Our Story: The Bell Family

The highlight of this week was graduation! Mark finished his Bachelor’s In Wildlife Ecology in December, but USU only holds ceremonies in spring. Attending commencement helped Mark feel like he had actually finished his degree since he didn’t get a break before going into his graduate program.

Mark liked the USU tie I got him as a graduation present, and on Thursday I finished teaching earlier than usual so I could make him breakfast.  Mark met on the quad Thursday morning for the parade of graduates.  The students at the elementary school on campus came out to cheer and Mark saw one boy from the primary class he taught last year.  The commencement speaker was Eric Hipple. He spoke on mental health and resources and techniques that helped him.  (Mark is sitting near the back, right corner, on the floor.)

At noon we attended the convocation for the College of Natural Resources. It is a smaller college and was held in a theater on campus. This year the graduate students and undergraduate students met together. It was fun to see the graduate students be hooded and to think that will be Mark some day!!!

The College hosted a lunch for all graduates and their guests so we attended that with my parents, Mark’s parent’s, and his grandpa. We are so grateful for their support and that they came to celebrate with us!

Mark and I blocked off Friday and Saturday as days to be together and as a continued celebration. We enjoyed lunch at Herm’s on Friday and we spent a lot of time outside enjoying the sun with Flynn. It was a very fun week!

Mark finished his classes this week! Lucky for him, he didn’t have any final exams. He did complete his final group project and presentation for Statistics on Monday. We are looking forward to celebrating his graduation next Thursday!

In addition to classes, Mark was finally able to begin hands-on research with the Great Salt Lake! On Wednesday he met with a member of the DNR (Department of Natural Resources) and they went out on a boat and Mark really enjoyed it! Mark will be driving to Salt Lake often throughout the summer to collect data for his research.

The way my schedule lined up, I only had one class this semester and it finished in February. I’ve enjoyed having a break from school, though it makes it harder to think about the busy summer semester I have ahead. I will have two classes the first half of the summer (May-June) and an internship the second half (July-August). It’s going to be a busy summer to say the least.

Saturday morning we attended Baby Farm Animal Days at The American West Heritage Center. Mark’s sister, Julie, and her husband joined us. We enjoyed petting the baby animals, exploring the 1800’s style farm buildings, watching a blacksmith, and panning for gold.

We also were able to go to the temple that afternoon with some of my family to do sealings. It’s extra special to be in the temple with family, and the flowers on the temple grounds were beautiful.

This week I taught 31 VIPKID lessons.  I’ve been trying to increase how much I teach by adding a class here and there. I usually teach 28 lessons so I didn’t add much, but a few more lessons each week makes a big difference!  Gratefully I have a lot of loveable, regular students. It’s so much easier to teach at 5:00am when I can look forward to seeing my little friends! This week I was especially excited to begin teaching a friend of a little girl I’ve taught for a year and a half.

Mark is finishing up the Spring semester. He is working on a group project and presentation for his statistics class. He is also doing some more editing on a chapter he wrote for a textbook. Technically his professor will finish the writing and Mark will be listed as the Junior Author, but we are excited about his first work towards being published!  The chapter is about birds on the Great Salt Lake. Mark also used his mechanic skills to fix up our car a little! And we went on a walk to see the willow sculpture on campus!

This week was full of socializing and celebrations! On Wednesday I helped host a baby shower lunch for two sisters in our ward. We met up at Firehouse pizza for food, visiting, and to give gifts.

On Thursday we had a picnic dinner with my parents in their backyard. I grew up always looking forward to the Murray family Easter picnic and egg hunt. It wasn’t going to happen this year so I was happy to have a small version. We roasted hotdogs and my dad cooked potatoes in the fire. He puts the whole potato directly in the fire and it is the best way you’ll ever eat a potato.

Friday night we had a bridal shower for my cousin Tristin. It was so fun to visit with the ladies in the Murray family! My Dad’s five siblings all live in the area, but we haven’t gotten together for a while now! I was able to plan a “guess who” game about Tristin and her fiancé which turned out fun!

Saturday morning, after teaching English, we took a few minutes to pick up trails from the Easter Bunny! Flynn even got a little trail with dog treats and cheese at the end! Then we loaded up the car, took Flynn to my parents, and headed to Sun Valley, Idaho.

We met Mark’s family there and spent the night in a condo together. We didn’t pack our swimsuits, but we had fun watching the others swim in the YMCA pool. We also enjoyed visiting and watched Incredibles 2 at night.

