Summer is Over... Now Back to School

Well, the summer is finally over and school has resumed. I'm pleased to say that after the past three years of graduate work my final year looks like it will be much easier. I'm looking forward to having more free time to spend how ever we want.

Here are a few final photos from this summer's escapades:

Here Jen stands triumphant over the remains of a massive vine hedge (formerly 3 feet wide, 6 feet tall, 50 feet long). We spent two days cutting it down and ripping out the extensive root system. In the process we found all sorts of odd items buried in the vines--children's toys, Christmas lights, and a beer can or two (we don't drink). Jen is standing on one of the smaller posts that further complicated the fence removal.

Here is the new fence we built in place of the old nasty vine covered fence. The gate was not yet hung when we took this picture, but now it is all done. All that is left is for our grass to grow and fill in the dirt patches that we dug up while removing vine roots.

And finally, here is Jen with one of the twins, making a lovely face.

Washington Photos

Well, our stay in Washington is coming to an end, so let me preempt Jen with some of my favorite photos from the trip! I'll begin with our first week in Pacific Beach with Tiff, Mia, and our nieces.

Brynley, Kylee, Jen, and Kennedy

Matt and Brynley

champions of the 'Founder's Day' games

Mark (Jen's dad) loves model planes

Jen covets a friend's mini cooper

nieces on the beach

Jen and Mark at Kevin's (Jen's brother) birthday party

Brent marries our new in-law, Nicole

Matt and Brynley (our six-year old niece)

Off to Washington!

Well, Brent (Jen's youngest brother) is getting married in a week so we're off to Washington State to join him. It will be fun to see family again. We saw most of Jen's family when we were in Provo (they came out to for her cousin's mission home-coming) but I didn't get to see Jeremiah (Jen's sister's husband). So we'll spend a few days with Jeremiah and Tiffany at their home in Seabrook, a fancy smancy resort community he is building on the Washington coast. Hopefully Kevin (Jen's other little brother), Brent, Jeremiah and I can get in an evening of our classic spade's rivalry. Kevin and I pair up against Brent and Mia.

My research trip to Utah went well. I was a little frustrated by the LDS Church archive restrictions, but the archivists there tried very hard to provide me the materials I requested. My research centers on 20th century Native American (maybe just Navajo) relations with different churches. The problem is threefold; first, in the LDS Church there is a need to maintain a united presentation. The church stands on a foundation of inspired revelation and authority, so it is hesitant to release the correspondence of members of the Indian committee because it may reveal disagreements and conflicting ideas about how to work with Indians. Second, the topic of Native American is a controversial one, and the Church would rather not release sensitive materials that may come back to bite it. I noticed that almost everything referencing George P. Lee, excommunicated Navajo general authority, was restricted. And third, the topic is so recent that many of the people in the files I want are still alive, and so some personal information remains sensitive. Even still, the archivists were wonderful about helping me to get to most those materials. I really appreciate their help. BYU's archives were the most fruitful. I found plenty of documents that clearly spell out the Church's Indian policy. Now I've got to do the same thing with the Catholic Church, and then a Protestant church or two. Then I'll hit the Navajo archives, and hopefully my advisers will be able to get me more access than I'd normally enjoy.

Today is our last day at home for a bit. The governor is coming to visit, and it is too bad we'll miss her by a few minutes. We just closed on our home (last Friday) and used a special program that has caught the governor's attention. She'll wanted to stop by our house and meet us but her schedule dictates that her visit must be at 3pm, and our flight out of here is at 3:45, so we'll just miss her. Instead she'll look at the house next door which is still for sale under the same program we used. Oh well.

So I better finish my laundry and get packed. I hope these entries let you feel like you know us a little better.

We are in Utah!

Matt and I drove up to Utah on Tuesday to do research at BYU and the Church archives in Salt Lake. I was unsure where to even begin with the research, but I have found interesting information on one of the early Mormon Tabernacle Choir directors, George Careless. I have a lot of reading to do now! Hopefully the research will turn in to a published article or maybe even the topic for my final paper.

It is a little strange to be back in Provo once again. I lived here for 9 years and it feels somewhat like coming home. But things are different and many people have moved away. We went by our old house and it's still so cute! My family arrives this week to celebrate the return of one of my cousins, Heath from a mission in Brazil. It will be a great fourth of July! I cannot wait to see my three beautiful nieces: Brynley, Kylee and Kennedy. I wish my little nephew, Noah was coming too. I am the luckiest Aunt in the world. Below are my nieces and nephew in photos we took at Disneyland.


