Life Lately

I know I haven't written in a while. We've been busy trying to get ready for the rest of our summer. We are trying to find someone to move into our current apartment, which is a long and uncomfortable process.  But I'm sure that it will all work out. Today is our six month anniversary.  We've been married for half a year! Crazy. It's been a fun six months though.
I've found a new cause. Well, I was already worked up about it quite a few months ago, but I am renewed in my wrath.  I'm talking about Female Genital Mutilation, or female circumcision.  I'm going to be doing more research on it, but here's what I know so far. Young girls, ranging in age from infancy to adolescence are subjected to female circumcision all over the world, even here in the United States.  Their genitals are cut, so that they feel no sexual pleasure, and therefore will not be promiscuous.  In some cultures, girls are not marriageable until they've been cut.  FGM can range in extremity from the removal of part of the clitoris to the removal of all external genitalia (and the labia being sewn shut, with a small hole left for urine and menstruation to pass through).  There are so many problems with this, starting with its implementation.  In some third world countries, they have nothing but sharpened stones or rusted razor blades to perform the circumcision with.  It's horrible.
Girls who survive the initial circumcision can contract venereal diseases such as HIV (from the rusty razor blades, etc.) or suffer infections and cysts.  They feel pain for the rest of their lives, and sex and pregnancy only cause more complications and pain.  If the physical pain isn't enough, those girls are traumatized well into adulthood.
Female Genital Mutilation is a crime.  Not many know about or acknowledge it, and it's a problem all over the world.  We need to spread awareness. While women in the United States are spending thousands of dollars on gold vibrators and "vajazzling," young girls and babies in Africa, Asia, and other areas of the world aren't even afforded the luxury of a healthy reproductive system.
There is a woman who is trying to combat FGM, but her fight is mainly restricted to Europe. Her name is Waris Dirie, and she is a Somalian woman who moved to the UK and became a supermodel.  She has written a book that became a movie, Desert Flower, and she's also started the Desert Flower Foundation in an effort to eradicate female circumcision.  I want to help her fight, but I don't know how....yet.
I want to start by keeping girls in America safe: http://articles.cnn.com/2010-05-21/health/america.female.genital.cutting_1_female-circumcision-cultural-beliefs-somali-immigrant?_s=PM:HEALTH.
Desert Flower Foundation: http://www.desertflowerfoundation.org/en/
I'm sorry for the graphic nature of tonight's blog post. I'm just grateful that I have a healthy and protected reproductive system, and I'm also grateful that I am educated about my own body (to some extent). I hope someday to help other girls have that basic right.

