Temple Square

We took my parents to Temple Square last night to look at the lights and then go to The Gateway to do some christmas shopping. We had a lot of fun, but it was freezing! Luckily there was only a tiny bit of snow in Salt Lake so the roads weren't bad.

I guess it was too cold for a real smile from either of us.

I loved the red and orange lights, especially next to the temple.

I have always loved the architecture of this building. It looked so beautiful with the orange lights surrounding it.

This was an awesome Christmas tree at the gateway. My camera batteries died so I had to take this with my phone.

BYU v UTAH

Such an amazing game! We had so much fun watching this game! We were on the 3rd row in the North endzone. Where the game was won in overtime! Here are pictures because I am too excited to write.

(These are all my pictures, DO NOT STEAL THEM!)

We won in overtime and the fans rushed the field!

Some of the players were lifted up...

And so was my brother!

And just in case you missed the end, here it is from my camera.

Thanksgiving week

Monday we went to Kate's play at the high school. For a high school play it was pretty good. We also found out Jason has been accepted to the University of Colorado, Denver School of Medicine.
Tuesday was pretty much a normal day. Wednesday Jason played video games and I watched Monk at my moms. We then had home teachers over.

Finally, on Thanksgiving, we started out the day with cleaning. We did all of the dishes, put all of our laundry away, cleaned our bedroom, our living room, the bathroom, and our spare room. When that was done I worked on desserts for the big dinner. First was my favorite, chocolate mousse pie! I then worked on a chocolate trifle. We got to my moms and our dinner was delicious! Each of the kids made something to contribute to the wonderful thanksgiving dinner. Tanner bought pumpkin pie, I made dessert, Janna made salads, Kate made mashed potatoes, Penny set the table and was going to make a cheese ball but didn't get the recipe so we improvised and it was delicious! My mom and dad did everything else. The Turkey was really good, and very moist. After dinner we each helped clean up, and then went downstairs to watch Star Trek and then UP. Two WONDERFUL movies to end the day with.

Later that night Jason and I prepared for the morning. We worked out our game plan and were all set.

The alarm was set. We got up at 4:45 and quickly got ready. We got in our fast car and proceeded to Target. We got there just in time. (The doors were open) We grabbed the games we wanted and hurried over to electronics to see if they had any of the other things we wanted. We found some tv series that we wanted but we ran out of luck when it came to getting a hard drive. 1 terabyte was on sale for $60! We wanted to get a couple but unfortunately they were out. The lines were insane! We ended up going to the electronics check out. While I waited in line Jason went to Office Depot to get some memory for our computers to make them faster. The line took so long at Target, when I checked out, I only had to wait 10 minutes for him. We then went to the Target and Office Depot in American fork to get more memory, and to see if the Target had the hard drives and another tv series we forgot to get at the first Target. I had no luck at the Target, Jason did get more memory at the Office Depot so it wasn't a waste of time. We went back to the Target in Orem because Jason insisted he saw the tv series I was lacking, at that Target. I jumped out of the car and looked for the show. I found it within 3 minutes and got in line. The store had calmed down a lot, there were still a lot of people but not as many and the more crazy ones were gone.

Our next stop, Best Buy, to see if they had anything good. We found a couple of BluRays for only $8 and bought those. The line wasn't very long, which was very nice. Then we went to WalMart to see if they had any BluRays left. We were told they didn't, but what the person meant was that the good ones were gone. We did buy a gift for Jason's nephew (best gift ever for a 12 year old turning 13 EVER)!

We were finally finished, we stopped at my moms for breakfast and then Jason stayed and took a nap while I went with my mom and sisters to Spanish Fork to a Christmas craft fair thing. There were so many neat things there! We ended up getting a couple of great things.

After our shopping it was time for me to crash. Jason and I went home and watched some tv and then I napped.

We are back.

It certainly has been a while! Oops. Here are a couple of things that have happened the past couple of weeks.

Jason had his interview with University of Nevada (in Reno). I was able to go with him, we drove to Elko, Nevada on Thursday night, and then to Reno the next day. Jason interviewed at 2 and finished at 5. We then drove to Sacramento and slept.

After Sacramento we were able to backtrack just a little bit and meet up with some friends of ours from our old ward. I was finally able to meet their daughter, who is 1 year old. She was so much fun, and so cute! I loved seeing them and getting to spend some time with them after not seeing them in over a year! Thanks for letting us come over and see you guys, Shea, CJ, and Naomi!

After Sacramento we drove to San Francisco. We parked in a parking garage, and then walked around for about 1/2 an hour. It was so much fun being back in San Fran. The first time I went I was in high school and I went with my sister J and our friend C. I was glad to be back with Jason, and our GPS. We saw some really cool buildings and took a couple of pictures.

