Coursework Orals

After I presented my prospectus to the department in April, Dr. Fullmer asked me how I felt about my presentation. I answered, "It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be." She replied, "Nothing is as bad as you think it will be, except for your oral exams. They will be worse." She was so right.

The last few months I just kept thinking about the previous master's student who they failed. He is at Ohio State Medical School right now. If HE failed, how was I supposed to pass? What I didn't expect was that I would break down in the middle of my exams, in front of three professors who I am supposed to be trying to impress. The one professor who I know I don't communicate well with was my first examiner. He asked me a few questions, and then one that I didn't know the answer to. More like I didn't get what he was trying to get me to tell him. But he kept pushing and pushing. Hello! I still don't know the answer, just like I didn't five minutes ago. I started to tear up and that's when everyone jumped in and said it would be ok. That's what got me. If I am crying, the best way to get me to stop is to ignore me. The best way to turn me into a waterfall is to coddle me. I have never been like that. I am not some fragile creature who needs to be treated nicely and had pretty words spoken at her. It must have been all the stress.

After that is kind of a blur,.....I answered some questions about a transcriptional mechanism that I had never heard of until yesterday...did some damage control. Then they excused me and I had to wait for the decision. Pass! What? I honestly don't know how that happened.

And yet, I still don't feel good about it. I feel like I looked like an idiot in front of all of my professors. I studied SO much material that wasn't even brushed on. They maybe asked me questions on maybe 7% of the material that I studied. Even though I passed I don't feel like I have accomplished anything, and I am certainly not proud of my pass.

San Fran

This last weekend was the weekend of long car rides. Thursday we headed up to Twin Falls to see Kaeleen get married on Friday. It was SO fun to see my old roommates again and to see Kaeleen on her big day. She looked so beautiful! After the reception there was a luncheon at a delicious Italian restaurant. Her reception was in Washington the next evening, and we had to head to San Francisco on Sunday, so we decided to head back home after a quick stop at Shoshone Falls-Beautiful!



We left for San Francisco early Sunday morning to get to Brandon's interview at University of the Pacific on Monday. We stayed with Ellisha's brother Joe and his family. They live in a former military barracks on a beautiful park called Presidio. They can see the ocean from their window and live less than ten minutes from the Golden Gate Bridge. This is where most of the married dental students live that go to UoP.


Monday morning I drove Brandon to his interview in downtown San Francisco (from his school you can also see the Bay). I stayed in the library for a couple of hours to study for my oral examinations. When I got tired of studying, I drove to Fisherman's Warf. The first thing I did was pick up a Starbucks smoothie so I would fit in with the locals...or just because it sounded tasty. I walked out on the warf, saw the sea lions, Alcatraz, the Maritime Museum, and the old ships. I stopped for a cup of clam chowder and then bought some chocolate at Ghiardelli Square. By then it was time to go pick up Brandon, and after a quick dinner we began the drive home.



Brandon had a wonderful interview at his dream school. He loved the school and the faculty, and his faculty interviewer told him to expect a call on December 1st. So it's not official, but we are planning on San Francisco next year and couldn't be happier. UoP is such a great school and Brandon has worked so hard to get there!


In other news, my final oral examinations, the oral test where your graduate committee can ask you anything about everything you have ever learned in college, are three weeks from today and I am pretty panicked. I have a LOT of studying to do.

Grandpapa Schofield

My Grandpa Schofield passed away this last week. It was hard because it is always hard to lose someone, and it is heartbreaking to see my Grandmother alone, especially because she doesn't always know what is going on. My Grandpa, or "Grandpapa" as we call him lived a full, amazing, and long life. For his funeral, he didn't want any eulogizing. He only wanted a short biography, two spiritual talks, and lots of music. My uncle Robert gave the biography, but Grandpapa didn't want anyone else in the family giving talks. Maybe he thought it would be easier; and I respect his wishes. However, during the talks at the funeral I couldn't help but feel that the speakers didn't know Grandpapa like our family does. I started to think what I would say about my grandpa.

Some of my earliest memories of my grandpa are at their beautiful house in Alpine. He would always take us to the creek across the street where we would cross the narrow plank bridge and play with the little tube plants that grew on the banks. I remember we held races in their backyard. Grandpapa was a senior Olympian and we always wanted to beat him. In the early summer we would drive the rocky road out to the old pioneer house in the poppy field. There we would explore all the old rooms and romanticize earlier ways of life. He took us to hunt for fossils and see old Utah historic sites.

A few years ago, a friend told me that I was only happy when I was on adventures. At the time I was really hurt, but I have since realized that statement is partly true. I am happiest when I am with friends and especially family out on some great adventure, whether it is a day trip to southern Utah with Brandon or sitting in a crowded airport with my whole family for six hours, waiting for our plane to Rome. I have always credited most of this characteristic to my mom, and I still do. But I think for her, it came from Grandpapa.

