Chase and Amy

Saturday, July 10

Fireworks

Here they are, as promised (Mom). :) This pretty much sums up our awesome 4th of July weekend here in Logan and Idaho Falls.

Thursday, July 8

So some people have been asking what I do for work. It's kind of hard to explain, but basically we make custom protein mixes and run tests that simulate the antibody response in the body, it's called an ELISA test. The really complicated picture below is supposed to explain what it is, but I can't even tell you why it all works! My boss just said to tell people I do cancer research. Which would be really nifty, but that's not quite it. Although I did get to run some tests on cancerous esophageal tissues today. Does that count? At least cancer isn't communicable/infectious like tuberculosis is. :)

One of my favorite things about this place are the people. A quote from the movie 'Sabrina' sums them up nicely I think: "They work just as hard an anybody but they know when to stop and have fun." Case in point: the girls from the office are going to see Eclipse tonight at 10. We play softball every Tuesday as a work team and that has been a blast! They also played a practical joke on me the other day which just about gave me a heart-attack, but now I've been initiated into the company officially. Who knew dry ice could make plastic test tubes blow apart? I didn't. You learn something new everyday.

People said that I would miss school when it was over, and although I am starting to miss certain things about it. I don't miss it as much as I thought I would. I feel like this job has given me the opportunity to learn at my own pace about things that really interest me. And it's even helping with my sadly lacking math skills!

This new opportunity in life has been a testament to me that we really are being watched out for. Heavenly Father knew exactly what He was doing when I got all those rejection letters. And thankfully my parents were there to tell me that "patience is power" because it did eventually all work out. :)

Thursday, July 1

Quote For Today

"Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine."

-Anonymous

Wednesday, June 30

Turns out....I'm A Wimp

I have always been a scientist. I thought. Bacteria, germs, viruses... they were all 'normal' to me. I NEVER thought I would have a problem handling infectious stuff if ever called upon to deal with them. I'm not.

Today at work, I 'got' to sample test 28 infectious Human Tuberculosis Samples. Tuberculosis kills people. Needless to say I will not be going into a Bio-safety level 4 lab ever in my life. If tuberculosis is enough to give me the gajeebers then I'm sure Ebola, smallpox, and Marburg would do me in.

E.coli I can handle, but that's about it. It's a good thing we don't get infectious samples here very often!

Sunday, June 27

Camping

My sister and brother-in-law invited us to go camping this weekend with them and we had a blast! Between playing in the water, riding four wheelers and playing with my nephews, we had a great time. :)

Thursday, June 24

New Fun Blog

So while I was reading Kristin's blog, I found this fun blog!
I like this picture lots.

And this one...

And this one...

Wednesday, June 23

More Temple Pictures

Now we were able to get some of the Idaho Falls Temple. So we think we might have changed our minds as to which ones are our favorites! :) We had a great time with Chase's family this last weekend.

Lauren Funnies

9/12/2012

- Every time she hears the dryer open Lauren runs in and holds her arms up ready for me to hand her laundry from the washer. I hand her every little piece and she throws it into the dryer making sure nothing is hanging out.

- Lauren sits on the counter while I get ready in the mornings. She picked up the bottle of hairspray and started "spraying" her hair. While fixing dinner she sat on the counter and grabbed the PAM bottle and "sprayed" her hair.

-She does not like doors or drawers left open. If she sees one open she will close it. If there is something poking out of a closed drawer she will try and tuck it back into the drawer.

-When I dust she needs a rag too and follows right behind me and mimics every move I make.

-Lauren loves taking baths. She gave her baby doll a bath in the sink today complete with rubbing her head and cleaning out her ears.

- She likes to take all her stuffed animals and babies and take turns wrapping them up and rocking them. Then she sets them in a row on her bench and gives them all a drink from her sippy cup.

- When she's trying to get my attention and I'm standing at the kitchen counter, she will wiggle in between me and the cupboard, push with all her might against the cupboard and stick out her bum against my legs to push me away from the counter.

- Lauren waves at every car and person that drives or walks in front of our house.

- She knows how to rock out to music BIG TIME. Driving the other day she fell asleep. A while later I looked back at her and she was awake head-banging and wiggling in her car seat to the radio which is a common occurrence.

- Chase gets her out of her crib in the morning and she comes to wake me up. She gives me a kiss and climbs in bed with me and has to be tucked in. That lasts about five seconds and then we go have breakfast.

10/3/2012

-She fell out of her crib last week. Down another wrung the mattress went!

- She's started carrying her baby around even more. I catch her giving her kisses on the head, feeding her crackers, taking turns eating a cookie, wrapping her up and rocking her, walking with her around the house and pointing things out, patting her on the back, putting her in the chair at the table and tucking her into bed.

10/11/12

-Lauren tried going potty today! Wasn't quite sure what to think and was nervous about falling in. But she really liked the flushing part. :)

11/15/12

-Lauren succeeded in dumping 18 eggs into the shopping cart last week without breaking a single one!

- When she's getting dressed she likes to run around naked for a few minutes, throw her diaper away, and then lay down to get dressed.

-She found an old purse and carries it around all day on her shoulder with her baby in the other arm. She waves to me and heads to the door and gets a little upset when I won't let her leave.

-She learned how to climb on her rocking horse and spends hours a day rocking and climbing on and off.

11/18/12

-Lauren spilled some water on the carpet. I told her to go get a towel to clean it up. She walked to the kitchen to grab what I thought was a towel hanging on the oven that wasn't there, and instead grabbed the rug and dragged it over and started trying to furiously mop up the water.

12/10/12

- Like Father-Like Daughter. Lauren can find our phones, open Netflix, find Curious George and turn it on. All by herself. She will pull the laptop up on her lap and pretend to type and turn it off and on. She's more tech literate than I am!

-We didn't realize just how much she understands. Looking at books the other day, I asked her questions and she would point and find things that I had no idea she knew.

- She's started singing Old MacDonald. The only part she knows is eee-i, eee-i!

2/22/13

- Getting ready the other day, Lauren walks in with her hands on her hips and yells "Hey guys!"

- She's into counting, but everything is "two." One, two, two, two, two...

-Walking is not an option...run-hop-skipping is a must!

- Lately she likes us to sing to her before bedtime. Her favorite song is "Do" (Old MacDonald) and gets mad if we try to sing something else.

- She plays possum all the time and closes her eyes when she doesn't want to do something, or in the last few days-pretend to be asleep with fake snoring and all!

3/2/13

-She's quite concerned about everyone's well-being. If you cough or say ouch, she'll come over by you and ask, "ew awight?" (You alright?)

4/22/13

- The other day after being sick I was sitting on the bathroom floor. Lauren came in and asked "ew awight?" then pulled the brush out of the drawer and brushed my hair for me. She did a pretty good job and didn't even pull!

- She got her "big girl bed" a few weeks ago. In the morning she comes in our room and peeks over the edge of the mattress to see if we're awake. The she either wacks us awake with her George or Bear or pounds on the mattress, then grins and says hi mom!