Check out my Slide Show!

I learned of this new place where I can make a slideshow of pictures. It's super easy and fun. You've already seen some of these pictures but they are the only series we have so far.

Umbrella Love

I've been without an umbrella for a year now and I really missed having one. So on our last trip to Target we made a special point to buy umbrellas. Ja got a black one, nice and manly, and I had to get a cool one so I wouldn't lose it again. I found my new favorite accessory! I like it so much I even had Ja take my picture with it. I love my umbrella.

Coed Softball- Summer 2007

We played intramurals this summer on a coed softball team. Ja played outfield and I played pitcher. I didn't have to pitch because your own team pitches to you, but I was the defensive pither. It was really fun to play because all of our friends were on the team. We had great pitchers, our Bishop and Jason Roberts. Ja couldn't play a couple times because he was busy umping himself, but we still love him anyways. We did really well during the season, and even made it to the semi-finals in the championship games. We lost in a horrible game when it was raining and lightening. Oh, and did I tell you that the first baseman clotheslined me and knocked me out?! He did assure the ump that I was out (as in I got out because he tagged me). Overall, it was a fun season and we look forward to playing again this summer.

Nachooooooo Party

In September our friends Becca and Colby Gage had a Nacho Libre party. We couldn't pass up the opportunity to dress up like our favorite characters. In case you haven't seen the movie, or can't tell who we are, here is the line-up (going from left to right). Colby is early Nacho, when he is practicing to be a luchador. Chelsey is Encarnacion, the nun that Ignacio (Nacho) likes. Ja is Esqueleto, Nacho's side kick. Andrew is the professional luchador Nacho Libre. (He is summoning his eagle powers in the picture.) Then I am Candidia, the one who loves Esqueleto and says things like "secret tunnels" and "I forgive you." We had really good nachos, with all the best toppings, made by Colby and Becca. The highlight of the party was the pinata. It was hilarous to see blindfolded adults swinging a bat at a paper mache donkey. If you haven't seen the movie now you should so you don't think we are crazy!

Here are two more pictures from the Nacho party. Don't I look a little lumpy?

Ja the Pit Crew Member

At the beginning of the school year Ja was able to take part in the Pit Crew Challenge. One of the Big Four firms had a guy come to BYU and teach the accounting students about team work. Since the pit crew is really fast at what they do some companies have looked to them for inspiration to get tasks done quickly. Ja was the guy who takes out the bolts in the tires. He had a lot of fun doing it and even got a free t-shirt.

Two funny Sunday stories

The past two weeks at church have lead to some funny stories I thought I should share. Last week our Bishop, who is a funny fellow, pulls Ja aside and tells him, "So I've heard Laura has the Egyptian flu, sick for 9 months then becomes a mummy." Ja was so confused, he was pretty sure I wasn't pregnant, but still got confused. He assured Bishop I wasn't pregnant then walked off trying to figure out why Bishop would be asking that. When he told me I thought, great I have the mommy tummy and I'm not even pregnant. We found out later that Bishop just learned of that joke and wanted to use it on someone and first thought of Ja because he said we've been married long enough to have a child. I was very relieved to not have the mommy tummy.
The next story happened today. We walk in the front doors to church to see a poster advertising the stake blood drive. As I'm reading the poster I realize my picture is on there! The same picture that ended up on some website! We had nothing to do with the poster, we don't even know who made it. So all during church people made comments about my picture, wondering how it got on the poster. One guy said I must have donated a lot of blood to make it on the poster. A few guys in elders quorum asked Ja how my picture got on there so Bishop made him explain to the whole quorum! I was a little embarrassed. I felt like people were looking at me funny after that. I guess it's better that Ja explained so people don't think I made the poster and put a picture of myself on it. Anyways, I thought those stories were worth sharing.

