New Puppy!

Chris's Mom and Dad got a new puppy last week, and she is adorable! She is a Yorkie Shitzu mix, or a Shorkie. Her name is Roxy, but not everyone agrees with the name quite yet so she's got a few names. She gets called Abby, Puddin, and Roxy. We went up to Salt Lake for my interview for USN so we got to play with her all weekend. She is definately a whole lot different from their other dog Nelly. Roxy is a typical puppy, curious, playful, and loves to chew on everything. It's so funny when she tries to play with Nelly, because Nelly just gets so annoyed with her. Nelly is 105 in dog years so she just doesn't have the patience for Roxy.

Spencer, Chris's little brother, went to prom on Saturday. He looked pretty Shnazzy in his tuxedo. They went to PF Changs for dinner, and went to a gymnastics training gym for an after the dance activity. He said that he had a lot of fun.

As I said before, I went to Salt Lake for my Interview with USN for pharmacy school. I was really nervous before I got there, but everyone was so friendly and they really tried to make you feel comfortable. My Interview was second to last! I had to wait for three hours after the orientation presentation to get interviewed. It was kind of nice because I got to just sit around and relax for awhile and talk to other interviewees and current students. It sounds like a really student oriented school, and all the professors seem to care for the students a lot.

It's kind of a different program. They have a block schedule meaning that you focus on one subject at a time. So for 2 weeks you'll learn nothing but biochemistry 8am - 3 pm monday-friday. You test on the material you learn every other friday. You take a self assesment first and you must get a 90% or higher to pass. After the self assesment you take the same test with the group that you are assigned to for the year. If you get 95% as a group they add 5 points to your self assesment to help you get the passing 90%. If you don't pass the test friday you get another chance to take a similar test on monday, but if you already passed you get that monday off of school. If you fail again on monday you have to go to summer school, and take that block over again.

When talking to other students about the program, they all expressed that they loved the block schedule. They also said that the teachers are always willing to help. Much like Snow College, they have open office hours, many teachers give you their cell phone numbers. Everyone said that it is really intense because it is a 3 year rather than a 4 year program, but it is doable. Another positive comment was that because it is a pass-fail program there isn't so much competition between students. Everyone is more willing to help each other out.

It seems like a good fit for me. The only downside is the cost of tuition. Other students that have children and spouses that are also going to school are able to find a way, so I know that we can too. It's going to be rough, but so far through prayer I have felt that this is something that I can do. I haven't even been accepted yet, so who knows what will happen. If I do, I think that I will go for it. I will find out no later than May, so I'll be keeping my fingers crossed until then!

New Job

As usual I'm behind on my news. Most of you probably already know that I got a new job at the local chinese restauraunt, The Snow Dragon. I've worked there for about 3 weeks, and so far I like it. Everyone is really nice there, and it is pretty busy and I make pretty good tips. The last couple of days it's been a little slow, but hopefully it will pick up again. It's definately not my ideal job, but I'm just grateful that I found a job. I called several places around town and no one was hiring. I just found out that the place that is always hiring, Western Watts, is actually closing down. That was the place that was going to be my fail safe if I couldn't find a job anywhere else! It has become very apparent even in Ephraim that the economy is not in good shape. I am truly blessed that I was able to find a job, hopefully I can keep my job.

The past week I have been pretty bored since I'm not taking any classes, and I don't have the PCAT to study for anymore. So, I've been trying to fill my time with things that I haven't had time to do in the past. I've read 3 books in the past week, and I've been trying a lot of new recipes. I feel bad for complaining for a lack of things to do, when so many other people are so busy they could scream, but I'm running out of ideas for things to do when I get home from work. Sadly, I am excited to start school again. I feel so unproductive.

Yesterday I baked a cake. It actually ended up tasting a lot better than I thought it would. It was a yellow cake with raspberry frosting and a cream cheese midlayer. I decorated cakes when I worked at Cold Stone, and I miss it at times, so I decided to go all out on decorating the cake. It is much harder to do when you don't have all the supplies at your fingertips, but it still looks pretty good. I really want to learn more about decorating cakes, maybe that is what I can do in my spare time, although that probably won't be a good thing for our diets...

As for Chris, he has been doing great. He's been really busy with school, but he's been doing a great job working hard to keep up with everything. He complains a lot about school, but I know that he does enjoy the things that he's learning, since it is all he talks about. I'm glad that he has a passion for his education. It's going to make it easier for him to finish school, and he's got a long way to go!

All in all everything is going great at the Hardcastle residence. I really am so grateful for how we have been blessed with health, great family and friends, and finances. It really is a reassurance that if you do the right things, and work hard, that the Lord will take care of you. We sure are a lucky couple!