Surgery

So, last weekend, Nick started to notice some pain in his mouth.  It was pain he had felt before, and he knew that he would be dealing with an abscess soon. Abscessed teeth and gums are nasty (an abscess is basically a pocket of infection, so there's a lot of nasty infected fluids like pus). Since his abscess was causing him a lot of pain, I decided to take him to the dentist on Tuesday. I came home from work early (around 11 am), and started to call dentists' offices, looking for an open appointment.  I called 8 or 9 dentists, and no one had an open appointment. Poor Nick was lying in our bed, full of pain, so I started to look for more dentists. I called a dentist in downtown Provo, and they had an opening right away! So I rushed Nick to their office, and they took him back to the dentist almost immediately.  Everyone there was really nice, and we loved the atmosphere of the office and the quality of their service (yay for Jeppson Dental!).
Dr. Jeppson told Nick that his abscesses (he had had two other abscesses in the same spot over the past decade or so) were the result of a botched root canal several years earlier.  Dr. Jeppson could have tried to fix it, but he thought that it would be better for Nick to see a specialist, so he prescribed some Lortab (a really strong painkiller) and Penicillin and made an appointment for Nick to see an endodontist (an inner tooth and tissue specialist) the next day.
So, I filled his prescriptions and drugged him up for the rest of Tuesday. (Side note: Nick is pretty funny when he is on Lortab. After he took the pills, he was grinning ear to ear. When I asked why he was smiling, he said, "I'm happy. I'm so.......happy." and then he giggled. Haha. When I asked what made him so happy, he said, "My pills....want some?" and giggled some more. Teehee.) Anyway, for the rest of Tuesday, we relaxed and watched some TV shows and movies.
Wednesday morning, I took Nick to the endodontist, Dr. Jenson.  Dr. Jenson drained the rest of Nick's abscess (it had burst a little while he was sleeping Tuesday night), and then told him that he had two options for fixing his botched root canal.  One of the options was surgery, which we chose because it had a higher percent chance of success. Dr. Jenson's office recommended having surgery as soon as possible, so we made an appointment for the next day (today).
Today I took Nick to get surgery at 1:30. He was in there for two hours, and when he came out, he was in a lot of pain.  He kept saying that he hated his life, and sometimes he swore. I got him home as quickly as I could, and gave him Lortab. Then I went to Target to fill the rest of his prescriptions (Dr. Jenson prescribed three different medications) and stocked up on soup, smoothies, and ice cream.  Luckily for Nick, our Target carries a line of Panera soups! Now we just have to wait for Nick to heal. I'm glad that Nick got his surgery, because it will prevent future abscesses. It was costly and painful, but I think we will be glad in the long run.
While Nick has been sick, I've been working on my Capstone paper, which is due tomorrow. Here's a picture of almost all of the books I'm using to write my paper (it has to be about 20 pages, with an annotated bibliography and footnotes):

There are about 26 books in that stack. I'll be glad when Spring Term is over! But I am pretty excited about my topic: the lives of wealthy Southern women, which were actually a lot tougher than we think.

Progress

This week has been busy, but I feel like I'm making a lot of progress! It's pretty random progress though, so here's a list:

• First of all, we are combating pregnancy rumors. Haha. We aren't pregnant! Some of our friends pulled a little prank on facebook, saying that we were pregnant. And I've been pinning some cute baby ideas for Erin's baby Dominic, but people assumed it was for my own little bun in the oven (which is pretty understandable). So, we aren't pregnant. :)
• Second, I've started to make a list of sources I will need to complete my goal of becoming an Accredited Genealogist. I'm going to be expanding my library of genealogy books for English research by buying a comprehensive atlas, area-specific research guides, standards manuals,and other similar books. I'm also going to be compiling my own research binder with helpful websites I can go to and information and historical records about major records (church records, civil registration, poor law records, etc). I'm really excited about taking this step towards accreditation.
• Third, I've made some major progress on my homework lately. In the next two weeks, I'll be working on a 30-hour family history research project and my 20-page capstone paper. I'm spending two or three days at the Family History Library in Salt Lake to get ahead on my 30-hour project, and I've got at least 25 books to find good sources and information for my capstone. I'm right on track!
• Lastly, I've been eating healthier to lower my blood pressure, but I still like to indulge in some of my favorite foods every now and then. Today, we got to eat some cheesesteak sandwiches from Moochie's! Moochie's is our favorite restaurant in Salt Lake, and it is sooo delicious. Here's a picture of our yummy meal (not our actual meal, but someone else's sandwich from Moochie's): 

Goals!

So, I've set a new group of goals for myself.
First of all, my biggest goal for now is to graduate in December. So far, I'm on track. After this Spring term is over, I'll be basically done with all of my major and minor requirements. All I'll need is to complete my internships and earn more credits. I've registered for enough credits in the Fall, so as far as I can tell, I'll be totally finished in December. Which brings me to my next goal.
After graduation, I would like to become accredited. An Accredited Genealogist is basically someone who is a family history expert in a certain area of the world, and is considered a professional family historian. I want to become accredited in English family history research. To become accredited, I will need to meet the following requirements:

• Application
• About 1,000 hours of documented research in the area of accreditation
• A pedigree chart with at least four generations, with every event documented (linked to a reliable source)
• Written reports, with proper citations
• Compiled reference materials to help further research in the area
• A written test that is comprised of six sections
• An oral examination
• Defense of the pedigree submitted with the application

I already have about 100 hours of British research, meaning that I am almost 1/10 of the way there! I can do this. :)

If you want to know more about accreditation, you can visit icapgen.org. 

