Here it is tomorrow! (in really long day world!)

Me, Trissa, and Kami at our YSA Softball Game!

Alright. I'm sorry. But I do have a very good excuse. I moved to Tucson...officially! I truly love it here. I have made lots of friends, received a calling in church, and gotten a job! I had a lot of internet troubles when I first moved and the majority of my time was spent LOOKING for a job! I really hit the ground running when I moved here. I was really lucky on that front. I have an amazing job as a reservation specialist for Canyon Ranch Spa and Resort. This is the kind of super swanky place that celebrities and millionaires go to relax! I get awesome health insurance, and I also have full use of the facilities. So today for example I studied in the morning, did an hour of service observation, at lunch I played Walleyball, after lunch I went to a lecture from a world-famous astrologist, and ended my day with an hour long class on stretching and relaxation. Pretty good day right?!

I can honestly say that I absolutely love Tucson. I love the people, the weather, and the general 'feel' of it all. Everyone here is very relaxed and friendly. I have made some fantastic friends in just a very short time. I love where I am living, although it is quite a ways away from work. I will probably be moving to the east-side of tucson when my contract is up at the end of January.

I wish everyone could come visit and see for themselves how wonderful it is here. I was truly inspired to move here. I know this is the right place for me, at least for the next four years. If anyone ever wants to get away from the snow, relax, and get away from it all, there is always an invitation open!

Love you all!

Becky

More to Come Tomorrow Stay Tuned!!!

July 3rd BBQ

We had our 10th Annual Levanger Family BBQ on July 3rd. Let me tell you now, it was huge, and awesome! We had the whole Lovell family, plus lots of other family friends, Pam and a bunch of her friends and family, Tanya and her boyfriend Brent, Alex, and of course the Anderson's who have been family friends since the '60's! We had so much fun gorging on lots of food, Dad enjoyed his new grill, and we all watched the fireworks from the grass and porch. It was so much fun to see everyone and talk and have fun. I'm glad that it was such a great turn out this year!

June 29th-30th Establishing Arizona residency

On the 29th I flew to Tucson by myself to do some pre-move preparations. I got my new driver's license, I found a house to rent and signed my rental contract, I transferred all of my bank accounts, and I got an Arizona cell phone and number. It was a whirl-wind trip, but really great. I love being independent, and taking this trip on my own and handling everything without anyone else's help was very re-affirming to my decision to make this move. I am really excited to start this new chapter of my life and I can't wait to get started. The picture is my new house, which is located on the north-western side of Tucson close to Costco and Foothills mall.

June 27th-28th Family Reunion and Bonding

The day I got home from Flaming Gorge (we got home at about 2AM) we drove to Springville for Forsyth reunion. Technically I am not related to the Forsyth's, but it was fun to be there to honor them. It was actually pretty funny to figure out how I could possibly belong there! I am the Forsyth's oldest daughter's husbands oldest child with his second wife! Yep, gotta love my family! Anyway, the evening was very nice and everyone was there to honor LeGrand and Maria Forsyth in style. The next day, sunday, was our re-scheduled Father's Day dinner where we gave Dad his new grill, which I helped Tom and Jason set-up while Dad was at church. We had all of the family there except Mom and Erik, it was a pretty nice day!

June 25th-27th Flaming Gorge

My YSA Super Activity was immediately following my trip to Zion's. (I actually had to drive to Mountain Home, ID in between, but I got that done in one day.) I drove the whole way with my friends Kathleen and Jill Bearnson, Kaitlyn Dixon, and of course Tanya. Tanya and I had so much fun singing to all of my iPod songs all the way there and back! We were actually driving and singing Michael Jackson songs when we heard about his death, so of course we listened to the rest of his anthology. When we got there I displayed my exceptional tent-pitching abilities! that night the sky decided a good monsoon rain was in order, and luckily, due to my mad-skillz we were one of the few tents that didn't flood! It did put a bit of a damper in the next day's activities, although it did finally clear up and we went river rafting. We had a great time, but I was stressed during the majority of it because I was on the Activities Committee and had to scramble a lot! We did have fun though and I'm glad I was able to spend the time with my friends, especially since I am moving so soon.

