saving the world one box at a time: a recap of the week

number of days i was excited to work as a runner: 1
number of days i stuck to my exercise routine: 1.5
number of days i did the dishes and cleaned our house: 0
number of cities we worked in: 5 (orem, payson, spanish fork, cedar hills, pleasant grove)
number of trucks we worked in: 5 (3 different budget rentals, 2 different ups trucks)
number of snowstorms we delivered in: 1 (yeah--the storm with ice pellets whipping at you with 20mph winds)
number of times i bit the dust (ice): 1 (boy was that painful!)
number of times we got stuck in the snow: 1 (david was backing down a driveway and accidentally went off the driveway a little bit, which got us stuck on an incline before dropping off into a shallow ravine...we tried shoving weeds and our jackets under the tires to get us out, but that got us further stuck...good thing the owner of the house got home and let us use his chains to get out!)
number of milligrams of medication: 4320 (3000mg ibuprofen, 1320mg aleve)
number of times i had to catch myself from saying a bad word: mmm....probably 15-20
number of times i emphatically said "i hate boxes!": 1 (but i thought it a lot more than that!)
number of a's i got last semester: 5 (an a in all my classes!--my gpa raised from 3.85 to 3.91!)
number of dogs i encountered: 3 (all were nice)
number of times i washed the clothes i wore all week: 0 (don't worry, i did change my socks and underwear every day)
number of showers i took: 9-10
number of blisters: 2
number of boxes delivered and doors knocked on: no clue
number of times i will willingly and happily run for ups again: 0

don't let anyone tell you being a ups driver is exciting and fun and an easy job! i've learned firsthand what david goes through on a daily basis--at the end of it all, i have two things to say: 1. i am never doing it again, 2. whatever david wants, david gets. if i can make his life that much easier, i'm going to.

*amendment: david and i make a really good team, and we work really well together. we like each other and love each other, so we love to do things together. although i may not have completely enjoyed being a runner, i loved being able to hang out with david and work together.

mr. and mrs. ups

my semester ended last week, and this week i'm on call at the pediatric office just friday night and saturday morning. so david suggested i be his "runner" this week, and i agreed. i mean, how many wives get to go to work with their husbands in a ups truck?! to give some quick background: around christmastime the package volume seriously increases. to help the drivers be more efficient, ups hires part time driver "helpers", or runners, during this peak season. the runner's responsibility is to run the packages to the doors while the drivers prepare the other packages to go. it really expedites the process quite a bit. i've run with david for 3 days, and i have learned so much! so here it is--the complete inside look at the day of a ups driver.

first off, let me say my husband works so hard to provide for us. i mean, i always appreciated him and knew he worked hard, but let me reiterate, david works so hard. i have walked (somewhat) in his shoes, and i understand more about his job now. my love for him has exponentially increased, and i have a much deeper appreciation for all he does for us.

day 1: david and i worked out of a budget truck because there were more packages than there were ups trucks. ups rented nearly the entire budget fleet for the month of december. i started out dressing in many layers. i wore my running leggings, then jeans, and a long-sleeved shirt, a short-sleeved shirt, then my coat liner, then a ups brown jacket. i also had gloves, a scarf and hat, thick socks, and new water-proof shoes. david picked me up at 10am and by 11 i had stripped down to just jeans, the short-sleeved shirt and the ups jacket, and my hat. (david was nice enough to lock me up in the back of the budget truck to take off my leggings while he kept watch.) i've been having issues with my knees since the last triathlon i did at the end of august, so my knees were beginning to bother me by 1130, were seriously hurting by 2, and were debilitating by 4. i made david drop me off at home while he continued the route. i had cindy (my friend who conveniently happens to be a massage therapist) give me a pressure-point massage, to loosen up any tight tendons or muscles around my knees, which helped me feel better.

day 2: we had a real ups truck! i felt so much more official. david said it was a really, really good truck, too. it had only 5,000 miles on it, was a diesel, and was an automatic. the ride was pretty smooth. i also brought the ibuprofen with me to help out, but even after 1800mg, i was still hobbling and in tears because of the pain at the end of the day. we finished our route around 6 and then went to help another driver, so we got home around 8pm. we don't have a tub, just a standing shower, so i stood there with hot water on my knees, then crashed on the couch with a couple of ice bags. as david puts it, he carried the limp, zombie-like me to bed around 9pm. i slept for 10hours, but it only felt like 3.
here's the beginning of the day with the truck fully loaded:

here's my seat--a pull down seat nailed to the wall. my feet literally hung down the truck steps, but i was high enough up that my feet didn't touch the steps. we always kept my door open because it was faster to run in and out of the door that way, so the view for me was the asphalt rushing by.



here's david running a package for me because my knees couldn't do it. doesn't he look awesome?! here's me running towards the end of day 2--see me wincing?


day 3: we started out the day in a budget truck again, but then they brought a ups truck out to us and we reloaded the packages on that truck and kept going. our truck today was a little older, with 357,000 miles on it. it was also a gasoline manual, which david said are much harder to drive. i also brought prescription-strength ibuprofen with me, and had 1600mg. i was in pain, but not in tears, so i looked at that as an improvement. we also finished delivering 197 packages around 430, averaging 40 stops per hour, which is pretty good, according to david. it was overall a very light day for the whole plant. this year's peak doesn't seem to be nearly as bad as last year--i remember david didn't get home before 9pm last year.

