Learn Something

(picture from Nov. 2008)

Tomorrow starts my next spring semester. Exciting, right? RIGHT! I am excited. There is something exhilarating about holding a pile of new books and entering a new classroom for the first time. There are amazing subjects and problems just waiting to be studied. I love learning new things! Awhile ago I came across a quote that always intrigues and inspires me. It's the perfect statement to start my new semester. It's taken from T.H. White's The Once and Future King. This particular quote comes from "The Sword in the Stone" section. Merlin is speaking to young Arthur. It reads:

"The best thing for being sad," replied Merlin, beginning to puff and blow, "is to learn something. That is the only thing that never fails. You may grow old and trembling in your anatomies, you may lie awake at night listening to the disorder of your veins, you may miss your only love, you may see the world about you devastated by evil lunatics, or know your honour trampled in the sewers of baser minds. There is only one thing for it then-to learn. Learn why the world wags and what wags it. That is the only thing which the mind can never exhaust, never alienate, never be tortured by, never fear or distrust, and never dream of regretting. Learning is the thing for you."

And it's definitely the thing for me!

Our Christmas Vacation

We just returned from our holiday trip to Utah where we were lucky to visit with so many of our family and friends. We even had the chance to hang out with our beloved Thorntons again! Not a day goes by that we don't miss them terribly. It was fun to meet their family and show them where we grew up.
We also had some fun in the snow at my sister's house being pulled on sleds and car hoods behind four-wheelers out in the field. Talk about your fun adventures! I wish I had pictures of that!
Me and Zac also "got" to go the dentist. I had two cavities-ughh! There's nothing like dental work on one's vacation!
Anyway also topping the list was being present for my niece, Raegn's baptism. I've missed my other nieces' baptisms so it was nice to be there to congratulate Raegn in person. She's such a little sweethheart.
I also enjoyed getting to know my newest niece and nephew, Dakota and Will. I really miss being able to see the babies all grow up. It goes so quickly.
For Christmas eve we spent time with Zac's family and I have to say that Miranda gets the gift-giving award. She is stupendous at knowing exactly what everyone wants. She nailed everyone's wish list perfectly.




On Christmas day we got together with my extended Webster family. It was great to see so many of my cousins and aunts and uncles. It was also fun to see Grandma and Grandpa open up their gifts of school t-shirts. Their reactions were just what I had hoped for.














We also had the opportunity to go and visit Grandma Stevens again. She even remembered all of us and gave us all a great hug.


I know there were many other great things about this trip, but overall I have it in my mind as one of the trips that lent me relief from a stressful semester, gave me the chance to be with family and friends to relive old times and, of course, get another good glimpse of the gorgeous mountains I miss so much.

Well. all that done and over with, soon after we returned, I realized I had a huge hole in the lining of my purse and decided that a new bag would be a great way to start off the new year. Of course I dragged my boys along for the shopping adventure(they didn't even complain too much). My boys, being funny, picked up a bag and asked, "How about an anaconda skin bag?" I laughed but then I took a good look at the inside and realized it had great pockets and was on clearance (I'm sure because no normal person would choose such a crazy bag). I hmmmed and hahhhed for a bit, searched through the many other piles of bags and in the end decided I better take it home and let it rock my world for the next little while. So, I leave you with wishes for a great new year and a picture of my hot new anaconda bag. Go 2010!

A Full Day

Talk about your crazy days...this one has been a doozy! I had two big exams today, Zac had a huge presentation and Tyson had early out for parent teacher conferences (of course). Zac's presentation prevented him from being available to get the kids off to school. I had arranged for a neighbor to help out with getting Tyson to school(A, thank you tons) and another neighbor to pick him up (thanks S-you're a lifesaver). I thought I had it all worked out until 6:50am this morning I woke up to a text from a friend alerting me to the snow storm and a message from my professor. Aaghh! It's a terrible feeling when someone throws a wrench in your carefully thought out plans!

Somehow I managed to feed the boys (forgot to feed myself), throw on clothes and get everyone where they needed to be by 7:30. The snow kept coming but with the help of a good Christmas CD I made it to my 8:30 exam on-time (despite the horrendously slow traffic) and with a decent attitude. I took my test,pushed through two other classes (with the help of the clementine I happened to find in my book-bag) and took my aural listening exam as well. By 2pm I was on my way home.

Zac was able to book it home via public transportation,slosh through the wet snow (the snow changed to heavy rain) to pick Tyson up at a decent time and even did my dishes for me. I arrived home with enough time to eat a bite (literally one bite) of his delicious guacamole and tamale and head to the middle school to pick up Tim and his friends. The poor kids were soaking wet after just a few minutes of waiting outside for me.

After that...forty-five minutes of pure bliss, aka nothing...

Then piano lessons, dinner and Tim's band concert to top the night off. The band's rendition of The Raiders March (from Indiana Jones, Raiders of the Lost Ark)was my favorite. Phew! It has been crazy, but all-in-all, it was a good day!

Happy Halloween!

Another B+ Paper

It's not a bad grade, quite the opposite, however, I really put in an A effort as in "A" lot of time. Better luck next time, right?

Come on Neurotransmitters!

Yesterday I had my piano lesson and my teacher helped me figure out some new fingering (this is the song I'm working on). I had practiced quite a bit the previous week, yet after receiving the new fingerings I found myself absolutely stuck. My fingers simply sat there frozen. I kept looking at the music then looking at the keys trying to figure out how in the world to make it work. My mind hurt it was thinking so hard, in fact I wouldn't have been suprised if a cloud of smoke had started spewing from out of my ears. Yet try as I might I couldn't force my body and mind to make the connection; the synapses were not firing. Eventually, with tedious amounts of repetition, I was able to push through the passage and make some headway. Unfortunately, I still left feeling so flustered! I haven't felt that way since AP Calculus in high school!
Luckily, tonight my workload was much lighter. What did I inflict upon my brain instead? Not much. I went for a much needed haircut, fixed dinner and then sat down to update my blog. Aaaahhh!

Tyson's Baptism

My baby was baptized this past weekend. Because our ward clambake ended up being scheduled on the same day, we were given the option to have the baptism at the beach. Tyson decided that he liked that idea and so, on Saturday we got together with friends and family and watched Zac baptize Tyson in the cold, Atlantic ocean at Crane's beach.
It was a wonderful sunny, windy day. I'm not sure I ever quit smiling. One of the highlights was having our bishop accompany the songs on his banjo. Our friend (and ward relief society president) took some perfect pictures of the event. Thanks EP!
I think one of my personal favorite parts was watching Tyson splash and play in the waves with his friend just before we got started. The other nice part of this baptism was being able to see all three of my boys take part in it. Tyson was baptized, Zac did the baptizing, and Tim gave a talk. Pretty cool. Oh, and it was really awesome being able to actually see the baptism. I've attended many in the last four years, but Tyson's baptism was the first I've actually ever witnessed in New England. Neat stuff!