Thursday, December 23, 2010

Home Sweet Home

Significant things that have happened since we've been home...

* Only a couple people at church asked if/when I was going to have a baby
* Shopping, shopping, and more shopping!
* P.T's and Chick-fil-A
* Daniel and Jacob scarred the possum in the garage for life, hopefully it won't come back anytime soon
* hyperboleandahalf has been read (caution: adult language in some posts)
* Jessie (the cat) has made herself comfortable in our laundry pile a couple of times
* I got to put my ornaments on the tree
* I realized how much I missed Southern accents
* We have lots of yummy treats (one of the perks of being in the bishop's family)
* Daniel has all of the sports coverage he could ever want
* Mom bought a whole box of Christmas tree cakes just for me
* Family Mario Kart parties
* And other things that I can't remember right now...

Happy holidays!

-Jenn and Daniel

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Halfway there

We are smack in the middle of finals so this will be a short post, but I had to share this recipe...

Best. Brownies. Ever.

Definitely make the frosting too! The trick is to add a touch of milk when you're mixing it, it comes out so much smoother. These are our new favorite treat!

I sold back my books yesterday and the bookstore took all but two of them. I got $70 back, which would've made me mad had I bought them at the bookstore, but I got most of them on Amazon and my entire book collection for the semester cost like $100 so I got a pretty decent return on them.

And yes, you can sell back books that you did not purchase at the bookstore.

Also, our friends David and Carrie had their baby! Well, Carrie had the baby, but David was there too and now they're the most adorable family ever! Their daughter is beautiful and Daniel and I get to go meet her and hang out with the proud parents later this week. I <3 babies!

Also, I will be home in 4 days. To borrow a phrase from TAMN, squeeeeeeeeee!

-Jenn

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Grover's Misadventure

Today was the last day of classes! We celebrated by going on a double date with Mark and his friend Janette to Spanish Fork to see the Festival of Lights. We picked up treats at Smith's and found the lights pretty easily. After making the rounds a couple times, we went back to Provo. Mark got his tennis racquet restrung yesterday so we went to Heritage so he could pick up his receipt and then we were off to the mall. We went to Sports Authority and looked through the posters while Mark got his racquet. We got in the car and... nothing.

Grover wouldn't start. No noise, no way to shift gears, nothing.

We said a prayer and got the jumper cables from the back of the car and the people parked next to us conveniently returned to their car so we asked them to help us. I called my dad and Mark called his dad and we got everything set up correctly. Unfortunately, Grover still wouldn't start. We tried over and over, but the car still wouldn't even make a sound. We figured it was probably the starter and since there's not a way to jump that, I went inside the mall to let the security people know we'd have to leave the car there overnight and have it towed tomorrow. When I got back, Daniel told me that one of our home teachers and neighbor, Drew (who is pretty car savvy), was coming to get us and that a new starter would be around $300 (money is kind of tight right now, so it was kind of a big blow).

Two other cars near us in the parking lot were also broken, and one of them had to be towed. When the truck showed up, the guy, Matt, offered to look at our car and see if he could do anything. He confirmed that it probably was the starter and told us that sometimes the teeth of the gears misalign and if you gently knock it a few times you can put it all back in place. Matt showed us the general area where the starter would be and then left to tow one of the other cars. Drew had showed up by then and grabbed a flashlight and hammer from his car. We eventually found the starter under some hoses and after a few hits, GROVER STARTED! We all cheered and thanked Drew and Matt and drove away. We dropped off Mark and Janette and parked at our place and turned off Grover. We waited a few moments and then tried starting. Grover started, and we breathed a sigh of relief. Drew walked over and talked with us for a few minutes, then we said goodnight.

So now Daniel and I are snuggling up in bed and eating chicken pot pie and watching 30 Rock and trying to warm up and calm down. It's been a crazy evening, but we're glad we're in our apartment and Grover is in our designated parking space. We're hoping we don't have any more car problems for a LONG time! Also, don't park near Sports Authority at the University Mall, because we're pretty sure it's cursed.

-Jenn

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Finally

Almost 2 months later, we finally donated Vladimir to the National Kidney Foundation. We tried to do it through the Utah website, but since it's a Wisconsin car we would have had to transfer the title and do a bunch of other stuff that we really didn't have time or patience for, so Vladimir's just been sitting at J & M's for the last several weeks. Daniel's aunt suggested going through the Wisconsin website instead (duh, why didn't we think of that?!) and tonight we did it all online. So now it's the NKF's problem and we can move on to other car problems, like our lack of decent gas mileage in our current car. My mom just had the oil changed in her car and the guy put in some additive stuff and now she's getting 27 miles/gallon on the highway and almost that many miles in the city. I may have to do some detective work and find out how we can make that happen in our car.

Also, in case you're following our car adventures, our "new" car is a 2002 Land Rover Freelander. We found it on KSL and the guy was selling it for his friend so we got a sweet deal. We did have to buy new tires and there's only one key, but it's got some awesome features, like heated seats and air conditioning that works! We named him Grover and he's a beast, which I appreciate in the cold weather. Daniel always lets me drive, which I appreciate because I love to!




-Jenn

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Bits and Pieces

So I've been telling myself that I'll get around to doing a big giant post about everything that's been going on, but it's gotten to the point that it's overwhelming and I don't feel like doing it! So I've decided to break things down and do little posts instead of a giant one. Be on the look out for those!

Here's today's thing...


