One more pic

I just wanted to put a picture up of the whole EERI Seismic Design Competition Team. These guys did a lot of work and deserve a lot of credit.

San Diego!

Well I think most of you know that this last weekend I went to San Diego for a Seismic Design Competition. For the last 4 months we have been designing, building, and analyzing a balsa wood tower with a group of 15 students. We would go to the school two nights a week for a couple of hours and we would work on the tower. Before talking about the tower I want to talk about San Diego. It has been freezing here in Utah and it was so nice to walk on the beach in California. I actually came back with a little tan.




We went to the Children's Cove in San Diego and watched the seals flop around and bask in the sun. They are pretty weird animals.


I also got an acai bowl on the beach. I had been craving one of these ever since I got back from my mission. It wasn't exactly the same but it was the best one I've had since being in Brazil.

But we didn't go to San Diego just to hang out on the beach and eat Acai bowls. We went for a competition. Here are a few pictures of the tower under construction.



The main goal of the competition is to maximize your revenue. The revenue comes from floor area of the building. Higher floors get a higher revenue per square inch of floor area. Then we have costs based on weight, area of land it was built on, and seismic costs. the tower is put under three earthquakes and the seismic cost is determined by the drift and acceleration of the top of the tower.
After your revenue is totalled, there are then four factors that could act as multipliers for the final revenue. These are presentation, poster, architecture, and predictions. If someone had the best poster, their score would receive a 10% increase, 2nd best poster would receive an 8% increase, and so on for all four things.
Anyway, that stuff is all pretty boring. The competition consisted of 29 teams, including teams from Malaysia, Romania, and British Columbia. Then you had UCLA, USC, Purdue, Missouri, Nebraska, UC Berkley and many others. we had a guy that was really good with a computer program called Revit and he did some drawings for us. Here are a few of the renderings that he did.






Out of 29 teams we ended up taking 6th place. We wanted to do better than this but this isn't bad. We did have some penalties for certain reasons. I won't go into any detail about it but we got a 28% penalty for something that is not in the rule book. We talked to the judges about it, had the rules right in front of us, and when I asked him to point out what part of the rules we had broken, he couldn't show me. It was very frustrating. But... the experience was fun and we learned a lot.

Oh and the best part was that I got to see and hang out with Mark! (but I forgot to take pictures)... We got to watch the BYU game together, went to the comedy club and he watched me take a shower...I mean shake a tower. It was great to see him PLUS he fed me twice so that was really nice of him. I was way excited when I found out we would both be there at the same time. Great timing Mark!

On a side note...

Natali made some Banana Bread for the first time the other day and it turned out really good.
We have also been looking for some good French cheese ever since we got back from France and we finaly found some Camembert at Harmon's. Natali was REALLY excited.

Things I Love

Well I copied this post idea from my friends Leanna and Annika but it was just too great of an idea. Here are a couple random things that I love (not a comprehensive list of course)...

Of course, I love Reed. He is, by far, the best thing about my life. He is supportive, funny, positive, easy-going and kind...everything I need. And I can't get over how hott he is (and while I'm on the topic, I LOVE his jawline)

I love Sunsets. Even the worst day in the world melts away when I get a glimpse of one of these.

I. Love. Monk. If you have never seen Monk, it is hilarious. He is a crazy, quirky, OCD detective and he's awesome. Me, Reed and my brother Jared like to watch an episode every other night or so when I'm too tired to do anymore homework. And Monk is never wrong about anything. So I guess we have something in common ;-) haha. jk.

My new Kindle! It is so great! I read like 10 books on it over Christmas break! Now when Reed and I travel we don't have to bring a whole suit case just for my books :-).

BYU Law School. I know it's nerdy...but I love it (sometimes I hate it too...but it always invokes strong emotions haha). I love the challenge, the learning, the homework...And I love that all my hard work paid off with awesome grades for last semester. Seriously, definitely one of the best moments of my life was seeing last semester's grades.

