Sheriff and her bandit!

As proof that I did in fact "dress-up" here are some pictures. I know, I know the costume isn't all that authentic, but I sure did have fun walking around in my 4 inch high shoes. I could gaze longingly into Jimmy's eyes without having to look up.

Me, Jimmy and Tabitha (fall fairy)

Miriam, Brennen and Steve

We went to a Halloween party, at my friend/officemate, Tabitha's because I had work to do, and she lives near by. Plus, she has a fantastically fun house! And my other officemate and her husband and son came. They were dressed up as Astronauts/mission control. It was fabulous! But now I will show pictures instead of rambling....

High boots....yikes!

Blurry and Mysterious!

Pumpkin - more than meets the eye!

What do you think of my trendy new blog? We will see how long I keep it this way.

But onto something more exciting. Tomorrow is Halloween, so Jimmy and I prepared ourselves by getting costumes, and carving a pumpkin. I am usually not a big costume person, but in the past I have dressed up as an angel, Richard Simmons, and probably once in my life a ghost, just because it is easy to throw a sheet over my head. This year we took the easy route of cowboy/girl. Jimmy already had the boots and button up shirt. I however, was lacking. We went to Deseret Industries (like a salvation army back east), and I bought a ugly button up shirt, a jacket, and some particularly high shoes that look something like cowgirl boots. I wore this ensemble with jeans today. Tomorrow I may flex my Halloween spirit to a brown skirt. I promise to post some pictures when I get them tomorrow. Most people on campus didn't know I was dressed up, so it is not worth posting pictures of today's attire.

However I do want to show you all some pictures of our pumpkin carving skills. Jimmy took on the front of the pumpkin, carving a nice logo from Transformers. And I coped out with some stars in a fairly uneven pattern. They are to let some more light out. Plus it is artistically pleasing...or so I think.

Transformers - More than meets the eye!

Tomorrow we are slated to go to the Temple. go running, do homework, clean the apartment, hand out candy (I bought chocolate and fruit flavored candy for variety's sake) and then go to possibly a few Halloween parties. Gosh, this is a fun-filled weekend.

Colloquium

It is the middle of the week and towards the end of the school day and I am sitting in colloquium. This is the time when I normally do my other homework, and lifelessly search other information that has nothing to do with the topic being introduced. But today, Dr. Migenes is speaking, and he is entertaining. Let me describe his public speaking techniques. Normally it involves a little dancing and lots of very sarcastic jokes about how astronomers are ridiculous. It is very fun to watch. Plus, I know what he is talking about because it relates to my research. And...he even highlighted me as one of his students. I'M FAMOUS!! Well, kind of. Being popular in the physics department normally doesn't put you at the top of the social pyramid, but oh well. I am happy!

The Conference

Golden Colorado

I have safely arrived back to Provo after a long, physics-filled weekend. Highlights were:

1.My own room, 2 beds, one person! Heavenly. Although I did miss Jimmy. He does make the bed a lot warmer ;) It also prompted me to think about buying new pillows. Ours at home are just not as comfortable as the hotel pillows. La Quinta you know how to stock pillows.


2. My presentation at 8:48 am. There were not too many people (which was nice). But even with that, I thought I did a pretty good job. I didn't go over on time, and I could answer all the questions they asked me. It was quite fabulous!



3.Astronaut from NASA. He had been to space 5 times, 3 of which were to service the Hubble Space Telescope. I must say, he was fantastic. In his talk he showed us video of the trip. It was a very humbling experience to see Earth from that vantage point.

4.The van-ride. This is many not be the highlight, but it afforded a great chunk of the trip. We traveled 5ish hours Thursday, 3ish on Friday morning, and the large 8 hours for our trip home yesterday. We made it home around 11:30 pm. Long day, needless to say. Dr. Migenes was entertaining as always, and we had some very interesting physics and non-physics conversations. And the scenery was quite lovely. I enjoyed driving into and up the mountains! Beautiful!


5. Feeling smart because I actually had questions to ask. The set-up to these conferences is normally big talks for everyone, and sessions of talks having to do with specific topics. You pick and chose as there are parallel sessions with numerous topics. I went to sessions that had at least a small connection to astronomy. In 2 out of the 3 I was able to ask some sort of question. It made me feel like an actual graduate student. Hooray for feeling like I have learned something!

6. Getting home to see my very excited husband. It was a delightful trip, but I did in fact miss my bestest friend. When I got home he had 2 surprizes for me. First, he had fixed the light in our bedroom that seemed to have a wire loose, and second he bought Ben and Jerry's from Smiths. By the way it is cheapest there. We have bought it in numerous locations, including the factory store in Vermort. Just over $2 is a steal. He got my favorite Chunky Monkey, and Smore's. He is so good to me. And the laundry was done, and we had some food that we needed. What a wonderful guy!

So back to the grind. Tomorrow is my "ahhhh-I need to catch-up" day!

Rifle Colorado

I am on my way to a conference in Golden Colorado, and we made a stop in Rifle Colorado to spend the night. Yes, that is Golden and Rifle Colorado. Who comes up with these names?! But anyways....

We travelled 5ish hours, and have 3 to go tomorrow. Dr Migenes is the driver, and I have to say it has been just fine. Besides that fact that the van is completely full and I am one of the two girls in the van, life is just dandy. The hotel is quite spacious, especially because there are so few girls. Tomorrow night I get a room to myself. Wahoo!

