For Kate: Annual trip to Cornbelly's

James and I made our annual trip to the corn maze on Saturday night. This year the maze was in the shape of David Archuleta and they blasted his singing throughout the entire maze. It was quite the experience. I look forward to going every fall. We started the tradition because my roomate Kate talked us into going a few years ago because our friend Scott Johnson won free passes and we had a blast. We owe our corn maze experiences all to them. Kate does not live in Utah anymore so she hasn't been able to go the past couple of trips (although she has considered flying here for it every year...that's dedication) but I thought I'd post pictures from all the years we've gone so Kate can relive all the fun.

2005

One of our favorites...the cow train

Kate is a very distinguished tractor driver

This picture should discourage you from ever riding on a tractor with me

The first year it was Napoleon Dynamite themed - note the Llama in the background

Scott Johnson and James playing a little tetherball

posing with the chainsaw man

entrance to Cornaphobia

loves pictures

happy farmers






















2006

This is the only picture from 2006 because the girl who took it dropped my camera afterwards and broke it. Also James lost his wedding ring while playing tetherball. Luckily after 30 minutes of crawling on the cold ground our friend Jeremy Webster found it. It was still a fun night even though it cost us a camera and almost a wedding ring.









2007

James loves cows


Ryan and Natalie on a date (good thing they got married so I could include this picture in the post)


Probably the coolest thing ever - it was a giant elastic spider web you climb up and jump through...apparently it was only for small children but somehow they let us on it.

Rachel and Ryan

I love duck racing








2008

It only took 8 tries to get this picture with my eyes open

James made sure to bring along my head lamp

Please enlarge this picture...James was more than a little surprised the slide was that fast. His face is priceless.





















A married Ryan and Natalie...precious

pumpkin tree...and they're all real

I got mail

Well the letter drought only lasted one day! So I am feeling a little calmer about things. But keep 'em coming. On Thursday I got 2 and today I received 4. I am way behind on posting the responses on my project blog because I have been on campus non-stop working on my prints but I hope to have it current by Sunday. It is so wonderful reading the letters. I love to hear how everyone is doing and I have to say letters are way better than emails (although I am happy to get an email anytime). Hopefully this project will help me become a better letter writer. Getting the mail has been the highlight of my day the past few weeks!

project update/guilt trip

I got seven replies on Monday and two yesterday. I will try to post the replies soon on my project blog. They were all wonderful and it was good to hear from some people I haven't talked to in awhile. I was kind of expecting this week to be have the most replies so far...so we'll see what the rest of the week brings. Today I got zero replies(the first day since replies have started coming in). It was a little depressing. I shook all my junk mail just to make sure there wasn't something stuck in between. I am having a hard time not being in "control" of the actual correspondence part of my project and I feeling more anxious about it every day. I hope it works out!

vote, vote, vote

This is probably the first election in my time as a voter that I have actually paid attention. Until yesterday I thought I was registered to vote in Utah. I wasn't completely sure but I voted 4 yrs. ago here so I thought I was good. I planned on making sure I was registered to vote when I got a new driver's license but that never happened (I still have a Texas driver's license that expired on my b-day this year 9/25...shh don't tell). Every time I decide to go renew it I realize it's Friday and none of the government office buildings are open on Friday in Utah...ugg. So I have continued to drive illegally and very carefully. Anyways yesterday I had a feeling that I should really find out if I am registered. I looked online and I definitely wasn't and apparently today was the last day you could register in person at the county clerk's office. So I ran over b/t work and class and it was a mad house. We are a country of PROCRASTINATORS and I am one of them. Fortunately I was able to register and I made sure to use my student ID as a form of ID instead of my expired driver's license.

Weekend Update

Recent goings on...

This week has flown by. Things are starting to get really busy with my project and I'm definitely feeling a little stressed. I think we've finally adjusted to James' work schedule and he is balancing classes and work very well. In fact he even found the time to put up some new blinds in our main room (the old ones were beyond nasty). Soon I think I'll be putting him to work helping me make frames for all my prints. Once again I feel like such a needy wife but he is so much more coordinated with power tools than I am that a little help from him will make every thing go about ten times faster. Speaking of power tools-I used a table saw and miter saw in class this week and I can say that I still do not enjoy even going near either of them. Hopefully someday I will overcome my fear of having a body part chopped off by a whirling blade.

Last night James and I got to go to two friends opening receptions for their BFA shows - Laura Hawkins and Jon Troutman. Both shows were excellent and are up in the HFAC. Go see them if you can!

