Benefits

Ok, ok...

I've tried my flight benefits twice now. Flying standby has allowed me to visit family for very little money and to work on my anxiety. 

My first trip was to Burbank to visit Derek, Rachel, and kids (Rose, Charlie, and Milo). I had a weekend without a lot of responsibilities and the flight loads were light, so I asked the Hunters if I could come Friday - Sunday. I learned how to book a flight online with Allie's flight benefits. When I got to the airport, I told myself, I only need ONE seat. I only need ONE spot. I tried to not stress and realize I could always wait for the next flight or just go back home. I got on the flight and made it to Burbank. Derek picked me up. We got burgers for dinner on Friday. We went to Little Tokyo in Los Angeles. I have heard Derek and Rachel and kids talk about Little Tokyo and was excited to go. There are certain treats they like to buy and certain stores they like to browse. It was a beautiful day and we really had fun. We got Melon Bread, which is a really fun yeast roll with a crackly, sugary outer coating. I loved it. I thought about going home Saturday night to avoid Sunday travel, which can be busy, but decided to take my chances. I flew out on the first flight Sunday and made it home. I did it! I flew standby with no incident. 

My brother hates to drive, but he came and got me anyway

Charlie still loves silky nightgowns. Milo is still a cutie pie

Rose is getting so big and has such a fun, spunky sense of style

I love my sister Rachel so much

It was so fun to see Derek, Rachel, and kids. Rose was nice enough to give me her bedroom. 

Just last week I went to Kristen and Doug's house for a long weekend. I had avoided travel during Easter and spring break. I really didn't plan to travel between now and study abroad, but I was really worn out from work and needed a break. I planned to leave on Friday morning and come back Monday. I joked with Kristen that I would fly out Thursday, but I didn't want to deal with public transportation at midnight. An hour later, I got a call that she and Doug would pick me up if I wanted to hop the Thursday night flight. I kept my commitment to lead a sister's walking group, packed my bags, and got in the car. I got on the 11:00 pm flight to Oakland. 

Friday Kristen and I went on a walk, then went to the outlet mall. We shopped for 4 1/2 hours. We've never spent that much time at the mall. We each got some shirts and pants. Kristen got some shoes. We ended up getting pizza for dinner because we were out so late. Pizza is always eaten in the family room on the couch. Saturday we went walking and grabbed lunch with Kim Cassetti. It's her birthday soon and it was fun to take her flowers and to treat her to lunch. Because it was Saturday, Rob was home and we got to visit with him. He's so pleasant to talk to. It's always so great to see Kim. We love her so much. I helped Kristen clean out her closet. We boxed up clothes that no longer fit or that she no longer wears. That can be hard to do, but she did it. 

I got to see Kristen and Doug's kitchen remodel

We bought identical shirts

A comfortable and beautiful couch that they ordered 14 months ago finally arrived

Sunday we went to church, then Maria Trump came over for a walk and for dinner. We had delicious grilled chicken sandwiches. I love that both Maria and Kim live near Kristen. I know that when I visit her, I can see good friends too. Doug had a work trip on Monday, so I got a ride with him to the airport. It was so simple and it was a great weekend. Just what I needed. 

I hit the jackpot with neighbors like Lynn and Michael Maughan

It was super windy!

Back at work for the last week of classes. Tuesday morning, my neighbor Lynn and I went to the Saratoga Springs Temple open house. Purple is a main color in the interior and it was beautiful. The stained glass is a nod to the view of Utah Lake and the mountains to the east. We taught our last prep class for study abroad. Chad Gibbs, our interior design professor who will be joining us, did a short presentation on the architecture in Bath. I can't believe we are going again. We've been planning this for almost 9 months - a pregnancy. I also helped teach methods on Wednesday morning, then had a final seminar with our student teachers. They're ready to work and move on to their next steps. I've also been working on UAFCS president stuff and getting ready for a class I'm teaching for Relief Society. Natalie and I have also been making plans for when we will go to the restaurants we want to try. We're not sure we'll be going on study abroad again, so we'll treat this trip like it could be our last. 

We love our foods lab crew: back row - Emily Burdette, Malia Collier, Morgan Johnson, Thomas Lundquist, and Michaela Christensen, front row - Starlyn Hjorth, me, and Sydney Cluff

Teachers and student teachers: Sandy Kezerian, Kimmy Bell-Young, Anzie Brown, JoLynn Holt, Kimby Yates, Sidney Weight, me, Nicole Lauper, Natalie Hancock (Krista Ohlmstead on Zoom from Texas)

Thursday we had a faculty dinner to celebrate Jeff Hill and Alan Hawkins, who will be retiring this summer. They've done great work and are great men. They will be missed. Friday, my aunt Carolyn and I went on a walk at the mall. Then I hit up Trader Joe's for some groceries. I also went to the outlet mall. I got some shoes. I'd really like to find a black or dark gray skirt, but haven't found one yet. I was inspired by Kristen and also cleaned out my closet of clothes that don't fit or that I don't wear. Again, it's hard to admit the body is changing, but it is. I'm getting better about accepting aging. Really, I am. 

