Hace 10 anos...El CCM

Pictured below is the post office in Madrid (it doesn't look like the Savoy post office).
As I mentioned earlier this week, we arrived in Madrid Spain as the sun was rising. I spent a month in Madrid at the Centro de Capacitacion de los Misioneros for additional training in teaching the gospel and speaking Spanish. It was very different from the MTC in Provo; there were thousands of missionaries in the Provo MTC, where there were only 30 of us in Madrid. In Provo we would see the MTC president once a week or so at firesides from a distance. In Madrid the CCM president (President Richards) had lunch with us almost every day. President Richards is a great-grandson of Franklin D. Richards, who is my great-great-great grandfather. Having lunch with the president every day had advantages and disadvantages. One day Elder Swensen and I sat at the same table as President and Sister Richards. I was thoroughly enjoying an apple, when Sister Richards interrupted and suggested that I eat my apple a little quieter. She demonstrated the difference for me between noisely eating an apple and quietly eating an apple. President Richards smiled and said, "that will help you as a missionary." I tried to develop the attribute of being a quiet apple eater, but it didn't ever really sink in. To this day, it is probably best for me to eat my apples in solitude.
Once a week we were able to leave the CCM and see the sites of Madrid. It was incredible how much older things are in Spain than they are in the U.S.
It was helpful to have native Spanish speakers be our teachers in the CCM. One of them had us believe that he didn't speak any English the whole first week! It was also neat to hear their testimonies, many of them were first generation members of the church. Hermana (Sister) Martinez said the first visit from the missionaries, she didn't believe. On the second visit they showed a video about Joseph Smith, she felt a feeling then she'd never felt before at age 14, and has known it's true ever since.
We were among the first missionaries at the Madrid CCM; it and the Madrid Temple were completed and dedicated earlier in the year. It was wonderful to live literally within the shadow of a Temple for a month. Often we would sing at night in front of the temple. Ironically there was a Catholic nunery kiddy-corner from the temple. They had a statue of Christ. When the temple was completed, they realized the statue pointed directly at the temple. Appropriate I think, for in the temple we learn more about the atonement of Jesus Christ and our relationship with him and our Heavenly Father.
The temple is on the left, the CCM is on the right.

1st full day of school!

School Closings

News Gazette

Prairieview-Ogden Junior High

Thomasboro
Date: 08/20/09
School close Reason: plumbing break
More information:
Prairieview Ogden Junior High (7th and 8th grades) will not have school Thursday due to a break in plumbing.


A leak in the pipes was reported at the end of May before school let out. They waited until the first day of school to "fix it." The problem was bigger than originally anticipated. Does that mean that I got the day off? Heavens No! I had to report to the elementary building, and act as a copy girl for any elementary teacher who asked. I didn't get much planned sitting in a room without a computer, and sharing a small "desk" space on a TV cart. Needless to say today was a pointless work day.

By the way: I did help the High School football coach laminate his play cards. After a slight mishap with the laminating machine (which we thought we broke), the task was complete.
Kind of funny to have the first day of school canceled due to poor summer maintenance.

FYI: Our current principal is resigning next week to move to a better job. We have no replacement at this time. I wonder if we will really get one.

Really posted by Brittney

Happy Anniversary Princess!

Hace 10 anos...

Ten years ago today I left for Spain, we arrived at dawn on the 18th. The sunrise in Madrid was beautiful from the air.
We left the MTC (missionary training center) in Provo, Utah early on the morning of the 17th by bus. When we arrived at the Salt Lake airport, my family was waiting for me.
From my journal: "Paul (my then almost 2, now almost 12 year old brother) took my finger and wanted to leave. I took him, Camille, Luke and Jenifer on a walk to get a drink. Then Grandma Smith came, then Grandma Richards." At the time Grandma and Grandpa Richards were serving as missionaries at the church employment center where they helped people find employment, so Grandpa sent a letter to me with Grandma and said he would cover their shift so she could come see me off. (Some other time I'll have to share part of that letter with you, it still means a lot to me.) "Jake came. (Jake is my cousin). He seemed excited to be there. He's excited and getting ready to go on his mission." (He was later called to serve in Venezuela, it was neat to write to each other from our respective missions.) "Mom said she wouldn't rather be anywhere more than sending me to Spain."
Last year when I asked my mom how she felt about sending my sister on a mission to Lithuania, she said it was like sending me to Spain, my sister was so excited to go that she couldn't be anything but excited too. I'm sure it wasn't easy for my mom to tell me good-bye for two years, but I also knew she was excited and proud of the choice I made, as was my dad.

