Sam and Stacy Wood

I failed to update this thing yesterday so decided to add my two sense a little bit earlier in the day. Today, its snowing. Of course, I'm not too terribly excited to announce this however, it is kind of nice to see this cold white stuff return to Utah. There is one thing I especially hate about this particular storm, though-blistering wind! I wouldn't mind if snow just fell, but the wind is excruciating. I almost couldn't breathe this morning when I got out of my toasty car!

I digress. Let's now have an update on the lives of Sam and Stacy Wood. Yesterday, Sam went to work and had some pretty funny experiences with his students. I particularly like the stories of William, the shy Chinese boy, and the stories about how kids try to get out of playing sports. I suppose it would be better if he explained. I shall encourage the male counterpart to add to this blog. For me, I went to hula last night. Our Kumu hula was supposed to fly in from SFO but he missed his flight so we just had a regular practice. I have to say, this type of dancing is more like exercise. I always end up panting and shaking when class is over. Thank goodness we got to eat afterward (Kalua Pig, chicken long rice, fruit and the like). That evening, Sam and I relaxed while watching the Olympics, specifically the two- (wo)man bobsled and the women's (although it should be called teenagers or young women's or girls') short program. We both hoped that Mao Asada and Kim Yu-? would do well because they have so much cultural and social pressure on their shoulders. If they fell, they would disgrace their whole nation and culture and be shunned! I'm not speaking from experience at all.

Anywho, tonight should be a great one for Sam. He is going to a Jazz game with Adam for Adam's birthday. Yes, he is using my ticket for this (He asked me and I said "ok" thinking that I would have some Chinese New Year thing to do, but I found out last night that that thing is actually on Friday. Blast!). Am I jealous? Absolutely. Am I bitter? A little. But, its a good present and I don't have much to lose. I'm happy (sort of) to do it. That just means I'll be at work until 8 tonight (I'm gonna buy my own ticket to Jazz game and it will be good seats too! Take that Sam! Just kidding. I'll probably buy him a ticket too.). Get ready for a fun update tomorrow.

So I figured that I should do something at my new job since I don't have any logins or anything yet. Just so everyone knows, I got a new job as an Academic Advisor for Stevens-Henager College- Online campus. I am basically a school counselor for about 200 students here and so far so good. I started last week and I am really excited about this job.

I also got accepted to Graduate School at the University of Utah to get a Masters of Education in Educational Psychology with an emphasis in School Counseling. I start in the fall.

Sam is still going strong at the U. He has about 2 years left. Hopefully we'll graduate together. He loves his job at Challenger as a chess teacher and sports instructor. He is really looked up to there. He also works at the Gathering Place in Sandy.

Funny story. Sam worked at the Chocolate Bash this weekend at the Gathering Place. Well, one of Sam's students was there and looked at him and said, "Mr. Wood?" Wow. AWKWARD! Sam was covered in chocolate and wearing an apron. Not the usual uniform for his Hogwarts-like private school.

I have also taken up crocheting as my main hobby right now. I make headbands and I'm currently working on a baby blanket for my friend. Its a great way for me to relieve stress or wind down from a long day at work.

Life is good and we are happy. We love where we are right now. We are in a very positive place. Hope to see you all soon.

Thanks to the Tanner's, I have been inspired to try and keep this blog thing going. Despite our busy lives, I'm determined to keep up with this new media stuff. Here is a quick update of our chaotic lives.

Sam:
-Is a full time student studying Meteorology so he can become a weatherman
-Has three jobs; he is a sports (including chess) instructor, a server at a catering company and a delivery guy for his brother's company
-Works really hard

Stacy:
-Has about 6 weeks left of BYU as an undergrad
-Is a TA for Communication History and Philosophy
-Recently presented a paper she co-authored in Texas and won the top paper out of everyone (Woohoo!)
-Is really busy applying to grad school

We are the Sunday School teachers for the 15-16 year olds at church. We are planning to move to SLC this December so we can be closer to family and school.

We finished Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince today!!!!! Now on to book 7 and our lives will be more complete! I have also signed up to do facepainting at two shows this summer: Springville Art Days (June 10-14) and the Cedar Hills Family Day (June 27). In between I am going to CA for Taylor's graduation. Where is Sam in all of this? Well, he will be working unless they change his schedule. Then we will be looking for another job for him.

What a crazy, wonderful life we live!

Sam would like to let everyone know that we are currently obsessed with listening to Harry Potter on CD. It has become our new hobby and we love it. We listen to it during the day when we are out and about running errands and at night when we are falling asleep. Right now we are listening to the sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince We'll finish it just before the movie comes out next month. After we finish this book we will most likely start from the beginning and zoom all the way through the series.

Hooray for Harry Potter!

I really desire to be good at this blogging thing, but to be honest, I just haven't got the blogging bug. Facebook is enough for me to handel. Well, lets just take it step by step and see how long I can keep this streak up.

So about today:

Sam and I took up Oprah on her offer on giving everyone a free meal at KFC. We traveled to two different KFC's due to the hugely long lines. Alas, the Orem KFC seemed to have the shortest wait and we tried the new "grilled" chicken. Our overall opinion was that it was only ok. They must have pre-indented grill marks on their chicken. Out of this experience, though, we got a chance to chat with a guy about food and life. I learned that Velveeta is a cheese food; whatever that means. We enjoy talking with strangers.

I am starting to compose a research paper with a few classmates and a professor for a communication conference in November. Its exciting to embark on this project because hardly any undergrads have an opportunity to go to a conference and eventually be published before they graduate.

Sam is working at Teleperformance in Lindon. He's doing tech support for Verizon Fiber Optic. His work hours are really late. Hopefully those terrible hours will be done soon.

I still work at BYU Broadcasting in their Membership depatment. I work with some crazy people but it sure makes work fun.

In our future:

Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in SLC 5/9/09

Kelly Clarkson Concert 6/11/09

Taylor's Graduation 6/17/09- 6/20/09