This time around we were able to see WICKED! It was amazing! It turns out the Glinda is the same one as when my mom and sister saw it in New York. She was hilarious!

After Wicked we got back in the car and headed to Ghirardelli Square. We drove up and down the evil hills of San Francisco. They were so steep! I almost peed my pants (but not really). There were times when I couldn't see the road over the hood of my car. Very scary. It was a really clear night and from the top of the hill (as we were going down) we could see alcatraz and it was amazingly cool looking. When we got to Ghirardelli Square we got a banana split which was so delicious! They have a really cool display where it shows how the chocolate is made, it was spectacular!

We drove back to Reno that night, stayed at the Circus Circus, and went home the next morning.

We got to Orem around 7, went to my moms house, had dinner and then went home to sleep. Jason got up really early and drove up to the University of Utah for his interview!

The next day (Tuesday) after school, work, work, and more school I picked Jason up from his school and we went to a benefit concert at UVU. It featured bands like Slaughter, Adjacent to Nothing, Parralax, and some others. It was a very neat experience, and Mark Slaughter is pretty dang talented! There were so many cool people there. The writer of the movie The Rainman was there, and so was the man the story was based off. They also brought the Oscar that the movie won and Jason and I were both allowed to hold it! (The man in the background of my picture is the man who inspired Rainman) (yes, the Oscar is real, and yes it was HEAVY! The color had also faded because so many people have held it)

On Thursday Jason headed off to Denver, Colorado for another interview. Even though he left on Thursday, the actual interview wasn't until Friday. After the interview he called me and let me know how he thought it went and then told me he got a phone call from Minnesota saying that he has been accepted there. At least now we have two places to choose from (just in case).

Last night (Friday) Jason was still in Denver, but about to come home, and I had nothing to do. A friend of mine at work and I started talking and I ended up going with her to the Pow-wow at my school. I got in free because I was with her, and ended up being one of the volunteers. I helped shred lettuce for the Indian tacos that are being served there tonight, and I also helped cook the fry bread. It was so much fun and I am glad I had the chance to help out, and learned a little bit of Native American culture.

Today we went to the BYU vs Airforce game, it was very fun. I saw some girls I went to school with. It was really fun seeing them at the game. (Hello Kelsey and Marianne).

U

Jason has an interview with the University of Utah. We are not sure on the date yet. We heard about it sometime last week, but I didn't want to post until we knew when the interview was, obviously I couldn't wait any longer.

First response from a Med School.

Jason just heard back from his first Med School yesterday.

A letter came in the mail for him at my parents house. My sister Penny sent me a text telling me there was a letter for Jason from some med school but she couldn't remember which one. I didn't think much of it because he has been getting a few letters from schools asking him to apply to them.

I got Jason from school so he could come home and study for a test. When we got home I told him Penny said he got a letter. He asked which school, so I texted Penny asking which one. While I was texting my mom called me. Asked if I wanted to meet her at Costco for grocery shopping. I had to take Jason back to school to take the test so I most likely wouldn't be able to.

I asked her where the letter was from. Dartmouth. My jaw dropped a little. They told Jason he wouldn't hear from them until January. I told him it was from Dartmouth. Jason looked a little down, he said it was probably a rejection letter because it came so soon. We asked my mom to open it.

"Dear Jason: Congratulations... It's a pleasure to inform you... Dartmouth Medical School Admissions Committee has accepted your application for admission and approved a position for you in the 2010 entering class of the M.D. program... A deposit is not required... Call ______ if we can answer any questions for you"

I thought it was a hoax when my mom was reading it to me, or at least a tricky way of saying he wasn't accepted. Jason was studying while I was trying to relay the message from my mom to him. He didn't get it. After she read the letter to me (the important parts) I turned to Jason and said, "You were ACCEPTED! You made it!"

He looked shocked and then ecstatic! He called his parents, I texted my siblings. I asked if I could post it on my blog and he told me as soon as he saw the actual letter and made sure it wasn't a fake I could post it.

Needless to say I got in the car and met my parents at Costco to get some groceries, and the letter of course.

I brought it home, read it, took pictures of it, and then let Jason read it ;) It also came with a personal note telling Jason congratulations and to call if he had any questions, it was from the director of admissions.

WOW! I am so glad he is in! Now we can drop some of the other schools (ones we don't really care about, but applied because Jason knew he could get in)! He will still go to interviews to ones that are in the locations we want (if he gets interviews with them).

Interviews

Three more interviews:

Minnesota: University of Minnesota (twin cities)

Reno: University of Nevada

Colorado: University of Colorado