Happy belated birthday to me! These are the license plates from Vladimir. We got a new car and couldn't transfer the plates, so now we have Utah ones (blah), but I wanted to keep our Wisconsin ones somehow, so I had them made into a bag. Now we have a sweet new car and I have a sweet new purse. Yay!

Also, Daniel got accepted to TWO med schools, MCoW and University of Wisconsin-Madison (or UW-Mad as I like to call it). He's also heard back from Mayo, but he's on the Hold List (but he keeps telling everyone he's been rejected, it's NOT the same thing!). Our timeline for the final say is really up in the air, but hopefully we have an answer one way or another sooner rather than later. We should hear back from the other schools over the next couple of months, and even though Duke won't get back to us until March (SO DUMB!), at least we have somewhere to go and we're excited to see where we end up!

-Jenn

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Goodbye, Goodnight

Ok, a real update post soon, but first: MAE!

Mae has been my most favorite band in the entire world for several years. I was introduced to them in high school. I knew I loved Mae one day after my little sister's basketball game at the CB Rec Center. Dave and I were driving back to my house when the chorus of Embers and Envelopes came on as we came over the top of the bridge and coasted down. It was sunset-ish and the sky was beautiful and so was the waterway and Dave Elkins grabbed my heart and hasn't let go since!

This is the setting (just imagine you're on top of the bridge instead of looking at it)...


This is the song (awesome song, not so awesome video)...



Mae stands for Multi-Sensory Aesthetic Experience. They've put out 6 albums since 2001: Destination: Beautiful, The Everglow, Singularity, (m)orning, (a)fternoon, and (e)vening. There's also a B-Side (Destination: B-Sides) and they re-released The Everglow with a few new songs and DVD. The Everglow is definitely my favorite, I love the lyrics and the overall story of the album. I never get tired of hearing it.

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to see Mae on their last tour. The band has decided to go their separate ways but got together one last time to thank their fans for all the love and support. It was hands down the best show I've ever been to in my entire life! Words just can't explain how fantastic it was to see the original band rocking out to the music that has been such a big part of the life for the last few years. I kept track of the set list...

Bloom. Anything. Embers and Envelopes. The Everglow. Suspension. Breakdown. Ready and Waiting to Fall. Night/Day. I Just Needed You to Know. Soundtrack for Our Movie. The Ocean. Giving it Away. Mistakes We Knew We Were Making. Just Let Go. Summertime. Tisbury Lane. Sun. We're So Far Away. Someone Else's Arms. All Deliberate Speed. Fisherman.

Such a good collection of songs! Afterwards we got to meet the band...

For clarification, Michelle isn't part of the band, just the boys

Then we got to meet Dave! I've met him a few times before...

2007

2009

2010

Two of my favorite men! My mom kind of thinks they look alike

It makes me so sad to know that there won't be any more Mae after a few more weeks, but I'm grateful for the experiences I've had and am excited to see what's next for these guys!

I will unashamedly admit that I got a Twitter account to follow Dave Elkins, I want to know what he's going to do next! I'm not super exciting, but if you want to follow me you can find me here

If you want more Mae, check out these songs/videos. I tried to get a good mix...


Skyline Drive (Destination: Beautiful)


Summertime (Destination: Beautiful)


Sun (Acoustic) (Destination: B-Sides)


Tisbury Lane (Destination: B-Sides)


We're So Far Away (The Everglow)


Suspension (The Everglow)



Mistake We Knew We Were Making (The Everglow)


Crazy 8s (Singularity)


Just Let Go (Singularity)


The House That Fire Built ((m)orning)


Night/Day ((m)orning)


-Jenn

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Interview, Inspection, Acceptance, and Brett Favre

So on Friday Daniel woke up at 4:30am to catch the 5:30am bus up to Salt Lake for his Utah interview. He got there at 7am, went to the admissions office, and waited for it to open at 7:30am. There were 4 people interviewing that day, 3 from BYU and one from Utah. First they all went to a brief meeting outlining all they were going to do, then Daniel had his first interview at 8:30am, with a neurosurgeon, which went really well, he felt.  His office was in the Huntsman Cancer Institute and after the interview, he walked Daniel down to the Admissions Office talking the whole way.  His next interview was at 10:30, so he had time to observe a class on ulcerative diseases, which he enjoyed (he would).  His next interview was with a physician working at a nearby hospital, loosely affiliated with the University of Utah.  This interview was much more intense, with a more ethical/hypothetical emphasis as opposed to mostly focusing on Daniel's experiences.  He felt he did pretty well, although there are several questions he felt less positive about.  Afterward he went to another class and then had lunch with some medical students.  In order to catch the right bus, he had to leave early but one of the medical students decided to go with him and make sure he got to the right place.  Unfortunately they didn't make it in time, but the med student very kindly drove him to his next stop and Daniel made it out of SLC on time.

So Daniel caught the bus down to American Fork and I caught the bus up to American Fork and we checked out a car we found on KSL. It's a 2006 Ford Focus and we took it to Tunex for an inspection. We took it for a test drive and the AC is cold (and functional!), it has a good turning radius, it only has 55,000 miles, and it's a pretty color (which is really important, I know). However, it's more scratched up than we thought, it needs a new battery and some flushes, and it's a 4 cylinder (which I don't mind, but Daniel doesn't like it). We made an offer though, so we'll see what happens this week.

