parent returned Saturday evening.

When I arrived Friday, they had already been fed dinner. We played outside for a while and then I said it was time for pajamas. We all got changed, including changing a diaper for one and putting on a diaper for another. Then it was decided that they would sleep in a tent. It was too chilly to sleep outside so the tent was set up in the family room. Two of the boys slept in the tent while one of the boys joined Uncle Matt on the hide-a-bed. Only the youngest slept in her bed.

Saturday, we woke up and had both cold cereal and hot cereal for breakfast. Then we went and played at the fitness center for a couple of hours. We came home and had sandwiches, pizza and yogurt for lunch. We then played with Legos for a couple hours until they decided they wanted to watch Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (the 2005 Tim Burton version with Johnny Depp). It was at that time that Uncle Matt had a nap in another room. I watched the end of the movie with them because one of them came to get me so he could sit on my lap for the "scary parts". I then enlightened them on how much fun it can be to watch American films with foreign languages dubbed over. They greatly enjoyed watching Willy Wonka speaking French. Not long after the movie was over, their parents came home in time for dinner. I ate with them, looked at pictures of their trip and then went home.

Tomorrow I look forward to spending Memorial Day visiting graves with my parents, aunt, uncle, cousin, brother, sister-in-law, sister, brother-in-law, nephews and niece. It will be lovely.

Peanut Butter & Jelly

I stumbled upon this video on Facebook and I think it describes Matthew and I's relationship perfectly! Our favorite Jelly is Raspberry too!

Dancing Queen and Other Things

So, my first day at my internship went well. I only had a half day, so that was a nice start. For the most part the therapist I followed just tried to get me acquainted with the clinic I would be working at. He only works there once a week, so if I work on a Friday I will follow him. He also showed me little bits of the computer system I have to use to document. He said it will probably take me at least a month to really feel confident in navigating it...so that will be exciting! He also let me treat a few patients, it was especially fun when I was able to do mobilizations on them.

Friday night my cousin Justin took me out salsa dancing in the city! I had never been before, I mean I have learned a little bit of salsa dancing before, but not to this extent. Justin is a really good dancer and I can easily see why he is a teacher. He seems to be able to dance with people who are at so many different levels. Very impressed! The only unfortunate thing of the night was that I got so motion sick on the drive to the dance place that I had to have Justin pull over to the side of the road so that I could empty my stomach. It was a bit embarrassing and later I discovered that I had gotten a little bit on my shoes and pants, but Justin and his friend Erin were really nice about it.

Saturday I spent the morning and early afternoon doing laundry and working on my doctoral project. I also had plans to go and explore, but time got away from me. That evening my Aunt Kristi took me to the new movie "Robin Hood" with Russell Crow. It is more about how he became Robin Hood. I enjoyed it and afterwards we went to a restaurant called Panera Bread...very yummy!

Sunday I went with Kristi to choir practice and discovered that they were singing a song that I have sung before in sacrament meeting so I decided to join them. It is a very simple, lovely song called "Beautiful Savior". It was ward conference so Uncle Leland spoke. In Sunday School I learned something about the definition of missionary work that I have never thought of before although it makes complete sense. If we define missionary work as bringing souls to Jesus Christ then anything that I do to bring any soul unto Christ is missionary work, including when I am learning for myself. So as I study and grow in my knowledge of Christ, I am really doing missionary work for myself, which not only helps bring my soul to Christ, but helps to prepare me to better be able to bring others to him.

As far as my internship goes...the beginning of this week was pretty tough. My clinical instructor (CI) was still on vacation and so I was with an "as needed" therapist. She was great, but the PTA who works there was not so nice...when I left on Monday I was crying....she was just so mean and I didn't understand why, then when I got home I realized that I was home alone because my aunt and uncle were working the night shift. So, I had a bad day, I was all alone, I really wanted a pizza, but I didn't know where to go to find one and was worried I would get lost in the process. Needless to say I just went to bed and hoped that the next day would be better. And it was and so was the next and the next. I met my CI on Thursday and I think it will be challenging but good. I only wish there were more hours in the day that I wasn't tired, working, or doing school work, but hopefully I can get settled soon, so that I have time and energy to site see.

