Founder's Day Dinner

The Founder's Day Dinner was our first experience among all the "big names" in the Law School's history. I was pretty overwhelmed standing next to Elder Oaks and President Samuleson last night and realizing that these are the people we become associated with because we chose to attend BYU. The reception and dinner was at Little America in Salt Lake. The banquet hall was packed with students, alumni, founders, and professors.
I got to meet one of Bryan's professor's. While we were talking I found out that he was from Wisconsin-ironic! Well it gets better. I asked which part and he said, "I'm sure you've never heard of it. It's a very small town, Osseo." Never would I have guessed that one of Bry's professors came from our desolate side of Wisconsin, less than 30 minutes from where I grew up. After talking we realized that the family that helped convert him was the same father that blessed me as a baby. That was neat to have the connection.
It was so amazing to see how all these people had started their journey in Provo and had ended up all over the world, serving is so many different areas of law. It made me very excited to see where our journey will take us. But we wont get ahead of ourselves, we are only 5 days into that journey.
Elder Bruce C. Hafen, who played a vital role in founding the Law School 35 years ago, spoke to us. He gave a wonderful talk about the history of the school. He was very passionate about it which I loved! It made being here all the more meaningful. This schools founding really was a miracle; No one believed that a law school could be mixed with religion. I'm so thankful they were wrong and that the founders stuck it out and created this amazing school that has risen to the top tier to be ranked among schools that have been around for hundreds of years. Much of Elder Hafen's talk centered our the schools first dean, Rex Lee. The jokes this man told were hilarious. Here are a few of my favorites:
*Rex and Elder Hafen served in a stake presidency together. In one sacrament meeting Rex fell asleep, and Elder Hafen nudged him saying he was called on to give the closing prayer so he'd wake up. Rex says to Elder Hafen, "According to the first amendment we have the freedom to worship how we please. You worship your way, and I'll worship mine."
* A very frugal old man died. His wife called the newspaper to see how cheap she could do an obituary. The editor said, "It's your lucky day we are doing 2 for 1 word price. What would you like to say." The wife decided to stay true to the mans frugality, "Jim died today." "Okay mam now you can have three more words for free." Hmm...what else is there to say? "Jim died today. Toyota for sale."
Elder Hafen also made said another thing on a much more serious note that really touched me. He said that so many times lawyers are made to be bad people because they defend the guilty. Lawyers are also known as advocates. For each of us our biggest advocate is Jesus Christ the Savior; Aren't we glad that he is willing to be an advocate for the guilty?
The whole night was a great first experience. The food was delicious; Little America is beautiful; It was wonderful to meet so many people (even if I found that I've become far more shy since I married Bryan) and to be part of something so incredible.

Sister Sister

ERIKA IS HERE!!! The little freshman has arrived and is moved into her dorm. I'm so glad Bry and I stayed here so that I could be part of all this. It's like living my freshman year again vicariously through her. Except thats not true because unlike me she has air conditioning, a SINK in her room, a vegan roommate, and no boys on her floor. I think BYU has been a much easier place to drop a child off; I'm pretty sure my dad was ready to turn around and take me home with them my freshman year as he passed the signs on the road that said, "don't worry fathers, we'll take good care of your freshman daughters". I'm so glad Erika is here and happy!!! I'm thrilled that she will be surrounded by wonderful people that share her standards and that on top of it all she will get an incredible education! Plus her being here also means I get a week to spend with my mom who is staying with us.

Phipps Up-date

You know that feeling right before you are about to go over the big dip of a huge roller coaster? When your stomach feels like it's in your throat, but you can't decide weather that's a good or bad thing. You're excited, your scared, your nauseated, your nervous, etc. Bry started Law School this week and this is exactly how I have been feeling. I'm so happy for him to begin this adventure that he has been waiting for for the past five plus years. I'm excited for him to learn the things that he is already passionate about and to gain an amazing education. I know he will be dedicating himself to this education heart and soul. On the other hand I'm a little saddened because I know that the time that I'm so used to us spending together will not be as numerous. But it will all be worth it and I feel very lucky to be the supportive wife. Let the roller coaster ride begin. I can't wait to see where the ride takes us. No matter what happens, I am truly grateful that I am in the roller coaster car with Bryan.
Last night we went to a welcome evening at Professor Echo Hawk's home. Because of everything that has been happening in our little family over this past year and a half I have sometimes doubted whether or not BYU was the right choice for us. It has been a trial moving forward and having faith after the miscarriages, and some days the internal struggle has been heightened by the Provo atmosphere. Some days I have wondered if Virginia or California would have been a better fit for us. Last night gave me a very reassuring feeling that everything will work out for the best with our family being here. I am grateful for the special spirit that is here at BYU. I pray that it will be with Bryan as he gains his education. I am so proud of him for all his accomplishments, but mostly for his amazing character.
I forced Bry to get pictures in his BYU Law attire. These faces represent emotions I'm sure he'll be feeling this next year :) Orientation has been great; He's more excited than ever for school to begin. I am also starting classes again so I am able to apply for graduate school this coming winter if I choose. I'm excited to go back and learn!!
As for the progress we are making with my wonderful body; My surgery has been put off until September 25 but until then doctors have upped my clomid to 100mg. They are hoping that we can just get pregnant and not have to worry about the surgery. Our fingers are crossed! I am just grateful to being going in a forward direction!
Other exciting news is that I got a nice raise at my job! Another perk of the Health Center was brought to my attention yesterday when I was informed that a patient with active TB came in and half the reception dept was exposed. Delightful. I was panicking but the doctors told me its about a .001% chance of actually contracting it. Now I'm sure no one will want to talk to me.
Other than that I am just really excited for my little sister to get out here for her freshman year. It's going to be really nice to have Megan and Erika out here!

