December, lovely December.

It sure has been a busy month! I have barely had time to breathe. Thomas had a VERY stressful semester with demanding classes, folk dance rehearsals and shows, and interviews for dental school. I was better off, but I am still glad to be done. We only have one semester left before we leave BYU for good!

Thomas had to work every day except the day after Thanksgiving so I drove up to my parents house on Wednesday of that week with Butter Cat in tow. I went back to Orem with Thomas for Thanksgiving dinner with his family and then we both came back up to my parents house for the weekend. There were some ups and downs during the weekend... Butter did okay in the new environment until the little nieces came over, scaring him to spits. It was not fun worrying about a stressed, mad kitty. Quite a few of my family members (including myself) got sick over the weekend, we had a few small catastrophes, and I locked my keys in my car while it was running. Not a good combination. However, I loved being with my family and I didn't even touch my homework all weekend! Hooray! Instead, my sister and I worked on homemade advent calendars like the one my mom had all our growing up years. I love it!

I have been busy rehearsing and performing these last few weeks. I had two big performances in the Senior Showcase at BYU in a modern piece, two performances with my tap ensemble, and two with my clogging team, all in the last couple of weeks! Thomas danced in Christmas Around the World for the fifth time while I worked on the technical crew. This was definitely a new experience for me... I'll admit I cried a little as I watched from the light booth. I was the coordinator of all four spotlights used throughout the show, which was a stressful job! Thomas did a wonderful job in all his dances, as usual, and I was proud of him!

We have gone to several Christmas parties in the last couple of weeks. We had a big party at our house (sorry neighbors!), went to a fun dinner party with my tap ensemble, had a holiday hearts tournament at our house, went to the folk dance formal dinner/dance, and went to an annual folk dance party. Another party we liked was with the folk dance faculty and teacher's assistants (of which I was one). We had a white elephant exchange and I got the nasty ugly square dance shirt that has been passed at that party for twenty years (Thomas is sporting it below). This means we have to find a way to give it away next year.

We have really been enjoying our time at home this week with no homework or other obligations! For Christmas we bought a really big flatscreen TV for our apartment to finally replace the crapper from 1985 that we have been using since we were married. Hooray! TV watching has improved, to say the least. We have finally had time to clean our dirty house and relax together. We are excited for Christmas! Below are a few pics of our adventures...


My newly made advent calendar, with ornaments to put on every day of December.


Thomas and some nephews and nieces at Thanksgiving


The Rawcliffe Thanksgiving... notice there are like 10 pies (and more outside!)

Senior Showcase performance

The nasty folk dance tradition... THE shirt.

The folk dance formal dinner/dance

Lots to catch up on!

Life is just flying by! We have been ridiculously busy and are pretty exhausted, but it has been a fun month. Here are a few highlights...

We love family game nights! Butter decided to help us play Jenga, an interesting endeavor...


As I have continued to stink it up at Bowling League, one of my teammates quadrupled her average. I have never seen luck like hers! It has been fun to bowl every week!


Thomas flew down to Los Angeles for an interview with the USC dental school. He LOVED the school and had fun staying with my cousin Danny who kindly let him spend the night and took him out on the town. During his spare time he was able to visit the Colosseum and Tommy the Trojan- this filled him with utter glee!

Late in October Thomas and I danced our clogging duet and some fun steps at our ward variety night. He and some folkie friends also performed a Hungarian dance they had whipped up. They also performed that night for one of our awesome folk dance costume lady friends, Robin, at her surprise birthday party. She was thrilled at the surprise. We also had a special October birthday party with her, the two other fun costume ladies, their husbands and the Watsons at Brick Oven. This is an annual dinner that we love!

I LOVE HALLOWEEN! This year we dragged it out as long as possible. The pic on the right is us disco style at the folk dance party (I had to get a disco costume for a tap number and Thomas was forced to wear his during his clogging days- his director was a little mean!). On the left and bellow are at our friend Sarah's annual Halloween party. Her mother is CRAZY about Halloween and her house is always wonderfully decorated. We had a delicious Halloween themed dinner with lots of good friends. Oh and you must be wondering about my ridiculous costume- I found this funny dragon costume and decided to spruce it up by ripping the head off a frog stuffed animal (which had hilarious jagged teeth) and I sewed it up into this stupid mask. I could only keep it on for like 2 minutes, but it was fun to make!

On Friday we invited friends for our own Halloween bash. Our friend Jen has been waiting to watch the old movie "Wait Until Dark" for a year now so we hosted the event and supplied a bunch of junk food and root-beer floats. I also made a fun dinner for Thomas of spicy pumpkin soup in these cute pumpkin bread bowls that my mom always served on Halloween, and cinnamon croutons. I was really proud of myself! I've been in a domestic mood lately, which is probably my way of distracting myself from looming course work. Bring on Thanksgiving!

