Wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

We got a Wii!  (Don't you love my creative post title?)  I love it.  And we got a Wii Fit too, which is awesome.  I was actually sore the day after we played it for the first (and second, and third) time, and the games on it are actually really fun.  I highly recommend it.  This was an early Christmas present for ourselves, thanks to Black Friday.  Yay for Christmas and yay for sales!

Unfortunately we didn't get all (or even most) of our Christmas gifts taken care of on Black Friday.  That means more shopping.  However I'm still struggling to figure out what to get everyone on my gift list, so we'll see how that goes.

We did a little decorating for the holidays as well.  I put out my snowflake table runner as soon as it was done, and it wasn't too long before my snowflake window clings went up on the living room window too.  This past weekend, we did the rest of our decorating- our mini tree, some tinsel, and Christmas lights.  I wish we could do more, but our tiny apartment only has so much room for seasonal decorations.

Aaron only has one more week of classes after this one and then the semester will finally be over!  Then he'll be on to his last semester of college!  We still don't know where we'll be after that... one step at a time, right?

Harry Potter

In preparation for the next Harry Potter movie to come out, I have reread the books and am currently rewatching all the movies with Johanna.  Awesome.  But I also just finished watching "A Very Potter Musical."  It is great.  It's kind of a combination of all seven books, complete with music and humor.  I highly recommend including it in your preparations for the next movie this week.  Because really, what is a Hufflepuff?

Facebook lost my countdowns

The application I was using on Facebook to keep track of my countdowns has shut down.  This makes me sad, because it was the only one on there I really liked.

So I decided to just put up countdowns on the blog sidebar instead.  Enjoy!

Beach Boys, Books, and Sewing Snowflakes

Apparently I haven't done anything exciting lately.  At least nothing photo-worthy, since I have taken about 0 interesting photos since my last post.  Lame.

Ok, so that's not entirely true.  (Just mostly true.)  I work at the Covey Center in Provo.  Often, the performances there are pretty cool, but I'm usually content to watch from the monitor by my desk.  However, last week we had the Beach Boys do a concert there!  Only 2 of them were original Beach Boys (the rest were significantly younger), but they did more than 2 hours of classic Beach Boys hits.  Because things went so smoothly I was able to stand in the performance hall for a chunk of the concert.  It was pretty neat.  I even got a little déjà vu listening to a few of the songs since I heard them so often when my marching band did a Beach Boys show.  Those of us working that night also got to eat leftovers of the Beach Boys' dinner and a pie/tart (all made by my coworker, Keri).  Yum.

Beach Boys concert (sad photo quality because I took this from my phone)

It was finally my turn on the library waiting list last week for the second book in the Hunger Games series, Catching Fire.  I read it really quickly because:
     1. It was awesome
     2. There were no good stopping places, especially at chapter breaks.
Even the end of the book is a terrible stopping place.  This is really unfortunate because I am number 255 on the waiting list for Mockingjay.  I'm tempted to buy the book just so I don't have to wait that long to read it.  Although I'm number 18 on the list for The Lost Hero, the first book in the "sequel series" to the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.  So at least I'll have something new to read soon.  I'm also rereading the Ender's Game series, so even though I have to wait for new things I want to read, at least I have something.

Lastly, I'm sure you've been anxious about my snowflake table runner.  Ok, maybe not, but I'll show it off for a minute anyway.  I still need to do some quilting stitches on it, but unless you look closely, you won't even be able to tell.  This has been the most complicated sewing project I've ever taken on without my mom's help, and though there are a few small mistakes, I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out.

Happy Monday!

Pre-Halloween Fun!

My mom came out and visited for a few days last week!  It was so fun to hang out with her- we did a lot of fun things while she was here.  For example:

carving pumpkins,

making and decorating cookies,

sewing,

and other things.  I'm excited for Christmas so I can go home and see my whole family again.  And I'll finally get to meet Natalie's future hubby, Chris.  Yay!

In other news, it's snowing.  Don't get me wrong, I love playing in the snow- sledding, making snowmen, even taking walks in the snow is fun.  But I just feel like it's a little early for winter.  What happened to fall?