Oh Wisconsin...

I read this on my little sisters facebook and wet my pants laughing. Maybe only my dear friends from home can truly appreciate this, but I'm sure everyone can get a good chuckle in. And yes, to some extent it is all true. This brought back some very good memories. :)

You know you are from Wisconsin if...
~Your idea of a traffic jam is 10 cars waiting to pass a tractor on the highway.
~You see a car running in the parking lot at the store with no one in it, no matter what time of the year.
~You end your sentences with an unnecessary preposition. Example: Where's my coat at?" or "If you go to town, I wanna go with."
~You design your Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.
~You know which leaves make good toilet paper.
~You define -20 degrees F "a little chilly."
~You know all four seasons: Almost Winter, Winter, Still Winter, and Construction.
~You know several people who have hit a deer.
~Your school classes were cancelled because of cold.
~You've ridden the school bus for an hour each way.
~You've ever had to switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day.
~You "borrow" your neighbor your snowblower and hope he returns it before the next storm. (And you don't know why there are quotation marks around the word borrow in that sentence.)
~You know what "cow tipping" and "snipe hunting" are.
~You think everyone from a bigger city has an accent. (Kristen Tutt that one is for you)
~You can make sense out the words upnort and Trivers.
~A brat is something you eat.
~You know that Eau Claire is not something you eat.
~You have no problem spelling Milwaukee.
~You can actually pronounce Oconomowoc.
~You've seen mosquitoes with landing lights.
~You define Summer as three months of bad sledding.
~You know it's traditional for the bride and groom to go bar hopping between the ceremony and the reception.
~You own at least one cheese head.
~A Friday night out is taking your girlfriend shining for deer.

California Sunshine

I'm pretty sure that being in Califonia just makes everything twice as nice. The sun is better, the food is better, my hair is better (they have good water there). This was our last big vacation before Bryan started law school and we did tons of fun stuff! We made sure to eat at our favorite cafe, LaBou, about 5 times--no I'm not exaggerating. I'm pretty sure that I will not be eating out for about 3 months because of all the food we had while we were there. We had to go to all the places Utah doesn't have. Roundtable pizza, Chinese, Italian, Mexican...we had it all. Paul and Jolene took us to this amazing restaurant, Infusion. It blended all types of different ethnic food together and it was incredible. I had ribs! MMM! And the place had deep fried cheese cake--incredible. Basically we ate a lot and now we will diet that next months away.
Bry's cousin Mike got married while we were there in the Sacramento Temple to cute Tiffany. It was so fun to be at their ceremony and be reminded of our wedding. This also meant that we got to see a bunch of his extended family and had a BBQ with some of them.

After a pool day with the kiddies we had our Murder Mystery dinner. Makayla liked my headband so I made her a matching one. She called us twins the whole night. Makayla is getting too funny. Hearing all her comments were cracking me up. Here is a sample for you all:

Tami: "What color do you want your new room to be? Green or Yellow to match your bedding?" Makayla: "I have to have a John Dear room?"

Tami: "What do you want to be when you grow up?" Makayla: "I want to be a mom so I can have eyes in the back of my head."

And lastly for Jarom:

Me: "Which curling iron should I get?" Makayla: "The blue one."

Me: "I thought blue was for boys?" Makayla: "Oh yeah. Buy that one for Aunt Jarom because he curls his hair every morning."

So...Elder Phipps, aka Aunt Jarom, your curling iron is on it's way to Boston. :)

Bryan and I went out on a date. :) He took me to downtown Old Folsom where we ate at My Cousin Vinnie's on the balcony. I loved it!!! We also went to two movies while we were there: Rush Hour 3 and Bourne Ultimatum. Bourne was such an awesome movie! Another thing I discovered while in California is that thrift stores aren't completely worthless. I have developed a great love for reading and while we were hunting for our mystery outfits I found tons of classic hard cover books for only $3! Bry found a bunch of brand new John Grisham books for the same price. It was a hidden treasure under all the junk!

Bry took me on a golf cart ride around his neighborhood. While we are driving we came across the infamous house that Bryan and his cousin Brian terrorized. They knocked out EVERY SINGLE WINDOW in this entire house. Do you see all those windows?!? Then the geniuses proceeded home to ask their parents to come back with them to show them a motorcycle they found on that property. Not suspicious at all that all the windows in the home next to the motorcycle were broken. Did I mention my husband starts law school in a week...