ok, so i've learned a few things:
1. i've packed lunches for us, and lots of water, but i come home craving sugar. your body uses every glucose molecule and glycogen storage from every square inch of your body, so that even though we've eaten sandwiches, apples, granola bars, carrot sticks--all i am really wanting is a bag of oreos with a glass of whole milk. i know now why david comes home asking for "snacks," and when i tell him to have a healthy snack, it just doesn't cut it.
2. i know why david has huge callouses on the sides of his big toes. after day 2 i had football-sized blisters on my toes, and i am sure they will become callouses by the end of the week. today i got smarter and bought the "corn cushions" at walmart before we started delivering, which helped me feel a lot better.
3. staying warm is not an issue. nor is food. you don't really cool down unless you slow down, and slowing down is out of the question. we could squeeze in bites of food here and there, but your body is so hyped up on adrenaline and getting the job done that you just really aren't that hungry. but always have water nearby!
4. if you work in some sort of retail store and a ups guy comes in for you to sign his little diad verifying you received the boxes, will you please take the 2 seconds away from the customer you're helping and sign the dumb thing?! the customer wants you to hold their hand and walk them to the exact aisle or shelf looking for the item they desire, and that takes way too much time. i've asked the customers, they don't mind, trust me. they know ups guys are in a hurry, why don't you, retail people?!
5. while signing the diad, please just write your name. no drawings of trees, hearts, kitty cats, dogs. just your name. fast.
6. avon ladies, will you please go to wherever you need to go to to pick up your boxes of avon magazines instead of shipping 10 17-pound boxes through ups and making the ups people carry them across your frosty driveway and into your carport? honestly.
7. please do not gawk, stare, whistle or wink at, or call the blonde ups runner babe, honey, gal, dear, etc. i'm doing a job, just like the rest of the people dressed in brown. thank you. (although i must tell this story, as it's pretty amusing. when we went to help the other driver, we took about 15 packages off his truck to deliver for him. we were passing the boxes from truck to truck and the other driver said, "hey, david, does your wife know you're running with someone this cute?" we all had a good laugh when i told him my secret identity.)
8. do not call us the "chocolate santas".
9. why in the world would you order a 50-pound microwave in the mail? just go to target or walmart!
10. before calling and complaining to ups that you never received your package even though it's been listed as delivered, please search the entire premises. that includes your closet. today david had a follow-up ticket on a house that complained they never received their package. when david got there, the old lady told him she had forgotten she had indeed received her package, had brought it into her house, put it in her closet, and then draped towels all over it. she'd ordered another package from the store, so we had to take back the one she'd stored in her closet. thanks.
11. i love automatic opening doors. they are a great help when carrying 3 boxes at a time. i also love people who are courteous enough to hold the doors open for you. that really makes my day.
12. sometimes the computer is wrong. the computer told us to deliver a package at a certain address. david tried to find it, but here's where that house would have been: maybe the cows ordered something off qvc?

well, i've got two days left hanging out with david and running for him. wish me luck!

welcome to adulthood

david's 26th birthday was on tuesday (dec 4th)--he's officially an adult (isn't 25 the cut off for young adults?)! chris and jenny's little girl leah turned 2 on sunday dec 2nd, so we had a mini-celebration together for the both of them! they fixed us a wonderful post-thanksgiving dinner and we had pies and cheesecake for dessert. it was a fun evening! then for david's real birthday he requested a birthday breakfast for dinner, so i made pumpkin pancakes, grilled sausage patties, eggs over easy, grapefruit, and soy milk. yum yum.
then time for the presents! this year was pretty fun--chris and jenny got him a pedometer for work, his mom and dad got the mountain bike derailer he's been drooling over, and i gave him a painting by arnold friberg he's been admiring (it was over 50% off on black friday!!!!!--so i splurged!!). even tumnus got into opening presents! the minute he saw wrapping paper he knew just what to do with it.
i love david so much and feel lucky to have him be a part of my life. we have so much fun together--we make a good team! now he can't make that much fun of me for being older--welcome to being an adult, babe!

induction to nerd-dom

when i was 4 my mom borrowed this packet of beginner readers material so i could learn how to read (this was before hooked on phonics). i was so excited to sit down and do all the exercises. mom and i used to write "poems" together.

my favorite computer game when i was little was "reader rabbit"--on the old original apple with the 5x5 screen and green monitor.

i was extremely shy through elementary, middle, and most of high school, and always kept my nose in a book so i didn't have to talk to people.

i love learning the "how" and "why" behind the "what"--i've spent hours thinking about one chemistry concept, or studying one anatomical/physiological function (like muscle contraction) until i fully understand it and can describe it in full detail to someone else.

small talk is my kryptonite. i am at such a loss for words in groups of people that i'll start talking about a book i'm reading (which normally includes some sort of genetic, anatomic, or scientific theme); i get so enthusiastic about it that i am oblivious to the lack of interaction by those around me. david has tapped me during dinner parties to make me stop.

this past semester i wrote a research paper on mrsa (methecillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus), and got really down into the genetic nitty-gritty of how this staph strand developed. i was completely fascinated--when anyone asked me about my paper i'd automatically jump into how antibiotics work to inhibit bacterial growth, thus resolving an infection, and how bacteria implement amazingly sophisticated resistance mechanisms to counteract antibiotics, and how staph imported a distant gene called the mecA gene to stop methicillin-binding capacity......

