When will things slow down?

This week has been a busy one for both Emily and I. Emily has been studying for her Step 1 boards basically non-stop this week. She's down to only two weeks left, which means she been studying non-stop from sun up to sun down and beyond everyday. Her study space has moved through the house over the past few weeks creating a cyclonic result in our house. Regardless if I clean up the house, her study materials find a way to create chaos in the house.

A portion of the books Emily is using for studying her boards!

I was busy this week finishing up a client project. The hours were not too bad this week, but my commute was horrendous. About an hour each way (17 miles). Nothing more irritating than stop-n-go traffic. Luckily, any spare time I have has been devoted to studying for my CISA certification exam in a few weeks. Having not been in school for two years, it's been kind of tough to get back into the routine of studying. Hopefully all goes well.

For me, this week was not just devoted to the work and study. I ordered a new lens for my camera this week. The lens came on Friday and I have been shooting as many pictures as I can. Doesn't mean they're any good, but regardless I'm having fun. Here are a few I took with the new lens.

Zoe always know how to strike a pose

To further busy this week, however, I had to give a talk in church today. I was assigned the topic of "Power of the Priesthood." This talk was just what I needed. I konw that sounds weird, but I really learned a lot from giving this talk. I sometimes forget how the priesthood has shaped my life and made me the person I am today. Everything from my baptism, to becoming a deacon,teacher, priest, serving a mission, going through the temple, and being sealed to Emily for eternity was made possible by the power of priesthood. As I resource for the talk, I used a talk from President Faust, who said this about the priesthood, "Priesthood is the greatest power on earth." I could not agree more with this quote. The Power of the Priesthood is real and have brought much happiness to my life.

Today, we had a BBQ with our friends...Kristen and Thomas Rose. The Roses are the type of friends that make living away from family not seem as bad. We had a great afternoon at their place. Thomas made BBQed some delicious steaks and Kristen made some of her famous sweet potato pie. It was a good time and the weather was nice enough that we were able to eat out on the patio. We're so lucky to have so many great friends here.

The one and only Marinating Thomas

Kristen & Thomas Rose and Us!

Everyone watching steak cook!

We're looking forward to enjoying Memorial Day. We are grateful for service of the men and women protecting our freedom. We Support Our Troops!

Side note: We had a tornado siren going off todya, luckily no problems, but up North had hail and a couple small tornadoes.