Our house is finally painted! It is quite colorful and everyone really likes it. There is a lot of touch up to do, but we will deal with that after we get back from our travels. I especially like the red wall in the kitchen. It adds some spice! Our house truly feels like a home.
Well, I want to include pictures of the house and my nieces and nephew, so I will sign off for now. Have a wonderful day!

Visiting Utah

So this week we are in Utah doing a little research. It is very glamorous. We sit in very quiet rooms requesting and reading manuscripts all day. Delightful! Jen is researching George Careless, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Director in the mid-late 1800s. I am looking at religious influences on Southwestern tribes, and here in Provo looking at some old records on the American Indians Studies and Research program, as well as the Indian student placement program. Hopefully our research will make it into publications.

While we are here we will also going to spend a little time with family. Jen's cousin is coming home from a mission this week. He was in Brazil. I'm excited to see Jen's brother, Brent (or as I call him, Brentilda). It is nice to be back in Provo for a little bit, and it is funny how some things change and others remain the same. We attended our old married student ward today, but there was only one couple there from the days when we lived here.

Summer has been productive. We worked on the house a bit, but Jen wants to write about that. I worked for the university for the first half of the summer. I maintained a list serve and web page, and now I'm feeling a little more competent about managing a web page of my own. Maybe I'll open one up soon.

So that is it for me, today. I hope you find these entries give you a bit more insight about our personalities.

Okay, so I am just trying this for the first time. I really like pictures, so I will probably include lots of pictures! Today, I will begin with one.

Don't I have the best husband in the world? He gave me the card, flower and some cool tiki torches for the backyard! What a sweetheart! Tiki torches may sound like a strange gift, but we are anxious to have a backyard party celebrating our new little home and I want tiki torches to "set the mood!" We are just waiting for some grass to grow and we will definitely have a fun party--have to show off our wonderful new barbecue!

I think that is enough to get things going. I will include some before and after pictures of the house and yard. It's hard to tell in a picture, but we've sure done a lot of work. Thank goodness for summer and a break from the demands of school!

Okay, the word for today is hemidemisemiquaver. I found it on Merriam-Webster's word of the day and Jen was pretty excited about learning a new musical term. Lots of websites offer a "word-of-the-day," but Merriam Webster provides more challenging words.

Today I'm anxiously waiting by the computer for two reasons: first, my mentor professor wants to meet today but he's hard to tie down to a time, and I think he'll probably just email me a half hour before his preferred meeting time; and second, I received an email from a potential buyer who needs a book asap, so I said I could overnight it if the order came in this morning. Now I have to wait and see if it comes in. I sell books on Amazon.com, or at least I did. My supply is dwindling since we left Nebraska and I've not replaced them. While attending the UNL I took advantage of the university press' semi-annual book sales. They sold their overstock and damaged books for pennies (well, $2.00 for a softbound; $4.00 for hardbound). I would buy up all the books I could find that were in excellent condition and that I thought would sell for a profit, and then I'd post them online. I generally undercut everybody else's price, except for a few books that were only selling for a dollar or two. I viewed those as bad investments and just gave those books away. Anyhow, enough about my book sales!

We just moved into a new home, and we don't actually close on the property until June 13, but we're already living in the home as part of a pre-occupancy agreement. We've been doing lots of yard work and cleaning up the insides a bit. We changed all the light fixtures and door nobs, fixed and expanded the sprinkler system, pulled weeds, planted grass seed (it was just dirt and weeds), and planted a little garden. We started the garden a little late to see anything grow, but it is a good experience. The peppers all seem to do well--they love the Arizona sun and can grow almost year-round. The tomato is struggling, and two of the watermelon plants already died. The third watermelon plant is just coming to life, but we have low expectations for this season. I think we're going to plant some snow peas in the back soon. They grow fast and it is not too late to plant them and expect results.

Well, Jen is making breakfast and I have some reading to do (I've got a growing list of books to complete this summer). Thanks for reading, and we'll post more soon.

Welcome to our lives!

Thanks for visiting our new website. We hope to list information and images that will give a broader picture of our lives. Stay tuned for more!