We picked a sucky weekend not to have a car. It started raining Saturday morning, stopped for the 2-3-ish hours for the football game, started up again and hasn't really stopped since. Daniel and I walked to church in the sprinkles, but it had picked up by the time 1:30pm rolled around. Luckily we got a ride from the Hartley's, who luckily also live in Parkside.

This afternoon I made these cookies. Usually I don't bake things that are even semi-labor intensive, but these looked amazing and I felt like procrastinating my homework. They look awesome, but they taste even better! Make sure you have some milk though, you're going to need it!

Also, Daniel got his first medical school acceptance! MCoW is a solid school, but right now it's a safety school and not our top choice. But Daniel IS going to med school next year, and we're stoked about it!


The Packers are playing the Vikings tonight. Have I ever mentioned my dislike of Brett Favre? I dislike him greatly. I'm not a crazy Packers fan who hates Favre for leaving Green Bay, I just think he's an old man and he needs to retire and go away. I kind of love this a lot...



For the record, Daniel thinks that even though Favre is old, he's still a great football player and that should trump everything else.

Also, the Panthers finally won today. Way to go boys!

-Daniel and Jenn

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

An Ode to Vladimir

Vladimir the minivan was purchased in Wisconsin shortly after Daniel arrived home from his mission. He needed something big enough to get his drum set back to Provo, and this 1997 Pontiac TranSport fit the bill. Vladimir has conquered the 1,500 mile drive from Appleton to Provo, the mountainous terrain of Utah, several trips to Las Vegas, and three Utah winters. Daniel first told me he loved me in this car. In short, the van is a beast.

There have been lots of little problems with Vladimir, but as long as we got from Point A to Point B we didn't worry too much. The least fun thing about Vladimir is the lack of air conditioning, which is very bad in the summer time. Don't ever go to Vegas in the summer with a car that has no A/C. It is no fun.

Over the last few days, Vladimir has had trouble switching gears, usually between 60-70mph. There would be a slight stall, the RPM would jump up, but then things would fix themselves and that was that. Unfortunately, last night was a different story.

After picking Daniel up at the airport we (Daniel, Mark, and I) started back to Provo. Vladimir really started having trouble, but Daniel managed to get to a comfortable speed and we didn't have much problem once we started going on the highway. I was afraid that Daniel would push Vladimir too hard and suggested we take the University Parkway exit to avoid the high speeds at the expense of the car. Big mistake.

As we started up the hill heading east, Vladimir couldn't get past 20mph. We realized that we wouldn't be able to make it up the hill. So we pulled in to the parking lot of the Krispy Kreme in Orem. We smelled burning rubber, and when we opened the hood we could hear the coolant boiling. Vladimir had been working so hard to get us up that hill that the inside started burning up.

We waited for half an hour to see if the car would cool down, and it did, but the needle was still in the red. We waited a little longer and illegally bought doughnuts from the window. Mark finally called his roommate with a car and we left Vladimir at Krispy Kreme. On the way back we decided that something must be wrong with the transmission and probably a belt. Daniel and I got to bed around 2am, and it was not fun to wake up this morning.

I called a mechanic this morning and he told me that his store doesn't even touch transmissions. I asked Kimball and he referred me to his car place in Orem, which specializes in diagnostics. I called that place and explained the situation, and he referred me to another place in Provo, J & M's Transmission Clinic. After calling Krispy Kreme and making sure Vladimir hadn't been towed, I made plans with Curt at J & M's to bring a set of keys and work out towing. Daniel came with me and Curt said he'd call later that afternoon.

Here's what Curt said...

1) Just from eyeballing the transmission, everything looks pretty worn out
2) To get in there and diagnose everything would cost about $375
3) Chances are we'd have to replace several parts or even get a whole new transmission. All of that would cost between $1500-$2300

Daniel looked at Vladimir on the Kelley Blue Book website and in good condition, we'd get about $1500. And Vladimir is not in good condition. Fixing the transmission would cost as much as Vladimir is worth.

So now we're on the hunt for another car. We've found a few we like, and I checked out the 2010 Consumer Reports Guide to Buying Used Cars from the library so we can decide what's safest and what we should be seeing regarding prices.

We'll probably donate Vladimir and get a tax exemption. We don't know what will be done to our minivan, but we've enjoyed the trips and experiences we've had.

And now whatever car we buy will have Utah tags. Dumb. We don't want to be associated with Utah drivers!

See you later, Vladdy...

(This one looks most like our Vladimir)

-Daniel and Jenn

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Sister Spotlight

Today, my spotlight was chosen in Relief Society. It was fun, but the lady doing it didn't get to the good stuff. So here's my spotlight, in Daniel's own words (and mine in the parentheses)...

SISTER SPOTLIGHT

Name: Jenn Yankey (we'd been married like 2 months at this point, I don't know why he put my maiden name)

Birthday: 9 November 1989

Her hometown: Wilmington, NC (the lady reading today made it seem like Daniel wrote that for
where I was born, birthplace and hometown are two separate things!)

When were you married: July 10, 2009

Where: Washington, DC

Where does she work: HBLL

School: BYU

How did you meet: She was the cute girl in my dance class. I didn't out she was a freshman until after I was smitten (uh-huh, sure)

What was the worst date: Lunch at the MOA. We weren't clicking. I found out later it was because she was feeling guilty about cheating on her long distance bf (guilty. I love that he used "bf" here)

What us her favorite candy: Crispy M&Ms (unfortunately they're only sold in Europe now)

What is her favorite food or restaurant: Thai lemon grass soup (is he good or what?)

