Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Cam laughing.
Here's Cam laughing as hard as he can while I played with him. Well, he kept laughing at least until he saw the camera and tried to dive for it! Oh and those "Neerowmmmmm"s are about as high as my voice goes.
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Training a Superhero
So we need everyone to keep this on the downlow. We have a superhero in training in our home. Now we know that he is only almost 7 months old, but its better to get them started at a young age. That way all his crime fighting skills well be second nature to him. Now, we must seriously stress that everyone keeps this on the downlow, because if any of Cam's nemeses learn of his true identity the lives of those around him would be in peril. Plus, now that you know a mind erasing crew will be over at your house to erase your memory of ever reading this and this message will never appear on the blog again. Sorry, but we got to keep people safe.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Going to the U of M
A month ago everything was looking easy. We would go to BYU as it was so much cheaper than any other option and we would find a cheap place in Provo for three years. After visiting Provo it felt like a bigger version of Rexburg, so it felt like it would be an easy switch. On top of that, we would have lots of friends from Rexburg (Dani was so excited to be in the same town as her old roommate again!) that were down there and a lot of my old mission buddies still lived there. I was also excited to finally be able to make it to a Mission reunion since I haven't been to one since I returned from my mission. Easy. It really just seemed like the easy choice.
The U of M had always been really personable and kind. I had received several phone calls and emails from current students and alumni offering to answer questions and offer advice. One conversation focused on Cameron and how important it was to me to go to a school that would be supportive of someone with a family. I would later receive a package with a Rubber Ducky that was apparently the result of this conversation. A nice personal touch. However, on this particular day I had no desire to speak on the phone with a polite student asking me to consider the school or offering to answer my questions. Cameron had spent most of the afternoon screaming and I had a headache. I had finally gotten Cam down for his nap and was finally able to get to some of the cleaning that I had been neglecting that day. I was eager to get it done as fast as possible because the possibility of a nap that I might get in before Dani got back from work. I was shocked when I listened to my voice mail and the message was not "Let me know if you have questions" but rather "Congratulations! You have been awarded a scholarship!" It didn't take long to do the math and realize that with the scholarship MN was suddenly about the same cost as BYU. Originally that was what set BYU apart. It was a good school, and it was cheap! Now both schools were cheap and they were both good! I called Dani and the conversation that followed would have been comical if we both hadn't sounded so pathetic:
"Hi babe... I have um... Good I guess... yeah, it's good news, well it's complicated and it makes things harder."
"What happened."
"Minnesota just called and offered us a scholarship."
"But... But... We just decided BYU..."
"I know! We were done! I thought we were done anyway, shouldn't we think about this at least?"
"Probably... but.. um... why??? We had finally made a decision and we were done..."
"I know... this is good news... right?"
And that went on for a little while with neither of us being able to decide if it was good news or not. Of course my headache only got worse and I didn't get to my nap.
The news settled in and we began to realize how similar the two schools were. BYU is respected across the nation but places really well in Utah/Idaho and to a lesser extent other areas in the Mountain West. U of M is also respected across the nation but places really well in Minnesota and the midwest.
I had visited BYU and was really impressed with the faculty/students. The building was not that attractive, but the library (where most of my time would be spent) was nice and having your own study desk was also a nice touch. I had not been able to visit MN but have heard that the building is not ugly and not beautiful. The faculty/students that I had been in contact with had all been very nice and were generally impressive.
Dani loves her mountains and I love my green. Neither of us really wanted to live in Utah long-term, although we also didnt' have a great desire to live in Minnesota long-term. An in-between place (like Colorado) would be ideal, but there are no schools there that we got into (U of Colorado rejected me) or at least no other schools that we would want to go to. Even if we had got in, without a substantial scholarship it would have been pretty hard to justify the debt since we would have been paying out-of-state tuition. So basically we had no major pull for either school in terms of the region. There were things we really liked about Minnesota like the lakes and the green and the seasons and there were thigns we really liked about BYU like the Mountains and the hiking and camping. Neither was pulling ahead.