My dad sent 3 DVDs of video clips of me with my mom.  I've been watching them and thinking about high school (since that's when most of these clips happened).  For the most part, I'm very glad I'm done with high school and all the drama of being a teenager.  But I'm realizing that there are some things I really miss and would love to get back into.  Tennis is one of these things.  There was only one video clip of me playing tennis, but it's something I really miss.  I was on the tennis team for 2 years in high school, but I've been playing for quite a while since my dad and brother both played before, and then my sister and I started playing.  It's one of those things that makes me wish I lived near my family because I could always count on playing tennis with them when I was home for the summers.  Now I just go there when it's cold, so tennis doesn't happen.  And unfortunately, the man I fell in love with doesn't share my love for racquet sports.  I think I need to find a tennis buddy.  Too bad Utah has decided to be winter. Maybe next year.

Crafty Projects

So I mentioned that I made a baby gift for my friend Johanna in this post and I just want to show it off for a minute:

I think it's super cute- I hope she likes it!

I've also been working on a winter table runner.  It's blue with white snowflakes and it's taking FOREVER because I have to piece the snowflakes together.  Actually it's the cutting that's really taking so long.  But it's coming along and I think it's going to look great once it's done.  Here's what I have so far:

Cool huh?  Ok, it's not much to look at yet, but it'll get there.

And my mom is coming out to visit in a couple of weeks!  I'm excited to hang out with her again!

Caught in the Rain

Ok so I just have to write about yesterday.  Because it was crazy.

The box office was asked to represent the Covey Center at the Provo City Service Fair in the parking lot of Provo Towne Center.  We were running a karaoke booth.  The fair was supposed to start at 4, so we were asked to meet at 3 so we could set up our booth.  Two of us went straight to the site while a few others went to the Covey Center to get everything we needed and bring it over.

Kari and I were waiting outside when we started to feel a few raindrops.  So we hopped into my car to wait.

But the rain didn't stop.

In fact, the winds only got stronger, and the rain only came down harder.  Police barriers tipped over and started blowing through the parking lot.  Balloons escaped.  Booth tents came off the ground and tried to fly away in the wind.  One was successful-- we saw it fly across the street and over a hill.

People who had already set up their booths were struggling to keep everything on the ground so Kari and I got out to help.

After several minutes of holding things in place, we started dissembling tents, taking apart the police barriers, and picking up the paper popcorn bags that had flown away and stuck to cars, trees, and the ground.  We had to yell just to talk to each other and our coats and hoodies weren't doing anything to keep out the water and wind.  Finally we decided things were under control and we left.

I really don't think I've ever been that wet in my life, except when submerged in my swimming pool.  I got home and took off all my wet things and left them dripping over the bathtub.

So much for the Service Fair.

Of course the rain stopped about an hour after I got home and dried off.

Go figure.

New Job! (and some other things)

I got a job last week! I had the interview on Monday, and I started on Tuesday.  It's actually a pretty cool job- I'm working at the Covey Center for the Arts on Center St. in Provo as a house manager.  I just work when there are shows in the evenings, which means that I worked 5 evenings my first week, and then I had this past week completely off because there were no shows.  It's nice because I still have my days free to work on projects, work out, and run errands, even on days when I have to work.

Other than that, life is still good!  I just bought fabric for a new winter table runner so I'll be starting that soon, and I made a baby present for my good friend Johanna, who just found out this week that she's having a girl!  She knows about it, but I haven't given it to her so I won't post a picture yet.

As for my exercise plan... it's going pretty well.  I went to the gym with Aaron twice last week and I'm still a little sore from Wednesday's workout.  As long as I keep it up, I'm thinking I'll get the results I want.

Right now I feel like this guy:

When I want to look like this girl:

We'll see what happens!

Family, Jullian Michaels, and counting down

It was so fun to have Doug and Cassie (and Archer) here for a few days last weekend!  Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures the whole time they were here- LAME.  At least I'll see them again at Christmas time in Virginia.

And my little sister is getting married in June!  Crazy!  I'm so excited for her.  (And I'm happy for an excuse to visit the family again...)  Nat's super design-y so I'm sure her wedding will be amazing.

So among job searching and sleeping in, I've decided that I need to work on losing weight again.  I've gained a good amount of weight since Aaron and I got married and enough is enough.  So I've started using my Jillian Michaels DVD again and I'm working my way up to doing the whole DVD workout at once.  There are 7 circuts (plus a warm up and cool down at either end) and it really is a kick-butt workout.  I get sore whenever I do at least 3 circuts- that's a good thing right?  And Aaron's allowed to bring me with him to his weight lifting class so I'm going to start going with him to that twice a week as well, and do Jillian Michaels on the days I don't go to the gym.  We've already started eating better, but that doesn't seem to be doing anything on its own.  Ugh.  I would just LOVE to start looking and feeling good in my clothes again.

