Sunday, September 11, 2005

School has begun...

and it is very busy around here. But, we are finally getting into a routine and everything is working out just fine. James works and goes to school during the day and then I go to class in the evenings on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Some of those times we have a babysitter for Abby when James needs to do homework, but otherwise he and Abby are getting some great one-on-one time. They are so cute together. They wrestle and walk around together and it's adorable. If you didn't catch that, Abby is learning how to walk right now. She does about 3-4 steps at a time, and she is learning fast. She loves exploring and finding new things. Tonight she opened up the kitchen cupboards and when I came looking for her to see what she was up to she quickly slammed the one cupboard shut as if she hadn't been in there! Yes, I know, it's going to be a fun, but long road if she is already doing that! But, it is really cute. She also loves the "I'm going to get you" game and laughs and goes running when she hears that phrase. This is definitely a fun stage for all of us. She is also learning to mind us when we say no. She is actually very good at doing as she is told. She's a good girl and we love her.

I've been doing Mary Kay now for a couple of months and it's getting easier and I'm starting to earn a little money at it. It's good for me to be able to go and visit with other women and to spend that time helping them and socializing. I love the women I work with and it's a lot of fun.

As for school, I have 2 classes. One is a capstone class for Political Science. Basically I do a lot of reading and on the side I'm writing a major research paper. This last week I had an idea for the paper and the teacher approved it while I was in class and helped me plan out how to do it. If I do it right, I might even be published which is a great resume builder. What for, I don't know! But the topic is interesting. Basically, there was an author that made the comment that those churches that require a lot of time and effort from their members takes time from those members from participating politically. My hypothesis is to prove that statement wrong among the LDS faith. I want to see if Mormons are able to contribute religiously and politically effectively and I will probably compare them to Protestants since I'm doing another project on Protestants for the same class. It will be interesting. And if you're wondering by now why I'm studying religion in my political science class (It is BYU, but we usually don't study religion intently in the same class as another subject. The professor might make a few comments on what the church teaches compared to that topic, but it isn't an everyday comparison if you will. Usually religion and say, political science would be two different classes), the topic of this capstone class is how religion affects political behavior. I'm excited to see what we find out.

My other class is an elective, Environmental Biology, and I love the teacher and the fact that compared to the classes I've been taking for the last couple of years, it's easy. It's nice to have one that I don't have to work as hard for when my capstone class will take so much time. And it's an interesting topic.

I think that is most of what has been going on. We go to work, do homework, play with Abby, and try to keep up on the housework. We have better days than others, but it's working. We're just thankful that James has such a good job and we don't have to worry about health insurance and things like that as much. It's a little more stable which is nice. So, we're all doing well, and we're healthy, and the plan is to come home for Christmas and see everyone. Hopefully that will work out because I'm excited to see my family and for everyone to meet Abby again. So on that note, I hope everyone has a good week, and I'm off to bed to start mine. Loves from all of us!