Updates

So it's been a little while since my last posts and there have been some changes in plans.

My dad's surgery was pushed back from what we were originally expecting on February 18th to this coming Wednesday, March 4th. Another change was that what I had originally been told about not knowing if the tumor was cancerous or not was also not totally true. I guess they wont know for sure until they take it out and do a biopsy, but they are pretty confident that it is cancerous, but they're hoping the cancer is contain within the kidney area and they'll be able to remove it all. I came down to St. George tonight to be able to spend time with my fam for a couple days before and a couple days after the surgery. I'll be going back to Provo in about 9 days. Missing that much school is a little stressful, but being here is way more important and all my classes that actually matter my teachers are being way cool about me missing class. My tax teachers - Randall & Gardner - are the nicest men ever. Anyways, that's the updates with my dad to this point. Love him.

Other Events

I had my flyout this past with PwC in Los Angeles. It was so fun! I loved LA and the office! The people I met were super nice and really the LA office has the coolest clients! They said they'd let us know by March 10. It's always hard cuz you think interviews go so well, but really you have NO IDEA! They all went over on time which I hear is a good thing, but I guess I'll just have to wait and see.Keep your fingers crossed!

I should be reqired to watch the movie "He Just Not That Into You" once a week to not overthink things. Everytime I watch that movie I realized how crazy girls can be thinking random things boys do actually mean something, and I'm totally one of those girls. I am Gigi - at least until like the last 5 minutes of the movie. But yeah, I must watch that weekly!

I went snowboarding last week for the 2nd time ever. I loved it!!! I really suck still, but it's sooooo fun. I want to get better, but that might mean I have to go more than once a year. Who knows if that will happen.

Well I can't really think of anything else right now, but I'll try to keep this updated in the coming week.

Diagnosis

After running some more tests today the results of my dad's condition came in. He has a 9 centimeter tumor on one of his kidneys and the other kidney looks like it is functioning alright, but it has a stone that will need to be removed. The surgery will be in about a week and half. They wont know if the tumor is cancerous at all until they remove it. The crazy thing is that he originally went in yesterday because he was getting blood clots in his bladder that made it so he couldn't pee, but had it not been for those blood clots he would never have gone in and found out about the tumor because minus the blood clots he feels normal. So in a weird way he's lucky. But one thing is that my dad has a low platelet count normally so they have to have a hematologist come in for the surgery to make sure everything with his blood is fine. In the mean time they'll let him go home until the surgery if the clot problems goes away otherwise I think he'll stay in the hospital for a few days. I'll be going down for the surgery and some days around it but I'm hopeful that everything will turn out just fine. I love my dad, he's seriously one of the greatest people I know so he's gotta be fine.

WORLD'S BEST DAD!

So I don't know if you've heard but I actually have the world's best dad! After hearing he went to the hospital today for some health issues (he's spending the night in the hospital and they're still running tests and we don't actually know what's wrong or what caused the problem yet) I decided to write this blog post especially for and all about him! There are so many reasons I love my dad, but really he's just the cutest, nicest, jolly-ist, most giving, most self-sacrificing person I know. To give you all some small idea of why he's so great I'll tell you some of my favorite stories about him.

*My favorite story happened right after my second semester at BYU. I was driving back up to Provo to start Spring semester classes the following day when my car broke down somewhere around Beaver or Fillmore. I called my dad and started freaking out cuz I didn't know what to do cuz I had to start classes the next day and I was working and I had to move into my new apartment that day and I had no clue how I'd b able to do any of that without a car. So what did my dad do . . . he totally came to my rescue. He drove up and met me with his truck that he had just barely bought not too long before this happened. While I was still in the process of freaking out he started moving all my bags from my car to his truck. Then he gave me his keys and told me to take his truck until we figured something out. This in and of itself was so nice and classic of my dad, but the story doesn't end there. This all happened before noon and guess how this story ends. My dad ended up waiting with my car for at least 6 hours in the heat of April until my brother in law got off work and was able to come up with a trailer to pick him and the car up. Then I was able to keep his car for a couple of months and he was the one found something else to drive. So great!

*Any story my dad tells is awesome! Last time I was home my dad was running to RedBox to rent a movie and I ran out and jumped in the car with him. He has so many stories that you can just tell he wants to talk to someone about, but he's just so cute cuz he's kinda talks slowly when telling stories so you have to be patient and wait for him to spit it out. But really he's so smart and has some great stories to tell!

*My dad is so patient! He has spent sooooo many hours sitting in a car or reading a book or just listening to some good old talk radio while the girls are inside the mall shopping for hours on end. He never complains and just goes with the flow.

*Another thing I love about my dad is just all the little things. He's always know the details about our birth and it really made me feel special to know that my dad actually likes being a dad enough to care to know the time of day we were born and how much we weigh and how long we were. Other things I loved was his big belly for using as a pillow when watching movies or a tv. He's also really fun to play with in a swimming pool cuz we'd always try to sit on him stomach when he was floating on his back and then he'd start rolling so we'd fall off. This was always a fun game. I would also hang on to his back, holding around his neck as he'd swim underwater. Body surfing and diving under the waves in the ocean is always a blast with my dad.

I really do have the best dad ever. I couldn't image anyone else as my dad cuz there's no way they could compare! Love ya dad!

PwC

I had another interview this morning with PwC. I really liked the people I met and talked with from the firm. Last night they had a dinner for everyone who was interviewing with them. It was at a building on campus and pretty nice. I always feel so weird at these fancy dinners but I'm getting more used to them the more I go to. Anyways, so I've had 3 of my interviews already and tomorrow I'll have the last 2. I'm so excited to be done with on-campus interviews I can't even tell you! And the "silence period" ends at noon on the 12th, so that's when I should hear back about if they want me to come and do a fly-out. Continue crossing your fingers for me in Orange County!

Other news:

• Today is day 2 for my VITA lab shift. I'm pretty excited about that.
• Last night I went to bed before midnight, which almost never happens.
• I don't have any classes tomorrow so that will be awesome.
• I miss my nieces and nephews. I was video/audio chatting with my mom the other day while Taia was at her house. It was the cutest thing ever cuz Tai was just laughing so hard in the background about everything. I really just can't wait to go home in a couple weeks and see them!
  
• I'm freezing! I need winter to be over already! I can't take the cold any more!
• And finally I'm giving a shout out to Emma. I'm pumped!
  

GT

This morning I had an interview with Grant Thorton. They're included in the Fab 5 of accounting firms and I think it went really well. I was able to totally be myself while still showing a professional side. Honestly, it was probably my favorite interview I've had either last semester or this one so far. They just seem like a laid back firm that has great clients, lots of grow, and lots of opportunities and openings for the locations I want (Irvine or San Diego - but really Irvine!). There's a silence period where the firms aren't allowed to contact us about whether or not they want us to do a flyout that last until about the 12th or 13th of this month and then I should hear from them. So keep your fingers crossed for me in Irvine with Grant Thorton!!!!

Nerd Alert!

Guess what.......

I prepared my first income tax return today! I'm volunteering with BYU's VITA Lab as a basic level tax preparer. During my little shift today I only did 2 returns and the first one made me think I should just totally drop out of school/life but I got through it and the second return went much much smoother and faster.

I'm not gonna lie, I actually really enjoyed filling out the forms and stuff once I was getting a hang of the software and stuff. Ahhhhh I'm such a nerd! Oh well, at least I'm getting good practice and something nice to add to my resume! If you want me to do yours for you (which don't worry, someone more advanced goes through and double checks things) sign up for a time on the bap website for BYU. My volunteer shifts are Tuesdays & Thursdays from 3-4!

Go taxes!