The Last Two Months

It's been just over two months since I blogged last. The first month we were home for Christmas and I let the blog slide then this past month.. we'll I'd figured no one checked in anymore so I could let it slide a bit more. But... some pretty exciting things are happening in our lives and I guess I should chronicle them.
As I already posted, I went to Bremerton, Washington early in December to interview with Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. Shortly after my return they offered me a job working as a shift test engineer. I would be working with the group in charge of the reactor on the submarine or aircraft carrier while in the yard. I turned down the offer a few weeks into the new year.

As with every December, the semester came to an end. That meant a lot of projects and papers due. I finished up my Culinary Chemistry class. I had a blast making my recipe book for that final project. Here is one of the pages from that book.
Along with the end of the year came a new calling for me. Previously we were the Webelos leaders. We really enjoyed the time we got to spend with them.
Growing up we had a picture of a group of cup scouts that my mom was den mother to in a Popsicle stick frame. One of our last activities was putting the above picture in a Popsicle stick frame. I am now in young womens and it is quite the experience. We only have a few young women but they are all amazing in their own special way.

We spent the holiday at Brett's parent's house. They think I'm very lazy now I'm sure of it. I spent three entire weeks reading. The Marshall family party was fantastic as usual. Everyone was there except Brett's favorite twin brother, Sean. Brett had to make do with chilling with Sean's little guy Jack.
I don't remember who but somebody got a 55-gallon drum for Christmas. Now I know these are meant for food storage but growing up we used to play on these out in the yard. With a little encouragement from an older generation (i.e. Brett) the next generation is begining to see the fun in them as well.

Christmas with the Fitch's was a quieter affair. (I only have pictures from the Marshall family get together.) It was just my parents, my sister, Brett and myself. Everyone else was out of town with in-laws. Someone very, very generous surprised Brett with a new Wii. He LOVES it. Someone else enjoyed it as well.

Brett also got to get some quality bird killing, I mean hunting, time.
Right after this picture Brett started gutting them. You should have seen the stray cats that live around there sneaking up on him, planning their attack.

I spent the last two days of break on another interview trip. This time in Washington D.C.
With the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
The trip was super short. I got into D.C. about 4:00. I should have taken my luggage and gone straight down town to see the sights but I went to my hotel to check in. Just as I got into my hotel room the sun was setting.

(That is a cell phone in my back pocket!)

I called home to say I had made it and the first thing dad told me was 'don't get mugged'. Between that and it being dark and my being alone all I did was power walked around the Whitehouse and then went back to my hotel.

My sophomore year I took a fellowship from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Part of the deal was I'd work for them for a year after graduation or I'd pay the money back. They offered me a job a few weeks ago. I would be working in research reactor licensing there. I just turned them down earlier this week so... Brett and Margaret are about to be as poor as dirt... maybe poorer than dirt.

Well it was back to school come January. I started my last semester of school. I graduate in May, for reals!. I'm in a couple of generals this semester which take me outside of the engineering building. I was in the library the other day, watching other people, and it hit me, 'Oh my, I'm in college. Oh My! I'm almost done with college.' Then I had a slight panic attack that I'd missed out on too many experiences because I'd tried to hurry through college in 4 years. Then I got over it.

Late in January I had two more interviews. One over the phone and one was a trip. It was a great sacrifice to go on the trip we had to go... wait for it.. home! And you can't imagine who I had to eat lunch with during the interview day... my brothers and sister!. I interviewed at NRF where my sister and brother's work. It was quite the experience and that is all I'll say about that. If you want to hear more about it you'll just have to ask. I really enjoyed eating lunch with my brothers and sister though. Just last week I got an official offer from them. I would be working with ECF recapitalization group. I really want to take that job.

Two days ago I got an email saying I had been accepted to graduate school. I only applied to one school, University of Idaho. I never really planned on graduate school but there is a pretty good nuclear engineering program at U of I and my bosses from last summer said that I could continue working there part time. It is actually a pretty good deal. I'd be able to go to school and work 20 hours a week at a pretty good rate for a part time job. I'd also get to keep doing what I've already been doing and enjoy doing.

So I have two really good options in front of me... I just have to decide from here.

Last weekend we went up to Idaho with another couple we're pretty good friends with. We spent the weekend at my family's cabin snowmobiling. No one remembered a point-and-shoot camera so these are the only pictures we have.

The sun was super bright and it was hard to keep our eyes open for the pictures.

In other news, Brett's twin graduated from boarder patrol training. We are excited for him but I'm also a little disappointed... I was hoping it wouldn't happen and they'd stay in Idaho forever. But we're hoping to take a road trip to visit them in May before we start work so that will have to do for us.

Next weekend Brett's parents are coming down to visit for the first time. (I'm not counting when they came down for Brett's surgery, we were all sick or in surgery that day and it wasn't a barrel of laughs by any means.) So hopefully we'll have a post about that soon.

Surpisingly Fun

On Monday night we had a small group of friends over. Brett bought catch phrase at my request so we would have a group game to play. We didn't get a chance to play it Monday and I was a little mad at myself for making him buy it because it wasn't cheap. Last night I pulled it out and we started playing it, just Brett and me. It was sooo much fun. I didn't think it would be with just two people. I think it was mostly because of Brett because he comes up with some really out there clues and usually I get them, I figured it's because we've been married so long now. So try it... play catch phrase just you and your hubby, you'll learn a lot about each other.

