Guess What!

So, the big news of this post is...I got into the Masters program at BYU! Starting at the end of August, I will be in the Masters of Accountancy program. And I am extremely excited about it! Currently, it's (I believe) the #1 program in the US. I still can't believe I got in...it was kind of a shock.

My birthday is in two weeks and I got my birthday present early...decorations! And by that I mean fake vines and fake flowers. They ended up on top of the cupboards and on our wall shelves. I got really excited to put them up and add some color to our apartment.

Here's a close up of the flowers...they aren't as noticeable in the previous pictures. I love how bright they are.

Speaking of color, my wonderful husband randomly got me these beautiful flowers (real ones). I really like bright cheerful colors, so these were perfect after a long day.

As whimsic as the Utah weather

So I (Matt) am befuddled by this Utah weather. Last Saturday I was covering a charity football game between high school seniors and their coaches, and earned my first sunburn of 2010 (I said on Facebook that I was sunburned, but not nearly as badly as the Spurs).

Yesterday, a mere two days after my skin-darkening experience, I get an e-mail from my editor saying this week's softball/baseball playoff games could be postponed due to 90-percent precipitation. What's up with this? It's May!

Anyway, if/when the rain eventually does stop, I'll be sure to wear sunscreen in the future.

While I've been writing (and watching the playoffs), Erika's been working at her bookkeeping job part-time. It's nice and low-key, which is good, 'cause she doesn't come home with the typical SFWS (Stressed From Work Syndrome).

We did our once-a-month "expensive" date last Friday, getting lunch at our mutually favorite place, Olive Garden. I stayed within my comfort zone and got a pepperoni pizza, while Erika got some Italian looking dish. Weird, I know.

Since we don't live close to our moms, we called them on Mother's Day. Believe it or not, my mom didn't weep over her long-distance, married son (I quote her: "Erika doesn't need to talk to me to earn points. She's putting up with you, and that earns plenty of points with me.")

That Sunday morning, Erika's boss invited us over to have lunch with her and her family. Given that we don't have a porch in our apartment to house a grill, those hamburgers were awfully good for this meat-loving guy.

Last time Erika wrote, she mentioned how school was over for her. What she hasn't mentioned since then are her grades -- all B-pluses! In the number one accounting school in the nation! Crazy awesome. The only person disappointed was, you guessed it, Erika (I think her obsession with Harry Potter has made her more like Hermione Granger than she realizes).

As for me, the BYU rejectee, my classes at Utah Valley University start late June. I'm pretty stoked to be done with my NAU online classes and get back in a classroom so the teacher can remind me of assignments instead of me.

Well, that's all for now. We'll be going to AZ in a couple weeks for Erika's sister's graduation. Looking forward to the more predictable weather, and maybe a chance to swim. Ciao, y'all.

Edible Delights

Matt was covering a baseball game, and I was craving sugar yet wanting to be creative. The result was a chocolate cake.

It's scrumptious, by the way.

And obviously, Matt thought so too. Five minutes after he got home, the cake looked like this:

Economic Adventures

With the thrill of our European honeymoon behind us and a tight budget in front of us, we've unearthed our creativeness to have fun(ny), wallet-friendly adventures. This has made for some good laughs and photos.

With Utah finally realizing it's April, we went on a picnic last Saturday. That delicious fruit salad was made by Yours Truly (take that, Mom), while Erika made some sandwiches and muffins.

Even Erika was overwhelmed by the deliciousness of my fruit salad.

This is Reporter Petersen at a jam-packed high school softball game. It was pretty depressing. The final score was 16-3, but amazingly, the story was the lead on the sports section of the Herald. So yeah, this is how I roll.

Funny story. Erika has come with me to three games. The games she comes to are always cold, windy and miserable. When she doesn't come, it's a warm, beautiful day. As you can see, she tries to tough it out by wearing my sweatshirt I keep in the car for emergency situations such as this.

Erika occasionally takes indoor, self-entertainment to new heights. If you weren't able to tell, these are dominoes arranged to look like a flower. It was hard to tell whether Erika had more fun making the flower or starting the domino chain.




If you look at the previous pictures, it's obvious I was getting close to Beatles territory. To save money, we borrowed clippers from some neighbors and Erika had a go at her first barber job. After the attempt, we just buzzed the whole enchilada with a number three. Erika actually did a good job -- it's just my awkwardly shaped head makes minimal errors show up in an obvious manner.

It's official...I survived.

The semester is over. I took my last final yesterday and had the strangest feeling of freedom as I left the room. The Junior Core for the accounting program has been the toughest and hardest semesters of my life. The workload is overwhelming, the pace is grueling, and the expectations of the students are high. But, I am proud to say that I have survived. And now it's summer, with no 10 hour study sessions in the library, no homework that makes my head hurt, and no waking up at 3 am just to get a little bit more studying in before a big test.

I'm just glad I survived these past two semesters while being engaged and a newly wed. It was tough. Now I get to relax a bit and use my spare time to enjoy myself.

'Notha day, 'notha dollar. No, really

It's a busy week for both of us. Erika is studying/stressing for finals, and I'm watching/stressing through the lead-up to the Finals...the NBA Finals that is. Suns dropped Game 1, and this AZ boy was not thrilled. Wrote a piece that got a lot of feedback, though.

Speaking of writing, I'm doing double-duty with the Daily Herald and Examiner.com covering Utah high school sports. Both are part-time, and since the rights to the articles are mine, I can double-dip a single article. It's a good deal that gives us a little extra cash, something my accounting-major wife is always monitoring.

Erika's not just dollars and cents, though. She's also got home-making sense, as the following pictures demonstrate...

The above is a symmetrical (Erika was insistent upon it) photo display of our various adventures to other countries. We're hoping this expands over time.

The Kitchen, Part One: The only thing I had to do with the kitchen decor was the crown jewel: the basketball-themed calendar.

The Kitchen, Part Two: Erika likes pictures, and they do give me a reason to occasionally enter the kitchen. That's a lie. I make some exquisite Mac & Cheese and pasta-from-a-bag.

Most of you know newly-weds don't have a dining room...they have a dining corner. I think ours is pretty nice. The glass bowl contains seashells from Spain. The table was a product of my mom's creative genius.


Those shelves were a pain to 1) get on the wall at all and 2) get them parallel enough for Erika. I broke my own personal record for most time using a hammer, though. She's taking my mom's plea to make me a manly man seriously.

Spring has finally come

I've been so busy and worried about school, that I didn't really notice that spring is here. But a couple days ago I walked out my front door and this is what I saw:

The trees have blossomed pretty much overnight, and it's just gorgeous. Campus is covered in flowers, and it's finally warm enough to wear shorts. Spring is here!