some of you might think, "sure, that's just michal being ambitious, or precocious, or just a little quirky." i call it being a nerd. yes, i am a nerd. and tonight, i was inducted with 199 other proud nerds into nerd-dom. i was invited to become a member of phi theta kappa--the honor society for junior colleges. (utah valley state college may be a junior college now, but july 2008 it will become utah valley university!) to be a a part of this honor society, you need to maintain a 3.5gpa or higher throughout a certain number of credits. to be honest, i don't know what my gpa is...and i'm never quite sure of my credit number...anyway, david made it just in time from work (!!) and he took some photos of me being inducted. i'll get a certificate and lapel pin in the mail...yay!

the 35-year climb

my dad came to visit us the weekend before thanksgiving! we had a really great visit in little utah valley.
i picked my dad up at the airport in salt lake and we spent the morning/afternoon walking around temple square. the last time dad had done that was 32 years ago when he was in slc as a missionary--they were given only 30 minutes to hit the major sites. there are many more buildings now than then, so we spent more than 30 mins. two of my favorite parts are both in the conference center--first, i love the arnold friberg painting room. all the original oils that have been reproduced in the book of mormon are hanging in the conference center--you see so much more detail in the originals. my other favorite part is the roof tour of the conference center--you are above the city and see the entire valley.



dad asked to climb the "y" mountain. as missionaries at the mtc, they were allowed to climb to the "y", but dad never made it up (his companion was...a very healthy eater, and could only make it half-way). so we helped dad fulfill his wish and complete the longest climb of his life! we also got him hooked on the show "heroes"--we watched four or five episodes from season 1 while he was out here. in his own words, "it's weird but good!" thanks for coming out, dad, we had a great time!

the perfect pair

david is finishing his bs in accounting online through the university of phoenix. he is in his first math/accounting course right now (all the previous courses having been the managerial/ethical classes), and realized math is his language. the format of all classes is to do your work and then post answers as a discussion site for all classmates. he got up this morning to do an assignment before work and noticed everyone in the class had posted their frustrations at their inability to figure out the answer. the question went something along the lines of $60,000 being invested, and in two interest accounts, one earning 16% and the other 25%, and $6060 was earned, so how much was put into each account...i think david's going to have to recheck this question and make sure i wrote it correctly. david read the question, called it a "simple algebra equation", and posted his answer within two minutes. a guy wrote back to david saying "you're the man! how did you figure it out?!" david later told me "it feels good to be called "the man" every once and a while."

i am taking an intro to anatomy/physiology class this semester as a pre-req to my community health major. today, rather than being in class, my professor decided to instead post an exam. he did not announce this in class on monday. in fact, he said, "if i don't show up on wednesday and friday, you don't have to stick around in class." he did not mention an exam. did he have it in the usual testing center? did he make 100+ copies for each class member to take a copy home and read over it carefully? he decided to post in behind the (locked) glass case in the anatomy hallway, where we normally look for test/quiz keys post-exam. one copy for 100+ students to look off of while standing in the hallway. i was one of the lucky ones who decided to stick around in the classroom and use it as a quiet place to study. a girl came running in about 30 mins after "class" was supposed to start and told us there was an exam posted and going on right now. it's due a week from now, it's completely open book, note, friend, etc. however, for those of you who keep up with our blog, you've seen examples of his test questions. he doesn't go by the book all the time. he goes by his own anatomic rules. a large group of confused students (20+) were standing by the glass case, and a couple of them were shouting out the answers for everyone to write down. i did not stick around. open book or not, the class average on tests and exams is a 30%. so i went back later to find a small group of 2-3 students logically going through each question. i joined their discussion and apparently wowed them, because the comment i got was, "you know all the big words--you know more than i do about this subject." i really liked that comment. it was nice to hear i knew all the big words.

when i told david this he said, "we make the best pair--imagine, "the man" who knows all the big words!!" indestructible.

everyone loves a convert

david spoke in church a couple weeks ago, on the given topic of "the restoration and the atonement". our popularity has skyrocketed. before david spoke in church not very many people knew us (we've attended this ward and lived in this apartment for over a year), and those who did know us looked at us as "the renters", one of the few young, impermanent couples in the ward. we don't have any children, so i don't really hang out with the other women my age (we are one of two young couples without a baby), or go to "mommy group" activities. maybe it was all my own mind--you know, thinking that's what people thought of us...but boy, after david spoke, we have received 3 dinner invitations, 2 people asked for a copy of his talk, he received compliment after compliment and handshake after handshake, and we are now greeted by name in the halls at church. what can i say, everyone loves a convert. i am posting david's talk because he basically told his conversion story, and it's an incredible story. it makes you want to rip out your scriptures, pray in gratitude, and be a missionary all over again. it makes you realize what the purpose of life is and that truth really does exist. enjoy!!