Reed's guacamole. My husband is the guacamole king. Sometimes I wake up at 2 am craving this :-)

The Ranger's Apprentice book series. My mom introduced me to them. I LOVE them. Just enough fantasy to make for an interesting read but not too outlandish. I have read like four of them but have slowed down now that the semester is heavy underway

All things Apple. I have loved my Macbook from the day I set eyes on it. We are inseparable...unfortunately I am also inseperable from every document I've ever written and picture I've ever taken so I'm overloading my good friend. I think it's time for an upgrade:

I love Musicals. I love listening to them, watching them, or singing the songs from them. Especially Phantom. I have seen the Phantom in New York and London and hope to see it many more times (hopefully sometime with my husband). I love music in general but musicals are just amazing.

And lastly, I know Leanna posted this already but I had to as well, I love the MGs. I would say they are my best friends but I think sisters is almost closer to the truth. I seriously feel so privileged to have them in my life. They all are so unique, brilliant and talented...I have learned something from each one of them and each one is my hero in a different way. Really I would do anything for these girls.

Anticipation

Anticipation seems to be one word that describes a lot of my life. Right now I'm living in anticipation of the day I will get my grades back from last semester and I'm so worried about it I can't even sleep! Which is ridiculous because there is absolutely nothing I can do about it at this point. I tell Reed that as soon as I get grades back, I will be much happier because I will be able to stop living in worry and anticipation.

But...well I guess I told him that last semester when I was living in anticipation of finals. And hmmm...again before that when I was worrying about whether or not I would get into law school. And before that, while worrying whether or not I would get an internship in France...and before that when worrying about taking the LSAT, and before that when worrying about wedding planning etc...

So I think that's my one goal for the new year is to try to live my life in the moment rather than anticipating the day I will start enjoying my life. I have a tendency to say..."Well I just have to get through _______ and THEN my life will really start." But the fact is, there will always be something I can worry about, anticipate and spend all my time on. It would be such a waste if I realized at the end of my life that I missed all of my todays waiting for tomorrows.

I've actually never been one for New Year goals because I don't like doing something just because everyone else does it haha. So maybe that's why I have waited until January 17th to set a goal. Nobody sets goals on January 17th right? :-).

Anyways, everyone knows the only reason people read blogposts is for the pictures so I guess I will post a nice picture we took over Christmas so my blog isn't pointless :-).

Christmas Break

For Christmas this year Natali and I traveled down to St. George to spen Christmas with the Wyson Family. We were supposed to go to the Wyson's Cabin in Duck Creek (about 40 minutes outside of Cedar City) but there was a huge storm that dumped 7 feet of heavy snow in a day or so and the roads were closed for over a week. We ended up staying in St. George which meant no white Christmas for us this year.

Christmas was great. We spent the days before Christmas just relaxing and playing a few games. We also had a gingerbread house decorating contest. There were 4 gingerbread houses that were prebuilt so we just had to decorate them. Natali was really stresed out because as soon as she found out about this contest she kept bragging how she was gonna win because she had an "engineer" on her team. I put engineer in quotations because I am no more an engineer than she is a lawyer right now. I will take away those quotations in a few years. Anyway, lets just say I felt a little bit of pressure from being so talked up to everyone in her family.

Dana and Jason had the whole idea for doing the competition. They built the perfect gingerbread house. If you looked up gingerbread house in an encyclepedia, this is the picture you would probably see. It was perfect from the river that sparkled to the marshmellow picket fence to the wreath over the door.

Next we have Randy and Shane's gignerbread house. If oyu have ever seen the movie "Up" (Or "Snipe" for Bret and Becki) you might recognize it. The marshmellows above it are the balloons pulling it off of the ground. You will also see the g-pa, the little kid and the dog if you look hard enough. It was a cool idea. Shan also put some lights inside of it so it would light up.

Team three included the Wyson's unmariied children (Jaimee that just got back from Marine Combat Training, Jared, Tracie, and Jayden), Launa, and they got help from one of Jaimee's Marine friends. Having two Marines on the team explains the theme of the house: Fort Wiseguy. The two guys out front are Mr. Thimble and Mr. Wiseguy, 2 characters that Jaimee made up and does made up skits about these two mean old men. It is hilarious. Anyway, their Fort was probably the most protected Gingerbread house ever.