On Thursday after my internship I called Justin and told him that I was in great need of pizza, so he gave me directions to his side of town and met me at a tiny pizza place just a few blocks from his house. After picking up the pizza and "wedgy" we went over to his place to eat and watch a movie. We ended up just talking, but it was great! So this Wedgy thing is basically like a pizza folded in half. I never really got an explanation of it, but it doesn't really matter because it was gooooood! It was a steak wedgy...can you imagine if you had a steak wedgy?!?

Friday I spent the day working on my doctoral project. I organized and found a few more articles that I think will be applicable. I plan on trying to have the majority if not all the articles read by Tuesday...wish me luck with that. That night I went out with Justin and Erin again. We were planning to go play some pool at this arcade place, but by the time we got there they were closing, so we came back to my aunt and uncle's house and talked while enjoying a mug (coffee cup) of ice cream!

Saturday I was planning to get things done in the morning to prepare me for Monday at my internship and then spend some time exploring and taking pictures, but by the time I got things done, it was raining outside...and not like it rains in Utah...it was pouring! Later that night I watched a movie with my aunt, her brother and his son while waiting for Justin to pick me up so we could go out dancing. This time we went to a line dancing place. I went expecting to know a lot of the dances, but discovered that I only knew a few, but that was okay because Justin put his dancing skills into action and we did some variations of his expert dancing to country music. I commented how I thought it was kinda funny that once he put the dance to country music I picked it up faster than I had the previous weekend. It was a lot of fun! After dancing we got to talking and didn't get to bed until 2 in the morning...I am surprised I haven't crashed, but I'm sure it will come.

Today after church I decided that it would be a good time to go out into the nature surrounding me and get some photos. My Uncle Leland took me to a park near one of the bridges closest to where I am staying and I think we got some pretty good shots! It is definitely beautiful here!

My aunt and uncle are great and I am grateful for their hospitality...I thought I might have a good shot at losing a little weight while here since I don't have Matthew around. I figured I would fill that extra time with working out, but with the way my aunt cooks, I will be lucky not to gain more weight!

Hooray, Hurrah!

So this last week has been full of celebration and the start of a long summer apart. Most of last week I spent my time getting things prepared to leave for Pittsburgh, so needless to say even after finishing finals, I still felt like I wasn't done with school. I had to start back up on my Doctoral Project because it had come to an abrupt halt and I had a meeting with my Chair Ed, luckily he thought I was coming along and liked my summer plan...now hopefully I make time to stick to it in between my internship work and the traveling/tourist plans I have!

Tuesday evening Matthew and I decided to go do some sealings at the temple. It was a wonderful experience; three other couples joined us, which made for a wonderful session. At the end one of the couples (the Henderson's) came up to us and asked if Matthew knew the Bowens in California. Now, most of the time when this happens the answer is easily no because there are so many Bowens around. But after asking about some first names, Matthew said that he did know them and in fact they were related, even though Matthew didn't know them well. It was kind of fun to once again realize how small this world really is!

On Wednesday after my appointment with Ed I went to an interview at Shiners Hospital for an internship spot. I really liked the facility and thought that it would be a wonderful opportunity, but I found out yesterday that they did not select me. This was very disappointing and hard for me to hear because a few weeks ago I also found out that I did not get the Primary Children's Medical Center spot. I would like to think that I am somewhat of a marketable person, but at the same time I feel that when I am up against some of my peers I have no chance, they are just that amazing. I am pretty bummed out about it, but hopefully I can find a great opportunity that will give me what I need to know how I feel about working with children and give me direction as far as my career goes.

Later that evening I went to the Branch Home Teaching Meeting with Matthew. He taught again this month because of the change in Presidency. We are excited for the change even though I know that it will most likely be more work for Matthew until everyone settles in. Matthew told me that this past Sunday they called a new second counselor and the new branch president would like to call a clerk so that will help.

On Thursday morning I got up early so that I could join some of the branch members at the temple. Again because of the changes in the presidency, there were not enough members to drive those who are unable to, so because I am out of school, I volunteered! We went to the Bountiful Temple and it was wonderful. I was tired during the session, but I could still feel the spirit and it was nice to be among the members in such a sacred place. The rest of my Thursday was spent doing laundry and packing for Pittsburgh.

