Manti Pageant Weekend + Family Photos

One of my favorite annual traditions is the Manti Pageant and it may be a little corny but it makes my heart 

so happy! At first we would just camp in the local campgrounds but later my parents bought a cabin

close to the area and we stay there instead. Glamping has its benefits.

We were able to sit second row which has never happened before in all our years of going and the people 

in front of us did not even sit in their seats but on the grass so we kinda had the first row advantage :) 

Guys, I kid you not. I do this every year. I love the cast! 

It is on my bucket list to be in the pageant and I am determined to make it happen. 

And while we had the whole family together we decided it would be a good time for some photos. 

Taken with a tripod because that is just how we decided to roll. 

I love all these humans of mine. 

And weekends like this are needed more. 

♥ 1 Year ♥

Our anniversary was so special. 

We planned it together but Andrew did so many surprises that caught me completely off guard. 

We started our anniversary weekend by attending a wedding at the Payson Temple 

(which is where we were married 364 days previous). It was wonderful to be back there again.

We headed off to Park City for our anniversary celebration. 

Our hotel room was more of a hotel suite with it's own personal hot tub {win!}

Andrew made dinner, bought cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory, and brought snacks galore.

We shopped, stayed up late watching the Office (Andrew got me addicted a few weeks ago and it's a good thing that it's summer), 

we fell asleep, then got back into the hot tub before officially going to bed just because we could. 

The next morning we hot tubed again.

And went on a hike to Battle Creek

I have lived in Utah my entire life, and this hike is probably 30 minutes from my house

and I've never done it. If you're in the Utah County area it's a must do! 

I can't believe that a year has gone by. 

Life happens way too fast. 

One year ago we became an eternal family.

Life is pretty wonderful when you are married to someone who loves you so much 

and he happens to be your best friend. 

We'll Meet Again

At the beginning of May my Grandpa (mom's dad) passed away and my first emotion wasn't sadness but more regret. 

Regret because I had been trying to call him for the past month but for multiple reasons I was never able to talk to him.
Regret because I wanted to know more about him. 

He had a distinctive laugh.

He loved to fish and golf.

He was in the military and served in the Korean and Vietnam war. 

He loved to travel. 

This picture was taken during our family reunion trip in 2015 and also the last time I saw him.

It does have a funny story though. See how I am by far the youngest in that picture? Besides my Grandpa, all those other boys are my first cousins. Kinda crazy right? This picture was for all the first generation of grandkids (no great-grandkids). Someone told me to get out of the picture because they thought I was a great-grandkid. Nope. But let's be real, I only a couple of years older than some of my cousins' kids so I look like I am one of the great-grandkids. You can see how that mistake is made. 

Then at the end of May my Grandpa (dad's dad) passed away. At the beginning of this year I knew it was going to be his last. 
I thought he would leave in June, my guess was off by 3 days. 

He always read us the "Night Before Christmas" on Christmas Eve. 

You would always see him with a book in his hand and more by his chair.

Growing up we went to the library a lot. I think I got my love for books from him. 

He graduated high school as valedictorian at age 16 and got a masters in math and physics

 (a trait that I did not inherit). 

This was the last time I saw him and I wanted a picture. So glad I got it. 

I am so grateful for both of my Grandpa's. I often think of life and death. While we live on this earth we will not be known by large quantities of people who want our autograph. Instead we will be known by smaller numbers who want our time. 

I know that both of my grandparents' gave their time to make my life better. 

They gave their time to raise a family. They gave their time to make this country better. 

I love them so much and I'll miss them. They've been around my entire life so life without them will be different.

The GWG

aka the

Graduation Waiting Game 

I would be graduating today from Utah State, but I have to wait... till Fall of 2019. That seems like a long way away especially when I started college back in 2011. I knew my major since my 2nd semester of my freshman year. I don't really remember how I decided to do special education because at the beginning of my college career it was suggested to me by a friend and I said absolutely not. Somehow my Heavenly Father led me that career field and looking back I feel like I have always had that as my goal. It is something that I have grown to love so much. 

