Not Long Left

Only 3 1/2 weeks of school left, as Zac keeps reminding all of us. I've packed up all my warmer clothes and about half of my bedding, and am trying to figure out what else I don't need in that time period. The weather is gorgeous; I wish they would invent laptops that have screens easily readable outside in the sunshine so I could do my homework out there.

In my capstone class yesterday we watched this video (and then moved on to talk about standards we believe should be applied to art we/the university/museums display):

Those Darn Dogs!

Look at that! The last pillow we added to the couch was that pretty green one behind there, feather filled, very comfortable. Next thing we know, Dapple is on top of it, beating it into shape for him to snuggle down on. Talk of doggie opportunism, right? It was his favorite spot on the couch after that. So here I got two new supersoft neckroll-style pillows for Mother's Day, and guess who just discovered it? Gotcha! There's Dapple all over again, with a new pillow to smoosh. Doesn't he look as though he knew exactly how to best fit on it? No flies on that dog!

Busy Week

It's been a crazy week in Seattle. I've had five interviews with five different companies and have another follow up interview scheduled for Monday already. The third round interviews with Swedish hospital where I used to work 10 years ago went well, so I'm hopeful that might lead to an offer. They are supposed to be making a decision by the end of next week, so we'll see.

Peter finished up his finals today with Kaplan since he was sick yesterday and will have A's or A-'s in all his classes, so he is happy to be done.

We have our annual Elder's Quorum rocket launch tomorrow, so that will be fun assuming our rocket makes it back to the ground in one piece. At least the weather is supposed to be sunny for a change since it wouldn't be much fun in the rain.

We even bought pumpkin plants finally to put in our garden, so how is that for being optimistic?

Weather

Our weather's been a little crazier here than even usual lately. Monday night Kristin and I drove out to grab some soda, and saw a big wall cloud (the beginnings of a tornado). They'd had a tornado in Idaho Falls on Sunday. We picked up Mel and drove out towards it a little ways, till we hit heavy rain and wind, and then we turned back (no, we're not entirely stupid, Kristin knows from experience how close one can get, and kept us well inside the safety zone). Tuesday it was gorgeously sunny so we went out to the sand dunes and wandered around, but there was also significant flooding along the way; we're currently under several weather warnings- A flood warning, a flash flood warning, a hydrologic outlook, and a hazardous weather outlook (hail, tornadoes, strong wind, dust storms, snowfall, extreme cold temperatures, freezing rain, heavy rain, dense fog, flooding, ice jams). Sounds lovely, doesn't it?

Ten Miles

Ralph's teacher's quorum is scheduled to go an a "high adventure" 50-mile hike (over several days) in July, and I'm planning to go along. I've been trying to get ready so they don't have to drag me along behind them strapped to a couple of saplings. On Tuesday, I went for a 6-mile jog. Yesterday, I ran and walked a total of 10 miles. I probably ran 6 and walked 4. It took me 2 hours, and I got a bit of a sunburn. Maybe I need a hat.

I think I'm slowly getting there. . . . Now I just have to hope I'll survive the heavy backpack and sleeping on the ground in a sleeping bag.

Memorial Day

The weather was pretty wet most of the weekend in Seattle, but we finally found a sunbreak to visit the cemetery where Opa's parents are buried. Here is a picture of the grave stone and the flowers from our garden.