Jared's Recent Activities

This is a different type of post for our blog but we like to keep people on the edge of their seat: "What crazy thing will Jared post next?" I'm down to the last 1.5 weeks of my neuroanatomy course (it lasts for a total of 6 weeks, with 20-30 hours spent weekly in class or in the lab, not including studying). It's been the hardest but best class I've ever taken in college (excluding my excellent religion courses at BYU - they weren't difficult but they really were the best classes). I've really enjoyed the gross anatomy portions. I always tell myself that studying the brain should be easy because I get to use my brain to help me understand neuroanatomy. The brain is something that just becomes more beautiful the more you study it; well, I can only really speak for myself. As an aside (what's a post by me without an aside?), the brain is what drew me to psychology. I wanted to post on of my favorite pictures of the brain (if anyone is squeamish, I apologize in advance - there's no blood). I'll make the thumbnail small (you can click on it to see the full-size picture) just in case. Anyway, the following picture shows the main visual pathway from the optic nerve/chiasm/tract on back to the cortex.


I think the picture is beautiful; I love the dissection. The white matter pathways near the back of the brain (at the bottom of the photo) are called optic radiations.
The funny thing about brain anatomy is before you spend time with it it's easy to look at brain slices or MRIs and wonder how anyone can see anything in them. Sometimes it is hard but you get used to it. Pretty soon you can see all the different nuclei and many of the pathways. There's great beauty and symmetry in the brain. As I sit in class or lab and study the brain I often think of what Alma told Korihor (in the Book of Mormon): "All things denote there is a God; yea, even the earth, and all things that are upon the face of it" (Alma 30:44). It's not often that a course taught at a major public university strengthens my testimony of God and the gospel.

Weekly happenings

Here is the low-down on some of our family happenings.

Lily reached the 9-month milestone on July 19th. She is growing well (75th percentile) and is a super sweet baby. She has some beautiful blue eyes (not digitally enhanced at all!); we're hoping they stay that blue as she gets older. Not that there's anything wrong with other eye colors but she has pretty striking eyes.


I sewed some curtains this week! Two sewing projects in 3 months--I must becoming domestic! Our washer and dryer (and shelves storing mostly uninteresting cleaning supplies) are located directly across from our kitchen and are visible from the living room couch. I was tired of that view, so I made some curtains to disguise it. I found some fabric in the exact same greens and browns as our living room rug (except stripes instead of circles) so it all ties together nicely. I also made a table runner to match.


We had a fun play date with friends on Friday. For a special activity we decorated sugar cookies to spell out each person's name.



I'm having a good time with my Nurture Mama blog. Thanks to Jared and Janene for their help with my new banner. It's much more colorful!

Jared has been super busy with his neuroanatomy class, putting in long hours of studying on campus. Not the most fun summer for him, but I've been proud of his dedication and hard work. Hang in there, hubby, you're almost there!

Writing Blogs

The other day I realized that I'm just about the only guy who regularly updates the family blog. Any of the other guys out there (not that they read this blog) write at least portions of their family blogs? Kristi writes a number of posts too, of course. Her posts are the more interesting ones; mine are very random while her posts usually focus more on activities that the family did. I do have a couple other blogs I write (but they are on hiatus for the time being until school starts to calm down a bit) though - psychology and politics.

I think one reason I write posts on here is because I'm a student. As busy as students are, we seem to have a lot of random times that we can do random things; I sometimes choose to write. I'm going to digress for a minute - those of you who know me know that I like to digress a lot. Kristi told me the other day that I'm one of the few people she knows who can actually interrupt themselves (i.e., start talking about one thing - jump in with another - then try to figure out where I was; I can always trace my train of thought from the new thought back to the original one though). That reminds of this one time.... OK, just joking. Back when my sisters started going off to college (a few years ago now) my parents started the tradition of calling them every Sunday. This tradition has continued over the years as we have expanded our families. We all generally try to call weekly - well, I guess I can only speak for myself. Anyway, my father also started the tradition of sending out his journal every week to all the children as a weekly email (I recently read in the Ensign that Pres. Eyring sends out his daily journal to all the kids and grandchildren). Kristi and I have adopted this tradition - partly because it is a way for us to keep some sort of journal - and send out weekly emails to our families. Traditionally, I've written the bulk of those emails with Kristi adding in her activities and correcting my multitudinous mistakes (there aren't that many mistakes - I just wanted to use a fun word and create a little alliteration). My writing the weekly family updates (more recently Kristi has been the one doing most of the writing) spilled over on this blog. This is the reason I do a lot of the writing here on our family blog.

