The end is near!

My thesis was approved by my committee and the graduate coordinator this week!  It went through a TON of revisions since I submitted it a week ago but I'm really proud of the way it's turned out.  I was finally able to schedule my defense, which is my last hoop to jump through before graduation.  I ordered my cap and gown this week and did a happy dance because I was so excited.

Proof!  135 pages of awesomeness.

I had to print out a hard copy for my committee members and it looked like a novel!  Mind you, this was with two-sided printing. And over 80 pages of this were single-spaced.  BOOM.

Anyway... if you're looking for some academic pursuits to break up the monotony of your summer vacation, you should come to my defense meeting!  It'll be Thursday, June 28th at 11:00 in room 125 of the Taylor Building.  All friends/family/acquaintances/strangers who are interested in children with language impairment are welcome.  It's sure to be a (scholarly) party.  And heaven knows I need the prayers and support.  This has been an extremely time consuming but rewarding project, second only to baking the little man in my oven for 9 months.

Speaking of the little man, I feel as though every single day with him recently has been an absolute riot.  He's obsessed with giggling, eating food off my plate (still no sign of teeth at 10 months old... he just gums everything in sight), standing (on his own!), playing with pens and markers, playing catch (well... he and Spencer gently throw the ball back and forth at... not to... each other), dancing whenever he hears music, clapping and waving, and banging on the piano (which is sweet, sweet music to his piano-playing mother's ears).  He's constantly happy; tears are rare except when food is taken away from him or we're pinning him to the ground to change his diaper.  

He's standing ALL. THE. TIME.  He fights every position except standing (and has since he was 7 months old).  We've avoided cuts, bumps, and bruises pretty well up until now but he's just starting to get adventurous with letting go when he's standing or taking steps with us.  I'm pretty excited that I'm finishing up with school right when he's trying to start walking.  Any earlier and I still would have been slaving away on the thesis.  What can I say?  The kid's a keeper :)

Basically, we're doing pretty well!  Our Lake Chelan trip and Spencer's birthday are coming up in the next two weeks but we'll think about those once my defense is over.  As for now, I'm loving all this new-found time I have!  It's mostly spent on sleep and quality time with my boys :)  And maybe a LITTLE bit on preparing for next Thursday's meeting... but just a little bit.

We love you all!

Um....

I did it.

I finished my thesis.

124 pages.

ONE MONTH.

No sleep.

And now...

Relief.

As of August 9th, I will only respond to "Master Cornett."  Or "mom."  :)

Update Time!

Hey all!

I am deep in the midst of the busiest time in my life so it's a miracle that this post is being written at all.  I've been working on thesis every spare second of every day (and night) and unfortunately, those "spare" seconds have come at really awkward times.  But some days, you just need a little break.  Today that break comes in the form of a blog post.

As busy as grad school has been, I've told myself that no matter what, Colton is priority 1.  So as soon as he goes down for a nap, I write and write and write and write.  And as soon as Spencer comes home from school or work, he takes over feeding/changing/playing so I can write and write and write.  And when Colton goes to bed around 9:00 at night, I get in my car, drive over to the almost-deserted Taylor building, and write and write and write until ridiculous hours of the morning.  I got home at 4:00 this morning :(  But I'm almost done!  I have about 85 pages finished and I completed my data analysis last night.  I can do this.  I can bust my tail for two more weeks.  And THEN I'll be FINISHED!

So I'm not getting much sleep... but it's no less than when Colton was a newborn.  And my boys are my motivation!  I'm thinking about language impairment and social communication intervention and counting productions of emotion-based words so often during the day that when I'm with Spencer and Colton, I make sure I'm with them and no one else.  Thesis goes on the backburner.  And THAT is my reality check.  I'll do anything I have to do if it means I get to play with my boys every day.

As for Spencer... he's amazing!  He's the only reason why our house is ever clean.  He lets me focus on school and he kicks into full housekeeper gear and keeps our place looking great.  AND he's a great dad!  I can get lots of Colton smiles but Spencer can get that kid to absolutely crack up.  It's pretty cute.  Spencer quit his job at Calloway Labs and is now doing the same thing (drug testing) for the company that originally contracted Calloway.  He's getting just as many hours as he was before but now he doesn't have to drive to Salt Lake a bajillion times a week.  Huzzah!  He's throwing in a couple extra hours in at the Telefund again, too.  AND he's taking classes.  AND he still manages to go to bed at a normal hour (lucky man...).  Superman, maybe?