Friday was Matthew's big day; Graduation! It was a fun day. Matthew still taught Seminary in the morning and was evaluated by Brother Hardy. The class went well, but not as good as it has the past few weeks. Matthew and Brother Hardy talked afterward and Matthew got some good guidance, but I think he was a little bummed. I told him that celebrating graduation was the perfect way to get his mind off of it for a little while! So he graduated and when they announced his name, Matthew's parents and I yelled out, "We love you Billy!", which is a little joke Matthew and I share. It comes from a few different sources; the first being that in Junior High Matthew decided he wanted to go by Bill Bowen instead of Matthew because there were too many Matthews and the second, from the movie "Two Weeks Notice". There is a scene with Hugh Grant and Sandra Bullock where he asks if she has ever been in love and she says, "Yes, his name was Billy," and then Hugh says, "Did you tell him? Did you say 'I love you Billy'?" I then turned to Matthew and said, "I love you Billy."

After he graduated, we met him outside the Huntsman Center and took some pictures. He then awarded me is "Stole of Gratitude" which is the sash you wear while walking. Someone had told him earlier that after he graduated he was to give it to the person he was most grateful for helping him with his education.

After pictures. Matthew's parents took us to lunch at Bucco di Beppo, an Italian restaurant that serves food in a family style fashion so that when one person orders something it is enough to feed multiple people. It was wonderful food. We also exchanged graduation/birthday/Mother's Day gifts with each other. Matthew's parents decided that since I would be away for my birthday that they would give me my gifts now. I received a travel size Hymn book, an Atlas and some travel bottles that I can put liquids in like shampoo and lotion when I travel by plane. Matthew received a card with some money and we gave his mom (along with my mom) a candle warmer and a candle to warm it on. I kind of feel bad getting them the same gift, but we thought they were wonderful and something that both of our mom's could enjoy!

After lunch, Matthew took a short nap while I finished my packing plans and then we prepared for the Ice Cream Party we planned for our Graduation/Going away party. Luckily, our amazing friends Cory and Danielle were once again willing to let us have it at their home since it is significantly bigger than our apartment. We had many friends come and enjoy ice cream and conversation and in the end we bought way too much ice cream, but that's okay.

Saturday morning came the exciting, yet sad departure from my Matthew, luckily I had to drive so I wasn't allowed to cry and Cynda was there to help me think of other things like; water, state license plates, 50 cent ice cream from Little America, crazy animals (like bulls, horses and wild turkeys), how many miles and hours it would take us to get to our destination for the night, which way is the right way to get on the freeway (which we did wrong twice or so), buying food from the Village Inn and Subway within an hour of each other (what! we were really hungry..hehe), booking a hotel room at the Holiday Inn Express as "Mrs. Bowen" from SLC, UT..."I'm the 'new bride'", and Gary Indiana...never mind...Portage Indiana sounds perfect!

I know it is hard to make much sense of some of these things, but I will explain some of them.

It took us 3 days to travel because neither of us really like to drive in the dark especially when we are going through a big city with a lot of signs to figure out and I needed plenty of breaks for my leg. So we played two games while on the road; one, how many different state license plates we could find (we found 30 I believe) and the second we started in Nebraska when Cynda remembered that some of her boys used to see who could call out "water" the fastest when it was seen.

The first night we stayed in North Platte, Nebraska and I called around to some hotels to check prices and availability. We decided upon the Holiday Inn Express and when they asked me for an ID code I gave them one that Cynda and Steve have and they lady said,"Is this under Steve Bowen's account?" I said, "Yes." She then asked, "Is this Mrs. Bowen?" I said, "Yes." because I am Mrs. Bowen! She didn't ask which Mrs. Bowen! Later Cynda took the joke a little further saying that it would be funny if when we checked in the receptionist asked which of us was Mrs. Bowen and we both said, "I am." and then explaining that we were from Utah and that I am the "newest bride". That last part didn't happen, but we got a good laugh just thinking about it.

As far as why we bought two dinners within an hour of each other...we didn't want to have to by food on Sunday, so after dinner at the Village Inn, we stopped by Subway to get a couple cold sandwiches for the next day.

On our second day of travels we decided that we wanted to make it to "Gary , Indiana, Gary, Indiana, Gary, Indiana!" (insert singing) Many insisted that it wasn't possible, but we showed them...and once we got there we decided that we didn't want to be there anymore. Unfortunately, Gary seems to be a scary place for two women to be in, especially after dark. And besides that, we were unable to locate a hotel. I said to my mom later that the nicest thing about the place was the sign we passed that said, "The people of Gary welcome you!" Sad, but from what I saw, true. And to be honest, our travels, at least at first, in Indiana were the most frustrating. I wish they would make their signs a little more clear because that is the reason why we got on the freeway the wrong way once and almost took the wrong exit. There was one point in our journey that I was stopped at one of the splits because I wasn't sure where I should go (I know it's not safe, but what's a girls to do?!). When I finally figured it out I had to put the petal to the metal so that a semi-truck wouldn't crush me.