Another reason is that there is nothing more important than family and there is nothing I like writing about more than family (well, gospel topics are tied with family for me). Writing is a bit of catharsis too, where even mindless drivel like most of what I write helps me process the activities of my life and my thoughts. Our brains are amazing and can remember many things but they are not perfect. We forget a lot if we don't write it down. I don't know how many times I've gone back and read journals and thought, "Oh, I'd totally forgotten that!" So I write posts on our blog. Some are written for others to enjoy (or at least tolerate) and some are merely written for the benefit of myself. If I hadn't written so much (and almost as it happened) about my trip to Wales, many of the memories would be gone (I believe that they would still be in my brain somewhere, I just wouldn't have access to them in this life). If I hadn't written about shrieking squirrels or screeching hawks, those memories likely would be at most ephemeral. So I blog.

My Wonderful Wife Kristi

I've been thinking about doing a post like this for a while. I just wanted to write a few things that I think are wonderful about my sweet wife Kristi. Those of you who know her pretty well will already know most of this but it's important to say, even if she'll be slightly embarrassed by this post. :) I think everyone needs such embarrassment at times.

I don't think it's possible to not like Kristi. I've always been impressed with how people just seem to like her. She's not one of those super outgoing people (but she's certainly more outgoing than I am) but she makes friends easily and people enjoy talking with her. That's how we started liking each other - we worked side-by-side in the HBLL at BYU for 20 hours a week and had ample opportunity to talk. I still convinced that my family likes Kristi more than they like me! Who wouldn't? I certainly do. :) I've thought about what's the underlying quality that makes Kristi so likable. It's hard for me to pin it down. It's probably summed up by the following qualities: she's very nice and sweet and supportive. Kristi is also very thoughtful. People are just comfortable around her. I could go on but there are more qualities I'd like to write about.

Kristi is very organized. She loves calendars and lists. She absolutely loves crossing things off "To Do" lists! If I ever had a To Do list (it's possible I might have one written down some day - well, knowing me it'd be digital), I'd let her cross things off for me because she likes it so much. :) Kristi loves putting and keeping things in order; not like lining up toys - that would be obsessive - but she likes having binders and folders for everything. I'm sort-of the opposite. My organization falls under the Controlled Chaos scheme. At some point thing build up and I organize but until then not much is done. Kristi can walk by something and it will seem to organize itself!

Kristi is also very patient and level-headed. She'd make an excellent first response disaster coordinator. She'd remain calm and be able to direct everyone. I've had other people comment to me about how Kristi always seems so level-headed. She is. As I said, if disaster ever strikes - contact Kristi; she'll be able to formulate a plan and see it completed. That leads to another great quality of hers: she's very very dependable. If Kristi says she'll do something, she will. It reveals the integrity of her character. She's always been good at fulfilling her church callings - whether they are visit teaching or being in a Primary or Relief Society Presidency. About the only thing Kristi hasn't done is be in a Young Women's Presidency. She doesn't seek for leadership positions at church (her ideal calling is as a Primary pianist) but she's had the opportunity to serve in them. Kristi takes the gospel and church responsibilities very seriously. Kristi is one of the "doers" who gets things done.

Kristi is also a wonderful mother. She says that she doesn't know much about parenting - I certainly know the feeling - but she majored in Marriage, Family, and Human Development at BYU. She's researched parenting and she constantly scours multiple sources for ways to be a better mother. While academic knowledge doesn't necessarily directly translate to practical situations, Kristi's done a great job with applying her college degree to her life (she picked MFHD because she knew that there is nothing more important in life than family). I've seen countless people turn to Kristi for parenting advice. She's very humble and would tell you that she doesn't know very much but she really does. Our two girls are wonderful children; this has been all Kristi's doing.

