GRADUATION!!!

 Happy to be done!

After 5 years and lots and lots of hard work I graduated from the University of Utah! Wahoo! My family came up for the weekend from St. George. It was a lot of fun to spend some time with my family. I was so excited to finally be done with school and I had a weekend full of fun! It all started with the actual graduation. The graduation ceremony was a little strange... First of all the speaker was a fellow graduating student and his talk was crazy. He basically talked about how the politicians in Utah don't value education enough. He called them all rodeo clowns, and told them he couldn't wait until some of us replaced them because we would do a much better job. Whether is It was correct or not, it was a very disrespectful talk. After his talk the bachelors walked, and despite being asked to stay seated after they walked 90% of them walked out. I stayed seated for a while while the Master degrees walked, but by that time I was basically sitting alone because all the bachelor degrees had left so I found my family and we left before it was over. It was a weird graduation ceremony but there were a lot of people who came to support me and I want to tell them all thank you for coming and for all of your support! Here are the pictures of Graduation.

My crazy cute husband!                          

My Mom and Grandma Hughes

My Mom and Dad

    

My Dad and Grandma Arlene. My Grandpa Ron was also there, but somehow we didn't get him in the picture.

My sister Kristine, her husband Sam and their two kids Jaxen and Alexa

My Husband and his parents

My Brother Nick

There were many graduation celebrations. Dinner with my in-laws the day before, dinner with my family before graduation, desserts at Applebees after graduation, and the Ice Cream Party I had on Saturday. It was a weekend full of celebrating. The ice cream party was also a lot of fun. I had a lot of people show up to that I want to to tell them all thanks for coming and supporting me. Over all it was a great weekend and I am officially Graduated from the University of Utah with a BS degree in Social and Behavioral Science and a minor in Nutrition. It is way nice to be done. A huge relief. I think I've felt every emotion in connection to graduating. I am kind of sad because I am going to miss the U and I love school. I am happy and relieved to be all done. And I am way scared and confused about what the future holds as far as my career goes. There is an internship in Pennsylvania, but I'm not sure if it's going to work out for me, I guess I'll have to wait and see. As for right now, I am enjoying the relief of being done. Here are some more picture of the graduation.

 So HAPPY to be done!

 CuTe

GO UTES!!!

Engagement Story

Today at work I was talking with my friend/co-worker and we were talking about our engagements. She told me I should blog about my cute engagement story so I don't forget any details and I can always remember it. I am a little biased, but I think I have the cutest engagement story ever! Lets start from the beginning.
Andrew and I met in July 2009 on a blind date (thanks Kell!). The first of October I was in Tooele watching LDS conference with Andrew and his family. After the Sunday afternoon conference Andrew and I went for a walk around town and Andrew started asking questions about marriage. I had only known Andrew for 3 months at this time so I hadn't thought too seriously about it. I mean I am a girl, so I had thought about it, but I wasn't planning the wedding or anything. I told Andrew I was a 4 seasons girl. And what that meant was I wanted to know my husband all 4 seasons (summer, fall, winter and spring) before I got engaged. Andrew was a little taken back by this and I don't think he like my answer too well. But I told him I would pray and think more seriously about it. Well, the first of November rolls around (a month later) and on a Friday night Andrew had driven down from Logan for the weekend (as he did every weekend since he was going to school at Utah State in Logan and I was going to the U in Salt Lake) anyways... Friday night Andrew shows up at my apartment with a beautiful bouquet of flowers. He said he just wanted to give me flowers, no particular reason, he just thought I would like them. Later that night Andrew asks me if I want to go look at rings in the morning. We hadn't talked about looking at rings before so I was a little surprised, but I knew I wanted to marry him so Saturday morning we hit the town and looked all morning at rings. When Andrew picked me up Saturday morning he commented on how warm it was, like summer. The ring shopping was fun! What girl wouldn't like trying on diamonds? I found a few I liked but I wanted Andrew to pick it out so I just showed him some style that I like. That afternoon Andrew told me he had plans to go to the temple with his mom so he dropped me off, but we had plans to go to dinner later that night. That night we went to dinner at Thanksgiving point (yum yum). In the back of my head I thought he might propose at the restaurant, I didn't think he really would, but it was in the far back of my mind since we had been talking marriage all day. Anywho he didn't propose at dinner. After dinner Andrew said he needed to stop at his sisters in laws to pick up a box for her. When we got there no one answered so Andrew told me to wait there while he went through the garage to get the box inside. So I waited and the next thing I know Andrew opens the door and the house is decorated like a forest in winter. It was a winter wonderland! Fake snow, fake pine trees, a fireplace, calming water fountain, and lots and lots of white lights. The place was all lit up with white Christmas lights which set a very romantic mood. Andrew pulled me inside and I was WAY CONFUSED! I had not idea what was going on and that is when he got down on one knee and took my hands in his. My hands were shaking like crazy! I don't remember everything that he said but I do remember this. He said that he knew I was a 4 seasons girl and I wanted to wait 4 seasons until we got engaged so He gave me spring bouquet of flowers the night before (spring) He dressed for summer earlier that day and commented on the warm summer weather (summer), we ate dinner at Thanksgiving point (fall), and now we were in a winter wonderland (winter). He said on day 13 we held hands for the first time, on day 28 we kissed for the first time, on day 75 we said I love you to each other and today is day 88 and I want to ask you to be my wife.Then he pulled out the ring I had picked out earlier that day and he asked me to marry him.
Cute huh!
We sent pictures of my ring to my family. They were out to dinner. They were so shocked that the next day they ALL packed into their cars and drove up to Salt Lake from St. George to see us.
I have pictures of the winter wonderland somewhere and when I find them I will post them.

