It's already May

I thought I would make an update. It is the middle of May already, time has flown by since Jamie and I moved to Hillsboro, OR. I successfully completed my first year of pharmacy school this past week and passed my end of year exam over the entire school year. There were 120 questions, and I had to get at least 90% to pass. I was a little overwhelmed with it, but thankfully it turned out alright afterall with a 96.37%.

Jamie has about 3 weeks of school remaining until she is done for the year. After that we are going back to Utah for a few weeks to visit family and friends. I look forward to going to Utah. It is going to be a lot of fun for both of us. We plan on hanging out with family, going fishing, shopping, four-wheeling, and possibly spending time at the cabin. I wish we could go tomorrow, but it will be good when we get there.

Also we had friends from Cedar City move to Portland last night. Jamie and I helped them unpack their Budget truck, crazy! It was like deja vu but only a year ago when we were doing the same thing. I am happy they are here maybe we will get to hang out with them once in a while. We are having a little BBQ tonight at Root Bridge Park with some friends to celebrate completing a year of pharmacy school. So I look forward to that.

I was elected as Vice President of my pharmacy class for next year. I actually didn't think I would get voted in; however, Jamie said if I ran for office they would vote me in-she was right! I look forward to being involved in student government and attending student senate meetings at Pacific University School of Pharmacy. I believe this will be a great opportunity and experience for me to further develop leadership and professionalism skills. I have learned an incredible amount this past year, and gratefully passed all my exams the first time, my low for the year is 93.6%. I am amazed oh it has worked out so far. I definately have worked hard, and have seen the Lord's hand in my life. I have learned if you work hard, put your trust in the Lord and do all you can, he will bless you. As he blesses us, that is our reward. We are indebted to him and always will be. I am grateful to be attending graduate school in beautiful Oregon.

Bloch Field Trip Pictures

The Group, plus Blake who is taking the picture, that visited Ernest Bloch's home at Agate Beach.

Ernest Bloch was a 20th century composer.

It was such a beautiful day for the beach

Bloch Rock

After visiting Ernest Bloch we went to Newport and got to watch the sealions sing.

Just for Fun

***********FOODOLOGY***************
What is your salad dressing of choice? Ranch but i am on a diet so Salt and Pepper

What is your favorite sit-down restaurant? McCormick Fish and Bar it’s amazing i love living on the coast.

What food could you eat every day for two weeks and not get sick of? Probably fish but i would have to have several kinds

What are your pizza toppings of choice? Right now Probably The Wild Mushrooms and Goat cheese from Pizzacato’s

What do you like to put on your toast? I can’t remember the last time a had toast it has been years

Chocolate or Vanilla? CHOCOLATE

When is the last time you ate peanut butter and jelly? Again it has been years

Do you like pulpy orange juice? No i get pulp free and Calcium Fortified


***********TECHNOLOGY***************

How many televisions are in your house? One

What color cell phone do you have? Blake real Original

Do you have a laptop? We are a family of two but we each a have laptop and then we also have a desktop we are the modern family

***************BIOLOGY******************

Are you right-handed or left-handed? I have no idea been trying to figure that out for years

Have you ever had anything removed from your body? Yes Tonsils, Teeth and other things i don’t care to talk about

What is the last heavy item you lifted? I had to take the wheels of the tympani today so i guess that

Have you ever been knocked unconscious? I don’t think so

************BULLCRAPOLOGY**************

If it were possible, would you want to know the day you were going to die? No what is the fun in that.

If you could change your name, what would you change it to? I kind of have to agree with my dad and say there is no other name for me but Jamie

Would you drink an entire bottle of hot sauce for $1000.00? I would drink a bottle of hot sauce for a lot less then that.

************DUMBOLOGY******************

How many pairs of flip flops do you own? One and that is because Zach brought them back from Brazil i wore them on Saturday.

Last time you had a run-in with the cops? Its been over two years since i got pulled over so i am doing well.

Last person you hugged? Blake

**************FAVORITOLOGY****************

Season? Fall, I love to watch the leaves turn colors and wear sweaters and love the nice breeze

Holiday? Thanksgiving although i missed it with my family this year

Day of the week? Monday, you feel good after have a few days off and nothing is due yet

Month? I don’t know

***********CURRENTOLOGY*****************

Missing someone? My daddy always.

Mood? Over all i have been in a good mood.

What are you listening to? My furnace just turned on

Watching? The words appear on the computer screen

Worrying about? What comes after grad school is usually the worry in the back of my mind

***************RANDOMOLOGY****************

First place you went this morning? I got in the car and drove to Portland Oregon to spend the first half of my day in a practice room that is overly crowded and i am sure breaking many fire code regulations

Do you smile often? mostly with Blake he does such funny things that you can't help but smile and shake your head.

