HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Dear Family and Friends,
Happy Holidays!! I hope you have been enjoying your holiday season so far. This has been a very fun Christmas for me and Kayleen. We went to Minnesota for a little over a week to spend time with Kayleen’s family. We had a lot of fun out there and it was good to see the family that we hadn’t seen since August.
We just moved into a new apartment in Provo and I am finishing school next semester. I’ll be happy to graduate from BYU, but I will miss it a lot, too. I will be graduating with both my bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Information Systems Management. We will still be around at BYU for another year and a half for Kayleen to finish. She is studying English and plans to graduate with her bachelor’s degree in 2011.
I have been working at the MTC for the last year and a half, but will be quitting in January to start my new job with Squire & Co in Orem. They offered me a full time position for after graduation, but I will be working with them part time from January to April while I am completing my last semester of school. My job will be consulting on technology and accounting for small businesses in Utah and Salt Lake counties. Right now Kayleen’s job is focusing full time on school, though this year she worked for a while at Canyon Crest Elementary School as a teacher’s aide.
The big news to share with you this Christmas is that we are going to have our first child next summer!! (yes, consider this the official announcement J) The due date is June 23rd, and we plan to find out the gender of the baby at the beginning of February. We both want a boy but also both have a feeling it is a girl. Either way we’ll be happy! We are very excited to welcome a new addition to the Barlow family!
We hope you have a wonderful holiday season. We love you all very much and hope we will be able to see you soon.
With Love,
Jordan and Kayleen

P.S. Moms are the best for holidays

I just posted about Thanksgiving and our move, but neither of those would have gone nearly as well without the help of my wonderful mom. She helped get the Thanksgiving dinner ready, did our dishes, helped us pack, cleaned a lot of our old apartment out, bought us meals during the hectic move, helped move stuff, helped get our bedroom set up after moving in, gave us a generous holiday present, etc, etc. Thanks for making this Thanksgiving weekend go so amazingly well! You are the best, Mom!

Now we are also excited to be in Minnesota with Kayleen's mom and family over Christmas. Every time we spend time with her she always spoils us, too! Miss you and excited to see you soon, Mary!

Moms are the best.

November's come and gone

DANCESPORT

Well, last time I promised to write about Dancesport but I must admit I wasn't too excited after we didn't do too well. We danced in two rounds (out of 9) but we had a lot of fun. It was fun to watch the professional ballroom dancers and see all the competitions among various ages. It was a good time. We didn't get very good pictures (of course) but here is one.

THANKSGIVING

This year we did Thanksgiving at our apartment. It was the smallest Thanksgiving I've ever had, but one of the most enjoyable. It was nice to just stay at home and have family and friends over. We made the turkey, potatoes, and jello, and everyone else brought the rest. We had Mom, Andrea, and Rebekah over, as well as friends Ron, Tricia, and Jason.

Of course I didn't get pictures. I have been just getting worse at remembering to take pictures.

Of course with it being Thanksgiving, I have to stop and write about how thankful I am for all the many blessings we have. My mom was so helpful on Thanksgiving and made it so easy for us to host! I am so thankful for her, as well as our other family. I am thankful for my siblings, and for my in-laws. We have such good family on both sides! We are thankful for kind and supportive friends as well. We are thankful for my good student job as well as my new job coming up. We are thankful to be able to attend such a wonderful university and get such a high-quality education (and thankful for the low price of tuition!). We are thankful for our new apartment. We are thankful to have enough to eat and to not have to worry about financial stress.

Most of all we are thankful for the blessings of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and for His atonement for us.

NEW APARTMENT

For this topic, again no pictures, but pictures will come once we get everything put away. Then again, maybe I'll just not post pictures so you have to come visit and see it in person! Anyway, we moved yesterday, Nov 30th, to a new apartment in Provo. It is just a couple of miles from where we were, but it is nicer, bigger, cheaper, and in a better neighborhood! We are really excited about it. Last night we slept well even without all the noises we got used to over the last year -- dripping faucet, strange noises from the radiator, and train two blocks away. (now you can think about coming to visit and staying at our apartment again, Mary :)

We were so incredibly blessed to have so many people help us move. There were about 25 people there, between friends and family and mostly people from our ward at Church. Thank you all so very much! It was so good to have it done so quickly. The packing and unpacking took/takes longer, but actually moving everything from one apartment to the other took less than 1 1/2 hours. It was amazing.

Kayleen's pumpkin carving talent!!

Job, Halloween, Half-marathon, dancing, you name it!

