Wanda's 37th Birthday and New York Trip

May 21, 2010 Dave and the girls took me to the Cheesecake Factory for my birthday dinner. Then I took it easy that night b/c at 7am the next day I was flying to New York to meet Wendy, Karalee, and Baldwin for the weekend!!! There was just one problem - the next morning my alarm didn't go off. I woke up at 6:04 am and instantly freaked out. Luckily I had packed everything the night before and I raced out the door to the airport, realizing it was very unlikely I would make my flight. I got there at 6:30 am, valeted the car, and ran to the security gate. Lo and behold, there was no wait, and at 6:37 am I was at the gate ready to board. I even had time to buy a water bottle. Can you say CRAZY!?!?! Us girls had a great time in New York. We hung out with some friends of Karalee's and went to some amazing restaurants (since she's in the restaurant biz, she goes to NY all the time to research things). We visited the Guggenheim and walked the city. We didn't have time to see any shows but we still had lots of fun. Our hotel was very hip and we met a lot of interesting people there. It was a fantastic trip and I am so glad I made my flight!

Wanda's First Actuary Exam

Last March 2009, I went and took an aptitudes test for career-changers at the Johnson O'Connor research foundation. I needed some direction to figure out what I was going to be when I grew up. I learned a lot of interesting things, like I have a high aptitude in spatial analysis, that led me to re-think actuarial work as a career. I was pointed to it in college but said there was no way I was going to crunch numbers in the back room of some insurance company with a bunch of fellow math nerds. After my aptitude test, however, the counselor said she'd recently spoken with a college grad going into actuarial work and the industry had changed. There were finance-related actuaries and consulting actuaries, etc. It really made me think. So, I tried to contact a local actuarial consulting firm to see if I could talk with someone about the work. No luck. All the messages I left weren't returned. Then I decided I'd check if UT here in Austin had an actuary dept. - they do. So I called the head of the dept, Jim Daniels, and asked if I could meet with him and he was very kind. We met and he gave me a ton of great information and several referrals to contacts in the working world that I could call. Lo and behold, then with his backing, one of the partners from the local firm returned my email. Toby Tobleman from Rudd & Wisdom set up a time I could come in and talk to him about the profession. We met, talked for 2 hours and really hit it off. Then he set up a lunch for me with 2 of his younger associates who told me all about the testing process (there are many tests to become and Associate (5+) and even more to become a Fellow (8+) and they are all brutally hard). Usually once you pass the first 2 exams you are considered 'hireable' in the industry. So I decided to attack this challenge head-on and started studying for the FM exam - Financial Mathmatics and Economic Theory. I started studying in June of 2009. And on May 19th, 2010, I sat for my first actuary exam - and passed! WooHoo!!! It was the hardest test I have ever taken. Having an undergraduate degree in economics and having become a stockbroker in 2003 both helped a lot with this test. I barely passed, but after months of studying, hundreds of hours devoted to the material, and a whole lot of praying - it all payed off. I can honestly say I deserved to pass. I am just so glad the test agreed with me. So now, I'm off to study for the Probability exam. If it weren't for the stress of possibly failing the test, the material I'm studying is actually interesting. That's a good sign, right?

Mackenzie's First Quest Presentation

May 2010 - Mackenzie had to do a project in her Quest class (a class for kids with high creativity and vocabulary) on bats. She was assigned the 'big brown bat - eptificus fuscus' and had to do a huge poster and then present her information. Dave and I both were there for the presentation along with Madison. She did Bat Bingo and did a great job speaking to the class. Madison was a little hard to contain, but other than that things went great. Way to go Kenz!

Field Trip to Inner Space Caverns

May 4, 2010 I got to go with Mackenzie on her class field trip to Innerspace Caverns. There were so many parents that wanted to go they had a lottery to see who could attend. This year Mackenzie is in Ms. Peters class and we have an unusually high number of involved parents. Every activity I go to the classroom has almost as many parents there as kids. We had a great time going through the cave and afterwards sifting for rocks. I drove separately and zoomed home afterwards to get Madison from a friend's house after pre-school. Jharna, Avery, and Mackenzie Meredith, Mackenzie, and Bella

Disney on Ice

April 23, 2010 - Disney on Ice came to Cedar Park. And since they were so nice to come to our town, we decided to bless them with our presence (ha ha) - especially since Madison loves Ariel right now. Four is such a cute age. AND, while we were there, Mackenzie lost her 2nd front tooth! Dave had to save it in a water bottle so we wouldn't lose it before the tooth fairy came.

Easter Time

April 4, 2010 - Easter Sunday. What can I say except the Easter Bunny delivered? Here's also a pic from our Bella Vista Easter party taken earlier.

Visit to the Natural Gardener

April 2, 2010 - The girls came with me to the Natural Gardener, a huge nursery of plants and gardening supplies. They also have animals, a swing, and some bluebonnets growing about. So we enjoyed the day and had fun taking pics with my phone (my camera died on our cruise). Mackenzie took this one. And Madison took this one.