Summa Cum What?

I like bragging about my husband, so this will be a bragging post. Caleb graduated a few weeks ago with his Chemical Engineering Degree from BYU. He graduated Summa Cum Laude, meaning he was in the top 1% of BYU’s graduating class. What was the GPA requirement to earn such an honor you ask? 3.99. But Caleb doesn’t like odd numbers. He graduated from BYU’s most difficult major with a 4.0! Nobody else even came close to that in his college. Caleb was also asked to speak at graduation. We got front row seats for that of course.

And, my mom even surprised us and drove through the night from California to see Caleb graduate. My aunt DeeDee came, along with my grandparents. Interestingly, Caleb had more of my family members at his graduation than I did. I've accepted the fact that everyone likes him more than me. It’s ok. I do too.

Caleb and his very proud parents.

Right before he received his diploma. The bib-looking thing is a "stole" signifying Caleb's membership in some elite academic society. (Thau Beta Pi? Can't remember.)

This is us outside the Smith Fieldhouse, where Convocation was held.

This is Caleb in front of the building he practically lived in for the past five years.

This is a personal favorite… reenacting many of our date nights while we were engaged and dating: Caleb doing homework while I was zonked out next to him in the ChemE computer lab. It must be love.

We also had a lot of fun with Caleb’s family while they were here. One memorable trip was fishing in the Provo river.

Here we all are with the fish we caught. Caleb didn’t catch one at first because he was helping everyone else. Don’t worry, though. He put on his new waders and hat, and caught a real winner!

Aw, isn't he cute?

Time Goes By...So Slowly

Well, it’s been far too long since I’ve posted. Firstly, I am rather vexed that I can’t get my blog background to show up anymore. Caleb and I both followed the instructions to fix the problem, but to no avail. So I chose a simple replacement background. Oh well, no biggie.

Anyhoo… Lots has changed in the past few months. Caleb and I are now living in Springville, Utah with an elderly woman named Sherry. I took a job as her live-in nurse, and we’ll be here until January. Sherry is great, but the job isn’t quite what we’d hoped. Sherry has to have someone with her at all times (per request of her daughters), and she never likes to go anywhere. Hence, I never go anywhere. Cabin Fever anyone? I am always aching to get away, but the only break I get is from 12-2pm every day, and sometimes my relief doesn’t show up (like today. Grr.) But we made a commitment to stay here, and that’s what we’ll do. And I will try to have a positive attitude in the meantime.

In all of my spare time around the house I have taken up a few hobbies (I say hobbies, not talents. There is apparently a big difference; one implies a certain level of skill, of which I have none.) Nonetheless, I have enjoyed doing new things. Some of them are…

Baking. My favorite find so far is a chocolate zucchini bread recipe. To Die For. But I’ve also had fun creating other fun desserts. The only downside: someone has to eat the desserts, meaning I get fat.

Reading for FUN. Gosh, I haven’t done that in like ten years. So far I’ve read A Farwell to Arms (not so great. Good perspective on war, though), Sense and Sensibility (enjoyable, and very similar to the movie), Jane Eyre (Love love love. There are few books I've enjoyed more), and The Lost Symbol (from the guy who wrote the DaVinci Code. Dark, but intriguing). I am now moving on to Ivanhoe, the book that Robin Hood is based on. I’m only on chapter 2, but so far there’s no hint of robbing the rich to feed the poor. We’ll see.

Piano. Well, this isn’t really a new interest. I’ve been playing since forever. But now I spend my time learning every hymn in the hymn book. Why? Because I’m the unofficial Relief Society Pianist. For the eight weeks I’ve been in the ward, the real pianist has been MIA. So they call on me to fill in. The chorister has a strange attraction to obscure songs that I’ve never heard before. So I have to prepare.

Still, I get rather lonely here, so if anyone in the Springville area want to come by, I’d LOVE to see you!