lately: installment 2

So, just a small wee thing happened recently--I graduated from law school (also known as law schi-zool).

I am a law school graduate!

(Here I am, being a law school graduate.)

Wow! I woke up the morning of graduation and just sat there like, "Wait, it ends? It's over? I am done? Did I really do that?" It was like I expected sometime along the path to be told I hadn't made it, nice try, but this just isn't working out. But, it's done! Fine! Over! Done! I am grateful and happy. I had a total happiness breakdown before graduation. I was so glad to be done and I was so grateful for everyone who helped me along the way. Especially Mark.

(Mark gets so embarrassed about these kinds of pictures, but he happens to be out of the country right now and I am totally putting this picture up! Ow ow!)

This last year with Mark was so fabulous. We were able to go to school every day. We would have make our lunches for the day, eat oatmeal every morning, sing and dance in the car on the way to school, study at our neighboring carrels, leave each other notes, eat free pizza and J-Dawgs at law school events together (and suffer the subsequent stomach aches), participate in 5th grade mentoring together, and feel all the wonderful stresses that come with law school. My classmates would tell me how much they liked Mark and I was so proud of him.

This is me taking all of our bags to school (lunches, dinners, workout clothes, backpacks). Mark would help carry them too but I thought it'd be funny to show the enormous amount of bags we would lug to school each day.

Barrister's Ball photo shoot - so "profesh"

As I reflect on my experience in law school, it is hard to do a "law school in review" because it is pretty lengthy and there are lots of ups and downs. I'll just say this: I learned a lot about myself. It felt a lot like my mission in a way because it threw me into a challenging situation that exposed me to a lot of my weaknesses. But I feel like I have been given a broader perspective on life. I have an improved vocabulary. I better understand how the legal system works. I have a new respect for the law and the people who work in it, and although I cannot say even at this point that the study of the law is what gets me up in the morning, I have learned to enjoy studying the law. I have tools that will help me increase my literacy in the law and help me use it to better the world around me.

I made some of my greatest friends in law school.

Law School Familia - Emily, Christy, and Brad

I was astounded by the amazing people I went to law school with. Not only were they in law school and you assume they all have done well up to this point in life, but you learn all sorts of specifics about these people. For example, some have five kids, some (well one person I know) are "tight" with President Reagan's best friend, some are incredible musicians and artists, some speak three languages, some are nurses, engineers, chemists, authors. Holy cow, my classmates are awesome.

Graduation was so great.

I got to sit up front on the podium because I was leading the choir and the music. (The choir sang, "Choose Something Like a Star," which is an awesome song and they did great.) As I was sitting there, I got to see each of my classmates come up and get hooded. It was so cool to see each of those people who I had been with the first day of orientation and feel like we've traveled a great journey together. I wasn't sure about going to BYU Law School until the first day of orientation, I was sitting in the moot court room, and I felt like I was with good people and in the place I needed to be. At the end of convocation, I led the congregation in "America, the Beautiful." What a great hymn. I was feeling very patriotic and was convinced I had the best job that day in leading everyone in singing, "Thy liberty in law." A great moment.

I am so grateful I was able to go to BYU.

I was able to do some really meaningful things. I helped with 5th Grade Mentoring and helped write a chapter about it for publication; I started the Immigration Law Forum and we hosted some killer events/debates; I helped with the Law School Recital for 3 years and had a wonderful time; I competed with the Vis Moot Court team in San Diego and Hong Kong and learned A LOT about oral advocacy; I was an editor on Law Review and read a ton of citations over the past couple of years.


I went to school with my best friend, Mark, and loved to share the experience with him; and I made good friends with others. Throughout law school, I lived with my bestest friends in the world for the first two years and my best friend in the world my third year.

Here are my dear, dear friends Cath, Eve, and Linds.
Love these girls. We all shared our grad schools years as roomies.

My current roommate.
(This is the night we got engaged and I just found this picture! Happiness!)

