The Quarterly Update

Hey all,
So as the title of this e-mail may imply, I've given up on monthly updates for now. At least for the duration of graduate school it appears I'll be lucky to send quarterly, or perhaps seasonal updates.
Speaking of seasons....(did you catch that lame transition?)...today in Salt Lake it was about 40 degrees and raining all day...at least all day when it wasn't sleeting, there was a bit of that as well. The low tonight is supposed to be 32 in the valley and I'm sure the mountains got a healthy dose of snow today. It should be beautiful in the morning once it's sunny again and the clouds clear out in front of the mountains. It snowed up there for the first time about a week ago, but it didn't stay. This batch probably won't stay around either, since tomorrow and the rest of the week the temps are supposed to be back in the mid-60's to low-70's in the valley again.
The rain made today a nice day to stay inside, sit under a blanket, and read for school. I also did a ton of cooking today...let's just say I'm trying to make sure Jason and I aren't stuck eating hotdogs and soup every night after class. His freezer looks like someone just threw a tupperware party. The cooking also helped break up the homework a bit.
School is going as well as can be expected while working 40 hours a week. I get my first actual exam back on Tuesday. My lab class is really relaxed, and I haven't gotten any graded assignments back yet. The class that is most frustrating right now is Advanced Exercise Physiology lecture. Our professor decided to revamp her teaching style this semester to a very non-traditional format where we teach each other the information, and we are the test-subjects. Today I spent hours upon hours reading 60 pages worth of journal articles all in order to take a 6 point quiz. I have two textbooks for the class that I haven't even opened, due to the fact that my group (the class is divided into 4 groups) hasn't had any assigned readings from the text. I hope we are all graded generously, as the class has the definite feel that no one really knows what's going on, and I'm not certain I'm learning anything. I like the general idea, but the cellular chemistry is a bit over my head, and it's frustrating to try to teach it to each other. Jason tends to laugh at my reading assignments, with all the words he hasn't seen before and can't pronounce. I think I'm going to kick some serious butt at scrabble the next time I play...that is if I can come up with any exercise physiology terms that only use 7 letters.
What has happened since the last update...well Jason and I visted WI in August so he could meet more of the friends and family. He's even mentioned a willingness to visit again, so things must have gone alright. A special thanks to everyone who was so welcoming, I think we both had a lot of fun. Within 10 days of returning from vacation we both started grad school. I'm now working on my Master's in Exercise Physiology and Jason is working on his MBA. Everything is BUSY. Quite frankly I'm tired of doing homework all weekend and looking forward to fall break in a week (the equivalent to spring break for anyone who hasn't heard of fall break before).
Jason bought a house here in Salt Lake which is very nice. Ironically enough he put in the initial offer while on vacation with me in WI so it was lucky everything worked out so well! It has a great kitchen (especially compared with my apartment), it's in a quiet neighborhood (very nice for studying), and is free of the distractions of my house (namely a television or stereo). :)
Recently, I bought a laptop with my extra student loan money. I love it! I'm using the wireless internet to write this update from bed right now...which is one of the reasons it's getting done :). Thank goodness for student loans...otherwise money would be tight until work reimburses my tuition at the end of the semester (provided I pass). :)
Upcoming plans involve homework and more homework. In a few weeks Jason and I are going to try to take a trip to Jackson if the weather holds out long enough. It could be pretty snowy there in a few weeks, so we'll have to wait and see. I'm still trying to figure out when my next trip back to the midwest will be--if I'm not home at Christmas, I'll be making the trip back during Spring Break. Planning around school has added a new level of difficulty to my visits!
I hope everyone reading this is doing very well. I'm sorry I haven't done a better job of keeping in touch lately. I hope to hear a little from each of you so I know what everyone else is keeping busy with as well. Take Care!

Steph~

ps.
Sarah/Andy...I want updated pregnancy pictures. (I'm laying the floor throwing a fit right now, thrashing arms and legs and everything)
Mark-Congrats again on the Ironman finish!
Steven and Mary...Congrats on the new addition to the family (I haven't seen any pictures yet...he's not an ugly little bugger who takes after his daddy is he?)
Does anyone have an actual working e-mail address for Russell?
If anyone didn't catch it, my not-so-new cellphone number is