Year in Review

Our Year in Review 2012

January

We start off the new year at the cabin with the Field crew, complete with snowmobiling, capture the flag, all night games of Pit, and lots of movies.

Spring semester starts.  Tyson is thinking about Civil Engineering as a major and takes two math classes at the same time.  We take a "Building an Eternal Marriage" institute class together.  Tyson is working as manager of two Cricket stores.

February

After 6 months on an imaginary waiting list, we finally get to upgrade from our tiny one-bedroom apartment to a less tiny two bedroom apartment.  Tyson's parents and Andy and William come up to help us move.  

March

Tyson has to work so Spring Break is spent at home.  Rachel turns 21.  

Tyson learns how to change the brakes on our car.

April

Easter and General Conference are spent with both families.  We seran wrap Tate's room and dye the Pearce's milk purple for April Fools' Day.  Tyson's mom includes a pineapple in our Easter basket because it is a sign of fertility.  

May

We both survive the semester and get out with good grades.  

We buy a new tent and enjoy the first camping trip of the summer with Mom and Dad Field, Kelli, Andy, William, Brady, Kai, and Alix in Logan Canyon.  We tested the strength of the rain fly and got really good at lighting fires in the rain.

Ready to hike the wind caves

We celebrate Baby Animal Days with Graci and Makenna and enjoy a family barbecue and baby shower for Trevor and Sherstin

Rachel gets a summer job at a call center called Opinionology.

Nephew Carter Scott Pearce is born! Congratulations Sherstin and Trevor.

June

Tyson's Grandma Rosie passes away.

Our first anniversary! We celebrate with a fancy dinner and pedicures for both of us.

We take a day trip up to Bear Lake with some of Tyson's old soccer friends and coach.  We take Tate rock climbing for his first time.

July

We celebrate the 4th of July in Kaysville and then head up to Bear Lake for the annual Croxford family reunion.  This year we rented a fancy cabin for the whole clan to stay in.

Rachel's Grandpa Croxford passes away shortly after Bear Lake. A bitter-sweet funeral celebrates his life and reunion with Grandma. 


August
We get to attend the wedding of two great friends, Tristan and Megan Tesch.

Robert gets home from his mission in Taiwan.  Tyson hadn't seen him for almost four years! We have to stop for gas and miss him getting off the plane.  Luckily Kelli and Andy drove separately and made it just in time.

We have the first of what we hope will be an annual Pearce family camping trip.  We camp in Logan Canyon so Tyson can drive back and forth for work.

Rachel quits her job at Opinionology.

We get hired to be Resident Assistants for USU Family Housing.  This means we get to move again, making this one our third apartment in Aggie Village within a year.  We are excited to work together and for the free rent.

School starts again.  Tyson is working on finishing his generals and is thinking about physical therapy.  Rachel will be student teaching in a 3-year-old preschool class this semester.

September
School is in full swing.  Rachel drops a class to keep up with preschool.  Tyson is taking calculus and chemistry.

Tyson runs his first marathon!  He races in the Top of Utah Marathon with brother-in-law Josh and gets a time of 4:10 with only five weeks of training.  Kelli, Andy, William, and Brady surprise him at the finish line. 

Before

During

After!

Tyson turns 23.  He still tells people he's 21 whenever he gets asked how old he is.  His parents come up and take us out to dinner.  We get to celebrate three more times later in the month with Brady, Kelli and Andy, and the Pearce's.

Nephew Truman Jace Beattie is born! Congratulations Krista and Josh and family!

Tyson quits his job at Cricket.  


October
We get tickets for the first session of General Conference.  This is Rachel's first time attending a session in the Conference Center.  Riley and his friend Avala join us.

Tyson crashes on his bicycle on his way home from class and gets to ride in an ambulance to the emergency room.  He is extremely lucky and gets out with only a broken cheekbone, torn up ear, and a concussion. He entertains the doctors and nurses by talking about how hot his wife is before Rachel can get to the hospital.  

This was AFTER the wounds were cleaned up.

A CAT Scan, couple of x-rays, and a couple dozen stitches later...

Kelli, Andy, and William joined us this year for the annual North Logan Pumpkin Walk.  We dress up as motorcycle gang members for the first couple parties, then as a mad scientist and his hunchbacked minion for the third.

November
Tyson gets hired to bus tables at a Japanese restaurant called Kabuki's.

We have Thanksgiving dinner with the Pearce family on Wednesday and the Field family on Thursday. 