Well, that is the update. I am trying to blog more so you have something to comment about ;)

Comments

I have found from my own blog-reading experience that the comments to the blogs are almost as good as the blog itself. Please share your thoughts about my blog. I want to know if people are enjoying it. Thanks!!

In style

I thought it was time to write another post, mostly because I have some pictures I want to show you all.

I will explain and then you will see the picture. Jimmy and I go on dates every week, much like we go to the Temple every Saturday. If anyone wants to join us, let me know. We would love the company. But back to the story. We decided that this last week we were going out to eat and then go on a little river cruise down the Provo river. After eating an enormous amount of food at Applebees, we decided because it wasn't dark enough, and because we were overly stuffed, that we should go into TJ-Maxx's and look around. It is always hit or miss...maybe tonight was our lucky night. Jimmy found a very trendy hat, and I bought a sweater. The sweater is not really noteworthy, however this hat is quite fantastic. Sad story, Jimmy already lost it. Or maybe someone stole it, it was just that awesome.

Just in case you wanted to know the cruise was fun. It was 30 minutes on the Provo river, with guys acting like pirates telling really silly pirate jokes. Ask me, and I can tell you are really good one ;)

Besides my hat story, I wanted to include a picture or two of Alice and Ada trying on my clothes. I felt like I was in style when I saw Alice tromping around in my jean jacket for a few hours. Oh, and by the way, I got it from TJ-Maxx's.
Oh, and I have some bowling pictures....wow this is slightly random, but I wanted to show my family that I am keeping up on my bowling skills. Goodness gracious, I need to be a little less all over the place. Yes, this bowling was another date night.

Next week Jimmy and I are presenting at conferences. I am going to Colorado to present at a physics conference. Jimmy is presenting at UVU. This isn't even his main research. He works for a graduate student making phone calls. My research is the same, OH Megamasers in Extragalactic mergers. I have to give a 10 minute presentation. Jimmy timed me today and I am under, which is good considering the nerves that will kick in the day I actually give the presentation. And that is what is in our future...plus some tests, and papers, and school...but who really cares about that stuff anyways?! ;)

My favorite things

This post is inspired by "My Favorite Things" from the Sound of Music. Lately I have been listening to a radio station that features many of these types of songs, and it has caused me to reflect on my favorite things.

1.My all time favorite thing is my husband. He is fantastic! Lately as we have been listening to the radio station with Disney/musical inspired music he has been dancing in the morning as we get ready for the day. It makes me smile and happy to have such a fun-loving person in my life. He has also taken on a great amount of the cooking because of my course load. I am so grateful to him. And there are a lot of other things that would form an endless, rambling paragraph of reasons I love him. Isn't it great we can marry our best friends!?

2. Another one of my favorite things is a good/hardworking day of work. My schoolwork has been quite consuming, but I have noticed that as I complete assignments and prepare for the next, I feel a great sense of accomplishment. It is fantastic to be busy with school again.

3. Little children are another one of my favorite things. They are so innocent and honest. This past weekend Jimmy, Gretchen and I spent the weekend in Murray with Jimmy's side of the family. His two nieces are wonderfully fun. Some of the best moments were their spontaneous hugs, calling me with Gretchen's cell phone from the other room, dressing up in my clothes as I folded them, and listening to them pray. It was fabulous! Hooray to Heather and Nathan for fantastic children. I really love spending time with all of you! Plus, I have the unique privilege of spending time with my officemate's son. I have been around for his birth and continual growth. He is almost 1 year old, which makes him a very active character. It has been a great blessing to see him grow and develop. It is also a great distraction from work.

4. The Gospel is another favorite thing in my life. I know, I know kind of sappy, but seriously so true. If I didn't have such a wonderful Church family, based on principles that I believe in, I don't know where I would be. Our ward is very friendly, and we enjoy the people we interact with. Jimmy has a calling with the Young Men, and I know that he is excited to be able to serve in that capacity. I am excited to do something as well. As a somewhat related story. Jimmy and I went to the ward Chili cookoff on Friday. We brought a cobbler, which Jimmy made in our Dutch oven. Listen to this recipe. This is no ordinary cobbler. Strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries, covered in milk chocolate chips, devil's food cake, and a layer of white chocolate. It was a hit. We had no leftovers...people were scraping the dutch oven as we left. Jimmy is a brilliant cook!

5. My family! I have recently acquired a bigger family. "A bigger family? How is that possible?!", you say. Well, now that I am married I now have the fabulous Cooprider family as my relatives. They are amazing! I am excited to spend more time with them. Plus I have an awesome family, that has always been my support and comfort. Poul, Andrea, Jobo, Gretchy, Pedy, Geoff, Mom and Dad, you are all wonderful people. Which leads into another one of my favorite things...

6. Communication. As I do every Sunday, I call home to talk to my parents and siblings. It is always fun to get an update about the happenings in NH. But even better, this past week I talked to my sister Andrea and her son, my cute nephew Liam! Skype, the video chat system, is wonderful. It made me very grateful for this convenience.

And that is just a few of my favorite things.....

Wait...

8. I would be remiss if I didn't mention my favorite activity of exercise. Running! I would like to report in writing that Jimmy and I are training for the Ragner Relay in Arizona. Our friends Davis and Melanie invited us to run a 200+ race with them. It is a relay where people run a number of legs, that add up to 15ish miles. It is going to be great. We bought new watches, and Jimmy got some new running pants. We got the wrong size, but we are going to take them back to get him all ready for the race. I am excited!

So now I will end. I am sure I have a lot more favorite things, but I believe I have distracted myself enough for this week.