Hello all! It is time for another JordiLeeny update! First of all, I have a new job! (Most of you probably already know this since almost everyone reading my blog also is connected to me on Facebook...) I start working part time with Squire & Co on January 11th. Then once I graduate I will work full-time! My first fulltime salary job! I am quite excited! I am very sad to be leaving the MTC, though. That has been a wonderful job. At Squire, my job will be "Small Business Advisor". Basically, I will be a consultant for small businesses who need to set up Accounting software and want advice about technology in their business. I think it will be really interesting work.

Next topic: Halloween! We had a dance test the night before Halloween so we had to dress up in formal clothes, but we decided to add a little Halloween spice to the mix. So I went with a ghost

theme (white tie) and Kayleen went with a bat theme (black and orange). It was fun.

On Halloween morning, we went to see Rebekah finish a Halloween Half-marathon. She ran all the way from Aspen Grove to the Shops at Riverwoods in Provo! WOW! I am very proud of my sister! She did very well and it was fun to go be her cheerleader. :) Love ya, Rebekah!

On Halloween night we hosted a party at our house, with lots of fun and friends! I still need to get the pics from others' cameras! Kayleen went as a bat, and I went as an orange hairy monster.

Tomorrow we are dancing in the Dancesport competition, so that might be my next blog topic! Stay tuned.....

Fall semester (aka "and we thought life couldn't get busier")

Sorry, no new pics to post. Haven't had time to even think about getting the camera out. We are SWAMPED with school this semester. Kayleen is not going to be working any more so that she can focus more on school. Which is good. But we are enjoying our classes. Especially our ballroom dance class. And we are staying healthy through our aerobics class (even though we always dread going because we are so tired!). But things are good. We had a wonderful general conference weekend, spent with our Provo family (aka Ron,Shaun,Lanette,Brian,Megan,Meg,Jason,Wells fam, etc.).
The big thing now is that I am job searching! That's right, change of plans. I had been planning on applying for schools this year to go on and get my PhD. But things aren't working out that way. We are staying longer in Utah (hooray! for my side of the family and all our friends) so that Kayleen can finish her degree with honors. (She is so smart!) So I'm looking at jobs in Utah or SL counties to pay the bills once I graduate in April. (FINALLY!) So far I've interviewed with Squire and Fast Enterprises. I'm hoping to interview for an IT position with the Church next week, and there are a few other places I'm considering.
We are so thankful for our family and our friends that support us so much. I'm sorry I'm not very good at keeping up with people, but we think about all of you all the time! We love you all!

Anniversary in Park City

We went back to Park City (where we spent our honeymoon) for our one-year anniversary and stayed over one night. We had a blast! We stayed at the same complex as last year, though in a smaller condo this time. We got caramel apples (one with oreo crumbs and one with pie crust-an "apple pie" apple) from Rocky Mountain Chocolate. We toured Main Street and looked at some of the galleries, rode the Alpine Coaster and Alpine Slide, had a nice relaxing bath, tres leches from Cafe Rio and a movie in bed! It was nice to get away for the weekend!

Trying to be Artistic

We went to Color Me Mine and painted some plates to send to Kayleen's mom. Over the summer the Downing family all painted plates for her and we were the last to add to the collection. All the plates were limited to certain shades of yellow, green, and red so that the set would match. We had a lot of fun painting, though Kayleen can tell you I was a little frustrated at first. I just wasn't meant to be a painter I guess! But they turned out really well.

More adventures

Well, with school starting today it is time to give updates on the rest of our summer adventures.

We were able to visit Kayleen's family in Minnesota from July 30 to August 3. We had a lot of fun. We were able to take part in Jake and Brittany's wedding--I played the piano at the ceremony, and Kayleen was a beautiful bridesmaid!! We didn't have our camera out so hopefully we will see some pictures at some point! We also got to go out boating/tubing and celebrated Kayleen's mom's birthday. It was just a very fun and relaxing trip.

We also got to go down to Enterprise one more time this summer. The whole Barlow family was down to see Kelson on Sunday for his blessing. We had fun playing with all four nieces and nephews and visiting with the family. We also didn't have the camera then, either. Sorry! Just call me Grandma Camp....

Enterprise trip

Here are some pictures from when we went to Enterprise at the end of July. Kayleen got a full Enterprise experience--she got to ride a horse for the first time, go shooting, go to a rodeo, and see the Enterprise parade! It was a fun trip. I will try to post soon about our trip to Minnesota.

Harry Potter Fans!

We went to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on the day it opened. It was the first time in a long time we've gone out to see a movie that wasn't at the dollar theater. It was very much worth it! SO GOOD! And we had fun dressing up as Ron and Hermione, if you couldn't tell.

Pics from the 4th of July weekend with my sista's

My beautiful wife and I!