We thought about what would be best for Cam. Would it be best to go to a school with a huge population of married students like BYU where there will likely be many kids who are Cam's age or would it be better to go to school with a more diverse student body where we would be exposed to a wider range of perspectives which we would be able to pass on to Cam? If we end up living in the place we go to school long-term, which place would provide better schooling for Cam and be better for him? To raise a child in the church is it better to be surrounded with members or to be surrounded by non-members? Which would be more likely to provide a solid foundation for Cam? As we studied this out, we often decided the winner here was Minnesota. This is likely because both Dani and I grew up outside of the Utah/Idaho bubble and we both cherished our experiences of being able to grow up with people who had diverse opinions. I felt this may have helped to solidify our testimonies, as we knew that it was something unique and important. We also felt that the public schooling in Minnesota was slightly superior to Utah, although we will admit that we can only go by fairly incomplete data and word of mouth. Is it better that Minnesota has smaller class sizes and spends more on each kid? I guess we decided it is slightly better, although this definitely did not tip the scales for our decision. I just wanted to give you a little idea of how close we felt these schools were and the types of things we were comparing.
Honestly, when we got to this point things just started to get more and more confusing. It wasn't too long after this that we took a break from talking about where we would go to school. We decided we would go to the temple on May 2nd (we had to absolutely make our decision by May 4th) and that we would make our decision while we were there. I also forgot to mention that when we were set apart for our new callings the week before that part of my blessing was that I would be able to understand where we needed to go. Dani told me that she would be fine with either place and that she would stand behind my decision--which I hate! I love that she supports me and understand her attitude but I hate the possibility that I might make a decision that could ultimately make her unhappy. I would rather us both come to the same conclusion together, but it looked like it wasn't going to happen as we were both pretty much clueless. So, we went to the temple looking to decide once and for all where we should go. Without going into details, it became more and more clear that Minnesota was the place for us. After telling Dani that's how I felt she told me that's what she figured would happen. I had forgotten, but months ago she had mentioned that she really couldn't see us going to BYU and I had felt the same way. Now that we had decided on Minnesota everything felt great.
I can't say that we made our decision through logic, although we definitely tried to. In the end, it really came down to the fact that it just felt right and BYU didn't. Maybe that's not the best way to make a decision that will affect the rest of your life but I think when it comes down to it was the only way we could make this decision. Now looking forward, I am excited for Dani to get to know my side of the family better. I want to take her and Cam to a Twins game and take them fishing. Maybe we will decide that Minnesota is where we want to be long-term and settle down there. On the other hand, maybe after three years we will decide we want to get out of there as fast as we can.
To celebrate (not that we're going to Minnesota but the fact that we finally made a decision) we treated ourselves to Olive Garden yesterday and ate until we were stuffed. I joked to Dani that after finally making that decision it fel like I had lost 30 pounds from my shoulders and then packed it all into my belly. Same weight, but in a much more satisfying place! It is good to finally be done with that decision!
The U of M had always been really personable and kind. I had received several phone calls and emails from current students and alumni offering to answer questions and offer advice. One conversation focused on Cameron and how important it was to me to go to a school that would be supportive of someone with a family. I would later receive a package with a Rubber Ducky that was apparently the result of this conversation. A nice personal touch. However, on this particular day I had no desire to speak on the phone with a polite student asking me to consider the school or offering to answer my questions. Cameron had spent most of the afternoon screaming and I had a headache. I had finally gotten Cam down for his nap and was finally able to get to some of the cleaning that I had been neglecting that day. I was eager to get it done as fast as possible because the possibility of a nap that I might get in before Dani got back from work. I was shocked when I listened to my voice mail and the message was not "Let me know if you have questions" but rather "Congratulations! You have been awarded a scholarship!" It didn't take long to do the math and realize that with the scholarship MN was suddenly about the same cost as BYU. Originally that was what set BYU apart. It was a good school, and it was cheap! Now both schools were cheap and they were both good! I called Dani and the conversation that followed would have been comical if we both hadn't sounded so pathetic:
"Hi babe... I have um... Good I guess... yeah, it's good news, well it's complicated and it makes things harder."
"What happened."
"Minnesota just called and offered us a scholarship."
"But... But... We just decided BYU..."
"I know! We were done! I thought we were done anyway, shouldn't we think about this at least?"
"Probably... but.. um... why??? We had finally made a decision and we were done..."
"I know... this is good news... right?"
