A Beautiful Life

We have truly been blessed this past week! Since we have been married, I have felt like I am in a state of limbo- never really knowing where our life would take us. After Randy's last job ended at the closing of September, he has been searching for a job. He has had many promising interviews, but so far nothing had come of them. About two weeks ago he started volunteering with the Washington Division of Wildlife and helping them with deer trapping (he has promised me today that he will blog about it and share pictures!!!). The basic purpose of the trapping is to gain basic information on the health of the deer population. He has really enjoyed that and I am happy that he is learning new skills, meeting new people, having something to do that is out of the house, and not always working on applying for jobs.

After the meeting with Dr. Shipley last Monday, neither of us was very hopeful that she would be able to help us. However on Friday she emailed Randy with a JOB OFFER!!!!!!! She currently can only promise him a month of employment, but if more funding comes in the job will be extended. He will be helping a graduate student finish her project on Sage Grouse and Sharp Tail Grouse using radio collar telemetry. On his last job in Colorado, he spent a lot of time studying Sage Grouse and he learned how to follow the signals of that the collars put off. The job site is about 2 hours southwest where we are (which is wonderful- because most of the jobs he was applying to would require us to relocate to a different state). He will be gone during the week, but will be able to come home on weekends. (I have been spoiled having him here with me everyday) :D He is a little disappointed that he can't help with the deer trapping as much, but is hoping to be able to help out with it every now and again. I am so proud of him! I am grateful to my Heavenly Father for His guidance. He has been preparing us for this time and will continue to prepare us for the future.

Tomorrow we are starting our 8 week challenge! I read that we were supposed to weigh ourselves the Sunday before, but I forgot...and I like to do that first thing in the morning (before I can add weight with food :) ) we will be doing that first thing tomorrow morning. I still haven't figured out a reward if I reach my goals (6 weeks with perfect score and/or lose 8 pounds). I would like to do something like a spa treatment, but those can be pricey. I don't really want to do anything with food. There is a rock climbing gym that offers classes that Randy mentioned he would like to do- maybe that will be the winner. Any suggestions?

I realize that this is a rather long post but I wanted to share a few more things... well pictures...

This is a picture of an amazing sunset at our house. The silo and barn you can see are not on the property (the property is behind the camera). I wish the camera could have captured the full magnificence of the evening.

This is my interview apparel. It took me forever to find something that I liked and felt comfortable wearing (all the other suits I tried on I felt like I was playing dress up in my dad's old suits). 

This is a super cute little alpaca! While on our tour of the Large Animal Hospital with Gabi, he decided to come check us out.

Interview Day!!!

Today was the big day! Today I had 30 minutes to convince three doctors that I was a perfect fit for the Washington State University veterinarian program. Yesterday I went to a pizza mixer where interviewees had the chance to meet each other and current students. I was nervous when I first arrived, but soon found people to talk to. I met Charlie, a 31 year old red tail hawk. The oldest living red tail hawk. Everyone was very friendly and willing to talk and answer questions. When I arrived for my interview this morning, I was greeted by a recruiter, two friendly dogs, a bowl of candy, and huge plate of chocolate cherry cookies. Once the recruiter left two 3rd year students came in to talk to us, the left and two academic advisors came in and introduced themselves. Soon after Dr. Potter came to take me to my interview. I really liked that we were never left alone to sit and think about how nervous we were.
I felt like the interview went well.....well I felt good about it when I went out of the room. The doctors were very nice and seemed genuinely interested in what I had to say. Some of the questions I was asked include-

Do you know what the starting salary of veterinarian graduate is? Do you know what the debt to income ratio is for graduate? How do you plan to handle the finances?
Do you have any pets?
What do you like to do for fun?
Tell of a difficult undergraduate class and what your study habits were
What is your opinion of using live animals for teaching and research purposes
There is a 24 year old mare with laminitis (a painful condition in the feet). You have done everything to try to improve her condition, but nothing has worked. How do you council the family that includes a 14 year old girl?

After they were through with their questions they gave me some time to ask them. My first question was why did you decide to become a teacher. My second question was why did you decide to come to WSU.

After my interview, I met Randy for his interview. We met with Dr. Shipley, who is a wildlife biologist, to see if she had a job or graduate position to offer Randy.  She could not offer him anything currently, but she did tell him of possibly future projects if the funding came through and of other professors that might be able to offer him something.

After his interview we went back to the hotel so I could change back into normal clothes and to check out. We then headed back up to the Vet school to meet Gabi, a 2nd year vet student, for a quick tour of the school and the hospital. (Gabi is my sister-in-law's good friend). Being able to enter the hospital as a first year vet student is something that sets WSU apart. At many vet schools the students don't enter the hospital until their 4th and final year of school.

We drove back home later that day. I will hear in two weeks if I get an offer or not.

Change of Plans

I told Randy about my 8 Week Challenge goals and he decided wants to do it with me! YAY! However there was a condition. He doesn't want to start tomorrow because its his birthday! So we will be starting together next Monday the 30.

Resolutions :)

As always I have made my self a list of resolutions for the new year (along with the rest of the world :) ), but my real goal is to see them through this time.

#1. Improve my spirituality and my relationship with my Heavenly Father - To do this I have made a goal to study my scriptures for 30 minutes everyday. I so far I have not been perfect at this, but the days that I have followed through has lead to new insights and it helps me to remember my Savior more often throughout the day.

#2. Keep my stuff picked up - So I know this seems kind of lame, but I am very good at making a mess ( as Randy teasingly reminds me, particularly when I am cooking) so I have decided to be very very good at cleaning them up. So far the improvement that I have made is to clean up my stuff before I go to bed.

#3 Healthy Lifestyle Change- Lose weight, eat healthy: you know everyone else's new years resolution. I really want to make a permanent change, a true live style change. I have a couple of bad habits I am wanting to kick (like eating too much bread.... those of you who know me know just how much I loooove my bread, too much ice cream, and excess snacking). But not eating unhealthy foods is only part of the battle. I don't want to be starving all the time, so I have started to find healthier snacks instead. A few weeks ago on facebook I asked some friends what their favorite healthy snacks are. Some of the most popular were frozen grapes (I haven't tried those yet, but they sound yummy), peanut butter and celery (because its hard for me to eat more then one piece of celery by itself), and almonds (love these!).

To give me more motivation to achieve my goals I found an 8 Week Challenge from Six Sisters' Stuff. In this challenge you earn points everyday for exercising, eating so many fruits and veggies each day, drinking 64 oz of water, losing weight, and other healthy habits. At the end of the week you tally up your points and you tally again at the end of the 8 weeks. I have a goal to lose 8 pounds and to earn the full number of points 6 weeks out of the 8 total weeks. Tomorrow I will take my starting weight and then begin the challenge officially on Monday.  I am still trying to decide on a reward for myself if I reach my weight lose goal and/or the number of points.

A Bit About the Background Image

I took this picture while I was working for Colorado Division of Wildlife. I was in the Sand Wash Basin in northwest Colorado, where there is a large number of wild horses. Here is a blog that has more pictures of them. Sand Wash Basin Wild Horses

Our Beginning

Randall and I met in September 2008 in a horseback riding class (well actually he was the teacher and I was the student). The following year we started dating and the next year (FINALLY) we were engaged! We were married on August 4, 2011 in the Bountiful Temple for time and eternity.We are currently living outside Spokane, Wa in a little tiny town that only has a post office.

I recently graduated from Brigham Young University- Idaho with a degree in Animal and Vet Science and Randall graduated in 2010 from Brigham Young University- Idaho with a degree in Ecology, Wildlife, and Fisheries.