Natali kept saying to me all week that she wanted to do a tree house and I had to figure something out. I didn't know how I was going to do it but we just started working and this is how it turned out.

That is Tarzan on the left. We almost got disqualified for nudity but the leaf covers enough up ;). On the right int he window is a lion and there are 2 monkeys hanging from a vine in the middle. It turned out pretty cool, the house sat on top of one tree trunk and it was a lot sturdier than I thought it would be. We had a good time.

Here are some other highlights of our trip. We got to see Randy, Shane and their 4 cute little kids. here is a picture of Riley (She loves doing funny poses) from the last time we saw her (for some reason we didn't take any pictures of them this trip).

For Christmas we watched "The Muppet's Christmas Carol" to keep with the Wyson Family tradition. It is a great show. There was a lot of singing and I just sat in awe most of the time, trying not to mess up the very talented group of singers as they sang Christmas songs. It was great to sit around and hear the Christmas story again, and be reminded that after the shepherds were told the news of Christ's birth, they went in haste to find him, just as we must.

Christmas morning is always fun and I got spoiled more than I should have. My favorite present was a DVD that Natali gave to Santa to put in my stocking ;) It was a DVD of the first year of our marriage. Natali would spend hours on her computer and every time I would ask here what she was doing she just said she was working on a project. She was very secretive about it. What she did was she put all of our pictures and organized them into groups such as "Dating", "Wedding", "Barcelona", and other topics like that and put all of our pictures into a slideshow with music. It is amazing. Each topic has about 5 minutes of music and pictures of us and our adventures. Thanks Natali! I love it!

Well this is gettig a little bit long but we have had a great Christmas break. School will start soon and so will a new year. I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and will have a happy New Year!

A little post about my crazy life!

Well I just realized the other day that I needed to write about a few things going on in my life right now. Life has been pretty crazy lately. I thought this last week was going to kill me: I had 4 tests, I had a 15 page lab report due, I started my second job as a basketball referee, we started on our balsa wood tower design, and I was able to do something else to keep me sain...

My freshmen year at good ole DT I put together an ultimate frisbee team with a bunch of guys from my ward. 5 years later we are still playing ultimate frisbee. This year we got put in the best division for the trournament and took third place out of 120+ teams! Pretty cool. The team captain this year even started a website and rented a video camera for a few games and made this video:




If anyone was wondering, it was me who made the second pass the last catch! Ya, pretty good huh? Well the season was great and if you want to see more videos or you just get really bored check out our team's blog here! You can watch some of our games on youtube also. Mom and Dad were able to catch one of our games when they came up and I was glad they were able to watch.

Our dream season ended this year last saturday as we fell to the Shaugiman. It was okay because I was able to come home to an amazing lunch that Natali had made from some halibut we got from Aunt Nan and Uncle Denney. MMMMMM. It was good. She made it in the oven with parmesan and green onions and other goodness on it. If you want the recipe, its a good one. Natali is pretty amazing. She studies 11+ hours a day and still has time to do hip-hop and cook me some good meals. She is really stressed right now about finals in a few weeks so for everyone going home for Thanksgiving, you might not see too much of Natali because she will be studying a lot during the "break" to get ready for finals.

Anyway, I better get back to grading some papers and doing some homework!

Why I love the holiday season

I just love the holiday season. And I am SO excited for it this year. Reed won't let me set up our Christmas tree yet but I am still rebelling and listening to Christmas music and lighting Christmas candles :-D.
Few things I love about the Holidays:
1. Great food!
2. Music everywhere (and who doesn't love Christmas music?!)
3. Beautiful colored lights
4. Christmas scents
5. Wearing Turtle necks
6. Christmas shopping
7. Family time
8. Romance (seriously nothing is more romantic than listening to Christmas music, drinking hot chocolate and looking at Christmas lights)
9. Christmas stories!
10. My new most favorite part of the holiday seasons is how hott my husband looks in sweaters.