Saturday, August 31, 2013

Wisconsin or Bust

While we have been anticipating Aaron's graduation for some time now, that hasn't helped him decide what exactly he wants to do for a career.  We have toyed with teaching, research, venture capital, international vs. stateside, etc.  If there is anything I've learned of the last few years it would be that having a plan is great, but being able to change that plan important too. (As I write that, I realize that it sounds simple but it has been incredibly hard for me to learn.) We decided to teach at a university while Aaron looks for a post-doc.  A post-doc is a 2 to 3 year research intensive stay with a university.  It is meant to prepare individuals for a job in academia by gaining experience of the grant writing process and publication of results.  In order for Aaron to teach/research at a large (research) university, he needs to complete a post-doc.  So we started sending out applications and slowly started hearing back.  I must say that I was surprised by the toughness of the job market.  Aaron sent out 60+ applications, got 6 phone interviews, and 3 of those turned into offers. He accepted a 1-2 year visiting professorship in Stevens Point WI.  The other two offers were in Ashville NC (so hard to turn this one down) and Tulsa OK.  The deciding factor was that Stevens Point was just a visiting professorship and the other two were tenure track positions.  Aaron didn't feel good about taking a long term position knowing that our plan was to leave after a year. So April 1, 2013 we moved out of our house in Logan and moved in with my parent in Brigham City.  Aaron wasn't done with his dissertation yet so he continued to commute to Logan while I enjoyed playing with Max. 

For whatever reason we decided to move only what would fit in Stan the Van and our car.  I was doubtful that we could fit everything I wanted but all the years of Aaron playing Tetris paid off and I was able to bring most of it. 
I wish we had a better picture of the inside but we were even able to bring our couch! 

So Aaron turned in his dissertation on Aug 17, and we left for Wisconsin on the 19th. 


We drove through Wyoming and it was a whole lot of this....


After what seemed like an eternity, we started to see this!  That's right my friends, those are trees and whatever the geographical feature between hills and mountains are called.  That is if you can see past the blurry bugs on my windshield.


That's right - South Dakota!


We decided that the chance of us coming back through South Dakota might be slim - plus I needed a break - so we stopped at Mt. Rushmore.  I'm a fan.


The van did great.  Aaron was so concerned that something was going to fall off, we had 7 tie down on our mattress alone, that he was constantly making sure everything was secure.  While at times I may have thought that he over did it, I am incredibly grateful that nothing fell off and that we didn't have any car problems - feeling very blessed.




We drove 7 hours the first day, 11 hours the second day, and 4 hours the third day.  On day 2, after about 10.5 hours I was done, and by done I mean DONE.  Aaron and I had walkie-talkies and he later told me that around this time I started to get a little snippy.  This exchange may or may not have happened....

Me: (telling Aaron some observation that I think is funny - thinking back on it, it did not merit a response)
Aaron: (no reply)
Me: hey can you hear me?
Aaron:(no reply)
Me: HEY
Aaron: Yea
Me: Can't you hear me?
Aaron: Yea
Me: Then why didn't you answer?
Aaron: uh...
Me: Are you even listening to me?
Aaron: (Pause) I'm thinking we should find somewhere to stop for the night.

Now just so you realize how great my husband is, he drove the entire 22 hours with his window down and no air conditioning and let me have the air conditioned car - #bestwifeaward.  Also, the van is not a quiet ride and he had to try and listen to my continuous ramblings. In short, finding somewhere to sleep that night was the right decision and as you can see from the picture below I was much cheerier the following morning. It is truly amazing how drastically sleep (and food) can swing my moods. 


We arrived at Stevens Point on Aug 21, 2013 and I will post pictures of our apartment soon.  Needless to say I was so relieved when we pulled into town.  It has been a bit of an adjustment for us but we are learning to love it.  Here's to making Wisconsin feel like home.


Dr. Davis

Can I get a "What - What" for this guy? Aaron is now officially Aaron Patrick Davis, PhD. Wahoo!

The last few months have been a wee bit stressful and if Aaron had any weight to lose I'm sure he would have lost it.  Having gone through the process of a defense and thesis for my masters degree I thought I knew what was ahead of him but let me state for the record that getting a PhD is a million times harder than getting a masters.


