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.