What is your pet name for her: Babe

What is her pet name for you: Cinnamon Buns (thank you Demetri Martin)

What do most people not know about her: She was a teenage bride (yup)

If she was a fictional character who would she be: Princess Leia (props for correct spelling)

What is her favorite movie: The Wedding Planner, or some other ridiculous chick flick (no comment)

What is her dream vacation: Caribbean cruise (or a cruise to the Bahamas, I'm not picky)

What do you love most about her: Her discipline and her ability to organize time effectively
(um...thanks?)


Daniel will be home tomorrow, YAY!

-Jenn

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Heday's Story

This is one of my favorite things on The Office. Heday is a warehouse worker with an amazing life story:

In Japan, heart surgeon.
Number one.
Steady hand.
One day, yakuza boss need new heart.
I do operation.
But, mistake!
Yakuza boss die.
Yakuza very mad.
I hide in fishing boat, come to America.
No English, no food, no money.
Darryl give me job.
Now, I have house, American car, and new woman.
Darryl save life.
My big secret: I kill yakuza boss on purpose.
I good surgeon.
The best!

FYI, yakuza is like the Japanese version of the mafia.


Today was FABULOUS! More details to come later...

-Jenn

Friday, October 15, 2010

So here's the deal

We can go to a "cold school" for med school (Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, etc.) if we can go to a warm place for residency. And vice versa.

I think that's one of the first things we've agreed on when it comes to choosing schools.

Ben's home from his mission to Taiwan!

Daniel is in Wisconsin for the weekend and I am jealous. He had his MCoW (Medical College of Wisconsin) interview today and his Madison (UW-M, or you-dub-mad, Daniel hates when I say it) interview on Monday with Ben's homecoming in between.

I'll be ok though. Here are the cool things I did/am going to do today...

1) I cleaned/tidied up the apartment and it looks AWESOME
2) It's laundry day and I love having an empty hamper and a full closet
3) I'm going to get my homework done tonight (except for a take-home midterm that I'll work on probably tomorrow evening)
4) Nachos for dinner. Mmmm :)

Tomorrow I'm going to Sandy with Michelle and we're going to go to Firehouse and then go shopping at the mall. I need more sweaters and I'm going with someone who actually cares about shopping. I'm excited!

On Sunday Mark and I are going to Grandma Larson's for dinner with the family. I'll get some leftovers and have my lunch all ready for Monday.

It's going to be a fun weekend. Woo!

-Jenn

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Updates!

So here's what's been going on lately...

1) We scheduled all of Daniel's interviews for the rest of the year
* 10/15 - Medical College of Wisconsin
* 10/18 - University of Wisconsin-Madison
*** It's really nice that Daniel was able to schedule these interviews back-to-back! His brother also gets home from his mission tomorrow, so Daniel will be there for his homecoming and open house!
* 10/22 - University of Utah
* 11/1 - Mayo Clinic
* 11/3 - Washington University
* 11/8 - Georgetown
* 11/15-16 - Case Western Reserve University
*** I have family in Cleveland, so I'm going with Daniel to his Case interview! It'll be a nice break from classes for a couple of days

2) We paid for all of Daniel's interviews. Now we have to work as much as we can to avoid debt

3) Jeff came in last weekend for the annual BYU Chemical Engineering Alumni Homecoming Banquet and Program. It was at a fancy restaurant and we got to dress up and the food was AMAZING and people thought we were Chemical Engineers and there were some great talks and I got a rose from Ecuador. It was pretty fun, even for an English major!

4) Jeff took us to Cascade Springs on Saturday and we walked around for a bit, it was really pretty to see all the leaves changing colors. We went to a Korean restaurant by Smith's for lunch and it was good, just slow service (lunchtime on a Saturday with one waitress will do that).

5) BYU won the homecoming football game! Daniel wore his cheesehead and Mark wrote "Go Pack" on his face, and together they channeled the success of the Green Bay Packers to LaVell Edwards stadium and we won! The cheesehead has thus been deemed magic, so Daniel and Mark will continue their tribute to the Packers and hopefully we'll continue to win!

6) Over the summer Daniel's mom's side of the family had a reunion at Bear Lake. Everyone met in Sandy and took a family picture before heading up there, and Jeff brought us our pictures while he was here. Here we all are...



I won't bore you with listing everyone's names, but I can do it if you ask! Also, please note how well Ben was Photoshopped in (he's two over from Daniel in the back row).


The Lindsay's...



I have the cutest niece and nephew of ALL TIME. Too bad Ben wasn't special enough to get Shopped here.


Our little family...



My skin isn't that great in real life.


One last thing for now. My boss's cousin's daughter (so his cousin once removed) has been having some health problems for the last several weeks. She's only 2, so her mother (my boss's cousin) has been blogging and keeping everyone updated. I read some of her stuff today and even though this little girl has experienced every medical setback under the sun, her mom is still able to appreciate the tender mercies and see the silver lining is every obstacle. Here's the link so you can check it out: Click me!

Ok, I lied. This is the last thing...



-Daniel and Jenn

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

My Duke Interview

Wow, my first post on this blog. Jenn is way more proactive about this stuff than I am, for real. Anyway, I interviewed at Duke a couple weeks ago, my first interview. I have many interviews in consecutive weeks starting next Friday, so it is helpful to reminisce about the experience and you get a front row seat to the casual meandering of my memory.

