Marisa 9/2/12

I just finished my first week of classes at BYU and it was so overwhelming that I ended up pretty sick this weekend. Because I have Monday off for Labor day, I’m spending the weekend in Logan with some of mom’s family (staying with Jonathan and Diana). Tonight we’re having a big family dinner and I can’t wait to see a bunch of my adorable cousins and awesome aunts and uncles.

Back to this week, I ended up dropping the first class I went to: Contemporary Dance. I knew it might be weird, but it was just too weird for me :) I really like all my other classes though. I’m taking 16.5 credits, and 9 of those are foreign language (French and Spanish), which is a little confusing. I’m also taking American Heritage, which so far isn’t as bad as everyone has made it sound. I’m taking a Book of Mormon class which is AMAZING. My teacher is at John Bytheway’s level and I’ve already gotten so much out of the class, even though we haven’t gotten into 1 Nephi yet. I think that’s my favorite class. I’m also doing a world dance class, which is mostly like European folk dancing. It’s really fun and interesting, and it’s a great morning class because it wakes me up for the rest of the day.

Then I have 2 french classes and a spanish class. I really like them, but it’s definitely at a much more difficult level than I’m used to, so I have to do a lot of work to try to keep up. There are several RM’s and people that have lived in French- or Spanish-speaking countries, so I feel kind of disadvantaged – thanks mom and dad for being so white ;) But one of my French teachers said something funny that helped me feel a little better. He said that missionaries are a very weird subgroup of foreign language speakers: they know a lot of street slang, and a lot of very religious words, and not much in between, so they’re really not a lot better off than the rest of us, they are just more comfortable speaking.

Overall, I have a lot of homework and work to do to catch up already, but I really enjoy my classes and I know I’m in the right place right now. I also met with my new ward for the first time last week. The bishopric is really cool, but our ward is definitely lacking males…our FHE group has 4 guys and 8 girls…but it sounds like this year will be fun. I think they said they’re going to bus us to Brigham City for the temple open house, which would be really cool.

Oh, also I don’t know how many of you watched the first BYU football game of the season, but we creamed Washington State! You might have seen me in the crowd, I was wearing white ;) The only bad part about the game is that I was supposed to go with my cousin, Jared, but our cell phone reception wasn’t working or something so we couldn’t find eachother. He ended up finding me on his way out because he had to leave early for a choir audition. Next time we’ll meet BEFORE going to the stadium so we can just walk together. They didn’t put the words to the fight song up, but luckily I have almost all of them down!

The whole game was really fun – it’s so much easier to get into football in person! Unfortunately I was up late that night for the game so I accidentally slept through my American Heritage class the next day, but they didn’t take attendance and I didn’t miss much.

Well that’s my week. Hopefully I didn’t bore you all to tears. Haha but this week I’m really excited for our first devotional with BYU’s President Samuelson and his wife. We also have another football game on Saturday against Weber State. It should be fun! I hope all is well with everyone!

Update from Marisa

So this week was a pretty crazy week of adjustments for me. Last Sunday night Missy and Clark dropped me off in my new dorm and helped me get settled. It’s pretty weird to be away from all of my family now and on my own, but BYU is a fun place to be. The first few days I was here, I just found my classes and ordered textbooks and took care of some last minute things before classes start. On Tuesday night a few roommates and I went to the fall sports kickoff, where I stood in line and got autographs from almost the entire BYU football team, which was totally worth it. On Wednesday we started our new student orientation with games, dinner and a dance for the dorms in our area. Speaking of the dorms, I’m basically living in the Hilton of BYU on-campus housing. The dorms are so spacious and new and comfortable. We have awesome air conditioning and multiple bathrooms and showers and an elevator, which is really nice. Most of the other dorms on campus don’t have air conditioning or have 6 or more people sharing a single bathroom. I am very, very lucky to be living where I am. I’m also really lucky to have the roommates I have. They are all really sweet and we all get along really well. One loves to cook and has been making us dinners and cookies, which I of course appreciate :) Other rooms are having roommate drama troubles already, but we are all good friends. Anyway, we’ve had a lot of fun activities during orientation, and have gone on a lot of tours and been to a lot of meetings. They’ve also been feeding us lots of free lunches and giving us free ice cream samples! We’ve had a few dances and other activities, but there are soooo many freshmen. It’s impossible to remember everyone’s names and every activity is super crowded, but at the same time it’s really nice to be surrounded by people who are intelligent and really want to be better people. It’s really refreshing and inspiring. Like today in church every person was singing and several people were excited to volunteer to give prayers and play the piano and even teach lessons to a bunch of people they’ve never met. It’s so nice to be around so many people that are my age and so similar to me, and the spirit is so strong. This week has been really nice because we’ve been able to enjoy BYU and the fun social activities and we haven’t had to worry about classes yet. Unfortunately we do start classes tomorrow, but I think I’m prepared and I’m pretty excited about finally getting started. I’m sure next week I’ll be telling you all about how stressed I am already with homework. I am really enjoying everything so far and I’m excited about being here for a few years. I’m glad Alayna had a good birthday! She’s getting so old! I miss you all and hope all is going well!

