What exactly I am doing (If anyone cares)

Talking to my parents this weekend I realized that not too many people really know what I am doing for my thesis research. Usually when people ask I just tell them that I am killing insects with fungus as an alternative to chemical pesticides and leave it at that. Generally, this is enough information, although it really does not tell you anything that I am doing since this basically just states that I am in the field of Biological control, which is a large world-wide area of science, with many different areas of research. I expect that not too many people will find this interesting but I thought for those who would like to have a little better idea of exactly what I am doing I would post my Thesis Proposal.

I am mostly done with all the research. We are currently doing the last experiment, which is a field trial so hopefully I will be done in December. Finishing will depend on whether or not I can get the write up done in time and my committee approves it.

On the Charts!

Lexi had her 15 month check-up today and for the first time she showed up on the growth charts for weight. At 18lbs 5oz she reached the 2 percentile and at 29in she was at 29% for height (up from 9% just 3 months ago.) Honestly, I think of the "growth charts" with little regard. Every baby is so different and you can't really compare them to others, but nonetheless, it's nice to see that Lexi is starting to gain a little. The doctor says she still needs to gain another pound and a half before we can turn her around in the carseat. Considering that she she didn't even gain a pound in the last 3 months, we may still have a ways to go.

Quickly, I just have to tell about our crazy Monday night and about what amazing friends and husband I have! Monday night, Chad came home a little early to surprise us with a picnic up the canyon. He'd heard about a nice place up in Richmond, so we packed everything up and headed out that direction. Along the way, Myra started complaining about her seat belt being too tight. Her complaints escalated into an all out tantrum, resulting in Chad pulling over to fix it. (Lately Myra has been very touchy about the car seat. Everything about it has to be just right. She hadn't had any problems with it earlier that day.) Anyway, once we got that fixed, we got ready to go again, but the car just sputtered and died. Chad tried to charge the battery with this little charger thing we have in our car, but to no avail. Two other motorists stopped and tried to jump the battery, but it just wouldn't hold a charge. So, after sitting out there for an hour, I called my friend Janelle, who was willing to go almost all the way to Richmond to pick us up. (Thank you so much Janelle, we sure appreciated your help!) Myra loved riding back with Camille. Once home, Chad was able to get Skylar from his work to go and help him tow it back. Once they got it home, they unhooked it so we could push it into our carport and we couldn't get it to go into neutral and we couldn't get the key out. So, then Chad walked over to our neighbors, the James's, to see if Clay could help us out. (He knows a little bit about cars. ☺) He was able to help us get the keys out and the car into neutral so it could be pushed into the carport. Thanks to Skylar and Clay, they saved us a huge towing fee! The next day, Chad took the alternator and battery in to be tested and found out that the alternator was bad, so Chad was able to replace it, all by himself. I'm so grateful for all of these friends that helped us out and to a husband that was able to find a way to fix the car himself. Hopefully the car will hold out until Chad graduates and gets a new job. Then we'll probably buy a brand new, gas-guzzling, Jeep, or something like that. ☺

Yay for Warm Weather!

Ok, so it's actually hot weather, but after so much cold, I'm so glad that it's finally warmed up. The kids want to be constantly outside, which is hard with Lexi's little bald head. She won't keep a hat on so I have to keep her constantly saturated in sunscreen. I filled Myra's pool up today for the first time and consequently, she's onto her 3rd outfit for the day. I don't know if it's that she forgets or that she doesn't care, but every time I turn around today, she's outside sitting full-clothed in the pool. Honestly, I wished I could join her. We are still trying to get our house put back together since carpeting and painting. I was able to get the girls room spotless. It's so nice! We have Myra clean all of her toys up every night and so far, it's gone really well. Our front room and kitchen are clean, then there's our bedroom. (insert grimace) I would call it an organized mess. All of the boxes we still haven't gone through are lined up around the room. I've lost my desire to get it done. I just need to take the time and do it. I'll be much happier once it's finished! Another change in our life is that we've decided to make our carpet a no shoe, food or drink zone. We want to try and keep it nice for as long as possible, but it's hard! Myra would always eat in rooms beside the kitchen and we'd always find big messes. But, for us to ask her to stop eating out there, we have to do it ourselves. I miss snacking on popcorn while watching a movie. :-(


Myra has also learned to do somersaults. She's kind of done them oft and on for a while, but usually with help from us. Then the other day, she suddenly just did one right in front of us. Here's a video:

New Carpet

We've been MIA for a little while now. Time sure flies by. Last week I was bombarded with orders from my shop. On Wednesday I had 5 separate purchases. I rarely have more than one purchase a day, so that was a great day for business. Plus I am working on a Custom Order for a lady that wants an Eggplant and Chartreuse quilt. It's been a challenge to come up with good colors!
Other news for our family - Chad was called as the Elders Quorum 1st counselor. He's sad to be released from his old calling (Sunday School Teacher.) I think he'll do great at it, although he is already so busy, I can't imagine one more thing for him to deal with. Last week they had some USDA guys here from Arizona working with them on a big project. Because of the bad weather, it took them longer than planned. So now, Chad has to go out to a field every and check to see if 350 crickets in individual cages are still alive. He also has to feed them, cover them over if it rains and tuck them in at night. That is until they all die.

Today we are having new carpet put in. As I type, they are just finishing up. Last night we also started painting our bedroom. It was kind of a spur of the moment decision, but we decided that it would be the best time to do it - with no furniture in the way and not having to worry about spilling on the carpet. Unfortunately, we weren't able to finish. We were just too tired from having to move our entire house into the upstairs bathroom and our kitchen. That's right, we fit EVERYTHING we own into those two rooms! Chad and I slept on the floor in our front room last night. I'm really looking forward to having our bed back tonight. Myra and Lexi are staying with Grandma and Grandpa until tomorrow. I miss them, but it would have been very difficult having them around during this project.

Since I started writing this post yesterday, the carpet has been finished and we are in the process of putting our house back together. We finished painting our bedroom last night and I think it looks great. Two of the walls are the green as you can see and the other two walls are an off-white with white trim. It looks fantastic. Between the carpet and paint, it's as if we've moved into a new home. The best thing about the carpet is walking around barefoot. It's so soft.

One more reason to love my job

I went back to Vernal yesterday (Friday) to collect some more Mormon crickets, I am not so fond of the 11 hours of driving but I do enjoy the off-roading we are required to do. It has been raining lately so the roads where a bit wet which made it even more fun than usual, luckily we did not get stuck. When I got out to close one of the gates I took this short video to give you an idea of what it was like.

Field Work

As part of my job and Master program, I get to spend a lot of time out in the field looking for Mormon crickets. I enjoy this a lot, mostly because I just like being outdoors in areas that are unpopulated. This year the Crickets have been hard to find and we have had to drive to out north of Vernal to find the large numbers that we need. Yesterday I was out looking for crickets and stumbled (almost literally) on these two newly born deer. We have no idea where the mother was, but it was really cool to see them. They were terrified of us, we watched from only a few feet away, as they stood for the first time on their shaky legs and tried to flee, one took a few steps and the other could not even stand all the way up, so he just crouched there and looked at us. They must have been just born, as I nearly stepped on the still-wet placenta. I have a great job!

Bike Riding

Last summer some neighbors of ours gave us a bike trailer that they never used. It was missing and part and because Lexi was too little to ride in it, we never used it. Well, this year, we replaced the missing part and were able to get it working. Last night we took our first family bike ride. We didn't go far, mostly because Lexi was screaming the entire way. And Myra wasn't especially happy about it either. I think Lexi was upset because her helmet kept falling over her eyes and Myra didn't like that Lexi kept sliding into her. Well, Chad and I enjoyed the bike ride. Hopefully the more we go, the more the kids will enjoy it.











Lately, Myra has insisted on keeping the house constantly messy. Mostly with stuffed animals spread throughout. Usually in the morning, she'll gather up several loads of stuffed animals and other toys from her bedroom and deposit them in our front room and kitchen. Then she spends the rest of the day putting them to sleep, feeding them, and giving them baths. A couple of days ago, she lined several of them up and put a blanket over them and proceeded to sing to them. Thus the ensuing video...



Then last night she came downstairs and informed us that she had given her all her toys a bath because they were really dirty. So, I hesitantly go upstairs to find several toys soaking wet and lying under a blanket. Why, Oh Why did we ever get her that spray bottle for her hair? Pretty much everything else besides her hair gets sprayed.

Here are a couple of other cute pictures we've taken lately.

Google Reader

This is just going to be a short post. Nothing exciting. I just want to tell everyone about this great blogger function called Google Reader. I'm sure many have already heard about it, but I've only known about it for a short amount of time and it's great! (Thank you Janelle) All you have to do is subscribe to the blogs or other sites that you typically look at and when you log into Google Reader, it will show you what ones have been updated since you last checked. It's great! Now you don't have to click on each individual blog to see if there's anything new. Try it, you'll be hooked!