Ready to run the Thanksgiving relay!

Rachel successfully finishes her preschool student teaching.


December
We survive the end of the semester.  Tyson gets 100% on his calculus final and ends up with all A's and a B in chemistry.  Now he is thinking he likes the idea of Occupational Therapy more than Physical Therapy and registers for OT pre-requisites for spring semester. Rachel has easy finals and ends up with all A's.  

Rachel plans the program for the Ward Christmas Party. 

We inherit Grandma Rosy's Christmas tree and decorations and enjoy having a fully-decorated apartment for the month.

We enjoy a relaxing Christmas break full of family, including lots of games, a crazy nativity play, a powerful family testimony meeting, trips to the Road Home, Temple Square, and City Creek, and we actually took pictures this year!

Pearce Family Nativity

Brady and Robert came up to Logan to celebrate New Year's Eve with us.  We played games, watched TV, ate pizza, drank apple beer and sparkling cider, and counted down to midnight.


And thus it was.

Happy New Year!

Finals

"If you ever catch me looking at a periodic table again, you can slap me."

-Tyson

Freedom

Updates coming soon. Meanwhile...

My Teachers Make Me Blog

I am currently taking a "Technology for Teachers" course. It's actually pretty cool, because I get to learn about cool new programs that I didn't know about before. And it's online and only one credit, so that's a bonus. This week we are learning about using blogs in school, so I am actually required to post something. Kind of sad when the only reason I blog is because I get 20 points for it. Maybe someday I will get around to posting something interesting.  In the meantime, here is our favorite YouTube video. 

P.S. We moved! (Thanks a billion to Mom & Dad Field, Andy, and William for all their help!) If you want to send us mail and need our new address, send me a text or an email.

Report Card

My last grade this semester was finally posted today.

I am proud to say that I walked out of the hardest semester of my life (17 credits, super demanding full-time job, terrible roommates, the worst professor I've ever heard of, and planning a wedding all at once)

with... drum roll, please...

5 'A's and 1 'A-' (in Elementary PE, of all classes)!!

I accept flowers, candy, gift cards, and concert tickets as gifts for doing so well.

I must be doing something right.

You Do the Math

 

+

 

=

The perfect "I'm not doing homework even though I should be" snack!

It's a really good thing this semester ends in three days.

Tomorrow... French Toast Night!

I Appreciate the Warning.

Once upon a time...

I came home to find my refrigerator blocking my kitchen.

Behind my refrigerator was a man. Now this was no ordinary man doing ordinary things that any ordinary person would ordinarily do behind an ordinary fridge. No, this man was a fix-it man, and he was drilling a very large hole into my perfectly lovely cinder-block wall.

Now, having a large hole drilled into my kitchen wall not only made it completely inconvenient to prepare a meal, it was also obnoxiously loud and filled my apartment with a thick--and let's face it, probably toxic--dust (it was built in the 50s, after all).

The reason for this disaster? A leak in the pipes that has been causing nice puddles in both my apartment and the apartment next door. 

From the mouth of Fix-it Man:

"I really hope this is where the leak is or else I just made a really big mess!"

You instill such confidence in people. Way to be.

Missing in Action

Sometimes--a lot of times--life gets crazy. And sometimes when life gets especially crazy and busy, I forget to take time for myself. My whole life lately has been devoted to school and work and everything else that goes along with that. Obviously, I have been missing from the blogging world lately. Now, I don't know what my excuse for summer was because all I did was sit on my butt for six weeks after I had surgery, but it has been quite a while since I have had a significant blog post. So here is a quick synopsis of my life as of late:


Summer
My summer was spent having and then recovering from re-constructive plastic surgery to fix my nose that I broke when I was about seven. The doctor reconstructed my nose to improve functionality (I couldn't breathe out of my nose for several years prior to surgery) and to bring it back to what it would have looked like if I had never broken it. It was probably the most painful experience of my life. I felt (and looked) like I had been hit by a truck. Want to watch what they did to me? Click here to watch the video of my surgery. I wouldn't recommend watching if you have a weak stomach. (The actual surgery lasted about an hour and a half. I'm just glad I was asleep for the whole thing.) I had black eyes for a couple of weeks, was miserable for a couple more, and took the full six weeks to recover fully. It will take a whole year for my nose to fully finish adjusting to the surgery.