I grew up in Billings Montana. I am an only child. Both of my parents worked growing up trying to make ends meet. So I was a latchkey kid. I did not grow up active in a religion. My upbringing was almost completely absent of religion. I can never remember having had a conversation that even referred to religion growing up. My parents love the outdoors and we would go camping, canoeing, fishing, and horseback riding on the weekends in the Montana rocky-mountains. But by the time I was fourteen I started thinking about religion and philosophy. I wanted to know what was true. I had heard people talk about religion and even went to church a few times when I had stayed the night with friends who had parents that made us go. But what I heard people tell me about religion never seemed right to me. The primary issue for me was the Nature of God. Most of the people I talked to told me God was a perfect being incomprehensible and so remote from what I knew and understood that I could not understand God. The more I heard the more frustrated I became. One night I had become so frustrated trying to figure religion out that I decided to find out for myself by going to the source. I had seen copy of the bible downstairs in a box with some books and decided to find out what it said. I waited until my parents were asleep then went and found the bible. The copy that I found said on the cover “Christ’s Words in Red”. It seemed to me that the publisher would put the most important things in red so I found the first section that had red type in it and began reading Matthew. I only read a few chapters when I came to the following passage:
And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water
: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God
descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: And lo a voice from heaven,
saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. (Matthew 3:15-17)
I was reading the bible in faith that I would find out the truth about Christianity. What I learned was that God and Jesus were two separate beings. Jesus was down in the water being baptized and clearly a voice from heaven, God, declared his son in who He was well pleased. Without knowing the words to describe it, or what it was, I had received a revelation prompted by the Spirit. But unknown to me the knowledge of the true nature of God was already on the Earth and known by millions.
In 1820 there was a farm boy the same age I was, named Joseph Smith, faced with similar challenges that I had. He grew up in a home where the entire family worked hard farming. His family was active in religion. His father loved God and the scriptures and his mom attended a Presbyterian faith. Joseph grew up in a time when religion and philosophy were sweeping through America. It was the duty of every individual to align themselves with some school of belief. Joseph would attend meetings and talk to individuals but could never settle for himself the question of which church was the true one. Just like I discovered in Billings, Joseph discovered in upstate New York that every church was declaring itself to be the true church but every church had disputing points of doctrine. Because they disagreed in so many ways they all couldn’t be true. Joseph also turned to the scriptures and read a verse in James that states:

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to
all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. (James 3:5)
This scripture had a profound affect on Joseph. He read the bible with the faith that he would direction to his search. What he received was the instruction to pray and he had the full confidence that he would receive an answer. In the spring in 1820 he went to a grove just outside of his home and he began to pray verbally for the first time in his life and asked which church he should join. As he was praying a pillar of light appeared over his head and gradually descended until it fell upon him. Once upon him he saw two people descending that stood above him. One of them spoke and called him by name and said pointing to the other, “This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.” In an instant the restoration had begun. With the appearance of God and his Son Jesus Christ Joseph knew the true nature of God. They were separate beings perfectly united in purpose.
Joseph was now armed with truth the true nature of God and had received personal instruction. Much like Joseph Smith in my search for the truth I was now armed with a single point of doctrine, God and Jesus were separate beings. I shortly discovered another problem with Christianity that would further aid me in my search. This question I wouldn’t get an answer to for several more years. The question went like this. God is perfectly merciful and just. The mission of the Savior is the salvation of mankind. The vast majority of people that have lived on the earth throughout the millennia have not been Christians. What does a merciful and just God do for them? For me this is a primary point of any religion because it really is dealing with most of mankind.
I asked this question to many people and the responses break down into three groups.
1)I don’t know. From this answer I drew that if they didn’t know they obviously weren’t the true church. It is kind of a big problem after all and there should be at least something said on it.
2) They are automatically saved through grace. There are two problems with this one. I knew enough about Christianity to know that there was a heaven and hell. And the reality is that there are people that are Hindu that are good and there are people that are Hindu that are bad and both shouldn’t automatically be given salvation. While that is truly merciful, it is in no way just.
3) They are automatically damned. The problem I had with this answer is why they are damned. They are damned because they didn’t know. Why didn’t they know? In most cases it was because they weren’t told. Who didn’t tell them? The Christians didn’t tell them. Thus both the nonbelievers are damned and the believers are damned because they didn’t tell the nonbelievers.
I would ask my two questions over and over and would never get a satisfactory response. I became frustrated with Christianity and religion in general. The kids who I knew that were active in faith did it like other kids did sports. It seemed like if you weren’t cool enough to be on a team or club there was another club that would take anyone called youth groups and church. I didn’t want to join a club I wanted the truth. Joseph described the time after having had the first visitation and I would add that it is a fairly accurate description of myself as well. He said that he:

