The Final Semester

Since my last post exactly two months ago, we've had so much happen that needs to be recorded. I'll do my best to get it all down.

When I last wrote, Jason was at the PMF job fair in Washington D.C. Later that week, the kids and I drove up to meet him in D.C. and take him to one last interview downtown. The kids and I saw the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, just down the road from the HHS building where Jase had his interview. Alden was especially in awe of the hanging airplanes and Rachel loved the space tech stuff. Alden was a little disappointed when we couldn't find helicopters anywhere, but after talking with their info-desk, we found out those are housed in another center in Chantilly, Virginia (who knew?). Apparently this place has all of the coolest "big stuff" that is too big to house in downtown D.C. They even have the space shuttle Discovery there! We're planning a visit for Alden's birthday, as they happen to have a special "Super Saturday" featuring helicopters on August 11th (his birthday is the 13th). I can't wait to see his face.

As for how the job search turned out, Jase accepted an offer to work for the FDA in their Department of Human Resources as a Human Resources Specialist. He's thrilled about the job (not only relieved to have one, but happy with the people he'll be working with and the type of work he'll be doing). There is plenty of promotional potential and they really seemed to want him there. He'll do a great job. We originally thought he'd be working at the FDA campus in White Oak, MD, but recently realized that his office is actually housed in Bethesda. Good thing we signed a rental lease to live in Gaithersburg, just 20 minutes by metro! We did some home searching in Maryland and found a great little condo for a good price, and close to the metro. We'll be able to save our money by staying in a two bedroom for another two years, and stick with one car for awhile as well. The benefits of savings just outweigh the conveniences of space and another car. We'll be safe and comfortable, and have enough for our needs and a few wants, and be able to beef up our savings. We're very happy with our plan. We also realize how blessed we are to have a job in this market, and are feeling very grateful for the way we were led to be at this school, at this time, making these decisions, and getting this job in the D.C. area. It's not my ideal area, nor would I have picked it first (I do not consider myself much of a city girl), but we cannot deny how important it was that we came to William and Mary, met the people we have, and had the experiences we've had, because we can see how all that led us to the job and location we are moving to now.

We had a little bit of a small crisis happen in our apartment towards the end of April. Essentially, our kitchen area was flooded by the upstairs condo's malfunctioning dishwasher. Water came pouring in from the light fixtures (imagine my shock!) and heavily damaged the ceiling, cabinetry, and flooring. The next day brought workers tearing apart our kitchen and a quick packing job. Luckily we have displacement coverage in our rental insurance, and after some awesome negotiating by Jason we secured a two-bedroom suite in a local hotel. We've been here at the Residence Inn now for almost a month. The adjustment was a bit hard for the kids, being without all of their regular things, beds, blankets, and toys, but we've tried to make things comfortable and now I think they are doing fine. The hotel has a hot breakfast that I don't have to cook every morning, and I can get my sheets and towels cleaned by someone else. Originally we thought we'd be back in our apartment by now, but the only thing that's changed about the place is that the ceiling has been refinished. The living/dining area is still full of kitchen appliances, and the kitchen is still bare and empty. The house is largely packed up though, since we're not using anything there, so that's actually been surprisingly convenient.

Jason's law school graduation was a week ago, on the 13th.. It was a perfect weekend for it, and we enjoyed having Jason's mom Elizabeth here to celebrate with us. I'm so proud of Jase for all he has done. He's worked hard to put himself financially through two degrees, worked hard to find a job and then received a prestigious fellowship, and finished in the top third of his class academically. And he did all that while helping me raise our family. He's the first of his family tree to earn a graduate level degree, and I'm so proud of him.

Rachel had her own little "graduation" of sorts as well for completing her first year of Joy School. It was a fun experience for both of us. She misses spending time with her friends, and I think it will be hard for her for a bit since many of her friends are moving, and we'll be moving in about a week. Luckily she still has her Alden to boss around (I mean...keep her company?). We heard from our new Bishop and Elders Quorum President in our new ward that there is a very large Primary program, so I'm sure she'll find and make many new friends quickly. She's very outgoing and kind, so I don't think she'll have any problem with it. We've loved having such good friends at such a young age for our children, and I think probably have had a very lucky and unique experience. Rachel has been playmates with a few of her friends since she was just crawling at 9 months old, and grown to experience all those milestones through preschool with them. I'm so grateful to have all these memories and to have so many children in my life. I love Rachel's little friends as though they were my little nieces and nephews and it hurts to leave them all, knowing they'll grow up and probably not remember us very well or at all. But we're on to new adventures and new experiences. The D.C. area holds so many opportunities and things to do, and I think Rachel will really enjoy it.

As for me, I've been busy taking care of these little ones, packing up the apartment, and preparing for our move. Over the last few months with having more time on my hands during nap time and after bed time I've been missing structured learning/being in school. For awhile I got on a bit of kick to go back and get an associates of nursing and become an RN, but realized how much time that would take out of the my daytime. Ideally earning something at night would be better for now. Unfortunately, nursing degrees are (understandably) hands on and built around a very rigid schedule and cohort. Basically that means that I feel I should wait until all my children (including future ones) are in schools of their own. It's been a personal decision for me that I just can't bear to leave the babies with anyone else. The other day I was researching other educational options and bumped into BYU's Independent Study online program. You can take online courses of various disciplines. There are a few free courses that look interesting, but I found two courses for around $500 each that I'm really excited to take. Jase and I decided they'd be good investments for me to continue learning, even if it's just one course a year that's not contributing to any sort of degree (I already have a Bachelor's degree). My first pick is a World Geography course, built around learning about the different countries and their relationships. The syllabus sounded fascinating and the professor seems really interesting and insightful. I never had the chance to take any history or geography courses at BYU since I took the humanities and social sciences routes for general education (of which I was very happy with) and I'm really excited to get to know more about the world and current issues in different parts of the world. The beauty of these courses is that you pay for them and purchase texts, etc. as if you were going to class, but you complete the lessons, assignments, and quizzes at your own pace whenever you like. You have up to a year to finish each course for credit. As much as I told myself I could do self directed learning, I haven't been very good at it and need some structure and direction, and I feel like professors do actually offer some great insights and ways of thinking that I couldn't necessarily come by on my own. Anyways, I may be taking a World Geography course in the fall, and have started taking a free personal finance course online for the summer. Jase thinks that after the bar (he'll take the Maryland Bar in February) maybe he'll start taking a course here and there and we can study together and be perpetual part time students learning all sorts of things (I guess we're both nerds!?).

Since the end of school and graduation we've filled our days with packing and prepping for the move. We decided to do a few "stay-cation" things during our last few weeks in Williamsburg, so we went to Busch Gardens on Friday. We all had a perfect day. Both kids can ride the log flume with us, and Alden got so giddy on that ride (it's kind of like Splash Mountain at the end). They met Elmo again, gave him lots of hugs, and Rachel got to ride on a real roller coaster. We're going to try to go another two times before we have to leave (Rachel got a free summer preschool pass and Jase and I got the "pay for a day, play all summer" passes).

And I think that brings us up to date. I'd like to think I'll get better about blogging, but who knows. I'm feeling pretty good about just recording some of the basic things I know I'll forget if I don't write them down. I suppose I really ought to post a few pictures as well, since I promised that months ago and still haven't done it. Maybe with this super-fast hotel internet it won't take blogger so long!