We looked at dream homes while we were there. Awh I wish!! We found the prettiest five acre estates. I would get a horse and zebra to live on my land and maybe even a Pygmy goat. :) As always we had such a great time with Bry's family. We wish we were closer... someday when we have 1.5 million we will be able to move to the California sunshine into our dream home.

Murder Mystery

THE CHICAGO CAPER...

















It was September 28, 1928 and we were called for a meeting to discuss the death of Hal Capone. Which one of us was guilty?

Bryan decided that while we were in Cali we were going to host a murder mystery dinner. We went shopping for our costumes at thrift stores around town. So funny trying to find costumes for our roles. At one of the stores we found Jolene her cigarette holder and dad his diamond bling cane. AND How crafty am I?!? I made my flower headband. So special.

Paul and Jolene: Earnest ("Bet A Million") G. Ambler and "Silky" M. Adam

Basically these names are saying that my father in law has a gambling problem and my mother in law owns a silky strip club. Since I used to be employed by her she solicited me. She was a great influence on me.

Paul accidentally called Silky, Lacey, in one of his interrogations. Bryan replies with "please keep your personal pet names out of this game" Very funny.

Tami and Wes: Molly M. Awbster (The Moll) and Eddie ("Socks") R. Gyle.

Molly is a shopaholic flapper and a bootlegger; great combo. Eddie owns my current place of employment. He got really creative with the name...Eddies.

Ashley and Josh: Malissa F. Orrthot ("Scoop") and Billy "The Kid" Thrower.

We just thought it was funny that Josh was a kid thrower. Childish we know. Scoop is a reporter and wannabe killer. She also dated the dead man....dun dun dun.

Bryan and Ashley: S. Treighton Harrow and Anna Maria Carlotta Sassine ("Torchy")

Bryan was a dirty lawyer that took under the table payments to set criminals free...all too fitting. My character was perfect on many levels also. First because her name is almost as long as my real name, secondly because she's a club singer, and thirdly because I'm a hired hit woman. :)

Bryan put together a delicious 3 course meal and we played 4 rounds of this murder mystery until 1 in the morning. It was a blast watching each other in character. In the end we found out that Silky was the killer.

Big Trees

Bry and I took a day trip to Arnold, CA to the Big Trees. Let me tell you, they were big--really, really big. For about the first 30 minutes they are intriguing but after that you are thinking how many more big trees do I have to see before this hike is over?!? We had a good laugh at the people that actually read the history of the 30 individual trees that were marked in the forest. We sat and watched one group read the story aloud, then sit and stare at the tree for about 10 minutes analyzing it. We concluded they must lead very dull lives. Apparently Bryan's family drug him here when he was really young and he said he walked the entire trail in 15 minutes. I could totally picture little Bryan pouting through the forest.



































There were fallen trees that I climbed on to walk across. Yeah--they were old, dirty, and gross. Bryan failed to tell me we would be hiking. I thought maybe it was a riding tour--okay basically I didn't think that one through at all and wore flip flops.



















Man down...look at the roots on this beast of a tree.


















One of the trees was hallow and you could walk through it. Yes these are BIG trees.

Tree Huggers.

It was a cool experience to see how truly huge this redwoods are. It's pretty amazing. However I think it will be a one time thing for us because basically we drove 4 1/2 hours to see a tree.

President Faust

I heard the sad news that President Faust passed away this morning. I think this article says it all. President Faust was an incredible man that had a very profound and lasting effect on my testimony. He strengthened my faith in our Savior and his plan. I am so grateful for his service and leadership in the church.

http://lds.org/vgn-ext-templating/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=ae11627d59eec010VgnVCM1000004e94610aRCRD&locale=0

Hair Cut

We are leaving for Califonia tomorrow night! YAY! It is a much desired break from this truculent place of employment. Okay work is not that bad but you wont see me crying over the days I miss. While we are basking in the sunny relaxation this vacation will bring I will also be getting a haircut! But we all know that I am extremely indecisive. As of now this is my top choice. Yes or No?!? Please cast your vote now.

Sacramento Temple

A Refuge from the Storm


I'm so proud of Bry; I had to post this. Earlier this summer Bryan was working with his mom designing a picture for their Stake Young Woman's program. After hours and hours of digital imaging this is their final product. The stake was so impressed with it that they have been asking for copies. Bryan decided he might as well see if he could market the photo to Desert Book and other LDS stores in their area. Last week he got a large email order from Desert Book in Sacramento. His big endeavor really paid off. He is going to have his "art" in a store!

Minneapolis I-35 Bridge

I was at the gym when I saw this flash on the news station and I think my heart stopped. I started panicking, racking my brain to think if this was the same bridge we'd taken so many times to get from Wisconsin to Minnesota. I was praying tonight was not one of the many nights my parents had to drive over for church stake meetings. I was thinking of my friends back home. Thankfully, in my small world everyone was okay. I've always had great sympathy for those who have had to endure a devestating tragedy; two nights ago gave me an even deeper, yet still very surface understanding of what these poor family survivors have had to deal with. It's saddening. This is just one of those moments in life that I'll remember.