I put up a countdown to Aaron's graduation.  But now I'm regretting it a little because it seems too far away!  Can't I just get a time machine?  A delorian? Oh well, I guess we'll just have to wait it out the old fashioned way.

My countdowns:

House Season Premiere: 8 days

Glee Season Premiere: 9 days

The Office Season Premiere: 11 days

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- part 1: 68 days

Voyage of the Dawn Treader: 89 days

Christmas: 103 days

That's all for now!

Back to School

This past weekend, Aaron's parents were in town to bring Brent (Aaron's brother) out to BYU for his first year of school.  We had a lot of fun hanging out with them.  We spent a day in SLC, going to the temple and doing a little bit of family history research.  Then we spent a day shopping for Brent, going to the Nickelcade (which is now called Nickel City and has moved locations, by the way), playing games, and going to Los Hermanos for dinner.  I LOVE Los Hermanos!  It was really great to hang out with them and help Brent get ready for his first year of living away from home.

Doug and Cassie will be here tomorrow!  I'm really looking forward to seeing them- it's been way too long!

But school started on Monday and so now Aaron is gone all day (much like he was all summer) and is only allowed to work 20 hours/week (which is about what he was working during summer term anyway)... and really not much has changed.  But it's exciting that this will be Aaron's last Fall semester at BYU and he even managed to fit in a weight training class into his schedule.  He likes exercising and being athletic, but he's been so busy that exercising hasn't been a priority.  So this is a great way for him to fit it into his schedule.

Well, so long!

Lazy Days of Summer

I have been such a bum lately.  My job at BYU ended last week.  I was sad to go, but it really was time.  I had 2 interviews last week for a job with Provo City, but I didn't get the job, even though I thought the interviews went well.  So I've just been sitting around the apartment, working on projects and reading and hoping I get some calls about other applications I've submitted.  It's actually been really relaxing, but I'm not so sure I want this much free time for the long term.

I have been making progress with my summer reading though.  Today I finished reading the Percy Jackson series.  I had such a fun time reading all five books and I recommend them to anyone who wants a fun, easy read.  I haven't exactly been sticking to my list... oops.  Today I went to the library and picked up some Gregory Maguire books and some Nicholas Sparks books that I'm looking forward to reading.

I really wanted to get out of the house last night so Aaron and I went shopping.  We went to DI and looked around, but didn't find anything worth taking home.  (I almost talked Aaron into buying a headboard, but only almost.)  Next we went to the RC Willey clearance center/outlet to look around.  We found a BEAUTIFUL bed frame that we both loved.  We found some super comfortable couches, recliners, and mattresses, along with some colorful washers and dryers and some smelly new refrigerators.  In the end, we came home having spent nothing.  Nothing!  I was so proud of us.  Our "shopping" trip turned into a free evening to look forward to and plan for a time when we actually have money to spend and a house to furnish.  And it was actually pretty fun!

I'm looking forward to the next few weeks.  Aaron's parents will be in town next weekend to bring his brother, Brent, out to BYU for his freshman year.  So we're going to get to spend some time with them, including a trip to the Salt Lake temple.  Then the next week, my brother Doug, his wife Cassie, and their son Archer will be out here to visit for a few days!  I haven't seen them in almost a year (the only time I've seen Archer) and I'm so excited.  Too bad Archer probably doesn't remember me, since he was only 5-ish months old then.

Oh, and our flowers:

Happy Thursday!

Long Time, No Post

It's been a while... oops...

Well, this is Aaron's last week of summer term, which is super exciting because he was taking 9 credits in addition to working and it's been insane.

Unfortunately, it's also my last week at work.

To recap:  my job is a student job, but my supervisor petitioned to the CIO (University VP) to allow me to stay since my replacement wouldn't be here until just before fall semester.  He initially said no, but because we made a good case for it, he came back and approved it.  However, the approval came with an hour-limit.  I am only allowed to work 910 hours for the year (starting in January), including the time when I was still a student.  Those hours will run out on Tuesday, so that's my last day.  I'm actually starting to get really sad about leaving.  I've been with this organization for 2 years and I've loved it and I've loved the people I've worked with.