I went on internships to Salt Lake and Phoenix, got engaged, planned a wedding, got married, performed in Martha Graham's Panorama in the De Jong Concert Hall, played piano for ballet classes, went on camping and hiking adventures, and was a member of Kinnect dance group.

I owned a scooter, learned accounting (accounting for lawyers was a great class), helped with religious freedom symposiums and family symposiums, had some amazing bishops at BYU, lived by the Provo temple, and enjoyed various BYU moments (the library, the plays and shows, the Cougareat, fall in Provo). Pretty sure I can't name all of the events of these three years, but many great experiences and I'm sure I'm leaving things out.

I found things that I loved about the law--understanding how I could help people, knowing the social problems that need to be addressed in our families, schools, and communities, and feeling the power to solve these problem and make a difference.


All in all, it has been a great three years. I accomplished something that I didn't really know I could do. And, I didn't really do it--on my own, that is. So many helped me on my way. The Lord is the One who has graced me with this opportunity and this success.

Thanks for the support, my friends. This blog's representation of my time in law school is evidenced by the lack of entries during the last three years. But, I plan to post more often and I plan to become something great. So, stay tuned.

lately: installment 1

My computer has been staring at me all day saying, "open me and update your blog." So, here I am! The long, lost Jana B. (now E.) has come back to blogland. I have missed so much! I am seeing all sorts of great posts on people's blogs and then see my half-finished post from my New York trip with Mark last year... hahaha! Okay, so bear with me as I try to put into words thoughts that have been piling up for the last little while.

First and most important thing in the last while/year/years of my life:
Mark Eliason

He is my favorite person in the whole world and my better half.
Happy 1 Year Anniversary, Darling. I love you.

Mark and I celebrated our 1st wedding anniversary a couple of weeks ago. One year! It's hard to believe and frankly hard to write this because the day of our anniversary was the day I dropped Mark off at the airport. But, the few days before we were in Park City having a great time spending time together. Of course, we forgot to take pictures (classic us) because we always just have so much fun we forget to record all of the adventures we are having! So, my blog friends, we will remedy that ASAP so we can have an honorable showing on this blog here.

Mark will be in Uganda for two months - without me! So, talking about Mark is hard because I miss him so! I was going to go with Mark to Africa originally, but in January I got a job and the mandatory weeks of training overlapped with Mark's trip. But, he is doing well and learning a lot of good things. He is working for a non-profit called International Children's Legal Aid. He and his crew write wills for AIDS victims to ensure that the surviving spouses and children get the property. It's a great service.

A year of marriage. I wish I could explain how great the past year has been.


Mark is incredible. He has been a rock-solid friend and companion. We have laughed and played and worked and studied and cooked and hosted parties and traveled and camped and taken law school finals and spent time with family and it has all been a grand adventure with Mark. I am so grateful for his perspective on things. I am grateful for the balance he brings to my life. I admire his discipline and his work ethic. He is sweet and thoughtful and he always treats me with respect. And, he treats others with respect too. That is important. He is just an amazing guy. He is so dedicated to doing the right thing and staying close to God. I love him. He is the best. He rocks. Literally.

The Verdict Is In

Marriage is awesome.

It's been 8 months, and upon reflection that's what I have to say. I'll even take it a step further: marriage with Jana B. is EXTREMELY awesome. It is so great to be on the incredible journey of life with someone as great as Jan. Most people who read this blog are already fans of Jana B; but let me just expound upon a few of the reasons why it is so great to be married to this woman.

MAJOR CUTENESS: If Jana were in the military, this would be her title. When I was a young lad, I used to collect Ranger Rick magazines--I loved animals in general, ferocious and cute equally. My room was adorned with pages of those magazines, and tons of them were totally cute animals. I like to think I have a pretty good radar for cuteness, and the young Mrs. Jana Eliason knocks it off the charts, causes it to shatter, and sets the whole console on fire. Consistently cute and irresistible. It's so great to be around someone who is always totally cute. No matter what happens, when you run into JB, it's like "Oh, hey! Life is good."

