Time

Wow! It's been almost 6 months since I added a post. I spent a lot of the summer up in the mountains collecting fossil Crinoids. That was a blast! This semester I'm taking 18 credits. I am taking all my upper-level Geology courses. Hopefully I'll only have two more semesters after this on. Then I'll be off for 3/4 a year and then start my masters degree.

I am really enjoying this semester. Anna is teaching math at the university. So we are doing a juggling act with Sharli. When I am in class, Anna watches Sharli. Then when Anna is teaching, I get to watch Sharli. I really love all of the one-on-one time with my daughter. It is so much fun being a 'semi' stay at home dad. Well, homework is calling. Maybe I'll be back on before another six months has passed!

Life

The past couple weeks have been quite interesting. I am currently taking 14 credits this semester. All my classes are fun. I have Chemistry 106, Calculus 112, Geology of North America, and a directed studies course. All of these classes are very intensive. Calculus started out rough. I found out that I could not remember any of my algebra fundamentals. Luckily I have a wife who is really good at math. She has helped and continues to help me a ton. (Tomorrow is Anna's last day of student teaching. We are so excited for her to finish up. She will officially be done with all her under-grad courses and will graduate with her bachelor's degree!) My chemistry class is pretty stressful. After one week of class, we took our first test. Now after another week and a half, I'm studying for my second chemistry test. We'll see how that goes. Should be exciting. Geo of N. America is a very reading-intensive class and deals with lots of memorization. It is good though. I am learning a lot, and it will be a very beneficial course. My directed studies course deals with a lot of field work. This requires a great deal of time out in the mountains. It's good, but can have it's done sides due to the time away from my family. Really, schools been going good. I've been thinking recently of finding a more full-time job. I don't know if I can pull it off though. This coming fall semester I'll be taking 19 credits. We'll see what comes of it. From my last poll, we discovered that 75% of LDS people believe life existed more than 6000 years ago. This is a little lower than I was hoping to see, but there are many thoughts and beliefs on the beginning of life. It's all good. Well, school work calls! The joys of life.

The Joy of Puzzles

It's been a while since I've done much on my blog. However, the past two days have been a journey of adventure. I've been changing my blog by rewriting the 'programming codes'. It has been great fun. I've gotten to the point that I'm pretty happy with my blogs appearnce. I decided to give it a little rest and see if there are any changes I decide to make after a few days. It's amazing to get a small glimps of what web designers have to go through.

I hope that when you visit my blog you will complete my polls. I hope to have a new question up every week. This weeks is on Science. Next week....I guess we'll see.

Anna is going back to finish up her student teaching tomorrow. She has eight days to go! Then she'll be done with her degree. We are so excited.

Sharli is growing fast and meeting new milestones all the time. It is so much fun to see her recognize me and get a really big smile when I come to see her. Life is good.

Sharli dreaming about all the boys that will be giving her flowers in the future.

Here is a picture of my parents, Sharli, and myself. My dad was in disbelief that I was attempting to take one of my famous self-portraits. The majority of all my wife and I's pictures are taken by me (with me still in the picture).

The Grandparents with Sharli.

Sharli was born on the 3rd. This picture was taken a couple hours after she was born.

Sharli was 7 lbs 15 oz. She was 21 inches long.

The parents are doing good and recovering well.

"The Journey of Parenthood"

Throughout my wife's pregnancy we hoped, wished, and prayed that she would not go into labor before February 29th. My wife is trying to complete the last semester of her degree.

By desiring a birth after the 29th, Anna was hoping to complete as much of her student teaching as possible before the baby arrived. Anna would have a mere two weeks of student teaching to complete. She would take 5 weeks to recover, then go back to teach two more weeks. This also would allow me to attend school during the summer semester. Were these selfish desires on our parts? Anna doesn't want to leave the baby for longer than she has to. Two weeks seemed manageable. Plus, if I don't attend school this summer, it won't be until next summer that I can take some of my classes. By then, I will have forgotten most of my Chem 105 knowledge. We both had our own reasons for our desires, yet our reasons seemed to go hand in hand.

Whether or not it was a selfish desire, our wish has come true. It is now March 2, and no baby. The doctors say that for the health of Anna and the baby, she needs to be induced. We will be making the long, 1 minute drive, to the hospital tonight. She will be induced. It's a scary thing for both of us. More for Anna than myself. According to the doctors, women who are induced have a 40% chance of needing a c-section during the labor process. Was this chance worth waiting until March to deliver?

Well, tonight we will be trying to gather a little sleep as we begin our 'induction' into parenthood. The future always looks bright as long as we are peering towards the light. This will be the beginning of an amazing journey.