frequently fell into many foolish errors, and displayed
The weakness of youth, and the foibles of human nature;
Which I am sorry to say led me into divers temptations, offensive
In the sight of God. (Joseph Smith History 1:28)
It was several years before he would receive any more information. And when he did he was repeatedly warned of temptation. He was also told of the Book of Mormon and that it contained the “fullness of the everlasting Gospel as delivered by the Savior to the ancient inhabitants.” The period between the first vision and Joseph Smith receiving the Book of Mormon was a refining time. It allowed him to grow up and repent.
In Billings Mt I had a similar time. I don’t remember exactly when or how it happened but a time came that I resolved to do better. I started doing the things that I knew were right and I stopped doing the things that I knew were wrong. For a year I lived the best that I knew how. Then both of my parents had problems. My Mom almost died from cancer, my Dad had complete thyroid failure, and they both lost their jobs. My parents decided that a change was due and my Dad took a job in Alturas, CA. I think it is interesting to note that right before we left Billings it was announced that a temple was going to be built. I could not understand why everyone was really really mad that the Muslims were building a temple in Billings. I’m sure they were saying Mormons but I was hearing Muslims. The term Mormons was not even a part of my vocabulary. I had never heard of Mormons or temples or the Book of Mormon. I had never heard of Provo Utah or Brigham Young University. The only thing I knew about Salt Lake City is that there was a really big salt lake there cleverly named ‘The Great Salt Lake’. We moved to Alturas halfway through my junior year of high school.
The school that I attended in Billings had about 2500 students. The town that I moved to in California had about 3,000 people total population. The nearest Wal-Mart was 3hrs away and the nearest stoplight was an hour and a half away. There was only a small branch of the church there but it didn’t matter. I was prepared for the gospel. After a couple of months in Alturas I became friends with a few kids that were members of the church. They realized that religion was important to me and invited me to seminary. Imagine a 17 year old being asked to get up at 6am and go and study scriptures for an hour and then go to high school. I loved it.
After a couple of weeks of attending seminary I was invited to go to church on Sunday. I enjoyed the meeting and one of the young men came up after the first hour and said ‘I hear you have some questions about religion’. I said that I did in fact have a couple of questions. He invited me to a room just outside of the main room where church was held. We entered the small room and sat down. As soon as I had formed my two questions to ask him the spirit came into the room and I knew the answers he would be giving were right.
I asked him first about the nature of God. He explained what is called the Godhead, the perfect union between three people Heavenly Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. Each has a mission within the godhead and plays a role but they are not physically the same being. Next I asked him my question about those that never hear about the Jesus Christ. He explained a doctrine that is truly unique to Latter-Day Saints. The idea is that there are saving ordinances that are required for salvation with baptism being the primary one. When someone lives and dies without being baptized with the proper authority someone still alive can do vicarious work for them in one of the temples even though they have already passed away. Also, there is temporary place prepared for spirits who pass away where the gospel is being actively taught and everyone who has ever lived is given a merciful and just opportunity to accept or reject it.
I knew that I had felt the spirit when my friend told me his answers to my questions. I began meeting with the full-time missionaries and every word they said was a new idea that opened up the spiritual world for me. The missionaries then asked me to be baptized and join the church but I told them I would think about it. I was lying in bed and questioned the idea of baptism. I knew that I had felt the spirit and had found the true church. I then had to decide what to do with that truth. Embracing a foreign faith is not something to be taken lightly or that is easy. But I knew it was true and chose to live the gospel with all of my heart.
I had committed to be baptized but that baptism would not have been possible had it not been for Joseph Smith. In 1829 Joseph Smith was working on translating the Book of Mormon with his assistant Oliver Cowdery when he came across a passage that told of the necessity of being baptized. Joseph wanted to be baptized in the true church. But this wasn’t possible. It wasn’t possible because no one on earth had the authority to baptize. He prayed for instruction on being baptized and was visited by John the Baptist, the same person that I had read about that had baptized Jesus Christ. John laid his hands on Joseph and Oliver and gave them the Aaronic priesthood which:
Holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and
Of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion
For the remission of sins. (Joseph Smith History 1:69)
Now having the authority, Joseph baptized Oliver Cowdery his assistant and Oliver then baptized Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith understood the nature of God. He had been given care over sacred scripture that contained the fullness of the gospel. He had been given the priesthood and the authority to baptize. The restoration was well under way. I also understood the nature of good and had a copy of the Book of Mormon and had been baptized and received the priesthood. But it is a mistake to think of the restoration or conversion as an event with a beginning and end. What a tragedy it would have been had Joseph stopped after being baptized or had the church stopped with his death in Carthage. Had I stopped after being baptized I would never have received my endowments, served a mission, and been sealed in the temple to my beautiful wife.
The restoration of the true church began with a fourteen-year old boy’s faithful prayer. But it has not ended. New revelation is being given and there is a living prophet today. My conversion began when I read the bible in faith looking for answers. But it has not ended, I learn more about the gospel and my testimony grows constantly. The message of the restoration is that it is once again possible for man to be reconciled with God. The authority to act in the name of God, the priesthood, is on the earth again. With priesthood ordinances we receive the blessings of the atonement that our Savior performed on our behalf. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

costume party

we had a little dress up halloween bash--david was a ghostbuster and i was a girl slimer (i know, i know...maybe that's why i don't have more friends...), and then we had everyone from darth to supergirl attend our party. baby yoda won the best costume trophy, and the little butterfly fairy beat the brains out of our frankenstein pinata. this was the first year i wasn't on call at the pediatric office, so it was really fun dressing up and having an evening of eating chocolate with friends!

the luckiest wife

i have a husband who has a heart of gold, who loves every meal i've ever made (except the bad ones), who tells me playing scrabble or battleship or settlers is about companionship, not competition, who laughs with (at?) me during my blonde moments, who plays ocean music at night for me because he knows i hate living land-locked, who takes interest in my interests by reading every book i've recommended to him, who always hugs me first thing in the morning, after work, and before bed, who makes brownies better than i do, who does all the dirty jobs around the house (especially cleaning up the bird poop), who would rather hang out with me than "the guys", who helped me break in the new kitchen aid (thanks, mom mom!) by making mint chocolate ganache cookies, who supported my triathlon goal last year by buying me a road bike (oh yeah, you need a bike to compete...), and the next year, learned how to swim so we could do the tri together! it was the share-a-smile mini triathlon at the end of august. check him out!! david finished the 400m swim, 10 mile bike, and 5k run in 1 hour 3 minutes. my knee gave out before i even started the run, so i hobbled across at 1 hour 23 minutes, i think.

