Monday, April 22, 2013

recent happenings

so, life has been a little crazy around here over the last few weeks/months, and it has been far too long since i have given the blogosphere an update on the happenings of my life. let's just say that i have been having much too fun to pause to post. here is rundown of some of the highlights (but this is not an exhaustive list...sorry!) and sorry for such a long post!

justin bieber!
yep. that's right. haley and i went to the j-biebs concert back in january. haley landed 4th row tickets. yep, 4th row tickets, for free! we had to go! let's just say that i became a belieber that night! :)

birthday 
haley and friends threw me a sweet surprise party to celebrate my birthday this year. i was genuinely surprised! it was a great night to spend with great friends.

disneyland 
on my birth-birthday, haley and i drove down to california with steve, heather, and spencer and got to spend the week in sunny so cal. oh, how i loved to be in the sunshine and to spend some good quality time with most of the fam. another highlight of the trip was spending an AWESOME day at disneyland with good friends. here we are in front of the castle...noah, haley, me, and jonny

i had to post this picture of us with the mad-hatter. mostly i just love jonny's face.

we also made it down to las brisas in laguna beach for delicious fish tacos and some beautiful views. sometimes when i need to go to a happy place in my head, this is where i go.

thanks to some sweet hookups from jeff and genna delany, i got to spend a second day at the happiest place on earth with them, my mom, steve, heather, and spencer. disneyland is so much fun with the fan (and especially a 1-year-old!)

beauty and the beast 
in february, my ward's elder's quorum sponsored a relief society appreciation night as a thanks to us girls for being so awesome. it was a pretty fantastical night. i think it was because i got to fulfill my childhood dream of being belle and dancing with a beast. just for clarification, i will take the role of the beauty in this picture.

spencer 
i have also got to spend a lot more quality time with this kid over the last few weeks/months. i just love this kid. a lot.

byu basketball 
steve and i bought byu all-sports passes last fall, giving us access to byu sports this year. that was a good call. i loved being able to go to several basketball games this season! go cougs!

salt lake temple 
some of you may know that i started working at the salt lake temple in the fall. i have to mention how much i have loved being able to serve in the temple on a weekly basis. i look forward to it each week, and i have to say that it has definitely become one of the highlights of my week! for those of you not familiar with lds temples, click here.

more spencer 
have i mentioned how great it is to be an auntie em??

me, an slp 
a few weeks ago, i completed all of the clinical hours to become a full-fledged, legitimate speech-language pathologist. my official certification card should be arriving in the mail any day now. man. it's a great feeling to finally have my ccc's!

idaho
a couple of weeks ago, i got a random monday off of work, so i decided to head up to idaho for the day to visit my grandparents. i'm so glad that i did! i don't get to spend as much time as i would like with them, but i sure do love them a lot! they are great examples to me. here i am with grandpa.

and here i am with grandma.

sushi 
i have been obsessed recently. any of you fellow salt-lakers out there want to go tonight? i'm in!

real salt lake 
a couple of weeks ago, some friends and i went to a real salt lake game. i love that it's starting to warm up so we can take fun adventures like this again. there's nothing like a pro sports game in the summertime!

feeling handy 
thanks to a donation from my nana, i now have a bed. i sanded down and painted this headboard and even built the frame myself last week. i'm kinda proud of myself if i might say so. i even finished making curtains for my window but don't have any photo evidence right now to prove it. i guess that will have to be another post...

easter 
easter was amazing this year. haley and i both surprised each other with easter baskets, which we had a laugh about. i don't know what it was, but i just really loved celebrating easter this year. i am so grateful for a loving savior that suffered what he did for me, in order that i could be forgiven, find happiness, and live eternally with my family.
i don't know much, but i do know that my redeemer lives. and thats enough.

night skiing 
thanks to some initiative from my friend jenna, i got to squeeze in a night of skiing this season. so fun! here we taking a break at the lodge...me, mike, allison, jenna

salt lake bees 
the very next night, haley and i went to the salt lake bees game with our friends mike and ryan. let the summer season begin!

general conference 
i was so happy to have most of my family around for general conference this year. bryan, dad, and i even got to attend the saturday afternoon session at the conference center. it was fantastic. i'm so grateful for living prophets and apostles! for more on this year's lds general conference, click here.

more sushi 
i told you i was obsessed.

nielson's 
thankfully, i rediscovered nielson's frozen custard while my family was in town. maybe my hips won't be so thankful by the end of the season :)

new job
i don't have a photo for it, but i started working a second job at jordan valley medical center and pioneer valley hospital. here's to stretching and learning new things!

april insanity 
on friday, our ward had a 4 on 4 basketball tournament appropriately named april insanity. here we are with one of favorite people, todd (don't worry, he paid me to say that...there's a story). my team made it all the way to the quarterfinals. overall, it was a fun night.

feeling grateful
this weekend, we had our stake conference. i had the great blessing of being one of the speakers during the saturday night session. i am just feeling so grateful today for the things that i learned during the conference. the church is so true, and i thank God everyday for His love, His Son, and the blessing i have to be a member of His church. just feeling grateful.

so there you have it. i hope you see now why i am such a terrible blogger :) life is crazy. but it's oh so good too!