Officially a 11/2L Law Student -- Hello, 2010!

Ahh...the three week break was great. Now it's back to work.

After two rigorous weeks of law school finals last month, Heidi, Trey, and I headed to Utah for an extended break. It was great to get back to the state. There is definitely a different feel. Utah is so much cleaner, happier, and aesthetically appealing. We got to spend ample time with family this year. It was nice.

It was fun to see Trey experience Christmas this year. He had plenty of toys and clothes from St. Nick to keep him happy. In fact, he was enthralled with his Mr. Potato Head. Go figure that that would be the golden nugget of Christmas.

Trey aged about four years upon receiving his first hair cut! He was pretty unsure about it and he wiggled a lot, but I thought he cooperated surprisingly well. The curly hair in the back was cute, but out of control. It was time. I'm glad we did it too, because he looks even cuter now!

Another cool thing about our trip, is I got to meet the attorney's that I'll be interning for this summer at the Box Elder County Attorney's office. They were all upbeat and interesting guys. I can't wait to be apart of that office and contribute. Should be fun and interesting!

Our time in Utah, not surprisingly, flew by and before we knew it, it was time to go home. I thought it would be weird to be back in town and our apartment, but just as Heidi predicted, it was like we never left. We arrived on Sunday, the day before school started.

On Monday I returned to school to reconvene with my old classmates. Again, not much was different. It was back to business as usual. I'm excited for my classes this semester. I have all new teachers (except one) and I got rid of a particular professor I couldn't stand. So all in all, I was pretty stoked. Here's a list of this semester's classes:

• Civil Procedure
• Torts II
• Constitutional Law
• Contracts II
• Property II
• Appellate Advocacy

I'm hoping to have a strong semester and finish at the top of my class so I can transfer back to Utah! I finished far better than I expected last semester. I thought it would be a disaster. I probably shouldn't reveal the exact details of my grades online, but suffice to say I think it might be enough to put me in the top ten. I was talking with a 2L student who remarked that my GPA was above average and in his class would have easily put me in the top ten. I hope he's right. So now I just have to keep up the pace and dedication and hopefully we'll be home in no time.

Well, it was good to see all of our family and friends on our trip and we were saddened to leave you all behind. We are especially grateful and forever indebted to both of our parents. They have done so much to watch out for our well-being and success and we can't thank them enough. We appreciate them all for putting up with us over the break. Well, I guess I better wrap this up and finish up some things for class tomorrow.

Ciao.

Just Call Me "Esquire"

So I've been really jazzed about something I just learned the other day. I've been telling everyone about it. I found out that the proper name given to those in the legal profession is "esquire"! How freakin' awesome is that?! (sorry for using the f-word there, Brenda... :O) So in three years when I finally get my J.D., I will formally be known as Blair Tal Wardle, esq. And I expect you all to address me as such. No, I kid. But it is pretty cool...and you can call me that if you want.

I'm still going strong in school and it is as busy as ever. I've been pretty consistent with staying at the library and studying until about 6:00 pm everyday (although some days I end up bringing some homework home). I think I'm figuring out how to be a little more efficient, so that helps.

We've been studying some pretty interesting stuff. I'll spare you the in-depth analysis, but here's just a few points of law I've learned that I thought were pretty interesting (please ignore the flower bullets. They come with the layout!):

• Assault and battery are SEPARATE charges
  Battery involves making actual physical contact with another person, and assault is causing someone to have appprehension about imminent bodily contact
  ** So here's something for you to think about --> considering those definitions, is it possible for someone to be assaulted without battery? **
  
• Battery doesn't necessarily have to be physical contact with the body directly
  We read a case where a guy was charged with battery simply for grabbing another guy's dinner plate!
  
• A contract can be legally binding even if you think it's a joke
  We read a case where a guy was joking with his friend about selling his property to him. They wrote it on the back of a bar receipt and the court enforced it!
  
• If you own mineral rights to your land, your neighbor can drill a well near the property line and legally pump all the oil out from underneath your property
  
• And finally... Criminal law is becoming VERY intriguing to me
  We just read a case about a korean lady that shot a 14 year old girl in the back of the head for shoplifting orange juice and only got 6 months of probation...and I agree with the sentencing! I'll see if I have time to post it on here so you can get the details and see what I'm talking about.

Anyway, that's the law school side of things. I've been trying to give updates about family life and social life too, so I'll make a few comments about that before I sign off.

Last Wednesday we had the Nish's over to our place. It was pretty fun. We ate a little pizza, played some Wii, and talked. Heidi and I aren't used to this kind of thing, so we felt a little out of our element. We're both pretty socially introverted and don't like to bother with inviting people over, but we're trying to turn over a new leaf over here in Laramie. They're a really cool couple, so I hope we get to hang out more often.

As for the family side of things, we were able to have a good extended weekend with our family. It sure was nice to be home with all of my favorite people in the world. We drove to Tremonton Friday right after school got out and arrived about 8:00 pm. I got to play basketball with Dane and my old work buddies. It was a pretty relaxing weekend, but unfortunately I still had homework that needed to be done (which, you'll be happy to know, I finished). On Monday we had to drive home, but not before eating at Goodwood Barbecue in Ogden with Mom, Dad, Fritz, Brenda, George, and LaVada. It was a nice finish to a great weekend. I was truly happy to see everyone again.

I got thinking about it, and we'll be home at least once a month, every month until the end of the year. We were already home in September, we'll be home for Halloween in October, Thanksgiving in November, and of course, Christmas in December. So living this far away, so far, hasn't turned out to be that bad.

And finally, I'll leave you with some VERY GOOD NEWS!
My dear, ol' mom talked with the county attorney that she works for (Box Elder County), and he said that I could come and intern there this summer! WOO HOO! That means we'll be moving back for at least three months this summer! If everyone keeps their fingers crossed for us, it may be a permanent move back to Utah (if I can transfer back to BYU or the U - we'll see).

Well, it's always best to leave on a good note, so I'll consider that my cue. Roll credits.