Overall the experience was very positive. Prior to the interview, Duke was tied for first place in my list of medical schools, and this interview went a long way to solidify its place at the top of my list. My experience started in the Raleigh-Durham Airport. I was picked up by a medical student in his fourth year and he took me back to stay with his family for the night. This family was amazing and they provided much essential information about life in Durham as well as the Duke Med experience from the scholarly as well as the wifely perspective. I was particularly impressed that the wife was especially fond of their past 4 years. Even though she had two children during the time her husband was in medical school, the ability to stream lectures and Duke's flexible third year curriculum allowed him to be at home when she needed him to be. Additionally she fell in love with the ward and the surrounding area. This was great to hear because there is a good support group already in place to help Jenn during the times I am completely occupied.

When I arrived at the Admissions Office, I was immediately intimidated. Not to malign the qualities of BYU, but all of the individuals in my interview group were from much more prestigious universities, including Harvard, Duke, and Stanford. Although not the most important aspect, my host did make it clear that it did put me at a disadvantage right off the bat. I did get along with these other interviewees really well, however, and that helped take some of the tension off. Throughout the presentations and tour, I really came to appreciate Duke's unique curriculum, compressing the basic science portion to the first 11 months as opposed to 2 years at most schools, freeing up a year for research. The financial aid presentation helped reduce anxiety about the high cost of tuition as well.

We had a lot of opportunities to interact with students in each class. It was unanimous among those we met that although the first year was difficult because of the accelerated curriculum, it was worth it. They all felt a camaraderie with one another and felt that there was very minimal competition between classmates.

Finally, the time had come for the actual interviews. Throughout the day I had a persistent case of the nerves and waiting for my interviewer to come through the door to call my name was the worst. However, as soon as I met my first interviewer and walked to the interview room, I was immediately calmed. I don't really know why that was; maybe it was the interviewers charm and ability to make it feel like a normal conversation (interspersed of course with difficult questions about my views of medical ethics) or maybe I was more prepared than I though. My first interviewer was a third year student and I was the first person he had interviewed, which I found interesting. I felt that the interview went pretty well and I'm pretty sure the interviewer felt the same way. During the interview I mentioned that my wife loves North Carolina and was back in Utah undoubtedly praying for the interview to go well. As I left, he mentioned that my wife doesn't need to worry any more, a casual observance that makes me think he felt positively about the interview.

I went back to the admissions office to wait for my next interview, but this time my nerves were gone and I felt confident. Even the half hour wait was unable to shake me out of my groove. I met my next interviewer, a faculty member who I just now found out is the Director of the Multicultural Resource Center. Interesting. Anyway, she was a really nice lady and we had a really good rapport. Throughout the conversation, we talked a lot about marriage because I mentioned my wife and the difficulties we will have with having children in medical school, but how we are prepared for it as well as we can be. I was really impressed with her, and I felt that she enjoyed the interview as well. In parting, it seemed almost as if she was trying to recruit me, but that might be standard operating procedure, I don't know.

All in all, it was a very positive experience, with only one downside: I won't find out about acceptance until March, because Duke waits to interview everyone before admitting anyone. Lame. But I am very optimistic about my chances and I enjoyed my interview experience to the point where I really hope I get accepted.

-Daniel

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Gone to Carolina in My Mind

Tuesday's the big day...



Am I jealous that Daniel is going to North Carolina without me?

You betcha.

-Jenn

Thursday, September 16, 2010

I'm feeling mushy

This is the song Daniel and I danced to at our reception. It's also my alarm song, so it's the first thing I hear in the morning. I love it and it sums us up so well. Enjoy!


-Jenn

Sunday, September 12, 2010

We're expecting...

More med school interviews soon!

What did you think think I meant? A baby? Psh, not for a while, thanks.

Anyway, we've been kind of freaking out because we've only heard from a few schools, but some investigation showed us that most schools don't start interviewing until mid-October, meaning they won't send out interview invitations until the beginning-ish of October, which is still like two weeks away. So all is not lost, yay!

We went home for a week to visit and bring Jordan out with us. I got tan and watched some thunderstorms on the back deck and ate at my favorite restaurants, so it was a successful trip.

Unfortunately, Jordan couldn't handle the stress of being so far away from home, so she's back in NC doing Independent Study this semester. I miss her, but I would rather her be happy at home than miserable out here with me.

It's already the third week of school, I can't believe it's moving so quickly! I'm really enjoying my classes and keeping busy, which is good because I would just waste my time on Mario Kart otherwise.

I really wish I had more to say after not writing for a month, but our lives are pretty monotonous these days. School, work, dinner, homework, sleep, repeat.

Oh, we got a new credit card, one of those Delta SkyMiles cards so we can use miles instead of dollars for Daniel's interview flights. We even set it up to where we can move our Wells Fargo funds to the American Express account so I don't have to write a check and potentially forget about it. That's cool, right?

-Daniel and Jenn

Monday, August 16, 2010

I am not a bad wife

I tried to get this together last night, but the pictures were having trouble linking, so I gave up because it was late. So pretend this was posted last night!

Happy birthday to my Cinnamon Buns! To celebrate, here's a look back on Daniel through the years...

13


14



15


16


17


18


19


20


21


22


23


24


Duke must've thought today was a good day to invite Daniel to an interview too! He's going out on September 20 and the interview is September 21 and hopefully he can get a flight back that evening. Jordan can come with me up to the airport so we can ride in the HOV lane!

I love you Daniel!

-Jenn

Friday, August 13, 2010

I had a dream...

That we had a baby.

