GERONTOLOGY YOU SAY???

I think I have decided that I need a minor. I know, many are thinking... Well duh stephanie, everyone get a minor, some more than one. But I have been so focused on my major, and finishing school, that I really didnt think twice about a minor. I was at one time thinking German would be my minor, but at BYU language classes are over the top and 4credits each, just to much for me to handle for simply being a minor. Since then I just figured that I would just graduate without one. However I have been thinking lately, and I wonder how bad it would look to not have a minor added. Therefore I have given it a bit more thought and I think I will be getting a minor in Gerontology! What is Gerontology you may ask, well according to Dictionary.com (yes I am using a dictionary to explain, because nothing ever sounds best in my own words) Gerontology is the branch of science that deals with aging and problems of aged persons. So basically I will get a minor in working with and aiding the elderly. I decided this was the way to go, for a couple of reasons
1. The baby boom generation will soon be retiring and therefore the US will see more elderly than ever before
2. I would only have to take additional 3-4 classes or about one more semester! (I have to admit this was more of the driving force than the other)

What does this mean for me? Well I wont be graduating as soon as a thought, but it will only take one more semester for me to finish. And I wont feel as stupid graduating without a minor. I already took the 100 class for Gerontology so I know the basics, and I feel it will be a good move for my career.

Fun Filled Week

This last week was definitely an eventful one! Currently I am taking summer school. Monday, Tuesday, and Friday I have class from 10 am to 6:30 pm, so I am really busy with school, on top of that my parents drove in from Chico last week with whats left of the family who reside at home (Shaun and Shayla).



Why the visit you may ask? Well my other brother Spencer, will be leaving on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in a couple of months, and had the opportunity to go through the temple for the first time on Thursday. Spencer chose to go through the Salt Lake temple(pictured above) for his first time so Jamie and I plus my parents traveled up to Salt lake. When we started the 45 min drive it was sunny and actually pretty warm outside, but as we traveled north the clouds darkened. All of the sudden it started hailing violently. I mean cars around us stopped and pulled over, not to let their windshield break (of course Jamie refused and thought it was the coolest thing ever) once that past it continued to rain for most of the day. The temple was great, and it was the first time I was with my parents in the temple since I went through for the first time almost two years ago. We all really enjoyed it.




After the temple, the whole family went to Rodizio's. For over a year now I have been telling my parents that they would love this restaurant, and we finally got to go! Rodizios is a Brazilian restaurant in Salt Lake city. The set up is amazing! There is a huge salad bar with the traditional salad stuff, but also, Brazilian side dishes. Honestly the biggest salad bar ever! Then men (who all speak Portuguese, which made Jamie so happy)walk around with huge spears of meat(example above). All in all there was about 14 different types of meat, and they carve you off what you desire, they keep coming around as many times as you want. The place is just a lot of fun, and you could make yourself sick with all the food. I usually just get the salad bar, because I am not a big meat eater, but this time I decided I wanted to try some of the meat, and there was definitely some amazing pieces of meat.

Friday we all just relaxed, mom Shayla and I did a little bit of shopping. I did more grocery shopping, while Shayla and my mom clothed shopped, but I did get a new shirt. The reason I got a new shirt was because, a couple months ago, I was at the mall with my mom (again for a visit) and there was this kiosk that you could enter a drawling for a free photo shoot and 9x13 pic from this great photographer! So I entered! A couple of weeks ago I received a phone call telling me that I didn't win the grand prize, but won a free photo shoot and a 8X10 picture! Tomorrow Jamie and I go to take the pictures, I hardly ever win something so I was pretty excited! I will let you know how it turns out, and might be able to post some of them!

Early Saturday morning the family left. Jamie and I went to our wards forth of July breakfast. YUM ;) Anyone who has spent anytime around Provo the week of the fourth, knows how serious Provo is about this holiday. There is a parade that morning and people camp out days before along the street, people get very territorial and every year fights happen! This year an 86 year old man punched another guy over a small spot on the grass the morning of the parade! Jamie and I both think it is ridiculous, so we barley go out side that day, and if we do, we go the longest way possible in order to avoid the crowds. Maybe when we have kids that will change, but we don't really see the point.




I do however like fireworks, so that night we went to the school, which is on a hill, so we could see the Stadium of Fire Fireworks. For those who don't know, the Stadium of Fire is this HUGE event in the BYU Football stadium, every year there is a concert, dancers and of course fireworks. last year Miley Cyrus performed and This year it was the Jonas Brothers. We couldn't hear anything but enjoyed seeing the fireworks!



Over all it was a good week. Jamie and I are so thankful for Family, Friends, and the freedoms we enjoy. God Bless America!!

My Major Public Health Promotion!