test anxiety

i have test anxiety. this means my brain freezes and locks up on sometimes very simple questions, sometimes hard questions, and other times my brain gets overloaded by the multiple choice options, creating a feeling of certain doom. i am ultimately left incapable of thinking reasonably and logically. a few years ago i would walk into the testing center and literally start to itch and have to remind myself to breathe slowly and deeply. over the years i have tried to learn and employ many different testing strategies as a crutch. i really feel like i have come a long way. although i don't itch anymore, i still have the same brain, which locks up somewhat regularly.
this semester i am taking zoology 1090, intro to anatomy and physiology. this same course was required for my medical assistant program, and i am always reading something that includes medical terminology/anatomy, so this subject isn't new for me. and it's a subject i really enjoy--i really love learning about the human body, how it fits together and how things work. i have this class three times a week, and then i study 9-10hours outside of class. i'm mainly a visual learner, so i take notes in colors, highlight the text as i read, and draw pictures/diagrams if needed. i really feel like i have a good handle on this material...until quiz and test time. this professor is infamous for insanely hard questions.
here are the scores so far: quiz 1, 10 questions multiple choice: class average 4/10, i scored 5/10; quiz 2, 27 questions fill in the blank: class average 2/10, i scored 7/10; exam 1, 50 questions multiple choice, class average 38%, high 68%, low 18%, i scored 58% (i have never been so happy for a 58% before!). so here are some examples of test questions (answers at the end)--maybe y'all can help me feel better and let me know it isn't my ridiculous brain, but really dr. shively...and if these are easy for you, please let me know what i can do differently--give me another test-taking suggestion!!

1. an individual has _____ somatic systems and _____visceral systems
a. 7-5
b. 4-7
c. 7-4
d. 5-7
e. 12-4
f. 12-5

2. which nucleotide is not involved in transcription?
a. a
b. c
c. g
d. t
e. u
f. if all of the above are involved in transcription, choose this response

3. which of the following is not one of the 4 major subdivisions of the cell cycle?
a. g1
b. s
c. interphase
d. mitosis
e. if each of the above represents one of the 4 major subdivisions of the cell cycle, choose this response

4.which skeleton function is least important?
a. storage of calcium and phosphates
b. storage of adipose
c. locomotion
d. protection
e. body shape
f. hemopoiesis

5.how are membranous epithelium and glandular epithelium alike?
a. bother are vascular
b. both are holocrine
c. both are highly regenerative
d. both can be unicellular
e. none of the above
f. more than one of the above

6. how are osteoblasts and chondroblasts different?
a. one manufactures collagen and one does not
b. one is involved in ossification and one is not
c. one is associated with bones and one is not
d. one secreted ground substance and one does not
e. they aren't different, they are just different names for the same cell
f. they are different but a correct difference is not listed above

7. most bones develop by
a. intracartilagenous and endochondral ossification
b. endochondral ossification (only)
c. ossification of a fibrocartilagenous model
d. more than one of the above
e. none of the above

8. bicarbonate (hco3-) is not
a. a molecule
b. an ion
c. a compound
d. found in the body
e. a hydrocarbon

9. what kind of muscle tissue is found in the organs of the skeletal system?
a. cardiac muscle tissue
b. smooth muscle tissue
c. skeletal muscle tissue
d. voluntary muscle tissue
e. striated muscle tissue
f. more than one of the above

10. what name is applied to the joints located between the proximal phalanges and the bones just proximal to them?
(sorry, this one was a fill in the blank)

11. how many bones are in one human hand?
(another fill in the blank)

12. muscle a flexes a joint that muscle b extends. muscle c flexes this same joint and antagonizes an additional action of muscle b. from this, one can logically conclude that
a. a and c are multiactioned
b. a can synergize b
c. a and c are antagonists
d. a, b, and c are multiactioned
e. b and c are multiactioned
f. none of the above can be concluded

13. form a polymer of 10 glucose subunits (c6h12o6) by dehydration synthesis. this polymer would contain _____ atoms
a. 3
b. 240
c. 30
d. 213
e. some other number

ANSWERS (i'm including explanations in case you are curious. and i'm writing everything by memory--what i've learned, i'm not consulting a book at all. this is what happens to me! i can sit down and talk to you about everything i'm learning, but in front of a test my brain freezes!!):

1. c 7-4. i answered a 7-5 because in class we were taught there are 12 systems total (dr. shively doesn't lump anything together, so although the book lists 11 systems, he taught us 12)--integumentary, muscular, skeletal, nervous, lymphatic, endocrine, cardiovascular, respiratory, digestive, urinary, male reproductive, female reproductive. in order to be classified as visceral, that system must have all 3 of the following characteristics: 1. tubular in design/shape, 2. 1+ openings to the outside, and 3. lined by mucous membrane. in class we starred respiratory, digestive, urinary, male repro and female repro as visceral. he didn't lump it together then...apparently he lumped together the reproductive systems for the test.

2. f all are involved in transcription. i got this one correct, but after thinking a looooong time about it. transcription is basically dna inside the nucleus of a cell copying itself to mrna, which then goes outside the cell to create amino acid polypeptide chains. dna uses a-t, c-g as the complimentary base pairing, while rna uses a-u, c-g. seems pretty straight forward, right? well, i lingered on this one because i was trying to think how dr. shively would define transcription. if he defined it according to how i just defined it above, then all the nucleotides would be involved. if he defined it as *just* mrna doing its thing, then "t"-thymaine wouldn't be involved because rna uses "u"-uracil in its place. anyway, i aired on the side of the general definition.

3. c interphase. i think i answered e. now that i'm reading that questions outside of the testing center, i can easily name the 4 subdivisions--prophase, anaphase, metaphase, and telophase. according to this picture, g1 and s are parts of interphase.

4. b storage of adipose. i debated between that and the one i ended up putting, e, body shape. here was my thought process: well, the body stores adipose elsewhere, so it doesn't have to be in the bones, but if it isn't in the bones when the body needs it, you're in trouble...and people can still live without a perfect body shape, although it can be sometimes debilitating, and i guess some babies do die when they are born without certain skeletal shape...but isn't adipose needed to cushion bones also, and help store fat-soluble vitamins and minerals, which ultimately aid in bone formation and growth?...