And that went on for a little while with neither of us being able to decide if it was good news or not. Of course my headache only got worse and I didn't get to my nap.
The news settled in and we began to realize how similar the two schools were. BYU is respected across the nation but places really well in Utah/Idaho and to a lesser extent other areas in the Mountain West. U of M is also respected across the nation but places really well in Minnesota and the midwest.
I had visited BYU and was really impressed with the faculty/students. The building was not that attractive, but the library (where most of my time would be spent) was nice and having your own study desk was also a nice touch. I had not been able to visit MN but have heard that the building is not ugly and not beautiful. The faculty/students that I had been in contact with had all been very nice and were generally impressive.
Dani loves her mountains and I love my green. Neither of us really wanted to live in Utah long-term, although we also didnt' have a great desire to live in Minnesota long-term. An in-between place (like Colorado) would be ideal, but there are no schools there that we got into (U of Colorado rejected me) or at least no other schools that we would want to go to. Even if we had got in, without a substantial scholarship it would have been pretty hard to justify the debt since we would have been paying out-of-state tuition. So basically we had no major pull for either school in terms of the region. There were things we really liked about Minnesota like the lakes and the green and the seasons and there were thigns we really liked about BYU like the Mountains and the hiking and camping. Neither was pulling ahead.
We thought about what would be best for Cam. Would it be best to go to a school with a huge population of married students like BYU where there will likely be many kids who are Cam's age or would it be better to go to school with a more diverse student body where we would be exposed to a wider range of perspectives which we would be able to pass on to Cam? If we end up living in the place we go to school long-term, which place would provide better schooling for Cam and be better for him? To raise a child in the church is it better to be surrounded with members or to be surrounded by non-members? Which would be more likely to provide a solid foundation for Cam? As we studied this out, we often decided the winner here was Minnesota. This is likely because both Dani and I grew up outside of the Utah/Idaho bubble and we both cherished our experiences of being able to grow up with people who had diverse opinions. I felt this may have helped to solidify our testimonies, as we knew that it was something unique and important. We also felt that the public schooling in Minnesota was slightly superior to Utah, although we will admit that we can only go by fairly incomplete data and word of mouth. Is it better that Minnesota has smaller class sizes and spends more on each kid? I guess we decided it is slightly better, although this definitely did not tip the scales for our decision. I just wanted to give you a little idea of how close we felt these schools were and the types of things we were comparing.
Honestly, when we got to this point things just started to get more and more confusing. It wasn't too long after this that we took a break from talking about where we would go to school. We decided we would go to the temple on May 2nd (we had to absolutely make our decision by May 4th) and that we would make our decision while we were there. I also forgot to mention that when we were set apart for our new callings the week before that part of my blessing was that I would be able to understand where we needed to go. Dani told me that she would be fine with either place and that she would stand behind my decision--which I hate! I love that she supports me and understand her attitude but I hate the possibility that I might make a decision that could ultimately make her unhappy. I would rather us both come to the same conclusion together, but it looked like it wasn't going to happen as we were both pretty much clueless. So, we went to the temple looking to decide once and for all where we should go. Without going into details, it became more and more clear that Minnesota was the place for us. After telling Dani that's how I felt she told me that's what she figured would happen. I had forgotten, but months ago she had mentioned that she really couldn't see us going to BYU and I had felt the same way. Now that we had decided on Minnesota everything felt great.
I can't say that we made our decision through logic, although we definitely tried to. In the end, it really came down to the fact that it just felt right and BYU didn't. Maybe that's not the best way to make a decision that will affect the rest of your life but I think when it comes down to it was the only way we could make this decision. Now looking forward, I am excited for Dani to get to know my side of the family better. I want to take her and Cam to a Twins game and take them fishing. Maybe we will decide that Minnesota is where we want to be long-term and settle down there. On the other hand, maybe after three years we will decide we want to get out of there as fast as we can.
To celebrate (not that we're going to Minnesota but the fact that we finally made a decision) we treated ourselves to Olive Garden yesterday and ate until we were stuffed. I joked to Dani that after finally making that decision it fel like I had lost 30 pounds from my shoulders and then packed it all into my belly. Same weight, but in a much more satisfying place! It is good to finally be done with that decision!
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