Catch Up

I've been doing a lot of catch up lately, but not enough keeping up on the blog. We got a new camera and I started taking a ton more pictures. I decided before things got too out of hand I needed to organize all our past photos. This morning I finished labeling and organizing our photos from the last seven years. I wanted to post a bunch, but it would be out of control. I have neglected the blog while focusing on this project, so I need to catch up. Enjoy the pictures of our adventures over the last few weeks.

 Conference weekend was spent in Niagara Falls, New York with the Romero's (Sharon's sisters' family). We had fun going on walks/hikes and exploring the area. This is a picture of Sharon and her sister on a hike by the river and a picture of Ira when we were at Lake Ontario.

After Niagara we headed south to Washington DC and were able to catch the Cherry Blossoms. They were beautiful. We got some fun family pictures.

The weather in Pittsburgh was nice and we were able to make it out to a Pirates (Baseball) game. It was a good game too, we won it at the very end of the game. We had Ira dressed up in his Pirate uniform we got.

At the end of April our apartment contract was up and so, sadly, we have left Pittsburgh. We've kept to the right of the country and have migrated East to Marietta for the month of May. Sharon's parents are letting us use their place while we wait for what's next.

We've been having fun here, I'll post more on that next.

Please Don't Park Here.

So far it has been the 4th snowiest winter in history of Pittsburgh with about 76.5 inches. That is a lot for a city with narrow streets and houses without driveways and garages. The city has started to crack down on the condition of the sidewalks. You are supposed to clear the sidewalks in front of your house within 24 hours of the storm....we are approaching 24 days after the storm. It has been fun seeing the streets full of people walking, but I can't wait for the sidewalks to be cleared so I don't have to share the crowded streets.

It has been interesting to watch people's behavior in these 'extreme' conditions. To a normal person the streets probably look like they are full of trash, but to the experienced eye it is a territorial statement. If you have a random item like old lawn chairs, desks, stools, ladders, etc... out in the street you have staked your claim and that part of the street automatically becomes a temporary extension of your property. I've come to call these snow garages. I took some pictures today while I was out walking with Sharon. Unfortunately the warmer weather has diminished how impressive and how critical these were at the height of the snow storm. I admit I can understand what people are thinking and feeling, I spent a lot of time digging our car and the neighbor's car out, but I never felt I needed to stake my claim.

The wooden chair has the sign above taped to it( It's to bad they had it on the sidewalk instead of in their spot). In the foreground you can see a nice "snow garage" with an old lawn chair in it. You would park in it as if you were parallel parking, it's actually good practice.

Here are some nice stools holding a nice big place. In the background you can see chairs, dust pans, a desk, and a recycle bin holding the curb spots in front of a house, they don't even have snow there anymore.

Some people parked in their garage.

Anyway life is picking up again in Pittsburgh. We'll miss the pretty part of the snow and the adventure it brought, but are looking forward to the beautiful blooming spring.

Fall Fun

This fall has been rather enjoyable. This is the beautiful view on our back porch. Sharon has also written an update, so I will keep this short as we have a lot of overlap.

School: I survived the first half of the semester. I front loaded it, so I would have more time the last half to work on my capstone project. This has turned out to be a good thing because no one else on my team seems to have time to get things done, so it's good one of the six of us is thinking about it. That made it sound really bad, but it isn't that bad, it just feels that way some times. Tomorrow we have a major milestone due, that will be a good measure of how much effort everyone has been putting in. I've been enjoying my last classes, trying to get as much as I can out of school before I'm done.

Pregnancy: Sharon is doing well. I am amazed at how easy she makes being pregnant look. I always thought women got moody and cranky when they were pregnant, but so far life has been good. That could change as we enter the 3rd trimester. Everyone has been asking for a belly shot, so we came up with this idea on our walk.

Jobs: Sharon gave a good update on this. The job hunt has been taking a lot of time, about the equivalent to a whole other class. It could have been worse if I were traveling for more interviews; fortunately few companies are flying candidates out for on-site interviews. I guess that comes with difficult economic times. If the executives can't get flown around, why new hires? It's looking like Pittsburgh, Connecticut, or Boston could be potential landing spots for us right now. I've been reading about Connecticut the most and liking the possibility, except for the cost of living.

