Goodbye O Chem

So JD is officially finished with organic chemistry and what a happy thing it is! He has been working so hard on these two-seven week courses and has done remarkably well. True, there are just a few weeks off at this point and true there will be more fun to come next semester, but this doesn't matter though because these classes are DONE, forever. We have a week planned for playing and spending time together; it has already been fun just going to bed at the same time, going on walks, and doing things other than study. HAPPY DAY!

Archery World Cup 2011 Part 2

Yesterday was the final day for the Archery World Cup. JD had fun taking pictures of the different countries during the compound final. I enjoy recurve more than the compound finals but it is still fun to go. Tonight was fun because we knew so many people who had come, both of our families, JD's coworker and family, and our upstairs neighbors as well. We would periodically change location to go and talk to so many friends. This put us by team India, France, the Netherlands, and the medals. For other insight into the tournament you should check out the past few posts by my sister: somemusingsofme.blogspot.com

Archery World Cup 2011

JD and I went to the Archery World Cup finals for Recurve tonight. It was fantastic as always. This year brought a lot more people with it. It was fun to see Brady Ellison and his pink bow shoot once again, he managed 3 gold medals tonight and is amazing to watch. India was also in most of the finals which made JD happy too. If you can, you should definately come out tomorrow night for the Compound events. Lindquist Field in Ogden, 6-10, free admission, free raffle entry with a chance to win a Disneyland vacation. We hope to see you there!

Of Cars and Such

July is the month of the car in the Speth home. Last year brought new tires and a pulmonary embolism with registration. This year was no less exciting, well maybe a little less since it didn't end with me in the hospital. It started with a windshield for the Civic, no biggie we were planning on that. The Taurus has been been very fussy and we were kind of dreading taking it in to get inspected. JD did, and surprisingly, it passed! We were joyous, but not for long. JD drove home and upon arriving home came to realize that the car was dumping large amounts of fluid all over the driveway. He drove back and unfortunately it wasn't a misplaced oil cap, but the transmission. The mechanic's ultimate bill of health was no driving over 40 miles per hour, no question; and the price tag to fix around $4700 since it is such an old car. Well, that isn't exactly worth it to us when he only paid $1000 for it in the first place. The pursuing weeks consisted of wonderful suggestions on facebook and the ultimate purchase of a 2007 Toyota Corrola from Kirsten Kemp, JD's childhood neighbor who was leaving for the MTC 3 days from when we decided to purchase it. So....we have a new car! We really love it, it was a good situation, and it is a good car so everyone won....except maybe our wallets. :)

Pseudo Surgeon

Years ago my grandpa started writing down experiences he had while pursuing a career in surgical sales when it wasn't even a career. He introduced such things as surgical stapling to the Rocky Mountain states 30 years ago. As a new brand of salesman, there weren't laws and guidelines concerning what these individuals could do and my grandpa found himself scrubbing in and participating in surgeries as he trained and worked with different physicians from Nevada and Arizona to Montana and Idaho. All this despite never having a formal college education. A few years ago he gave my mom a fruit box that consisted of a stack of about 500 typewritten pages that has become the novel above. I read the novel out of the box and can't tell you how excited I am that it has been published. It is a fascinating story and a fun read. It is available at Barnes and Noble in book form and Amazon in e-book form. Check it out!

Ohana

This weekend was the Clarke Family Reunion up at the cabin in Bear Lake. It was SO much fun to be with every single one of my cousins. We were all trying to figure out the last time it happened and no one could even figure it out. Ages now go from myself at 24 down to 4. Ratio of girls to boys-11:3. The girls all watched Meet Me in St. Louis which is an "All American Classic" of craziness, and SO fun to watch in a room full of girls, some are ready to throw a themed party they were that inspired. Other activities included swimming at Ideal Beach, playing cards, Minute to Win It, lounging on the beach, reading books, take pictures of humming birds (JD), laughing and giggling girls, ukulele playing, singing, eating, talking, mingling, talk of fishing, golfing, and lots more fun. I love my family a ton and it was wonderful to all be together again. :)

Bem Vindo

Sye is home from his LDS mission in Sao Paulo Brazil! Sye definately ranks up there on my list of favorite people so it is super nice to have him back. It was so weird going out with the family and having SEVEN people instead of six like it has been the past while. He has worked super hard the past 2 years and it should be fun to finally hear about some of his experiences (he was definately not the best of writers).