Sunday, October 11, 2009

Famous!

This last week Josh was asked to talk about the research he is involved in. The interview not only went really well, but turned into a full blown article of him and his grant on BYU's main website. I am so proud of him. He never ceases to amaze me.

The Article:



What makes strawberries healthy? When will you die? ORCA grants help students find out

Josh Reber and Scott Morris landed $1,500 each from BYU last year for undergraduate research. They turned their cash into new insights into the health-promoting aspects of strawberries and the prediction of lifespans.

BYU students have until Oct. 30 to apply for some of this year's round of funding.

Last year BYU’s Office of Research and Creative Activities (ORCA) awarded 318 winners. Paired with a faculty mentor, these undergraduate students dive into projects of their own choosing and get their hands dirty in a fashion that most campuses reserve only for grad students.

Read more about Josh and Scott below, and click here for more information on applying for your own ORCA grant.

What makes strawberries so good for you? A BYU undergrad is cracking the code

Josh Reber knows people enjoy strawberries for more than their taste. He used his $1,500 in undergraduate research funding to help find out exactly what makes the berries such a healthy treat.

Reber, a senior from St. George, Utah, majoring in nutritional science, and his faculty mentor Tory Parker zeroed in on flavonoids, plant nutrients that may be beneficial to humans. They looked at why combinations of these particles work better together than separately. This involved meticulously analyzing 30-plus trays with 96 samples each. He injected each with a free radical generator and measured reactions to oxidation.

“It gave me a great appreciation for the dedication it takes to see results,” said Reber, noting the countless hours he spent painstakingly gathering data.

Reber found that while some compounds worked together, and others worked against each other, the overall effect was that combining individual compounds made for a more healthy strawberry. He thinks this information could help make nutritional supplements more effective and lead to more research on related compounds.

Reber and his fellow lab assistant, Brenner Freeman, presented their findings at the Institute of Food Technologists Convention last summer, attended by 13,000 professionals in the field. Reber graduates in April and is interviewing to attend medical school next fall.

For BYU student, statistics is a matter of life and death

Scott Morris is pretty confident he’ll die when he is 79. The BYU student used statistical modeling to predict his own life span from his ancestors’ ages at death.

“That’s 14 years after I plan on retiring — I hope I get to go out with a bang,” he said.

Morris’ work was funded by a grant from BYU’s ORCA office to support undergraduate research. His study grew out of a class project and partnership with Scott Grimshaw, a professor of statistics.

He used data from 99 of his deceased ancestors from all the way back to the 1600s, using their death dates to predict his own life span of 79 years. Morris acknowledges that, at this point, his project is primarily useful for satisfying curiosity, but it could have future applications in the medical and actuarial fields in helping practitioners make informed decisions about clients and patients.

But it took a lot more than just plugging in numbers to figure it out Morris’ morbid fate. He used three common statistical estimators to compare his models to real-life data and then figured out another predictor of his own, based on a combination of other methods.

“It was the worst predictor of them all,” he said. “I realized I could never match the elegance and complexity of these established estimators and was able to take a whole lot of pressure off myself.”

After figuring out which of the statistical models was most accurate for past data, he turned to prediction. Since working on his project as an undergrad, Morris has moved on to a master’s in statistics and plans to pursue a Ph.D.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Fabulous Find!


Camelback watter bottle! It is awesome!

Friday, August 14, 2009

Just What I Needed!

So I just needed to post and say just how wonderful Josh is. This week has been crazy. I have been trying to get my room ready for next Wednesday (so excited). Josh has been helping me every step of the way, and today he did something so cute. For my first day of school josh bought me a new water bottle (the one I wanted!), a diet coke and a lot of chocolate. This is just what I needed and somehow he knew that. Thanks Josh I love you!

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

7 Stitches Later

This last weekend Josh and I went to Lake Powell with my family and the Gerths. On the first day Josh was out wakeboarding when the board hit him in the mouth. I couldn’t believe it! It was such a freak accident. I was not on the boat when this happened, but my little brother, Skyler, came running on the beach yelling that Josh was bleeding and needed to go to the ER! So in the boat we went to the Page emergency room. We had to wait 3 1/2 hours to see a doctor. Luckily, our good friend and practically second mother, Julie, came with us and held my hand as I was holding Joshes. My poor dad had to wait at the dock for us to come back. He was so great during this whole ordeal.