Other than that, Cynda and I made it to Pittsburgh without much trouble and we arrived with perfect timing; my Aunt Kristi had just finished making dinner and it was indeed yummy...BBQ chicken, green beans and potatoes! Kristi had to leave for work shortly thereafter, but Cynda, Uncle Leland and I stayed up pretty late talking.

On Tuesday Cynda and I continued to talk with Leland and also Kristi when she got home and before she went to take a nap. I unpacked all of my things with the help of Cynda and then I continued to work on Carl's book while Cynda read her book/fell asleep on the couch. After awhile we put in "Fiddler on the Roof" and at the end we had beef enchiladas that Kristi made in her "spare time"; she is amazing, she just keeps going. If I were in her shoes I don't know if I could do all she does. After dinner Leland had to go to work and Kristi had a meeting so Cynda and I played a board game and not long before we were finished Kristi came home and we had a conference call with Matthew on Skype! After we were done talking with Matthew we played speed Scrabble and Cynda wiped us with the floor...as per usual. We then began to prepare for the next days errands and head for bed.

On Wednesday Kristi and I drove Cynda to the airport to send her back home. It was a little hard for me because it helped me to realize that I was alone in terms of connections to Matthew and those I had been used to surrounding myself with on a regular basis, but luckily I still have family and Leland and Kristi are very hospitable. Kristi then drove me to where I would be doing my internship and I picked up some paperwork and then to a lab so that I could get my blood checked. It was nice because we found one that is not too far from her house and in between there and work just in case I have to do it on the way to or from.

For the past few days I have been somewhat lounging about, watching a couple of movies, working on my project or on Carl's book, calling Matthew about this or that just so I can get small doses of him and checking my email, my grades or Facebook every few minutes, needless to say I am ready to get started so that I don't freak out about being away. Not to say that I am not excited to be here...I am excited for this adventure, it is just hard to be without My Matthew.

Changes and Surprises

So this last week was my last week of the semester. I finished all of my finals on Friday! 2 years down 1 to go! On Thursday night Elisa and Alex came over. Elisa went to Vegas for the weekend to get dome more wedding stuff done. She called me Wednesday wondering if she could stay the night on Thursday and get a ride to the airport in the morning since Alex had work early the next morning. While they were here we collected some pictures that Alex and I had to put on a cd for my mom. She is making a guestbook like the one she did for our wedding and needed pictures to get it started.

Friday morning I brought Elisa to the airport and went up to the school to finish some last minute studying for my last final. About an hour before my final I got a call from Matthew, he missed the Trax train and needed me to come pick him up. I was frustrated at first because I hadn't finished my studying and now I wasn't sure if I was going to. I was irritated all the way down to go pick him up, you know the whole talking to yourself about how inconvenient the whole situation is, and if he would have just done this or that then he wouldn't be in this mess sort of thing, but as I got closer to picking him up I began to realize how silly I was being. It wasn't like he had done it on purpose, I wasn't really worried about my test, and he was about to go teach students and was probably already frustrated himself, there was no need to bring contention into the situation. I was sort of embarrassed of myself, why was I making a big deal of something that didn't really effect much at all? Everything turned out fine, I made it back in time to get some final tips for my test and although he was a little late, Matthew was able to make it to his class.

