Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving in Pinedale this year. Anna made the best turkey.


Elizabeth and Reed were both not feeling well. They both were getting over pink eye as well as a cold. It was fun having them anyway.
Jacob and I both had to get our homework done while we were there. I was doing a few easy math problems while Jacob worked on rocket science. I was done before him.
Elizabeth and Reed are so cute!!

It Snowed!!!

On Thanksgiving Day it started snowing! It rained on and off all morning ... then it turned into snow!! It melted as soon as it touched the ground for the most part. It was so fun to play in the falling snow.


Here is a good picture of Anna and Heidi. On my camera it looks like the street is an ice rink.

The Pie "mmmm"

I know everyone looks like they don't like the pie, but these pictures were taken after they all ate a plate of it and are feeling sick.

We had 4 pumpkin, 1 huge apple, 2 pecan, and 2 cream (vanilla & chocolate) pies. Everyone had a sample of each pie which was then covered with whipped cream. No need to eat for the rest of the week.

I don't think anyone finished all their pie. We snacked on it again later that day when the sensation of being close to exploding wore off.

Halloween

We had a ward trunk or treat that Jacob and I dressed up for. I don't know exactly what we are except we're in camouflage, Jacob's stuffed, and I have some ugly teeth and hair. We made a great couple. Then, Jacob sees a girl with a skateboard and goes off on it. He fell a couple of times, but luckily he didn't get hurt because of all the padding.

Pictures from the yearbook

Love the burns.





We found this website were you can put your face on different people from the 50's- 90's. It was fun to do. The website is found at http://www.yearbookyourself.com/. It's hard to come up with things to post when you don't have any kids, you're doing the same ol' thing (work, school...that's it), and you have no creativity.

Jacob's Internship

I just started a new internship at Goodrich. Yes and no. They used to make tires, but they sold that part of the company. I am a manufacturing engineer intern for the evacuation systems. This part of the company designs and manufactures the inflatable slides and rafts for almost every major airplane in service.
It is a really good company and I enjoy working there. My first couple of days I didn't do much, but now I've been helping out with some projects on the production floor. My first project was to fix a twisted slide/raft. It made me feel like a real engineer; taking measurements, making calculations, and what not. I don't do any of the cutting, just the calcs. My supervisor inspected my work after I left that day and said I had put the marks on the wrong side of the slide. When I told him my reasoning, he agreed with me and had another engineer triple check it and I was right.

Biggest Bubble Contest

Okay, so the contest was with myself. It's been a while since I've chewed bubble gum and I got carried away.

Here are some pictures from our camping trip last week. We were either under tarps and umbrellas or playing volleyball.

Here is the amazing volleyball court we made.

Here is Reed, my nephew who had the funnest time camping. He entertained himself just sitting in the dirt or looking for his mom.

Jacob's lost Ring

Jacob and I had a ward party last Saturday at Greenfield park. Our Elders Quorum President had 4 billboard signs and a fire hoes and made the biggest slip-n-slide I've ever seen. It was a blast. During all the fun and excitement Jacob realized his wedding ring was gone. We looked everywhere. Several people helped look up and down the hill w/ no luck. After everything was cleaned up Jacob and I went back w/ a metal detector and searched everywhere Jacob walked and where the water drained off. After getting sunburned we decided to leave. We had planned on going to the Temple that day and decided we should stick to our plan and go. Around 7:30 my family called and said they were ready to go w/ us and help look some more. Jacob stayed home because he felt really sick and burned. We had shovels, rakes, and a metal detector. Before unloading everything I walked half way down the field and looked down only to see Jacob ring sitting on top of the grass. I walked right to it. What a miracle.

We Listed Our Condo

We painted and rearranged our condo to sell it. We've had absolutely no luck. If anyone knows anyone looking for a cheep place to live, let them know. We would like to move in w/ Grandma Shepherd and save some money. We would live there until Jacob graduates and finds a job. We'll see what happens.

The Month of May

Time for a little updating... it's been a while since we wrote on our blog. Jacob and I went to Knotts Berry Farm for our 2 year anniversary. Our anniversary was May 20 so we left the Thursday and got to our hotel after midnight. The next morning we went to Knotts Berry and spent the day there. They have the tallest water roller coaster in the world that is just a few feet short of Niagara Falls with a 75 degree drop. I took a picture. That was my favorite ride. Jacob and I were soaked. We walked back to our hotel and ordered Chinese. It was amazing. The next morning we drove back home and were so glad we went.

SCHOOL IS OVER!!

Finally, the semester is over! The last few weeks of school I had three different group projects due. I spent a lot of time working on these projects and to top it off, I had a take home final in one of my classes. I know a few people who stayed up all night the night before it was due, but not me. I had it done by 11:00 pm. Hopefully all that hard work will pay off with some good grades.

Yesterday, Heather and I spent a good portion of the day shopping. I had to keep telling myself, "It's okay, Jacob. The semester's over and you don't have any homework to do. You don't have to feel bad about spending the day with your wife shopping."

Last Monday I had an interview for a summer internship with a company called ATK. They have 3 departments and last summer I interned with them in Northern Utah. The department up there designs and builds the large, white booster rockets that launch the space shuttle, as well as other types of rocket motors. The department here deals with medium caliber munitions (30 - 50 mm bullets and guns/cannons). Hopefully I'll find out about the position sometime this week.