Surprise!

Last night Thomas threw me my first surprise birthday party EVER!

It all started with Thomas taking me out to dinner (we wanted to go to Olive Garden but the line was gigantic so we randomly went to Training Table for the first time. Actually Thomas shrewdly changed the restaurant on purpose). We then were going to go see a movie and Thomas ever so sneakily started driving to the wrong theater, (on accident he said). He was going to turn around but instead he wildly threw a jacket over my head at a stoplight and drove me to our friend Traci's house. He made a bunch of extra turns to confuse me and did not respond well to my annoying attempts to peek and foil his plans. I stumbled behind him up some steps and he took off my blindfold to a house full of people screaming at me! I was so surprised!

I don't think I stopped smiling the whole night long! Thomas bought me a lovely strawberry-moouse filled cake (soooo good) and I got some lovely presents, but the best part was all my friends! So many people came! Not all are pictured below, but there were about 55 people there thanks to my sweet husband! It was a good thing we were at Traci's lovely big house because there is no way we could have all fit in my little apartment. It was so good to see so many friends there, although it did feel a little strange to have all my world's collide (folk dancers, social workers and others all together at once)!

Thank you so much Thomas, and to everyone that came! I love you all!


Thomas's idea of a good time...

Some of the folk dancers that came (plus some)...

Social workers (and little Lily)...

Some other friends...

Don't ask what the CRAP I am doing while I am blowing, but I got them all out...

More friends, and Thomas of course...

Thomas was really proud he bought this balloon, and can you SEE how small this pineapple is?

Regularly Scheduled Programming

As I have thought back on the last couple of weeks, I have realized how predictable our lives have become. I am not complaining about this fact, however, because I like my schedule, dangit. My goal in this post is to remind myself just how good all that regularly scheduled programming that is my life really is. Beware. This will be excruciatingly long and detailed.

Saturday. Conference. Not so regularly scheduled, although I wish it happened more. I find myself craving those 8 hours of "have to do something with my hands so I can listen and stay fully alert" every 6 months. I go craft/project crazy and/or get a lot of cleaning done. I listen far better when I am doing instead of just sitting. During the priesthood session I did something I have NEVER done- I hosted a partay for a few lady friends and my sista. Yes, I cooked dinner, cleaned my house, ate that dinner at a fixed-up table and watched a sappy movie with girls. My mother will be shocked.

Sunday. Conference again. I painted cheapey sign boards. I baked super brownies. Thomas and I sewed country patches on our folk dance bags. We went to my Aunt Susan and Uncle Vern's house for a stinking wonderfully delicious meal and was able to see and chat with 44 of my relatives. We visited Thomas's parents and brought home some pie that stunk up my house because I forgot about it.

Monday. Work. School. Boring. Thomas studied a lot, as usual.

Tuesday. By far, both of our busiest day of the week! Work in the morning, classes all day long (until 6:30 pm for me and 9:30 for Thomas). I then had some delightful rehearsals- I am in my friend Ashley's modern dance piece for the upcoming senior showcase. My body is a little rusty when it comes to modern, but I LOVE it! I then had clogging rehearsal until late and came home exhausted. Thomas danced at the Law and Religion Symposium at the Marriott Hotel in Provo. This is an annual event with diplomats and religious leaders from all over the world in attendance. Thomas enjoyed sitting by an Area Authority he knew from his mission in Russia for dinner.

Wednesday. The usual (work and school), a great workout in the BYU weight room for me, then I went to a parade rehearsal with the folk dancers (I am a TA for the backup team) and ran around like a crazy person. I then rushed to tap rehearsal (which was regrettably quite unproductive) and then ran to watch Thomas in the dress rehearsal for Homecoming Spectacular. It was delightful to watch! The folk dancers performed a new Welsh piece with the entire Men's Chorus singing and banging on bottles behind them. Some of the chorus comes out to dance with the folk women and then the chorus director gets tossed into the air by all the men. Hilarious! Thomas got home after midnight and stayed up even later to study.

Thursday. Thomas understandably stays home from work, sick and tired. I go to class all morning, workout, go to a tap rehearsal, come home for my treasured nap, do homework, go to modern rehearsal, then drag myself to bowling league where I stink it up big time. Thomas goes to classes all day then to perform in Homecoming Spectacular, where his lovely partner forgets the dance and he drags her around the stage for half the number.