Later that night we went out to an Institute Party for all the High School Seniors at the Sandy Institute. Many of the students Matthew teaches were there and we felt like we should support, and there was free food; can't beat that! It was kind of weird to be there I have to admit. It was like walking back in history. My memories of all the fun I have had at the Institute activities came flooding back to me and a part of me wanted to go "bust a move" on the dance floor, but as I walked into the gym I realized that that part of my life has passed. Not that I can't go dancing anymore or go to Institute activities, but that my awkward teenage years and all the craziness of it are gone. Well, I am not explaining it very well, but I realized that my place there had changed. I was now the chaperone, I was the old one! Although some of the students didn't even realize that; while Matthew was still in line for the free food, I went to go get a place to sit so we could more readily eat said food. As I approached a table I ran into a group of Matthew's students, some of whom I have met previously and some I have not. I said hello to a few of them and then one of them asked me if I was from Alta! I could not believe I was being asked if I was a high school student, it made me laugh. Well, I didn't want to hurt this young man's feelings or make him feel like a complete fool, so I just politely said, "No, actually I am the wife of one of the Seminary teachers at Jordan." The young man was very gracious and asked which teacher. I replied and he then complimented Matt saying, "Oh, Brother Bowen! We love brother Bowen at Jordan, he is wonderful. Jordan is already a great school, but he makes it wonderful!" It was a funny experience. Matthew and I ate, talked with some of his students, danced to a slow song, ate some ranch dressing on a dare and then head back home to bed. All in all, it was a great blast from the past moment for me.

Saturday we spent most of our time at home. I worked busily on typing a book for one of our branch members and Matthew tried to figure out how to amend our taxes. We turned them in early and got money back from the government, but after applying for FAFSA my taxes were selected to be verified by the financial aid office at school. After filling out all the paperwork, I went to the financial aid office to turn it all in and they found the discrepancy. I explained that it had been a complicated year as far as work went for us and after talking and looking over our forms he thought we had just reported some of our income on the wrong line of our tax forms. He gave us instructions on what we had to do to fix it and Matthew tried, but we decided that it is just a problem that is slightly over our heads, so tomorrow we will be headed over to a company to help us straighten everything out. I agree with Matthew that it is sort of a pain to have to do, but I think it is better to get it fixed now and even have to spend a little money doing it, so that we don't have to pay my tuition for the next year. Matt is working full time now, but that is still a lot of money to put down all at once. Unfortunately because of how long it took to figure this all out and because of all the other errands we had to get done, we had to cancel some of our plans with friends, but it was probably best because at about 5pm I got a call from my younger brother Jordan. He has been going to school in Virginia for the past year and was driving back home to Las Vegas with a friend. Their original plan was to take I-70 all the way to I-15, but there were some landslides on I-70, so they had to take I-80 which just so happens to go through Salt Lake! Jordan and his friend had decided to stop for the night so Jordan gave me a call! I was so happy that he did. We went out for a quick bit to eat and he tagged along with us while we ran our errands; I'm glad he didn't mind driving around with us. We are really excited for him. He found out this week that he goes into the MTC on July 28th to prepare to go on a mission to Guatemala. I was especially happy to hear that he wasn't leaving until July because that means he will be able to go to Bean's wedding and will go through the Temple to receive his endowment on the same day as her, which again makes me super glad that I decided to fly in on Thursday night.

One of the very important errands that we had to do was to go pick up a new camera!! The one we have is nice, but has been acting funny lately so we decided that since I was going to Pittsburgh, and we were planning a road trip this summer, it was the perfect time. I am so excited about this camera. We got a Sony Cyber-shot with an automatic panoramic picture option! It is really cool. I will post the first panorama shot that I took on it! It is of our living room, so it isn't that exciting, but it was so easy. (And unfortunately, that is as big as the picture will upload) All I had to do was set the camera to the panorama setting, press a button and sweep the camera along the scene I wanted captured, then the camera did the rest! Today Matthew and I also made a video that involved a pineapple and the Titan Peeler I got him for his birthday!

Today was a happy and sad day at church. President Heninger, Matthew and Brother Willie were all released from the Friendship Branch that we have been serving in this past year. The release came because President Heninger moved to Layton. Matthew and I have both really enjoyed serving with President Heninger and Brother Willie and will miss their company. Lucky for us Matthew was called to stay serving in the Branch as the 1st counselor to President Langheinrich. We are sad to loose President Heninger and Brother Willie, but are excited to serve with President and Sister Langheinrich and know that the Lord will continue to bless us as we serve.

Tonight we also went over to the Humphrey's home for Sunday Dinner. It was us, Gregily, TJ, the Longloopers and Ashley and Rusty. We missed Parker and Trina, they were at home with their new little bundle of joy, Brooklyn. We had a BBQ, but because of the cold weather ate inside. Along with the yummy burgers and franks we had an assortment of chips, potato salad, apple juice, cookies, homemade ice cream and a yummy plum yogurt surprise pie! We kept asking Jason what was in the pie, but he was not quite sure, a little scary, but very delicious! It was good to get caught up on what everyone is up to.