College Graduate

I did it. I am officially a college graduate! Danny and I walked together, but he won't officially be done until June. We are almost past this school phase of our lives! It's crazy to think how far I have come and how much I have grown since graduating high school. I originally didn't get accepted into BYU, but in April of my senior year they decided that they would let me come if I was willing to start during the summer. I still remember my friend Meaghan nudging me during class to accept the offer. So, a couple weeks after graduating from high school, I packed up my bags and moved across the country. Although it seemed scary at the time, I'm so glad I made that decision! BYU might get a lot of hate, but it's a great school with great people, great professors, and I'm so glad I was able to come here for school.

Now that I've graduated, people are constantly asking me about what our plans are. This picture is a perfect description of how I now feel about these questions (thanks Jessica). As of right now, we are just on the hunt for jobs anywhere we can find them! Maybe I'll go back to school. Maybe I won't. Maybe I'll find a job because of my degree, maybe I won't. Either way, whether or not I do something practical with my degree, I'm so glad I got it. I got a lot more out of college than just a resume booster. The experience alone is worth it. I learned to live on my own, I made some amazing friends, and I met my husband. It's true, some classes that I took will be useless, but I took so many classes that taught me so much! Not just teaching me information, but also teaching me life-long skills and principles. I can't wait to know what's next for us!

St. George and Pickleball

We went down to St. George the first weekend of April to see our friends Jake and Mandy and their cute little baby Cannon. We left right as it started to snow in Provo so the warm weather felt extra nice. While we were down there, we went to the art festival, ate at a delicious breakfast place called Bear Paw, played tons of Monopoly Deal, made a delicious asphalt pie, and most importantly, played pickleball!

Yes, this is a picture of me in front of a moose...

Isn't he cute?

This is pickleball. It's hard to tell how fun it is just from this video, but trust me-it's fun. Kind of feels like your a tiny person playing ping pong on a giant ping pong table. Anyone can play and you actually get a pretty good work out in when you play singles! Now let's just hope that it quickly spreads to more areas!

Weekend of Events

Last weekend, some of Danny's cousins from New Zealand were in town. We went with them to the Jazz v. Kings game Friday night where Danny's dad (police officer) let us onto the court to watch the teams warm up. Long story short, Danny's cousins were given a ball by one of the owners of the Jazz, a ball boy rudely took it back from them, but not before they got it signed by several of the Kings' players. Danny fought to get the ball back from them as far as he could, but no luck. So, be on the lookout for a Jazz game ball signed by half the Kings team!

Annnnd, up to our regular affordable seats...

  We had the chance to go to the Saturday morning session of conference as well. We figured we might as well take advantage of living an hour away from Salt Lake since it might be our last Conference weekend living so close. The choir was beautiful and the speakers were amazing. Aren't they always though?

Of the three sessions that I got to watch, here are my two favorite quotes:

-"Offering help really isn't much help at all--just help! ... Would you ask someone who was drowning 'let me know if I can help you' or would you jump in and save them?"-Ronald A. Rasband

-"When it comes to our own prejudices and grievances, we too often justify our anger as righteous, and our judgement as reliable and only appropriate."-President Dieter F. Uchtdorf

I just love conference. The things they say always make so much sense.

The World

I was looking through some old pictures on my computer recently and came across this picture I took in Florence, Italy about five years ago. I love it. It takes me right back to that beautiful city and culture. Sometimes I forget how big the world is and it's nice to have a little reminder. I can't wait to visit new countries and to experience more cultures. Danny and I are headed to New Zealand at the end of July and I'm counting down the days. I have a long list of places I want to visit, so I guess we'll have to prioritize, but I can't wait to see the world! Good thing we have our whole lives together to check everything off that list, huh?

Crafty

My sister and I decided to be crafty this weekend. She saw this idea on Pinterest, and decided to use an old pair of black heels she never wears. I also have a pair of heels that I got for my other sister's wedding over six years ago and never wear, so she let me tag along. Honestly, I thought this was going to be a disaster. It turned out pretty good though! I mean, at least I know I'll wear them now! It looks a little rough on the edges in this picture, but I got them lookin' pretty good!

Before:

After:

And here are my sister's that turned out super cute!...

Canning

Growing up, my mom did a lot of canning--meats, spaghetti sauce, peaches (my favorite!). Now that I am cooking dinner so often, I'm realizing the convenience of this. My mom taught me and my sister how to can meat by ourselves this past summer, and we finally did it all almost all by ourselves! It really makes life so much easier.

Step 1: Buy jars and lids

Step 2: Fill the jars with 1/2 Tbsp of minced onion and 1/2 tsp of salt. Cut up the meat you want to can (we just did chicken this time), and stuff it in the jars.

Step 4: Fill up the pressure canner with a couple quarts of water, put the jars in and watch the temperature, making sure it stays where it needs to be.

Step 5: About an hour and a half later, wala! You have cooked chicken that is totally sealed off and will stay good for a very, very long time. Each jar is about one pound of chicken, so it lasts quite a while.

I dreaded helping my mom with canning when I was growing up. Especially doing peaches--pitting them was  always the worst job. But a little bit of work all at once makes for a lot less work later on. Thanks for forcing us to learn this stuff mama!

VDay, Adventuring, a Wedding and Friends

Valentines Day: Danny brought me home a pretty rose. I was really excited because I even recognized the foliage and filler flowers they used! Danny had a basketball game that night (of course), so instead of going out we made dinner together and watched a movie.

Sunday Exploring: One Sunday afternoon we wanted to get out of the house, so we decided to go explore over  towards Utah Lake. Somehow, in the four years that I've lived here I've never gone over there. We found a park and we got there just as the sun was setting on the lake! No one else was there so it was nice and peaceful.

Sealing: Danny's Uncle Jared was sealed to his wife, Camila, and his daughter, Talia, this past weekend. It was such a cool experience to witness. The spirit was so strong, and I could just see the joy in their faces to finally be sealed together forever. There were tears everywhere! The video (sorry it's so little!) is of Talia dancing at their reception that night. I think she was about as clueless as I was at my reception that people were gonna start sticking money in her dress! She is the sweetest little girl.

The past couple of weeks we've also been able to see a lot of friends that we don't get to see too often. Our friends Jake and Mandy passed through on their drive from Boise to St. George. It was so fun to meet their new baby Cannon. He's a monster! He's only two months, but is bigger than my four month old niece! We also went out with my friend Kelsey, who was one of my roommates my freshman year, and her husband Phil one night. I don't know what it is about your freshman year of college, but I have stayed so close to the girls I roomed with my that year. All of us are married now, and we're all doing very different things, but they're my friends from college that I know I'll still be in touch with ten years from now.

Anyway, we are now just looking for jobs and counting down the days til graduation. So anxious!