Last night was ward temple night. Only 7 of us went, but it was really nice. I'm glad I went. I usually go in the middle of the week and go in Provo. It was nice to be with a few ward members. My plumbing also got roughed in yesterday. Garret Hjorth and his friend Joe came and broke up concrete and laid new pipe for relocating the toilet and adding a shower. My house was SOOOOO dusty. They got it done. It took 11 hours. Wow. I'm so grateful I know people who will help me with this project. I'm willing to pay and I do, but I'm glad I have friends on whom I can rely. 

I read my patriarchal blessing today and something that struck me that I've never noticed before is the charge to set an example for my kids. I think I've done that, but I know I could do better. My kids really are the best. I can't wait to spend 6 weeks with Mel in Europe. Allie will come spend time with us and I'm very excited about that. 

Life is good. I get lonely sometimes. I want to find my person, my eternal companion, but sometimes I'm not sure it will happen. That makes me sad. I don't mean to sound ungrateful about the life I have. My kids are fantastic, I have a home I love, my job is great, and I have the support of friends and family. I can still want a healthy relationship. 

Long Winter and Easter

Where do I start? 

Allie's visit and an early Easter egg hunt? 

Study abroad prep? 

Scholarship applications?

My basement?

Easter?

Life as a BYU professor and mom is still very, very busy. It's also very, very good!

Allie has a new job as a flight attendant. As a result, she has flight benefits and can fly for free. I have flight benefits, but I don't fly for free. I pay a small fee to fly. Allie came home in mid-March, so we decided to gather for dinner and surprise her with an early Easter egg hunt. I didn't get any pictures because I was just enjoying being with all the kids. According to my count, they found all but 10 of the eggs, but I haven't found any, so I have no idea if they found them all or not. Oh well. When I mentioned our Easter egg hunt, someone asked me "remind me...how many grandkids do you have?" My answer, "I don't have grandkids. The Easter egg hunt is for my adult kids." We love it. 

We are pretty much planned for study abroad and the prep class is going great. The students are receptive and their designer presentations have been fantastic so far. We found out that we have some extra money. We'll use it for some group meals and emergencies. The School of Family Life was very generous to help offset the cost for our students by $1500. Melia has applied for 5 scholarships. She's heard from 4 so far and has received over $9000 in financial aid for study abroad. All along she said she wasn't going to pay for any of it...she was right. I'm really excited about what we have planned for the students. Natalie and I prayerfully worked on room assignments today and everything is working out great. It's been a ton of work. I'll be honest,..I'll be kinda glad when it's over and we have a year off. We literally started planning just a couple of months after getting home. It's time for a rest. 

Part of my responsibilities as an advisor for SFLSA is to help read scholarship applications. I have been assigned to read 24 applications and to give them a score based on their answers. Then the directors of each program uses my score to help determine how funds are allocated. It takes me 10-15 minutes/application because I don't want to miss any details. I'll be glad when I'm done with those. SFLSA has their senior banquet and I've been invited as a faculty member to attend. I feel very honored. I realize it's probably not an FCS major that requested me, but someone on the board. I really enjoy my association with these students. They are great and they work so hard to plan activities for their peers. One of them gave me the most beautiful floral arrangement that she had made in her floral design class. I wish more students would get involved. One of my goals is to get more FCS majors involved in SLFSA this year.  I hope I can do it. 

The basement finish project is coming along. I think that Lee Hjorth figured out how to make sure I don't see any more mice. He came over and we took down a bunch of insulation and blocked EVERY tiny hole from my basement to the exterior of my home with steel wool and foam. I haven't seen a sign of a rodent since. YAY. The framing is done, ductwork is done, electrical is done. Now I just wait for Garret Hjorth to have time to do the plumbing. Starlyn and Lee went with me to pick out all the items I need for my bathroom (shower, tub, vanity, mirror, and toilet). It's getting there. I actually kinda laugh about this project. I'm collecting bedrooms that I don't need. Oh well. 

This has been a very long winter. I tried to not complain. Many people are complaining every time it snows. There really isn't anything we can do about it, so I try to just patiently do my thing. I've been taking up walking in our building with Natalie since I can't walk outside. We just walk around and around our floor while we discuss work stuff. I've also been doing more weights, which makes me feel good. I know that strength training is important for me at my age. 

