First Day of School

After having visitors, it was kind of a let down to be alone again. BUT, school started right back up so we got back into the swing of things ok.
Here is Steven on the first day of his junior? (it's a long story) year of college:


This semester he is taking:
Intro to Air Traffic Control
Multi-Engine Ground School
Intro to Atmospheric Sciences (with a lab)
Airport Planning & Management
Intro to Unmanned Aerial Systems
Business Communication
Multi-Engine Flight Lab

He is looking forward to being done with the random freshmen-level classes he keeps getting thrown into. (NEVER EVER transfer universities if you can avoid it...) And he's excited to start the UAS class for his second degree this semester. Lastly, he is flying the multi-engine plane which is bigger, faster, more powerful, and more expensive.
You can't beat UND when it comes to Aerospace Sciences and really the school alone makes living here worth it...most of the time.

PS Did you notice that he is wearing BURNT ORANGE?!?!?! And plaid shorts?!?!?! 3 years ago I married a man with a wardrobe of black and white tshirts and 2 polos...I never would have thought orange to be possible!!

A Long Overdue Update- Fall Version

See, I told you I would update about Fall too!

September--

The highlight of September was our trip to North Dakota to visit the school there. It makes me laugh that it was the highlight. It was much prettier in September, and we can't wait for this summer!! I don't feel the need to post pictures about it...just wait a few months and they'll all be the same!

Also in September, was my Mother-in-law, Becky's birthday. As in all things involving boys, the highlight was playing with fire...The boys were having a contest to see who could let their matches burn down the furthest before burning them out. Keith joined in too...Boys.

October--

To start off October, we went to First Fridays at the Phoenix Art Museum. We rode the light rail and saw lots of cool art! We didn't have to ride the light rail very far, so when we were done, we just kept riding it...and when we got off, it was kind of in a sketchy area...hence Steven's face.

It was also Andrew's 14th birthday. He picked Texas Roadhouse for dinner. Becky and I went to Ladies Night at Deseret Book and met the boys for dinner after they were done with Conference.

He got to sit on the saddle...he clearly enjoyed it.

And the most important part of October- I GRADUATED!!! Well actually I just finished the courses, graduation is in April. Everyone told me I couldn't finish my last semester the way it was scheduled, and I did it anyways...so HA! Anyways, I came home from my class very late (it was in Chandler) and I came home to a beautiful dinner made by Steven and flowers too!

The following weekend, we went to Prescott for a graduation trip. It was BEAUTIFUL and such a nice break. We went to the movies, went and hiked, ate lots of good food, went shopping, slept in- all things I had been neglecting for the past few months.

Here is Steven in our hotel room--we got a sweet deal on this hotel that was becoming a resort...the only downside was all the new furniture in giant boxes in the foyer. It was a steal!
Steven by the lake we visited...I'm pretty sure it was something original like Prescott Lake or something.
On our nature walk...notice the leaves behind us? It was truly FALL!!

We also celebrated our friend Raf's graduation from Surgical Technology school. It was an interesting ceremony to say the least...This picture pretty much defines their relationship...

Halloween- As far as Halloween goes, I was in charge of 18 different costumes...10 for work (see the sashes-we were princesses) and 6 beehive costumes (we were Bees) and mine and Steven's (he was a pot of honey). It was fun but I will not be volunteering to make costumes for awhile.

The sashes after the first coat of puffy paint...all those outlined letters!
Our parent's ward trunk-or-treat
Me with two of my beehives...we didn't get a group picture of all of us!

At our ward trunk-or-treat!


November--

In November, I went to Kayley's state Band Competition. It was clear out in the East Valley. I actually saw several of the planes from Steven's school flying over it--but none were him. Kayley's band did very good, despite their rating. Here is the fan club :)

And the only other thing that happened in November was that we went to Utah for Thanksgiving break. We spent a lot of time with family. I was up there for a whole week (5 days without Steven!) working remotely and Steven came up after classes with my mom. I got to meet up with some friends from college. It was a fun reunion! We also got to see the lights at Temple Square twice! And we spent a lot of time shopping the day after Thanksgiving...we got most of our winter clothes though! And my little brother broke his ankle and we had to push him around Temple Square in a wheel chair...which made for a lot of fun stories! Ha love you bro!
We were freezing! Steven loves his new coat, so feel free to comment on it...


