Is it me or Fedex?

Either Fedex is incompetent or I have incredible luck whenever I use them. I ordered a cell phone online and selected Fedex 2-day shipping. My order was supposed to arrive by 7 pm on July 8th. When 7 pm rolled around, I decided to track it online. Much to my dismay...it was in Mississauga, ON. Yes, Fedex had it in the wrong country. What was more baffling, was that it shipped out of West Chester, PA. I didn't know Ontario was on the way to NJ!! I called Fedex to figure out what was going on and they ended up hanging up on me. Then I called Verizon since they seem to think Fedex is so wonderful. The rep with Verizon called Fedex to inform them of the problem. I was told that Fedex would contact me in 24 hours. Isn't time of the essence when a package is supposed to be delivered?! I have not yet heard from Fedex, but I was pleasantly surprised when I tracked the package again this morning--it miraculously made it to NJ overnight. Despite their huge mishap, they were able to pull themselves together. My cell phone went from PA, to NJ, to ON, to TN and finally back to NJ. Incredibly efficient.

New do?

I've been debating whether to chop my hair again or merely trim it. What do you think? Take my poll!

We're moving to...

Stephen and I have FINALLY made a decision about the fall!

It has been quite exciting to see how Stephen compares to other vocal students outside of BYU. He was accepted to University of Tennessee, University of Houston and Indiana University, each offering scholarships. Unfortunately the Curtis Institute rejected him (after he made it past the preliminary round). They only accepted about 2 or 3 people and they were all of different voice parts...they probably only took half of a baritone. :P We're still happy with how far he got in the Curtis auditions and know that his voice is in a good place because he did so well.

As of last week we narrowed our options down to Tennessee and Indiana. He flew out to both schools this week to take lessons from the teachers he was interested in. Best idea ever because he is coming home tonight feeling completely at peace with our decision (even though it's the most expensive). We'll be going to Indiana University!

I couldn't help but notice a small miracle in this whole decision making process. Stephen tried to set up a lesson with Andreas Poulimenos (at Indiana) and was unsuccessful: He said he doesn't offer sample lessons because he'd be doing them all the time if he did. Stephen decided to observe a couple of his lessons and towards the end of the last lesson Poulimenos turned around and offered to work with him for a little while. Stephen knew instantly that this was the teacher he wanted. After a bit of effort, he was able to get in touch with Poulimenos who agreed to have him in his studio.

Had Stephen not had the small window of opportunity to sing with this teacher, he may not have been able to easily say he wanted to go to one place or the other (especially since the other lessons didn't go as well as he had hoped). I'm grateful to have received such a distinct answer to our prayers and even more grateful to have made a decision!

Grad School Auditions...YAY!

Over the past month, Stephen has heard back from 4 graduate programs who would like to hear him audition live: University of Knoxville, University of Houston, Indiana University (Bloomington, IN), and The Curtis Institute (Philadelphia, PA).

Where do you think we'll end up in the fall? Take our poll!

More Pictures!

Mom (Smith) noticed our lack of pictures for our family vacation in August, so she was so kind to send me some to post!

Here we are eating at Chuck-A-Rama in Bountiful before leaving for Bear Lake the next day.
Pictured from left to right: Jordan, G-ma Jensen, Ben, Dad


Out on the jet skiis and then waiting for our famous Bear Lake raspberry shakes...


Outside the temple after Jordan and Chandra were sealed to their baby girl, Ava.
Pictured left to right: Mom, Ayden, Jordan, Gavin, Chandra, Ava, Ben, Dad

August 2009 was a big month for us

Between visits from our families to Stephen's summer program, we were hardly around for the month of August.

The month started out with a wonderful visit from Stephen's family (Mom and Dad Pace, Julianna, and Daniel)! Unfortunately, these are all the pictures we have from their visit. This is outside of the movie theater before seeing Harry Potter in 3D.

We also got to do fun things like croquet and boggle--I'm getting better at it. :) As always, we had WONDERFUL food. We are glad they could come to visit!

The same day Stephen's family flew home, he flew to Florida for the The VOICExperience Summer Program in DISNEY WORLD! He got to meet with some pretty big name opera people--Sherril Milnes (famous baritone), Tito Capobianco (famous opera director, pictured below), etc.--and perform for Disney World staff at the end of the week.

Here is the view from outside his hotel. The hotel wrapped all the way around the lake.

I flew out at the end of the week, so Stephen and I could enjoy his discounted park tickets. We were there for 5 days!

Pictured in front of our FAVORITE ride--Expedition Everest.



Our rockstar poses in the Rockin' Rollercoaster gift shop.

I have never been so nervous to go on this ride, but it was so worth it!

Our second favorite ride--Soarin'. We were such champions...we waited in line for the park to open (probably behind a couple hundred people). We weaved in and out of people and ended up getting on the first ride of the day!

In Epcott, we especially enjoyed Japan (great food!), Morocco (more great food!), and America (free treat for our anniversay!). Here we are in the Netherlands..

We got to spend some time in Downtown Disney as well. We ate at the Rainforest cafe...so cool!

For a few days I was craving a turkey leg...not because I've had one before, but because people have told me they are a must have. Here were are eating one for our afternoon snack. Needless to say, we couldn't finish it between the two of us.

Stephen pictured by one of his favorite rides--Splash Mountain!

I spent most of our vacation gimping around because I only brought new flip flops (with amazing arch support)...but the straps were a too tight on my feet. I still booked it from ride to ride to ensure we got the most out of our trip. We had a ton of fun!

A couple weeks after our trip to Disney World, my parents and younger brother came to visit us. We went to Bear Lake and rode on jet skiis till we had absolutely no desire to get back on. Then we drove up to Boise, ID to attend my brother and sister-in-laws temple sealing to their new baby girl, Ava. It was so fun to be with family and to enjoy yet another break. Unfortunately I have no pictures to document this trip.

We had a crazy month of August, but we'll enjoy the memories for years and years to come.