Last weekend was General Conference and there was a huge push to really prepare for Easter. I enjoyed that reminder. Many talks mentioned Palm Sunday and Holy Week. I made a point to read scriptures and connect with the story of the last week of Jesus' life each day. We make such a big deal of preparing for Christmas, but make little effort when it comes to Easter. Without the resurrection, there would be NO Christmas. I'm grateful for the reminders. The kids (Kamiko, Bekki, and Mel) came over for church then dinner. We played games. I hemmed some pants for Bekki and we watched TV. Allie went to church in Indianapolis in a cute new Easter outfit she had made. She said a nice older woman invited her to sit with her, which she did. She also met the Relief Society president, with whom she's texted a bit. Allie is a sweetie and I miss having her nearby, but we FaceTime everyday, so it's not too bad. 

Allie made up the pattern for this cute top. You can't see, but she added a great bias-cut ruffle on the bottom of the skirt

BYU is getting a new president on May 1st. It's Academic Vice President Shane Reese. When his appointment was announced, my TA Thomas said we needed to take him a cake. So, we froze the extra cake from 215 and I reached out to the Office of the President. He made time to meet with my class. It was great. We got to sit at a conference table. AVP Reese went around and shook everyones' hand and met them. He told them that he remembers interviewing me and that I mentioned how much I love my students. I don't even remember that. It was so fun for the students. 

Maile Fisher took this selfie while we were waiting for President - elect Reese to join us

Starlyn and Lee treated the employees of the foods lab and the upholstery shop to lunch at the Cannon Center cafeteria last week. It was so nice of them. We had yummy food and I brought our new dice game obsession, Biscuits. A lot of us played it and we had a lot of fun. 

Front row: me, Morgan Johnson, Allissa Kelley
Back row: Emily Burdette (also works at upholstery shop), Malia Collier, Starlyn, Thomas Lundquist, Michaela Christensen

Work and Fun

I get to be a faculty advisor for our student association. I love that part of my job. I get to rub shoulders with and mentor some pretty incredible students. This past week we shared Valentines at our board meeting. I found scratch and sniff cards that smelled like tacos, pizza, donuts, and chocolate chip cookies. I thought it was appropriate from the cooking teacher. I plan to give them to my class on Tuesday. 

SFLSA Board in the 2022-2023 tshirt

My TA Michaela and I recently presented at our UACTE conference. She and I demonstrated recipes you can make in a 50-minute lab using the Instant Pot. We made macaroni and cheese and applesauce for them to try. We also talked a bit about how to convert a conventional recipe to Instant Pot. A lot of former students were there, so I asked them all to stick around for a photo. I don't look forward to conferences, but it's always fun to see friends in my field. I saw former students, former classmates, former roommates, etc. The presentation went really well, in spite of me forgetting the lid to my Instant Pot. We made it work and demonstrated one recipe at a time instead of both at the same time. Oops. 

All of these folks are current or former students

I got to see 2 former roommates this week. Kathy Thompson Gray was in town. She came Tuesday night. I'm glad I had made baked potato soup on Monday. We had soup quickly before going to the church for a Relief Society activity. I'm on the activity committee. The activity was a get-to-know you night and we had a great time. Not great attendance, but those that came had a great time. That's all that matters. We'll gradually get more. Kathy spent the night at my house and headed to her daughter's house on Wednesday. We had a fun visit, catching up on each other's lives. Then Syd Hoopes Ash reached out. She came to campus on Friday. We got to visit for about 30 minutes in my office before I had to get to a meeting. Kathy lives in Arizona and Syd lives in Kansas. Both are lovely women. It's nice to connect. 

Life is good. 

Rose Hunter has a birthday coming up. I told Allie that she was going shopping with her mom to get makeup for her 12th birthday. Allie said her cousins Sarah and Allison told her to get mascara first. Allie said she needed to give Rose the same advice. We quickly had a video chat with Sarah and Allison to laugh about it and to discuss what Rose should get. Allison and I said blush and mascara. Allie and Sarah entertained the thought of mascara and eyebrows. Allison and I were adamant that eyebrows are a NO for a 12-year old. We laughed and laughed. 

Allie Adcock, Sarah Christesen, Allison DeVuyst, and me

Kristen and Doug were in town. Mel and I went to Allison and James' house last night for pizza and movie night with Kristen, Doug, James, Allison, Audrey, and Mac. We had a great time. Mel and I had worked in the morning, cleaning my basement to prepare for finishing it. That is coming as soon as I get the approval from the city. Can't wait!