His name was DJ (Daniel Junior) and he was beautiful (he looked just like his daddy). He had a rubber ducky and it was his favorite toy and he giggled whenever anyone made it squeak for him. He also nursed very well, but that part was kind of weird because I've never nursed anything before, so I don't know if it was actually good or not, but he was satisfied after he finished, so I considered it a success.

What does it mean?!

-Jenn

Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Amazon woman

All new books for fall semester: $247.05

All used books for fall semester: $187.90

All books for fall semester from Amazon, including shipping: $70.23

Booyah.

Now I have to go study for two tests tomorrow. Yuck.

-Jenn

Monday, August 9, 2010

I've got soul, but I'm not a soldier

Today was Mark and Liz's wedding! Weddings always make me so happy, and these two have been through a lot so they could be together. The sealer in the temple acknowledged their previous marriages, but said, "This one's for keeps." I like that a lot :)

At the reception tonight we talked with Scott and Cara about med school stuff and it was nice. Scott didn't say anything we hadn't heard or talked about before, but just hearing it from someone who's experienced makes it seem more credible.

This is Daniel's brother, Ben. He's on a mission in Taiwan right now and had some fun on his last P Day


It's pretty much the best thing ever

One more random thought: Our upstairs neighbors aren't that loud, but I can always tell what they're watching/listening to based on the beat and base line. Usually it's The Office, but tonight it's The Killers. Now I have "All These Things I've Done" stuck in my head...

-Daniel and Jenn

Friday, August 6, 2010

Good new for people who love NC news

Chapel Hill School of Medicine out of state tuition: $37,000 a year
Chapel Hill School of Medicine in state tuition: $12,000 a year

I am a North Carolina resident. Daniel is not. However, because I've claimed NC for 20+ years, Daniel has a very good chance of using my residency to get his own without having to wait a year (in NC (and maybe every state?) you have to live in the state for at least a year before claiming residency). So that means $12,000 tuition for all 4 years instead of one year at $37,000 and the other three at $12,000.

From a financial standpoint, Chapel Hill is our best option. Even with the free tuition at Case Western, Daniel loses a year of salary because it's a five-year program. So we might just be Tar Heels after all.



And more good NC news, Andrew and Matthew are coming home from their missions tonight! I'll be on a camp out by the time they actually touchdown in Wilmington, so someone please direct them to this page so they can see that I'm so happy they're back!


Welcome home boys!

-Jenn

Thursday, August 5, 2010

New Sensation



What a champ.

-Daniel and Jenn

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

Lol of the day

Watch this...



Then watch this...



You're welcome

-Jenn

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Facebook and Cleveland

So on Facebook this evening I just happened to notice the "Recommended Pages" thing on the side of my News Feed and my recommendations were...


Glenn Beck

*and*


Teen Mom

Wha...?

I may need to purge my Facebook a little bit if people think I'm ridiculously conservative and enjoy watching MTV. Those ideas seem to contradict, just sayin'

Also, Case Western Reserve University jumped like 10 spots on our potential med school list today because we found out that if Daniel does a 5 year research emphasis program instead of the regular 4 year one, Case will pay his tuition for ALL 5 YEARS! Pretty sweet deal, yes? So here's some Ohio love to get you excited about Cleveland!


Cleveland rocks!

I found a really funny Cleveland video, but for some reason it won't load properly :( Take 49 seconds of your time and watch this. You will not be disappointed!


I hate this song, but it is about Ohio, so...

-Daniel and Jenn

Monday, August 2, 2010

Creep

Every time Daniel catches me creeping on Facebook or blogs or something, he always sings me Creep by Radiohead. I have to admit that it helps, because sometimes I get carried away and being reminded that I could one day end up like Radiohead helps curb my creeping tendencies.



We also got our energy bill today, $70! So now we're going to be super conscious about our energy use, which includes Daniel's habit of leaving lights on when he's not in the room. So he's going to get $10 every month towards a "fun fund," be that video games or food or clothes or whatever, and every time he leaves the light on after he leaves the room, he loses $.10. This is the first thing on his list, so he's got some saving to do.



Here's to a more energy efficient month!

-Daniel and Jenn

Sunday, August 1, 2010

I just thought I'd let you know

I've been waiting for something NOT med school related to happen this week, but that's all we seem to talk about these days! Daniel is still doing secondaries and getting them sent off, he's a very hard worker and while I miss spending so much time with him, I know that all this will pay off in the end.

Also, Chicago is the new winner when it comes to apartment overpricing. Anything in a decent part of town is at least $1300, while the most expensive stuff I found in Boston was $1300. I still have a few more places to scope out though, so Chicago might be beat yet, but I hope I don't find anything more expensive!

Even though Daniel didn't apply to any schools in Nevada, I love Las Vegas so I just checked out apartments for a few minutes one day and it's surprisingly affordable! I showed Daniel and he recognized a few of the places that were in some of his areas and he said they were in nice parts of town, so maybe we'll put Vegas on our list of residency spots or something.

Here are some little random things worth mentioning...

Ice blocking is so much fun! We had an awesome ward activity on Friday night that included ice blocking and even though I had never tried it before, I was definitely a fan after my first run. It was fun to see who could go the longest before falling off or watching couples make a train and go down together. Daniel went down on his stomach a few times and put his shoes on his hands to help with grass burn, hopefully we didn't ruin the grass too much!