Andrea and Kent

Trevor and Heidi

Enterprise Trip

We're in Enterprise this weekend. These pictures are actually from last time we came down, over Memorial Day weekend. I just haven't uploaded the pictures from this weekend yet. And I wish I would have taken more pictures this weekend. On Friday, Kayleen and I rode Uncle Dave's John Deere Gator up to the gravel pit on the E hill. It was a fun little ride and added something to Kayleen's list of hick activities that she's done now that she's married to a hick from the sticks.

We visited with Andrea and Heidi on Friday night. Saturday we stayed in and played games for the day and then we went to St. George on a triple date with Andrea and Kent and Heidi and Trevor. We got some nummy Iceberg shakes and watched the fireworks. It was a lot of fun! It was a great way to spend the holiday weekend. Happy Independence Day!

The Summer is halfway over....

....at least by BYU's standards. We just finished the first of the two summertime terms at BYU. Of course Kayleen did really well in her classes again! I took a class and worked full-time and did research with professors, and once in a while we had time to relax! I'm kinda sad looking at others' blogs and seeing all the cool things they are doing for the summer while we are just in school and at work. At least we are trying to do some fun things close to home. We spent last weekend volunteering at New Student Orientation, which actually was tons of fun! We got a bunch of free stuff, met new friends, helped out the new freshmen, and got a surprise show from Jericho Road! We are planning on taking some trips to Enterprise in July which will be fun and hopefully we'll plan some fun stuff to do. We'll probably go down to Manti this weekend just for fun and to see the Manti Pageant. I want to do some hiking in Zions and some other places this summer or next. Our big trip will be the first weekend of August when we go out to Minnesota for Kayleen's brother Jake's wedding! (I guess when the two sides of the family live so far apart, the only vacation far from home is going to see family! Oh well, we love doing that more than going anywhere else anyway!)

So far our summer term is about the same as spring term, though Kayleen is taking it easy with no job and only 6 credits. That is very good news, as she needs and deserves a good break for a while! I'm still working full-time (30 hours at the MTC, 10 hours doing research) as well as doing research on the side with professors to boost up my resume for PhD school! Speaking of which, in the next six months I have to decide on 5 or 6 schools to apply to. Any advice? My teachers think I'm qualified for almost any program out there, it's just a matter of finding the right fit for us! I've been spending every spare moment looking into PhD programs and I have too much information to make a decision!

Of course we still would like to go to the University of Minnesota, since that's where Kayleen's family is from, and their Information Systems PhD program is one of the top two or three in the world. I also really would like to apply to MIT, which is of course the very top program in the world. That would be a dream come true. There are other "top 20" programs to consider at Carnegie Mellon, University of Pittsburgh, University of British Columbia, Washington State, Bentley, Purdue, U of Illinois, U of Connecticut, U of Maryland, and Case Western Reserve (these are not including the excellent programs in places that Kayleen refuses to live, such as U of Texas, Georgia State, New York University, U of Arizona, U of Pennsylvania, etc). Of course I will also apply to some back-up schools that are not as prestigious, but still good.

Sadly BYU does not offer a PhD in my field. The U of U is the only one in Utah that does - they have an okay program, but I really would like to get into the best program possible. And then our families can come visit us somewhere new and exciting. :)

Anyway, so that is my life right now - trying to figure out some possible places that we will end up for the next 4 years starting Fall 2010.

Warm weather fun

We are loving the nice weather (up until today when it started raining again). We had a fun weekend in Enterprise over Memorial Day weekend. We surprised Andrea and showed up for a few days to stay at her house. We got to hang out with Rebekah too. It was a fun time. :)

This past weekend, we went up to Squaw Peak in Provo with Ron. It is something that almost everyone at BYU has done, but Kayleen and I had never done. It is a beautiful view of the valley and they have space for camping and hiking. We took a little while to hike around and take pictures.

I also got to keep the annual summer tradition of going to a Salt Lake Bees game with my two brothers, last week. We had a lot of fun, even though the Bees lost by 9.

CRAZINESS

So I have officially decided that summer is way more busy than the school year. We already have plans for over half the weekends this summer, besides of course me working full time and taking a class, and Kayleen going to school full time and working.

I need a breather. So it is nice when something fun and/or relaxing comes along. Like this weekend we decided spur of the moment to go down to Enterprise. We decided yesterday. And we are going today. Just because. We want to leave Provo for a bit and go see all 3 of my cute and fun sisters. So that should be fun.

We got to see my Mom on Tuesday night, which was also fun. She came to the temple with us and we went out to eat at Sammy's (Kayleen's favorite!) They were out of ice cream though, so we are already planning to go back soon to get a famous Sammy's pie-shake.

Sorry there are no pics. I keep forgetting to upload pictures from my camera. I know there are some that I wanted to post on the blog, but now it's been so long that I don't even remember what the pictures are of. Oh well.

P.S.

Kayleen's hard work this last semester paid off and out of the 4 classes for her major, she got 3 A's and 1 A-. Good job, my love!!

