We went to an air show at Paine Field. They had a lot of historical airplanes, which I really appreciated. It made me want to wear WWII clothes and be cool like that. I would probably dress up like a woman in the WAC, or the Women's Army Corps. Don't they look awesome and military and helpful and smart and attractive?
I did see a few women dressed up in WWII attire, but they were dressed as pin-up girls. Seriously women, dress up like something motivational from history. OK, OK, pin-up girls were motivational for soldiers and airmen, but I think there are much better role models from history than sexy women. Intelligence is sexy!
We saw a lot of airplanes, and if Andrew wants to blog about those, he can, but I will just post pictures of Rachel. Because she is very cute and smart, therefore a good baby role model.
Andrew and a thirsty Rachel in front of a Navy airplane.
These two have so much fun.
Rachel sitting in the airplane model for children.
We went with Ric, Claire, and Dallon.
We had a lovely time watching airplanes and walking around and thinking about interesting things like "women in the military" and "how rich people must be to own and maintain antique airplanes".
I forgot to mention that within all the chilling and packing and panicking I did during the end of April, I also passed my thesis defense with flying colors! David (my adviser and boss) said it was an unusual defense because the other committee members were so positive. My defense was amazing. I got so many new ideas and was so excited to keep working and expanding my project.
Anyway, that meant I could walk at graduation!
And it began traumatically for me. My friend, Chase, had a little medal from the Humanities College, which he said they just gave to him when he picked up his cap and gown. Well I didn't get one! And I am pregnant! And I became irrationally upset about this. So I went over the the Josten's table and kindly asked if they knew where I was supposed to pick up my little medal. The guy was super RUDE and told me he didn't have time to help me. Chase was also shocked at the Josten's guy's rudeness. So then I was even more upset. Fortunately, a few minutes later, Dr. Conte showed up and gave me a medal. I was really irrationally happy that I got my medal. Moral of the story: Give pregnant women medals. They deserve it.
And then we had to wait for a long time before the procession began because of the lazy bums who didn't pick up their caps and gowns before! So the academic procession began about 45 minutes late. And I had to pee and I was really really thirsty. This was a bad day to be pregnant.
Academic Procession
At this part, all the future Masters walked from the Fieldhouse to the Spectrum while they blasted bagpipe music from the speakers around the university. First best part of the procession was the kids at the elementary school applauding us and holding signs. They were just happy to be out of class. Second best part was seeing Andrew, my parents, and Heidi (my MIL) applauding me.
Me--looking slightly like the pope giving a blessing or a Medieval Jesus with the Holy Hand Grenade--marching.
A much more attractive photo of me marching.
The future Masters entering the Spectrum. Hi family!
The Hooding
In this part of the graduation ceremony, the future Masters walk through a tunnel of professors and you line up. The professors put the hood over your head and then you walk to the stage and give them the card with your name on it. These photos were taken by David with his phone from a distance, but since he was sitting where he could actually see the hooding, these pictures are actually pretty good.
The hood going over my head. :)
Oh my gosh! Moses (the professor in the yellow) just told me how to fix my hair over the hood!!! Moses put the hood on me! (Why is this post full of religious references?)
Heading up to the stage...
"Master of Arts in History, Sarah L. B. Fassmann."
Receiving my diploma cover--thanks!
I'm so happy and my shoes are so great.
Hi family! I got my diploma! And my cap is falling off my head.
The Happy Graduate
Master Sarah--that's right. I'm so proud.
I'm so proud of this accomplishment! I have worked really hard over the past two years and especially hard during March and April to finish my thesis in time. I still need to finish revisions, but I am done!
And because it is awesome and I've already alluded to several religious things, don't you think I look great in my black robes of a false priesthood/academic robes?
Oh Hugh Nibley, you are so good for making everyone feel smart and stupid at the same time.
Before I left Utah, I chilled a lot. I only got a few pictures. Cuz when you chill, you got to chill and not take pictures. Unless you are not really chill, and are only using "chill" as a synonym for "hanging out", which is the case right now.
I chilled with some of my old roommates from Merrill 310. Here I am with Tasha, Tessa, Michelle. I got sunburned, which made me happy but then I realized I got way more burned than I intended.
I said good bye to our paint dance shoes.
It was really hard to throw out our shoes from the paint dance. Mine are on the left and Andrew's are on the right. They are special to both of us, as old and nasty as they are, cuz when we first started to spend time together, we went to a paint dance and got a five-gallon bucket of paint dumped on us. Andrew said, "I could only tell it was Sarah because her smile was the only part of her face that didn't have paint on it." So cute and sweet and romantic. Good bye paint dance shoes.