Sleeping alone tonight? I hope not but i found out this evening that my husband slept on the couch last night so who knows.

Do you always answer your phone? If i answer when you call consider yourself very lucky

What flavor do you add to your drink at Sonic? I have no idea what this question even means i don’t go to Sonic there are much better places to eat in Portland and They don’t have a Sonic in Cedar City Utah

Do you own a digital camera? Yes

Have you ever had a pet fish? My dad has always had fish i personally have never.

Favorite Christmas song(s)? There is only one Christmas song that i even remotely like and that is O’ Holy Night

What's on your wish list for your birthday? My birthday was last month and i had no idea what i wanted. I got Shoes it was good.

Can you do push ups? No

Can you do a chin up? Yes

Does the future make you more nervous or excited? I think it is equal

Do you have any saved texts? Yes mostly pictures people sent me

Ever been in a car wreck? Nope, well acctually i guess i was is August.

Do you have an accent? Many which would you like to hear

What is the last song to make you cry? He is

Plans tonight? Sleep, Hopefully

Have you ever felt like you hit rock bottom? Yes but i don’t think i actually did

Name 3 things you bought yesterday? Yesterday was Sunday i did not Buy anything but on saturday i bought poster board, and a notebook i think that was all.

Have you ever been given roses? Yes. Though they come few and far between now. i keep them dried in a cute vase that is full so i 1)can't recieve any more flowers or 2)need to buy another vase.

Met someone who changed your life? Yeah quit a few

How did you bring in the New Year? With Dad, Mom, Grandma, Grandpa, Aaron, Chrissy(aaron’s wife), Caleb, caleb’s girlfriend (i can’t remember her name(i suck)), Blake, travis, Priscilla, and Matt we played apples to apples and ate good food and we almost missed the new year we were haveing so much fun.

Would you go back in time if you were given the chance? No, but i would like a glimps of the future just to know... like when you turn to the back of the book just to make sure you want to keep reading.

Have you ever dated someone longer than a year? Never, Blake and I only new each other 9months when we got married

Do you have any tattoos/piercings? My ears

Does anyone love you? Yes.

What songs do you sing in the shower? Oh so many...

Ever had someone sing to you? Not really, thou Blake did sing along with a Cd this one time when we were dating it’s this Diamond Rio song called unbelievable it was pretty cute and funny

Do you like to cuddle? No

Have you held hands with anyone today No

Who was the last person you took a picture of? Blake on the beach last weekend

What kind of music did you listen to in elementary school? Mostly 80’s and Country

Do you believe in staying close with your ex's? No

Are most of the friends in your life new or old? Some of both Priscilla, Brady and Travis are my oldest closest friends that i still see and hang out with when i am in Utah

What is something your friends make fun of you for? There was this time i shot jello out of my nose but i have to tell you guys that lettuce hurts more i know as Blake as my witness i shot lettuce out of my nose about a month ago all because blake was imitating a turtle eating an ice-cream cone. We have an interesting relationship.

Have you ever ridden an elephant? No.

Do you like to play Scrabble? Yes i beat my very competitive neighbor once she had to come and borrow my game during the week so she could practice.

What are you saving your money up for right now? A Marimba!!!! Donations excepted!!!! ;)jk

Love Jamie
P.s We are doing great and having  fun in Oregon. We went to the beach the other weekend it was too cold  to do anything but we know where to go when it gets warmer. i just finished my second Qrt and got a 4.0 yeah lets hope this qrt goes as well. Blake is still passing all of his tests on the first shot and got his rotation for the summer, he is staying at the Albertson's just down the street so we accutally get to live together this summer which is great but we only get two consecutive weeks off together so we will see what happens with trips and vacations he will have all evenings and weekends off so anyone is welcome to come visit us. you have to sleep on an air matress but so far no one has complanied.

Its about time

I know i have not blogged in a long time mostly due to the fact that our lives are the same everyday with very little altering. So i will give an over view of the last few months of our lives.

November: This was my first Thanksgiving away from home i missed Grandma's stuffing(she makes some for me that is NOT cooked in the turkey). So on Thanksgiving day Blake and myself went to the movies, something i have made fun of others for in the past, it was great fun! That evening we spent a wonderful meal with Todd, Andrea, Gracie and Andrea's two sisters. We had a lot of fun making toasts about nothing and eating good food. Thanks for having us over guys. I was playing pit for a ballet the two days before and the two days after thanksgiving so it was nice to have a day off and relax.   

