Some real news!

First things first, last weekend we made the 2,000-mile round trip to Salt Lake City and back. While there, Tim had a great interview with the audiology faculty at the University of Utah. It was a great experience for him to see what other interviews may be like, and to get a feel for how an AuD program operates. We will have to wait a week or two before we will know if Tim is accepted there nor not.
We were lucky enough to be able to stay with Heather's Aunt and Uncle (Heather and Cevan)and they were more than hospitable to us. We really enjoyed spending some time with their two boys, Nicolas and Lucas. So cute!

Now on to the real news!

If you haven't heard yet, today was a very special day. Tim got an acceptance letter in the mail from his first pick of schools, Vanderbilt University!! What a blessing to finally hear back from them and to get accepted! We are going to wait and see which other schools accept him and how much financial aid they are willing to grant before we say yes to Vanderbilt. But right now it's looking like we'll be moving to Nashville this summer! Tim needs to go visit the campus within the next 6 weeks. Heather will probably go with to help look for a new home. Exciting!

We are grateful you all are so supportive of us during this HUGE transition. We are looking forward to the exciting days ahead and will, of course, keep you posted on all the important details. Until next time...

The first piece of news!

Hey everyone! It has been a little while since our last post here, mostly because we've been waiting to hear back from grad schools. Well, the day has finally come! Today Tim got word from the University of Utah that he has been invited to go for an Interview on Feb. 27th. Talk about short notice! It looks like he'll be making the 925-mile drive on Thursday the 26th and isn't sure when he'll come back.
So even though this isn't a "Tim got accepted at ___________ school today", we are just thankful to hear some news. We are so anxious to see what is in store for us. After all the preparation and waiting, we feel like the time is finally here. We'll keep you updated on the very latest!
As always, we miss and love you all very much.
Stay tuned!!!

There's something different about her...

Hey all! So we all survived the Christmas season. I think I can speak for everyone when I say we had a great time! It was so wonderful that we were all able to make it over the river and through the woods to Grammy's house! I think this may have been my favorite Christmas yet! Here's a picture from our trip to Walla Walla. I'll be a happy man when I don't have to make that trip in the snow anymore.



We don't have too much going on here in Bellingham to write about. Grad school applications are completed and I will start hearing back towards the end of February. HOWEVER, there is one thing to report...Let's allow the pictures to speak for themselves!





WOW! So far she is really loving it! We realized today that before writing this, nobody knew about her haircut. So we're sharing it with everyone at once. I think that's all the news from Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, and all the men are good looking! 'Till next time...

Two days to go

We've been checking the pass reports almost constantly over the past few days. Fortunately, Snoqualmie is getting a break in the snow and the roads are starting to clear off. We're going ahead with our plans to come home Wednesday morning. We're going to leave early (around 6). I'd like to think that we'd get to Walla Walla around 1:00 but it very well may take longer. I do know that we'll get to town as soon as possible and we are so excited for everything!!
Can't wait to see you all

Snow Snow Snow!

As you all know, it's been snowing all over the Northwest for a solid week or two now. Up until Friday, mountain passes had remained open and I'm sure crews have been working overtime to keep them safe. But last night, the snow and 50+ mph winds started to overwhelm the crews and roads began to close. I-84 is currently closed from Troutdale to Hood River with no available detours. Earlier this morning I-84 was also closed around La Grande. I'm not sure if it is still closed but ODOT is reporting that there are secondary roads around La Grande that they are labeling "passable, but not maintained to a high level." Needless to say, Nana and Pappy will have a difficult time again this year. As of last night, Snoqualmie Pass was closed in both directions from North Bend all the way to Ellensburg. It reopened just a couple hours ago but they are expecting several feet of additional snow over the next few days. Stevens Pass remains open but it isn't nearly as maintained as Snoqualmie usually is. However, it may literally be our only way to make the trip for Christmas.

I'm sure we'll all be keeping a close eye on weather and road conditions over the next few days and lets pray for a miracle and some warm weather! If nothing else, safe travels for everyone. We'll keep you posted on our plans if anything changes. Right now, we're planning on making the trip on Wednesday morning. Snoqualmie is our first choice if it is open, otherwise we'll try Stevens. Hope to see you all soon!!

Still learning

Hey everyone! We keep looking at other people's blogs anxiously awaiting an update and some new pictures and we think we should update ours. But I realized something we're missing...new pictures! We don't often think to take pictures of the happenings around the apartment and we never take the camera out to dinner or anything. So, there isn't a lot to show for what has been happening here lately but I guess I can just type about it.

Let me just say that we're starting out slow with the Christmas decorations this year... yes, our tree is fiber optic! But we did hang lights over the patio. There are hints of Christmas time in the apartment, but we are overflowing with it!!! We can't wait to come home and get to see everybody this time!

Heather is starting to get extra busy at work again as the new quarter approaches. It seems like there is always a new quarter approaching! Even though it is often hectic at work, she is enjoying her job very much. We are both so thankful that she has a steady job that supports so many of our needs.

I just finished my finals and they all went well. It has been so nice this quarter not having many classes because I've been able to spend time on grad school applications. I am on schedule to have the final two applications fully submitted before Christmas. We can't wait to hear back and make a decision about where we will spend the next four years of our lives...wow. This move may be the biggest change either of us have ever experienced. We are just so happy to have each other in this part of our lives.



We love you all very much and can't wait to see you in a couple weeks! And don't worry...we can't get much worse at blogging. ;) Early next year we will have a lot more to post as we find out about grad schools and such.

Here's the Latest

Hey everyone! I haven't written anything in almost two weeks now so I figured it was time to fill you in on some of the things that have been going on here lately.

A couple days after our last post, I took the Graduate Record Examination. It is the equivalent of the SAT for graduate school. I haven't received all of my scores yet but I know I scored ok on the verbal (analogies, antonyms, sentence completion, and reading comprehension), and an almost perfect score on the math portion! WHEW! It was such a relief to finish the exam and see some score that I'm happy with. I still have a few bits and pieces to put together for my grad school applications but they should all be complete by Thanksgiving break.

Heather is getting very excited for the holidays! Getting our Christmas lists together has really gotten her excited to come home to Walla Walla and see everyone. She's already made a few pumpkin pies! Look out guys...she can bake!

Mom and Dad were planning on coming up to Bellingaham this weekend to visit and go to a concert featuring the internationall acclaimed accapella group The Acoustix. Unfortunately, they both ended up with a pretty nasty stint of the flu so they had to stay home. Heather and I went to the concert last night and were blown away! Here's a youtube video of them signing. There are several others online. Of course this doesn't do them justice but hopefully you can see what they are like.