Constant companion: I have always loved being part of a team. I loved being in a rock band; I loved working with other people on projects; I always form study groups--I like to belong to a group (maybe this comes from being a part of ten kids). But the kind of scary thing about many teams I've been on, is that they come to an end one day, and all you do after that is reminisce. But when you're married, it's great because you are on a team that lasts forever! And let me just say: Jana is a dang good teammate.

Pick up the slack: With JB, there's never any slack. Anytime one of us can't get something done that needs to be done, the other steps in to make sure it gets done. Case in point: Jana has done so many loads of our laundry, and the fact is that I will never catch up with that.

Just good: I've said this once, and I'll say it again: JB is just good. She's so reliable in that way. In her treatment of me, of others, and in her life in general, she's just good, and it's inspiring.

Hilarity abounds: Some may or may not know this, but my wife is a really funny lady--both clever and zany. She picks up on extremely subtle things, but she also has no major problems clowning around.

The reality is, I could totally go on and on. But I'm just putting this out there--marriage is AWESOME. And marriage with Jana B - TOTALLY awesome.

Year in Review

Dear Friends,

Here is a brief update on Team Eliason. We've had a great 2010 and we're excited for all of the things coming up. We thought today's date was was particularly memorable, being 1/11/11 and all.

2010 truly started, for us at least, on May 1st. Mark and I were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple the afternoon of May 1st and started our awesome adventures together! Our decision to marry each other has been the best one we've ever made, and we consider it"the greatest investment" (that's why our blog is called that - because family is the best investment of time, energy, and love).

The summer months were spent in Tempe and Gilbert, AZ, where Mark worked for Teach for America as an instructor for the new corps members (working 14 hours days or so) and I worked as a research assistant for some BYU professors. We spent the weekdays in a dorm room on ASU campus and enjoyed the cafeteria and the convenient gym and pool each evening. (Having a cafeteria necessitated the use of a gym and pool each day.) Then, on the weekends, we would go to Mark's parents' condo in Gilbert that was on this beautiful lake (man-made of course). But, we had breakfast every morning outside on the patio with the water and the ducks and the cute turtles. Then we went inside because even by 7:00am, it was pretty hot outside. We had a very kind ward there and we were able to spend time with Mark's brother, Jon, and his family and we also spent time with my brother, Ammon, and his family (as well as Jes's awesome family). A great summer together.

At the end of the summer, before Mark and I went back to Provo (Mark was going to start his first year at BYU Law and I was going into my third), we took a trip to the Big Apple - so fun! We stayed with Aunt Jan and Uncle Paul and had an absolute blast. We have included some pictures below, so we will not discuss this in detail.



(Mark has strapped his backpack on tight, just in case he falls out of the raft or something....cute boy!)

We entered law school this last fall and had so much fun going to school together everyday. Although law school is not always just a fun party (shockingly), if you are ever going to do it, the best thing is to have your spouse with you. If only one of us was in law school, talk about never seeing each other! But this way, we are always seeing each other. We have been so grateful to spend most of our first year together side by side at our study carrels and seeing each other during breaks between classes. It helps to have this experience together as well, since law school can be demanding. Mark has been so awesome and has been my inspiration to study. He is so diligent and such a good worker. He also has one of his best friends in the first year class, which is great. Mark and I are on the Environment, Energy, and Resources Society (EERS) board (an enviro law club on campus) and went to Denver to a NEPA conference in October. Mark is also the 1L SBA rep, which basically mean he is on the student council at BYU Law. So popular! I started the Immigration Law Forum this past semester and we have had some good events, including an immigration bill debate. I also set up October's Domestic Violence Awareness Month at BYU Law to help raise awareness and increase prospective attorney commitment to the cause.

Also, Mark and I have been able to do some fun camping this last fall and summer. As part of the EERS board, we planned an overnighter with law students in Spanish Fork canyon. In the first part of October, Mark and I trekked down in our trusty Subaru to Capitol Reef National Park and camped in the Dixie National Forest. Thank you to all the people who gave us camping gear for our wedding! It was put to good use!