This week I also got a chance to read over Pres. Monson's talks from General Conference for my religion class. Although I watched conference I was glad to read over the talks again because I feel like I always forget so much of what I hear. There were two quotes I particularly liked:
"Send that note to the friend you've been neglecting; give your child a hug; give your parents a hug; say "I love you" more; always express your thanks. Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved."
"Remember that the Lord will shape the back to bear the burden placed upon it."

clearing up some confusion...

I have had several people send me the wrong part of the postcard in return. I guess my instructions were not very clear :( and I am beginning to worry. If you haven't sent yours and you are not sure which part to send back...I want the big part back...the actual postcard. You can throw away the directions.

Thank you, thank you

So I received quite a few replies to my postcards today. It made my stressful day so much better! Thanks to those of you who have already replied and I look forward to seeing many more. I will post the replies on my project blog tomorrow.

Hookem' Horns

Yesterday was the was the Texas vs. Oklahoma game. It is a game I look forward to watching every year and I was so excited for it all week- I even bought stuff to make queso. James and I both had to work during the game so we recorded it to watch later. However, we decided to watch the BYU game first (which was on live). James' Dad was in town so his family came over to watch it and as soon as they walked in the door I instructed them to say nothing about the results of the Texas game. I was hoping since the BYU game was on the Mountain there would be no mention of the Texas game and there wasn't...except for the little thing that scrolls along the bottom and tells results of all the games. I avoided looking at it the whole game until the 4th quarter. I just happened to look at it at the wrong moment and saw the score...grrr. We watched the game anyways and it was an EXCELLENT game but I was so sad I knew the outcome because the excitement was totally gone. Oh well.

In response to i/you/and/me

My friend Ayumi asked me what my project was about and I have posted a response here: correspondenceproject.blogspot.com
It is kind of a long response so I figured I'd post it on my project blog. Anyways, I do have to say that Ayumi's parents told my family once about how before they were married they wrote love letters to each other on the same stationary(by complete chance) and when they sent them they crossed in the mail. It is one of my favorite stories about letters and I have thought of it often while working on this project. If I am not remembering correctly Ayumi can set the record straight but I will keep pretending that that's how the story goes.

Check your mail

I have mailed out all of my postcards. I might have to do a few more as some people have asked me for them...I need a few days away from the collaging though so I'll be sending them later. You can check out all the postcards I made at http://correspondenceproject.blogspot.com/. I will be using the correspondence blog to document my project. I will try to post the replies - at least the exciting ones! Anyways check it out and if you are expecting a postcard and haven't received it yet (probably most of you) maybe you can go on and guess which one you'll be getting...good luck.

A couple of things

A couple things that have been on my mind...

1. James is a nice guy. He has been very patient with my grumpy stressed out self the past couple of weeks and my moral support as I began to think if I had to collage one more postcard I might die.

2. I am glad I am where I am (I know that's a lot of I ams there). On Monday I observed something pretty insignificant but it made me grateful to be doing what I am doing. I know school has taken me longer than it should but I don't feel bad about it. I am happy to be graduating in printmaking but I am happy that I started out doing something else. My education has been just right for me although at times I wanted it to be something different. As my dad likes to remind me:

“Things will work out. Keep trying. Be believing. Be happy. Don’t get discouraged. Things will work out.” - President Gordon B. Hinckley

I think things have worked out wonderfully well for James and I so far. I am grateful he is doing something that he loves and that I don't have to be the only slow one to finish school. And even though I have no idea what I'll be doing in 3 months from now I do know things will work out.

shout out

Icy hot keeps me sane. It is the only useful thing a health center doctor has told me to try. James was an unbeliever at first but I made him try it once when his back hurt and now he's loves it too...just don't get it in your eye.

Cabin Fever

Honestly this week has not been too fun. James has had several tests and I have been trapped for at least 6 hrs. a day in our office working on the postcards I am mailing out for my final project. I don't mind working on something for long stretches at a time. In fact I do it pretty often and it is usually the easiest way to work (esp. with printmaking) but I do not like to do it at home...it makes me nuts. It makes me nuts that I am making my house so messy, I have no room to put anything, no contact with people, and my itunes shuffle likes to repeat the same 50 songs. Then every 5 minutes I decide I need to get a snack, check my email, or look at blogs. I'm not very efficient at home (I am stalling right now). I am more than a little stir crazy and I cannot wait to mail these all out. So if I happen to mail you one please read it and do it. It will make my cabin fever worth it!

Below are few pics of my very very messy "studio" and a stack of the postcards I've been working on.