A Fun Baby Shower

I went to my friend's baby shower tonight. And I'll be honest, I hate going to baby showers. I don't have kids, so the conversation is awkward (the moms are talking about breastfeeding & I'm waiting in dread for someone to ask me when we're planning on having kids). But the evening was really fun. We played a few games and they were fun; I didn't have to smell or eat anything. :) We just hung out, chatted, and ate yummy food. The gifts were all so cute and pink!

The kicker was when we were cleaning up the party and a firefighter walked in. (The party was at a neighborhood community center, so they can just walk right in.) Apparently one of the alarms was tripped, but we didn't hear anything; it must have been some kind of glitch because there was no fire, just a bunch of ladies. That really capped off the night nicely.

Save BYU's Women's Research Institute

"A BYU education should be (1) spiritually strengthening, (2) intellectually enlarging, and (3) character building, leading to (4) lifelong learning and service." And that is what the Women's Research Institute has promoted for the past 30+ years. The research done through this department has linked researchers across the university and has touched lives around the world. As a graduate of the Women's Studies minor, I have personally seen the work people are able to do because the Institute is present. In my senior research class, I was able to have individual time with professors that may not have been otherwise available. In this same class, we had women from varying majors, which brought more points of view to our research and broadened what we were able to do.

I'm unclear as to WHY the Women's Research Institute is being dissolved, but I would ask the University and specifically the Committee that made this decision, to reconsider. People, not just women, are upset about this decision because it is taking a piece of the university from the students that have come to BYU to study. I feel that by closing the Women's Research Institute, we are stealing from future generations; not only BYU students, but from people all over the globe that could benefit from the research done there.

If you don't want the Women's Research Institute to close, please DO something about it. Write a letter/email, call, join the Facebook group, wear a shirt or whatever you want to protest this decision. Let them know what they are taking away!

Good News

As some of you may know, Richard enlisted in the Marine Corps a few months ago, but we have been waiting to see if he got the job (Military Occupation Specialties aka MOS) that he wanted, which is a linguist. We heard from his recruiter this month and he was accepted into his MOS. We're really excited about this. Rich goes to Boot Camp in March and I'm planing on staying here for that time and then we'll see where the Marine Corps takes us.

DON'T...

eat fried dough while on the back of a motorcycle with a helmet on.

#1: You can't get the food in your mouth because the helmet is in the way.
#2: You get powdered sugar all over your helmet and yourself.

Not that I've tried that or anything. :)

Waterfront Festival

Rich & I went to the Festival at the Newburgh Waterfront yesterday. It was a nice evening so we took the motorcycle down. We walked around and saw all of the vendors and got some fair food (we had gyros...yummy!). After the gyros, we were pretty stuffed so we're thinking about going back on Monday for more food! We ran into one of Rich's friends from high school, Carolyn. She had a booth for her business, Hudson Harmony; she sells homemade jewelry and soap/bath stuff. I bought a bar of the Joyfully soap and it makes the bathroom smell so nice!

I'm not sure what we're up to on Monday, so if you're gonna be around tomorrow, hit us up. :) Happy Labor Day!

Off to Camp

I'm going to Girls' Camp for the next couple days. When I come back, hopefully I will start blogging again. A thousand apologizes for being a bad blogger; I will explain in upcoming posts.

In case there was ever any question...

I am definitely my father's daughter. Duh! Well, today as I was pulling my hair back, I found 3 indisputable gray/white hairs. My father started graying young and I'm following in his footsteps. :) Sorry no pics; the glare from my shiny hair makes all of the pictures a ball of light. But trust me, they are there! I've seen white hairs before, but Rich tried to convince me that they were just "really blond strands". But the ones I spotted today are without a doubt white/gray. So what does my blogging audience think that I should do? Start dying my hair or live & let live?