Finishing the School Year 2017

Matthias and Lizzy loved being at Wasatch Elementary in Provo this year.  Lizzy attended Kindergarten with Ms. Whitaker.  It was her last year there and she was a fabulous teacher!  Matthias was in 2nd grade with Ms. Perry and Ms. Wang.  He has learned so much Chinese.

Wasatch also has a really fun art program.  Here are the kids showing off some of their artwork at the art show.

Lizzy's class had a program near the end of the year.  She got to stand next to Jared (whom she said was the cutest boy in her class).  She also had a short solo part and rocked it!

Matthias has a Chinese program in which they had to recite things in Chinese and dance to the music.  Matthias was the best one there.  Several parents commented on how well he did all the moves.  

Since Kindergarten is only a half day in Utah, Lizzy was signed up for two Kindergartens (we did this as several people recommended it for working moms).  So she was also able to go to BYU's Kindergarten and several days a week I would pick her up from Wasatch and we would have lunch together in my office.  I will have so many good memories of our time together.

While I was at BYU, I was able to teach Career Exploration with a focus on Women's Issues.  I loved this class and the ability we had to talk about concerns that might come up for women in seeking out a career.  My favorite part was inviting fabulous women to come and talk about their career journeys.  During this semester, my aunt Norah came to talk about her career.  Uncle Terry came to help.  Her talk was amazing as she used flower arranging as a metaphor for all of the things you need in life to find balance.  My aunt Norah has always been an inspiration to me.

I also invited a supportive husbands panel to come and speak to the class.  There are always a few men that accidentally sign up for this section of career exploration, but I think it's important to for all of my class participants to understand this "shift" in perspective from multiple people.  Josh was kind enough to come for this class.  He talked about how it has been hard for both of us to get PhDs and seek career opportunities.  Then he quoted President Hinckley quoting his wife about their relationship, "You have given me wings to fly, and I have loved you for it" (The Women in Our Lives, Oct 2004 General Conference).  I definitely feel Josh has done this for me.

Also during this time I finished everything to license as a Clinical Psychologist in Utah.  Yay! What a relief.

Josh also had a busy semester.  Not only was he trying to finish up post-doc projects and watching kids most afternoons, he was also working to obtain future funding and get a job.  More on that in the next blog post.

During this semester we were also able to celebrate Easter with the Webbs. It's so fun to be close to family.

Matthias and Lizzy participated in soccer again this year.  Matthias made a lot of improvements and Lizzy had fun making friends.

Rachel, Matthias, Lizzy, and I drove down to El Paso, TX in May to surprise Alicia for her birthday.  She was seriously surprised and was so good to show us around El Paso.  We had fun at the zoo, seeing the border, and swimming at their pool.  Also, the food was amazing.  But my favorite part of this trip was chatting with my sisters! They are some of my best friends!

Checking out the wild life

Matthias took piano lessons from Melody Storey this year and finished with a piano recital.

At the end of the year, Wasatch has a dance party in which each grade learns and performs a dance.  My dad came with me this year.  Josh was busy that morning with phone calls so was able to run in right before it started.  Lizzy performed the jello dance and Matthias performed in "In the Jungle."

Christmas 2016

It has been a wonderful and eventful year for us. Here is a brief update on what we've been up to.

Elizabeth:  Lizzy graduated from pre-k and started Kindergarten this year.  She attends two separate half days of kindergarten.  She is in the morning kindergarten at Wasatch and in the afternoon at BYU.  She loves eating lunch at mommy's office and getting treats from the receptionist.  Lizzy loves everything pretty and creative.  She is a kind, loving, and feisty girl.

Matthias:  He finished 1st grade and started 2nd grade.  He is in the Chinese immersion program and he and mom have fun speaking in Chinese secretly.  He understands, speaks, and writes pretty well for only having practiced for a year and half.  He had his tonsils out and got glasses this year. He loves mindcraft, legos, and spending time with friends.  He will stand up for those that he loves and has a kind heart.

Josh: He has been busy publishing papers, presenting his research at conferences, and writing grants. He works from home, which means he is able to spent a lot of time with the kids (which the kids love).  He has taken up rock climbing this year and has encouraged our whole family to get involved.  He also is finishing up our kitchen renovation, which is looking really good.