Is Kristi perfect? Probably not, but I neither see nor look for any faults. I'm still amazed that she agreed to marry me. Now we've been married for just over 6 years and have two wonderful children. In the church we sometimes talk about the strength of the pioneer women - Kristi's inherited that strength. She has ancestors who walked to Utah. She has ancestors who crossed the stormy Atlantic on the Mayflower to start a new life in a new land. But of all of Kristi's qualities, her greatest is that she is a Mother (and a great one at that!). I couldn't ask for a better person to raise our children or to be my companion in this life and the next.

The Email Award Movie

Five years ago we made this movie. It's called The Email Award. Like the previous movie I posted, this movie is not meant to be serious at all. It has a little speck of plot. On backup from DVD the first 20 seconds of sound got cut off so don't be alarmed if you don't hear any sound at first (although, by the time the movie is over you'll probably wish that the sound had never started). The movie isn't too long but we do have a couple commercials, a post-movie cooking show, and outtakes. The entire movie is about 18 minutes. If you watch the whole thing, it just might be the best 18 minutes of your life.

Note: Our Canadian accents are not meant to make fun of Canadians (after all, Kristi is from Canada). It was about the only accent we could, uh, do though. It was also meant to be humorous because we (Paul and myself) were supposed to be Russian and Mexican but speaking with stereotypical and clearly exaggerated Canadian accents. Our apologies to our Canadian viewers.

So ends the blueberry season

Anwyn and I and our friends went to the blueberry farm yesterday for one last pick of the season. One more week of fresh berries to eat, plus more in the freezer. It was a very hot day, but definitely worth the effort for the delicious blueberries.


Thanks to our friend Janene for the great photos!

Things I Like and Dislike About Living in Gainesville

Here are 8 things I like about living in Gainesville:

1. Alligators on campus - my day on campus is always improved when I walk by a little pond by the hospital I work in and see a young alligator swimming or sunning itself. I never tire of looking at alligators in the wild.
2. Lots of rain - I grew up in Mesa, Arizona where we receive 7 inches of rain in a good year. Most of that rain typically comes in the summer monsoons - huge storms that sweep in and sometimes soak the ground, causing flash floods and power outages. Growing up rain-deprived gave me a strong appreciation for rain. I lived in the Seattle area for 2 years and experienced a lot of rain there as well. I never tire of gray skies and rain.
3. Green all around - It's nice to look around and see tall pine and oak trees lining every road here. Arizona (and Utah) is mostly colored in various browns and reds and what green there is tends to look faded as if the sun is bleaching out all color. Everything is green here in Gainesville and there is little undeveloped ground without tall trees or dense undergrowth.
4. Warm winters - I grew up with warm winters and have always appreciated being able to wear shorts and short-sleeved shirts during wintertime. I do love snow though and miss all those snowy winters in Utah but it's nice to be warm here on most winter days in jeans and a light jacket in the morning.
5. Humidity - The air here is often very thick. It sometimes feels like the air in the bathroom after a hot shower. The humidity is nice because it keeps skin from drying out; humid air here also reminds me of the feel of air on a beach - that heavy, dense feeling that can be so nice. The difference in humidity levels was striking on our trip to Utah in May - my skin felt so dry there and my lips cracked easily. The air in Utah felt like it was sucking all the moisture out of me. Near the end of the week I was getting used to it though.
6. Being near the ocean - I've always enjoyed going to the beach and watching the waves come in. I also enjoy swimming in the ocean and running and jumping through the water. I remember trips to San Diego beaches as a child and running along the edge of the water either trying not to let the waves touch me or running just in the shallowest part of the water. Water here in Florida is usually much warmer than California beach water. The beaches are also mostly much nicer. We haven't had a chance to go to any beaches near Tampa Bay or Miami though.
7. Frogs and lizards - There are hundreds of lizards around outside. I can't walk outside without seeing at least one lizard. There is one sidewalk on campus that I walk nearly every day. Whenever I'm walking on it I feel like a car in the game Frogger, with all these little lizards dashing across in front of me, playing Dodge the Human. Most are fence lizards but there are also many geckos too. We have a little gecko that likes to crawl up inside one of our window screens and sit on our window. It's been doing this for at least a year so far. Whenever there is rain that fills up the little drainage swamp outside our front door we can hear hundreds of frogs croaking at night. If it's raining hard enough quite a few frogs seek sanctuary under our condo's eaves and on our front door. This past week we had at least 10 little frogs (no more than 1/2 inch long) on the front of our house trying to stay out of the rain. Three of them managed to make it inside. I never mind frogs in our house. I'll just catch them and let them go outside.
8. Wildlife in the city - I love seeing the squirrels running around eating acorns and chasing each other. Squirrels are funny to watch, especially when they scream at you. We also have a lot of raccoons, armadillos, and opossums here in Gainesville. Quite a few end up as roadkill though. Gainesville has its own built-in clean-up crew with all the crows (I love crows - not too many people do), vultures, and ants though. We also have bald eagles and ospreys that fly around. I've also seen hawks and falcons flying around. We also have a lot of cardinals and mockingbirds. Mockingbirds are probably my favorite small wild bird. They sing such pretty songs and are great at mimicking other sounds. I've always wanted a pet mockingbird. I enjoy watching the wildlife here in Gainesville.