Fall, Part One: Work
I got hired at the end of the school year to be an RA (resident assistant) for USU housing this year. I moved back up to school two weeks early for training. I was in training or working for 10 to 12 hours every day for nearly the full two weeks. Pretty much I hated my life. The job is going well and I'm finally figuring out how not to let it run my life. Living where I work has its advantages, but it also gets really hard. Luckily I've made some awesome new friends this year who provide a good means of escape. 

I have my name on my door. I'm so official.

 Fall, Part Two: School
I have been officially accepted into the Emma Eccles Jones School of Teacher Education and Leadership, changed my major to Early Childhood and Elementary Education Composite major (previously it was just elementary K-6), and will finally start the program in the spring. I am doing math and ESL (English as a Second Language) endorsements. I'm done with math and I'm  taking my first ESL class this semester which I absolutely love! Yes, I am taking on a lot with basically a dual major/dual minor, but I'm happy with it. It's a good thing I love school because I'm going to be in college for a long time!


Fall, Part Three: Fun!
College wouldn't be college without a little fun. Granted, I haven't had a lot of spare time this semester, but I still find ways to keep myself entertained. My best friends definitely help with that! Justin is also an RA and keeps me from quitting my job, my roommate Angie keeps me from murdering the rest, and Ellis keeps me laughing. 
This semester I have...


 gone fishing for the first time in my life (thanks to Ellis),

I caught one! Too bad it was a smart fish and broke free...

played with Angie in Shelley, ID (where she's from) and spent fall break shooting terrorists, warming up at Lava Hot Springs, riding four-wheelers through spud farms, eating way too much chocolate, visiting the Idaho Falls Temple, cruising around town in a big truck, and learning how to make funnel cakes,

Me and Angie on our way to Idaho

got caught in several rain storms and was reminded of how terrible our football team is,

Roommate Melanie, Me, Brady, Roommate Angie

enjoyed the fall colors and the beautiful mountains,

Logan City Cemetery

come up with the worst possible clashing of colors and patterns,

I tie-dyed that apron myself. I'm that cool.

welcomed  in the arrival of basketball season,

Our homemade game-day tutus

had a police officer show me what marijuana smells like, used a fire extinguisher, witnessed and helped monitor a hilarious week of campus-wide Human vs. Zombies, pulled a series of harmless pranks, sang the National Anthem at a basketball game (and no, I will not post the video), made new friends, got an old one back, and much more.


Go Aggies!

In for the Long Haul

This post has been removed by the author on counts of her own 

uncharitable comments, insensitivity toward the  subject, 

public humiliation of an actual person, and the future possibility 

of an untimely demise. 

Thank you.

Two Homes

First off, I would just like to apologize to the blogging world for my lack of substance in my blog entries as of late. There has definitely been a lot to write about, but for some reason all that's been coming out has to do with nail polish, hunger pains, and creepy duck songs. I'll try to stay away from those topics for a while. 


Right now I really miss Logan. It's taken me this long for it to sink in that I'm not just home for a weekend or holiday. I miss being in the mountains. I miss the smell. (Not the cow fart smell you get in Nibley and Wellsville that sometimes wafts in on windy days. I'm talking about the fresh mountain air smell.) I miss Merrill Hall. I miss the cinder block walls (which you're not allowed to lick because they have lead in them) decorated with Post-It Notes. I miss finding a giant fuzzy spider with a hilarious note attached to it in random places. But mostly, I miss the people.


I miss running barefoot down two flights of stairs to just sit on the couch with Kelsey and Angel and Lauren, late night chats with Emily about boys, drama, and TV shows, falling asleep to the sound of Lindsay and Christine laughing at something completely random in the next room, going to church with the most awesome student ward that there ever was, walking to class with Andrew, snuggling with Brooklin when Spencer wasn't around, watching everyone flinch when Benson kicked the door as he passed, hanging out with "the boys," laughing hysterically with Sara about something that no one else saw or heard, and everything else that went on in our tiny little world.


But even though I hate that the people I'm used to seeing every day are now spread out all over the state, I do love being home. I love being with my family and sharing a room with my mom (her office and my bedroom got hitched). I love spending all day with the world's most beautiful little girls that remind me the world is fascinating and full of adventure. I love not having homework! I love having my meals cooked for me, not buying groceries, and knowing that when I put laundry in the hamper, it somehow magically appears clean and in my laundry basket in no time at all. (Thanks, Mom!) I love having a dishwasher and a garbage disposal and a microwave big enough to fit a full bag of popcorn. Most of all, I love that there isn't anyone here who I dread having to see. (Yeah, I know. I'm horrible and heartless. But I REALLY don't miss living with Thing One and Thing Two.) I love that this place will ALWAYS be my home.