5. c both are highly regenerative. well, i knew this, and then i thought, hey, in order to be classified as highly regenerative, it needs to also be highly vascular--it needs blood, oxygen and nutrients in order to regenerate. so i went with f.

6. f they are different, but a correct difference is not listed above. i got this one correct! osteoblasts are the beginning bone cells and chondroblasts the cartilage beginner cells, but most bones use cartilage to form through a process called endochondral calcification.

7. e none of the above. i answered d, more than one of the above. ok, so according to the osteoblast/chondroblast explanation above, i felt like i knew what was going on here. it was a question on the fill-in-the-blank quiz "most bones begin their development with what kind of ossification?" endochondral ossification. i got it correct on that quiz. cells also add to bones by creating sheets and attaching to the bone--this process is intramembranous ossification. so i figured it was a few of the processes he'd listed. guess not.

8. e a hydrocarbon. i got stuck on molecule vs. compound. i always mix up the definitions. david once tried to describe it to me as a fruit smoothie--a molecule is a fruit smoothie made of 1+ strawberries, whereas a compound is a smoothie made of strawberries and bananas and maybe even blueberries. a compound can be a molecule, too, but a molecule can't be a compound...

9. b smooth. so the organs of the skeletal system are bones. bones only have smooth muscle tissue inside of them (smooth muscle tissue is present with any blood/vessel formation)

10. metacarpophlangeal joint or metatarsophalangeal joint, as he didn't specify the phalanges of the hand or foot. so this is the spot where your fingers meet up with the bones in your hand, it's the little knob at the base of the finger (or toe). i totally pictured it--i knew exactly which joint he was talking about, and i called it a simple hinge joint--simple because only 2 bones are articulating, and hinge because that's the action it makes. i asked him about this one and he said i was right, but he asked for the NAME, not the TYPE of the joint.

11. 29 bones in the human hand. i wrote 19. here was my thought process: well, he's asking for the hand here, and this is dr. shively, so i don't want to lump things together, so i'm not going to add the carpals because that's the wrist, and the textbook even specified "bones of the wrist and hand", so i counted 5 metacarpals, 12 phalynx bones, and 2 thumb bones. surprise! according to dr. shively, always listen to him, not the book. the wrist is one section of the hand, just as metacarpals and phalanges are. so there are 8 carpals, 5 metacarpals, 12 phalynx bones, 2 thumb bones, and--oh yeah! 2 sesamoid bones that happen to grow and form IF you are a heavy duty football player or exercise a lot. 2 extra sesamoid bones grow in each carpal area of the hand and tarsal area of the foot to act as buffers as muscles and tendons rub over the bones. fyi: the adult human body has 206 bones, unless you are in dr. shively's class, then it has 214 because of the extra 8 sesamoid bones in the hands and feet that no one ever counts because not every body has them

12. e b and c are multiactioned. this was really lucky, i think. i drew a picture on my scrap paper i brought with me into the testing center, and hoped my drawing was done correctly...

13. d 213. i answered b, 240. dehydration synthesis is the process of binding polymers together--in the process you remove water molecules. so i was debating 213 and 240, and decided to go with 240 because even though it's removing h2o, the atoms are stil present, just in another form. i guess he did say specifically "**this polymer** would contain _____ atoms". but i still don't get his subtraction. you start with 240 and then 10 h2o molecules would be 30, and 240-30=210...does anyone have the answer? oh, and btw, dr. shively never lectured on dehydration synthesis, and there's a one-line definition in the text, nor was it a part of any of the study guides he gave us.

anyway, enough complaining! i ought to get back to studying!

proof

for those of you who already know that i am blond in every sense of the word (i have never colored my hair) you don't need to read this entry. for those of you who would like to get a good laugh by reading some proof, read on.
so about a month ago i had a run in with the curb and a lamp post with no other vehicle than our new car. it really only scratched the paint, no real body damage. i just got around to going to a body shop for an estimate, and then called the insurance for their estimate. they sent eddie to look at our car and compare estimates. we agreed eddie would drive to our house and then he would follow me to the ups plant, where the car was currently parked. here's the chronological order of events:
1. eddie pulls up in our driveway and calls me to let me know he is here.
2. i run out of the house, grabbing the cell, the copy of martin's body shop estimate, and my wallet.
3. i go and shake eddie's hand, hand him the copy (patting myself on the back because i am so responsible), and say, "all right, follow me..."
4. i then realize i don't have my keys. in either hand or any pockets.
5. i look at eddie in desperation.
6. i think vickie (our landlord, we rent a section of their house) will have a key i can use to get back inside.
7. there's a note on vickie's garage door to "conway"--"i'm gone, but the garage door is open, get to work!"
8. i think, "maybe the garage door is open to michal, too, not just conway..." alas, it is locked. i can't go inside and try to find the key myself.
9. maybe cindy is home (more renters in another section of the house), i run down and knock on their door. she is home (!), and i beg her to take me on a fieldtrip so eddie can see david's car, parked at the ups plant. she agrees with a smile and we pack up baby alex.
10. eddie follows us to ups, does a photo shoot, prints up his estimate, and cuts us a check.
11. we drive home and vickie is now home.
12. i knock on vickie's door and she immediately knows why i am there (this isn't the first time i've locked myself out). she hands me a few keys to try (they aren't labeled and we can never remember which one is for our apartment because they all look alike).
13. simultaneously: vickie's phone rings and she answers it; i remember i didn't lock their side of the laundry room, i think i can cut through to our apartment quicker through there. i mouth to her what i'm going to do and she nods in understanding. explanation: we rent an upstairs portion of the house (see apt #3); our side of the house connects to their side of the house through the walkway laundry room. there are 4 slide locks, two on each door, one on the laundry room side, and one on the house side.
14. i run upstairs and, to my relief, their side of the laundry room opens.
15. i step into the laundry room and close the door behind me. i didn't bother to turn the light on because i figured in two steps i'll be home anyway.
16. i take two steps to our laundry room door. the handle turns and i push. the door does not open. i may not have locked their sliding lock, but our sliding lock was locked on our house side.
17. i went back to their door to just go back down through vickie's house. while their sliding lock was unlocked, their handle was locked.
18. i was stuck in a 5'x7' area in the dark.
19. first item of business: find the light switch.

