October! Birthday Month!

October began with General Conference and Halloween pajamas. When I was in a recent SFLSA board meeting, the question of the week was "what conference tradition does your family have?" One student mentioned that her mom buys them all new pajamas. I found myself at Old Navy, looking for a cute shirt for fall - a shirt that could also work for study abroad - and I found Halloween pajamas. I decided to "trick or treat myself" and I bought them. I wore them to bed the night of September 30 so I would wake up ready for my birthday month. I love, love, love them and I've already thanked the student for the idea. General Conference was October 1 and 2. I was at Kamiko and Bekki's house, watching their dog, Jerry. He's a crazy spaz. I have since learned that I should have put him in his crate when I wanted to eat. That's the only way to keep him away from my plate. He was generally good, but I still don't want a pet. 

Me and Jerry on an early Friday morning walk

General Conference

Trick or Treat Yourself PJs

SFLSA is the student club. It stands for School of Family Life Student Association. I have been assigned to work with the club since getting my full-time job and I love it. The students are great. I'm really excited for our October activity, the Involvement Scare. Instead of Involvement Fair, it's a scare, where professors will be in their offices with decorations and candy. Students can walk around and visit professors and get information about TA and research opportunities. 

SFLSA Board Members

Allie flew into Utah on October 4. I picked her up around 10:30. Mel came with me. We got back to my house really late and I opened my birthday presents. I only got about 3 hours of sleep because we had to be on campus at 6:30 am for Allie to log in and teach. We had to do that on Wednesday, my birthday, and on Thursday. It was a tiring week. Starlyn surprised me with bakery cake, just like Jenny usually brings. She had messaged Jenny to ask her where she always got my cake. Dawna Baugh bought me lunch at Kneaders. Starlyn also brought candy for my students. One student, Rebecca, who is on the SFLSA board, decorated the lab with streamers. It was a super fun day! After work, Kamiko and Bekki and Mel met up with us at JDawgs for dinner, then we watched "Survivor" and got Italian Ice. My kids were so good to me. I got to talk to Jenny and she sent me a video of the missionaries sending "Happy Birthday" to me in Portuguese. Kamiko gave me his school picture as a present. I already bought a frame and it's in my office. 

Early morning call at the office

Wearing my new shirt and a cute Halloween apron that Jenny made me last year. Rebecca, the room decorator is behind me on the left. She's a sweetie. This whole group is great. 

Best present? YES

Best friend? YES

Allie will be here for 2 weeks total. Since she teaches at an online school, she can teach from anywhere, and it's fall break this week. University of Arkansas plays BYU this Saturday, so a lot of her friends are coming to watch the game. We have 14 tickets. I'm very excited. Taryn has already come and she brought me a pin and a t-shirt. I can't wait to wear them. Allie and Taryn went to Idaho for the weekend. I was determined to not do any work over the weekend, and I succeeded (minus a couple of emails). It was a relaxing weekend. My anxiety has been at an all-time high with student demands, concerns about my kids, and the crazy in the world and our country. I'm working with a therapist to get to the bottom of my fears. I'm making progress. Sometimes I find it hard to just breathe. It's difficult, but I'll get there. My family fasted for me yesterday and dad gave me a blessing. 

This will go on my garage door on Wednesday night