We're moving to Pennsylvania!

Two weeks ago Andrew and I went on a trip to Pennsylvania to check out some law schools for Andrew and an internship for me. We LOVED Pennsylvania!! We flew into JFK, rented a car and drove over to Carlisle PA. It was crazy driving through New York City and we hit the 8am traffic! It was crazy, but I loved it. I love the City. We were complete tourist and we stuck out like a sore thumb. Not even an hour after we started driving we ran into a toll. Being from Utah we were not prepared for the toll so we didn't have ANY cash. The tolls only take cash or a pass neither of which we had. 
A picture of the toll bridge! There was a sign as we got onto the bridge that said No Pictures but I took pictures anyways. Andrew was worried we were going to get in trouble because I kept taking pictures, but it was really cool. There were a ton of huge battleship looking ships I don't know what was going on but it was cool.

So after we worked out the whole toll problem we continued our drive to Pennsylvania. Our first stop was in Carlisle PA to check out on of the campus's of Penn State. Carlisle is a cute little old town. The buildings in town are all old brick style back to back. 

We really like Carlisle. The small town was charming and after living in a city for the past 5 years I am ready for a small town. It's not that small I guess, but it feels like it. The center of town is the old style downtown but the areas around downtown are all new and there is a Walmart so we can survive :)

Here are some pictures of Penn State in Carlisle.

 My sexy babe-a-licious 

 A little history

After touring Carlisle we got back in the car and drove to Penn State's main campus in State College, Pennsylvania. State College was a big city and we really like State college as well. Carlisle and State College were completely different and complete opposites, but we couldn't decide which place we liked best. We spent some time in State College touring the law school and the city. Before we went on the trip we didn't make hotel reservations because we didn't know where we were going to want to stay. We knew we wanted to check out both campus's and then our plan was to spend the rest of the trip in the town that we like best and to go to church in that area so we could get some contact to help us move if we decided that is where we were going to go. After visiting both campus's we were very CONFUSED! We thought that after we visited we would know where we were suppose to go, but we just didn't. So we decided to go to Hershey PA and tour the hospital I want to do an internship at. I liked to Children's hospital, but it was hard to not compare it to Primary Children's Medical Center, and lets be honest. Nothing really compares with Primary's. However, Hershey Children's Medical Center was nice and the Child Life Specialist that gave me a tour was really nice. The Hospital was currently under construction so I didn't get any pictures.

After touring the Children's Hospital we decided to take a break and go have some fun. We went to Hershey's Chocolate Factory in Hershey, PA. The chocolate factory was fun. I tried to take some pictures while were were on the tour but they didn't really turn out. The tour was a a ride through the process of making chocolate. 

After touring the chocolate factory and shopping at the outlets we decided that we needed to decide which town we were going to go to church the next day. We still couldn't decide which town we liked better so we drove over to Carlisle again. There is just something about the little town that charmed us. We visited the law school again and after that we decided we really like Carlisle. 

Here are some more pictures of Andrew at the law school in Carlisle.

 The next day we went to church in Carlisle. There is only one ward for the entire town (a little different than Utah). The ward was really nice. A couple who just moved from  Bountiful, UT last August to go to Penn State law school introduced themselves to us. They offered to help us find a house and help out in any way they can. I love being a member of The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints! No matter where you go the church is there to help. The members are willing to help in any way they can and reach out to make us feel welcome. 

Well after our trip to Pennsylvania we decided that we are moving to Carlisle Pennsylvania! It's exciting, but also a little scary. Wahoo!

Also, this is my last week of classes! I graduate in less than 2 weeks!