June 19th-22nd Family Trip to Zion's and Hurricane

The next event was a trip back to Zion's, this time with my Dad, his girlfriend Pam, my sister Maria, and her husband and daughter. We went 'family friendly' hiking in Zion's, which means little hikes generally on paved trails and less than a mile long. Isabel and I had fun exploring, ditching the adults, and climbing on rocks though! We also went to church with my 'sort-of step-grandparents' and had a really nice Father's day picnic with them and my brother Jason's family. We also had pictures taken and got a little golf in. I think everyone had fun, but I'm not going to lie, it was a little weird!

May 20th-22nd Zion's Hiking

Towards the end of May I took an awesome road trip with my good friends Sarah Roberts and Jaci Mabey to St. George and Zion Nat. Park. The first day we were there we just hung out by the pool and ate a huge and delicious dinner at Pizza Factory! We had a lot of fun talking and listening to music. Sarah also brought her friend Taylor from Lee where she goes to school. On Thursday we hiked Angel's Landing. It was ridiculous! The last half mile was pretty much vertical and we had to climb using chains to pull ourselves up and avoid falling several hundred feet! I tell you what though, that view from the top erased any possible doubts that God exists. It was the most amazing view I have ever seen, and we had so much fun hiking all day! We also saw weeping rock and rode the tram all the way through the park. It was a great time. We ended up coming home early because it was kind of rainy the next day and we didn't feel like driving to Moab after hiking all day! It was a lot of fun though, it was great to catch up with such good friends.

Yep...I know

I know that I suck at this whole blog thing. But, in my defense, life has been insanity since about the first of June. Not that I haven't had time to sit and do this, I have, but it truly has been crazy. I promise to post a long narrative and/or several short posts on what is going on in my life by Monday at the very latest. Love Ya All!

Trip to Tucson

If you read my previous post you would know that I have been considering the University of Arizona as the institute of higher education where I will pursue a MBA degree. Consequently, that would make Tucson, the location of the school, my new home, at least for the next three years. I did a lot of research on Tucson and the school, but knew that I would be unable to reach an educated decision about whether I would like it there without direct experience. It was this realization that took me to Tucson last week.

I am lucky enough to have an amazing Mom that took off two days of work and suffered through four horrendous plane-rides to come with me! (A girl couldn't ask for a better mom!) We had so much fun exploring and eating and playing. We discovered a couple of DELICIOUS restaurants, got our nails done, went to a movie, went to the Arizona Sonora Desert museum, and bunch of other things.

If I had to describe Tucson in one word I would probably have to say: Breathtaking. Of course, it is impossible to describe Tucson in one word! It is beautiful, warm, green, alive, perfect, wonderful, fabulous, delicious, exciting, and a million other words. I was worried at first because from the air Tucson looks fairly sparse and dead. All thoughts of death end the second you get outside though! It is  gorgeous. There are trees everywhere, huge trees, and palm trees, and flowering cacti, etc. I can't understand how anyone could think of Tucson as sparse and desert-ish. Granted, there aren't a lot of grassy lawns, the Tucsonians favor the zero-scape landscaping. However, with the hundreds of multi-colored adobe homes, this zero-scape look actually belongs, grass would look out of place. There are huge parks in several locations throughout the city, with plenty of grass!

Tucson's beauty is surpassed by only one thing, the University of Arizona campus. Now I went to BYU which is nestled under the towering Rocky Mountains, and is absolutely breathtaking. I am quite partial to the geography and landscape of BYU. I have to be honest though, The University of Arizona campus is even more beautiful than BYU. I never thought I would say that, but the U of A campus is unbelievable in itself.

I met with the two directors of admission for the MBA program while I was there. I think that

they were impressed with me, but they couldn't have been as impressed as I was with the program itself. It sounds absolutely perfect, in every possible way. I can't wait to be a student there. The way they have the program set up is really cool. You go on an international trip spring break of your senior year and have internships both the summer of your first and second years. They have an incredible career development program that works with top companies to find internships for their students. Also, they offer quite a few scholarships, so there may be hope for eating in graduate school after all!

If you haven't guessed by now I'm in love with Tucson. I truly think that it is the place for me, I felt really good about it the entire time I was there. The plan is to hopefully move down there by the end of August. I am hoping to get a job, an apartment or condo, and get involved in the singles ward and institute there. I would then apply to the school in November and start fall of 2010. Hope it all works out. It is time for me to move on, and Tucson really feels right as my next step.