Our Home

So, we've had a little bit of car drama this week. We had another keys-locked-in-the-car incident, and some transportation issues this week, but that's all behind us. Since I didn't get to campus yesterday, I spent the day rearranging our living room, with some success. I felt like our living room was a little cramped, so I got rid of a bookshelf that was broken and moved a couple of things around, and I quite like it. I thought this would be a good opportunity to put up some pictures of our apartment. It's a little retro, but I love it-it's our home. I didn't take pictures of our bathroom or kitchen yet, but I will. They happen to be the most retro parts of our apartment. Our sinks are a 1970's green (olive-y?), and our counters are white with flecks of the same green. It's kind of cute! So, here are some pictures.

The first picture is of a really cute onesie that I bought at Meijer because it was $5 and Nick wants our kids to be athletic. Wouldn't it be so cute if we had a Super Bowl baby? dang cute.

The rest of the pictures are: our bedroom (notice the shoe rack that Nick made for me! And also that we have a lot of clothes...I have a lot of clothes), some puzzle pictures from Nana that are hanging in our second bedroom/home office, our desk and computer set-up in the second bedroom, and our bookshelves (also in the second bedroom), and lastly, our living room. The other pictures of our living room were too dark, so this is the only one you get. We've got some lovely pictures (courtesy of Jann), and some other pretty decorations and whatnot. What you can't see in the picture is our two comfy easy chairs, our tv, and our other wall with pretty pictures on it. Maybe when I take pictures of our kitchen and bathroom, I can take more of the living room.

 That's all for now, folks!

Fact or Faked?

First of all, we got to visit the Greens down in Santa Clara last weekend, and it was tons of fun! We had a great time seeing everyone, and it was nice to take a break from school and work (even though school just started).
Second, we've been watching a lot of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (about rapes and other special cases), and Fact or Faked: the Paranormal Files (about aliens and ghosts and whatnot). Consequently, whenever there is a noise in our house that is unaccounted for, I immediately grab the pointiest object in my nearest vicinity, and conclude the worst: it's an alien rapist! Maybe we need to start watching a new show....haha.
Third, we've figured out our plans for the near future! We'll be moving up to Bountiful, where we've found an apartment in the Orchard Gardens apartment complex. It's a relief to finally know where we will be living in August.
Finally, we are getting back into the swing of school and work life after a few fun vacations. Yesterday I went up to Salt Lake with Nick, so that I could do some homework at the Family History Library (I'm taking a New England Family History Research class). We were stuck in traffic for almost 2 hours because of an accident at the Point of the Mountain. Apparently, a motorcyclist was trying to pass and moved into a slower lane. He ran into the SUV in front of him and was thrown from his bike. A woman swerved so that she wouldn't hit him, and she drove down a 40-foot ravine. The cyclist died, but the woman who swerved is okay. It's all very sad. When we finally got through the accident scene, we saw the cyclist's helmet on the side of the road. It definitely made me grateful that we were able to get home safely last night.

Visiting Home

I got to go home and visit with my family. My sister Erin just had a baby, and it was so fun to hold him and play with him. His name is Dominic Michael Brighton, and he is one month old. I love him!
I also got to play with my little brother David. We spent all of Friday together while Mom was on a field trip with Laura, so we had some fun time together. We watched Little Einsteins together, and I made him some pancakes, just like he asked. :) Little Einsteins taught us the Best Friend Song, which we loved to sing for the rest of the weekend! I've uploaded a video of him singing the song...I took it with my iPod, so the quality might not be fantastic. Enjoy!