Friday. I go to TA, teach a tap class (which is not very ordinary and super fun!), go workout, and then go home to sit on my tush and be bored. I go with Diana and my friend Janeen to Homecoming Spectacular and watch from a million miles away, but still LOVE it (and I will admit I cried just a little). Thomas was a beaming star. Thomas went to work, to classes all day and then straight to the show, after which he was able to meet Elder Dallin H. Oaks and have a picture with him (his daughter played violin in the show). We then went out together with a bunch of my social workey friends to get milkshakes and laugh A LOT.

Saturday. Tap rehearsal. I had to teach the earlier ensemble and was dreadfully late due to forgetting the music (which I couldn't find anyway when I went back for it). I had a lot of fun learning the rest of our stinking awesome disco number which is whirlwind fast! I then went home for a boring day of sitting, sleeping, homework. Thomas went to the Homecoming Parade to freeze his tush off and hand out balloons to freezing spectators. He came home and studied like a good little boy all day long. We stopped briefly to visit Diana and borrow her TV for the last half of the BYU game and later we snuggled and watched a movie.

Sunday. Church. I bore my testimony and bawled. Thomas got to come home early from bishopric meetings and we went to Thomas's parents for a good dinner and a movie. His sister and niece were there with 5 brand new baby kitties! Study, study, study.

Ok are you bored spitless yet? I, amazingly, am quite impressed with how eventful the week was! I guess it is useful to really remember what is going on and count your blessings!!

Feeling kinda jealous...

Every day I read new blog entries about the new cute things about this baby or that. My baby learned to roll over, my baby sits in sink, my baby smears butter on her legs, on and on and on. I love these entries. I think they are adorable and I look forward to the time in my life when I get to journal my babies cute new habits. I actually find myself feeling a little twang of jealousy when others talk about their babies. It is that time in my life, dangit. In the meantime I will fill this space with bragging stories of how stinking cute my cat is. Every day he does some new quirky strange thing and makes me laugh until I fall on the floor. Here is some evidence. I'm glad to have a furry friend to make me smile!



I was fixing my hair and Butter decided that sitting in the sink would be a good way to watch...?



This is a baby bouncer I got free from work. Butter fills the void nicely, keeping Thomas company when he does homework.



Butter enjoys hopping into the dryer when I am trying to get out the clothes.



Hidey Butter. He likes to sit up on the hutch above our bed and look at us. One day I walked in and he ducked his head, guilty like. Then I ducked my head, and he ducked his more, then more. It was hilarious, this little creepy Butter game!

Picture Tag

Laura 'picture tagged' us! Here are the rules- go to your picture files and go to the fourth file (if you have multiple file levels, just keeping picking the fourth one) and then post the fourth photo you find, no matter how strange. Here it ours. Join us, won't you?



This picture is at Halloween at my paren't house in 2004. Woof. I think my dad bought this to wear. I love how random... I am awesome.

My Parents Spendin' the Big Bucks...Destroying my House.

My parents recently remodled the home that I inhabited from the age of 2 to 18 in Taylorsville. For those of you that have never seen this house you probably don't care; For those of you that have seen it, I'm sure you are as AMAZED as I am! It is so much bigger and fancy pants! Thomas and I had a lot of fun touring around, although it was a little strange to see it so different. It isn't furnished yet, but we got the general idea.The pictures below are of the new family room, kitchen and part of my parents bathroom and big closet. There is a room you can't see off the family room where I will come to stay with all my babies until I get old. Yay!! Love it!

Again, my husband... did I mention he is smart?

So I just wanted to make the quick little announcement that Thomas got an interview at the dental school at USC. He is so excited! He likes the idea of a bigger university and is eager to compare it to the other smaller school's he has seen. And California? Yep. Expensive, but lovely. Of course we are not getting our hopes up yet, and we will go wherever we can get in, but Thomas was pretty proud even to get an interview. He will go probably in the middle or end of October and I will say about a hundred prayers a day until then!

Biggity Bowling...

In my quest to fill the void in my life I joined a bowling league! Yes, a bowling league. And no, I am not a great bowler by any means. My team consists of my MSW friends and our name is "I Can't Believe it's not Gutter," cheesy I know, and we are awesome! We started the season off with a 2-1 win over our opponents. Thomas is not so excited about this endeavor because it means that he will never have a chance of ever beating me in bowling ever again! (Although I believe he has only ever beat me once in four years anyway). Shucks.


We are so tuff (yes, with two 'f's). Kerianne, Me (Don't even ask WHAT I am doing), Jess and Rochelle.

Internship Number Three...

So I know that my work is exciting to me, and only me, and social workey babble isn't interesting, but I have had some requests to elaborate on my new job...

