School's Out Forever (or at least for now)

After taking a nice long break, I've decided it's time to get back into blogging!

I went to see Jonathan present his Senior project. His professors and classmates all loved his version on the Weasley's clock from Harry Potter. When he finished his presentation and opened it up for questions, one of the first ones was when can they buy it.

I was sneaky and took a few pictures of him.

Two short weeks later, Jonathan officially graduated!

On Saturday, we had a party with lots of family.

After all of the festivities, Jonathan decided that for his first week of no homework to have a Harry Potter marathon. Each night when I got home from work, we watched a Harry Potter movie. It was fun, but also nerve-wracking because we were both convinced he should be doing homework instead of hanging out with me. Now that it's been almost two months, we are loving our evenings together!



Spiritual Enlightenment: To the Boys and to the Men - Jonathan remembers this talk when he was a boy. I am grateful that he listened and followed through with the counsel given. I have no doubt that he was able to finish school and get to where he is today because of his obedience. Together, we are now following the counsel given to the men. I know we will be equally blessed for following that counsel.

It's Offical!!!

Our degrees are here and hung up on the wall!

The top one is Jonathan's Computer Science degree. The middle one is my Physics degree and the bottom one is my Natural Science degree. It's so nice to have them up! The next one will be Jonathan's Bachelor's degree!

Done

I am grateful that I am finished with Sierra. I started out this semester thinking I had one more class to take and then I would finish my Associates degree, but I was already done. During the second week of school, I was having severe pregnancy symptoms and couldn't go to class. By the end of the week, I realized I wasn't going to be able to continue so I met with a counselor to figure out some other options for me. She didn't have any answers to that question, but she did tell me that I had already finished two degrees. I was stunned! In December, I will be receiving my degrees in Natural Science and Physics. It has been really wonderful to be working full time and not have to worry about school.

This is Jonathan's degree.

Plans

I am grateful that we can make plans for the future. I was reading some of my older posts that make vague references to our plans. Each time I was so excited and couldn't wait for it to happen. Each one of those plans fell apart. This post from two years ago is referring to an opportunity for us to manage apartments in Davis and Jonathan looking at joining the Navy to help him finish his educational goals. Neither thing happened. This post from last year is about us moving to Oregon so Jonathan could get a second Bachelors degree in Computer Science after finishing his first degree online through BYU.

It's been hard seeing our plans fall apart each time, but they brought us closer to where we are today. As of today, we are without a solid plan. Instead of investing all of our plans on one school, we are working on applying to a list of schools. After that, we wait to hear back from them and then we make a new plan. I don't know what the future will be for us, but I know that everything will work out.

Truth and the Holy Ghost

I am grateful that the Holy Ghost testifies of truth. Back in April, Jonathan and I went to UC Davis to go to some Physics lectures. I couldn't contain my excitement that I'm married to a guy that will take time off from work to go to Physics lectures with me! I don't plan on sharing the details of what was being taught because most people would get bored. I do want to share an experience there that strengthened my testimony of how the Holy Ghost works.

The first speaker was giving kind of an overview on where Physics is currently and some of the next set of questions that they are looking to understand. As he was speaking, it felt like the spirit was in the room. This was later confirmed during the question and answer portion when a man compared a scientific discovery to Mary, the mother of Christ, and would scientists cling to that discovery even if it was proven wrong in the same way the Vatican clings to Mary and how that one thing makes or breaks all of their religion. The emotion behind his question was hostile and demeaning. Both Jonathan and I could feel the spirit leave the room. Since we felt the spirit leave, that meant that it was in that room. The things that were being shared previously are truths.

It seems like most people today can't reconcile religion and science. The thought seems to prevail in the scientific community is that because we can't prove that there is a God that there must not be one. Has anyone ever disproved that there is a God? I find it ironic that one of the biggest theories in Physics is String Theory. The major problem string theory has it that it there are no testable predictions which means they trust that it is there without seeing it or proving it. That sounds like faith to me.

I am grateful that as I learn more about science that I feel closer to our Heavenly Father. I am getting a glimpse of how He uses physical laws to give us the world we live in. Heavenly Father isn't just some cosmic being that snaps His fingers and suddenly everything works perfectly. He understands and knows the physical laws and then uses them. We have the potential to know and do all that He has done for us.

