It's been a great 2 years!

As we prepare to leave the "promised land" and head out to the "mission field" (seriously, I've heard people say that!), I thought I'd share some things...

Things I'll miss about Provo:

• The mountains. Looking out my front window and seeing Mt. Timpanogos. Majestic. Beautiful. Watching the clouds roll in and hide the mountains. Seeing the "Y" every day.

• Elise's ballet teacher. Miss Amber at Ruby Shoes Studio. Elise has learned so much--and learned to love the beauty of dance from someone I trust to teach her. I'm pretty sure that dance will be a part of Elise's life for a long, long time, and I wish we could pack up Miss Amber and take her with us wherever we go. It's okay, though, because Amber's baby, Ruby, and my Lincoln are betrothed to each other. So we'll be in touch.

• Yield signs, not stop signs.
• U-turns
• Never worrying about taking my kids to on-campus events. I know the dancing, etc., will be modest and appropriate for them to see. 
• Our cul-de-sac. 5 duplexes of some of the best people around! A quiet, safe neighborhood full of great kids and parents. 
• Friends. Like Sarah, Marisa, Candace, Anna & Eirene. When I'm around them I am a better mom. I need friends like that! Winter, Pam, Stephanie, Nicole, Tepoe, Amanda, Kristen, Jamie, Tiffany, Lori...I guess I'm okay moving on because I know there are more amazing women out there for me to meet. 
• WINCO! One just opened up here a couple of weeks ago. And I'm leaving it AGAIN! I hope they expand to Minnesota!
• Kid to Kid. Gifts of the Heart Exchange. Free clothes. Service opportunities.

• MBA Spouses Association. It's like Relief Society on steroids. Amazing women making amazing things happen. 
• The hiking. We are moving to FLAT. 
• Being close enough to family that I can make the drive on my own in a couple of days. 15 hours vs. 29 hours. Ouch!
• Bella Natal and my midwife there.

Things I won't miss:

• Crazy Utah drivers. Red means STOP! Really! Tailing while texting. Going slow in the fast lane. Not watching out for pedestrians and bikers.
• Inversion. Can you say yuck?!
• The arid climate. We dry out here!

There are so many wonderful people and places in Utah. I am so glad we chose to come here for school. I am also looking forward to our next adventure!

Graduation!

Only a month late...

Stephen graduated from BYU's MBA program!

It's been a great two years--we have both learned a lot! Now we are off to the University of Minnesota's Business Strategy PhD program for 5 years. From Beavers to Cougars to Gophers. Goooooo rodents!

Dr. Bill Sawaya (supply chain professor) played a big part in our choosing to come to BYU. He told us that BYU's mission "Enter to learn, go forth to serve" means just that. Come, get educated and leave Utah! He said that there are enough good people in Utah--the church needs you in other places!

Weston Pope & Brent Walker were on Stephen's team the first semester of the MBA program. Notice Brent's & Stephen's matching ties? They are official Marriott School ties, given out during orientation week. I know, very cool.

There were a LOT of people there. In case you were wondering, Stephen was on the right hand side about 5 rows from the front and 6-ish people from the far right. Just in case you want to try to pick him out.

The kids were great...for the first hour and a half...the ceremony began at 5pm, we were seated by 4:30pm, and all I thought to bring was Skittles to bribe them to be good. Yes, they were hungry! We left shortly after this moment:

As a side note (in case you are still reading this), Stephen graduated in the top 10% of his class. Congratulations, honey! All those late nights and early mornings have paid off! It was all worth it. Stephen Jones, BS, MBA, and in a little while, PhD!

Daddy is almost home!!!

Stephen has been in Arkansas (woohoo!) for the past 5 days. And I have been amazing. I didn't even cry once! Go me! But really, the kids were so good, and we kept busy doing projects:

*Elise and I made hair clips for her friends for Christmas. Bows are all the rage here in Utah, and I must admit that I jumped on the band wagon with this project. It's been a bunch of fun to do with Miss Elise, tho, and we made a bunch of flower-bows for really cheap! :o) Here is Sammy modeling some of our fantastic bows.




*Mason decided to make marshmallow guns for his friends for Christmas, so we made a trek to Lowes (where a VERY nice man cut all the pipes for me!) and bought 30 feet of 1/2" PVC pipe and a bunch (20 of each to be exact) of T's, elbows and caps. I showed him how to put one together, and he's made 8 on his own. Amazing machine-loving boy! He has also invented a balloon blower-upper with the leftover pipes.

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that STEPHEN'S TEAM WON!!!!!!! The FedEx Case Competition is the supply chain competition in the nation, and BYU won! This is only the 2nd year they were invited (they took 2nd last year), so this is fantastic for the supply chain program!

Everyone needs to move...

I am of the opinion that people who live in Utah should live outside of Utah, at least for a little while. There is just so much more world than this little bubble. Since moving here I've realized that I really needed to get outside of Oregon - don't get me wrong, I can't think of a better place in the world...but my world view is rather limited, since it consists of...Oregon. My view is already expanding, and (now, Mom, don't get too upset) I don't really want to go back to Oregon for awhile. In fact, I really want to go international and have Stephen do some expatriate work for some years. My one condition is that he make enough that I can fly home at least once a year. :o) And maybe fly my family & friends out every so often, too.

BYU's motto is "Enter to learn, go forth to serve." And they really mean it - they don't want people sticking around Utah. There are enough and to spare of excellent people here! When we first came to look at BYU (last November) we talked with the professor over Supply Chain, Dr. Sawaya, and he told us that the first goal of the MBA program here is to train bishops, stake presidents and the like, and that if we get a good job, that's great, but they really want to train leaders and send them out to the world to strengthen the church. That was a turning point for me in thinking BYU would be okay. Now I know that it is FANTASTIC! Not just okay.

Another professor came to talk to just the spouses (insanely awesome (was that stereotypical Utah talk?) !!!) association, and said his biggest concern was that our husbands don't realize how amazing they are, and instead of settling for a good job they need to decide what it is they really want to do and go for it. Also that the world needs great LDS leaders, and that is what the MBA program at BYU is creating. He also said that we should not be afraid to take risks and go new places.

I'm still anti-big bugs, but not diametrically opposed to anything. Well, maybe New Orleans...yes, definitely there. I for sure want to be above sea level if we live near the ocean. :o) I really hope we get to go somewhere outside of the U.S. for awhile, but who knows where we'll end up! Hopefully somewhere where the church isn't strong. It's always nice to be needed. (I hope that didn't sound egotistical)

NSHMBA

By virtue of Stephen being able to locate Mexico on a map, he went to Atlanta this weekend to attend the National Society of Hispanic MBA student's career fair. Because he is so Hispanic. Or not...anyhow, he spent from Thursday through late Saturday in the peach state, networking and such. He interviewed with Target (located in MN), P&G (Proctor & Gamble, OH) and Johnson & Johnson (NJ), and talked to a bunch of other companies: Ocean Spray (they sound pretty cool! Located 30 miles south of Boston), IBM, Amazon, Campbell Soup Company, Kroger, Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Sara Lee Corporation (can't you just see us eating pies all day long...), and a bunch of others. He has an interview with United Stationers (just north of Chicago) on Thursday, and he's pretty excited about it.

He went to a couple of cool parties on Friday night - the best one was P&G's - it was held in the Atlanta Aquarium, and he said there were some whale sharks, a hammerhead shark and other cool stuff. He went to a little hole-in-the-wall diner on Saturday, and ate the best ribs he's ever had! I'm glad he's home now, although he'll probably do some fly-backs for second interviews. The MBA program is definitely an investment, both money- and time-wise!