MOA

Jason and I both went to BYU, and even though it's been quite a while since we moved away, we just keep going back!
We go to Provo at least once a month. All four of my siblings live there, we go to football or basketball games, or we go for the museums (or a combination of all of those things!)
One of our favorite places to take our kids is the Museum of Art at BYU. Admission is free and we've seen so many wonderful exhibits over the years--Walter Wick (Games, Gizmos, and Toys in the Attic), Carl Bloch (The Master's Hand), Dorothea Lange (Three Mormon Towns), AT WAR!, Suburbia, Brian Knep, Beauty and Belief (Islamic Culture), William Lamson, Michael Whiting (8-bit modern). Our personal favorites are always in the multimedia rooms with crazy weird videos, heat sensitive floor mats, all kinds of great stuff.
I've been excited for the current exhibitions for months! Andy Warhol and Takashi Murakami?!?! How cool is that??
We went down to Provo a few weeks ago to check it out!

Tempe and Helena loved this "Silver Clouds"-inspired Andy Warhol exhibit.

"People need to be made more aware of the need to work at learning how to live because life is so quick and sometimes it goes away too quickly." Andy Warhol

The Andy Warhol exhibit was cool, but it turned out to be mostly stuff we had already seen, like the Marilyn Monroe or Queen Elizabeth (shown above) portraits.
After we saw the Andy Warhol exhibit, we went to the We Could Be Heroes exhibit upstairs, which I think edged out one we saw a few years ago as my #1 art exhibit of all time (I can't remember what it was called and I can't find it on their website, but it was all trash: hundreds of popped balloons weaved into a huge sculpture, dozens of packets of duck sauce tiling a wall).
Anyway, We Could Be Heroes: The Mythology of Monsters and Heroes in Contemporary Art was all about the values and shared perceptions of so-called heroes and monsters and their relationship in pop culture and a growing global culture. 

Jason and the girls posing in front of a Bob Dylan inspired piece.

Tempe was trying to pose like Bigfoot--she's not scared out of her mind, like she looks. 

Maybe the best part of the MOA? The kids' room in the northern part of the museum (down the hall across from the gift shop). Seriously, so great. This room changes with the exhibitions (a few months ago it was about Islamic culture) so right now it's themed around heroes in pop culture. There's a glass display case filled with action figures and toys from epic hero tales (LOTR, Spiderman, TMNT, etc), a video from YouTube that's the "most epic movie montage of all time" (it made me cry), a comic book making station, a dress up box of masks, and a ton of children's books.

How do I get a job as the curator for the children's section at an art museum? Not to brag, but I would be AWESOME at it.

This was a small print of one of the pictures from the exhibit. The words are in Polish, and I think they are "Cooking", "Cleaning", and "Dishes" (or something along those lines, at least). Love it!!!

cougartown

Rise all loyal cougars and hurl your challenge to the foe

We will fight, day or night, rain or snow

Loyal, strong, and true

Wear the white and blue

As we sing get set to spring

come on cougars, it's up to you

oh rise and shout the cougars are out

they're on the trail to fame and glory

rise and shout, our cheers will ring out

as we unfold the victory story

on we go to vanquish the foe

with alma mater's sons and daughters 

as we join in song

in praise of you, our faith is strong

we'll raise our colors high in the blue

and cheer the cougars of BYU

rah, rah, rah rah rah

rah, rah, rah rah rah

rah, rah, rah rah rah

go COUGARS!

how to rise and shout with a bad back

So I have this problem:

every time I am looking forward to something, it turns out to be not that great.

It's happened to me with vacations, movies, restaurants, and date night at the county fair. And it's always a bummer!!

Jason and I had tickets to the BYU season opener last night and I have been excited for weeks. I love BYU! I love going to football games!! It's especially fun because we used to go to BYU football games when we were just dating, so it's like we're in a time warp and the last eight years haven't happened.

Yesterday I was all set with a plan: I was going to take the girls shopping, let them play on the playground, and then head home for lunch and naps. After quiet time was over, it would be time to pick Jason up from work and head to Provo. We would drop the girls at my brother's and be in our seats with plenty of time to enjoy the pre-game festivities. The night would be clear with just enough of a fall hint in the air that it would feel like football, but not enough that I would be cold.

The day started off according to plan, but as I was loading everyone up to leave the playground, I did the worst thing ever: I threw out my back.

This has happened before (too many times to count) so I knew what to do. I kept moving, I did my back stretches, I took a ton of Ibuprofen, but it was too late. I was down and out for the rest of the day.

We made it to Provo with minimal discomfort and dropped off the kids; then we crept along, inch by inch, for over half an hour to get to the parking lot in Provo traffic (which is the best, right?) We barely made it to the lot before it closed. It started pouring as Jason walked and I hobbled into the stadium. There was a scrum of people passing through the portal and it took us even longer to get to our seats.

By the time we finally were settled, I could barely stand, we were soaked, and there was only 10 minutes before kickoff.

Not going according to plan.

But you know what? I was so tired of being disappointed by things I was looking forward to. I decided I would not be disappointed at this game. I would enjoy it!

I may not have been able to jump to my feet and scream at the obviously biased refs, I may have felt like I would throw up if I moved wrong, but I made it through most of the game and thoroughly enjoyed it. It was everything BYU football is meant to be and I'm so glad I was able to go!
Go cougs!