I could keep going, but now I'm getting long and ramble-y. (Sorry. No happy medium.) I guess this is what happens when you have two places that feel like home. You can't be in one without missing the other. At least I know that Logan will still be there waiting for me in the fall. For now, I'm just waiting for summer to officially begin so I can hopefully have some adventures!

I Should Be Sleeping.

It is currently 1:42 AM. I have seven pages of my essay written, but probably still have another three or four pages to go. I also have a math assignment to finish. Want to know what I can't stop thinking about? Food. All I want to do is eat. I'm seriously contemplating sneaking into Thing 2's bedroom and stealing the package of Double Stuf Oreos she bought yesterday. My mouth is watering just thinking about it! I wonder if she's a heavy sleeper...

Bad, Rachel. Bad.

Oh, What a Day

Today I...

• was late for my first class for the 80th time in a row.
• lost my balance walking down the trecherous snow-covered sidewalks.
• walked under a tree at the exact moment that it decided to drop all of the snow off of its branches. Twice.
• hit myself with the door.
• tripped up the stairs.
• wore shoes that really didn't go with my pants.
• couldn't breathe out of my nose.
• unconsciously made many hideous faces at people while breathing out of my mouth.
• accidentally used shampoo twice instead of conditioner.
• cut myself shaving.
• spent way too long painting my nails instead of doing homework.
• ruined my newly painted nails by trying to wash my dishes.
• got caught staring at a boy out of my window as he walked down the sidewalk.
• failed an anthropology quiz.
• spilled chocolate on my shirt.
• tripped over myself. Several times.
• postponed going to the grocery store, AND doing laundry. Again.

AND...

• got a stomach ache from eating half of the brownie batter before Brooklin could get it into the pan.

BUT I...

• got to talk to my daddy, my mommy, and little Meka on the phone.
• ate brownie batter straight from the bowl with a big spoon.
• had a snowman doorbell-ditched on my porch.
• drew pretty spring flowers on my window with window crayons.
• listened to great music.
• walked through an awesome exhibit put on by Housing about prejudice and stereotypes.
• made a real dinner for the second night in a row. (Macaroni, yum!)
• got to dance the cha cha, the mambo, and the rumba.
• felt really good about the physics test I took.
• laughed.
• had a peanut butter sandwich with homemade strawberry jam.
• went to Institute.
• finished my assignment in time.
• remembered that Glee starts again next week.

AND...

• started my day by reading the Ensign.

I may make it through the end of this semester after all.

Speed Dial

Today, I called my mom nine different times. Nine. And then I talked to her on facebook chat tonight for another twenty minutes. She's probably sick of me, but boy do I love her! Thanks for taking care of me, Mommy!

30 Goals for 30 Days

Right now I am taking a leadership class through the Residence Life program so that I can be an RA next year. I'm probably a nerd, but I absolutely love the class! Yesterday we talked about developing and maintaining healthy lifestyles. We discussed that health is not just physical well-being, but it encompasses emotional, intellectual, spiritual, and social well-being as well. It is a two-hour class, so I'll spare you the details, but I just wanted to share one thing that we did that I think everyone should see.

To end the day's class, the instructor presented to us the idea of a "Daily Decision Log." It is simply a list of daily behaviors that you want to develop or maintain in order to maintain your ideal healthy lifestyle. These things need not be hard or complex, just small simple things that you can do without having to schedule them into your day. You turn them into yes or no questions and put arrange them into a checklist, then you use the checklist for 30 days and see how you improve. I took my own view on it, dividing each item into different categories and coming up with a total of 30 items (which was more than the example he gave us) so I can have 30 goals to work on for 30 days. Here is the list that I came up with.

**Note: I uploaded this as a googledoc, so the formatting is a little screwy. The real version looks better, but it gives you an idea. Let me know if there are any problems with the link.

I'm going to start marking my lists on Monday, March 1. I am excited to start this project and give you all permission to copy this idea and make your own!

Yo Ho, Yo Ho, a Pirate's Life for Me!

Tomorrow is two of my roommates' (Christine and Lindsay) birthdays. Of course, the only way to celebrate this event was with a Saturday afternoon pirate party!

