Rivers

"Never in his life had he seen a river before—this sleek, sinuous, full-bodied animal, chasing and chuckling, gripping things with a gurgle and leaving them with a laugh, to fling itself on fresh playmates that shook themselves free, and were caught and held again.  All was a-shake and a-shiver—glints and gleams and sparkles, rustle and swirl, chatter and bubble.  The Mole was bewitched, entranced, fascinated. By the side of the river he trotted as one trots, when very small, by the side of a man who holds one spellbound by exciting stories; and when tired at last, he sat on the bank, while the river still chattered on to him, a babbling procession of the best stories in the world, sent from the heart of the earth to be told at last to the insatiable sea."

Just a lovely quote from The Wind in the Willows.

School

Wow!  Today is the first day of classes at Georgetown.  I am looking forward to my time here, but there are a lot of things to take care of.  It has been, and will be, a stressful week.  Despite this, I feel it will be a good semester.  This first week of orientations and meetings and trying to find a place live will not last forever.

Beth started yesterday and loved her class.  She enjoyed her class this morning and is sitting in one right now.

It is hard to believe that we are done with BYU.  DC is our life now.  Though, to really make it our life we will need a home...so apartment searching will continue!

To the East...

So...the last few weeks have been eventful!

I took my last class, and my last final, at BYU.

I graduated!  I got to play a piano piece at the Honors program luncheon.  The main campus event was remarkably short (only an hour!).  I played the organ for the College of Fine Arts and Communications event (which went well, but was far to early in the morning...).

Beth and I moved—across the country!  We traveled with Jason and Natalie from Utah to North Platte, Nebraska, to Keokuk, Iowa (to spend a day in Nauvoo!!!), to Columbus, Ohio.  While in Nauvoo we did a session and baptisms in the Nauvoo Temple, what a great day!  After Columbus, we headed to Warrenton, and they headed toward Boston.  Currently we are staying with my folks until we move into DC.

Family reunion times.  Beth got her first taste of an Evans family gathering, and she liked it!  We had fun playing games, telling funny stories, and going to the lake.

Beth and I celebrated our first anniversary.  How time flies!  I can hardly believe a year has passed.  We went to Charlottesville and enjoyed seeing Old Town.  Then we spent a day with our friends, the Jenkins, traveling along the old Route 11.

Now we are in the house-hunting, school-preparing, etc stage.  Beth starts classes Tuesday, and I begin on Wednesday.  We have lots of orientation-esque things next week.  We've ordered textbooks.  Now all we need is a place to live...  And two jobs...

Life is great!

Grateful for Prophets

Last month's First Presidency message is AMAZING!  Just saying.  I love the perspective President Uchtdorf gives.  I particularly loved this part: "Being always in the middle means that the game is never over, hope is never lost, defeat is never final. For no matter where we are or what our circumstances, an eternity of beginnings and an eternity of endings stretch out before us."

July First Presidency Message

Read and enjoy.  And think about it for a while.

Back to the Blog

Hello world!

While at church yesterday, Beth and I heard talks about keeping records and family history.  So we've resumed writing in our journals.  And I think we will be trying to revive our blogs.

For those who don't know, I got married to Beth Rizley a year ago (August 20, 2011).  I have given my senior recital and submitted my honors thesis.  I am currently finishing my last two classes at BYU (economics and advanced writing) and graduate in a little over two weeks.  Then...we are headed to DC!  I am starting at Georgetown (MA in Democracy and Governance) and Beth is starting at George Washington (MA in Art History).  We are very excited!

at long last...

another update. I've been in Provo now for almost three weeks. I miss Cambridge, but am settling in. I've made it into Concert Choir again - we performed yesterday for the devotional and have a concert next week. Speaking of the devotional, it was given by Elder Hales. And that was following the regional conference this past Sunday with Elders Packer, Holland, and Snow with Sister Beck. And the CES fireside with Elder Scott. Such a great run of spiritual messages. Classes are hectic, but it will be a good semester of growth.

Side note: I finished The Picture of Dorian Gray yesterday. Very good book. I highly recommend it.

Last Night Abroad

I travel home in the morning. CRAZY, indeed! My travels will last for almost 24 hours straight! I'll leave King's College gates around 9 AM by taxi, take the train and the tube to the airport, and then catch a flight at 2:30. I travel to DC (via Dallas—gross that i have to fly over my house to get to my transfer!) where I arrive at 12:15 AM and then we'll drive home, probably arriving around 1:30 AM on Monday morning. Factoring in the time change (1:30AM Eastern is 6:30 AM London) makes it seem even longer...the joys of international travel!

This last week has gone well despite being very busy.

Monday and Tuesday were consumed by writing my last paper for Cambridge. I wrote my Spooks and Spies paper on the VENONA project. Quite an interesting topic—check it out! (On wikipedia, if you don't have very much time.)

Wednesday was filled with frantic completion of the paper and then switching over to exam study mode for Thursday's Spooks and Spies exam. I ended up answering questions on 21st-century US intelligence/terrorism and 1983's nuclear scare. The 1983 scare is very fascinating. (Go ahead and check out wikipedia's articles on Operation Ryan and Able Archer, but the best resource is "1983: The Brink of Apocalypse" on youtube. It is 1 hour, 15 minutes long, but well worth it!)

After the exam on Thursday, I relaxed, got my hair cut, and went to the final formal hall. The food was amazing, but it was sad to look around and realize that it was coming to a conclusion. That very night, people began heading to the airport.

Friday and Saturday have been spent throughout Cambridge. I've seen some fun things and relaxed. I love this place and am very sad to go. But I will be back. As long as I can last another two years...alright, I can survive just fine.

Not too many new pictures for this last week...sorry!