December: Was great i got out of school a week before Blake did so i got to just relax and practice and clean the house(something that tends to get slightly neglected during school). we then made our way to the Francisco's for Christmas. We were able to spend a week hanging out, cooking good food(now i am trying to lose the weight mom always seems to put on me)watching fun movies and playing Yahtzee, and Dominoes (two games i love to play with Jim he cracks me up). The day after Christmas we headed up North to spend the next week with the Wagstaff family. Here i did a lot of sewing while Blake and Dad made model cars that they received for Christmas.  Both cars turned out great. For New Years eve we had a great steak dinner with the family (except Chrissy who thinks Hot dogs are better then steak) and we let the party start!!! we Had Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, Aaron Chrissy, Caleb and a girl i can't remember her name, Me Blake, Priscilla Matt, and Travis. We spent the night playing apples to apples and five crowns, and watched the 2010 year enter.

January: Has found us back to the books. We continue to work hard at our studies Blake is still getting great test scores due to his diligence in studying. 2 things have happened this month. First we purchased a Wii. I have never seen Blake really want anything so when he kept wanting this gaming system i could not refuse. So we found a great deal on amazon and made our purchase. This as i told him is both of our birthday presents and anniversary presents for the year. The things is since we are now staying home on Friday night playing the wii, we are saving a lot of money on our dates. So i think it was a good purchase. Blake picked Mario kart and i picked new super mario brothers for our games. i then took the money i had earned tutoring and playing for the ballet and we got the wii fit plus system that allows us to exercise and learn yoga in our living room. (very fun).
2nd adventure of the month is that our home computer bit the dust...Thankfully our Home teacher works at intel and has gotten us great deals on the parts we need to get it back up and running. The parts are to be here today and Blake gets to learn how to build a computer. He is excited to learn this so i guess something good came out of it.

Well i think you are all caught up in our lives.
Have a great month, i will try to write more often.
Jamie

Teaching, Life, Charity, and Love

The days are going by very quickly. I can not believe that we have been living in Oregon for 3 months now. And at other moments it seems crazy that we have accomplished so much in only three months. I am already at midterms at portland state for my first quarter, and Blake is taking his fifth test tomorrow. So far he has been doing great and getting above 90% the first time which is great. i have every confidence that he will do just fine on tomorrows test as well. Well besides going to school full time Blake has been playing the Oregon in church every week. I know he likes this calling because it is a sunday only calling and he does not have to worry about it during the week. I am the laurel advisor which means i teach a lesson twice a month and have activities with the girls on wednesday nights, some of which i don't make it too. I have also picked up a small job on tuesday and thursday nights were i tutor a 14 year old girl. I meet her last night she is busy busy and likes to talk but what 14 year old girl does not like to talk. I always said that i would not know what to do with daughters seeing as i don't have any sisters and i had very few girl friends growing up. it seems the lord is teaching me what to do with teenage girls in around about way seeing as 3 nights a week that is who i am hanging out with teenage girls. It's funny now that i am not a teenage girl i like to be around them a lot more.

I have a degree and am working on another degree in teaching music but at the moment i seem to be teaching everything but music. On sundays i teach nutrition, time management and the importance of education along with other useful things. On Tuesday and thursday i tutor in Geometry, science and computers. I just thought this was an interesting fact.

I had a very interesting conversation last night about the church. i would like to note a couple things. first i was told a very touching story from a german violinist i had dinner with. He told me of his first violin student she was a 20 year old LDS girl, who he said had the sweetest spirt. he said you could not help but lover her not a romantic love but just love her. He said that she seemed to know things. She was hit by a garbage truck taken to the hospital where she was put back together and lived only to suffer a stroke shortly after and pass away. He was told at her funeral that she had written emails to some of her friends before she was hit telling them that she was sorry for being busy and wishing them the best in their lives. She seemed to know her time was at an end and was ready for it he was very touched by this. he said that he was given a book of mormon in german at the funeral, but has not chosen to convert. My thoughts on this are i am sure that young women had no idea what an influence she was being by just living the gospel to the best of her ability, she is a great example to me. And second i hope that when we give Books of Mormon to nonmembers we have the courage to follow up with it. Find out if they read it and answer any questions they may have. I may never see this German Violinist again but by one conversation with him i want to be a better person.

Never be afraid to share what you know.

I was also asked by another dinner companion that night about the members in Portland compared to the members in Utah and was happy to tell them that no matter where you go the church is constant the same. I told them that when i got to portland the missionaries were unpacking my home and the bishop was there with a list of doctors for me and food for that night so that i would not have to stress about the small things in my condition. this questions was asked by a person who claims to be anti-religious but pro community and wonders why charity(this is not the word he used) has to be tied to a religion. Why can't you pull up to your new home with a moving truck and the neighbors just come out and help no matter what religion anyone is? I love this thought and as members of the church we should be showing charity to everyone not just fellow members and the world should follow suit.

well those are my thoughts for the day.
Jamie

Quest for Knowledge

Blake and I have emerged ourselves in a typhoon of information. Struggling to gather as much of this information as possible and cram it into our heads only to be expected to recall said information at a moments notice. How are we handling our said adventure? Our heads are held high, our shoulders back and we fake a confidence that will see us through to the end. Our days are repetitive, and slightly mundane; mine is spent in a practice room where i shlep my way through pages of music, labeling this as R and this as L, remembering to keep my hands low and my sound even. Others may hear the repetitive"1e&a 2e&a" under my breath only to be answered by that dadatdada of a snare drum, while preparing for an ensemble rehersal. Most of my daily confersations are with myself arguing over how this or that is to be played. The dual personality of teacher vs. students dialoge playing in my head.