Last semester I was apart of a class were we took a lot of what we had learn so far about my major and applied it in a real life situation. We were placed in groups with certain task regarding a certain topic. My groups topic was supporting and promoting the Utah health departments system of gathering and sharing public health stories. Also we were to combine this effort with Public Health week which was at the end of April. We each had to do a lot of research and write E-press releases Op-eds and end with a group Podcast. I really enjoyed this even if it was a lot of work. It was fun to put my major to action and really made me feel that I was heading in the right direction. When we were done we posted all our items on an Internet site known as wetpaint. I have provided the link to our site. Once there you will see a box to the left which has titles like "Op-ed" and then a name by it. Mine obviously say "Stephanie" You don't have to read them, (there not that long, a couple pages at most) but i will say that I am quite proud of them, and how they turned out. More important is the Podcast. Here is were I will implement a disclaimer IF YOU ARE EXPECTING REALLY HIGH PROFESSIONAL WORK PLEASE REMEMBER THIS IS OUR FIRST PODCAST EVER. ALSO THE SCHOOL SYSTEM WAS HAVING ISSUES SO WE COULDN'T MAKE IT AS PROFESSIONAL SOUNDING AS WE WOULD HAVE LIKED. For those who are not familiar with podcast it is essentially a radio broadcast over the Internet where people usually give information instead of having to read all about it. However they can also be commercials and advertisement (which is what ours is) Also they tend to be REALLY REALLY BORING!! So we were given the task by our teacher to make it more memorable and entertaining. Once you have opened the wetpaint the Podcast is located in a box on the right hand side the says Audio File: DID YOU KNOW!

Basically I just wanted to share this and have record of it. So that's all hope you enjoy. Just click the link below!

http://phstories.wetpaint.com

MIssissippi Part 3

Alright, so I think I am going to finish up the Mississippi trip with this post! For some reason my computer will not let me check the spelling and we all know how bad my spelling is, so I apologize now! I tried to go through and look for mistakes but I know there are many still left behind!



This is Eddies, or Jamies dad family. There are seven kids in their family! Grandma past a little over a year ago. We had a family get together with this side of the family and there had to be 35-40 people there! It was alot of fun. And I really enjoyed getting to know all of the family from both sides. We also had a get together with cassandras family but again I forgot to take pictures.



Ok once again I had to show the TREES! It was very thick here. This is what the called the "Country" lol so the trees got a bit bigger and thicker!



Presenting Momma James!






On Memorial day we loaded up the car and headed to Vicksburg! Vicksburg is the place were a critical battle was during the civil war, it is often known as the turning point of the war and major ground taken in the south! There is a visitors center and the you can drive, walk, or bike through the entire battle field. It is a really pretty area with Memorials set up EVERYWHERE! It was about an hour drive and I took MANY pics, so I will not post all just a few that I really liked! The few above are at the visiting center. There were cannon of all sizes on display. Terrence is the one sticking his head in one cannon! Thats Terrence for ya! LOL




This is a statue and plaque in honor of the man who came up with the idea of Memorial day!






THis was a huge building on a hill the picture with the trees was to show how high up we were! It was actually a cool memorial with all the names of Gernals and soldiers written in gold! The ceiling was domed with an opening at the top and the floor had the seal you see made out of stone!




This in honor of the all African American infantrys from Mississippi who participated in Vicksburg!



Heres the Great Mississippi River!




Memorial Graveyard on the Battle Field.


This is one of the few bridges that cross the Mississippi River. Once we got to the other side we were in Louisiana. We didnt stay long just enough to turn arond and go back, but now I can say I have been to Louisiana! :)



After Vicksburg we had dinner with Alberts Family, (the family from my last post) And then I had a suprise for Jamie! I had secretly booked us a night in the Hilton ont he executive floor! Just so we could have some alone time, after all this was a vacation ;)! So I asked him to give me a suprise look for the camera, and that is what he gave me! It was really nice though and alot of fun. Included was a five star breakfast buffet style that was AMAZING!!

Well I thought I was going to finsish but I forgot how many pics I had for Vicksburg, so I will make one more post later with graduation fun!

Mississippi Part 2

Mississsippi part two! Sorry it is taking so long to get these posted but our internet is having issues.
Sunday jamie and I were asked to give talks in sacrameeting! Jamie spoke on Honesty and I about temples. Both talks went well and I was really glad that we had that opportunity.



This is about half of the branch, although I will say that it was memorial weekend so I am sure some people were gone. I Loved the branch, it was a real testiment to me that no matter were you go how small or big the church is, weather you have a ward full of members who have family who crossed the plains, or a ward full of new converts, the gosple is the same. While at church I felt so welcomed by everyone and part of me wanted to move there just for the Branch! :)



These are some of the members that Jamie grew up with. The man in the blue shirt next to Jamie is Darcy. Darcy is a great guy. Jamie has many memories of ward activities involving Darcy. Next to Darcy is Terrence of course, the man in the brown suite or "copper" as Jamie liked to tease him about is Albert. Albert and his family are amazing. I will introduce them next but Jamie new albert before he got married to his amazing wife and had two beautiful children. I am not sure who the man in the Obama shirt is I believe he is an investigator or new member, he was really nice, but I am not sure about his name




The first picture is Alberts oldest daughter Tamia! She LOVED the camra she always wanted her picture taken.




This is Tamia and her youngest Sister A'Tia. A'Tia was so full of energy and played with me most of the time. She really made me want to have a kid! lol




Ok so you are probably wondering why I would post a pic like this, but this is Albert and his wife ( Ok I have been avoiding writting her name, because I am going to spell it wrong! Sorry but she is too amazing to not name) Kioka! I didnt not take this picture their daughter Tamia really wanted to take a picture ( I told you she loved the camra) so I told her to take one of her parent. Unfortunatly this is the only one I have!




So like I said these two loved pictures so I took a couple of us together, although I had issues fitting us all in! I spent the most time with this family and I really love them!






Well to finish the Church day I will end with a few more of the guys making faces and being funny. Jamie was really happy to meet up with his old friends again