I loved what I learned about him during the funeral, and I have always loved hearing stories of him during his years in the CIA, tramping through Machu Picchu, exploring the Galapagos Islands, and hiking through the Andes.

Grandpapa loved books and learning, and although I didn't always pay close attention to his frequent talks and lectures, I learned to appreciate the importance he placed on education. I also learned that he was a man of great faith.

I didn't always agree with my grandpa, and I think he knew this. I wish that I had let him know better how much I really do love and respect him. I have been blessed with such amazing grandparents on both sides; each of them have qualities that I want to emulate and pass on to my children. I want them to know that Grandpapa Schofield was a man of, as my uncle Alex put it, "determination, idealism and energetic advocacy for the causes he believed in."

Wonderful Weekend

Brandon had fall break on Thursday and Friday, so Friday I ditched my lab responsibilities and we drove to southern Utah to do a canyon. Thursday night we stayed at a super nice place in Cedar City. And I mean it was probably super nice in 1927. Friday we got up early to go to Water Canyon just out of Hildale. It was SO beautiful. The leaves in the canyon were at the peak of their color. It was a steep three mile hike in, and then we dropped into the canyon. It was full of freezing water and fun rappels. By the end of the day we were shivering like crazy! Worth it.



I love this video. We were trying to set the timer on the camera; it's not often I get to see Brandon dance.



On Saturday, Matt and Audrey took us to the BYU game. It was so great! They had tickets to get us all this free food (like ribs and ice cream before and during the game) and we had awesome seats. It was SO nice of them! It was pretty much Brandon's dream come true.

A good feeling

So I was going to title this post "the best feeling," when I realized that I couldn't put my finger on the actual best feeling. There are lots of best feelings; and this is one of them. Today, after a week of bad weather, being sick, and living indoors, I decided to go on a bike ride. I'm still getting better so I didn't want to push it. Today I wasn't going for speed or mileage; I just wanted to get out. And it felt wonderful! The evening was beautiful; right before sunset. Snow still caps the mountains, but the temperature was perfect and the leaves have decided to stick around despite last week's snow. I rode a little ways up Slate Canyon and then across the foothills to the south. I love riding up a difficult hill, stopping at the top to admire my surroundings, and then flying back down (except for when I almost run over a big fat pheasant). It is definitely a good feeling.

Letter to my upstairs neighbors

Dear neighbors,

Don't you hate it when you can hear everything that the people in the upstairs apartments are doing? I don't. Except for when the only thing that they are ever doing grosses the heck out of me. Five out of seven nights a week I am woken up in the middle of the night (like 3 am) by the rhythmic "squeak, squeak, squeak" of the upstairs bed. "Gross!" I moan, roll over, and stuff the pillow over my head. But no. It only gets louder and more constant, and goes on for at least half of an hour. Seriously. Seriously? Why does it take so long? To make matters worse, after every "event," my kindly and private friends, I get to listen to you take a forty minute bath in a shower that squeaks even worse than your bed. So by now, I have been awake for over an hour cursing the day you said "I do." I really should be more understanding and caring, but I just can't.

Twice I have resorted to chucking books at the ceiling in hopes that you would hear me and become terribly embarrassed, but each time Brandon (who has also woken up) takes the higher road and tells me that you can't help it. Can't help it? If I can hear the bed squeaking through the floor, I am sure that you can hear the noise that you are making in your own room.

Do you even have school or responsibilities? Not only do you do this most nights during the week at 3 am, but the few times I have been home early I have been fortunate enough to hear that this party goes on multiple times a day.

I am glad you love each other but I don't want to hear you love each other.

Thanks,


Your Downstairs Neighbor


This was the best angry face I could find.

Still missin that Italian food!

Tonight I made pizza! First time ever. Thin crust, tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, grilled chicken, and pesto. Had to document because it will probably never happen again.

One year

Well we did it. One year. We have made it past everything difficult and have nothing left to work on. To celebrate, we had wonderful Italian pizza, spent the night in Park City, ate our year old (pretty yucky) cake, and spent Saturday at Park City. We rode the Alpine Slide a million times, rode the alpine coaster, the zip line, and mountain biked. It was so fun! We finished off the day at our favorite little dump, El Chubasco-best horchata ever! Although we had to admit that the food seems to taste better after a day of skiing. It has been a wonderful first year!

Gnocchi!

So...we got home from out trip to Italy and Spain on Monday night. And ever since, I have been very much missing the delicious Italian food we had every day. Delicious! Like this.



And this. (I think Brandon gained fifty pounds in this one meal)



For our wedding, Brandon and I got a Williams Sonoma Pasta cookbook. About once a week, I sit and look at the pretty pasta pictures while eating a bowl of cereal. I have never ventured to try one of the recipes. They take a lot of time and I have a very biased husband when it comes to Italian food. I'm a little intimidated to cook pasta for him. But today, I decided I was going to try and make homemade gnocchi (little potato dumpling noodles). First I had to boil the potatoes, peel them, rice them (just learned that term), mix them with flour and seasoning, and then knead them for fifteen minutes. Then, I rolled out the dough and cut the little dumplings from it. For the sauce, I soaked grape tomato halves in lemon juice and olive oil, then roasted them for ten minutes. Next I added garlic and fresh basil and a touch of vodka sauce. All in all, the whole meal probably took three hours; I haven't spent that much time in the kitchen in the last three months combined.
But it was sure yummy!

