Major Change

Exciting things don't happen often in my life, (I'm not moving to Germany or anything...  that must be so exciting!) but I did finally decide on a major.  I'm going to become a mechanical engineer, much to my parents' pleasure.  They have been telling me that all of life's problems are solved in the Clyde for years.  I still don't know about that, but I'm glad to be finally headed in some sort of real direction.

Also, just two more weeks till this semester is over!!  Can you tell I'm excited? 

--Katelin

The Big 1-0-0

Sara and Benton in Capitol Reef.

On February 13, our Great-Grandpa Taylor (Becky's mom's dad) turned 100 years old! We all made a massive trek out to Loa, Utah where we got to go to Capitol Reef National Park, eat pickle pie, and celebrate a great man's life. Sadly, Grandpa Taylor passed away a few weeks later, but it's hard to be sad for a hero of a man who lived such a beautiful and long life. We're glad we got to party with him in life.

Petroglyphs

Ty and Benton at Grandpa Taylor's party.

Not to be too depressing, though, because central Utah was beautiful. If you haven't gone to Capitol Reef, you should. There are even petroglyphs on the rock walls!

Dancin' Through Life

The past few months have been filled with a whole lot of dancing. To finish my Ballroom Dance minor, I have been competing and performing nonstop. My partner, Liz, and I competed in the US Dancesport National Championships last March. We danced three events, including the samba, cha cha, paso doble, and rumba. Though we didn't get any hardware (we were one judge's mark away from making the final), we did better than ever before. You can't complain too much about that. Two weeks after, we danced in a competition at a local high school and swept first place in all our events. I have no shame stealing trophies from high schoolers. :) This weekend (April 8-9), I will be performing ballroom for the last time in Provo at the Ballroom Concert. I'll be dancing a mambo, then with the whole company in the finale.
Dance has been a much needed release during my college years. I never would have guessed I would graduate with a degree in dance. I especially never thought it would have taught me so much about life. And to think, my dad wanted a basketball team.
-JT the big
PS This photo is from a previous competition, but you get the idea. :)

Sunny Seattle... er...

Sara in front of the Seattle troll. That's a real VW Bug under his left hand. Better the Bug than Sara, I say.

Last week, Sara and I went to Seattle to visit her maternal grandparents, her aunt (Elizabeth), her aunt and uncle (Pamela and Mitchell) and their two little kids (Andrew and Elena). We had a blast! Though I had been to Seattle once, I didn't remember too much of it; just the Space Needle and the underground tour. This time, we went to the Experience Music Project museum, where we saw an exhibit detailing the development of the electric guitar from the 17th century to the present--it was fascinating. We had some local food (though no seafood), went to an awesome park (Gasworks) where kids can climb all over the old machinery that constituted a gasworks, watched boats being raised and lowered on the locks separating the Puget Sound from Lake Washington, and played lots of video games. We had a blast--if only the rain would ever abate...

Aachin' for Aachen

The cathedral in Aachen, Germany.

Short answer: Sara and I are moving to Germany this summer for a two-year postdoc!

Long answer: Last year, Sara and I decided that we want to spend some time living in Europe while I do my postdoctoral research. We applied for a couple of different fellowships last October, both leading me to a lab in Aachen, Germany (on the western border with Belgium and the Netherlands) doing low-field MRI research analyzing old works of art. (Yes, seriously. This sounds like the sweetest gig ever!)

Well, on March 16, we got notification that I was accepted to the prestigious Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellowship program (website here), so we're moving out there this summer! We don't have an exact move date, but it'll be sometime between June and August.

Quick facts about Aachen: around 250,000 people, 20% of which are students. Charlemagne's capital. Lots of spas. Who's going to visit us?

--UPDATE 13 April 2011--

Just found out that we start our fellowship on 4 July 2011 and will be in Germany through August 2013. WOOHOO!