The festivities started off with a trip to Smith's for food and then to Dollar Tree for decorations and pirate supplies, including eye patches, collapsible pirate telescopes, and of course, glow in the dark swords.

We began by decorating the apartment with flags, a birthday sign, and a skeleton in the window...

...which only naturally involved dressing up as fierce rogue pirates.

Lindsay and Christine made incredible Monte Cristo sandwiches which are served at the Blue Bayou in Disneyland. They were the most spectacular thing I've ever eaten! But don't forget! It isn't a pirate party without...

...the rum! Or cream soda for us Mormon Pirates.

Eating was followed by a showing of Pirates of the Caribbean, and then a quick game of pin the tail on the donkey (Yes, that is very much a pirate game!).

Do we know how to throw birthday parties or what? Stay tuned for two more coming up shortly! A nerd party to celebrate Brooklin's birthday which is on the 28th, and then a princess party after spring break to celebrate mine!

FOOD!

Welcome to Friday. Today I FINALLY got to go to the grocery store. I haven't been for about two weeks, and I was very much out of food. No milk, no bread, no graham crackers (yes, those are as important as milk and bread), no nothin'! Before I went to good ol' Smith's, the only thing I had eaten today was a dinky Chewy granola bar. Not very sustaining. I bought a lot more food than usual (including a bakery markdown giant cream cheese single serve brownie... mmmboy!) and made myself a great big sandwich (with MEAT, not peanut butter) as soon as I got home. Do you know what I had along with my sandwich and baby carrots? A great big glass of delicious 1% milk! This is the first time I've had milk all week and boy was I grateful to have it! In fact, I think I'll go pour me a nice big glass right now. After all, I did just eat that whole giant cream cheese "single serve" brownie. Is my stomach going to be mad at me for it? You bet ya. Was it worth it? Ooohh yeah!

Go Aggies!

Today, Thing 1 and Thing 2 screamed at each other for way too long. It took all of my self-control not to scream back at them. Then I went to the basketball game where I screamed my little heart out.

It was a great game. Extremely close and intense. I got some good screaming in.
And we won.

Go Aggies!

Further Proof I Don't Go To BYU

Today while walking to my U.S. Institutions class, I saw a very large, bearded man wearing... brace yourself... a skirt. Now, this was not a kilt or some sort of traditional dress of another culture. It was simply a long, black women's skirt accompanied by a too-short screen tee, sneakers, and a windbreaker. Classy.

Tipping the Scale

I was just given proof that good will always outweigh the bad.
Thank you, attractive bookstore boy, for asking me for my number. Now let's just hope you're not a creeper in disguise.

When it Rains, it Pours

I think I need a bigger umbrella.

I've learned something this week. Well, I guess I've always known it, but I've definitely been re-learning it. There are times when nothing seems to go right. You might have a professor that scares the pants off of you, or get piled on with mountains of homework and not be able to seem to find any time to even get started. Your job might end sooner than you were anticipating and leave you, once again, with no income. There may be a sweet and slightly nerdy boy at work that takes you out on one date, wants to hold your hand, and then texts you all the time and wants to spend every day with you. Water might get spilled on your computer and ruin the keyboard, or your bank might go under leaving you temporarily without access to your money. Or, if you're really lucky, you could end up like me and have all of the above happen in one weekend.

But if you are lucky like me, then you know that Heavenly Father doesn't just leave us sitting in the gutter with no rain boots. He surrounds us with people who love us and are always willing to help. He gives us friends that are smart and can help us understand the foreign language of politics. He blesses us with a neighbor and a friend who knows everything there is to know about computers and is more than willing to try to fix yours for nothing more than a good hug. He gives us wonderful moms to call eight times in one day to help you figure things out, and who would give you the world if she could, simply because you are her daughter. He gives us a great group of friends who stick by your side while the awkward boy from work is around, and accept you even though you are probably the world's worst bowler. He blesses us with an amazing boss who, even though she barely knows you, offers to give you a cash loan while you are trying to get your bank accounts sorted out. And He blesses us with a roommate and a best friend who does your dishes while you're gone, just because she knows you're having a bad day. He blesses us with all of these people so that when it feels like you're drowning in everything that's going wrong, they'll be there to pull you back into the boat and dry you off again.

Sometimes you laugh,

Sometimes you cry.

Sometimes you sing

And sometimes you sigh.

But never give up.

You're never alone.

Never stop believing--

You're never far from home.

Christ is always watching,

He always understands.

He's always there to listen,

Always stretching forth His hand.