A Family that Works Together......

While I am used to working with JD or Sye on occasion, usually Sye since he is based at Herefordshire with me...I can say that never before have 3 Speths been working at the same place at the same time before. It took several extraneous events to cause such a collision of family technicians to work together, but it did happen and the picture is proof. I have to admit it was kind of fun for the short time that this overlap occurred, though Deb was feeling a little left out being and Omer and not a Speth. :)

Santa's Helper

I talked JD into being a Santa's Helper with me for the Santa 5K in Ogden yesterday. We were assigned to the finish line which turned out to be quite fun, though a little cold. I would take off runner's tags at the finish as JD was helping to string all of the tags from the people coming down the shute. It was a random, fun activity for the evening.

Turkey Day

Thanksgiving was fun this year. I started out the day at Ogden Regional Medical Center for the Thanksgiving Day run with Aimee, and Lara, Sam, and Andrew. It was a fun event that hundreds of people come to every year. This was the 26th annual run, admission is nonperishable food items that you place directly into Salvation Army trucks. JD and I went to both families this year. My grandpa came to the Hewlett feast where we learned all kinds of Thanksgiving trivia such as: turkeys can run up to 55 miles per hour if threatened, turkeys pardoned by the President live out the rest of their days in the happiest place on earth: Disneyland, Thanksgiving was started in 1863 by president Abraham Lincoln, and the largest pumpkin pie ever made weighed 2,020 pounds. We then went to the Miner Thanksgiving. With the family being so large, they set up tables in a church and passed the different food items around the table. It was kind of fun waving to people across the gym. We finished out the day at both of our families houses once more, this time for pie and watching a movie. It was a fun, but busy day. It is weird to think that we probably won't be here next year.

Here Fishy Fishy Fishy

I got a tour of the Barker Fish Farm yesterday and it was SO cool! I felt like a little kid on a field trip. It was fascinating to see him gather the eggs, process them, and to see the result in all of his tanks. Fish farmers now have to sterilize their fish, to do so they take the eggs they have collected and stick them in a hollow tube. Pressure equal to two full size cars is then applied to the eggs changing their chromosomes so that they are trisometric=can not breed. He said the containers in the top right picture contain about 50,000 of these eggs each, so can kind of see them in the clear containers, but the black ones have them too. If you ever have the opportunity to have a tour of a fish farm, I highly recommend it.

Oregonian

Yet another interview completed for JD. This time he headed up to Portland Oregon. He loved it up there and really likes the program so we will see what happens with this school. A bonus of this trip was JD did not have to come home the same day as his interview and stayed with one of his fellow Indian missionaries. Ben has been a great friend and recently moved up to Portland for work. In anticipation of JD's arrival, Ben dressed up in a traditional Indian dhoti and made a special sign. In India, they don't have the "th" sound so JD went by Elder Spet the whole time. They had a fun time, he loved the school, and he likes Oregon. And now.....one more interview left to go this year.

Las Manzanas

I have had a thing for apples lately. I love going to Winco and buying one or two of every kind of apple they have. I have learned all kinds of new apples the picture includes: Golden Delicious, Red Delicious, Gala, Fugi, Sonya, Sweet Tango, Granny Smith, Braeburn, Jonagold, Pink Lady, and one I can't remember and the sticker fell off. I get bemused looks from the checkers when the multiple bags of apples come along, but I don't care it has been my funness the past couple of weeks.

Florida

JD is back from LECOM in Florida, another very quick trip down. I dropped him off on Wednesday at the airport and picked him up Thursday night. One more to go this week...as in we will be heading back to the airport today after his lab final. :) The weather was 80 degrees and he got to see drive across the Gulf of Mexico on the Sunshine Highway Bridge which I think is pretty cool.

A little bit of cheese

Ok, advanced notice, this is going to be cheesy, and I don't care. You can stop reading now and wait for the next post, or you can just deal with a little bit of cheese every once in a while. So you have been warned.
I miss JD, I know it is lame and everything, but I do miss him. This is the first time since we got married that we haven't been together and simply put, I do not like it, not one bit. Thankfully, we will hopefully be at the end of this craziness by the end of the month. The end.

Running on Ice

We went to Disney on Ice last night. I have to admit that the first number that consisted of a 'running on ice' warm up for everyone with the Incredibles had me questioning if even the WSU discount tickets were worth coming, but it turned out to be pretty cool. They did parts from several movies including: Alice in Wonderland, Snow White, Tangled, Aladdin, Lion King, Little Mermaid, Frog Princess, and Peter Pan. I loved watching and listening to all the kids; the biggest screams of delight came for Lion King and Tangled. It was a fun, random night.