Cruising with Sisters

My sisters and I planned a trip for late January. We went on a quick cruise out of Los Angeles. Kristen, Karen, Debbie, and I were the only ones available for the trip. Jenny and Scott continue to serve in Africa and Kelly is finishing her PhD at Oxford in England. 

Kris, Debbie, and Karen flew into Long Beach by mid-day on Thursday. I had to arrive late Thursday. I found a flight that left after work. I didn't get to use my new flight benefits. I wouldn't have gotten on, because it was a full flight. I took a taxi to the airport. Karen's friend works for Marriott, so we got a screaming deal on a hotel room. We went to bed after talking a bit and got up to enjoy a nice breakfast before getting an Uber to the port. 

In the hotel lobby

At our yummy breakfast

I did nothing to plan this trip. I just showed up with what Karen told me to bring. Life had been too busy for me to think about details. As it was, I worked until 6:00 pm the day I left to wrap things up before heading to the airport. I also dived right back into work on Monday, once I got reception. I don't really get a break from work. I can't imagine what Natalie's work/life balance looks like. 

Our Uber driver was a super nice guy who is Christian. We had nice talks about life. He had some insightful thoughts on the pandemic. He says he thinks God didn't like how we were treating each other, so he sent all of humanity to their rooms to think about their behavior. When we thought we were ready to get out, God would send another strain, sending us to our rooms to think again. Not a bad point. Can you believe we went to the wrong port? He drove us there and said "you're on Princess, right?" We weren't. Karen double checked and we were supposed to be an a different port. It was only an additional 15 minutes to get to the right port. We got through security in time to hear Cindy Lauper's "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" playing on the ship. 

Karen, me, Debbie, and Kristen ready to board ship

We were on the 8th floor, just a couple of rooms apart

Non-sleepers

Sleepers

We checked out bags and took our backpacks onto the ship. It's huge. Karen had been on a lot of cruises. Debbie had been before. Kristen and I had never been on a big cruise. It's crazy. It's also very unsettling to be waited on all day by people who don't get to leave the ship. The employees were mostly Filipino, Indian, and Indonesian. They don't leave the ship and they have tiny living quarters. In fact, our server, Mary, said that she and her husband are fortunate to share a room with bunk beds. 

Anyway, we were on the ship from 11:00 on Friday morning to 8:00 am Monday morning. We got some pizza and fruit when we got on the ship. We found a table in the library and played games. Debbie and I got our soda cards and enjoyed some drinks. We were able to get to our rooms around 3:00 pm. Karen and I shared a room because we like to take naps and sleep in. Kristen and Debbie shared a room because they don't sleep in and they don't nap. We were in an inside cabin and I loved how dark it got when Karen and I turned off the lights for a little nap before dinner. 

We were in the 5:30 dinner group. We could select any appetizer we wanted, any main dish, and any dessert. We could even ask for more than 1 of anything. Our server, Mary, took great care of us. Karen taught us a new card game called Swoop. We played games, ate food, and talked (Karen and I napped) for 3 days. 

Saturday was a port day at Ensenada, Mexico. We went off the boat around 11:00 and were back on the boat and in the hot tub within 5 hours. We went to the Cathedral in town. It was beautiful. We only got to spend about 15 minutes inside before a woman told us they were closing. Good thing I speak Spanish because she definitely didn't speak English. We then walked to a fish taco stand Karen had heard about. Right across the street was a woman selling tamales. I got a chicken and green salsa tamale because I knew I'd be mad if I didn't get one. It was delicious. Sooooo good. The fish taco was good too. I ordered all in Spanish. 

First time I've been to Mexico. It was fun to use my Spanish

Saturday night we watched the ice skating show on the ship. Sunday was a quiet day at sea. I didn't get seasick at all. I did take motion sick pills each day, just to be safe. There were a few times that we felt the ship, but not enough to get sick. We took turns sharing spiritual thoughts. It's nice to spend time with them. Jenny and Kelly were missed. It was weird, but nice, to have no reception while on the ship. No emails, no texts, etc. 

Karen and I went to top deck to get reception and answer some texts and emails

Found a nice big table for breakfast and to play games

Before the fancy dinner

Karen ordered multiples and loved it all

We came home at night to towel friends, monkey, crab. 

Karen gave us each this print. I bought a frame and put it in my office

Monday we got off the ship and took a cab to the airport. We all left within a couple of hours of each other. By the time I got home, it was about 5:00 pm. I had to dive right into work. Emails, course announcements, phone calls, etc. I also had to go grocery shopping. Life as a single person isn't so glamorous. Lots to do and nobody to run errands for me. Oh well.