Colton's adorable (duh).  He just had his 9 month appointment and is weighing in at a whopping 23 lbs (90th percentile!).  Our doctor took one look at his chunky legs and asked us if we wrestle with him.  Yeah... we practically do.  Every time we change his diaper :)  OR... every time I try to take his picture with my phone:

He's now obsessed with a show on Nick Jr. called Bubble Guppies.  Don't ask me why... he just is. Here's proof:

He's not QUITE as wild about kiddie pools yet... but we're working on it!

He REALLY likes getting into awkward places:

And he's kind of obsessed with door stoppers:

And tearing everything off tables, chairs, couches, counters, shoe racks... basically anything he can reach!

He loves mooning people...

He had a bladder infection a few weeks ago (SAD SAD baby) and kept falling asleep in crazy places:

You'll be glad to know he's staying pretty regular...

But BEST of all... he loves to see the temple!

We love you all! The next time you hear from us... I'll probably be done with my beastly thesis! (WOOHOO!)

The Provo City Center Temple

After we had finished taking all of our finals in December 2010, Spencer and I got on a plane for Seattle to spend the holidays with his family.  The morning after we got there, I remember waking up to the news that the Provo Tabernacle had caught on fire in the middle of the night.  I was shocked.  I had seen the Tabernacle on our way to the airport a few hours before.

I sat at my computer and bawled like a little girl.  I loved the Provo Tabernacle; there was so much history in that wonderful building!  I'd attended tons of Stake Conferences in that building.  So had my mother.  So had her mother.  This Tabernacle had major connections with my family.  Oh, and let's not forget the fact that I live across the street from this building!  I didn't just come across the Tabernacle that one time I drove to the airport; I saw it every single time I left my house.  And I loved it!  I was so sad to see it burn.

I read countless news articles searching for updates regarding the plans for the tabernacle.  It was reported that the inside was completely destroyed; the roof caved in; the facade was seriously damaged but it was all that was left.  Scaffolding was erected around the outside and then it seemed like nothing else happened for so long.

The inside of the tabernacle was mapped out on the grass next to the building.  Workers used cranes to move everything from the inside of the tabernacle to the corresponding coordinates on the grass to find out what caused the fire.  Eventually, they learned that after a Christmas concert, an accidental fire started in the attic from a light or a heat lamp (I don't remember which) that was too close to a speaker box.  The flames spread out from there.  Within hours, almost everything was gone.  While looking for more information I found a couple of really neat pictures online:

Talk about tender mercies, right?

On October 1, 2011 I was watching General Conference.  President Thomas S. Monson stood up and announced that the Provo Tabernacle was going to be made into a temple!  Again, I bawled like a little girl but this time my tears were 100% happy. 

I lived in Cordova, Tennessee when the Memphis Tennessee temple was announced to be in the built in the backyard of my ward building.  I was in Young Women's when it was built and I remember getting to help with hanging crystals on the chandeliers and putting some gold leafing on the walls.  I got to work at the temple open house and put booties on guests coming to see the House of the Lord.  My mom sang in the dedication choir and I learned all the songs with her because I was so excited (remember that, mom?!).  That was the first temple dedication that I ever attended and I remember feeling completely positive that I was in a holy place.  I have been so thrilled at the thought that I'm once again going to be in the ward boundaries of another LDS temple.  I'm not sure if Spencer and I will be here the whole time the temple's under construction but I'm excited to be here for a little part of it!

The groundbreaking ceremony is tomorrow and Spencer, Colton, and I will be there bright and early to listen to Elder Jeffrey R. Holland speak.  I wanted to go on a walk today to take a picture of the grounds before all the fun stuff starts but it was already dark outside when we got home from errands.  Mable Burt (in our ward) took this picure and I borrowed it from her facebook page :).  They're all set up and ready to go!

For a little taste of just how close to the future temple we live, I looked us up on Google Earth (the coolest invention ever).  I know the labels are hard to see but I'm not professional enough to know how to make them any better.  Yeah... that's the tabernacle... a whole block away from our house!