While we were in the MTC, my companion, Elder Swensen told me that his brother had told him to take a good look at his dad at the airport, because he was worried about his dad's heart. When I saw his dad at the airport, I thought Elder Swensen's brother was crazy, his dad looked healthy to me. We were both right. Elder Swensen's dad did pass away while we were serving our missions, but is was in a car accident, and not from heart failure. The last time Elder Swensen saw his dad in this life, Elder Swensen was getting on an airplane with me to fly to Spain. When I found out about his dad dying I wrote, "Elder Swensen told us his dad was killed in an accident. Elder Swensen knows he will see his dad again and that he (Elder Swensen) is where his dad wants him (on a mission)."
As missionaries we taught that families can be together forever. Elder Swensen knew that, and so do I.

Canadia - eh?

It seems like we went on this vacation ages ago, but it has only been 3 weeks since we got back. I guess you could say that we are 3 weeks overdue on reporting on our trip to Montreal. First off, for those who don't know Montreal is an island; there are a couple of bridges, but only 1 road will take you there. Driving in Montreal is an adventure all on its own. Although they do drive on the same side of the road as the United States, they have plenty other crazy driving techniques to make up for it. Not only are most of the roads one way streets, their lanes are extremely tiny and end with almost no warning whatsoever. The right hand lane is a driving lane, unless some people need a place to park - it then becomes a parking lane. Thus you can be driving in the right hand lane hoping to turn right when you happen upon parked cars in your way and a sign indicating you can only turn left. As I mentioned before, to get out of Montreal, there is 1 main bridge, and believe it or not only 1 very confusing way to get there. We figured this out when we took an evening temple trip that is on the other side of the river. As we followed the signs to the Pont Jacques Cartier, we ended up going in a complete circle, and we were half way across the bridge when we realized - Hey!, We finally made it on the bridge. We also realized that down town Montreal is really no place for a car in that parking (unless you want to pay an arm and a leg) is really hard to come by. Montrealians drive pretty much wherever they feel like, and all Canadian cars must not come equipped with a turn signal.




Needless to say, we stayed in a brand new hotel (it had been open for a month), and were treated like royalty. (We paid for it all in the end as well - thank goodness the University is footing most of the bill). With valet parking and a tremendous view of both rivers from our room on the 19th floor, we enjoyed our stay. The hotel was right in the middle of downtown, where we were within walking distance of a truely multicultural city. We ate a variety of foods from a variety of countries. Never once did we settle for something "American." Most food in America, even when meant to be foreign, has an Americanized taste. That is not true in Canada. All foreign food is authentic in that I have never tasted anything like it. Despite my love for French and Italian food, what surprised me the most is how much I really loved Lebanese food. They eat some chicken, some beef, but mostly lamb. The variety of vegetables and spices made a dish I couldn't dream of recreating. We didn't eat anything strange unless you count an eggplant, artichoke, and Pepper sandwich strange. Above is a picture of Bruce in the entrance to a quaint and authentic French restaurant in Vieux (old) Montreal. The food didn't disappoint us, the price did, but I don't think we were near as disappointed as the waiter when we told him we only wanted ice water to drink not the plethora of fancy imported wines.

When the conference ended, we wanted to stay another day in Montreal. We could no longer afford to stay at Le Westin (especially if the University wasn't going to pay for this one), so we stayed at our first bed and breakfast in another area of Montreal. We punched a number pad on the outside of the door, and went up 2 flights of stairs to our cute little bedroom. Breakfast in the morning was tremendous - 3 courses. 1)Chocolate Bread Pudding - tasty, but way too much chocolate in my opinion. 2) Eggs Benedict, toast with 6 choices of jams (has anyone ever had watermelon jam before? - We have now!), and all the orange juice we could drink. 3) French toast with a thick strawberry sauce rather than syrup. Tres Delicious!

We took a ride on the metro which reminded Bruce so much of his mission, that he became home sick. I told him that if he were still on his mission, he wouldn't know me. So to make up for it, he took this silly picture of me riding the metro. (Funny note, I ended up sitting in the section reserved for elderly people and pregnant women because it was the only seat open. No one had to know that I didn't really qualify to sit there. I'm just glad that no one who really qualified actually got on the metro - that could have been awkward.)