Almost Done!

Jonathan and I are almost done with another semester! Just one week left!

Our last Saturday night doing homework!

I got to watch a tape on special relativity. I didn't know they still had those machines!

Jonathan asked me how we were going to celebrate the end of the semester. I was totally caught off guard. It's been awhile since we've been at the end of a semester that I don't really remember doing anything special... It will be fun whatever it is that we end up doing!

I plan on starting all of the many Christmas projects that I have and decorating our apartment for the season. (I may or may not still have my haunted mansion out from Halloween...) I can't wait for a break from school!

I'm Grateful That I Can Catch Up

I was really busy this weekend, so instead of doing three separate posts at once I'll share three things I'm grateful for at once.

I am grateful for a healthy body. I do have a few minor problems every now and then like passing out and hurting my back (both of which I did in the past week), but overall I have a strong and healthy body. I have used my body to fulfill the purpose of having it. I have participated in all of the ordinances necessary to return to the presence of our Heavenly Father. I have made all of the necessary covenants that can only be made in a mortal body.

I now have the opportunity to use that healthy body for others. I get to go to the temple and participate in the ordinances for those who were on the earth and didn't have the opportunity to do it for themselves. 

I also will one day have the opportunity to use my body to grow another body, so that another child of God can use their own body to participate in all of the same ordinances.

I realized a few months ago that I don't need my body anymore, but there are others that need me to use it for them. I am grateful that I can use my body to be of service to other people and that my health allows me to share myself.

I am grateful for quality time with Jonathan. Jonathan and I have very busy schedules between work, school, church, and family that sometimes it feels like I haven't seen him in weeks. Sure we live together, but sometimes we don't spend enough quality time together. Last night, we were planning on spending time with our extended family, but it didn't happen. We instead just had a quiet afternoon and evening and it was lovely. We watched old Disney movies and played some games and just enjoyed being with each other. I love being married to my best friend. Sometimes when life gets crazy, I forget how grateful I am for my sweet Jonathan.

I am grateful that I have the opportunity to go to school. There are times when it doesn't feel like a blessing, like when everything is due all at the same time. I am grateful that I have this time in my life to expand my mind and learn. I really need to have a more grateful attitude about being in school.

Is It Seriously November?!

Boy oh boy! Time really seems to be going faster! I still have a hard time believing that September is over... Well I just need to get with it!

Life has been fairly low-key as usual for us, though some changes are coming. 

I'll talk more about that later.

Jonathan's been working on a new app idea.

I'm learning about inductors. It's ok if you don't understand the math, neither does Jonathan.

Since it is November, I plan on doing the same thing that I did last November. I'll be sharing something I'm grateful for every day of the month. It helps me get more into the spirit of thanksgiving (especially since I'm not too keen on the traditional dinner part of the holiday, I would good with some fish and a green salad but whatever!) Anyway, I know that I don't express enough gratitude in my life and this is something that really helps me.

Today I feel particularly grateful for my Father in Heaven. I am so grateful to know that He loves each and every single one of His children. His purpose is for us to be happy and to grow into strong, dependable, faithful men and women. Sometimes that path involves pain and heartache, but He is there to lift us up and help us through those times when we feel weak. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father knows me personally and knows all of my weaknesses, and yet He still wants me to come home to Him. And He feels this way about each and every one of us.

A Cause For Celebration!

Jonathan and I are done with another semester! To celebrate we decided to get prime spots for the solar eclipse in Durham, just outside of Chico. The last solar eclipse that we saw happened in 1992 and I didn't really care that it was happening. Thankfully, this time I was so much older and knew what was happening!

On our way to see the eclipse!

Our first look at what was happening.

I figured that we had some time before the eclipse totally happened, so I did some exploring around where we parked. It was just some fields with overgrown oak trees and clusters of California poppies. I ended up taking a ton of pictures. Here are just a few.

 With the picture on the right, I used our binoculars as a zoom lens.

Once it started getting closer to 6, we started checking the eclipse a lot more frequently.

This was right before the full eclipse!!!

I took a couple of videos of the moon completely blocking the sun, but I'm not entirely sure how to post them. Oh, well! Before we left, we noticed that the light coming through the trees was also crescent shaped.

