This is me. Grading tests.

WOW. That's all I have to say. Except not really, that's just all I'll really be able to say without stuttering over myself. So it started two weeks ago with the midterm for the Environmental Health class that I TA for. Each test has 6 essay questions, taking me about 15-20 for each test. I had 19 tests for that first midterm... just.... a lot of grading. I really am starting to sympathize with all my professors. Then I have all the finals from last week (same set up, SIX essay questions each), and I just made it through 8 of them. 10 to go!!! Can I just say that even though we are not grading on grammar, I am so tired of the to/too, affect/effect, lack of commas, and other minor spelling issues that should have been resolved in 3rd grade? I mean come on. *sigh* On the bright side, I know aaaaall about mold, Yucca Mountain, uranium mill tailings, the alar apple incident, radon gas and how to fix problems in your home, the fine dust exposures of 9/11, hantavirus and how to prevent it, municipal solid waste, electronic waste, flurosis and how to prevent it, BPA and its effects on developing fetuses, how to avoid BPA in your food containers etc., persistent organic pollutants, OSHA and NIOSH, occupational rights of the pregnant worker, wastewater and issues relating to sewage backflows... just to name a FEW :). haha. I know more about this class as the TA than I ever did when I was studying! Fewf. At least it will all be over soon. Until then, thanks for the miniature break and moment of sanity, now I'm back to the grindstone again... :).

What a hunky hubby...

So, as many of you have heard, last weekend Jordan ran his first marathon in 2 hours and 46 minutes! WOW. To give some perspective to how blinkin fast that is, that's an average of 6:20 miles, he got 2nd in his age group, 9th overall, and qualified for the Boston marathon. If he'd run this same marathon last year with the same time, he would've placed second!!! Amazing. I'm just amazed. He was pretty pleased too because he ran it 10 minutes faster than he trained for, which is pretty significant! Here's some documentation of the big event....

Here he was at about the halfway mark! hoorah!

This was at about 22 miles, with me giving him some wet sponges :)

Finish line!!!

He deserves to be tired...

His dedicated fans: wife, mom, and sisters Cassandra and Brionna :)

Me and my man!

Getting his plaque for placing second in his age group! (19-24)

Fewf! What a guy! :)

Farewell Trent!

Well, my fabulous little brother leaves on his mission to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in TODAY! Wow. I keep thinking about it, and mostly I am just so excited for him. It's going to be so wonderful for him, I can't wait to hear all his stories and about the opportunities he'll have. I'm really proud of him for working hard and making the decision to do this-- it really is a pretty big commitment! I know he'll never regret it though, and I am confident this will be one of the very best parts of his life. Go little bro!

Below are some pictures from the Sunday of his "farewell" 3 weekends ago. A bunch of the fam was in town for that, and it really was such a treat to spend time with everybody!

my cutie grandparents (mom's side)

Some more California...

Here's some more fun from our California trip! These pictures are from the beautiful garden/yard of the Westover home, where we were lucky enough to stay! We loved waking up to this beautiful garden and courtyard every morning-- what a dream!

Jordan with the Westover's cutie granddaughter, Ella

The Westover's adorable and very energetic puppy Molly! She's beautiful, huh?

pretty garden waterfall! :)

Jilly Girl's Wedding!

After our fun LA adventures, Jordan and I headed north to Sacramento for 2 big events: my college roommate of 2 years and one of my best friend's wedding-- Jill Tuttle! Also, my little and only bro Trent-- nay, ELDER MCGREGOR's farewell! (or un-farewell, since we don't really do those anymore. basically, is going away talk :) Both were just exceptional. But first came Jill's wedding, so we'll start there.

What can I say? She is just a beautiful person, and she was just glowing on her wedding day. I'm pretty sure they just love each other. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves:

love this one, nice work jord:

Another pretty neat one by Jord :)

oh yea, and the other happy couple! :)

It really was a fun, fun day! So happy for Jill and Michael, they really just are wonderful for each other and you could just feel the happiness rolling off of them :).

California Trip!

Well Jordan and I just had a pretty fabulous trip to California! First we went to Manhattan Beach, where we stayed with our family friends the Westovers in their beautiful pool house (if you want to call it that-- but it's about 100x bigger and more beautiful than our actual house ;), which was just a dream! We went to the beach on Friday and had a wonderful time walking and relaxing.




Next, on Saturday my friend Alana's mom got us in to Disneyland and California Adventure for free!!! We had WAY too much fun, considering the fact that we're supposed to be real grown ups and what not. Some of our favorites were the Tower of Terror (2x), the new Toy Story ride (with fun shooting games, which Jordan slaughtered me at), the rollercoaster, the Aladdin mini-musical, Indiana Jones, the Haunted Mansion, Pirates, and the fireworks show!!! They were all SO so fun, we were laughing all day. Thanks Sister Gillette for all the great fun!

Strollin on CA Blvd. or something like that in California Adventure

INCREDIBLE!!!

We even got to San Francisco! Wow!

Sometimes we got tired of waiting in line...

But then we'd see Mr. Potato Head and feel better :)

And then we found our next house, which we heard might be on the market?

So we got some ice cream to celebrate, and then watched the parade on Main Street.

Did the madderhorn thing, mostly just so we could cuddle... :)

I tried real hard!!!

Jord thought he could do it with one arm, ha! :)

Then I tried hard again and Jordan just looked handsome :)

Hung with Tarzan and Jane for a bit...

And then I stole the wheel from Indiana!

Then we found a Swing Dance party with a live band!

And then the grand finale!!!
It was seriously fun. Great, great day :).


There's more from our Cali trip, but I haven't loaded those yet so I'll do another one later!

Something just a little too big for the fridge...

Me, with my nifty plaque thing (I look smug here but actually I was just trying out a closed-mouth smile. I don't think it's the best look for me). Looks like one my dad would get from working on a cool project at one of his jobs...

So today I was asked to come to my department's graduating senior luncheon where I was informed I'd be receiving some type of award! My ORCA mentor, Stephanie Fugal, nominated me, and I guess they thought I was okay cuz they decided to believe her about all the nice things she said ;). I wasn't sure what the award would be, but it turned out to be an "Outstanding Student Achievement" award, honoring me for my research and efforts regarding female literacy and health. Wow! :) I also just found out that part of my paper will be published in the Health Science Student Journal, also great news! So I'm pretty thrilled because all of this will help enhance my application to grad school, which is pretty much the next big step in my life that's got me a bit antsy. Also, I'm always happy to get publicity out about the importance of female literacy, so that was great. I got to meet one of the MPH students (who is actually a mom, probably in her 30s, and the CEO of Koins for Kenya! I want to be her!!!) who is also working on female literacy projects and research with her non-profit. So that was great and I really look forward to talking and potentially working with her- maybe carrying on her projects if I get into the MPH program? We'll see :). Anyway, that was happy news! So I've got this great little plaque now that won't fit on our fridge, but will work beautifully as a book end on our almost overflowing bookshelf...