Happy 10th Birthday to Alayna- Double Digits!

Happy Birthday Laney!

We celebrated Alayna’s 10^th birthday this weekend! (Actual birthday is tomorrow). She knew exactly what she wanted. She wanted to go with the family to the Pizza Ranch buffet for lunch, go see Madagascar 3 (which was adorable), and then go to the new Cupcake shop in town. We had so much fun even though the cupcake shop was sold out- so we will have to go next week instead.

She got some very fun things for her locker from Ribera Grandparents plus a supercool hat that sings and dances! Then she got an awesome panda from Marisa which she calls “Bonzai” and hasn’t put down since she opened it. She REALLY misses Marisa!

Cool Info

*Kayla earned another letter in academics last year! Go Kayla!

*Kayla also lettered in SODA. Woot! Woot!

*Kayla LOVES her graphic design class- could be a possible career path for her?

*Tyler started show choir this week and really likes it so far.

*Alayna started orchestra this week and has signed up to do the running club, the drama club, and the musical STOMP club.I love her getting involved and having so much fun this year!

Me Update

This has been a pretty long week for me.

1. I started back at work. With budget cuts I am still not fulltime and they won’t let me make up any hours like they allowed last year. This is NOT good news. Work is going ok. I came up with some brilliant ideas and the year is off to a smooth start (even though 2 kids have already been expelled). I wish I was paid what I am worth….

2. I started another Master’s class on Monday. Found out that I can’t be paid for my field experiences (20 hours) even though that was never said up front. So now I have to get a sub for myself and work 20 hours in one week with no pay. That’s super helpful (please read that with dripping sarcasm). The projects are huge and brutal and there have been some things that have happened that have made me irate. I’d REALLY like to get it done with and get a great paying job. Grrrr!

3. I have had a horrible headache since last Friday. It wakes me up in the middle of the night and I can’t move my head. I started having cold like symptoms. Went in today and found out it s a severe sinus infection due to allergies. Kayla is also home today due to a bad head cold.

4. I get to pilot the iPad for education in my Master’s class, which has pros and cons to it. Then I get to pilot the Nook for my school. If any of you have a Nook or Kindle, I would love feedback on how you like that in comparison to reading an actual book in print form.

5. The kids have really stepped up in helping around the house. It has really helped Alayna to have her own room. She even has special rules that I will attach for you to see. We work as a family to make freezer meals on Saturday for the week. It has helped tremendously.

(The “punishment” is her following you around playing the theme from Psycho on the ukelele!)

Marisa Update

She had freshmen orientation this week and I am hoping she will do a quick write up on how everything went so I can add it to the blog. I know she stood in line to autographs from BYU football players, had a devotional and games I think? Anyway, she starts school tomorrow and I think she is very excited. She also really likes her roommates so far.

(Marisa is somewhere smack in the middle)

Temple, TOGA, and Time to Myself

Temple, TOGA, and Time to Myself

Back to School

Well, it’s that time again. Summer is over and its back to school for everyone. Alayna is in 5^th grade and really likes school and her teacher so far. Although, she isn’t thrilled about being forced to do reading minutes every night, which I find ironic since she reads every night anyway! She doesn’t like being told what to do.

Tyler says he likes high school so much! He only got lost the 1^st day, but seems to be doing well keeping up with everything so far. We will see how he does this week as seminary and show choir start!!

Kayla also seems to like her classes this year. She has already had quite a bit of homework. She is trying hard to juggle school and a job and seminary starts Monday.

Marisa has been staying with Missy and her family this week. It sounds like they had a lot of fun! She checks into her dorm tonight. We enjoy staying in touch by face-timing or on facebook.