I began working at my third and final clinical internship in the beginning of September at the Utah State Hospital. (For those of you who are unaware, this is the inpatient hospital for the mentally ill). I was assigned to work on one of the four Forensics Units with male patients, most of which are working to become competent to stand trial and some of which have been declared Guilty and Mentally ill or Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity. The Hospital is a great place to work and I enjoy being part of a professional team.

It is a much different population than I could ever have guessed I would work with! I will lead several groups and I am doing individual therapy with several patients, all of which have various fun schizophrenia diagnoses, which have provided me plenty of opportunities to learn. It has been an eye opening experience and it will never cease to amaze me what the mind can do! I have witnessed some pretty exciting delusions and hallucinations and have learned to be patient with those that have difficulty tracking simple conversations.

I have come closer to appreciating the full extent of God's love for all of his children, no matter the circumstances and I have enjoyed helping patients so far. I will be glad to move on to a higher functioning population after I graduate in April, but this will give me unmatched experience that I will be thankful for in the end.

My husband is cool...

For those of you who don't know this already, my husband is cool. And I mean really cool. I went to see him perform in World of Dance at BYU this week, in which the folk dancers performed Israeli, Chinese and Clogging numbers. This was the first time I have gone as an audience member and not a performer, which was harder than I thought. At the same time I loved the show and danced along obnoxiously in my seat with my friend Lyndsey the whole time (I really hope they got a good shot of us for international television!). I couldn't help thinking how dang attractive my spouse was as he stole the show with all his fancy cloggin!

These pictures were actually taken in Prague, but you get the drift. Good lookin man.

Flickr Favorites...

I copied this from our friends Layne and Kim. 1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search. 2. Using only the first page, pick an image. 3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into fd’s mosaic maker (http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php). 4. copy the mosaic image (right click, save image as) to your computer.

The Questions:

What is your first name: Bethany

What is your favorite food: Fresh Fruit

What high school did you go to: Taylorsville High School

What is your favorite color: Green

Who is your celebrity crush: Ewan McGregor

Favorite drink: Fruit Smoothies

Dream Vacation: Thailand

Favorite Dessert: German Chocolate Cake

What you want to be when you grow up: A Grandma

What do you love most in life: Thomas (this picture is also good because I love my cat far too much!)

One word to describe you: Busy

Your flickr name: bethanyra (there were no pictures, so I typed no pictures)

Arizona Interviews...

These past two weeks have been exciting, and a little nerve wracking, for Thomas. Last week he went for an interview in Arizona at Midwestern University for Dental School and this week he went to interview at AT Still University, also in Arizona. Although it was annoying that he had to fly down there twice in two weeks, it was fun for him to go and he thinks that he interviewed well! Hooray. He has been really nervous about the whole application process and REALLY wants to get in somewhere. It will still be a long while before he knows if he has more interviews or if he has gotten admitted, so the wait is not over. We are fortunate to have family members near the Arizona schools so we had several family members help Thomas out by picking him up, taking him to dinner and giving him a place to stay, which we are really grateful for. We could use a few thousand prayers in his behalf!



Thomas at my Gramma's house in Arizona. Thanks Gramma!

Ruth Lake

In the middle of August Thomas and I went on a little backpacking trip to Ruth Lake in the Uintas with our favorite friends, and next-door neighbors, the Hegerhorsts. The trip was perfect for me... short hike in, beautiful scenery and fun friends (although a little cold). I would have blogged this trip earlier except our pictures got deleted and I waited around to steal some of the Hegerhorst's pictures! So here they are... And yes, all of these pictures were taken by Andrew Hegerhorst (except one by some old dude) and yes, I am posting them here without permission. I am just waiting to see how long it takes Andrew and Kim to look at our blog and notice... tick, tock.

Here is the four of us with our packs by Ruth Lake.

Aw, best friends. It is funny to see Thomas sometimes regresses to his high school years (and sometimes younger) when these two get together. It has been fun living next door!

The lovely lake and Baldy, courtesy of Andrew's stinking nice camera.

Thomas and Andrew, kings of the mountain. Really they are standing on a tree that "accidentally" fell over right in front of them. Smooth, guys.

We LOVE this kitty...

So I am a little embarrassed with how much Thomas and I LOVE our cat, Butter. He is probably ranked high on the list of the most spoiled cats in this country and that is either a great and lovely thing or a big sign that I need to have children, and soon. Butter has had so many pictures taken of him that he actually flinches and closes his eyes when I bring out the camera. He is pretty tolerant of our antics, though. I took these pictures lately and wanted to show off how dang cute he is. The pink mousey you see is his favorite toy which he does indeed play full-on fetch with for an hour daily with us. (I told you he was spoiled). He is a great companion, especially when I am home by myself and feeling lonely.