A Mark update

I fear this blog knows too much about me and not enough about Mark so I am going to try to fill you in on his going ons.

Mark, so far, is liking his work. He did a lot of training, just getting to know the tractors, the first couple weeks. They sent him to Phoenix for a week to work with another member of their team and drive around all the tractors they have there. He was able to drive all the tractors AGCO offers except one. In Phoenix, they give the farmers in the area tractors to use as long as they try out the guidance systems and give them feedback, and allow AGCO employees to drive them around their fields whenever they want. Pretty sweet deal for the farmers seeing as simple tractors usually run around a quarter of a million dollars. When he was in Hesston for the rest of those weeks, he was usually in classes for tractor technicians, so he got to know the tractor systems a little better. Lately they have given him other smaller things to test while they wait for the next updates to test from the company that designs the guidance systems. He really enjoyed being out in the field testing. The last few days he has been a little bored because the company they were waiting for pushed out the arrival of the new updates, so he has been trying to find other things to do.... Like find a lost camera, fix the Kabota, build wiring harnesses, etc. haha if you know Mark well, you know he likes to stay busy.

He is really liked by his colleagues. I think they are very impressed with him. I have had the opportunity of meeting several of them already when they invited us over for dinner. He has also had the opportunity to share the gospel quite a bit. There is only one other lds person on the whole Advanced Technology team. He has really liked talking to several of them about what we believe.

Mark is REALLY excited about the baby and absolutely loved going to the ultrasound where he was super impressed with the equipment and how knowledgable the technician was. He does such a good job of making sure I am always comfortable. He is also really excited to build a crib for the baby and shop for a car that is car seat compatible.

Mark is really into electric vehicles and has researched them a lot lately. He has many plans to build one one day. In a quiet moment when he is not busy, he can be found mentally designing this future project.

Mark was just called as the ward executive secretary so will start to be really busy with church. The day he was called was quite the day for him. He was given the calling in the morning, spoke in sacrament, set apart after sacrament and then taught the lesson in elders quorum. We then had home teachers over and fed the missionaries. It was a really busy day but he is excited for the calling. Since a lot of members have to drive quite a ways to church, all church activities and meetings are generally held Sunday and Wednesdays. I already have to be there on Wednesdays for achievement days so it works out great. And we live so close to the church which is awesome.

Mark continues to be the most amazing husband and future father. He likes Kansas so far but can't wait to see family again. He is staying really busy but loves not having homework and being able to just be home when he is done with work.

Congratulations to Mark

Mark was awarded the outstanding undergraduate teaching assistant award yesterday from the Mechanical Engineering Department! He is such an incredible T.A and there is always someone asking him for help. It's nice to see his hard work acknowledged.

My Knight in Shining Armor

Mark Age 6 ish

I read a saying recently "Sometimes your knight in shining armor is just a nerd in tin foil."
It made me think of this picture. I love it.

Mark is my prince, my knight and shining armor. He is perfect, perfect for me!

One year ago today....

I received this pretty little thing

From this wonderfully handsome man

At this gorgeously perfect lake

Hooray for marriage and love and engagements and pretty rings at pretty places from wonderful people. I love you Mark!

The past few weeks

Since I can't keep up with blogging very well lately, this is an update of the past couple weeks. :)

We went camping! We took our parents trailer and found a nice little place up grover park. It was good to get a little wilderness time. Mark is an excellent fire builder.

I was in the Logan Herald Journal with my Pal, Aubrey. It was a great opportunity! I have had a ton of parents and students email me about wanting to be in the program. We fed the ducks at first dam in this picture. What you cannot see is our fear of the geese (well you can see it a little, because we are on the table). These geese had 8 little babies and were chasing us around barking at us. Terrifying. Click here for the article.

This is Jasper....he is a boy... in a family of lots of girls.

Poor dog. I love having awesome sisters!

Bear Lake with the Walker's and new cute swimsuits! I like this picture!

Carla's kitchen part dos. Mark raised their cabinets 9 inches! He put crown molding around the top and new shelves in below and in the bathroom. I LOVE the shelves. They are free standing, so no supports on the bottom, so cute! All that is left to do is paint and hang the doors again. Click here to see Carla's kitchen part uno.

More work on the trailer! It looks amazing. Detailed pictures to come. He just finished putting in a shelf and the dust collection system.

ALSO, Thanks to the genius Thorups, Matt and Carla, Mark has an awesome new "business"/blog name --- Mark's Traveling Toolbox. It will look great on the side of his trailer! His blog is now travelingtoolbox.blogspot.com.

Almost Done

Mark has now transformed this lowly little flat bed trailer into.....

A traveling workshop. It is almost done. These are some of the pictures of the process. There will be more later once it is completely finished. Now he has a place for all of his tools and a perfect work station.
Both sides flip out and he has some nice tables to work on.

This is the whole thing closed up
And painted.

He now has the outside and main structure done. Just little conveniences left to construct, like shelves, locks on the outside, a suction system for keeping it clean of saw dust, etc. It looks amazing though! Perfect summer project.

Congratulations to the 2010-11 ASME secretary for Utah State

Mark has been chosen to be the new secretary for Utah State's ASME (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) for the 2010-11 school year! I am so proud of him! He is excited. Yay Mark!

This picture is actually from our trip, when we were on a ferry. Pretty much the same level of excitement though.... almost. Yay!

Engineering Nerds

Mark has a group project in one of his classes and they were told to come up with a group name... these are the ones his peers came up with. We thought they were pretty hilarious

Naked Mole Rats
Fraggle Rock
Unicorn Warrior
Warrior Princess
Oscillation Fascination
Tiny Dancers
Manheim Steam Bowlers
The Giga-Watts
The Giggle-Watts
Bridget
Its a Trap
Noted
The Cancer Bats
American Caterpillar
Omnomigon
The PRO-Tractors

Our favorites are in bold.

My Wonderful Husband

I am so blessed to have found such a amazing person as my eternal companion! Anyone that knows him knows what a talented and smart man he is. I am continually amazed at what he can do and rarely find something that he is only mediocre at!
This Monday he had a test in his Instruments class (not musical instruments, but instruments that one may have to learn for mechanical engineering.... leave it to the wife to explain) and he got an 89! Which is absolutely incredible for an engineer! And better yet, he was the class high! Out of almost a hundred other super smart mechanical engineers, he got the highest. I am so proud of him and am amazed at his hard work and dedication to his school work.

Plus, he is extremely handsome. How did I get so lucky?!