And December was a busy month, so it will get it's own catch-up post, we'll call it the winter update!

New Plane New Place

Today was my first flight here in North Dakota in the UND Cessna 172. I had been scheduled to fly this Monday but the blizzard conditions cancled the flight. I don't think my face could have told the difference from the blizzard and the negative temps and gusty winds tonight. It was kind of comical, my instructor Alyssa trying to run through all the pre-flight checklists with me for the first time, and the both of us chattering teeth trying to get it over with and back into the plane. Well we got in and got it started, anxiously awaiting the heat to kick in. One thing I learned about the 172 is that the seat belt has an airbag on it. Alyssa told me to be sure that the seam end was facing out, so that in the unlikely chance that we'd need it it would not deploy into my chest. (yikes) Note: she said that these airbags saved one of the China Air student's life.

The controller rattled off our clearance and we were off on a standard taxi to runway 35L. A new term to me around here is breaking action. This basically indicates how much you're going to slide on the ice at that time. (I thought driving on ice was a challenge)

We took off and made a practice approach to the municipal airport in Crookston MN, just a short jump across the river (30 nautical miles). The Cessna is much more responsive to control inputs than the Warrior I'm used to. It also has a glass cockpit. Which is an LCD screen representation of all the flight instruments, run by this supercomputer. This Garmin g1000, its called, does just about everything except make you a cup of hot cocoa.

After our practice approach we came back to Grand Forks airport and got radar vectors (controller directions) to the VOR approach for runway 35L.
We made the approach and transitions to landing. I made a bit of an error in closing the throttle too much over the end of the runway. It made Alyssa a bit nervous, as she took over the controls. Apparently the Cessna sinks a bit to much with the throttle fully closed, and can't be handled the same way as the Warrior.

I do feel overwhelmed having changed near everything I was used to: the plane, the airport, the instructor, the type of flights. However, a good challenge is always the way to grow and develop more piloting skill and experience.

My aviation safety instructor asked the class a good question. It was along the lines, "do you have 100 hrs. of experience, or 10 hrs. of experience doing the same thing ten times?" Lesson learned- its good to get out of the routine and be challenged with something a bit unfamiliar.

Overall it was a good flight, and motivation to make myself more prepared for the next one. It's amazing how much more you pick up on the second and third time around.

"First Day" Orientation

So Im a little behind but I'm still just a reformed blog hater so I'll keep this simple. This Monday the 11th was the "first" day of school at UND. Really it was just orientation day, you only have classes if they start after four o'clock. So I went to the new student welcome day, and I have to admit I was a bit worried it would be a dedicated frosh event and I'd be the looser transfer student. Truth be told I was motivated to go because I saw that they already charged me 20 bucks and I wanted to get my lunch out of it. It wasn't too bad though. We saw the Dean of the School and several other important figures who all promoted their services and made you feel all warm and fuzzy inside about your decision to attend the University of North Dakota. I even made a friend, its nice being around a bunch of people who love aviation, you can strike up a conversation with anyone in the aerospace dept.
The motivation, lunch, was pretty good. They had pizza, subs, chips, soda, and even the complimentary candy bar. We (me and my new friend Drake) sat by an adult student who had the same motive-to get his moneys worth. He enlightened us on the things to do in the great metropolis (wink,wink) of Grand Forks, ND. He told us that mens hockey at UND is the big event in this time of year. He also told us about this Minute Man Missile control facility that they made into a museum. I always wanted to go to the one in Tucson so I'll have to check this one out. Supposedly at the height of the cold war the state of North Dakota alone had a nuke stockpile comparable to the USSR.
Anyway orientation went well. I got lots of to do's done like: turn in forms, found out about bus routes, and found out where my math class was.
That was orientation I'll talk about school later....so later
-Steve

PS We couldn't get the picture uploaded, so we'll put it on the next blog...