Also, no luck so far on the job search.  Hopefully something works out soon.

In other news, since Aaron and I decided to go to a movie instead of watching the 4th of July festivities, we decided we couldn't miss out on Pioneer Day.  So we went to Spanish Fork to see the fireworks.  It was actually a pretty good show, set to music and everything (including everything from Disney to Amazing Grace on bagpipes).  We had a lot of fun watching the little kids running around the field with their glow bracelets and necklaces, and of course the fireworks too.  (However, I didn't look so hot that night, so all you're getting is a picture of Aaron.  He's a cutie.)  Oh and a video too, since the fireworks kept going for a little while even after the music was over.

Remember our flowers that we're growing outside our apartment?  They are massive now.  Some of them are over 2 feet tall!  We took these pictures a couple of weeks ago:

There are now at least triple the number of opened flowers and the colors are much brighter.  I would take an updated picture now, but it's dark outside and I'm too lazy :)

Reality

Sometimes life sneaks up on you.  So quickly, in fact, that it doesn't seem real-- more like you're practicing for the future.

Context:

I graduated in April.  But I'm having a hard time believing it because I don't feel like this summer is any different from any other summer I've taken off from school so I could work.  Yes, I have a diploma hanging on my wall, but how is a single sheet of paper in a frame supposed to represent four years of work?  It just seems unreal that that framed piece of 8 1/2 x 11 paper means that I'm completely done with college.  And I feel like I should be planning out my schedule, just like I've done since 2006.

My hours are running out at work.  For some reason, it doesn't feel like I'll be leaving this job anytime soon.  I think it's because the job itself doesn't end.  When I worked at the Freedom Center, it really felt like the 10 weeks of camp were coming to a close because there was a date when we would all leave, and the camps wouldn't run anymore for the year.  We had fewer and fewer counselors and campers as the weeks rolled by, reminding us that it wouldn't last forever.  But I'm still doing work that will prepare my organization for changes that are years in the future, so it's strange to think that I won't even be here to see those changes happen.  Things are going to keep going after I leave, but I don't feel like I should be leaving at all!

The summer "break" is ending soon.  A month from now, Aaron will be getting ready for his next batch of classes to start.  His little brother will be starting college.  My coworkers will be starting classes again.  And this 90+ degree weather will stick around for a little while, but not for too long.  And we only went camping once!  And I only use the pool once a week!  I've read so little of my summer reading list!  And I haven't played tennis!  I only made a few scrapbook pages!  So many things I wanted to do, and it just hasn't happened.  What happened to May, and June, and JULY?


Maybe I'm just overthinking things, but I feel like so many things in my life are changing, and I don't know if I'm ready to make those changes.  It's crazy to think of where I was 5 years ago, even 2 years ago!  High school, getting ready for marching band camp and the football season to start, working at a coffee shop, hanging out with Tony and Matt and Ashley and tons of other people I don't ever see anymore.  Miller Apartments, living with Michelle, just starting work as a Computer Lab Assistant, single.

Crazy.  Reality hits you.

Camping!

Aaron and I really enjoy camping.  There's just something fun about cooking over a fire and eating roasted (or burned) marshmallows, and enjoying life minus cell phones and work clothes.

Unfortunately, it was a little difficult to enjoy the sounds of nature this time because there was a group of boy scouts camping near us who seemed to be obsessed with "Eye of the Tiger."  And they thought the whole campground should hear it too.  I think we heard that one song for a good, solid hour before someone (an adult leader, we assume) turned off the sound system.

So we bought our tent last year at the end of the summer, when camping supplies were on sale, so this was the first time we got a chance to use it.  It was exciting because it felt even bigger than we expected.

We went with Mike and Michelle, so it was great.  They were in charge of dinner and made a great steak stew.  Delicious.

We were in charge of breakfast and made pancakes and sausage.  So good.

And of course we played games.  That's kind of essential in a camping trip.

All in all, it was a really fun trip.

Weekend

Well, I'm grateful for this long weekend.  Aaron and I decided to go to Toy Story 3 in 3D on Saturday night instead of watching fireworks.  I was glad we did when I saw how bad the traffic was later that night when we were taking a walk.  The movie was really good- a perfect ending to the series.

And yesterday and today have just been so relaxing.  Much needed.