Fun: We did our annual pumpkin carving. As we were leaving DC we found we found ourselves wondering if they would be smashed when we got home. We took that as an omen. When we got back, they were gone. Down the street a ways we found remnants of pumpkin, but there was no way of identifying if they were ours, just the circumstantial evidence.











In my opinion this fall has been much better than last fall. I don't know if last year my head was down more or what, but fall this year has been spectacular. We've been able to get out and enjoy it more too. There is a great park near our house that drops into a ravine so you can't hear or see much of civilization. It was nice walking along the path and enjoying the trees. It was a nice calm day with little gusts of wind that would come and blow through the trees knocking dozens of leaves off the branches. The leaves would then slowly and peacefully float down to the ground. It reminded me of watching snow fall in the lamp light in front of our house when I was growing up. It made me happy.

Going back to DC was nice. I really liked Georgetown. The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal ride was fun. I liked when they filled the lock to bring the boat up to the next level. It was cool that they still had the original tow paths and had mules to pull us along for most of the tour. I wish they did longer tours. I liked learning about the history of the canal too. We were lucky to catch it on the last weekend of the year. If anyone is in DC when it is running I commend it.

I'm looking forward to the next few weekends. We are going to Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater and a ballet called Light / The Holocaust & Humanity Project. So we should have some good updates/reviews coming up soon.

For more fun photos you can see our online photo album.

Sharon Update - Back in Pittsburgh

Hi Family!
It feels really good to be back in Pittsburgh. As cool as Alexandria and D.C. are, it doesn't feel nearly as home-ish.
Reasons we've loved our first week back.
* The ward. We've missed the people. I don't know what it is about our Summer ward (maybe it was us!), but I don't think many people will notice that we're gone.
* Our cute little apartment. What a miracle. No mice, no bugs in our huge bags of grains we left, just a few slow and easy to catch spiders that guarded our windows and doors. And they did a good job, there were quite a few dead bugs around each spider...village.
* The Romeros visit. Joan and Ruben brought the kids down to go to the "Dinosaur museum." It was sooo much fun! I couldn't stop smiling as I watched Zion hop around on dinosaur tracks. Cute kids and good visiting time!
* Gabe Proulx, our good friend just moved out here too, and has hung out with us almost every other day since we've been back.
* Work! I thought it would be kind of hard coming back after being able to nap and eat whenever I wanted, but not so. I was getting pretty bored during the day. My kids were really cute on my return and often come up to remind me that there's a baby in my belly.
* School. It sounds like Anthony has some fun classes and projects lined up for a busy last semester. I can't believe he'll be done in a few months!
We are happy and healthy, and enjoying life.
Love you lots!!
Sharon

p.s. Ellsworth fam: I enjoyed the health care debate. i contributed next to nothing, but I really liked hearing differing opinions delivered so thoughtfully and intelligently.

Graduation and Beyond

The last two weeks have been eventful. Life happens fast sometimes and you just get to enjoy the ride. Here is the update on the events of the last two weeks.
Graduation!
Sharon finished her classes in December, but didn't do any of the graduation stuff because she was in Brazil. She decided to put off walking until Spring so we could walk together. With finals behind me on Monday I was able to rest and relax for a few days before the big graduation ceremonies. Thursday, April 24th , was the commencement ceremony for all graduates at BYU. As we walked from our house to the Administration building we were surprised to find it snowing. First time I've seen it snowing that late in the spring in Provo.
After a long march, or procession, into the Marriott Center we heard from various speakers. A student graduating in accounting recounting the many things he had learned while at BYU that would help him and us have success in the 'real world'. After that the keynote speaker was Elder David A. Bednar. The main focus of his talk was centered around the BYU motto of 'Enter to Learn; go forth to Server'. His main point was that while at the University we should learn to love learning. He suggested that the motto for BYU, if there were unlimited space, should be 'enter to learn to love learning and to serve; go forth to continue learning and serving'. We were happy we decided to participate in the ceremony.