In November, Mark - the amazing athlete - convinced me to sign up to do a triathlon together. We accomplished our goal in running, biking, and swimming - all in a row (which basically means we finished without dying). We trained a bit here and there and had some fun nights at the RB pool and some lovely bike rides to beautiful Utah Lake (and when I say "some" what I mean is "one"). Provo is so pretty in the fall.

Mark worked diligently fall semester to line up some sweet externship opportunities. In May and June, we will go to Uganda where Mark will work as a legal extern at International Children's Legal Aid. He will be assisting AIDS victims with their wills. Then, in July/August time, we will take a trip to Oxford, England! This has been a dream of ours, and we are excited to go. Mark will be a research assistant to an Oxford professor and will research international public law.

This next semester, I will be dancing again with a BYU team, this time with a contemporary dance group that does outreach into elementary schools. It's called Kinnect and try to teach ideas and problem-solving through dance.

We were so glad to visit with family over the holidays and we send our love to all friends and family! Keep us posted on your lives!

Much love, Jana and Mark

NYC cont.

So... we continue documenting our adventure.

Out on the town, we took in the great sights of New York - all the tall buildings and endless shops and restaurants. Here is Mark, claiming the city as his own!


This is the day we hit Times Square, Rockefeller Square, Ground Zero, American Stock Exchange, Wall Street, China Town, Broadway - you name it. Of course, we don't have hardly any pictures from all of that, but we were sure to document the Chocolixir, found at your local Godiva store (and if you live somewhere that has a "local" Godiva store, you must be pretty fancy).



Okay, we actually DID take some pictures of these other sites. A lot of them ended up being church visits - St. Patrick's, Trinity Church, and synagogue in Manhattan. Here are a few of the places of interest that day:











After exploring the financial district, we ventured up to Chinatown. We were going to see "Memphis" on Broadway that night, but we really wanted to eat at this Chinese place that came highly recommended. So we walked to the highest point in Chinatown, grabbed our handfuls of potstickers, and then jumped on the subway, eating as we ran to catch our play (which, by the way, if you go to New York, "Memphis" is an AWESOME musical to see on Broadway). We got stuck right at this point, as we couldn't make a decision--should we stop or should we go? What to do? To be continued....

Empire State of Mind

Okay. Turn on Jay Z and Alicia Keys for this next post, just to get yourself in the spirit. Or turn on Frank Sinatra's "New York, New York." We'll go ahead and skip the formalities of our wedding and jump straight into the JB/ME adventure to New York in August (Jana says the wedding pictures are coming soon!). We had a few free plane tickets, some wonderful relatives living in Manhattan, and so we hopped on a plane a week before school started to see the Big Apple! (It was Mark's first time, so JB showed him around.)

Here's something important to keep in mind in this post (and Dallin, you'll appreciate this)--One of the great things about New York is the food...so, we're jumping on the trendy bandwagon of putting pictures of food on our blog. We'll highlight some of the "faves" as Jana likes to say.


First, we enjoyed a New York City double-scoop ice cream cone in front of the Natural History museum. Aren't we cute? Following that, we journeyed INTO the museum itself, only to encounter some ferocious(ly cute) wildlife. Here's Jana and the lil' baby deer:

And here's Mark with the DINOSAUR! You can't say DINOSAUR! without all caps and an exclamation point, because it doesn't transmit their ferocity.

Then we shimmied on down to the Shake Shack, baby! One of the best burgers in the U.S. of A. Here we are...


And here is our meal - yum..


And for all of you "You've Got Mail" fans out there (and I know you're out there!) you might recognize one of the three most sacred Jewish-owned locations in the world:


As we walked in, a young Kazahk came up to Mark, and kept pointing at the cheese, saying: "Ah wat is a dis?" (What is this?) to which Mark would reply in a low yet nasaly voice: "'At's cheese" over and over again, until Jana had to drag him away.


Btw, the best souvenir from NY that is 1) cheap, 2) not totally cheesy like a bumper sticker or a cheap t-shirt, and 3) is useful is the Zabar's mugs. $1!! Just a word to the wise - next trip, Zabar's mugs.