Favorite Christmas Tradition

One Christmas long ago(ish) my family was in Salt Lake City to see the lights on temple square. We wandered into the still fairly new conference center to find a concert going on. Gladys Night was preforming with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Ever since we've all packed up and gone to Utah the second weekend in December to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas concert. I think we've only missed one maybe two of the concerts since that year. This is my favorite tradition. It's changed a bit over the years. That first year we walked in and found many open seats. Now it requires careful planning on the part of my father and a little luck to get tickets. This weekend is the concert and I'm totally psyched. This year Natalie and David McCullough are the special guest. Below is a video of one of my favorite stories told during the concert. I tear up a little bit every time I hear it.




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On another note, I got a job offer from Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. My first real job offer!

I'm home!

I made it home. I have no picture from today since I coulnd't take pictures. This was our basic, basic schedule today. First we drove around the base a bit and got our badges. Then we toured the decommissioned USS constellation. I also saw a few other carriers but didn't get to tour them of course.

We went to lunch at a restaurant on the water and even saw a whale. The afternoon was talking about benefits and what the job is. Turns out it wasn't so much an interview but a wine and dine type thing. I went out shopping and was worried about my outfit and then really never took my coat off because it was FREEZINGish (not actually compared to utah though).

Then I hurried back to the airport. Only to find out my flight was delaying causing me to miss my connection at LAX so they rebooked me on a direct flight home on a different airline. I got home three hours earlier than my original flight was. That was nice.

Seattle day 2 in reverse again

Today was fun. I like that this company flys out into the area a whole extra day so you can get to know the area.

So first we went to church. The ward was one of the nicest wards I've ever been to. To get to church we had to cross an awesome bridge.

The mountains in the area, although a little farther away than they are in SLC, are amazing. It think those are the Olympic Mts.
After church we headed over to Seattle via the ferry. BEAUTIFUL

As soon as we got into downtown we went to Ivars. I got one oyster shooter. (I was sure to check and make sure shooter didn't imply alcohol)
It was weird and would have been nasty if it weren't for the coctail sauce in the bottom.
We then wandered through the Ye Olde Curiousity Shop. Some of the stuff made me gag a little.
We then went through the underground city. That is pretty awesome
And finally we went to pike place market but sadly.. we were pretty late and everything was closed. But it was also quiet and peaceful. There was a seahawks game today so downtown was full of crazy fans.
After that we headed back to get a good night sleep and prepare for our interviews tomorrow. Sadly you won't get to participate since I can't take any camera in.

Washington Day 1.. in reverse

So I'm going to start this post with a question for you. How do you create your posts? I just use blogger and I hate putting pictures in because they are always inserted at the very top and the opposite order as what I want. How do you easily overcome that problem?

So since I don't know how to get the pictures to go where I want in the order I want you get seattle day 1 in reverse (and pictures are not rotated like they should be for my convenience)

For background... I am in seattle (more precisely bremerton) to interview with Puget sound naval ship yard. I'm pretty excited about the interview and the tour. I actually really enjoyed my first interview with them while they were at the U. the job I'm interview for also sounds very enjoyable and fulfilling. But don't take this as a 'we're moving to Washington'. we taking every opportunity to open every option so we can made a informed decision as to what we are going to do come may.

That is my room. Mine, all to myself. I'm not sure which bed to sleep in... maybe i'll sleep in one tonight and the other tomorrow.
That is the pier right out the back of the hotel. Seattle is across the way.
So another girl from my major is interview with puget sound monday as well. We went out to New Delhi for dinner. we were both a bit nervous... the place was nearly empty (but it seems like nearly all of bremerton is nearly empty) We both got mulligatawny soup, roti, and we split a mango lassi ( a mango yogurt drink that is divine). We were surprised how good and filling the meal was.
Here is the Seattle temple after the session I went to.
This is the seattle temple when I finallly arrived. I was in a bit of a hurry to get inside so I didnt' get to look around much.


That is down town seattle. I got this picture the address I found for the seattle temple is actually the U of W institute building. Thus I got to drive a lot farther than I would have otherwise in nearly dead stop traffic. this is downtown.. where I will be tomorrow. Actually trying to get to the temple was quite interested. Sarah got really jealous when she found out I was at her old campus.


I'm not actually old enough to rent a car but since i'm on 'official government business' they let me. This is my rental. I love it. I now want one of my own. I was also really really nervous about driving. I hate driving in Salt Lake, I thought seattle area would be horrid. its amazing, from my few hours of driving here, I've found that around here the slow lane means slow and the fast lane means fast. Utahan's should take note. I've also fallen in love with the GPS my dad loaned me.. he might never see it again.
I love looking down on the world from a plane. I'm pretty sure I saw lake tahoe and mt hood from the plane today. (instead of a direct flight I had a layover in San Fransisco.. that is how I think I saw lake tahoe) if i'm wrong don't enlighted me.
This picture is sideway... sorry. I've never been on a plane they de-iced before. That is what this picture of. That blur in the background is a man de-icing our plane.
This is about 6:00 AM on a saturday in the SLC air port. Not only am I tired but I'm also rather scared.


So in summary, it's been quite the day and I'm too lazy and tired to make this post look good. I miss my husband dearly and it feels odd traveling with out my dad around. At the same time it feels to to prove to myself that I'm brave and tough and can do hard things.

I've always felt all new levels of anxiety. It seems when I get super nervous my stomach starts out in knots and then robbs my hands of all their blood (i.e. my hands are freezing cold while my stomach feels like ther is a furnace in there).

I've also discovered I do two things too much: blogg and watch scrubs. I have a constant monologue in my head thinking about how I would blog about that moments... about how clouds really do look like cream cheese, how maybe its fate to live in seattle since the first radio station I found was country, but mostly about how anxious I am and how it manifests itself.

So i"m going to sign off.. its my bed time. i have to be ready to take on day two.