I had my school life planned and I knew that I would graduate in the perfect time frame. I finished all my pre-reqs so I could apply for my major. I left on my mission in the summer of 2013 knowing I would return and apply to the special education program in the Fall 2015 semester (the only time they accept applicants). When I returned home from my mission I learned that in my absence they added another math class that I needed to take before I could apply to the program. Frustrating, yes. Also meaning that I could not apply to the program for another year because the math class had to be completed before applying. And since I had not taken math for over a year I needed to go back a math class before taking the one I actually needed. Frustrating but all doable. 

After the 2015-2016 school year Andrew and I got married. We tried to make Logan work so I could finish my school. We even had an apartment to move in to but we strongly felt that we should stay in Provo and 3 days before moving to Logan we cancelled all moving plans and we stayed put. 

I had applied to BYU earlier in the year and I got in and I looked into their special education program but it did not feel like it was right for me. I really tried but it did not fit. Plus USU is #26 or something like that in the nation for their education program and BYU is lower but BYU was making me take extra tests and take extra classes to apply to their program and my graduation date would be in 2020. 

No thank you. 

I tried UVU. They had just added a special education program but did not have my emphasis. UVU was out. 

At the very last minute we found that USU had a distance education program in the Provo area and that they only accept applicants to the special education distance program every 2 years and 2016 was a year to apply! Can you talk about a miracle?! And even though I would be a part time student I would graduate at the same time if I were in Logan doing full time! (I don't know how that's possible but it works). 

The distance education adviser was so sweet and helped me every step of the way. My math score was one point lower on the ACT than they wanted but since I had done well in my previous math classes, had a good GPA, and it was just one point, they waived that (thank goodness). Seriously miracle after miracle. I applied to the program I was accepted! Yay! 

However I could not take classes in the Fall 2016 semester because none of the classes I needed were being offered at USU and the "equivalents" to the classes I needed would not transfer to USU from BYU or UVU so I took a semester off. I finally took classes this past semester and it was so nice to not be taking gen-eds for once! I was actually really interested in my classes. I would be graduating in May of 2019! Yes it is far off but there was a date! 

Then a month ago, the special education program cancelled their summer classes which means graduation was postponed for one more semester. Good and bad. I get my summers but another semester was added to my already long awaited graduation date. 

However after all this mess I have seen how God truly cares because of the miracles that have taken place and I know they will continue to. Also while I am in the distance education program my classes are at night so during the day I have the opportunity to gain experience in a special education classroom being an aide-- and I get paid to do it. I have learned so much doing that this past year and I am so grateful that I have been given that.

While most of my friends have graduated already or are accomplishing that this year, I'm still waiting for my turn. But that's ok because it's coming. I know that I have done everything that I can to move towards this goal. It will happen but in the meantime I get real life experience in a classroom, I get to work more hours = more money, and I am at USU and I know that is where I need to be. 

And because I was so uncertain of where my college life was taking me I decided to graduate with my associates degree last May (I had more than enough credits to graduate with) and they gave me a free cap and gown.  

v v v   See Below   v v v

Lagoon Staycation

Andrew and I took a mini vacation with our friends this past weekend.

We started off our trip with Salt Lake and I have never really toured the area except for Temple Square and a few other places but we stepped out of the obvious things we normally do and I discovered that Salt Lake is a gem! It is beautiful and I want to go back and discover more! 

After growing up in Utah my entire life I have never once been to the state capital. I don't know how that is even possible. The building was closing soon so we did a quick tour by ourselves and accidentally crashed a wedding reception. Don't be too surprised if I ever blog about the state capital again. It is a gorgeous building that I want to return to. 

And once back in 1957-1965 George Clyde was the Governor of Utah and

he is Andrew's Great-Grandfather. We got a picture with him ;) 

We went to the Pie that is located right by the campus and that place is good.

We almost ordered the pizza that feeds 20 people but we withheld (the pizza's are huge!)

After our adventures we went hot-tubing at the hotel. 

The next morning we drove up to Lagoon. It was semi disappointing because the major attractions were closed for the day so we did quite a few carnival rides instead. We did make it on some of the big attractions throughout the day as some gradually opened up but next time I think we'll make the extra trip to Disneyland, Knotts, or Six Flags. 

We still had a fun time though and the rest of the pictures can do the talking :) 

We ended our little staycation with Pei Wei, a place Andrew and I had never been.

My favorite part was defiantly the unlimited fortune cookies. For some reason I love them. 

The End. 

(it was fun to get away for a day)