Big News!

When I graduated from BYU four years ago, I walked away, content with my bachelors degree, with a firm resolve that I was done with formal education.  I had put in my four years, and that was it.  Period.

Oh how that 22 year old self of mine thought that she knew it all.

Over the past four years, I've learned a few things. 

One of those things, is that life doesn't always turn out the way that you plan.  In fact, usually it doesn't even come close!  I've learned time and time again, that God's plan and vision for my life is a million times better than anything I could ever dream up on my own.  He knows me, loves me, looks past my many weaknesses, and sees me for who and what I have the potential to become.  

Over the past 6 months or so, I've been humbled into learning that part of the 'becoming' process is coming to terms with and accepting the fact that sometimes God's timetable for your life is much different than you had planned, expected or hoped for.  

It can be frustrating.  It can be heartbreaking.  And it can leave you feeling broken.

But God is good. 

Incredibly good. 

And he always presents an alternative plan. 

A couple months ago, on what felt like a "whim", I applied to an Interior Design Program.

And what do you know?  I got in!!

Yesterday I went to my first day of school.

I couldn't stop smiling, even when I paid $130 for a text book. 

I really am that happy.

And most of all, grateful for a loving God, and a supportive husband.  

Jackson Hole Getaway

Mike and I decided super last minute (we're talking late Thursday night before Labor day weekend) that we wanted to get out of town one last time before summer was officially over.  We called Mike's parents, who are always up for an adventure, and with their expert help, planned a little getaway to Jackson Hole (okay, basically Carol planned the whole thing!)  We got to Idaho Falls Friday night, and the fun began..

 

Dinner with Mike's parents

Sealings Saturday morning at the Idaho Falls Temple

Huckleberry pancakes at Smitty's

  

 Saturday morning, on the way to Jackson Hole, we had to stop at the Square Ice Cream place for Huckleberry ice cream- see a theme here?

 Isn't it cute?  I almost didn't want to ruin my perfect square and eat it...

Once we got to Jackson Hole, we went to Teton Village and rode the Tram up the Mountain.  13,000 ft up, up, up.... this time I actually did okay with the whole height phobia thing!

 The view from the top was pretty spectacular (even though it was a pretty muggy day).

Next, we started hiking down the mountain.  The weather was perfect- mid 70's, and the sun was shining- we couldn't have asked for a better day!

Mike's dad, the character

 Mike's parents are really into hiking- they put Mike and I to shame!

 This tree had a huge hole in it.  I almost got in but Mike told me there were probably mice and other animals in there, so I opted for the one leg in picture instead.  You can tell I'm a little nervous my foot is going to get bit off!

 We hiked over 3 miles down, then caught another tram to take us down the rest of the way.  It was a beautiful hike, and we'd totally go do it again!

Afterwards, we spent some time in downtown Jackson hole.  We shopped the cute local stores for a while, and went to dinner at a really good Mexican place.

 I know this picture probably doesn't look it, but this was in fact very creepy to be this close to his face!

 

 

We were about to head home, when Mike took off into a store for a minute.  He came back out and surprised me with Huckleberry chocolate and the Christmas ornament I'd been eying that afternoon!  Can't wait to hang this on our tree this year!

 

We drove home through Rexburg, and swung by to see the Rexburg Temple.

It. is. gorgeous.

The next day we went to church, had dinner, then went to the cemetery to visit Mike's sister, Andrea's grave.  She was 15 when she passed away unexpectedly, and Mike was only 4.  Thanks Carol and Gary for telling us so many stories about her- we are excited to meet her someday.

Gary asked me if it was creepy to see my own name on a grave stone.  I'm not going to lie- it was a little bit (mine will have an H in there so it will look a little different though :)

Next we swung by to see Mike's grandparents before we left town.  

His Grandpa tells some of the funniest jokes I've ever heard.

We had a great Labor Day Weekend!!

On Tuesday, Sept 6th Mike and I decided to make a birthday cake in honor of his sister Andrea (it would have been her 35th birthday that day).  We think this will be a fun tradition especially when we have kids so that we can tell them about their Aunt Andi.

the past two weeks, according to my camera

My Sis-in-law Allie's Graduation from BYU- she's going to be the best Elementary School Teacher!

The day was only complete once I had stopped for chocolate cinnamon bears @ the bookstore.

How is he so much bigger/taller/stronger than me now?

 My cousin Rebecca's Wedding- she and Jake met on their missions in Georgia! (love that)

She looked smashing and her dress was breathtaking.