Sunday morning we hopped in the car again and headed to Blackfoot where our niece, Shay was blessed.  In sacrament meeting three sister missionaries spoke.  One sister told how her brother had to come home early from his mission due to some choices he made.  She explained how in the Samoan culture it is especially dishonorable for someone to return early from a full time mission.  She worried her brother’s choices would really hurt her family.   When her brother arrived, their mother just hugged him.  She compared this to the Savior’s ability to love and accept us with all our shortcomings.  He wants us to continue to try, and because of His atonement we can try again and again.  I’m so grateful for that!

All of Mark’s siblings and their families were together after the blessing so it was a full house! It was fun to see everyone and to catch up!

I thought we would get a cute picture of myself and Mark dressed nice for Easter, but Mark forgot to pack a dress shirt. He was able to borrow one from his little brother for church, but it was so small he took it off as soon as church was done so we never did get that cute picture! Oh well!

We certainly missed our puppy, but he had fun with my dad. My dad put him to work washing the car and planting the garden! My dad sent these cute pictures of Flynn at work!  It was a busy, but fun week!

April sixth and seventh was General Conference. We enjoyed being home together, and listening to the messages of church leaders. What a blessing it is to have words of ancient prophets in scriptures, AND to have a living prophet and apostles today.

We have a running joke that Mark will always have something happen that makes it difficult for him to watch conference. Really though, there has only been one conference since we’ve been married that was completely uneventful for him. This time our adventure happened Friday night when a filling fell out of his tooth. Gratefully he was able to get it fixed Saturday morning before conference began!

Luckily, the rest of the week was rather uneventful. I wasn’t sure if I should begin a blog because most weeks feel this way. For example, the highlight of our week was buying a portable air conditioner. See–rather boring for most people, but Mark is very excited! Our apartment has no air conditioning and we have put off buying an air conditioner because we kept expecting to move out soon. Now that Mark has begun grad school we decided to prepare to be here for the long haul. I much prefer heat to cold so I haven’t minded too much, but Mark is the opposite so we are excited about the purchase.

We got our April snowstorm this week as well! Mark and I always chuckle at the conversations of students on campus who are shocked every April when it snows… even though it does every year! But who can blame them? It is disappointing to have a cold snap when you think spring has sprung. Although snow isn’t my favorite, it’s not so bad this time of year because it never lasts long. Also, Flynn was happy to play in the snow, and the mountains are breathtakingly beautiful with the fresh powder.

Saturday we played Pickleball with my brother and his daughters. It was my first time playing, and we had a lot of fun! After playing we went to a vendor fair in Richmond. Mark’s sister and her husband were selling ties, dresses, and blouses there. We got a nice tie for Mark!! Sunday we dyed Easter eggs. It’s a fun tradition! Flynn at least enjoyed eating them!

We decided to begin a blog as a method of journaling for ourselves, and to help our family and friends stay up to date with the things going on in our lives! It seems fitting to begin with a quick update.

Mark and I (Alyson) met at Utah State University three years ago when he was driving the Aggie Shuttle I rode home each day. We are still living in Logan, and have now been married for almost two and a half years.

In January, Mark began his PhD in Wildlife Ecology. We are so grateful he was offered a position at USU. We love being close to family, and Cache Valley is the place both claim as home (though I like to tease Mark that Preston, ID doesn’t count because it’s not part of Cache County). Grad School has been a little overwhelming, but Mark is beginning to learn the ropes. He is especially excited for his hands-on research with the Greebs on the Great Salt Lake. In our ward, Mark is a teacher for the ten year old children. They can be a handful at times, but he loves them.

I also serve in the primary of our ward, but as the chorister. I’ve had this calling since we got married. It’s been challenging, but I do love getting to know the children. We absolutely adore our ward and are grateful we will be here a while longer for Mark’s schooling. I am also in grad school, but happy to say I’m on the homestretch! I am earning my Master’s in Family and Human Development through Arizona State University’s online program, and I will graduate in August. I hope to be able to attend my graduation ceremony in December so I can finally see the ASU campus! In addition to school, I also balance three part time jobs: teaching piano, answering USU’s main phone number, and teaching English to children in China with VIPKID.

The other member of our family is our puppy, Flynn. Flynn is an 11 month old Havanese. He’s still overcoming some puppy habits of course, but he is a sweet, smart boy. He knows a variety of commands including sit, lay down, play dead, roll over, crawl, up, off, speak, stand, go to your bed, leave it, kisses, heel, and close the door. We are working with him on overcoming his fear of other dogs (specifically energetic dogs, he loves dogs who will just stand in one place), but he loves meeting new people. He is a very loved puppy!

This stage of life is busy, but we find time for fun too. All three of us are excited it’s finally warm enough for long walks. Mark and I spent a lot of time just going on walks when we were first dating, and we still love to walk and visit. We also enjoy giving in to our sweet tooths, and watching movies together. This summer we hope to spend some time fishing now that Mark is officially a Utah resident. We are excited to share our adventures here!