Our poor computer.

A couple of weeks ago our computer died. We woke up one morning to a computer that had turned off by itself in the middle of the night (it never does that!). Alarmed we tried to turn it back on. Nothing happened. We thought maybe the outlet was having a problem we moved it across the room. Nothing happened. Oh its just got to be the power cord we thought. So we got a new power cord. Nothing happened.....We finally came to the conclusion that it was just dead. Its an IMac(which means its intel-based and everything is built into the monitor) and the closest apple store is in Salt Lake, and the people at the computer repair shop in town.....well lets just say we aren't so confident they always know what they are doing. Doug dropped it off to them on Saturday and talked to them about how much it would cost. It went something like this. Doug: So what do you think the problem is? Guy1: Well we'd have to get in there to really see but its probably something with the internal power supply. Doug: Ok, so how much would it cost just for you to diagnose what is really wrong with it? Guy1: Theres a $59 testing and diagnosis fee. But if thats what's wrong with it the part is about $200 and all together the labor would be around $200. Doug: Well....lets just have to do the test and diagnose right now because if thats not what is wrong with it I don't want you to order anything yet. Guy1 (as he begins unscrewing the back of the computer).: Ok. No problem. Now let me tell you about a conversation I had yesterday with these people after Doug called down there to find out when his computer would be done. The people down there said, "Oh, this is your computer? We were trying to figure out what its doing here. Theres no note or anything with it and its just been sitting here on our counter for a couple days." Doug proceeded (in calm tones that may not have been coming out of my mouth had I answered) to explain what the problem was and then asked him to work on it. The phone rang a couple minutes later and I picked it up. Me: Hello? Guy2: Hi. We have some more information on your computer. Me: Oh ok, what is it. Guy2: Well, we haven't done anything to it yet but we are pretty sure its an internal power supply problem. So the cost of it will be $250 for labor and $200 for the part. Me: Well have you done the testing and diagnosis yet? We kind of just wanted you to do that. Guy2: Oh ok, that will be $150. Me: $150?! Wait a minute. When we came in on Saturday we were told that the fee was $59 how can it go from that to a 150? Guy2: Well I don't have anything written down about what your order was. That must have been Jason and he doesn't understand what exactly our prices were. Me (beginning to be very frustrated).: Well its not our fault you don't have anything written down and that was the price quoted to us. We don't want to pay you a $150 just to tell us whats wrong with it.... And on the conversation went with the guy telling me that it would take a lot of labor just to get into the computer and that it doesn't matter what we were told but it would cost us $150 to just open the darn thing up. So I finally told him I'd talk to my husband and call back. Needless to say we decided that if the person we dropped the computer off to doesn't seem to know the prices and obviously didn't touch the computer after we dropped it off a few days ago(even though he appeared to unscrew the back and start working on it right away) and can't even write our order down....well maybe we didn't want them working on our computer anyway. So we are going to take it to Salt Lake to the Apple Care Center and people who work on them everyday. Sorry that took so long to explain : ).....I just vented some very built up frustrations about the whole situation....So yeah......Thanks.

Ummm....Yeah its been a while....