This was such a neat experience to see an eclipse! We already are making plans for the next one that passes over the United States in 2017. (Yeah, we're nerds and we know it!) I'm so grateful to have a husband that likes the same things that I do!

On our way back home, we found Fred from the movie Cars. Apparently he's been in Northern California this whole time!

Fred's the rusty car on the right.

This was the first of our many adventures this summer!

Yesterday

I had a plan for yesterday: run some errands, print out some pictures, have lunch with a friend, grill chicken for our dinner with the missionaries. Things quickly changed when Jonathan called in sick to work. He still made me go to lunch with my friend (I'm really glad that he did that). I also went to a store so we would have dessert for the missionaries. Then I came home feeling really tired (and paranoid that I'm getting sick too). After laying down, I focused on cleaning up our little apartment. I realized that I really didn't feel like defrosting chicken, so the menu quickly change and that was that. While I was vacuuming, I remembered that our lease was up at the end of the month. Jonathan ran down to the office to get our new contract and brought it to me to sign. (Thank goodness we remember important things while doing mundane tasks!) The dinner that we made was so much easier and still delicious.

After the missionaries left, we had our typical Friday night. Nothing special, just Jonathan sitting at the computer doing some C programming homework. It usually takes most of the night (and sometimes some of the morning too), but he finished up early. We got to play a game of Phase 10 and then called it a night.

I am so excited for Jonathan to be all done with school. Then we can have real date nights and more time together. Even with those feelings, I love the simplicity of our life. We can make a plan for the day and easily change it. We can be sick and have a lazy day. I am very grateful for this time that we have because it won't last forever.

PS Here's a new blog I found.

I am feeling grateful.

Okay, so I am so grateful for the state of California. Ironic because it's usually driving me crazy with the horrible politics and all the one million regulations that are trying to interfere with everyday life. So, I married a super smart man. He has been using a Board of Governer's grant to help pay for his college education. When I signed up for my classes he told me about it and so yesterday we went to the financial aid office and took care of the paperwork. Not only are they paying for spring semester, but I'm going to be getting a check for this fall semester as well! Thank you California for making higher education possible for people that couldn't afford it otherwise.

I am am so grateful it worked!

Oh boy, so if you know me you know I'm a bit of a procrastinator. (My mom can vouch for this!) Well, I had a physics lab this past week and of course waited until last night start it. I had to build a motor by making two electromagnets using copper wire and nails. I was looking forward to building it, but was also a little scared. I've never built a motor before and was so paranoid that I would mess up in any or all of the steps. So, it took way too many hours and help from Jonathan, but it was ready to be tested. At first it didn't look like I would be able to test it until today at school. (Yeah that's terrifying!) Then I realized that the battery in my phone should be enough to get the motor running and sure enough it worked! Boy was I relived! That could have been the end of the story, but it wasn't.


I took my motor school and it was acting up, so I tried a few simple things and it worked. Then my lab partner looked at my motor and was telling me that I could probably get it to run on even less volts. At first, I was content that my motor was just working and going to get a decent grade. Then, I was tempted by the idea of having one of the best motors in my class. So I decided to go ahead and improve my motor. Part of the motor has bent nails wrapped in copper wire and so we were going to try to bend them more. In the process of bending the nails, part of the copper wire broke. (NOT GOOD!) We tried an easy way to fix it, and of course it didn't work. So we unwrapped all of my hard work from the night before and fixed the break. I re-wrapped it and thankfully it WORKED!


Now, why this experience made me so grateful. Throughout this project, I was stressed and worried. (Jonathan got to see this firsthand.) Last night, after testing it I honestly thought it was all over and it really could have been. I wasn't content with the working motor that I had. I wanted something better than what I already had and as usual that's when things fall apart. When we were unwrapping the wire, I honestly felt like I was unraveling too. I was so worried that I had totally ruined my project and wasn't going to get any points on it. Thankfully, the last fix worked. I learned from this simple project that I should be grateful for what I have. I have such a wonderful life and shouldn't be unhappy because of things beyond my control. Though, the best part of this experience is that even if I try to force things in a way that they don't need to be, I can turn to our Heavenly Father and He will help things work out. I'm so grateful that I learned this lesson in a way that was relatively painless, but I hope that it will stick with me.

That's part of my motor!