New term, new adventures

It's been a while again, mostly due to the craziness of finals and finishing up the winter semester. We are now into Spring. Kayleen is taking a full load of classes and will soon finish her job at the elementary school when they get out in May. I am taking one class and working 40 hours a week. So we will have a plenty busy summer.

Kayleen got to go back to Minnesota last weekend for her birthday, and she had a wonderful time. Of course she got spoiled while she was there, but she didn't seem to mind coming back home to me. I think she really enjoyed her birthday present.

No time to write more now, but hopefully soon I should have time to upload some pictures and post something more interesting.

General Conference weekend (sorry, no pics)

This weekend was General Conference of the Church. We got to hear the leaders of the Church give wonderful testimonies of Jesus Christ, the Atonement, faith, covenants, and other principles of the Gospel. It was so good and so uplifing. My faith in the Savior grew even more.

My favorite talks were Jeffrey Holland's about the last week of Christ's life, Steven Snow's about adapting to change, and Robert Hales' about being strong during the financial crisis. Each of the talks helped me to see what I can do better to serve God and others.

We were able to watch the Saturday sessions at Brian and Megan's place, along with Shaun/Lanette, Tricia/Jason, and Sarah. We had a potluck lunch and had a lot of fun. We watched the Sunday sessions at home.

We are in the last week of school and getting our last papers and assignments done so we are ready for finals next week! That is about all that is new around here!

Love you all and miss you and hope you have had a great weekend and week!

this is a shout out to my grandmama. (beany's) I LOVE YOU!!

Relaxing Sunday

Pics of us enjoying time together at the temple:

5 Browns concert (a.k.a. amazingness)

I like this picture of me and my sweetheart. She is so wonderful for taking me to the concert. It was a lot of fun and they were so good! My favorite pieces that they played were "The Planets" and "Fantasie Impromptu" and Prokofiev's Toccatta and pretty much everything else they played.
This is Kayleen sleeping through the concert. (just kidding, she liked it too)
This is me being amazed at wonderful talent and beautiful music.

Fun stuff

This is from going with Tricia and Jason up to Bridal Veil Falls. It was fun.

Y Ball!

Last Saturday, BYU hosted a free ball for married couples! It featured a live band, dinner, and dancing. We went with our friends Tricia and Jason and Megan and Brian. It was a grand time! We liked having a night out together (nice break from school!)

Valentine's Day!

We spent Valentine's Day in St. George and in Enterprise! We went to the temple and also went out to eat at Red Robin.  We just enjoyed taking a little vacation together!

Cookie Monsters

We finally used our 101 cookie cutters that we got for our wedding! We took advantage of a Sunday (only time away from work and homework) to make cookies for our friends (and for ourselves, too, of course!). Take a look at our pictures below!

We have been so busy this semester - Sundays are definitely our favorite day. The cookies were a couple of Sundays ago. Last Sunday we had a lot of fun going over to Brian and Megan's for dinner, along with Shaun and Lanette, and Ron and Annie. I love those guys! And this Sunday we will be in Enterprise for my cousin Stephanie's "welcome home" from her mission in Seattle. I am definitely living for the weekends these days! It's so great to be around family and friends.
We were also able to go to my cousin Ashlyn's baptism last Saturday. That was a really special experience. I was honored to play the piano for the baptism, and again, it was great to see a lot of family and enjoy time together. Stay tuned for pictures from our long weekend in Enterprise!

Private

I haven't updated in a while, but I sent out invitations to the blog, because it is now private due to all the spam comments. I will try to write a new post this weekend. Love you all!
Jordan and Kayleen

The new year is here!

Hello all!  I was so bad over the break at not keeping the blog updated.  But I'm back now.  Christmas break was wonderful and over way too quickly.  It was a lot of fun to have Kayleen's mom down for almost a week.  We had a lot of fun together.  But we realized too late after she was gone that we didn't take pics on our camera.  So hopefully we can get the pics from Kayleen's mom sometime to have.

We brought in our first New Year together at home.  We watched a movie at home and went out in front of our house to see the fireworks at midnight.  We missed some of the big family/friend New Year's parties of the past, but it was favorite to just be spending time together (and it was nice to be able to go straight to bed at 12:15).

We also got to go to my Mom's to see her new home and celebrate Rebekah's birthday.  Their house is really nice!  We like it and we loved spending time up there.  My mom and I got to play a duet on the piano and that got us both a smilin' and a laughin' quite a bit!

Now we're back in school, busy as ever!  Kayleen is back full-time but is loving her new major.  She likes her new job as a teacher's aide as well.  I'm still working at the MTC as well as getting in a few hours a week as a research assistant with Dr Lowry, who is one of the leading ISys researchers in the world.  Everything is working out so well for us!