We spent an entire afternoon in the Le Jardin Botanique de Montreal. (Botanical Gardens). It was there I decided that I want to have multiple Bonsai trees in my house. Perhaps someday I will learn the art of Bonsai. Although it originated in Japan, Bonsai is not a Japanese tree as I originally thought it was. Wikipedia's definition of Bonsai is the art of aesthetic miniaturization of trees, or of developing woody or semi-woody plants shaped as trees, by growing them in containers. Cultivation includes techniques for shaping, watering, and re-potting in various styles of containers. Here is a picture of Bruce poking his head through a Red wood Bonsai tree. The tree looks pretty big, but considering it's relatives in California, this one is minuscule.





. I loved walking through the botanical garden, and Bruce didn't think that it was half bad either. I decided that I want to live in a cute cottage house with a white picket fence surrounded by hundreds of flowers (all kinds), with a pond and waterfall, and orchard in the back yard. Dream on right? I was impressed with how many foreign flower arrangements they had. It truely was remarkable.

I can't forget to mention the insectarium we visited. They had an entire room dedicated to butterflies, one to bees, and one to ants and termites. I am proud to announce that I weigh the same as 1,250,000 ants. (They had a scale that gave you your weight in ants.) They had a display of a termite hill that was the exact mirror image of Goudi's Sagrada Familia.




We made one more stop to the Olympic park and monument which they built when the Olympics were held in Montreal. The monument looks like a huge spaceship. I'm sure there's a reason why, but we didn't have enough time to go inside and take a tour. So we got some pictures from the outside. As we were leaving Montreal, we had to stop and take a picture of this gigantic ball. It was built as a monument for the World's Fair, but is now used as a biosphere.


I don't think I did too much damage in Montreal. They let me in okay, and it took longer to let us out. We had a great time becoming more "cultured", and will soon relate the rest of our trip and other happenings since then.

Thanks for sticking this long post out. You get a gold star on your forehead! :)

Mini-triatholon

One week ago I did the Champaign mini-triatholon with my friend Jeremy Hatch. The race started with a swim/run through a lazy river,

continued through lap swimming (400 meters of swimming total), went on to biking (6 miles), and concluded with running (2 miles).

I didn't do much training while on our vacation, so my goals were to finish the race and still be able to walk when I got done. I accomplished both goals. It was fun!

Niagra Falls

We have to keep up with our friends the Paynes and the Wheelers who have both published posts recently about their trips to Niagra Falls, not to mention the Diaz family who also recently visited Niagra Falls, so here goes:
We spent a long time at Niagra Falls,
viewing it from the U.S. side,

the Canadian side, the U.S. and Canadian side at the same time,the back side from the islands (the island on the right is actually Angeline island, named after my sister... or maybe someone else's sister),
the bottom side from the Maid of the Mist boat,the top side from the look out point, and of course I couldn't see all that water and not jump in!Every angle we saw it from was amazing. It reminds me of the majesty of God and the nothingness of man.

Feed Straw

For three years I've been explaining to people that the research I'm doing is to prevent negative energy balance in dairy cows after calving. In July I got to present my research at the American Dairy Science Association meetings in Montreal. The graph above is from my presentation. Notice the green line. That represents the cows fed the straw diet. They were fed to meet, but not greatly exceed their energy requirement before they had their calf. After calving all cows were fed the same diet. Notice the green line again, the straw fed cows returned to positive energy balance quicker than the other cows did, and because they were not overfed during the dry period (60 days when cows are not milked before they have a calf), they did not use body fat to do it, thus preventing accumulation of fat in the liver as shown in one of my other graphs. Fat accumulation can lead to ketosis, metritis, retained placentas, displaced abomasums, not fun stuff.
By the way, the red line represents cows fed a diet higher in energy with more corn and corn silage. It is difficult to control how much energy a cow consumes during the dry period, because if you just feed less, one "Boss" cow will eat as much as she wants, and the more timid cows will go hungry. That is why we fed straw, they can eat all they want, and still not get too much energy. The blue line are cows fed the straw diet for 40 days, then the higher energy diet for 20 days. This represents the typical feeding strategy of many dairy farmers, backed up by little research. Our conclusion was that this 2-stage system provided little advantage over feeding the straw diet through the entire dry period.
This is a picture of me in front of Palais de Congres where I presented my research. Dr. Drackley, my major adviser was pleased with the presentation. Dr. Grant from Miner Dairy Research Institute where I did my internship six years ago made it a point to tell me I did a good job. Dr. Grummer, department head at Wisconsin listened to my presentation and walked out talking to Dr. Drackley when it was over. Last month in Dubuque he called for more research like what I presented this month in Montreal. Most importantly, Brittney said I did a good job too.