 

 Date to Park City- we shopped the outlets, ate pizza at Maxwell's, and saw the Help.

 Mike started nursing school!  These are seventeen of his books (he got 8 more).

No, I am not kidding.

 After almost 2 years, Laura Walker (a best friend from college) and I finally got together for lunch!

It was so fun to catch up- I've missed you Laura! (thanks for the pic girl!)

 

Sleepovers on an air mattress directly in front of our air conditioning unit in the living room.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

Our bedroom being 88 degrees at 11:30pm is one of those times.

 Gorgeous flowers Mike sent to me at work for no reason at all.  LOVE him!

 

More eating adventures with my mom...

 Pago is definitely the hottest/freshest/coolest restaurant in Salt Lake right now.

GO!  Right now!  I wanted to literally lick my plate up.

P.S.  Dilema.  As you can see, my bangs are heinous right now.  I am trying to decide whether to 

A) Keep them straight.

B) Cut them swoopy

C) Grow them out.

Any thoughts/opinions/advice would be appreciated!

Newport Rhode Island & other Boston Adventures

Boston Trip Continued...

Day 3:
Saturday morning we woke up to Brooke and Derek's delicious blueberry pancakes, then headed to Newport, Rhode Island!  Can I just say, I would love to someday own a summer house next to the Vanderbilt's.  We toured the Breakers, and Marble House, two AMAZING mansions that the Vanderbilt family built in the early 1900's that are out of this world. 

Afterwards, we walked along the 'Cliff Walk', which was rated one of the top 3 most scenic walks in the world- that it was indeed!  We went to the harbor and looked at all the fancy boats, ate dinner on main street and walked in and out of the shops strewn about.  Such a fun, classy little town!  Must go back. 

 

Day 4:

After three days of perfect weather, we woke up to rain.  We went to church with Brooke and Derek, and by the time we came home and ate some lunch, it was beautiful again!  Blessings for church attendance!  Derek is a HUGE reader, and knows a lot about Boston history, so we set out for our own private tour of Concord!  We stopped at Ralph Waldo Emerson's house, Lousia May Alcott's, the battle at Bunker hill site, and Walden Pond.  

I LOVED Walden pond.  It was one of the prettiest places I've ever been.  I was surprised because it was 1. Huge  2.  People were swimming in it (if it wouldn't have been Sunday I would have so been there!) and 3. It was by no means remote at all (I swear the history teachers make up the part about it being secluded and completely away from humanity).

Afterwards we drove to see the Boston Temple, and the Auburn Cemetery for a spectacular view of the city.  Later Derek and Mike made dinner for us- it was incredible (still want that recipe Brooke).


Day 5:
Monday morning Mike and I set out to Cambridge to go on a tour of Harvard!  It's such a beautiful campus, and I felt really smart just walking around the grounds! Ha!  We grabbed a quick lunch, then headed to Back Bay to meet up with Casey and Aubrey (Mike's brother and his wife).  They were in town from Philadelphia for a CRNA conference.  We were so excited to get to hang out with them! Mike went with Casey for a few hours to the conference while Aubrey and I took a little girl time to go shopping! 

That evening we went to the harbor and ate the best Boston clam chowder, crab cakes, and Lobster right on the wharf!  It was so delicious and fun to be with family!


Day 7:
Our last morning in Boston, we went and had a mean breakfast at the Paramount, walked around Beacon hill and the Boston Public Gardens, and did some last minute shopping on the famous Newbury Street.  We love this city!

We had a great trip, but a horrible time getting home!  After 16 hours of traveling, two delayed flights, and throwing up airport pizza all night, we were both anxious to get home to our own bed!

Thanks Brooke and Derek for being such amazing hosts!  You're the BEST.  Love you!

Boston.

Mike and I love to travel together.  One of our favorite things to do is create lists of places in the world we want to visit, and make plans for our future adventures!  A few months ago, we decided to go to Boston this summer!  Mike had never been there, and I hadn't been in 10 years, so we figured it was time for us to pay the city a visit.  Also, the fact that my BFF Brooke and her husband Derek live there made it a no brainer (they also generously invited us to stay with them)!  We were so excited, and after lots of planning, we set out on our trip a couple weeks ago!

We took a red eye from SLC to New York, then flew from New York to Boston.  On our first flight, we had a devil baby the row ahead of us that screamed the entire way there (the kid's parents were the only two people on the plane that didn't seem to mind their baby was terrorizing the place).  Mike and I both decided that maybe we need to enjoy this phase of life (no crying babies yet) a little more.

