I have survived

Summer is finally here! My first two semesters of graduate school are over. I'm a little battered but none the worse for the wear. The first semester I learned that even though you take fewer credits, the work load is at least twice the undergraduate load. I had to try and cut back on extra things like movie nights, late nights, web surfing, and pleasure reading to focus on getting my work done in class and in the lab. We'll see if any of the sacrifice has paid off when grades come in next week.
I'm trying to get my committee together this week and write my prospectus which will serve as a road map for my project. It is hard to narrow down the aspects of the work our group is doing into a concrete set of goals for a project. Even my advisor agrees with me on that. It's been a little difficult to get used to the idea of doing an applied physics project. It seemed a little too 'engineering' to me at first, and I thought that I would have a tough time selling the idea to a committee. After talking with my advisor and others, I have learned that what we are doing falls very nicely into the field of applied physics, and no one but a theoretician would bat an eye at it.

Finals Week

It's finals week next week, and, of course, I don't think I am quite
ready. Maybe if I had another week or two... Even then I wouldn't be
ready. I think I am doing better in my classes this semester than last
semester. Last semester was a big shock on the system, especially after
being out of school for 8 months. The time a grad student is expected to
dedicate, and what they are supposed to accomplish in that time is nuts
it seems. Yet we all press on, and they haven't kicked me out yet.
I have to get a committee together, approve my study list, and write
and approve my prospectus in the next 2 1/2 weeks as well. The trouble
is that my project, while a good one, isn't well defined enough for a
PhD project. PhD projects are supposed to contribute something new to
your field, but so far what we're doing is just take existing, tested
materials and put them in a different shape. Nothing new about it. If we
can find some more uses for the shape we want to create, then I might
have something for a project.

Ah, the life of a grad student...

Rachel's art

The boys thought it was sooo much fun to shovel snow with me. I only hope their enthusiasm lasts when they are older.


I want a T-shirt out of the top right card. In case you can't read it, the word across the middle says "Legendary".

Takin' care of kids...

If only it were always this easy. The Friend has been a good thing so far. (that is what Rachel is reading to them here) They get so excited when 'their magazine' comes in the mail, just like mommy's and daddy's. Unfortunately, this didn't last long enough. As soon as the story was over they scattered to wreak their separate mischief on the house.

magic olive fingers

You can remember doing this when you were this age... (we all know you did, so don't try to act all sophisticated)

Silly kids in rain slickers

We have had some crazy weather here the last couple of days. Two days it has even snowed! Thankfully it only stuck to the grass and not the driveway; but even still, there were 2 inches of new snow on the grass in April.
After the snow melted it was still grey and cold, but the kids still wanted to go outside and play. I can't blame them. They really love their new rain coats.

popcorn pop

In Lightening's dance class they do a dance called 'popcorn pop' to warm up before they begin doing their other stuff. His teacher sent home a cd with that song and the song they will be performing for their recital so Lightening could practice at home. Spidey and Lady Bug like dancing too, and are sometimes a little jealous of Lightening getting to go to class. But they love dancing together at home.

K visits

Last month Rachel's sister K came in to town from Oregon to visit for a couple of weeks. Rachel had a lot of fun visiting with her. We tried to get a picture of all the cousins together, but this was about as good as it got.


Luckily, the sisters were a little more cooperative, if just as rambunctious. (you wouldn't think so from looking at the picture...)
For fun, all the girls went out and got pedicures/manicures. They were so proud of their toes afterwards.

Conference Weekend

We had a good time listening to General Conference this weekend, even with three small children. Rachel planed ahead this time and prepared some conference packs for each of the sessions for the kids. They still need some tweaking, but it was a much more enjoyable experience this time than it has been in the past. I have some pictures below of the first activity, making fruit loop necklaces. Lady Bug was really good at not eating them and just giving them to mom to put on her string. Lightening quickly caught on and started working on his by himself, but Spidey just wanted to eat them and had to work with dad to make his necklace.








After the necklaces were made, mom went into her scrapbook room to finish something while listening to the end of conference. Lady Bug didn't want mom to get away from her so she tried to follow.

(I learned this from my brothers...)

I don't have pictures of the other activities that Rachel had for the kids, but they seemed to have fun and let their parents listen to most of conference.

In other news...

A little while ago we got Rachel a bike so we can start taking family bike rides (we have a trailer for the kids) and try to save a little on gas for short errands. It has been a lot of fun to go out together and the kids like it too. But then tragedy struck on Saturday. We were on our way from a picnic at a park to the store to get a redbox movie for Rachel to watch while I was away at priesthood session, and Rachel tried to ride up a driveway. The driveway had a tall curb and she tried to take it at too much of and angle, and she ended up sprawled on all fours on top of her bike. Luckily she wasn't hurt bad and she was wearing a helmet. She is finding new bruises as time passes though but I think she'll be just fine in a day or so.