Inception = Amazing! We finally went to see it yesterday and it was sooo good! I typically don't do "thinking" movies (probably because we tend to watch them at night and I get sleepy), but I was determined to follow along and make sense of it all. Of course, you can't understand every single detail of the movie, but I picked up on some things before Daniel did, which was cool. Another aspect of thinking movies I dislike is that there always seem to be 37548794579340 different endings for you to discuss, but for Inception there are really only two, and two is a number I can handle.

All-Sport Passes go on sale tomorrow. I may be a little late for class because I want to make sure I get mine! I'm excited to be in a group with Jordan and Mark and some of our other friends, it'll be nice to spend some more time together!

This is my last week of classes! Technically the last day of school is August 9, but I won't be there because I'll be in Salt Lake with Daniel's family for Mark and Liz's wedding! I'm glad everything finally worked out for them to be together, I know they'll be happy and that makes me happy for them :)

Here's a little rant, just for fun.

I once had a white cardigan cover-up that I loved dearly. Here are some pictures of it (side story: these were taken at DanceSport, the competition Daniel asked me to be his partner for, the one that started our relationship!)


Action shot! Please excuse how weird I look


After we didn't make it through to the next round

I decided I wanted a new cardigan so I could have some more outfit options for the wedding. Seriously, how hard is it to find a white cardigan with 3/4 length sleeves and some buttons? I don't really understand why it took us 45 minutes at the mall yesterday to do this. All I could find were those little ruffle-y bolero things like this



So we finally went to Nordstrom (we typically don't like department stores because they're so ridiculously expensive) and I found this



I would've posted the picture of the white one I actually bought, but the picture was weird. You get the idea though. Plus it was on sale! Yay! The moral of this story is that if you are looking for something specific and the first couple stores you look in do not have this specific item, go to a department store because paying a little more is worth not having to stop in every single other store in the mall.

Finally, I cannot get enough of this song lately! So here's a little late 90s for you...



-Daniel and Jenn

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Med School Update

Today, we narrowed down Daniel's 17 med schools to 15, yay! Baylor and Ohio State University are out of the running at this point (nothing is officially official yet), here are the others, just in case you're wondering...

* Case Western (Cleveland, OH)
* Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill, NC)
* Duke (Durham, NC)
* Emory (Atlanta, GA)
* Georgetown (Washington, DC)
* Harvard (Cambridge, MA)
* John's Hopkins (Baltimore, MD)
* Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN)
* Medical College of Wisconsin (Milwaukee, WI)
* Northwestern (Chicago, IL)
* Stanford (Stanford, CA)
* University of Wisconsin-Madison (Madison, WI)
* University of Utah (Salt Lake City, UT)
* Wake Forest (Winston-Salem, NC)
* Washington University (St. Louis, MO)

We're still waiting for secondaries from Chapel Hill, Emory, Harvard, Stanford, University of Utah, and Wake Forest, so a majority of the schools Daniel picked have picked him too, which is great, but also kind of expected since he's so brilliant :)

We also each picked our top 8 schools from the list of 15, and when we compared our lists, 5 schools matched: Chapel Hill, Duke, Georgetown, Harvard, and Madison. We're on the same brainwave for the most part, which we both like a lot!

Daniel's hoping to get as many secondaries done this week as possible, because the sooner he gets them in the sooner he can interview, and the sooner he can interview the sooner he can make a decision and the sooner he makes a decision the sooner we can start making the proper arrangements and maybe visit the area we'll be moving to.

I'm really hoping we have a decision by Christmas, but Daniel pointed out that it's really up to the schools now how quickly they respond. Some schools (like Harvard) are jerks and don't give you a decision until March or April, and most schools give you 2-4 weeks to say "yes" or "no" and put down a $100 deposit to secure your spot at the school. Luckily it's refundable if you change your mind, but it's kind of a big deal to put down money. Daniel says he's going to put down money at like 8 schools though, hopefully we can afford that!

-Daniel and Jenn

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Call me crazy, but...

I think $1300 per month for rent just doesn't justify a baby apartment in a big city for graduate education, even if that city is Boston and the school is Harvard.

Daniel thinks otherwise.

Blerg.

-Jenn

Monday, July 19, 2010

We're Back!

Ahhh, it's been like 3 weeks since the last post! We've just been so busy with school and work and med school stuff. Things are FINALLY starting to calm down, there are only 3 weeks left in the term and then it's a well-deserved break! We get to go home and bring Jordan back out with us and then it's time for Fall semester to start! I'm looking forward to fall though, no more 2.5 hour classes and I'll be able to go to class and then go right to work and pretty soon it'll be April and we'll be out of here!

Here are some highlights from the last few weeks:
* Fourth of July weekend was AWESOME! The fireworks, the parade, no school, good stuff
* Family. Daniel's side had a family reunion this past week in Bear Lake, so we got to take some time off and hang out and ride jet skis. I love Daniel's family so much!
* Shakespeare Festival in Cedar City! We watched Much Ado about Nothing and Macbeth and both were so good! Elder Oaks was even at Macbeth and he sat in the poor college student seats with us
* Big huge monster presentation of the term is DONE! Now there are just a few more little projects left, but those are nothing compared to this ginormous one
* Jordan is living in Liberty Square like half a block from us! And she and I have 8am classes everyday all semester, so we can walk up to campus together! Yay!
* Daniel's med school application has been officially processed, so he's more secondaries now, woot! He just needs one more letter of recommendation (but that's a whole different story) and then he is for realz good to go

Also, this is the new library promo video. More than 1,000,000 hits in 24 hours. Booyah!