Red Heads

We had a few of our friends over for dinner and it occurred to me that most of Josh’s friends have red hair. I love this picture. We have amazing friends.

Utah Summer Games!

It has been a long time since this event, but I just got the pictures to post. My Dad and Skyler were doubles partners in the Utah Summer Games. Josh and I were able to go down to Cedar and watch them play in the finals. It was a tough match but they won!!!!! GO TEAM. I was so proud of them!

14 Days and Counting

I start teaching in 14 days. I CANT BELIEVE IT! I am so excited/nervous. I just hope that I am prepared and ready to teach all 29 of my students.
My classroom

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Catch Up

Sorry for not blogging in such a long time. The El. Ed. program is really taking up all my time. I am almost done! I am so excited. Time is flying by, pretty soon I will be teaching my cute little 3rd graders. A lot has happened since I have last blogged. Josh and I went camping with our friends Becky and JD. I have never been camping up in American Fork canyon before. I can’t believe we got to stay in such a breath taking place. I highly recommend it. Josh is busy filling out secondary applications for medical school. Applying to medical schools is really nerve wracking. I have had to exercise a lot of faith in knowing that it will all work out. We recently bought a dutch oven. It is so delicious; I could have a dutch oven dinner every night.

Saturday, July 11, 2009

Bang

When Josh was gone I was able to go over to some friends house and play a new game called Bang! I was nervous because the game had a lot of cards, and I had no idea what I was doing. Surprisingly the game turned out to be really fun! I highly recommend it to everyone!

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Jenna's New Found Love

Jenna took her first trip to Lake Powell this past weekend. I couldn’t help but put this picture of her on the waverunner. She is such a funny dog!

Friday, June 26, 2009

Living the Dream

The New Aunt and Uncle: This weekend Josh and I went to St. George to visit our family. On fathers day Isaac and Laralee came over to eat dinner at the Rebers and gave us all a big surprise. Dun du dun we are going to be an aunt and uncle! We are so excited. This is the first baby on either side of my family and the first grandbaby for the Rebers. Laralee is due on January 1st. We can’t wait for our little niece or nephew to get here!


Gone Fishing:
Josh had the chance to go fishing JD Wilcox style. It was amazing to say the least. JD has set up his bow with a fishing arrow and fishing line that allows you to shoot the fish and pull them in. A little violent, but a great time nonetheless. Josh hit a fish his second try, a huge 9 pound carp. We might be in the market for a bow; if you’ve got one lying around the house, let us know!

Yanni: This past weekend Josh and I received free tickets to see Yanni at Energy Solutions. We were a little nervous about going, but were pleasantly surprised when we got there. Yanni is amazing. I hope everyone gets a chance to go sometime in their life. Everyone’s natural reaction when we told them was a little obscure, usually with a response such as “isn’t he the old Greek guy that plays the pan flute?” usually accompanied by a look of “are your crazy or just stupid?” We loved every minute of the concert. Yanni has added some great singers to his orchestra and they were A-mazing. If you ever get the chance to go to a Yanni concert, GO!



Happy Father’s Day: For Father's Day I made the cutest little cake hamburgers and sugar cookie fries! HAPPY FATHER'S DAY WE LOVE YOU!

Saturday, June 13, 2009

The Great Cake Hunt

This weekend we went out with our friends Dave and Megan. Dave is doing Teach for America and will be moving to Vegas in one week. We will miss them. Anyways, this Saturday we went over to Dave and Megan’s for a snow cone. When we got there we decided that snow cones were not going to suffice. Dave decided that he had to have cake, so the great cake hunt began. We jumped in the car and starting driving around town trying to find a restaurant with cake. Somehow our great hunt led us to Los Hermanos. We decide that instead of cake we would eat Mexican food. Josh and I have never laughed so hard. We are really going to miss our good friends the Blodgetts.