But I have to say that I hate job searching.  I've said it before, but I'll say it again: I wish I could just stay at my current job until Aaron graduates and we leave Provo.  *sigh*

End of Summer Term: 38 days

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: 136 days

Voyage of the Dawn Treader: 157 days

Christmas: 172 days

Summer, Summer

So I've been working on that summer reading list...  I finished the Twilight Saga last night.  What a ridiculous ending.  (I'm sure I could write a lot about this series... so I'll try to restrain myself so I don't bore everyone.)  First of all, there was so much buildup for a fight at the end, and they ended up just talking it out.  Lame.  Also, Jacob isn't even a werewolf?  And the reason Stephenie Meyer didn't mention it until the last 4 pages is because "it never came up?"  Wow.  Also, the whole series was from Bella's perspective.  Except for the hundred or so pages in Breaking Dawn that Jacob narrates.  A few problems with that: her writing style didn't change, so I still felt like Bella was talking; there was absolutely no set-up for the switch-- if she had wanted to do sections from different perspectives, she should have done it throughout the series; and lastly, the majority of the things Jacob covers in his section are completely irrelevant to the story lines the readers actually care about (like Leah... everything about Leah...).

Anyway, I'm back to rereading Wicked.  I really want to see the musical again :(

And I have plenty of time to read these days, since Aaron works on homework in the evenings on campus during the week, leaving me at home alone to occupy myself until I go pick him up.  It's not bad, but I need to go to the fabric store or something to get another project going.

Aaron's spending lots of hours at school and work these days, which is good, because I really don't want to be stuck in a college town for too much longer now that I'm not a student anymore.  Well, actually, I don't have a problem with college towns, since I've lived in college towns most of my life, but the Provo bubble is getting old.

Aaron and I were doing so well at working out a few times a week together until Summer Term started.  We bought a workout video by Jillian Michaels and it's pretty good and tough, but I just can't bring myself to do it by myself in the evenings now that I'm used to doing it with Aaron.  Lame.  So I'm still as out of shape as ever, despite spending Saturday mornings running around, playing Ultimate.

So I've started my job search, since my hours as an OC are running out in just barely over a month. *Sigh*  I hate this.  One of the jobs I thought I was perfect for already emailed me a no without even an interview.  I hope I won't get too many of those.  I just hate job searching.  I wish I could just stay with OACL until we leave Provo.  Too bad I can't.

Vampires ate my weekend...

It's been a while-- oops.  It's been a crazy time at work, so the last thing I've wanted to do in the evenings was getting on the computer to blog.

We just moved offices from the Jesse Knight Building to the McDonald Building.  Instead of having one big office for the whole lab management staff, we have a series of smaller offices, so the OCs (Office Coordinators) have an office, the SAMs (Student Assistant Managers) have an office, and the technicians have an office and an equipment storage room.  We love it.  We have a nice big window, which we didn't have before because we were in a basement.  We have a door that we can close if we need to discuss confidential things, which we definitely didn't have before, since we shared a big office with IT Training.  And we have more desk space for all the random things we have to take care of.  It's great.

I finished The Lightning Thief and it was pretty good.  I'm excited to read the rest of the series, since this one kind of begged for a sequel.  I was actually surprised how much I remembered about the Greeks and their gods... We studied them in my 6th grade Social Studies class and I didn't think I remembered all that much from 10 years ago...

Also, this weekend I read Twilight.  Sorry Mom.  I just had to know what this craze is all about.  I have so much I could say about this book, but I won't bore you with everything... just the highlights.  Why can Bella smell blood when most normal people can't?  This was never explained, but she kind of made a big deal about it.  And I get it that vampires' natural human abilities are heightened when they become a vampire, but that doesn't really explain why Edward can read minds... was he a psychic back when he was a human?  And why can't he read Bella's mind?  And I'm sorry Stephanie Meyer, but you don't need to describe Edward's marble chest and bands of muscle every time he comes in a room.  I found though that if I read quickly, I was able to look over those ridiculous descriptions and hilarious phrases and was actually intrigued by the story.  As soon as I slowed down though, I couldn't help but laugh.  And even though I haven't seen the movies, I can't help but think that they should have casted very differently than they did.

So on to more Summer Reading.  I've already started Wicked and I'm planning on reading the rest of the Twilight series and the Percy Jackson series soon.

