Look What Came in the Mail Today

Letter 1:

Admissions Office

201 S 1460 E Rm 250S

Salt Lake City, UT 84112

Dear Ian:

It is a pleasure to inform you of your acceptance to the University of Utah. Your place in the freshman class is reserved beginning Fall 2009. Etc., etc., etc.,

Sincerely,

Barbara A. Fortin, Director of Admissions

Letter 2:

Dear Ian,

Congratulations! Based on your outstanding academic achievements, you have been selected as the recipient of a scholarship at Southern Utah University. The details of your scholarship are as follows:

Scholarship: Dean's Scholarship

Length: 2 years (4 semesters)

Amount: $1200 per year

etc., etc., etc.,

We congratulate you, Ian, and offer you any assistance needed in your plans to attend Southern Utah University.

Sincerely,

Malinda Rhodes, Scholarship Coordinator

Letter 3 (actually received a couple of days ago):

Dear Ian,

Congratulations! You have been selected to receive the Aggie Housing Scholarship from Utah State University, worth $500 over two semesters. Etc., etc., etc.

Sincerely,

Jenn Putnam, Director of Admissions

So this is what we have learned. College is REALLY expensive (even with these offers) and I don't know what we are going to do. Ian had mentioned that SUU has a better graphics program than USU and he obviously got a better offer from them, but his dream was to go USU. And then there's the local school, UVU (Utah Valley University, formerly UVSC [Utah Valley State College], formerly UVCC [Utah Valley Community College]). He's taken some concurrent classes there throughout high school. Housing and food are free because he could just live here. Maybe I liked it better when they were all younger and the choices were easier, and definitely less expensive.

Ian Could Be a T-Bird Too!

January 23, 2009

Dear Ian:

Congratulations! You have been admitted to Southern Utah University for the 2009-2010 academic year. I am delighted that you are considering SUU as your college choice.

This is a memorable occasion for you and your family. You have an opportunity to utilize the University's top-notch resources as part of your college experience. Be proud of this accomplishment! SUU is one of the finest public universities in the nation recognized for personal attention, high job and graduate school placement and great tuition value.

You have been admitted as a resident for tuition purposes. You have also declared an intent to study Graphic Design in the College of Performing and Visual Arts.

If you decide to change your area of study prior to registration, please contact the Admissions Office and we will update your status. You are welcome to call me or to email Juliann Smith, your regional representative, at smithj@suu.edu if we can help in any way.

Once again, congratulations and welcome! It is exciting that you could be part of this year's outstanding group of new students at Southern Utah University.

Sincerely,

Stephen C. Allen, Director of Enrollment

Look What I Found!

As I was grocery shopping at Wal-Mart today, I came upon these:

I'm sad to say that I haven't found any Devil Dogs yet, but there's always hope.

Ian Finishes His Duty to God

Yesterday I had the opportunity to sit down with the kids and go over their duty to god/personal progress/faith in god books. As we went through, we could see that Ian had one thing to do (which he did immediately) and his was done! That means he earned all three awards and will receive the medallion in May. I remember when we first looked through the books there were some really difficult challenges that would be required of him and I wasn't sure that he would be able to complete it. I'm proud of this accomplishment, more so than if he had been on an award-winning lacrosse team or received some other sort of award. He has received two of the highest honors I can imagine: his Eagle Scout and Duty to God. You're awesome, Ian!

Also, you can see his new blog (Ian in Real Life) that he designed (the layout, banner [notice that the figure is Ian "ghosted"] and style) by clicking on the link on the side of my page. I've asked him to try to figure one out for me, so we'll see what he comes up with!

I Win Stupid of the Day! Award

As I was leaving for work this morning, I walked out of the house with my arms full, went to put my keys in the car door, and then realized that I had left my keys in the house--which was now locked. Not being skinny enough to fit through the dog door nor have arms long enough to reach through the door and unlock the deadbolt, I wandered around wondering what to do. John was in Salt Lake, and the kids in school, but I could call and get Ian excused long enough to have him come home and let me in. I called John and he suggested I start trying windows. Now, the girls are a bit fanatical about making sure the windows are locked (remember Elizabeth Smart? They do.). Griffin isn't tall enough to lock OR unlock them, so I figured since I was the last one to do it, if I hadn't locked it, I had at least activated the security tab which allowed the window to open only 6 inches. My last hope was Ian's room.

God bless that boy! (Although now I know a few major security flaws in our house.) I was able to climb in through his window (greeted by a "huffing" Snowflake--the extent of her security detail) and get my keys.

But here's the upside. Had it been earlier, I would have been in my leopard-print pajama bottoms, socks, and a sweatshirt. At least I was dressed and wearing a coat (and shoes!).

A Utah Tradition

Each year with the winter comes the inversion, where the smog gets trapped in the valleys, leaving it cold and smoggy underneath and warm and sunny up in the mountains. We're in the thick of one now and have been for some time now, with some relief hopefully coming this weekend with a low pressure system pushing out our monster high. Besides the obvious downsides of dirty air and lots of fog comes difficulty breathing for Griffin. Since we're in a "condition red" stage as far as air pollution goes, he isn't allowed to go outside for recess or spend much time outside. Today he really wanted to walk to cub scouts which is just one street over, so I told him we could as long as he covered his mouth and nose with his jacket.

We took Snowflake with us and got to see some of the unusual patterns found in the snow as it starts slowing melting.

(There's not much moisture left in the snow, so she was less than satisfied when she was eating the snow to quench her thirst.)

The tops of the snow piles are still there, but the undersides have melted leaving no stability. If you touch one of these delicate crystal formations, the whole thing collapses. It's quite amazing.

MLK Jr. Day

Griffin thought it important that we celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day by having a cake with chocolate and vanilla frosting. I thought we could just have a white cake with chocolate frosting, but he told me I was messing with his plan. So we ended up with this, with the line in the middle blurred.

Happy MLK Jr. Day!