-Daniel and Jenn

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Listen up

UTAH DRIVERS SUCK!

That is all.



-Daniel and Jenn

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

90s Music

It doesn't get much better than this...



-Daniel and Jenn

Monday, June 28, 2010

Success!

Tonight, Daniel and I hosted a successful dessert party. We cleaned the apartment and redecorated a little and Daniel made a chocolate mouse pie of amazement. We had our little quad of apartments over, except one of the couples couldn't make it :( But the other two came and we ate yummy food and played some games and talked a lot. One of the couples is moving to Tennessee next week and we're sad we didn't get a chance to hang out with them more. The other couple is coming over to watch a movie on Tuesday though, making new friends is fun! We're going to watch New Moon with Rifftrax (basically some guys making fun of the movie the entire time). Here's the preview...



On a totally unrelated note, I'm super creepy and found a friend's blog through her Facebook and it turns out she's pregnant and having a baby girl in November! I watched the video she uploaded of her and her husband finding out the baby is a girl and I started to cry! I don't understand why it made me so emotional, I mean, we were friends in the ward but we don't really keep in touch anymore and people find out the gender of their fetuses all the time, right? I'll chalk this one up to a late night sugar crash.

-Daniel and Jenn

Friday, June 25, 2010

Plans = Frustration

I'm a planner (I thank my mother). Daniel is too. However, I'm a let's-make-plans-18-months-in-advance kind of planner, regardless of the plan (vacations, med school, babies, etc.). Daniel, on the other hand, is a let's-make-plans-3-weeks-in-advance kind of planner. We balance each other and it works. I spaz over a little detail 4 months out and Daniel calms me down and keeps me occupied for 3.5 months and then lets me spaz at the appropriate time. It's a cycle and it keeps us both (but mostly me) sane.

This evening, Daniel officially submitted his medical school application. It makes everything seem so much more real, this is actually going to happen in a matter of months! After dinner and Ocean's Twelve, in the never ending Duke vs. Harvard war, we decided to do some apartment searching on Craigslist. We talked and agreed on some stipulations (proximity to campus, highest amount of rent, number of bedrooms, etc.) and went to work.

Boston
Pros: Gorgeous city, awesome school ("Best in the world" -Daniel), several good sport teams, good public transportation
Cons: EXPENSIVE, little apartments (teeny tiny baby bathrooms), not many amenities, New England winters



Durham
Pros: Close to family, awesome school, bigger/cheaper apartments with amenities we want, great weather
Cons: Duke isn't as prestigious as Harvard (says Daniel), and...that's about it



Daniel has admitted that if Harvard was in Durham, it would be a win-win situation. Unfortunately, that's not the case and we're going to have to make some difficult choices in the next few months. There is so much riding on this decision, and even though it's a long way off, I'm already freaking out!

-Daniel and Jenn

Monday, June 21, 2010

Manic Monday

This morning, I felt like this...



I was actually excited to go to school! I feel like Spring term was kind of disappointing; I am a person of habit, and sleeping in until whenever and working just a little bit and lots of Mario Kart was nice for a while, but getting back into a normal routine is really great. I'm taking New Testament, Shakespeare, and Intro to Interiors. I haven't had Intro to Interiors yet (it's a Tuesday/Thursday class), but New Testament and Shakespeare seem pretty cool. I also worked out tonight and it felt pretty good! I'm not really in shape anymore, so this term will be dedicated to working my mind and my body.

Daniel's sending off his med school application TOMORROW and I think I'm more excited about it than he is! Granted, this is only the initial app and he still has a long way to go, but I'm so proud of all the hard work and effort he's put into this.

Schreiber called yesterday to wish Daniel a happy father's day (yeah, I don't know) and they talked about moving to NC and being neighbors for med school. I think that would be so much fun, and after spending a week at home, I've decided that I'm really ready to leave Utah. There are still several months to go, but I'm kind of over the mountains and bad air quality and dry skin. Rochelle and I could hang out and it would be awesome!

-Daniel and Jenn

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Adventures in NC and MO

I got to spend the last few days in Wilmington with my family for Jordan's graduation. It was a fabulous surprise and I'm so grateful I had the opportunity to go! My trip consisted of pool time...



Beach time...



Graduation...



And Myrtle Beach.



Only 62 days until we're back!

Daniel is in Missouri for The 21st North American Symbiotic Nitrogen Fixation Conference, he left on Sunday and will be back on Friday. He presented his poster last night and Dr. Griffitts is giving a lecture tomorrow. It's weird being here without him, having the bed all to myself is nice but I feel so small in it! I'm ready to be with my hubby again, this is the first time we've been apart since we've been married!

On a side note, Cake is playing in Salt Lake on Saturday night and we'll probably be going. Woo!

I also just realized that NC and MO spell NCMO. Hahaha

-Daniel and Jenn

Monday, June 7, 2010

Go with peace and love

This is my new "it" song. It popped up on my iTunes on Saturday and I haven't listened to much else since then. It was one of those Free Singles of the Week a little bit ago, which is how I came to acquire it. It's very country and sort of morbid, not really my thing, but so SO beautiful. I also love the Lady of Shalott references, yay for being an English major!



-Jenn

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Happy Birthday Darling

Today is my sister's 18th birthday! I love her and I hope her day is fabulous :) To celebrate, here are 18 (really) random pictures of us...




















Happy birthday Jordan!

-Jenn