Introducing Elizabeth Lynne Sybrowsky

One of our friends from Lubbock said it best when he heard the news, "A multitude of prayers have been answered." Carrie did an amazing job and is well on her way to recovery. I may never sleep again, but I don't really care at this point. Thank you all for your prayers and support, we have shed many tears of joy. Here is a look at our little Elizabeth....

What's new with us

Well, first off ... I have entered my final trimester! Hooray!!! We have had a lot of fun these last couple of months. First, our doctor was concerned that our baby was too small, but to make a long story short, she's just fine and for those who have seen me recently can probably attest to the fact that she is just fine because I am significantly bigger. All is well. They did send us to a specialist who did some extra ultra sounds and so if nothing else, we got some great pictures. She's very photogenic. I think she just likes to get her picture taken. ;)

School for me is going great! I am getting a little anxious to be done for the semester only because we have so many other things going on. My mind is becoming more and more filled with baby and home stuff. However, I still enjoy all of my classes and all that I am learning. I will be taking the summer off and then taking a class or two in the fall.

Plans for our home are going well. We have given our ideas to an architect who is working on our plans and so hopefully we'll make a final decision on plans within the next couple of weeks. So far we are scheduled to start digging in July. We are getting really excited and are grateful for the chance to do this. It's a lot of fun.

Jacob is busy as usual. He is planning a trip to Lubbock in May to work on his dissertation. He enjoys teaching and LOVES working on house plans. He does a great job keeping up with his running as well. He works hard and is excited to put together our new stroller/car seat for the baby. :) That should be a lot of fun. He's enjoying the March Madness this year. I think we were both enjoying it a lot more when BYU was in it, but oh well.

Finally, I don't know about all of you, but this past week with the passing of Health Care, I was REALLY upset. I have had to turn off the news and stop talking to people about it because I have been so angry. Through all of this I have come to realize one of many very important lessons. I may not be happy with what is going on in our government right now, but I can still be grateful for a lot of things. So, my lesson to myself this week was be grateful. This doesn't mean that I don't get involved or stay well informed, but it does mean that I look for the good in the world. There is still a lot to be thankful for.

Our love to you all! We think you are GREAT!!!

Carrie & Jacob

The Yard - 10/08/09

Here you can see the progress of the little house. The pictures of the front yard are form two days ago, and the back were taken today. WE have about 12 trees up in total with maybe 40 or so more to go up tomorrow! Its going to look so much better with trees! We should be able to use the drive way in a little over a week.

Proper uses of University funds

Problem: I love watching college football, but can't get a TV signal in our apartment.

Solution: About a year ago Schwab gave our program $1 million for a new technology center. I teach the technology classes and have access to all of our classrooms, labs, computers, etc.... AT&T provides our internet service so we have access to ESPN 360 (kudos to Dave for the ESPN 360 idea). It took me three weeks to put it all together.

Current status: I am watching my choice of 10 live games in high def., surround sound, on a 10 foot screen all while grading last week's homework assignments. All of that technology is finally living up to it's full potential.

Result: Lower productivity on Saturdays, but I am very happy! You are all invited to the party - COHS 122, Lubbock, TX - please bring popcorn or chips.

Tomorrow I am starting day 15 out of 2000 according to Jacob. So far, I've loved every moment! BYU is the greatest school I could imagine gong to! Tomorrow I've got Mission Prep. at 10, Intro to Music at 11, then Hnrs Writing at 1, HEPE (Health) at 2, and Mens Chorus at 4. Its going to be a great day! We have our first real concert this weekend! I'm very excited. Are you guys coming up for the BYU game before conference? Its going to be great! I feel like we will win that one. We can't wait for you guys to move up here! I'm starting my mission papers this week so I'll be moving out just as you are moving in. We should get a new poll up on which continent I'll go to or something like that. Wow, I just saw the time and its really really late! So I'll try to write more tomorrow. Have a great night!

Jared =)

Greatest Game Ever Played!

To be read with great excitement, emotion, enthusiasm, passion, etc... - Jacob's comments are in BYU blue) All right, as most of you know, we were able to attend the BYU vs. OU (Oklahoma ranked #3 in the nation) game. Hopefully ALL of you know that BYU won. Can you say, "INCREDIBLE!!!" -yes Carrie, we can all say incredible - Honestly, that would have to be one of those games that they will play on BYU-TV, you know when they replay the BYU classic games. Anyway! It was amazing!!!! I think most everyone for BYU was thinking, "Well, we'll get to see a really nice stadium at least." - fair weather fans - I thought that if we could just keep up with them then BYU was going to have a great season. I believed, but I have to admit that even the "die hard" fans were thinking that it wasn't too likely that we could beat Oklahoma. The first touchdown that we made, I started thinking, "Hey, I think we actually might have a chance at this. WE JUST SCORED ON OKLAHOMA!!!!" Awesome! I have NEVER screamed so loud in all of my life - I now have permanent hearing damage. Our throats hurt like crazy today, but it was WELL worth it! The older guy - he was about 482 - behind us, I'll never forget when OU missed their last field goal, he raised both hands high above his head and yelled, "WE DID IT!!!!!" I think that's how we all felt.

