Decisions, Decisions, Decisions,

We are finally at mile marker 25 in this marathon of graduate school decisions. Last week in the time span of 48 hours we heard back from the last three schools we were waiting to hear back from. We haven't really told a ton of people/blogged about our graduate school choices because we knew that things can change quickly and they still can. Since we've heard back from all the 5 schools one way or another we thought it would be best for Andrew to fly out to visit them to help make the decision. It also helps that one of the schools he has to go interview there so he will already be flying out across the country. So when I say we've heard back from all the schools we applied to, some of them have not gotten back to us with a yes or a no. Andrew interviewed with one and the other says that they will tell us any day now.

A lot of people might wonder as well that we actually decided not to apply to the 6th school we were looking at which was BYU. It was a really hard decision to make to not apply to BYU because of all the pros of staying here. Cheap tuition, we already have a place to live, we LOVE BYU, and most of our family is in Utah. We never really got excited about BYU while we were looking at all the other schools and their programs. Also, all the schools that we applied to are just 10 months long and his Masters will be in Analytics and not Statistics which is what BYU's program is and BYU's program is two years long.  With the pro of Andrew having a REAL LIFE JOB in Summer of 2015, in about a year and a half, and also a lot more opportunities for jobs in his field by moving to bigger cities all contributed to us not applying to BYU. We also just feel like we need to move outside of Utah.

We're really grateful that we have many choices to choose from and glad that we have the Holy Ghost to help guide us in the right direction. We know wherever we choose is where we are suppose to be. So hopefully by the end of next week we will have made a decision about where our next step into our future for the next couple years of our life.

Here is a list of the schools that we might be heading to. All through this all I can keep thinking about is this quote from Dr. Seuss.  “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the one who'll decide where to go...” 
― Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go!

: Tempe, Arizona

 :Raleigh, North Carolina

 :Washington, DC

:San Francisco, California

:Baton Rouge, Louisiana 

Elder Lincoln Bangerter

Last week we said goodbye to my brother-in-law Lincoln. He is going on a two year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the Adriatic South Mission speaking Albanian. He is going to be a great hard working missionary for those two years. We're excited to see his life be blessed for his service and also to hear about all of his experiences.

GOOD LUCK LINCOLN!

 Claire and her family flew in just in time to drop Lincoln off. So all 10 of us jumped in the car. All the kids wanted to sit with us in the back seat.