I passed on the baton. I was the Robert M. Utley Fellow at the Western Historical Quarterly, and since my two-year fellowship was over, I passed on the senior fellow baton to Sean, the S. George Ellsworth fellow. He will be fine. That baton is full of wisdom passed down from many senior fellows from the past. Yes, I put something in it. When Sean looked inside, he said, "Whoa, that stinks." Apparently wisdom smells rancid. I also gave Sean some verbal parting wisdom, which he succinctly summarized as 1) No one knows what they are doing. 2) Don't work too hard. 3) Don't be nervous. I am freaking wise.
Most importantly, I chilled with Nigel. I get to be an aunt and then I have to leave. It is a sad sad world. I made sure to spend a lot of time with him to make up for the future.
Nigel sleeping on me while I rest my tailbone.
Happy little boy!
Hi there Nigel! How did you get so cute? Are you enjoying your afternoon outside? Me too. I will miss you! We hung out while his parents cleaned my apartment. I was happy I didn't have to clean, and they were happy they got a baby break.
Stop crying, here, have this orange binky.
My oldest best friend Erika came home from her mission! Erika (in the middle) came home from her mission to Leeds, England. We met in 7th grade orchestra and became friends in our 7th grade science class with Mr. Merrill. We are also with Monica, another one of my best friends. I'm so glad that I could see them again before I moved!
I did a lot of chilling. It was a busy last little while.
I have more to report on the thesis! I am done! Tomorrow I will give copies to my committee members and then I will twiddle my thumbs and wait for April 26 when my defense is. I am very excited. I will probably post more on scheduling the defense and the ridiculous ordeal that was in a bit.
Tomorrow, Andrew and I are heading up to Washington for an apartment hunt. We are going to see ten apartments. I hope we find one that we really like. Hopefully that one that we really like will also be a less expensive one. Also, I hope that we can figure out where will be the best place for us to grow and help others.
And I am going to be an aunt either tonight or tomorrow! Melanie is at the hospital now!
Well, yesterday I realized that it was March 27, and the last day I can defend my thesis and walk at the hooding ceremony is April 27. And that was in one month from yesterday. BUT yesterday I finished writing my thesis! Yay! So now I am going over it and making revisions and will give the whole dang thing to my adviser David on Friday, March 30. Then I will get it back from him a week later, so at the latest April 6. Then I will make more revisions, arrange the defense, and get some paperwork to the Grad School. And somewhere in there, my sister will have her baby and I will be an aunt! The paperwork and so on needs to happen by April 11 because that is the day Andrew and I are leaving for Washington to go apartment hunting. And then two weeks later, April 25, 26, or 27, I will have my thesis defense and turn in the final paperwork. The moving company will come on those same days and box everything up and put it into a truck. Then I will scrub this place down and move out on April 30! I will either couch surf or live with my parents for the week. The hooding ceremony is on May 4, Andrew will walk on May 5, and then we will fly up to Washington to start our new grown-up life on May 6. Then his parents will come up and we will get ready for the wedding. Then Wesley and Maren will get married in the Seattle Temple on May 11. And then the movers will come May 14. And then life can calm down and get back to normal. And all summer I will work on thesis revisions and getting it printed and bound. Fun fun times.
I love Disneyland. We went there on our honeymoon. We went with Andrew's family and it was fun but there were so many people. I got grumpy a lot. There are a lot of pictures so here are just a few highlights of our California trip.
The Norco Audio Family History Tour
Heidi grew up in Norco, CA, and we stopped by. This is a crazy place.
First off, they don't have sidewalks. They have horse trails. WHAT THE WHAT? Maybe in Wyoming, but not what I was expecting for southern California.
Some girl on a horse in a city in southern California.
Then we stopped at the Norco cemetery to find Heidi's grandparents' grave. We found it! It was a miracle because she had never been there.
Hannah, Heidi, and Wesley at the grave.
That was cool to be there. Heidi thanked me for suggesting it, since she had never been and being there brought her a lot of peace.
The First Disney Day
Christmas at Disneyland, where the wreaths are all Mickey-shaped and the castle has snow on it (I know, snow in Anaheim? But by now, we know that Southern California is not what you expect--snow, horses, what's next?).
Love it.
We wore a lot of 3-D glasses. They kind of give me a headache.
The Family sans me (taking the picture) and Maren (on an airplane)
And no family vacation would be complete without a picture of me coming out of the bathroom!
We rode Splash Mountain. It was great. Maren is there in the front. She and Wes are engaged now and they are so disgusting.
Our Wild Ride.
This is how Andrew feels whenever I drive. ;)
Andrew and I in front of the castle at night. How romantic.
The Day We Only Went to California Adventure
Wes and Maren about to go off a huge waterfall on Grizzly Rapids.
Andrew and some light bike from Tron.