We had a jaunt at the Lincoln Center - watched a couple of Paul Taylor's choreographies outside by his company and then saw South Pacific. South Pacific was, as opposed to the awesome deal you get with a Zabar's mug, not cheap. But it was okay.


The next day, we hit the town....to be continued! (More pictures and stories to come)

Mark's books

Marrying Mark meant marrying new books. Growing up in my parents' house, it seemed that there were new books to be discovered on the shelf. This is probably a result of evolving interests in different things as I got older. I used to see the red, old-fashioned type of children storybooks that were from my parents' era and I'd read the story about the old Chinese emperor or a story about some heroic dog. Some Sundays I would read the illustrated encyclopedias and other informational books. I found the books by C.S. Lewis later on and only glanced over books like A Pilgrim's Progress, uncertain of my interest at the time. There's also a favorite section of Calvin and Hobbes books on my parents' bookshelves. There are still books there that I'm sure I've never noticed, partly because I started my own collection of books. That collection is largely still in my old bedroom at my parents' house, being too big to take to our small apartment in Provo. But we have most of Mark's books here, most of them crammed on one tall shelf. I will peruse the titles sometimes or just admire the books as I walk by them. Mark's always impressed me by how well-read he is. The first time I met him, six years ago now?, he was reading some big book, probably Tolstoy or Dostoevsky. He sat with his leg crossed over his knee, his elbow on the bent knee, his chin in his hand, his square glasses framing his furrowed brow focused on the page. We were both at the same BYU Recycling Club meeting. I wasn't sure what to make of him at the time, but then you can't always trust first impressions. However, one impression of Mark has remained true - he loves to read and has quite good taste in books. The books he brought with him to our marriage are beautiful and thick. He prefers hardcover to softcover because they last longer and he is determined to have all these books available to our children. There is a long line of classics and then some rows of mathematical, statistical, political, economical books from recent years. He has books on philosophy, leadership, communication, religion. He is always reading about five books at a time - a couple different ones before bed, another one for the airplane (when he used to fly more often), and two others in there for good measure. He reads the Economist when he rides the bike at the gym or sometimes at breakfast. The shelf is a pretty good size, but not too huge. But I am surprised when I really look deeper at the titles and find something I never found before. You will never guess the great find I made last night on the top shelf on the right. Two books by Dave Barry! They were collections of his humor columns from the 80s and 90s. What a find, I thought. Mark walked by our bedroom last night and asks me what I was reading. When he discovered it was Dave Barry, he offered to read some together. So Mark started reading them out loud. We were on our bed, Mark reading these columns, and I was laughing so hard, I was in tears. A talent I didn't know my husband had! He is exceptionally good at reading Dave Barry columns out loud! He laughs at all the right times, adding just that much more humor to the moment, and does the best inflections. I had no idea Mark could do that. This was truly a treasure to find. This, my friends, is a favorite memory of our first months together. I think it was because we both had full school commitments the next day, and can feel the weight of law school, and laughing was very therapeutic for both of us. I think it also reminded me of reading Calvin and Hobbes with my dad and he would read them aloud and would laugh at all the right times, which would make us all bust up laughing. And here I was, twenty years later, having a laugh attack with my husband reading to me, while we casually lounged on our bed in our own little home together. It reminded me of the times my parents would crack up about something one of them said, and I would stand there smiling at my parents' mirth. I would marvel at the fact that I could still crack up at stuff when I was a grown-up, and instead of making my brother laugh, I could joke and laugh with my spouse. Last night I experienced this full circle. It was full circle, but something totally new. I guess I am amazed at a few things. I am amazed at how great Mark is and how much fun it is to be married to such a good and nice and funny and happy person. I am amazed at how much my life has been blessed by being with him. I am amazed at how things that you thought were left behind in your childhood can pop up in your adult life and it is awesome. I am amazed that you can have new experiences and learn new things about someone you thought you totally had "figured out." That kind of surprise is the sweet filling of life. And I am amazed that I am still finding new books on Mark's bookshelf.