Catch Up

Time has flown by since our last entry. We have done so much in the last 3 months it is hard to keep track. Josh took the MCAT this month. We are hoping that he did really well, and that his scores will be high enough to get us into a good medical school. Cross your fingers for us. I am almost done with BYU’s fast track for the El. Ed. Program GO ME! The last 8 weeks have been some of the hardest of my life. I can’t believe I am going to start teaching in August. I am going to teach 3rd grade at Sage Creek Elementary!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Cooper Roy Fielding

This weekend we went to St. George to visit our families. While we were there we were able to see our good friends Robert and Mandy and their new addition Cooper Roy Fielding. Josh finally mustered up the courage to hold him. He is such a great baby!

Our New Addition to the Family

Recently Josh acquired a new love. I am a bit jealous. Our wonderful cousins Brian and Megan were kind enough to donate to the “JOhs needs a new bike because his was stolen” fund and gave us there old bike. It was love at first sight. He took it in to get it all fixed and set out for his innogural ride in st george march 14, 2009 at 12:46 pm. He loved it!! Thank you Brian and Megan Josh loves loves loves the bike. You made his year!

Jurassic Park

Over a year ago josh and I went to vernal to visit his grandma and the dinosaurs. These are a few of the lost but now found pi tures of that journey through time.


David Cassidy

Last summer my parents bought Josh and I tickets to go see David Cassidy with them in concert. Neither of us knew of him, but had heard of the Partridge family and were prepared for a big show, but it turned a little more drunk then we thought. David Cassidy showed up a either drunk b on drugs or c all of the above. He could not remember the words to his songs or the names of his band members. Worst of all he called up all the little children in the audience and gave them a political speech and complimted a young boy on his being comfortable about his sexuality. If matters weren’t bad enough we were seated on the second row right ehind the president of his fan club who was wearing dress that left little to the imagination. It was a night to remember.


Monday, February 9, 2009

Hair Cut

I cut my hair!! I am so excited to tell everyone that I now can sleep in an extra 30 minutes, thanks to be new hair cut! My mother-in-law Janet finally caved and cut it for me! She cut off 7 inches yike!! I have been wanting to cut it for some time now and finally built up the courage to do it! I love it! Thanks again Janet!

Monday, February 2, 2009

1 Year

This week it was our 1 year anniversary. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband who made our anniversary so special. Josh booked the most amazing bed and breakfast called the Johnson Mill; I highly recommend it. That night Josh and I ate at the Train Burger. I really wanted to eat at the Train Burger in Heber because it is so good, also highly recommended. While we were there the lady taking our order decided to tell us all about her life and her family, she was adorable. At the end she gave us a recipe book. It was so awesome! Lastly, Josh gave me a strand of black pearls, thanks to my wonderful Aunt Mel. He is amazing and I am so lucky to be married to him. I love you Josh!

Johnson Mill
Here is a little look back:



Tuesday, January 6, 2009

Cabo and New Years

It has been a long time since I have updated this blog. It is a very long entry so feel free to stop at anytime.

This Christmas has been amazing. Josh and I were able to leave Provo on the 19th just before the big storm, and head down to LA with our families. We were able to go to Cabo this year with both my family and his. It was fun to spend Christmas with both families. While we were in Cabo we were able to visit with the Martinez family. We have known this cute family for several years and it has been fun to watch them build their lives together, and to succeed in all they do.

This is the first Christmas that Josh and I have spent together. It was so fun to wake up in the morning and get to spend that time with him. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful family who care about Josh and I so much.

Things I miss about Cabo:
-The food
-The Beach
-The Martinez family
-Our amazing room
-The warm weather!

Things I was glad to see again in the U.S.
-Drinking water out of the tap.
-Actual roads.
-Our cute apartment


Eating at our new favorite restaurant!! SOOO GOOD!

My Mom and Janet with their awesome glasses!


Snorkeling
We got some awesome glasses for Christmas
Pictures at Pedgregal
Josh's Fish!!

The Martinez Family




New Years
This year we rang in 2009 with all our great friends in St. George! We miss them all so much and can’t wait to see them again. I am thinking we all need to have a Rockband reunion.