2007 in Review - February

One of my busiest, but favorite, weeks of the year happens in February, when all of my friends and co-workers come from all over the U.S. for faculty meetings and graduation. Even though this is a busy week, it's always a fun one. I get to hang out with Scarlette & Cindy & Debra & Blake and my other buddies. I've also been doing the new faculty training once a month since November. It was fun meeting all of the new people that I've trained, too.

I had a really neat experience with my friends this year. Cindy asked if it would be possible for her to see the Moromon Tabernacle Choir. They're all leaving after graduation on Saturday, so they won't be here for the broadcast, but the open practices are on Thursday nights. Cindy, Scarlette, Debra, Blake, Tom, and several others who were interested walked from our hotel at the Gallivan Center to the Conference Center to watch the rehearsal. Mom and Ryan met us there - most of my them had never met Ryan in person, and we knew this would be a great opportunity. My friends loved the rehearsal, and were very touched not only by the profound music, but also the feeling even there at the rehearsal. It was great.

Here are Blake, Cindy, me, and Debra in our "full academic regalia" ;) at graduation at Abravanel Hall. Scarlette "volunteered" to work in the VIP room, and was MIA most of the day. We missed having her hanging with us!

One of my students came from Tennessee for graduation. She brought her husband, her mom, and her two teenage sons. They stayed in Park City and went skiing/snowboarding. She brought me a gorgeous heart-shaped silver locket. When she was doing her student teaching, the science unit she created was on various types of sand. I sent her several Ziploc bags of sand from various beaches we've visited (such exotic locations as Hawaii, Mexico, and Bear Lake). I give her sand, she gives me silver jewelry. Pretty good trade. ;)

Another exciting thing to share - I am now (finally!) a published author! It seems like all of my co-workers have had something published except me. (Most of them did at some point in their PhD programs). I am proud to report that I wrote a book review for a texbook that I used, and it was accepted! It was published in January in the Quarterly Review of Distance Education. True, it's just a book review, but it's a start!

On Presidents Day, we had one of Ryan's friends, Logan, over to play for a while. The boys had fun sledding on the neighbor's hill. Here's a photo of our house, as well as a very cute one of Ryan. My mom thinks I should add an arrow in the picture pointing from the word "GAP" on Ryan's hat down to the gap in his cute little smile!

Jeff and Kelli separated this month, with their divorce finalized later in the year. Ryan loved spending time with Kelli - she was a fun step-mom. He is really having a hard time with their separation, and dealing with the fact that she will no longer be a regular part of his life.