Finally!

Well, I have finally reached the goal I set a long, long time ago for myself... graduate college. I never really expected my life to be at this point when I imagined myself graduating, yet here I am. My dad always encouraged and helped me to pick a passion, and gain an education in that field (my dad is a huge fan of education). After it all was said and done, I ended up graduating from the same university as my dad with the same summa cum laude honors. It feels really nice to be done, but strange that school and homework will no longer dominate my every thought and stress. In the course of my college career I have written over 150 essays/papers, had three jobs, gained one husband, moved three times, spent over $32,000 in school related expenses, had countless late nights and mornings doing homework, changed my major once, attended four different schools, and have attempted to figure out what I want to do with my life. Unfortunately, I don't have that all figured out yet... there are so many options, where to work? grad school? which program? Oh and where do kids fit in?

Luckily, I have a very supportive husband, who will help me with any direction I decide to take.

Here are some pictures from that day (these are for you Reece)! Thanks to all who came out to support me or sent love my way (and thanks for the awesome cake mom)!

 (My cap of course had some blingin school sprit!)

P.S. I bought my shoes a year in advance specifically for graduation, either I have really been looking forward to this accomplishment, or I have a problem!

On a lighter note...

It is spring break, which means only six more weeks till graduation... finally! I might just make it! And last Wednesday we celebrated my 23rd birthday, I'm getting up there in years! I had two, yes two birthday cakes, both from my mother. One was an ice cream Oreo cake from DQ because I always have one on my birthday, and the other a beautiful funfetti peacock cake my mom made herself. She is pretty good at the whole cake making business, a skill I did not receive. I however did have a great birthday, with lots of food, presents, cards(every hour at school had a different card for me, signed by every student) and best of all, love!

Cake number one...

And cake number two... the awesome cake my mom made... I think I gained 10 pounds this week!

Today...

I had to take a moment to write about the experience I had today, and would feel extremely ungrateful if I did not. My schedule has been wearing me thin, and my stress level the past couple of weeks has been through the roof (my broken out face is proof of this fact). However, today I had to opportunity to have a little bit of a change of pace and attend a Holocaust Education Conference. It was basically to a day of learning how to teach such a complex, deep, and horrific event to students who live in a world that makes it difficult to see past themselves.

The best part of the day came when I was able to eat lunch with a couple who were Holocaust survivors. He was hidden in much of the same manner as Anne Frank, by a man who hid him in the basement of his home, and she actually spent a number of months in a camp toward the end of the war. As we discussed their lives, and everything that transpired, he looked me in the eyes and said "We've had a beautiful life." This is coming from individuals who literally had everything taken from them, who have parents and grandparents buried in mass graves due to hate, have witnessed unspeakable evil, lived in the worst conditions imaginable. He then went on to say that love will always matter and make a difference. Today was a reality check for me, no matter what happens to me through the course of my day, it does not compare to what they have experienced.

One-Two, Buckle Your Shoe!

The beautiful flowers Brent gave me for our anniversary

I have the best husband ever!

Snapped a picture right as Ryan Dungey won the final race!

One week ago today Brent and I celebrated our two year anniversary. That's right, two years. Sometimes it feels like just yesterday was our wedding day, other days I can't even remember my life without Brentos. Either way it has been a remarkable two years, in which we have learn more about each other than I ever expected we would, and yet we still have so much to learn.  The actual day of our anniversary Brent had school till late that night, so we celebrated this weekend with Supercross, tacos, and hiking. Brent made me the best present ever; I had found a craft on Pintrest I wanted to make. However, me being my uncrafty self never even attempted the project. Lucky for me I have Brent, who made exactly what I wanted but better by framing a sign that says, "I love you because:" surrounded by pictures of us, underneath which we write on the glass with dry erase markers notes to each other. I love it, and most importantly, Brent and I love each other.

Christmas, New Years, etc.

Well, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years have come and gone, and I am finally ready to start blogging again after being post overloaded with my blogging class, which I had to write for three times a week. It was fun because I worked on a cake blog for my mom (see here) but I needed a blogging break. Here are some of the things we did over the past couple of weeks.

We had a little gingerbread house making contest, sadly we lost!

 

I was the only one to catch a fish when we went fishing with my family.

 

Went to the desert to ride the dirt bikes, and had tons of fun with my sweet nephews!

 

Shot the guns

 

 Took family pictures

 

Went rock climbing with Landon and Kate.

 

Brent belaying 

 

Brent got a new bike for Christmas so we took some long bike rides!

Videos of the rock climbing adventures will follow, and trust me they will be worth your time to watch!

Fall Weather...Finally!

What's new... I am of course late on posting our Halloween pictures! Halloween was great, but the best part of this week is that it finally feels like fall... and when I say fall I mean under 90 degrees. Yay!

On another note, I now only have 17 days left before I take the biggest test EVER, this is the one that will decide if all my years of school pay off and I can get the job I want... so we may be absent for the next two weeks in hopes that I will pass.

Oh, and just for clarification... I was a zebra... not a cat!

Time, it’s a flyin!

Wowzer,Halloween already? I just cannot stay on top of my blog! Basically the past month we have been doing school and work, and interning, and work, and school… that is about it. Today however was noteworthy.  My watch that I had sent out to be fixed finally arrived in the mail after the company that was fixing it lost it for eight weeks. After trying, waiting, going to the store many times and calling a whole lot more my new iphone is finally on its way… and I cannot wait! After having my old iphone for three years it is time for my upgrade, and it has been tough getting a hold of one of those little babies, there is quite the demand for it here! We also carved pumpkins and made sugar cookies with our sweet little nieces and nephews, best part of the day. Brent and I had a special little helper with our pumpkin!

It was some serious planning between these two!

He was helping me cut out our Jack-O-Lantern's face, pretty fun! Oh and I got my hair cut, trying something new with some straight across bangs and a straight down the middle part!

Voila! The finished product!