Temple and TOGA

One of the cutest things I have noticed this week is how close Kayla and Tyler have gotten. I love it!! They went on a temple trip with the youth to Nauvoo yesterday morning and then attended the Back to School TOGA party/dance. It’s a costume party and their group went as a rainbow. Kayla was blue and Tyler was green.

(Coming home from the temple- I have to be sneaky)

Time to Myself

This was a great week for me since the kids were back in school and I was still off. However, there is always too much to do.

1. Had a lunch date with Bob

2. Treated myself to the new Cupcake bakery by our house

3. Made more salsa- FYI takes forever when doing by yourself

4. Had a “White Collar” marathon

5. Made freezer meals for next week and did all the grocery shopping.

6. Did meal planning for the whole month

7. Completed beastly project for my masters class.

8. Worked out every day and did all the yard work.

9. Biked with Alayna to and from school

10. Watched some fun movies as a family like the new Sherlock Homes, Superman Returns, Man on a Ledge, Journey 2, Legend of the Guardians (with Alayna)

11. Made awesome new meals from Pinterest

12. Dreading Monday cause I REALLY don’t want to go back to work.

Alayna’s Completed Room

And our summer ends…

We made it home safely from the trip. We didn’t make the zoo that we planned on the last day because Tyler had a stomach sickness and laid in the back the whole trip and Bob had another infection starting. Felt like the longest travel day of all time. I am currently researching a way to teleport us next time we need to travel cause this trip is for the birds.

A huge storm came and apparently ripped up our trampoline (which by the way is a heavy beast) and slammed it into our adjoining fence with our neighbors. Poles were ripped out and it was strewn all over the lawn. Apparently, I took a brilliant picture with no memory card in my camera so no one will believe it really happened. But Bob and neighbor got the fence fixed and was able to reassemble the trampoline to look almost new, more “squiggly” actually…

We spent the week unpacking, cleaning, and preparing for school which starts this coming Wednesday. Alayna moved into Marisa’s room the 1^st day and arranged it perfectly “her” way. I made 12 jars of spaghetti (even burnt a whole batch cause I suck) and 8 jars of salsa. We made homemade honey wheat bread using our new electric wheat grinder which worked like a charm.

Kayla flew home from Utah yesterday and went through 6 gate changes and a 2 hour delay. I think it was good for her to go through this all herself. She came home, and promptly left 30 minutes later to a party at a friends house. Yep, we know where we stand.

Alayna spent all day preparing a special restaurant for her, signs and all.

Summer is over and we are sad….

Marisa is in Salt Lake City staying with Missy for the week.  She will check into her dorm in exactly one week and she can hardly wait.  We are tremendously grateful for so many family members who housed us, then our two girls, and for all the acts of kindness that were done for our family and our girls and making this transition smoother.  We feel blessed to have so many people care about us so thank you!

Heading Home and Training with Jake

We woke up early this morning for a fun training session with Jake.  I’m in love with the treadmills they use and I impressed myself by walking backwards and not falling on my face in front of everyone!

Then we attended Hailey’s 4th Birthday Party!

Then we left Marisa and Kayla in Logan and headed for home.  Made it to Laramie.

Bear Lake…on Accident…?

We had an interesting day on Friday.  1st I took Tyler and Bob shopping at Old Navy and we had great success!

Then we went with Gparents, and Jonathan and Diana to go see “The Dark Knight Rises”.  Loved it!  Love Robin even more!  Love him to death!

Then we had this great idea to head up to the canyon to get our (Hart) family pictures done and do a picnic with everyone.  Great idea right?  Except you forget you are dealing with idiots here.  My mom gave us directions and we thought we understood.  It really is a case of a severe misunderstanding.  She told us to go to the 1st dam and look for them.  We kept driving and driving and never saw that “dam” (DAMN!) sign.  Marisa and Bob wanted to turn back but  was determined to find them.  We kept climbing and climbing.  Then after an hour (yes, you heard me, we saw this huge lake.  And we were like, “Hey that’s a HUGE lake.  Wouldn’t that be crazy if we had actually gone all the way to Bear Lake.” and then we thought “no, that’s in a different canyon”.  Lo, and behold, it was Bear Lake!!!  We took pics as proof.

Meanwhile the family who knows where the dam is waited for us for 2 hours, got kicked out of the park by a crazy lady on a golf cart, and had as rough a time as we did.  Miraculously we found them as they were leaving and as we hit the bottom of the canyon.  So, we did get our formal family pictures by the awesome and amazing Brandi and then went o Jonathan and Dianas where Gma saved the day with dinner and we watched some Olympic records get broken.  Whew!