One Down, Three to Go

JD is back from Arizona, he drove the 11 1/2 hours there Thursday, interviewed Friday, and drove the 11 1/2 hours back right after his interview, getting home about 2:30 AM. That is a lot of driving, most of it was in the dark. With Midwestern down, he just has three more places to go this month, two of which this upcoming week! -I liked the Christmas light covered cacti pictures he took, one of which is featured in this picture if you look close.

Kindred Spirits

Today was Erin's birthday and while she had SO much fun in the morning with dental work, I think the evening may have been just a little bit better. It was so fun hanging out with Erin and her family as we celebrated her turning 25. We have been friends forever, that is, since my first day of 1st grade at Lomond View Elementary in 1991 when Erin invited me to play with her at recess, we weren't even in the same class and I was the new kid. We have had many adventures, hikes, road trips, concerts in rain and snow, who knows how many pictures we have taken together, many letters back and forth during her mission to the Land of Anne, late night chats, plans and schemes, baking, running, dreaming, crafting, sewing, jumping, cleaning, moving, singing, and the list goes on and on. I am so grateful to have had a kindred spirit in my life all of this time, and I look forward to many more adventures that lay in store for the next 20 years. HAPPY BIRTHDAY ERIN!!!!

Interviews, Planes, Hotels, Cars, Friends, Family

So the past couple weeks have been nothing short of insane when it comes to our future. JD has received 4 interview requests over the past 3 weeks (including one today) and seeing as they are all over the country, it has been a little stressful keeping everything straight, between flight times, prices, hotels and their location in relation to the schools, car rental details, maps from airports to hotels, contacting friends and family to find a place to sleep or ride from the airport, and the list goes on. The main summary is this: Midwestern University, Phoenix Arizona, November 10th; LECOM Bradenton Florida, November 17th; Pacific University, Portland Oregon, November 19th; and LECOM Erie Pennsylvania, November 29th. This equals a lot of stress and a lot of money. Not to say we aren't grateful, hopefully we will get accepted at a good school and will know as early as Christmas where and what we will be doing and when, that is a nice thought indeed.

First Dam 5K

Imagine a dark, brisk, chilly, morning. There is fresh snow on the ground and small flurries all around you. A layer of ice hugs your car windows as you try to scrape it off. Your breath hangs on the air. Despite several layers of clothing the cold is biting. You are experiencing this for the sole purpose of running around the mouth of an icy cold canyon. Joy.

While I was quite doubtful prior to running, the First Dam 5k turned out to be a pretty fun experience, and while running the temperature was just fine. Aimee and Kariel did wonderful on their 10K and I had fun doing the 5k. Indian food afterwards was fun too.

Perfection

JD's grandparents gave us tickets to attend the Utah Symphony Orchestra with them last night. They had a guest violinst, James Ehnes, and he was amazing. Every once in a while you have moments where you are witnessing what is near perfection examples include: U2, after 20+ years of practice can throw an amazing concert, the Olympians have dedicated most of their lives to their sport of choice and you get to see the near perfects take the gold every 2 years, and last night I can add James Ehnes to that list. It was fascinating to watch him play and amazing to hear what was coming out of that 1715 Marsick Stradivarius of his (as in a real Stradivarius, worth well over $1,000,000). That's right, I watched a Master Violinist play his Stradivarius-no big deal.

The Arts

Megan, Spencer, and I attended the Eccles Art Center in Ogden today. It was an interesting experience. We wanted to do something different and new and this definately fit in that category. The artwork on display was neat, mostly landscape with a focus animal of some kind: moose, beers, pheasants, etc. Though to be honest, I think we were more fascinated by the Eccles mansion itself. Considering when it was built, it is a very impressive house. It had opening windows on pulley systems, gas heaters in every room, we counted about 6 bathrooms, and we aren't sure how many bedrooms, Spencer was a fan of all the mirrors and the baby looking back at him in each of them as well. It was a fun, random, free activity if you are looking for something to do.

The Last Cookie

JD's mom makes cookies for friends and family every Halloween and we are one of the lucky recipients, well kind of this year. JD told me he was on his way home and took a little longer than usual. He walked in the door and related his sad story: The cookies had been forgotten on the car roof upon his starting to drive home, they fell off the car and went all over the road. JD seeing this went back, and picked up all of the mess off the road and was able to retrieve one survior. He too has now perished.