Banjo Boy - Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband

Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband

We went to another accounting recruitment night-this time for Ernst & Young. They had Ryan Shupe and the Rubberband come and play for us. We love them so we were excited to get a free concert. There wasn't too many people there at the beginning so we got to sit in the front row, we were really excited. Ja realized he has been to at least 7 of their concerts. At the end of the show we went to get their autographs and Ryan Shupe thanked us for sitting in the front row. We thought that was cool. If you haven't heard them you should look them up on itunes. They are a mix of country and rock and are really fun in concert. We've posted two of their songs we really like. Enjoy.

Perfect Pumpkin

In case you don't know I'm interning at Central Utah Clinic in the Physical Therapy and Wellness Department. The PT Aides decided to make pumpkin foods this week to celebrate fall. On Thursday one girl, Kestlee, brought in pumpkin cheesecake. I love cheesecake so I decided to try some. Oh my gosh! It was amazing! I kept saying over and over how delicious it was. Everyone else thought the same. I'm considering changing my favorite dessert to pumpkin cheesecake. It was 100 times better than pumpkin pie. If you don't even like pumpkin pie you'll like this. It has a pumpkin flavor without being too pumpkiny. Delicious!

Welcome to our blog! We would like to share our lives with you, pictures and all. Feel free to subscribe to our blog so you can be emailed everytime we update. We are having a great time here in Provo but unfortunately we are far away from most of our family so we thought this would be a good way to involve everyone in our lives. We love you all and thanks for viewing our blog!

SWAG

Stuff we all get. That has been the theme for the accounting program thus far. The first week of the program there was a "Meet the Firms" evening where 40 or so firms showed up looking for students to have intern at there various locations across the world. Deloitte had a dinner provided by Cafe Rio (although by the time we got to the dinner they had run out of Cafe Rio and we got Little Caesar instead) and a presentation for potential Deloitte interns. It was really good to experience and gain a better understanding of what working for a Big 4 might be like, but best of all, Laura had her own presentation. They had all of us split off into seperate groups such as tax, audit, financial services, and spouses. Laura obviously went to the spouse meeting and had a great time learning of all the perks families get (as well as the long hours during busy season). Laura was most excited about the international opportunities provided by the firm and is now gung ho on living abroad at some point in our career.
The next excititng firm was Grant Thornton and their hot dog eating contest and their root beer contest. There, we met with some workers, including a freind of Steve DeVore who lives in Seattle, but couldn't talk much about internships because we cannot get recruited at this point of our education. Basically, it was not too informative, but pretty fun to be at.
I visited KPMG in the Wilkinson Center and was invited to a breakfast by the old Bishop of the Devore's of Valencia. He works in the tax department at KPMG in Los Angeles. Unfortunately I was not able to go because technically, the big firms cannot actively recruit members of the Jr. core this early on.
PriceWaterhouseCoopers had all members of the Jr. core go through a leadership training program that was unlike anything I had ever done. Because pitcrews from NASCAR and other racing circuits have to be so efficient, business people have been looking to the pitcrew for inspiration. PriceWaterhouseCoopers had us go through a training meeting where we learned leadership qualities while changing the tires of a real race car. I had a blast as I gunned the the two back tires in record setting time.
The last fun experience that has occured thus far was with Earnst and Young. Two individuals from Earnst and Young came and gave a seminar on how to be a better public communicator. We watched a great video created by a real pro who is hilarious and was very enteraining to watch.
In the end, the SWAG that we accumulated included items such as two mugs, a tee shirt, a hat, half a dozen pens, two water bottles, quite a few brochures, and a lot of free food. The only thing that we will do differently next year is try to get more SWAG to last us the whole year long.
All of these experiences have been very educational and very fun. Throughout the seminars and different meetings that the firms have held, Laura and I have been reminded how fortunate we are to be in a situation where we can have numerous opportunities given to us. We are very grateful to the Lord for blessing us so much.

We Want the Funk

This is our new favorite commercial! Think of a little boy you know and picture them doing this. It's priceless..