Friday, April 25th, were our separate convocation ceremonies. Sharon walked with the Anthropology department at 8:00 am and received her 'diploma' from the professor she went to Namibia with, Dr. Crandall. It's always nice to be congratulated by those you've worked closely with. I walked later that afternoon around 2:00 pm. The ceremony was fun for me too. I sat with two good friends from my program so it made it extra fun and special.
We then packed up and went up to Park City to celebrate with my family our graduation as well as my brother McKay and my Dad's Birthday.

Pittsburgh, PA
Monday morning we drove down to the airport and hopped on a plane headed to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The purpose of our voyage was to evaluate the city and schools there to see if we would be comfortable and happy making the move. It was a fun experience. We rode the public transportation the first day to get a feel for how well we would be able to get around. There was a bus that went straight from the Airport, through downtown, past all the Universities including Duquesne & University of Pittsburgh (PITT), and ended at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). It was a colder than normal day, overcast and damp, not the best conditions for a great first impression. As we explored campus I found myself noticing people smoking on campus and run down buildings. However, after exploring the buildings more my perspective changed to admiration as I noticed the character they had from so many years of use and how great their architecture was. We also got to the newer buildings, which were also very beautiful.
Tuesday we woke rested and to a much more beautiful day, which helped get a different perspective on the city. We returned to campus (CMU), and I meet with my student host, Salahaldin Hussein from Palestine. Sharon & I went with him to a Business Intelligence class offered at the Tepper School of Business. The classroom environment really sold me. There were maybe 25 people in the class. Of those 25 a max of 4 or 5 were white Americans and few other African-Americans. The diversity was great. There were people from India, the Middle East, Asia, and I believe some European or Eastern European. The discussion in class was centered around a case on the Sysco Corporation and their strategy for implementing technology and whether or not they should give the go on a new project. I thought it was interesting. I even participated a little. After that I meet with the Director of the Information Systems Program and had a great conversation, followed by some informative meetings with career services, financial aid, and admissions directors and assistant directors. They were all helpful and answered many questions as well as gave great advice from succeeding in school to what and where to look for housing.
Sharon's parents made the trip across Pennsylvania to Pittsburgh so during my meetings and a little after they walked around campus with us. We then faced some construction traffic on our way back to our Days Inn and had an enjoyable evening visiting and eating out.


Wednesday we were back in town at University of Pittsburgh(PITT) for Sharon. She has been looking at their Anthropology and International Development programs and had lined up to meet with a few people. Again, very informative. I highly suggest meeting and discussing in person programs of interest. It is so much more enlightening and informative than emails and websites. We then took a few hours to explore PITT's campus. You can't really tell you are on campus because it's just part of the city, kind of like NYU. However, there is one building called the Cathedral of Learning that you can't miss. It's a huge tower built in an old Gothic Cathedral style. We went in and checked out the architecture and a few of the rooms that they made into 'theme rooms' to reflect different cultures in the Pittsburgh community. I recommend visiting it to anyone. After lunch we were on our way back to the airport and back to life.

Beyond
So, the verdict is in. We've officially decided to make the move to Pittsburgh to pursue my Masters degree of Information Systems at Carnegie Mellon, whether or not Sharon gets her degree at a University in Pittsburgh is still in question, but we are now looking into employment options, such as at an NGO. I have to say I feel really good about it. Of course I have the usual reservations and questions anyone has when it comes to moving and change in life, but deep down I know it's right. I'm excited for a change of pace from Provo. I'm look forward to making new friendships and networking with new people from around the country and the globe. I appreciate the experience and education I've gotten from BYU, but I'm eager to experience the difference. From our visit CMU seems very progressive, dare I say 'liberal' compared to BYU, which will be a fun contrast, as well as the, in my opinion, much more diverse environment. I also feel that CMU will open a lot of doors for Sharon and I in the long run. It's nice to have a decision made and be working out the finer details now. We have been in touch with the two wards that cover that part of the city and have had great responses to questions and help offered in finding housing. You have to love the almost immediate network and consistency the church provides when facing change.

So for the next month we are in Provo, then we will be in Seattle, WA for seven weeks, then we will be on our way out to Pittsburgh, PA.

We hope you've enjoyed the update. If you know of anyone who might want an update on our lives feel free to pass on the link to this blog. We also love to hear your comments and feedback, don't be shy about leaving a quick comment or two.