Now, here are 8 things I don't like about living in Gainesville:

1. Being far from family - this is my number one dislike about Gainesville. True, we are our own family, but it's nice being closer to parents and siblings and their families. Kristi and I grew up in the west (Kristi in Alberta and me in Arizona). We also both lived in Provo, Utah for a number of years and have quite a bit of family and friends there in Utah. We have friends here too but friends are usually not as good as family. We really want to end up back in the west, preferably Utah because we both have family there as well as close by in Arizona and Alberta.
2. No mountains - I didn't realize just quite how much I missed the mountains until our recent trip to Utah. All we can see is trees here. In Utah you have beautiful tall mountains right by the cities (at least in the greater Salt Lake area). I grew up in the Valley of the Sun in Arizona where we were surrounded by mountains. Most of them were not that close or that tall but they were there. Florida is the lowest state in the country (i.e., lowest high elevation in the country). Gainesville is actually one of the high points in Florida, with an elevation of about 180 feet above sea level. There are a couple little hills - OK, inclines - (and some sink holes you can hike down in) but that's it. No mountains. We really miss the mountains.
3. Everything is green - while I said that I like everything green, it's also a little monotonous. In Arizona and Utah there are all shades of brown and red. Here things just are green. Tree trunks can be green too because moss will grow on them. Also, many of the trees are tall so all you can see is trees - there is little real distance visibility. I always like seeing open meadows or prairies - rare though they are here in the Gainesville area - because I can actually see for more than 50 feet.
4. Hot summers - the summers are only bad because it is both hot and humid. I've learned though that summers here are nowhere close to being as hot as Phoenix summers, even including the humidity (also, July and August can be fairly humid too in Phoenix). 92 degrees plus 90% humidity still is not as hot as 115 degrees. The other thing that makes it feel cooler here is all the trees. When you walk in the shade here the heat feels bearable. Phoenix heat does not usually subside in shade. It's often also cloudy here in the summer with all the summer rains we receive. The clouds help block the sun and make the heat more bearable. It still gets quite hot here though. Sometimes it can feel worse than it is because when you sweat, the sweat doesn't evaporate as quickly as it does in Phoenix so your body doesn't cool down as quickly (as an aside: people do sweat more in Phoenix than they do here, sweat often just evaporates instantly in Phoenix because of the heat and dry air, so people don't usually appear as sweaty as they do here). My work is all in-doors so I don't have to experience a lot of outside physical labor (or much inside physical labor for that matter) so, thankfully, I don't have to try to work out in the muggy summer air. I remember when we were moving out here a couple years ago (my parents and brother helped us pull a trailer with all our stuff) my father's truck got a flat tire. We had to change the tire on the side of a highway during July around noon in Louisiana. We all had sweat just dripping off our bodies, it was so humid and hot. It does get hot here it's just not as hot as Phoenix.
5. Humidity - I explained this one in the heat section.
6. Not being closer to the ocean - Gainesville is smack-dab in the middle of the state of Florida (east-to-west). We are one hour away from a beach (50 feet of dirty sand leading to dirty water with signs posted saying, "Don't swim - the water is bad.") and 1.5 hours from a good beach. We'd love to go to the beach more but it's quite an excursion to get all the kids ready and drive for a total of 3 hours round-trip. Gas prices also don't help.
7. Cockroaches and other insects - don't even get me started about foul cockroaches. I grew up having them in our house (until scorpions moved in and killed them all) so I'm used to them but that doesn't mean I like them. Cockroaches and scorpions (yes, I know scorpions are arachnids) are the two animals I have no problem killing. I don't like squishing spiders or ants, usually, but I could kill cockroaches and scorpions until the Millennium and not feel sorry at all. They are both wretched creatures (at least scorpions don't carry disease like cockroaches do). I figure the world is a better place every time I kill a cockroach (and scorpion but we don't have them in our house here, thankfully. By the way, scorpions have been known to survive nuclear blasts near ground zero; they are tough little critters). Ants in the house can be obnoxious and I kill them usually but ants are often harmless and usually beneficial. I always try to catch and release spiders whenever I can. We are looking forward to moving back to Utah (hopefully) where there aren't that many bugs.
8. Bad grass - I grew up with the weed Bermuda grass passing as grass in Mesa but was spoiled with nice Utah (transplanted, of course) grass. We usually wore shoes running through grass in Arizona (mainly due to either the fact that the ground was really really hot in the summer or to all the burrs and prickles in the grass). Here in Gainesville it's not recommended that you walk barefoot at all in the grass because of ticks and chiggers. There are just too many bugs to make sitting in grass worthwhile. Some grass is better than other grass though. Grass also isn't soft here (unless it's planted, which isn't often done). I miss the lovely Utah grass where you don't usually worry about what is going to end up in your foot like you do here.