 Here are a few stats about his process:

Time taken to completion: 6 years
Length of dissertation: 183 pages
Title of dissertation: Apoptotic and Epigenetic Inducement of Embryo Failure Following Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer. 
Number of times said dissertation was revised: 7
Total number of all-nighters pulled: 15ish
Number of all-nighters pulled just during dissertation process: 8
Longest stretch of time without sleep: 46 hours
Number of cow embryos used: 5 million(ish)

Needless to say, I am pretty proud of him and incredibly glad that he is done.


PS - Since she will never see this page this shout out goes to the karma of the universe but a HUGE thank you to Dr. Abby Benninghoff.  Your support and guidance is greatly appreciated and a significant factor in Aaron's success.  Seriously...thank you.



Sunday, May 12, 2013

Mount Olympus

Aaron's brother Josh let us borrow his trad climbing gear and we decided to try it out on Mount Olympus in Salt Lake City.  Let me say up front, I had no idea what I was getting into...

This is Mt. Olympus - fortunately for Aaron he did not point this out until we were done or I probably would have backed out. We headed up the white face on the right side.


So we didn't get many shots of the approach but this one should give you an idea of how it went...
 


 Of course Aaron loved it!


After a little snacky-snack I was much happier. Aaron has learned to be liberal with the snacks - it's best for all involved.

 And ready to tackle the mountain.                                               Aaron, as always, is ready too.





We are off!


Ok, so we were not super great at getting shots along the way but it is at this point that you can possibly begin to feel my anxiety...






















Ok, all joking aside, I did start to get super anxious about this time.  You start to look around and yes it is amazing (!) but I started to think about how the crap we were going to get down and how much rescue the helicopter was going to cost.  Aaron tried to take my mind off of these irrational thoughts by taking pictures of the number of pitches we had done up until that point.  I wish we had done this the whole way and hopefully will do so on our next big wall climb.

A


It took us a total of nine pitches from start to finish but since we only had two more (between my moments of panic and the top) it seems somewhat anticlimactic. But then you get a load of the view...



Absolutely amazing right?!  The sky was so clear and it felt like we could see forever. 


Going down was not nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be.  We just repelled down a side gully and "scooted" down a rock face.   I can't tell you how many times while climbing the face I asked myself  - how the crap did you marry someone who does this much less gets you to do it too! I am not what you might call the "overly adventurous type".  Sure I use to get on roller coasters with the best of them but as I've gotten older I came to realize that the thrill just wasn't worth the puke that came afterwards.  But here's the amazing thing  - after this climb, there was no puke, metaphorical or otherwise. I think that is one of the most amazing things about being married to Aaron.  He can push me to my adventurous limits while supporting me enough to see me succeed.  I don't know if everyone gets to find that in a spouse but I'm so very glad I did. 

And to celebrate my/our great accomplishment, I ate this day old donut - it was more satisfying then it should have been.


And last but not least, here's Stan.



Hiking the Wellsvilles

Last fall Aaron and I hiked the mighty Wellsvilles. Aaron is definitely a stronger hiker but even I couldn't resist the fall colors.








The views from the top are enough to make you forget how hard the hike is.  It is definitely on our To-Do list again this summer.

2012 Davis Brothers Trip - Yellowstone WY

 Aaron comes from a family of 6 boys - I realize there are only 5 here - miss you Ammon (and Andrea) - stop being so smart and come play with us soon! Anyway, Aaron's mom is definitely a saint because the shenanigans these boys get into when they are together were surely multiplied when they were younger - and didn't have children/wives back home to make them think twice.


This year the Davis brothers took Stan to Yellowstone and, per usual, found some excitement.  Amongst other things, activities included some white water rafting...


 And a little swimming in a waterfall.



You may think swimming in a waterfall is exciting enough, but it was followed up by a series of events that culminated in a park ranger searching the van for drugs.


 I don't know about you but if I ran into this group, I'd probably search their van for drugs too.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Paul and Mandy's Goats

 My brother, Paul, and his wife, Mandy, have their very own herd of goats.  Needless to say, we are jealous!