Nine

Well, I have some good news to report from the land of Frostbite. We received our class rankings last week and I'm happy to say that I am ranked #9 out of 83. I was pleased. They ask the top ten students to write for Law Review, which is a VERY prestigious thing if you get published (in fact, some court decisions have cited Law Review articles!). I'd like to do it, but I don't think I'll be able to. My goal is to transfer after this year, and if that ends up happening (keep your fingers crossed) then I don't want to devote a bunch of time to writing an article only to not see it through. So I don't think I will.

Anyway, the semester is starting off pretty good. I enjoy all my classes, more or less, and I think I have a better grasp on how to study and prepare now. The schedule is a lot more kind to me as well. No more 8:00 classes (except Tuesdays) and the work load toward the end of the week gets significantly lighter. So no complaints there. I won't get another vacation until spring break in March, but I guess I'll live.

I celebrated my birthday on Sunday! Big 27. Weird. I spent it the best way I could imagine - with Heidi and Trey. We went to Fort Collins on Saturday and shopped for some new slippers for Trey, to no avail (however, Heidi found him some "Melmo" slippers right here at KMart in Laramie). We went to the mall and just let Trey run around for an hour, which he LOVED! After that, we went and ate at Coccina's Italian Grill. It was pretty good! Sunday, we just did our usual and relaxed all day. Not a bad birthday at all. Thanks to all of you who posted a birthday greeting...and shame on all of you who didn't! I kid. If anyone is guilty of that, it's me!

Last Thursday we hung out with Jared (my best law school buddy), Ellen (his wife), Tony (my other good law school buddy), and Sam (yet another law school buddy). We all went over to Jared's house and had pizza. It was pretty fun and the conversation never died. Of course, Heidi and I were mostly distracted from preventing Trey from breaking the decorations! This Friday we invited Josh and Miri (from our ward - he's a 2L) to come over and eat pizza and play Wii. So that should be fun too.

I was invited to participate in an intramural basketball team with a few guys in my class and a few of my professors. Most of the guys are NOT good, but it's all for fun anyway, right? We had a game last Wednesday and we lost by 10. However, I had 17 points, so I can't complain too much. The refs sucked, but what's new? I'll spare you the details. One of the professors who is playing is Prof. Wilson who is from Utah, went to the University of Utah, is a member of the church, and served a mission. I'm hoping to get in good with him so he'll write me a letter of recommendation when I apply to transfer.

As for Trey and Heidi, they are doing well! Heidi is perfect just the way she is but apparently she disagrees with me so she's been working out really hard. I don't know if she wanted me to mention this, but she has lost three pounds in two weeks! I'm really proud of her and know she can reach her goal (whatever that goal is?)! I just want her to be happy!

Trey is the funniest, cutest little kid I could have ever hoped to have as my son. He has figured out what toenail clippers are for and Heidi caught him trying them out! He's become a big fan of Elmo and loves to play with his two stuffed Elmos. Here's one last funny story about him. The other day I came home from school and picked him up to hold him. In the meantime, I was really mad about our neighbors (I can't remember what it was now...it could have been a NUMBER of things...**sigh**). I was talking to Heidi and was venting to her. As I was yelling and complaining about them, Trey grabbed my cheeks and turned my head to him so I would make eye contact and then he started yelling at me! He was trying to get me to settle down! As soon as I quit yelling, he stopped holding my cheeks and gave me a big cheesy smile. Kids sure know how to correct their parents, don't they! What a kid.

Anyway, I think that's it for now. We're just counting down the days until we're outta here! At least the weather hasn't been that bad lately! Knock on wood. Till next time...