Ok so I would say I'm sorry for not blogging for whats been 4 months but I'm not really. I have been so busy I don't know how I've had time to get enough sleep! I am in my last semester before I can graduate, teaching piano to 11 sometimes wonderful (when they practice) kids, serving as assistant to the secretary in Primary (where we have 5 soon to be 6 nurserys), and all the while trying to be a good wife who makes dinner and cleans the house (yeah I could do better). We have both been cruzin through this school year and it I can't believe midterms are next week. I am taking only music classes this semester and it is so nice not to have to worry about that 5 page english paper or math exam when I sit down to practice. I am working on some fun music this semester! I love learning new songs I just wish they didn't have to be performed and then given a grade. I'll be so excited when I can learn them without that pressure. Doug has been having fun teaching his middle school kids. He is trying to plan a trip down to Lagoon in the near future that should be really fun. We just have to wait and hear whether it gets approved. We have done some fun things since the new year has started. I'll list a few of the recent ones: - I started a quilt for someone (I won't say cause its a surprise). It's my first real piece quilt and I'm super excited about it! Its so cool. I'll post a picture and explain how it works later. - Doug got asked to play with the Rexburg Tabernacle Orchestra in a year or two? (cant remember when). So he's started to learn Saint Seans 3rd(?) Violin Concerto. - We went and rented a little cabin up in Island Park for Valentines day and it was so much fun. We went cross country skiing and saw tons of beautiful swans on the river. It was perfect because it snowed the night before and the sky was clear and sunny. (we had to do this a weekent before valentines because of whats coming next). - We went to Arizona last weekend to hear Doug's brother play his last recital for his doctorate program. He did awesome and we enjoyed the warmer weather, sun, and their two great kids. We had to drive to Salt Lake then get on a plane so it was a lot of travelling but it sure was fun. I got pretty sick on monday when we were supposed to travel back and thank goodness I have wonderful priesthood holders in my family who could give me a blessing. I started feeling better on the airplane and was able to travel. Well thats it. I'll get on more often now that this semester is winding down. I'm sure I'll have plenty of time in the near future! Yay for graduation!

Our oh so busy life

So we have been just going and going!  I finally found the chance to jump on the computer.  Doug has been fairly busy with his Elders Quorum President calling.  They finally have succeeded in putting all of the home teaching assignments together and have visited just about every member in their quorum.  

While he had spud harvest, Doug decided to build a ladder that we could get down into our crawl space with.  He very expertly measured and drew one out using all of his math skills : ).  He was very proud of the end result! (that is untill he realized his steps were just two inches too wide).  So he needs to go back and cut them smaller before he can complete it.

I very suddenly have acquired 10 piano students!  I know you might wonder how I have time.  I don't know but I do know the Lord is behind making my days stretch 3 or 4 hours longer.  I know I can't possibly do everything with out his help!  So these students came from a young piano teacher in my ward.  She decided she needed to focus more on her composing and recording and just couldn't teach them anymore.  She asked me if I would like her students and I said sure.  I officially start teaching them this week and I'm so excited!

School is just continuing on for both of us!  I have a lot of fun with my classes but they take up a lot of time.  I am doing homework more than I ever have in my whole life!  I can't believe that midterms are this week!  At least its a comfort to know this semesters half over.  Doug is going to start preparing for his december concert!  I love to watch his students perform.  He has so many of them its crazy. 

Well thats how our life is going....I will post later about our super fun murder mystery dinner we had this last saturday  and all of the cute things I did for our enrichment night.  

Hmmm.....Long time no blog!

Ok so I have been horrible!  School started and I don't know what happened to me!  I'm so busy I haven't even had a chance to check others blogs in two weeks let alone post on mine.  So heres the rundown on the last part of summer and the beginning of school.   

We went to a couple reunions in August it was really fun.  We had the Boyer Reunion here in Rexburg and then the Quick Reunion in Lehi utah.  For a great rundown on that you can read my sisters post here.  It was a lot of fun to see all of our family.  

Doug, Me, Bryant, Rachel, and Becca decided to hike to the top of Table Rock to see the Tetons right in front of our faces. It was my last fling before school officially started.   It was a wonderful hike.  The scenery was beautiful even for 12 miles : ).  We were all very sore but extremely happy that we had done it.  

School started for me and I found out I was the class sequence schedule I was following was missing 4 classes that I need before I can graduate in the winter.  So I am pretty busy I am taking 18 credits and when your a music major it means you have about 9 classes.  Its only the second week of school and I feel a little like I've been ran over by a bus.  I have a lot of reading and it gets a little mentally draining while walking all over campus is physically draining.  I'm excited to learn though!  I love school and am excited for what I get to do this semester.  

It was my birthday on the 17 and I had a great time.  Doug got me beautiful flowers then took me to dinner in Idaho Falls.  My biggest present was a good winter coat (something I've never needed before moving to Rexburg).  We had cake and ice cream with Dougs family and my family called to wish me a Happy Birthday!  It was very fun.

So thats what's been going on.  Maybe this semester will get easier as it goes on and I'll have more time to get on and post.  If not just know that I am wishing I could and I do still try to read all of your blogs!