Work has been slow at A&A Engineering where I now work and I can only work part time. My friend Spencer wants to come back to work here over the summer, so me getting this job at ATK would be great for both of us. I really hope I get it, otherwise I'll have a lot of extra time on my hands and I don't know what I'd do with myself. I've been in school for so long that it feels like if I'm not doing homework I'm slacking.

A few weeks ago, Heather got released as a Beehive adviser and was put into the young women's presidency. She's excited about the knew calling and still gets to work with the same girls. She also gets to go to girls camp at the end of the month. She bought a program to make calendars and posters, and has been having a blast making cool stuff for her meetings.

Finals Week

Classes are over and there are only finals and projects left to complete. It's going to be a busy week and a half. I started my senior design project this semester. My group has to design and implement a system on a house that will save as much money in a year as it costs to build and install. We've come up with three ideas and next semester we will try to implement them. Our ideas are to put window film on the windows, a radiant barrier (aluminum foil) on top of the insulation on the attic floor, and to use a mister to cool the air around the air conditioner. Maybe I'll post more details after finals.

Spring Break

This week was my Spring Break. I didn't do anything special. My work schedule was the same and I still had homework to do, though it was nice to have a break and relax. Unfortunately, I did more relaxing than I should have at the beginning of the week and ran short on time for my homework.

Heather has been really enjoying her new office. Every day she comes home and tells me how awesome it is and how great the people are that she works with. She has been busy working hard this whole week. Today she did some cleaning and then counted all the change that we've collected. As I sat in the other room I could hear the sweet clanking of coins as she totaled up our savings. Then an excited yell, "Fifty three dollars! I'm going to the bank to turn this into cash and buy some paint." So off she went. We (I mean Heather) have been thinking about painting some of our rooms and already had the color decided. All afternoon Heather has been painting away while I've been stuck doing homework. She's almost done and we both think that it looks really good.

Before:After:

Bytheway, I got two hits past Matt's blocks at volleyball last Thursday. Quite an achievement for me.

I LOVE my NEW Job!!!

Before I started working for Dr. Ghorab, I had given my resume to to other doctors who weren't hiring at the time. They both contacted me and wanted to interview on the same Friday almost 5 months later. I was offered both jobs and decided that changing offices was definitely the right thing to do. I started working for Dr. Adams on Thursday and absolutely love it there. I love everyone I work with and enjoy going to work. This has been a huge blessing for Jacob and I. Things just work out.

First Place ...............not worth it.

Jacob and I were part of the winning team in a five legged race at our ward party. I had bruises all the way around my ankles from the rope tied around them. After a few days the swelling went down I could walk without wincing. I didn't know how competitive Jacob could be at a ward party. It was not worth it.

Jacob's Birthday!!!!

Jacob has always wanted "real" camouflage so........ I was at Walmart and saw a complete set for only $3.00! The deal was too good to pass up even if the size was 55 large. He was so surprised he couldn't stop smiling.

Sisters

Here is a picture of all my sisters in the snow.

I love to see the Temple

Here's a nice picture of the Mesa Temple we got from Heather's grandma. In our ward our bishop asked us to go to the Temple weekly for 3 months and then report our experience in sacrament meeting. What a blessing it was to have this experience. I've learned to never go to the Temple without a question in mind. It is said by many that a Temple recommend is a passport into the Heavens.

Holidays

Heather and I have been really busy during the holidays, which is surprising since we each had a lot of time off of work. Leading up to Christmas and the break, Heather was hard at work in the dentist's office and I was working hard getting ready for finals. We made it through and I got pretty good grades in my classes. The weekend that finals ended my elk hunt started and my Dad and I went up to Pinedale, where Heather's family has a cabin. We got up there Thursday night and Heather came up on Friday with her dad, younger brother and sister.

Saturday, at the end of the morning hunt, we were walking back to the car following some power lines. Just as I turned around to say something to my dad, an elk walked out in front of us. I was a ways ahead of my dad, preventing him shooting, so he yelled to me, "Shoot it! Shoot it!" I spun around and saw a beautiful cow elk standing less than 50 yards in front of me. A perfect shot, except my gun was still on my shoulder. I immediately slipped my gun off my shoulder and started taking my glove off so I could pull the trigger. Unfortunately, my sudden movements startled the elk and it took off running followed by another cow and two yearlings, any of which we could have shot because our tags were for any antler-less elk. What a disappointment. It would have been the perfect kill because the elk were at the top of the short hill we were on and the car was just on the other side, less than 100 yards away. Oh well, at least it made for a good story.

Christmas number 2 was fun for us. It was small, but we made up for it last year. We enjoyed it so much because we were able to just spend time with family. We also got to talk to Heather's brother Fletcher who is serving a mission in Barcelona, Spain.

After Christmas we went to the cabin with Heather's family and went snowboarding. It was a blast! Sunrise had a ton of fresh snow and more was falling while we were there. Heather and I both snowboarded and I was doing pretty good for it only being my second time. My family joined us at the cabin later that week so my dad and I could finish our hunt. Unfortunately my dad was sick on Friday, so Heather went with me and she spotted more elk than I did, two.

New Year's Eve was spent with Heather's family playing games like Wits and Wagers. The rest of the week we've been decluttering our condo and I've been working on my online class. I decided to take an online class over the winter break so I wouldn't be overloaded during the semesters. It's the history of the United states up to 1865.