Update on the life of Michael and Hannah!

OK so it has been a couple of weeks now since our last blog. I really should update this thing right after an event happens, that way the details are fresh in my mind but oh well. So...since the last blog where Hannah and I went to NC, PA and Clare. After we got back from Sam's open house things went back to normal for 3 days then we went back up to Clare again on Wednesday the 3rd of June for an Amish wedding on the 4th. Hannah's neighbor was getting married and they were using Hannah's Parents post barn for the ceremony.

This was a very interesting experience, the service starts at about 8 in the morning and its all in German, but don't worry we didn't go in until 11:15 because that is when the actually marriage takes place. It was quite odd walking into a barn full of 300+ Amish where all the men are one side and the women on the other with the bride and groom facing each other in the middle. Of course when we walk in everyone is staring because we are the only "English" there. There was Hannah's Mom, her brother, his friend, and Hannah and I. There was also another older "English" couple who live up the road. So after about another hour of German preaching we all went across the road to the reception. Let me tell you the food was GOOD! The reception wasn't actually much different from an "English" wedding. There was a head table with the bridal party and then rows of tables like you would see in a depiction of the Pilgrims at Thanksgiving(only way i could think of describing). We also received party favors, we got pens with the bride and grooms name on it with the wedding date. It is also an Amish tradition to keep the napkin from the wedding because it too has the bride and grooms name and date on it. The whole experience was quite interesting. Sorry, but we respected the Amish beliefs and didn't take any pictures.

That Friday we left for Cincinnati for Hannah's friend Tessa's wedding. Hannah was Tessa's personal attendant. The wedding was a blast and it was good to help her with the wedding. It really helped that we had just had our wedding so we sort of new what to expect. We then came back and I went back to work and Hannah did things around the house.


This last weekend, I took the GRE and Hannah took the Praxis test (which is the national test to get certified to teach) which she needed for Utah. I have to take the Praxis July 25. Hannah believes she did pretty well, and I think I did fairly well also. I got to receive my score right when I was done because it was on the computer. I am now looking into grad schools for Ag Economics. I am looking at the MSU, Purdue, Iowa State, Utah, and UC Davis. I am emailing some of my old profs to get some contacts of people I can talk to and I also have to write my essay (Statement of Purpose) to write and I am currently procrastinating on that front.

We are still looking for places to live in UT but it is difficult to look when you are not there. We are hoping to leave for UT by the 27thish and we are also hoping to get out to CA for the first week of August and get get back to UT by the 7thish. We have new teacher orientation on the 13th August. O yeah...I got my UT License Plates and they are pretty cool. I would put up a picture but its raining outside.