{rise and shout}

So we went to the BYU football game last night.

It was awesome.

I haven't been to a football game in 3 years, and not to a game at night in 7 years!!! Augh! That's a long time! It was perfect football weather--clear skies and about 50 degrees. We bundled up, bought hot chocolate, and cuddled under a BYU sweatshirt blanket and watched the Cougs beat the Spartans! In fact, I think we sang the fight song more last night than we have all season (which isn't saying much, it hasn't been a great season).

Tempe and Helena also love BYU. A lot.
Juno did great--she actually fell asleep during the football game. We left at halftime because it was such a late game (it started at 8:15!!) which was just the perfect amount of football for our little family.

rise and shout

Last Saturday we took the girls down to Provo for the BYU basketball game. Jason was excited to see Jimmer play and kept telling the girls that someday they could tell their children they saw Jimmer Fredette play. Yeah, I am sure they will remember that.

Our seats were 2 rows from the top, but hey, they were chair not bench and they only cost $5! Booya! Before the game we went to the Museum of Art so I could nurse Juno. I was hoping to see the Carl Bloch exhibit, but there was a pretty long line.

Tempe and Helena were excited to see their cousins at halftime! 5 of the 6 cousins have BYU cheerleader outfits--they don't make them small enough for Juno yet, or she would have one too!

this is water

First of all, some pictures from the little graduation party I had a few nights ago.
As is my custom, I took pictures of the food but not of the festivities or guests.

Yummy mini cupcakes from So Cupcake in Salt Lake.

Can you tell what school I went to? We have a lot of BYU memorabilia, courtesy D.I.

Me and Jason.

Me and my parents.

Me and my family with Jason's parents (this was after the ceremony and the girls were a little antsy)

Overall, it was a very good, though somewhat surreal, day. Even when I was actually walking across the stage, I didn't really feel like I belonged there--I guess since I haven't actually taken a class on BYU campus for over 5 years (how on earth has it been so long??)

Listening to the valedictorian speak about the many challenges we graduates have overcome throughout our education made me reflect on the past 7 years and all that has happened to me since. When I started at BYU 7 years ago, I wouldn't have guessed that I would get married, move to Wyoming for 3 years, have 2 beautiful children, buy a house, and be pregnant with a 3rd baby all before graduating from college!! All of those wonderful things set me back a little from my educational goals, but none of them permanently--I was still able to finish! And of that, I am very proud.

Now my sister Kelsey is staying with us for about 2 weeks until she can move into her dorm at BYU--the same dorm I lived in when I started! I'm afraid I might drive her crazy over the next few weeks reliving my glory days.

This is my favorite picture from today--me and my 3 cheerleaders (Jason wouldn't wear the cheerlearer outfit I got for him)

Study like a scholar, scholar

I'm sure everyone has seen this. But if you haven't, then you should. So here you go.

identity crisis part 3

Yesterday I submitted the last assignment for my last class ever

(until I go back for my Master's, that is)

Now what?

identity crisis

{Just so you know--this is just a long, rambling post about what's going on in my head right now. You can skip it if you want.}

As most of you know, I will be graduating from BYU in August. I'm graduating with a pretty nontraditional degree: Bachelor of General Studies with an emphasis in Family Life. I would be lying if I said this was an easy decision for me. We got married when I was a sophomore, and before I knew it, Jason was accepted to law school at the University of Wyoming and we were moving out of state. I looked into transferring to UW, but it just didn't seem like it would work out. Because of different requirements, it would have taken me three more years instead of two to graduate. At the time, that seemed like a waste--now I wish I had just gone to school full time there and graduated the same time Jason did. I also looked into getting an associates degree, but that wasn't right either. Finally, I decided to do BYU's BGS program. It's the only bachelor's degree at BYU that you can finish completely online (with the exception of 30 credits that must be earned on campus). It was the best choice for me and my family, but it still wasn't an easy choice.

Going back to school full time to get a traditional degree was just not an option for me, even after we moved back to Utah. I couldn't justify putting my kids in childcare, spending so much time away from my family driving to Provo and doing homework, and the added expense. It seemed like putting my family second to get a degree in Home and Family Living or Early Childhood Education would be a little hypocritical. Believe me, if we still lived in Provo, I would have gone to school full time--but living an hour away made it infeasible.

At times, I felt like getting a degree in general studies was the biggest waste of time and money of all my choices. I worried that people would look down on me for not getting a traditional degree. Most of all, I worried that people would think the classes I took were "dumbed down" for people who can't handle real classes. Maybe people do think all those things, I don't know. But I've finally gotten to the point where I don't care and I feel completely happy with what I've done.

{Just so you know, I did have to meet BYU's general education requirements and complete the same number of credits, including upper division, as on-campus students. And taking Physical Science without the benefit of a teacher who can actually explain it is very challenging}

I've been finishing up my capstone class. For this class, I had to write a research paper in my area of emphasis, submit a portfolio of papers written in previous classes, and submit a summary and 6-page paper of how my experience with the BGS program met BYU's 30+ aims of education. Writing that last paper really helped me realize how much I have grown as a person, a wife, and a mother through my education. It's amazing. There is so much more to a college education than learning what's in your textbooks.