Application?......CHECK!!!

So I just completed my application to BYU. At least I am pretty sure I can count on that memeber of the Stake Presidency to send in the ecclesiastical endorsement like they promised. When I met them, they were really excited for me and kept saying "Good for you!" and said that they would mail it off this morning. So I think that is everything! I better make sure that I sent them my most up to date transcript from WSU, but other than that, I think that I am good to go!

Don't you think it's kind of weird that my audition for the School of Music is actually before I find out if I am accepted into BYU? Oh well, to each their own!

Next destination? Scales @ 96 bpm in stacatto sixteenth notes!

Keep on Scrollin!

We just caught up on our Blog posts, so make sure to keep scrollin down till you get to one you have seen before! (Including this one, I think I did 6 today!)

Pursuing the Dream!!

I think that everyone who knows me well, knows that I have wanted to go into Studio Recording since I had gotten home from my mission. The problem has been that the places that I found at the time that provided the education were all out of state, and mostly at either high-end Music Schools (Berklee College of Music, etc.) or at Technical Schools (SAE, Full Sail, etc.) and the tuition was out of reach (Try between 20-60k for their programs and most of them just gave you a certificate of completion). It wasn't till later, that I had found out that BYU had a Sound and Recording Technology Program. But by then, I had a job here, and other obligations, that prevented me from pursuing it at the time.

Every step I have tried to make though, has tried to be in the direction of having a Studio sooner or later, and hopefully turining that into my career.

I had pursued it a little last year, around August, started taking Saxophone lessons to be able to get into the school of music, and started my application for BYU, but a job opportunity that we thought we couldn't pass up, put that on hold for a little while.

Well, I am back on the horse again, some recent changes have given us an opening to start focusing on getting that education to do what my passion is! I am WAY stoked, a little nervous, but very excited to get things moving along. I have started Saxophone Lessons from a teacher that I know I will benefit a TON from (He fixes Ray Smith's Saxophones (www.davidhallmusic.com)), and Misty is pushing me to get up to speed, and being so supportive of me reaching my goals and dreams!

I have most of my BYU application completed so far, and just have the Stake Presidency part of the Ecclesiastical Endorsement to complete. (I have that appointment set up for next Sunday)
I need to double check my application into the Actual School of Music where the program is hosted, to see if all the online stuff for that is done, but I think that that is, and then all I have left to do is bust my chops on my Saxophone to get ready for the audition!

They have the auditions for the School of Music the last Saturday in January, and so I have VERY little time to get prepared the way that I would like to, but Misty and I don't want to have to wait for another year to get into the program.

There will be a lot of decisions to make regarding other areas of our life if I get accepted this January, but at least we will have till August to make things finalized. But for now, it's full steam ahead!

Wish us Luck!

Happy Anniversary.....Sort of..... : )

Jan 4th is our 3rd wedding anniversary, and we are very excited for it....So excited that we bought our anniversary gift a little early! We wanted to make sure that we had a way to document Carson's first Christmas. So we swung by R U Silly's (R.C. Willey's) and picked it up. I did a bunch of shopping around, (Costco, Best Buy, Wal-mart, etc.) and was actually surprised that they had the best deal for what we wanted.

2nd Annual Gingerbread Making Party!

Thanks to everyone who attended the 2nd annual gingerbread/graham cracker house making party at our house! We had loads of fun and the houses were.....well...... You judge. : )

Here's the players:

Toby, Adrienne, and Valin

Ryan & Amy

Jordan, Kiera & Andi

Phil

And Misty

(Ha Ha! She was taking all the pictures that evening, and so we don't have any of her from then, so I just uploaded an old one.)

The Houses:

Toby & Adrienne's House

(Their's is always eclectic : )

Apparently they staged a Gingerbread house that was attacked by a monster.)

Amy & Ryan's Gingerbread house!

(Theirs was definitely the prettiest! They had a little help from an old kit they had.)

Jordan & Kiera's

(They improvised as they went along. I think I heard something about it wanting to start out as the Rio Tinto Stadium? Pretty sure it ended up as a church-type building though.)

Misty's Quaint little cottage.

Here's the progression of mine.

Here is my inspiration:

Here's the Outcome:

And here's what Jordan and Ryan said mine turned out looking like:

Who would you say had the best house?

Hulet Family Christmas Party

We had a great time at our Family Christmas Party that we hosted at our house for Misty's side of the family. The kids choose exchange names to buy presents for, and Carson got our niece. The kids all loved their presents, and Carson got the biggest one of all! We think that the "budget" for kids gifts was definitely broken when Misty's Step-sister's family bought the gift for him.

Carson's Present from Grandma & Grandpa (He likes helping with the wrapping paper)

Misty's Step-Sister had a person in her ward that does Pencil artwork, and she had her do this picture of Grandma & Grandpa Hulet! Amazing!

This year, we had Misty's Brother's Family to have a gift for, and Misty made this awesome magnet board for their family.

The Schneider's got blocks that spelled Wons! (And Christmas Dishes. : ) )

This was our present from the Schneiders! This great picture of Christ, with money attached to it! (Who could ask for more?)

Our little neice asked for a swimsuit for Christmas, and she got one! : )

Yeah, That's a picnic table! Cool huh! That's Carson's!

Carson helping unwrap his picnic table

Cute little boy!

Unwrapping our First Christmas Present!

Carson just recently discovered wrapping paper, and I think that you can see how much he likes it.

He did this all by himself, with his ever-grabbing hands while Misty was getting things wrapped.

Oh Christmas Tree

With all of Phil's job changes these past few months, our Christmas money is a little tight. So tight that I was thinking that we should probably not spend money on a Christmas tree. I didn't want to admit it, but I was pretty heartbroken. I can't remember a Christmas without a tree. We talked about it and decided that we both really did want one but we would just get a really inexpensive live one, even if inexpensive usually means not so nice. The day after we had decided this, I was making dinner, and heard a knock at the door. No one was there, but a big box. Upon examining the box, I realized that it was a new prelit Christmas tree. It's not the big fancy one Phil and I will eventually buy, but with the nice ornaments we bought last year and our expert tree fluffing skills, I think turned out beautiful. The best part is that no matter how tight things are at future Christmases, we will always have a tree.

To whomever it was that brought it to us, and I am pretty sure I know, thank you! I was having a hard time feeling the Christmas spirit this year with our financial situation and the lack of snow, but you truly brought that spirit right to my heart. Phil and I really appreciate your generosity and strive to be able to serve others in a similar manner.

Here is a picture of our beautiful Christmas tree.

I also included a picture of our mantle because I think it looks wonderfully Christmasey and makes me smile.

Four months old

Carson is now 4 months old. We are so unbelievably proud of him. We think that he is the cutest, smartest and greatest baby in the world. He brings more joy to our lives than we ever thought possible.

We had his 4 month well baby check this week. He is now 19 pounds and 26.75 inches tall. His weight is in the 97tth percentile and his height and head are both in the 94th. The doctor says he is very healthy and was impressed when he made Carson giggle by checking his abdomen.

Some of Carson's favorite things to do are smile, giggle, give kisses, talk (his favorite word right now is ma ma), play with his toes, shake his rattles, and kick things. He has decided that it's more fun to use his feet to play with his toys than his hands. He also likes to grab our arms with his feet while we are changing his diaper. He rolled over, from his front to his back, for the first time the other day, but hasn't been able to do it again. He is very good with his hands and grabs everything he can.

In our last post, we included some family pictures that my step-sister took of us. And as promised, here are more of those pictures. There were so many that we liked that the slide show is kind of long. Hope you don't get bored!