I've really enjoyed every place I've lived. Gainesville is great - most of my negatives don't bother me - I just had to have the same number of negatives as positives just for the sake of parallelism. The two big negatives for me are living far from family and the bugs. There are so many more wonderful things about Gainesville that I didn't write about; maybe in future posts. I meant to have a bunch of little photos to supplement this post but I'm studying for a big neuroanatomy test and ran out of time to add pictures. Maybe I'll go back and add them some day. :)

Nurture Mama is born!

I have started a new blog and am super excited about it!

I recently realized that the more I surround myself with positive mothering quotes and thoughts, the better I feel about my job as a mother, and consequently, the better mother I am. I thought about setting a goal to read one General Authority quote about mothering each day, to keep me inspired. But that didn't happen.

Last Sunday I was reading Susan Tanner's recent General Conference address when inspiration struck. Why not start my own blog, centered on strengthening and nurturing mothers? The focus would be LDS quotes on mothering, but could also contain book reviews, mother tip and tricks, my mothering experiences and other family resources. As a graduate of BYU in Marriage, Family and Human Development, I have a wealth of resources to draw upon.

So Nurture Mama has been born (admittedly that is all I have been working on this week)! Please stop by and visit often!

Independence Day Celebrations

We had a sparkling Fourth of July. We started the day off with the annual Ward breakfast and patriotic program.

Here's a picture of Kristi and the girls all looking festive and pretty!

Anwyn was thrilled to ride her trike in the children's parade.

There was a pie eating contest, carnival type games, and a rocket launch.

Lily slept through much of the excitement on Friday morning.

The holiday wouldn't be complete without face painting!

In the evening we went to the Meldrum's holiday bbq. There was a lot of food and we had a nice time talking, playing horse shoes, getting eaten by mosquitoes (which wasn't so fun), and lighting fireworks.

Anwyn liked waving sparklers around.

Jared particularly enjoyed the pyrotechnics.

Here's us taking a break from the pre-firework show.

Canada Day

Today I am celebrating my Canadian roots. I pulled out our little Canadian and American flags as our table decoration for the next week.


I tried to sing "O Canada" with Anwyn, but she wasn't too interested. I love to sing all of the verses. Just don't sing it to the tune of "O Christmas Tree"!

O Canada! our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!
From far and wide, O Canada,
We stand on guard for thee.

Refrain
God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

O Canada! Where pines and maples grow.
Great prairies spread and lordly rivers flow.
How dear to us thy broad domain,
From East to Western Sea,
Thou land of hope for all who toil!
Thou True North, strong and free!

Refrain

O Canada! Beneath thy shining skies
May stalwart sons and gentle maidens rise,
To keep thee steadfast through the years
From East to Western Sea,
Our own beloved native land!
Our True North, strong and free!

Refrain

Ruler supreme, who hearest humble prayer,
Hold our dominion within thy loving care;
Help us to find, O God, in thee
A lasting, rich reward,
As waiting for the Better Day,
We ever stand on guard.

Refrain