One Year Closer to Retirement

Dress I bought in Burano. I love it now that I hemmed the sleeves. I'm so glad I can sew.

Making re-usable sustainable food wraps in the sewing lab

Learning how to hold a knife and cut an apple to put in the food wrap

My work friends - Natalie, Erin, Starlyn, Jan

I wore the BEST dress that Jenny gave me. She bought it in South Africa. 

Having fun after University meeting with Stacey Nelson, Amber Williams, and Nicole Lauper.

We're 2 weeks into the 2025 - 2026 academic year. 

University Conference was good, as it always is. This is a big year because we are celebrating 150 years of BYU! University Conference is always the week before school starts. Monday included university-wide meetings. We heard from Shane Reese, there were some great musical numbers, and we heard from Clark Gilbert. After the meeting, we all got to taste the new flavor of BYU creamery ice cream, called 150 Swirl. It's slightly minty blue ice cream swirled with white chocolate ice cream. It also has brownie, chocolate chip cookie bits, and caramel. It sounds like a lot, but it's yummy. Justin Collings gave some meaningful remarks on the restoration and Joseph Smith. One thing that really struck me was that Joseph Smith said that the restoration would fundamentally change the world. If you just take the influence that BYU students and faculty have had on people through the years, there is a huge change. 

Tuesday was a university breakfast. I brought Mel as my guest. We ran into Stefanie and Kenzie Nebeker. Mother-daughter breakfast dates. It was fun. 

Wednesday we had college meetings with great breakout sessions and a good lunch. I had to eat my lunch on the run because Mel needed a ride to the airport.  After meetings on Monday - Wednesday, I had to stay on campus to get things ready for the semester to start. I'm usually more prepared, but I had a lot to do to get ready. Natalie won a prestigious university award and Starlyn won a college staff award. They are both very, very deserving. Jan Christensen, our office manager, also got a college award. I work with great people. 

Thursday was the School of Family Life faculty retreat at Thanksgiving Point. I have great colleagues. We got to discuss the vision for the year and also worked on our strategic plan. Breakfast and lunch were included. We got to go to the butterfly biome and I was really excited with a butterfly landed on me. By the time our Thursday meeting ended, I was ready for a break. Summer vacation is fantastic. It's also hard to come back from summer vacation. 

I got a lot of ideas of things I can do better in my classes, and even with our TAs. Starlyn and I went to a session on how to bring the gospel into work with TAs, and decided to start our weekly TA training with a thought and prayer. I plan to incorporate a writing assignment into 215 and ask students to include scripture and quotes from general church leaders. That shouldn't be too hard, considering how important family and family mealtime are. 

I spend all afternoon Friday helping with New Student Orientation. We did an open house for new students that included a project in the sewing and foods labs. We didn't get a great turnout, but we got to bond with TAs and FCSE majors. We'll get there. 

Classes started on Wednesday, September 3. It was a good week. 215 is difficult because I have to cover "lecture content" and lab all during my 3-hour lab window. We did it, though. Winter 2025 was the first time I had to do that and the timeline didn't work well, so I made some adjustments. I have 2 new TAs and they are fantastic - Parker and Averie. I really appreciate our support staff. We also hired a new food buyer, my neighbor Megan Honsvick. It's a very steep learning curve, but I think she's enjoying it. I hope she stays around, because I think she'll be great. 

I've talked to my money lady, Lorie, and I can retire when I'm 67. I've also started working with an attorney on my will and trust. I now have a burial plot in Holden. I'm really getting old.