***In un-related news: Bones is on tonight, the second-to-last episode of the season. To use Erik's favorite word: It is going to be absolutely EPIC!!!! This means that I will be a complete basket-case tonight from seven to eight, and probably in some basketish-case-state until the finale next Thursday. Just warning you all now!***

The Update

I would apologize for not updating my blog, but I wouldn't really mean it. I like to update my blog when important events happen that I feel obligated and/or excited to share. My life right now is not full of important events. It isn't that I am discontent; I'm not. I truly love my life. I just happen to be in a place right now that is devoid of cliff-jumping, armed robbery, and any other form of excitement that ranks above a 2 on the entertaining scale!

I live with "My Boys," as I call them, my Dad, little brother Erik, dog Buddy, and turtle Toby. They are all wonderful to me and I know they bless my life much more than I do theirs. I am learning valuable life lessons right now, how to work with very difficult people, how to be content with what you have, and to appreciate the enormous value of education.

The activities that fill my day are both varied and monotonous. I wake up every morning between 7 and 8. My dad and I each exercise and then share a protein smoothie breakfast before he goes to work. I then have between 9 am and 3 pm to myself. This time is generally spent exercising on the treadmill, cleaning or doing dishes, reading, or wasting time on the tv or internet. When Erik comes home at three he spends an hour relaxing, and then we complete any homework he might have. The evenings are spent with "My Boys" eating supper, watching tv, talking, and occasionally playing games. You will often find us watching House, Bones, or American Idol, and occasionally Erik performing on Rock Band.

Thursdays are the highlight of my week. From 7 to 8:30 I have an Excel class at Bountiful high school. There are about 25 students in the class and I am probably the only one under 40. I love it! You never realize how much you miss school until you no longer have it. I am usually bouncing off the walls with excitement around 6:30 when I start packing my book-bag. I know that in the future I will have to add more educational opportunities for myself. I am currently looking into spanish and kickboxing classes.

You may be wondering about my blog background. It is a long story. I have lived in Utah my entire life. I am truly a Utahn at heart, always have been, and probably always will be. However, a strange thing happened last year while I was in New Zealand: I realized that I did not miss snow. Furthermore, I realized this winter that I absolutely detest being cold; I hate it. Most of you may know how different Erik and I are. Well this fact is very applicable to my weather feelings. Just the other day Erik and I were discussing the weather. Erik has some strangely sick predilection for snow. I told him that if I had to choose between burning to death and freezing to death, that I would pay my executioners handsomely for the burning, Erik of course felt the opposite.

So now that you understand my weather feelings and love of education I can move on to the next reason for my background. I want to get my MBA. The main reason for this is that with an MBA I am still free to do almost anything I want. I also know that I want to focus on the entrepreneur aspect of business because, as most of you may have guessed, I’m not a big fan of being tied to anyone else’s rules, plans, or even hours! I began searching for business schools that might be a good fit for me. In total I have probably spent well over 100 hours searching, and changed my mind several times. I was originally planning on Utah State. However, there were two problems with that plan: 1 it is only a one-year program and I am done rushing through school. And 2 it is in Utah. I have lived in Utah for 22 years. However, I have had my eyes opened to other things that are out there, and I need to have some experiences away from and out of my comfort zone.

I then began looking at top business schools. I searched schools in California, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, despite my weather preferences! However, I finally realized that I was going about my search the wrong way. I don’t really want to go to a top of the line business school, nor can I afford one. I then began searching schools that had middle of the line business schools, good entrepreneur programs, hot weather, and not in Utah. The result: the University of Arizona in Tucson. It is truly made for me. It is hot all-year-round, not a million miles away from home, and has the fourth highest ranked entrepreneur program in the country, with only an average business school.

I am hoping to make a short pilgrimage to Tucson soon. The great thing is that the housing market is in the tank so I might be able to get a good deal.

The plan is to work hard until fall of 2010 and then become a resident of Arizona. Until then I will be dreaming of cacti, sweat, and tans! I am hoping to make enough money to pay for my first year of school, but the job market is pretty lean at the moment, so wish me luck.

Well, that’s it. If you read this entire post you are now completely and 100% up to date with my life!