Cheryl: In March, she successfully defended her dissertation and got hooded in May.  It was such a relief to be done.  She started her new job as Assistant Clinical Faculty at BYU's Counseling and Psychological Services, where she works with students, teaches classes, and completes research on mindfulness and mental health outreach.  She enjoys spending time with her family and wishes there was more of that time.

That's our family update.

At this time, our hearts and thoughts turn to our Savior.  We see His hand frequently in our lives--helping us, sustaining us, and guiding us to achieve and grow.  We are grateful for his birth, life, death, and resurrection. No matter the trials and uncertainties in life, we know that we can turn to Him.

We love you all and hope all is well as you celebrate this joyful season.  Merry Christmas!

Summer Fun 2016

 I just wanted to write up a few memories from Summer 2016 so that they are not forgotten.

At the end of May we celebrated Lizzy's 5th birthday with lots of friends.  She wanted a Cinderella themed party, so we did a lot of blue themed things and then just let all of the friends play together in our front yard.  We had bubbles, sidewalk chalk, and music.  Lizzy was very happy with how it turned out.

The extended Garn Family reunion was at Harris Pond.  We enjoyed spending time with family and all of the water activities.

In June, Matthias had his tonsils out.  He used to snore like crazy and we were worried about sleep apnea.  I was anxious to have him go through surgery, but the hospital and nurses did a great job explaining what was going to happen and making him feel comfortable.  They even gave him a little "buddy" doll that was also wearing a hospital gown.  The first picture shows Matthias drawing his face on the doll.

 After surgery he was a bit groggy, but happy to see us and to hug his tigey.  He was also very happy to have slushy after surgery.  For the first couple of nights afterwards I would go into his room to make sure he was still breathing while sleeping because he was now so silent!

 As a joint birthday gift, the kids received an XBox and a couple of games.  Here they are trying out the dancing game.  We also have several other games and the kids have loved having this.

And later in the Summer, Grandma and Grandpa Lewis came and danced with us!

Matthias also celebrated his 7th birthday with a soccer theme.  We went to the park to play soccer with friends and eat cupcakes.  Josh even got out there and played with all of the kids.  It was a great day.

Throughout the summer we did some camping in Southern Utah, learned to rock climb in Rock Canyon and spent a lot of time together.

DEFENDED!

At the beginning of March (after a couple of all-nighters), I submitted my dissertation to my committee.  Josh and I flew to Atlanta two weeks later.  On Tuesday, March 22, I had my dissertation defense.  I gave a 20 minute presentation and then the committee asked me a bunch of questions.  Josh even asked a question about my results--my committee thought this was hilarious and amazing.  I answered questions for about an hour and fifteen minutes.  I was able to answer pretty much all of their questions and had a good discussion.  Near the end of the question time I started checking people's watches to see what time it was and thinking "I'm so tired, can we be done yet?"  Luckily, they excused me a few minutes later so the committee could meet and discuss my performance.  

I walked back into the room and they told me congratulations, because I PASSED!  It was such a relief.  And one of my committee members said "congrats, Dr. Garn."

Successful!

After I successfully passed, Josh took me to the Sun Dial restaurant in Atlanta to celebrate.  I loved Atlanta way more at that point then I ever have before.  :)

Yay! Time to celebrate.

The view from the restaurant.

Soccer 2016

Both kids are in soccer this year.  Lizzy was excited to start doing this with her brother this year (since his first year was last year).

Lizzy is in a preschool group with boys and girls.  Her team has a 15 minute practice and she enjoys kicking balls with friends and kicking goals.  She also loves playing in the games so that she can wave at and blow kisses at mom.  Even with all of that, her favorite part is the snack at the end of the game.

Dribbling during practice

Dancing during the game. 

Matthias is in a first and second grade group.  His group plays a game for about an hour.  He's getting better getting into the group and trying to get the ball away and has even dribbled the ball down the field a little.  He's learning about soccer positions and is working hard.  He's also starting to trash talk when his team scores.

Matthias running to steal the ball from his friend Liam.

Getting ready to kick the ball.

It's really fun to watch these two try to figure out how to play soccer and be on a team.