The stadium was HUGE!! There were over 75,000 people in attendance - including us. It was probably about 70% OU fans. There was a lot of red - not including us. (Not to mention a lot of red eyes after the game! :)) All the seats were nice and padded. Their is a HUGE HD screen (80 feet wide). So much so that cheerleaders that raise their arms need to beware if you know what I mean. It was really awesome - the game, not the cheerleaders. We sat next to a lot of BYU fans and a few OU fans as well. Everyone was really nice - almost everyone.

The rest of the trip was great. We got to Dallas (actually Arlington) Friday night and found a great place to grab dinner and then had a great Saturday. We exercised and then went to a fun place to eat lunch - yes, our meals were both great and fun, then we went to a Running store where I was able to get a new pair of running shoes. The benefit to going to this running store was that the girl that helped me was able to examine my foot and see exactly what kind of shoe I needed - Carrie's first goal is to run from Lubbock to Zion and back, twice. She taught me more about my foot in 5 minutes that I have learned over the last THIRTY years! Anyway! So I found some new shoes that I am SO excited to use - it's not so exciting after mile 7. After that we went and grabbed something to eat and headed to the game.

Sunday we went to church and then headed home. It was a GREAT weekend - Yes!!!. The other great part is that there isn't school tomorrow and so even though we'll probably both go to work, it is nice to know that we don't HAVE to and we can sleep in. Anyway - speak for yourself, I'm relaxing all day! We love you guys and are excited to see some of you in October for General Conference - that is true. It will be a quick trip so I hope that we get to see as many of you as possible.

Love,
Carrie & Jacob

We are coming home!

This has been a big week for us. Too many blessings to count. I still have a lot to do, so Carrie will fill in the details later. We moved into an apartment last weekend and finalized the sale of our home yesterday. Carrie was a real trooper and did much of the moving while I was at work. We were sad to leave our little home - lots of good memories. We had a lot of fun doing home improvement projects together. I was really sad to have left yesterday, then we got the check from the sale. Now I'm not so sad anymore.
Our new apartment is nice. It is just the right size for us right now. We will be here until the end of November as we are moving back to Utah over Thanksgiving break. Yes, it is finally official. We received an offer from UVU today! We will sign within the next day or two. I'll be teaching corporate finance and personal financial planning classes until we can get the financial planning major started. We cannot wait to be part of the Utah group again. I'll have to return to Lubbock a couple of times to finish up my dissertation. We are excited to settle down and begin this next stage closer to our family.

Hey fam!

So here is the latest news for the Jacob and Carrie Sybrowsky family:
1. This week I get to go to Girl's Camp--Hooray! I am so excited! :) I think I am probably more excited than the girls!
2. This week Jacob goes to Dallas to study for the CFP exam that he takes in July. (He is taking a class in Dallas.)
3. Next week I am off to Houston for a trip for work. It should be fun.
4. The following week we pack up the house and begin the moving process
5. The official closing date on our house is July 13th. It's fun to think that we are moving on.
6. Jacob is hard at work on his dissertation--that's good.
7. I took the GRE last week and hopefully will hear the terrible news next week. (I didn't do too well. I guess it helps if you spend time studying. There is a big difference between what I teach in 3rd grade and what they test you on on the GRE.)

Life is going well. We are excited to move back to Utah this year so we can be closer to everyone.

Love ya!
Carrie

Passing the point of no return...

I have been waiting for some sort of big, exciting news to share. Unfortunately, our job offer is still unofficial (although we talk with UVU weekly and everything seems to be moving along) and I have no major advances on my dissertation to share. However, we do have a contract on our home! We are selling it to a young couple. They are LDS and will be getting married in late July. Hence the point of no return. With no house, our move back to Utah is now official <insert applause here>. We are still working out the details, but we will probably move to Provo this December, sometime well before Christmas.
Also, and this is really important... tomorrow (Friday, June 5th) is national doughnut day. Most Krispy Kremes around this great nation of ours will be giving a free doughnut to anyone who stops by one of their more than 3,000 locations. I know what you are saying, we have all had our fair share of free glazed doughnuts. The offer is good for any one of their 27 regular varieties OR one of their three current specialty doughnuts. Can life get any better? I submit that it cannot! If any of you are in Lubbock tomorrow morning you will find Carrie and I at the Krispy Kreme just off the south loop enjoying a treat on corporate America (our own little bailout if you will). We promise to exercise and work off the extra calories.

Hello!

Hello Family!

It's sunday and I havn't written on here in a long time, so I thought I should! I think I've spoken with some of you about classes at BYU that I should take my first semester, but I would love to here any suggestions from anyone I havn't asked yet. I'm thinking American Heritage, two religion classes an English class and one other one. We are very excited to see all of you in two weeks for General Conference! I think everyone in the family will be here! I'll be lucky because the saturday of conference, I'll get to see Chelsea at work and then the rest of you in Salt Lake! Anyway, mom needs on now to write to Chelsea, but I'll see you all soon!

    Jared