Our Many Travels

We went down to visit my family for a week on the 21st. Our anniversary was on the 19th of July so we decided to stay in Salt Lake on the way down on Monday. It was nice to have a break in the drive but as soon as we got to Logandale we jumped right back in the car to go to California with my mom. Doug had never met my grandparents or my great-grandma. So we left on Monday, stayed overnight, drove the rest of the way to Logandale on Tuesday, took an hour break, and headed down to California the same day. We stayed and visited my grandparents wednesday then jumped back in the car to go back to Nevada on Thursday. Then we stayed and played till the following monday. We went waterskiing and wakeboarding. I tried wakeboarding for the first time and crashed the hardest I've ever crashed in my life. It was a lot of fun though. We also got to play a lot of games with all my brothers and sisters. Logan (who is preparing for a mission) recieved the Melchezedik Priesthood that sunday and I was very glad we were there for it. We got home on Monday and Doug's parents asked us if we would like to Moscow, Idaho to move Brad and Traci up there (Brad is started medical school in a couple weeks). We were debating whether to go or not because they were leaving on wednesday. Finally we decided we really did want to go even if it was a 10 hour drive just to get there. So we went up there and helped them move into their new apartment. We were really happy we went. It was a lot of fun to see their new apartment and help them organize it. We got to watch Alaina be so cute all weekend and have fun with Brad and Traci, Mom and Dad, and Traci's parents. Then we got back in the car on Friday. All in all we had a great time. I only wish we could cut travelling time in at least half. I think we travelled about 50 hours in the last two and a half weeks. 9+9(Idaho to Nevada and back)+6+6(Nevada to California and back)+10+10(Rexburg to Moscow and back) yep that equals 50. I'm just glad the Boyer reunion is in Rexburg this year.

....grrrr...

We have been pretty busy and so I haven't blogged in a while. However it doesn't mean I havent tried. My Internet has decided to be the biggest pain in the world. It will work just long enough (sometimes) to read other blogs and check my e-mail (rarely). But as soon as I have a real reason to use it (such as blogging, or looking something up), it immediately drops the connection to the server and won't work. My solution was to call the company! Of course if you have problems with the server its the company's fault right? So they tried all kinds of troubleshooting with the modem and asked me more questions than I wanted to answer. In the end they wanted to come and put a dish up on my house to boost my reception (we have wireless internet you see). That wouldn't work because our homeowners association is trying to set up a deal where there will be one dish for internet and one dish for tv on each building. Anyone who puts up anymore dishes before that is all worked out can be fined. So I talked to the president of the HOA. He said if we could just stick it out I could get a better deal with better service in two weeks. I decided that sounded ok so we are still stuck without properly working internet. You might be asking how it is that I'm blogging right now. Well I came to the school with Doug to set up his room. His computer works just fine! I guess if I really need something we can just come up here. Hey it works for me : ). OH and did I mention that our phone has not been working for two weeks? : ) ......grrrr... : ) I have to just smile and remind myself that those are just little things compared to what is really important. : )

Very Busy!

We have been very busy this last week. Doug has been involved in directing Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat. It has been a great experience for him! He has had quite a few practices which I'm not too crazy about, but it has turned out great. I am going to go see it tonight with his family. I had juries this last week. I think they went pretty well. You never get used to playing for a grade. I had a big mess up at the recital part of my jury : ). I smile at it because it was avoidable. The guy in front of me got up and couldn't get his piece started. He would get a few notes out and then have a memory slip. He tried 4 or 5 times before he could get going. So I sat there and thought I don't want to do that so I better know how my piece starts. I thought through it picturing the notes on the page and what they were feeling confident I knew my piece. But when I sat at the piano my fingers simply would not start it. I stopped and thought through the notes once more and still couldn't get started. Now Doug and I have decided that my analytical side of my brain overpowered the side that feels and does things naturally. Its ok I played the rest of the piece great and even had the chance to play it again later in my jury to redeem myself. We also have been very busy finally tiling our bathroom but since I don't have the pictures on this computer I will leave that for another day.