So I'm feeling pretty excited and blessed to be a part of all this.  I'll be sure to post more pictures of temple progress as it's built!

'Til next time...

Dear Spencer,

When I first met you... I looked like this:

 And you looked like this:

We were friends, but that was about it.  I was busy "dating older men" as you like to say, or "getting good grades" as I like to say.  You were busy... playing the field :)

Following our Freshman year, you went on your mission here:

About a year later, I went on my mission here:

I always wondered why I was called to serve early.  I went into the MTC as a 20 year old even though I put my availability date for after I had turned 21.  Apparently, the Lord had a different plan.  Throughout my mission, many wonderful things happened that made me think, "Okay, THIS is why I was supposed to come out here early.  I had to be in this place at this time."  Although I still believe those experiences were a part of the reason I was called out early, I've come up with an additional theory.

Because I went out before my 21st birthday, I came back in July 2008... a good 3 months before I was expecting to be able to.  Had I come back even a single transfer later than I did, I wouldn't have been able to go to BYU during the Fall 2008 semester.  My first week back at school, this happened:

We met up at a BYU football game, reminisced about the good times we had back in 2004, and exchanged phone numbers.

We went on a few dates after that, and I liked you a lot.  I remember texting my mom after our second date.  I wrote, "I like him, but I don't want to be one of those RMs who gets into a relationship immediately after getting home.  I think I'm going to tell him we've had fun but I'm done after our third date tonight."  My mom still laughs at the text message she got from me the next day, "Okay mom, nevermind.  I really like him.  I'm pretty sure we're going to keep dating."

Years later, I found out that at this point (yeah... it was after we kissed for the first time...) although I was hooked, you still needed some more convincing.  I decided that it was time for ME to take YOU on a date.  We went here:

...and I think that by opening up your stomach, I finally opened up your heart.  I had to bribe you, but we decided to give "us" a try.  I'm so glad you agreed :)

We did all the things that people who date do.  We carved pumpkins:

We picked each others' noses... (Okay... not everyone does that.  We MAY have posed for this one...):

And when your family went on a trip to Las Vegas, I was invited to come along.  We met the red M&M at the peanut factory.  Everyone does that, right?

Before too long, I realized I loved you (although yes, I'll finally admit, you said it first).  We started talking about our future and on December 17, 2008, this happened:

The next semester seemed to drag on forever.  Through all the wedding plans, homework assignents, job hours, etc., we got to see each other for about 2-3 glorious hours day.  We still made the most of it:

Finally... the big day arrived.  On May 2, 2009 we were married for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake City Temple.  It was the best day of my life (up to that point.  Don't worry... it hasn't been a downhill slide ever since).  I still feel like the luckiest girl alive:

We did all the things that newlyweds do... we lived in a closet-sized, dumpy apartment, we went to school full-time, be both worked all the time, but we still made sure to have fun.

We went to DC to visit my family:

We dressed up as Luna Lovegood and Neville Longbottom for the Harry Potter 6 midnight premiere:

 We did a fun murder mystery dinner with your family:

We did all sorts of fun stuff!

When everyone around us started popping babies out, my baby hunger kicked into overdrive.  I think you had it all along, too.  After several long months (that felt much longer than they were...), we found out on January 3, 2011 that our prayers of having a baby were finally going to be answered. 

When the journey began, my bump was pretty small:





We had fun with our little "It's a boy! No, It's a girl!" battle, but in reality, we both thought it was a boy all along:

By 40 weeks, I was swollen like an elephant and somehow you still loved me.  I think we both knew this baby was going to be HUGE:

On August 24, 2011, we welcomed the most beautiful baby we've ever seen into the world and we were both in love at first sight.  (Can you even imagine what we did before he was here?)  I love being your baby mama:

Now, 8 months have passed and Colton is getting bigger every day:



I wouldn't have it any other way and I wouldn't want to do any of it with anyone else.  I love you infinity O, salt and pepper shaker, paprika (if you're not Spencer, don't ask).  Thanks for letting me take you to Outback 4 years ago.  :)

Happy 3 year anniversary!

-A.Corn.