My Reading List is Better than your Reading List

Earlier this year I started a collection of books that I wanted to read over the summer. It included a variety of books from historical, biographical, fictional, a classic, and one that I thought would be a great book because I love the show Destination Truth on SyFy. So far I have finished two and I am on to the third. With less than two months left and the GRE coming up I am nervous that I will not finish all the books on the list. Regardless I thought that I should share the two that I have read with my loyal readers.

The first book that I started was a book by Tony Horwitz about confederate reenactors in the South and how the Civil War is still going on in some places. The book travels through several different battle sites and even on a Civil Wargasm where Tony and a friend try to hit as many Civil War spots as they can in a week. The book offers reasons for southerners attitude toward the Civil War and I found it very interesting because I could relate to many stories since I had served my mission in the South and seen many people flying Confederate flags or shirts. The Civil War is still raging in the South and I am sure that it will for years to come. As one ward mission leader told me; "The war between the states ain't over, we're just waiting for a good time to attack."



The second book that I finished this is Destination Truth: Memoirs of a Monster Hunter. Anyone that has read my blog from the beginning may recognize the name Josh Gates. Josh was on my man-crush list a few years ago and was even in the top two. When this book came out I told Becky that I wanted to read it and see all the fun that Josh had behind the scenes. For my birthday Becky surprised me with the book and I put it on the shelf because I was in the middle of my semester. The other night I was explaining the book list to Becky and trying to see if I could get through the entire list before the summer was over. She said that she was bummed that Destination Truth was not on the list. To be honest I had forgotten about it when I put it on the shelf mid-semester. I was so excited to pull it out and read it this past week because the season premiere of Destination Truth was on Tuesday and I was more than half way through the book.

Josh shares a lot of behind the scenes experiences from the show but also some personal experiences from before becoming the Monster Hunter. You can hear Josh in his writing and it was so much fun to read. I was prepared to watch the premiere on Tuesday and sat on the edge of my seat thinking of all the things that were going on behind the scenes to make these trips work. The book also offers some insight into travel and finding yourself (if you haven't already). It was a great read and I would recommend it to anyone that likes the show or just has a man-crush on the author.

This morning I posted my senior thesis on my other blog. I recently submitted it to the Journal of Mormon History for approval and I am waiting to hear back to see if they want to publish it. This has been a great project for me and I feel that I have found an area that I am excited about and something that I can continue into my masters thesis.

This summer has been pretty low key as I have not had any classes. I have a reading list of books that I want to read over the summer and I have been working my way through them. Also on Monday July 2nd I start my new intership as a research assistant for a professor at Idaho State. I am excited about the possiblilty but sad to be leaving the museum as I have had a lot of fun there.

Mothers Day

I am so grateful for my mother and all she has done for me. However on this Mothers Day I am especially grateful for the mother of my children. Becky is the perfect mother for Audrey and David. All you have to do is take a look at her blog and you can see the wonderful mother that she is. Running the apartments is a hard job however she still designed an amazing birthday party for Audrey that included a six layer cake, dipped cookies, fruit and a piñata. She spends countless hours with David at night while the rest of us are asleep. She is amazing and she does not get enough credit for being the most wonderful mother that she is.

Today is Mothers Day and I want to tell Becky what a wonderful mother she is. I want her to know that she is loved. Our children love her, she makes our home exponentially better, she is the mother of our home and she is puts the needs of the rest of us above her own. Becky I hope you know that we love you and although we take you for granted, we do know what we have the most wonderful and amazing mother in our home.

My Grades are Better Than Your Grades

After waiting patiently this past week for my grades, they are finally here. I was excited to start this semester off however after a few weeks I found that this was going to be a tough semester with all of my classes being upper division and 24 books to read. I was unsure that I would be able to keep my GPA up since I would also be working on my thesis. Now that it is over I am pretty happy with my grades. What do you think?

Urban History  A
Political Philosophy  A
Anthropology of War and Violence  A
Women in History  A
Senior Seminar  A
Economic History of Greece and Rome  A

GPA - 4.00
Cum. GPA - 3.90

Happy Birthday Audrey!

SLC

Our weekend via instagram

Working in the Right Direction

This past week was a tough one as it was the end of the semester. It was hard to get everything done that I needed to however it was a pretty good week. I was able to get all my papers in on time and even got a little ahead on a couple of other assignments. Now all that is left is to take the final in my Economic History of Greece and Rome. I don't have to take finals in other classes because my grades are high enough that I am not required to do so. I have an A in Greece and Rome but she requires that everyone take the final so I have to take that regardless.

On Tuesday I received an email from the LDS History Library offering an internship for this summer. Although I had to decline due to the research internship that I have already accepted, I was excited about the possibility of working with artifacts in the church history library. I explained to the director that I would not be able to participate in an internship until January and he thought that they could make that work. I would really like the opportunity to do this and I really believe that the Lord is letting us know that we are moving in the right direction by showing us that there are options out there.

I graduate in December and I am working now to get into grad school. I know that if we keep doing what the Lord wants us to do that we will end up where the He needs us. Let's hope that is somewhere really cool.