BYU Football

Its sad but true, we watched our last live BYU football game for a while last night.  Its weird to think of all of the changes that are about to happen in our lives.  We've planned out my schedule so that I can graduate next December and Dusty will be graduating this upcoming April.  Its going to be interesting to see how this chapter ends and where the next will pick up.  

It was super cold last night, thank you grammy and papa for the blanket!

The best football friends we could ever ask for Billy, Kelsey and Tyson-baby

The blanket almost makes a heart around Steve and Dusty

Billy and Steve sharing ice cream

Aren't we cute :)

We were so blessed to have Katie with us for the BYU vs UW game.  Dusty is such a good sport and still smiling even though his team lost

Jake did not want to get a sunburn at the game and sat on the bar while everyone walked past him.

We had such a good season with our friends, we can't wait to post basketball pictures!!

Sick Day

This last week the weather here in Utah has had some pretty crazy ups and downs in temperature. It went from hardly fall mostly summer type weather to winter pretty much overnight. I have this habit of sleeping with the window open, since I am usually to warm to sleep, no matter what the outside temperature is. Unfortunately, I sleep close to the window, and the drastic change in temperature left me with a super runny nose and a wild headache. I dealt with it for a few days, but by Thursday night I could hardly focus on anything. I called Melinda when I got home from class, and told her that I felt really bad and was going to sleep (it was six o'clock). I fell asleep in just a few minutes, and the next thing I knew it was ten o'clock the next morning. The bedsheets were soaked from a fever that I had in the middle of the night. It ends up that during the course of the night, Melinda had gone to the store, bought and cooked soup, fed me soup and medicine, cleaned the house, reorganized the living room, and done the dishes. It was the nicest thing that has happened to me in a long time, and I am so grateful for a loving wife who takes care of me when I get sick. Since then, she has "reminded" me to take my medicine for the last week (I keep trying to be done with it, but she won't hear of it until I am 100%). Isn't she the best? I sure think so!

Recent Activity

     We have been pretty busy lately with school and tests, work, and the rest of the necessary activities, and haven't had too many chances to just have fun. Today we had a few of our friends from the ward over for a dinner/game night. They brought a game called Killer Bunnies, ever heard of it? We loved it. At first glance it seems really complicated and hard to learn, but you find out really fast that its only hard if you don't read the cards. Each card explains itself, and the goal is to kill everyone else's bunnies, while using your bunnies to obtain as many of the twelve carrot cards as you can. Weapons range from slingshots and wire whisks (which rarely hurt anyone), to asteroids, warships and assassin bunnies. Once all of the carrot cards have been taken by players, another twelve cards are shuffled and the number of the last card in the pile is the number of the winning carrot. The person with that carrot wins. Its really fun because anyone who gets even one carrot can win. The most fun part is just ruining everyone else's hands.
     Our classes have been going well recently, and Melinda is doing well despite taking the maximum number of classes allowed. I think its because the material is interesting and engaging for her, and so she is able to do the work without having to force herself, and that makes any task a thousand times easier. My classes are going well also, and the first round of midterms is officially over now. Thank goodness. On the med school front, there hasn't been much good news yet. Washington and George Washington have both formally declined to interview me, and the rest haven't replied yet. The good news is that there are still something like 16 schools left that can respond and say yes. :) I sure hope they do!
     Besides that, we are just planning how to get through the semester and the rest of the year. We decided how to rearrange our apartment to accomodate a christmas tree, and are excited to go after thanksgiving and cut down a real one. We like having a real tree, and it ought to make the apartment smell super nice, just like christmas is supposed to.
     So in church there are two or three organ players who take turns playing each week. This week was the super loud organist. He plays progressively louder each verse of a hymn, and by the end of the song, he is playing so loud that I don't even have to sing! But then, I also can hardly hear when he is done...

Have a good week! We love you all!

Part II

Sunday, March 29, 2009 - Having gone to eat dinner in Salt Lake (Holladay, really) after church, Dusty was driven to distraction. Melinda had been texting him most of the afternoon, just to "see what's up." He was sneaking texts back between conversations at dinner. When dinner was over, and everyone started to head home, Dusty flew back to Provo, and attempted to connect with Melinda. She was at her friend Chelsea's house watching a movie, and Dusty made his way quickly there. They took some pictures, flirted, and went their separate ways for the night.
Monday, March 30, 2009 - They texted during class all morning. Dusty learned that she would be walking near where he was walking between their next classes. In order to get a chance to say hi, he walked slowly from where her next class was, toward where he thought she was coming from. She was tracing his path in the other direction. They ran into each other in the BYU bookstore, and Melinda decided to skip class to sit with Dusty during lunch, since all 30,000 students at BYU look for excuses to skip American Heritage. After school, when Dusty was at home studying, Melinda and Chelsea came to his apartment (getting his address from his sister) and paid him a visit. One of his roommates was engaged, and had a book called 1001 questions to ask before you get married. Melinda was not the shy type, and she picked the book up and started asking Dusty questions. They finished the book over the next three days or so. They said goodnight, and confirmed their plans for a second date the next night.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009 - Went to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, after which they kissed. Decided to make dinner the next night at Dusty's apartment.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009 - Made dinner. It was Thai food. They took pictures of the meal, which were the first ones they took together. Melinda once again put the two of them on the fast track, and asked Dusty while they were cooking whether or not they were dating. Not wanting to miss out on a golden opportunity, Dusty answered yes. And they dated from then until 13 months later.

If I've Told You Once...Part I

Thursday, March 26 2009- Dusty heads over to Katie's apartment. Earlier that week, she had come to visit him, and had somehow managed to leave her phone at his apartment (no surprise). He walked to her apartment grumbling about how she needed to stop losing things. Upon arrival, he was told by Chelsea (Katie's roommate) that his sister was not home. Chelsea and her friend Melinda were the only ones home, and were getting ready to go dancing. Dusty had given up hope of understanding the other sex, but had not yet abandoned his friendly and flirtatious manner. While talking to Melinda, he had begun to find her incredibly amusing, and irresistibly attractive. His fear of girls overcame him, and he left without getting her number. Upon arriving at his own apartment, he regained his senses, and, having realized that his evening plans had fallen through, decided to return to Katie's apartment to try his luck a second time. He talked to Melinda for another ten minutes, but still could not man up enough to ask her for her phone number. Chelsea felt charitable that night, and told Melinda and Dusty to switch numbers, since it was obvious that they were smitten with each other. Dusty returned home, embarrassed but satisfied, and the girls left for the evening.
Friday, March 27 2009- Dusty called Melinda between class and work, and arranged to go out with her the following night after the Festival of Colors.
Saturday, March 28 2009- Both of them were blowing out purple snot the entire night, but they went on a date nonetheless. Their first stop was the Nickelcade, where they spent most of their time and coins playing skiball and Cruis'n USA. Melinda won almost every time. Having become hungry due to frustration, Dusty decided that consolation shakes were in order, and the two went to the Malt Shoppe, and spent the next couple hours people watching, and making fun of everyone who walked in front of them. They arrived back at Dusty's apartment (which smelled like some sort of venison mixed with mildew) and decided that midnight is the perfect time to start a movie, but not in any stinky apartment. Setting up a laptop on the middle console and scooting the front seats forward, they created a makeshift movie theater out of Melinda's car. Without a Paddle led to two more hours of laughing before the two finally decided to call it a night. They hesitated awkwardly upon saying goodbye, and Dusty promised to wait up until Melinda arrived home, and Melinda promised to notify him upon her arrival. They both went to sleep smiling.