Blake on the other hand spends his day surrounded by 97 other students trying to make there way through slides of information and the constant dialoge of professor after professor after professor. only to be left with hours upon hours of processing the information and understanding course objectives. The evenings are spent hunched over a lap top and surrounded by books. The hours of the day becoming shorter as the information becomes exponentially larger.

I had to write this for class, just thought i would post it.

“Jamie, I think it is time you quite piano lessons. You just don’t have the musical ability to continue.”These are the words that were said to her as she left elementary school. She happily complied with her piano teacher and never took another piano lesson. She was not, however done with her musical exploration.


Jamie was born in 1986 to Randy and Loralee Wagstaff and at two years old moved into the home she would spend her childhood, a fruit farm next door to her grandparents. She spent the next 16 years learning to work hard. She learned skills such as pruning, thinning and picking peach trees, driving tractors, raising cows, canning food and taking care of younger brothers. Along with these skills Jamie and her brothers, Aaron and Caleb, were expected to take piano lessons through elementary school. After that they could choose to continue with these lessons or to pursue a new venture. It was at this time in her life when she chose to study violin.

Through the violin Jamie found reasons for living and a way to express emotions that had not and could not be expressed any other way. She made great lifelong friends with other students in orchestra, her stand partner in particularly, Braden.

Braden was a fine violinist and amazing pianist. Together they worked on many projects most of which would end in a church, inspiring emotions in others. While playing in school and taking private lessons was an essential, nothing brought more joy to Jamie then waking up and attending symphony rehearsals on Saturday morning. This is where she learned to love Schubert and take comfort in Brahms. Through this symphony she was able to learn and grow as a person and as a musician. During her senior year of high school she was invited to play in a side-by-side concert with the Utah Symphony. She also received the national school orchestra honor and director awards. The violin then led her to collage where she had intended to study music education with an emphasis in violin. However this goal was slightly altered along the way.

The Southern Utah University Professors were desperate for percussionists. They watched the students carefully, looked at their goals and aspirations and then approached Jamie in an attempt to recruit her as a percussionist. They started slowly, asking her to take a half hour lesson with the Percussion Professor, Dr. Patrick Roulet. When that was accomplished they then asked her to switch entirely and be a Percussion Major. Since there were no other percussion majors at the university, she was thrown into the deep end of things; playing in four ensembles a week and figuring out how to play each instrument quickly and accurately. Through her hard work and dedication, she found an energy and new found love for music of a different nature. As her senior recital approached Dr. Roulet left the University for ventures of his own. While Dr. Lynn Vartan took on the role as teacher and advisor for Jamie’s last year of undergrad.

As graduation approached, Lynn encouraged Jamie to consider her options of teaching or continuing her education. Graduate school was not something that she had considered before even though her husband Blake Francisco and been very open to the idea of her continuation in school. Jamie knew at this time that her destination was set for Portland, as this is where Blake was headed for pharmacy school. Her options were limited, but spirits were high, and she applied for Grad School at Portland State University, only to with draw her application months later when she discovered she was pregnant with their first child.

Five months later, as they prepared their move to Portland, Jamie went in for an ultra sound. She was there to find out the sex of the baby and yet she felt sick with nervousness, some part of her knew something was wrong. Her doctors couldn’t tell the sex, the fluids were low and something was wrong. She was sent to a specialist in St. George the following day. She found out her baby was going to die, she hates the specialist. That morning they had moved out of their home, her bed and comfort was packed in a U-Haul headed for Portland.

On arriving in Portland, Blake did everything he could to get Jamie to a doctor. It took a lot of time and yelling at people over the phone, but he got her into the best doctors for high risk pregnancies. After four hours of being poked with ultrasound equipment and needles the doctors told her that her baby had Body-Stalk Anomaly. There was a zero survival rate. She lost the baby.

With the pieces of her life and soul scattered about, she made the decision to try. To try and put some part of a life together in Portland. She contacted the Professor, at Portland State, Dr. Joel Bluestone and asked for help. He remembered her from her application before and pushed her application through the system. School started in less than a month.

Now she stands at a new door of opportunity and exploration. She may be more battered, her soul maybe bruised, but she is no worse for it. Emotion is what makes a musician. It is the ability to evoke such emotions into others, to allow them to feel what they may not have been able to on their own.