Not a lot of pictures from that day. Oh well. I traumatized Hannah by making her go on Screamin' with me. I forgot to tell her that it blasts you off. Oops.
The Day We Went to Disneyland in the Morning and the Evening But Mostly Went to Los Angeles
Wesley and Andrew cleaning their ears. What a good brother activity.
I had never been to L.A., so it was pretty exciting.
A clear day for L.A., right?
Gas costs $5 here where it costs $3 in Utah.
And we drove past the Los Angeles Temple, but we didn't get out and walk around.
I like the palm trees. That is a pretty good picture taken from the back of a Honda Pilot, if I do say so myself.
And then we went to Santa Monica beach and we had many marvelous adventures.
Like this dog in a tree. The owner was completely chill. His dog is awesome.
And we went down to the beach and it was just lovely. I kept thinking of the Sheryl Crow song "All I Wanna Do", where she says she wants to have fun until the sun comes up over Santa Monica Boulevard.
We also had another unusual sighting:
Glenn took off his shoes. Apparently this is an anomaly.
Jumping picture--me, Hannah, Elise, Maren. I didn't get the memo that we were making L shapes out of our arms.
The Day We Were the Dorky Family Wearing Matching Disney Shirts
An epic moment occurred when I became famous for screaming so loudly on Thunder Mountain Railroad. I am awesome. This guy said I was amazing and he recognized me later on, too.
And I pulled the sword out with my pinky finger.
Family picture time! You get a sneak peek at the Christmas card. Lucky you.
Aren't we cute? I like how Wes and Maren are freakishly tall in the back.
We went on Star Tours and...
I was the rebel spy and Yoda said I was vital to the rebel cause! It made my life.
Also, Andrew was a good big brother and got Hannah to ride Space Mountain--and she liked it! She even has her arms up and has a big smile on her face. Yay!
From back to front: me, Hannah, Andrew, Elise, Bryanna.
We didn't take a picture, but WE RODE SPLASH MOUNTAIN EIGHT TIMES IN A ROW WITHOUT GETTING OFF THE LOG!!! Oh yeah, we broke the family record. I'm pretty done with Splash Mountain for a little while.
The Last Disney Day and The Most Crowded One Wherein I Had A Headache.
New Years Eve was the worst day to go to Disneyland. it was way too crowded and I was grumpy. I had a headache and that was not a good thing. It was Elise's birthday, too.
I had one of the weirdest experiences of my life. We had to watch "Captain E.O." to please Glenn. Weird. So weird.
And we went on Space Mountain again!
Funny Space Mountain picture. Elise is a super hero, Hannah is pumped, Andrew is screaming and I am plugging my ears (I had a headache, remember) which is opposite of how it usually is, and Wesley is proposing to Maren (I love how she looks like she's saying, "Oh my gosh, why is it you?"
Also, we went to the Blue Bayou for dinner. Awesome. It was fun. And then I went to sleep and woke up when the huge fireworks show shook the hotel.
Then We Drove Home on New Years Day and There Was No One On The Freeway
Well-meaning adult: "When do you graduate?"
Me: "I hope to graduate with my master's degree in history next May."
Well-meaning adult: "That's great! ...(silence) ... Are you going to teach?"
Me: "No. I have a job editing and I really enjoy that." OR "No. I was doing that but I decided I don't like adolescents." OR "No. I'd like to get a PhD and work at a university." OR "No. I really like research."
Well-meaning adult: "Oh, how nice."
My degree is in history. I know about five unemployed history teaching majors. You can do other things with a history degree besides teach.
I can't help but feel like some of the issue is that I'm a woman and teaching is an acceptable field for those of my sex. Also--the humanities get no respect.
But mostly, I wish that people wouldn't ask me if I was going to teach. You don't ask that question of biology, math, or physics majors. It seems to be a plague for the humanities.
It's probably cuz people think that history is useless as a degree and (because there are so many amateur historians who do a poor job) they think that anyone can do it.
That conversation is almost as bad as (and always precedes) this one:
Well-meaning adult: "How is married life!?!"
Me: "Fine."
Me in my mind: "Good. I love having sex with my husband. Do you like doing that with your husband?"
Well-meaning adult: "How long have you been married?"
Me: "Two years. It is a good time."
Me in my mind: "How long have you been married? Thirty years?"
Well-meaning adult: "You know, I'm sure your mom would love to have some grandchildren."
Me: "Yes, I'm sure she would."
Me in my mind: "I am not pregnant."
Well-meaning adult: "Is that in the near future?"
Me: "No."
Me in my mind: "Why are all of your questions about my sex life?"
I need to keep these things in mind and NOT ask them when I am a well-meaning adult. Or maybe I'll just stay cynical and grumpy and not talk to young people who visit their parents.