Canyons, canyons, canyons!

Well, he did it. Brandon took the DAT and aced it. And now we are celebrating. We bought a national parks annual pass, so we can go to any recreation area or national park for free for the next year. So far, we have already done three canyons and had many adventures.

Two weeks ago, we went to Englestead Hollow with Laura and Jake and Summer and Nelson. The canyon started with a crazy three hundred foot rappel. It had to be broken up into two rappels, and Brandon stayed a hundred feet down the cliff on a little ledge to help us switch out ropes to go the last two hundred feet. We planned to go up another canyon so we wouldn't end up in Zion, but we missed our turn. At about seven in the evening, we gathered together to make the decision to go back up the canyon or keep going down. We decided to go down. It was another five or so miles through rivers and waterfalls, and most likely would be in the dark. But we weren't sure where the turn was if we were to go back up, and would risk spending the night in the canyon. So down we went. In the dark. A couple hours later we made it, but our cars were both still at the top of the canyon! Luckily, a Zion shuttle driver was willing to drive Brandon and Nelson to their cars. The rest of us hung out for three hours, cold and wet in the dark. Jake found us a roll of paper towels and we wrapped ourselves up like mummies to keep warm. I wish I had pictures of this, but by this time we were so tired and cold that pictures were the last things on our minds. We finally got picked up at 3:00 am and headed to Cedar City to stay at Brandon's grandparents.




It was one of those experiences that is stressful and uncertain while it is happening, but after, you feel like you have just been through a great adventure.

This last weekend, Brandon and I went to Zion again. Friday night, we did Pine Creek by ourselves. Brandon finally trusts me enough to go alone with me. I feel so special! We rewarded ourselves with hot juicy burgers from Blondie's. And an oreo shake.


The next morning, we met up with Jason and Eliza Cook from our ward and decided to do Orderville (part of the last canyon) mostly because those were the only permits left. This time was much less eventful but still way fun. We actually finished the Narrows when it was still light. In honor of Shark Week, we bought two inflatable sharks and swam through the Narrows with them. my shark hated me and kept bucking me off on the sharp rocks.





My shark!

4th of July Weekend

So I basically got a four day weekend and it was awesome! Friday I got to go to Salt Lake for my cousin Owen's wedding. It was a wonderful day. That night, Brandon and I had to hurry back to Provo to go camping with Rob and some friends at our favorite camping place ever, the summit of the Alpine Loop. We had to hike our gear up about a quarter of a mile to our meadow. It was so wonderful to wake up to the sunrise in a dewy green aspen grove with snow covered peaks in the background! The air was so fresh and there was nobody else around. So beautiful. Then we rode our favorite trail, Tibble Fork. We topped the trip off with DQ Blizzards. It was a perfect morning!



Later that night we went to the Stadium of Fire with Brandon's family. The fireworks were awesome and the performances were good (especially Brad Paisley). But it took us forty five minutes to get home on the scooter! Crazy.



Sunday...we didn't do much. Brandon studied, we had dinner at his parents, and played at the park by our house.


Monday, the boys all went golfing while Laura and I had WAY more fun and hiked Stewart Falls. There was so much water in the falls and probably ten feet of snow still at the base. I love this year! So much water. We came back and drove to South Jordan for a family party at the Lyons, complete with Sharon's famous cherry chocolate chip homemade ice cream.






Happy Fourth!

Playing Catch Up

The last few weeks have been so busy and I have totally neglected my blog. Lab work is super busy right now. The first group of mice for my study have reached the age we want to look at their prostates, so heads are rolling. Literally.

A couple of weeks ago I went to Moab with my parents. Brandon was studying, Laura had work, and John was at a basketball tournament, so it was just me. It was still so fun though. I love love Moab!



Also, I threw Laura a bridal shower and then she got married. It was a wonderful day and a beautiful reception.






Brandon and I moved into a new apartment in our complex. Our old apartment was...old...super hot, and the swamp cooler blew out chunks of dirt and mold every time we turned it on. This is what it did to my allergies: I look so good!


So as soon as a spot opened up, we took it. I had to do most of the moving myself because Brandon is still studying like crazy for the DAT next week. Everything is still pretty unorganized but we will get to work once Brandon has finished. I'm too lazy.

Last but not least, I accidentally chopped off all of my hair. My long hair was getting gross and stringy and I wanted to do a good trim, but somehow.....I just chopped it. Sad.It hasn't been this short since I was fifteen.



We are holding our breaths until after the DAT. I feel like that's when life will start again. I will have a husband, at least for a little while and we are going to have some pretty serious adventures!