no music, just lyrics

david and i rented music & lyrics the other night...we weren't very impressed. it was very flat. we thought the best part was the spoof 80s music video in the beginning. from there it went downhill--the story never really picked up, and never made you really care about the characters enough to understand their idiosyncrasies, or how and why there was a "love" story in the end.
anyway, i thought it'd be fun to post some of my own lyrics. once upon a time i was artistic and poetic, and a friend from high school asked me to write some lyrics for his band. i dutifully handed them off to him. last i heard, he was studying guitar at university of the arts in pa, and was trying out as a guitarist in jewel's band. so if these lyrics ever get somewhere else, remember where you heard them first! imagine this being sung by one of those indie rock voices--

"she's once more"

she's waitin for you to come round once again
walkin through the triangle with the trapeze man
crossin the tightrope wearin the wind in her seaweed tresses
swingin low and followin that chariot
to carry her home
and catch her sins
as she lies beneath the fallen elephant slums

standin on the edge again
no more lies in no more cans
wearin the ring and fakin the smile
and she's once more
once more

and will you trace your nude harmony once more
play me in your littered chords once more
with or without
deliberate intentions
bearded or blushed inspections
braided or removed impressions once more
ruby red and white stops signs
in the kaleidescope of circus colors no more
in this white suburbia
and she's once more

standin on the edge again
no more lies in no more cans
wearin the ring and fakin the smile
and she's once more
yeah, and she's once more

csi: georgia

i love csi las vegas. i love the terminology, the cases, the characters. most of all i love that evidence speaks for itself, and leaves trails and facts you can't dispute. looks like union city, georgia has their own hard working csi crew! good thing we have crime labs watching out for all those cops, trying to prevent heart disease and hypertension due to sodium overdose.

mount timpanogos conquered

david and a friend, dustin, hiked mt. timp saturday morning. it was a huge production even getting to this point. david first started talking about going alone, which i utterly refused. then i made him over pack--a first-aid kit, enough food to last them 3+ meals, water to make them look like camels, extra socks, etc. they left at 330am, thinking it'd take them 11-12 hours to do the whole hike, and they'd be back in the afternoon to still have some of the day left. i was excited to have a productive day at home doing saturday chores and some reading for school. i received a photo message on my phone at 7am, a picture from somewhere along timp, i thought. i texted david, "are you at the top?" he wrote back "3.5hrs". i thought that meant they still had 3.5 hrs left to go until getting to the top...then about 10am david called and said, "we're on our way home." "you mean you're walking down now?" "no, i mean we're in the car, we'll be home in 20 minutes." what?! i haven't even showered yet! when david told me 3.5hrs, that's how long it took them to get to the top, and then they raced down to the bottom. turns out dustin is a better hiking buddy for david than i am--they made it up to the top of timp and back down in 6 1/2 hours. that's quite a pace, if you ask me. they'd have had to roll me down the mountain had i gone with them...some things sure are better left to the conquering boys.

vacation of the year

we took a week off mid-august for our vacation this year, and as soon as we got back life kicked right back into gear...so i am just now posting photos from our great adventure. my mom came out and we hit the road from the petrified lava fields in idaho to yellowstone park and then the grand teton valley. we drove all the scenic routes, stayed in all the places with the most scenic views, and took all the most scenic hikes. i had a hard time keeping up with mom, she and her little walking stick were bookin' it while little ol' me was lagging behind every corner. and i was also the only one who ever seemed to be hungry! every time i turned around i was ready for a meal--all that calorie-expending hiking really took it out of me. i'm such a whimp...
we loved driving through that country--the air is so crisp and clean. we did run in to fires in yellowstone, the east gates were closed, and the air was really hazy and smoky. we stayed outside the north entrance to yellowstone (in cook city), and when we woke up one morning there was ash on our cars, as though a fire had been burning right there. the wind had actually carried it all that way. anyway, the outdoors quality was really different from utah--the air cleaner and clearer, no valley smog or inversion. when we did finally make it back into utah david and i gave each other a look that said, "what are we doing here? why aren't we living in montana yet?!" another interesting note--the worse drivers i have ever met are utah drivers. i feel safer on the beltway in dc. we had great driving time and road/traffic conditions the entire trip, until we crossed the idaho/utah border. as soon as we did the air was heavy and thick and hot again, and within minutes we passed two really bad crash scenes with paramedics.





we even got to see montana mom and dad, christian and robin, daniel and met his wife amanda, and ryan, rachel, and bethany! it was great to have spent time with family and friends--we really wish we could have spent more time with everyone. vacations are always a good time to remind us what really matters and how to live life! thanks for all the great views, shopping sprees, and cowboy hats!!