1st Year Anniversary

I can't believe that Andrew and I have been married for a year already! It's crazy how fast time goes by when you're having fun. For our one year anniversary we went to a cute little bed and breakfast in Lava Hot Springs, ID. The bed and breakfast was a lot of fun. It was a little outside of the town up in the mountains and they had different themed rooms. We went snowboarding while we were up there, and our marriage survived! Andrew is great at snowboarding, but I have only been once before and I'm not that great. The only life that was open the day we went went all the way to the top of the mountain. It started off a little rough and only went downhill from there. As we were riding the lift to the top it just kept going and going and after a while I started to wonder how I was going to get down the mountain because I'm not that great and it was a really long ways to the bottom. Time came to get off the lift and of course I biffed it hard core. I don't know whose idea it is to have the board connected to only one foot when you jump off the lift, but it really doesn't work for me. I did a slight back summer salt roll over thing off the lift (which hurt). But then I got up and a looked at the endless downhill path of snow. I did make it down the mountain and it only took about an hour and a half. By the time I got down I was done. It was a rough ride down, but by the time we got the bottom Andrew and I were still talking and not even upset with each other which is an improvement from the last time we went snowboarding so I decided to end it on a good note. Andrew went down one more time while I recovered in the car. It only took him about 8 minutes to get down the mountain without me. That should show you how not so great I really am. After snowboarding we went to the hot springs. It was nice and relaxing. A ward of warning for anyone who is going to the hot springs. Don't leave any money or valuables in the locker. We got a few dollars stolen and we weren't the only ones. Someone's got sticky fingers. Overall it was a fun trip. Being married is great! The past year has been a lot of fun! Look at my pretty flowers!

The quiet before the storm

Things have been pretty quiet around our house lately. We are playing the waiting game called law school. Andrew has all of his applications in and we are just waiting to hear back. We have heard back from a few schools. So far we have gotten accepted to Quinnipiac University in Connecticut and we are on the wait list for the University of Oklahoma, but we are still waiting to hear from a lot of other schools. From what I have been told law school is just one big waiting game. Wait for the LSAT score, wait to see where you get accepted, wait for midterm grades, wait for final grades, and around it goes... wait wait wait! For an impatient person this is about to kill me! It has been like the quiet before the storm at our house. In May we are moving temporarily and I graduate and then in August we will be moving to who knows where and Andrew will be starting school and hopefully I will get an internship (that all depends on where we move to. More waiting. Wait to see where we are moving to before I can apply to internships). For those of you who know me waiting isn't in my vocabulary. I like to have things planned out well in advance, but when you don't know where you're moving to in 6 months it makes it hard to plan for things. I started to look at houses/apartments in different areas that we might be moving too, but I gave up on this. It is hard to compare houses that are in California to houses in Hawaii, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Oklahoma, Nevada, and Utah. :)

Since the Holidays our lives have been relatively quiet. We've been battling the cold that has been going around. This past week I've been knocked out with it and the week before Andrew had it. You've gotta love the passing of colds, but it's inevitable when you are married and kissing is involved. We were suppose to go snowboarding a few days ago, but I was still sick so Andrew went with a friend. It has been dropping snow like crazy the past few weeks and Andrew and I have been wanting to go snowboarding and we got it all planned out and I got sick. It's alright though, we are going again in two weeks and I AM NOT going to be sick then!

Basically the past few weeks can be summed as we've just been hanging out and enjoying the quiet time.

~ Back to School ~

Christmas break is over and I'm back in school for my last semester. I graduate in May from the University of Utah! I am majoring in Family and Consumer Studies with an emphasis in Child Life Specialty and I am minoring in Nutrition. I know, it's a mouthful, but what it means is I hope to one day be working as a child life specialist. As a child life specialist I want to work in hospitals with children helping them cope and understand their hospital experience. I can't wait to start because I love this profession. I love working with children and connecting with them on their level, and really helping them out. It's so rewarding. I have only worked as a volunteer with a Child Life Specialist, but I've loved every minute of it as well as my Child Life classes.

It looks like i'm not the only going to back to school. Andrew took the LSAT last month and he did AMAZING! so he'll be starting law school in August. I'm way proud of my awesome husband. He worked way hard and he rocked the LSAT! He's applying for law schools right now, and we should hear back by the end of February early March. Some places that Andrew is applying to are San Diego State in California, some schools in Oklahoma, Connecticut, Las Vegas, U of U, and others that I forgot. It's weird not knowing where we're going to live in a few months, but it will all work out and I can't wait to start this new adventure with Andrew!

Holidays

Our stocking hung by the fire in our cute little apartment. Andrew and I stayed home in Salt Lake for Christmas this year. It was fun combining our holiday traditions, and it was a very relaxing Christmas. Christmas eve we drove around and looked at some awesome Christmas lights.

For New Years we went to St. George. Ben, Marsha and Cassidy were in town from New York and we had a family party New Years Eve. It was SO MUCH FUN! The theme of the party was 80's rock party. Everyone dressed up in their finest 80's attire and there were even some awesome mohawks. Here is a look at our awesome costumes.

As you can tell, we had a lot of fun!