The next morning, Brooke picked us up to the airport, and we headed to Manchester, a cute beach town about 45 minutes away from Boston.  Can I just say how much I love east coast beaches?  They have such a different vibe than west coast beaches, and I must say I am such a fan.  They are just so charming.  We enjoyed the afternoon catching up on the beach, getting sunburned, and playing in the ocean.  I was freaked out because I had just watched shark week the night before we left, and so I was a little paranoid of sharks!  Luckily we didn't get eaten by sharks, but Mike did get attacked by a seagull.  It was the craziest thing I've ever seen....we were sitting on the beach and Mike was getting ready to take a bite of his sandwich, when this seagull hit him in the head and grabbed his sandwich from him and flew away with it.  FREAKY!!  It looked like it could have been a scene straight from the Birds! 

That night, Mike and I went to Fenway!  It was such an amazing stadium, and we loved all of the die hard baseball fans!  We got to see the Red Sox play the Indians (another team close to our hearts).  We had a great time eating ballpark food and enjoying the ambiance of Fenway!  Sadly, the Red Sox lost, but we still loved it!

DAY 2:
The next day, we met up with Elizabeth and Liam Jewell.  We actually met on our honeymoon!  We were dinner mates on the cruise we went on, and we've been friends ever since!  They live in New Hampshire, and we were so thrilled that they were willing to take the day off and ride the train down to Boston to hang out with us!

We started the morning by walking the freedom trail (so interesting!), went on a duck tour (the bus took us around the city, and then the bus transforms into a boat and we sailed the Charles River), ate delicious Italian lunch in the South End, stood in line to get the famous canoli from Mike's pastries, and explored the city.  We had so much fun! 

Later that evening, Mike and I did some shopping, got pizza, and went to Shakespeare in the Park in the Boston Commons.  It was such a fun, busy, action packed day!  By the time we navigated our way back to Brooke and Derek's apartment our feet were so, so tired and we were pooped! (Now that means you are vacationing right!)

Thanks for meeting up with us Elizabeth and Liam! We loved seeing you guys- can't wait for you to visit us in Utah!

Summer, we love you. Please don't go.

Mike and I both agreed the other day that this summer has been one of the funnest of our lives.  We have loved our second summer living in the avenues, and we feel so blessed to have so many great friends and family members close by to spend our time with!  Since Mike works 12 hour shifts at St. Mark's hospital, he gets four days off a week to play.  I have a super flexible work schedule as well, and as a result we've had a lot of fun together over the past few months!  We realized just the other day that our summer to-do list we made a few months ago is just about all checked off!

Here are some of the random things we've been up to, in addition to the stuff I've already blogged about.....

Delicious cookouts with friends up City Creek Canyon

Love these girls.

Since Mike has had so much free time this summer, he's become quite the grill master!  We're talking at least 3 nights a week.  Thankfully, our neighbors are supportive and trust us not to burn the whole building down.

 

I take that back.  He's become the cooking master in general.  I haven't had to make dinner in months!

We even learned how to make our own pasta!

Dinner with my grandparents- we love living seconds away from each other!

Mike and Ethan and Preston cleaned out a ditch for my dad for a little extra cash and they are still talking about how traumatizing it was...

Mike's first love (before I came into the picture) was dirt biking.  Let's just say he was in heaven when he got a chance to hop on this bad boy.

An evening at the Bee's Baseball Game

Our little cafe rio picnic before the 24th of July Fireworks

We love us some Fireworks!

Mike and I signed up to run a 10k on the 24th, but sadly, I injured my knee and couldn't run it.  I somehow convinced Bennett last minute to take my spot (he had only run twice in the past year or so)- they both did awesome!! 

Stacie and I were the proud/groggy cheering section.

Trying to get all rodeo'd up! 

The Ogden rodeo is so amazing- it's one of the best real rodeo's around.

More BBQs with friends

I can't even tell you how many evenings/afternoons have been spent on a blanket in the park next to our house with a deck of cards and a couple of books.  Mike manages to spank me every time, but I still love it.  This is what I live for!

Market Street Eggs Benedict = Best.Meal.Ever.

Mini-golfing at Cherry Hill

Enjoying all of the outdoor movies at the Capitol right by our house!

For the next two weeks, we'll be living it up while we can!!

Hope you're having a great summer too!