On a completely different topic, our weekend trip to Park City with Rebecca and Trevor was super fun!  We stayed at a family condo, walked around on Main Street, did some shopping at the outlet mall, and watched some fun movies.  And I got a perm!  Rebecca did it for me and... well...  it didn't quite work out...  The curls fell out, so we tried again later that week and it worked MUCH better!  I don't really know what went wrong the first time, but it doesn't really matter now because I have my wavy/curly hair and I love it!

Spring term is over, and Aaron did great!  But summer term has begun, and our plans have changed significantly.  Aaron was planning on just taking one class so he could work close to full time so we could get more money in savings.  But he found out that two of the classes he was planning on taking during fall are actually prerequisites for his capstone class which he has to take in the fall, even though he knows someone who took one of those "prerequisites" in their last semester a little while ago.  I guess they're actually enforcing things like that now, which they weren't when Aaron was making his plans for when to take his last classes.  So basically, he had the choice of taking those additional two classes now so he can take the capstone class in the fall and winter (it's a two semester class) or postpone graduation until the next April.  Well, I don't want to stick around in Provo for another year, so he's going to take 9 credits this summer so he can graduate on time.  Yikes.  This means I won't see him much during the week, since he'll stay on campus to work on homework and projects in the evenings if he needs to, since he focuses better on campus.  Oh well.  I'd rather sacrifice some time with him now so he can graduate and we can move on out of Provo.  But this means he'll only have 6 credits to take during winter semester, leaving him lots of time to work, apply for real jobs, and hopefully do interviews for those real jobs.

Our flowers are doing great!  So far they haven't bloomed, but they're getting big!  We started them as seeds:

And how they're huge!

As soon as we put our box out, people in the complex started copying us.  I rarely saw flowers in the complex until we put out ours when it was just dirt and seeds, and more started appearing.

Wow.  Long post, so congrats if you made it to the end.  Go get yourself some ice cream or something.

Diplomas and Dementors

Exciting news!  My diploma came in the mail last night!

It took a month and a half after graduation to actually get it, but I replaced the Sample diploma with the real one in the frame and boy, it looks beautiful!

We also finished the whole Harry Potter series this week.  This was exciting for me, not only because I finally get to cross something off my Summer Reading List, but because I have loved the Harry Potter books for many years and now Aaron can finally appreciate them for himself.  We listened to them instead of reading them, but it was a great way for us to do it together.  He was so funny when we were getting close to the end.  I would just sit there and watch the looks on his face change as characters he's grown to love died, hidden secrets were revealed, and everything came to a close.  Thank you, Aaron, for agreeing to listen to them even when you thought the movies were good enough, and you're welcome for proving that there's so much more to these stories than the things the movies show you.

Really, I'm glad we're done, because I was starting to have really weird dreams about Harry Potter, polyjuice potion, and the imperius curse.  Strange.  Now I'm just going to have dreams about Greek gods and their love children (I'm reading Percy Jackson and the Olympians now).

Side note:  I think we've decided to stay in our current apartment.  We've always known that our apartment is more/just as expensive than larger ones in Provo, but we blamed it on the location close to campus, the pool, and the furniture.  We did some searching, and we did find some furnished places with a second bedroom for significantly less rent per month.  However, most of them were further from campus than we want to be while Aaron's still in school, and we just don't want to deal with apartment searching and moving.  It's only 8 months right?

Uh, another side note.  Sorry.  I was just voted employee of the month at work!  Whoo hoo!  Free movie tickets for me!

Also, we're taking another weekend trip this week!  My coworker's family has a condo in Park City, so she, her husband, Aaron, and I are going up there for a few days.  I know we just had a long weekend but I'm still super excited to go.  I've never been there, and I've heard awesome things about it.  I'll put pictures up when we get back, because I'm sure we'll take lots on our adventures.

Mattress

Never have I wanted to be on Glee more than when they were all given free mattresses.

Aaron and I have both been having trouble sleeping, and even when we sleep from 10:45pm-7:45am (which is normal for us) we don't really feel rested in the morning.  I blame our mattress.

So now I really want to buy our own mattress, since we're just using the one provided by the apartment complex.  However, our old debate comes into play here.  We live in a furnished apartment.  We'll be out of here in less than a year.  We don't know where we're going to end up.  So we were hoping to postpone buying furniture until we're done with school so we don't have to move it later.

Which brings up something else.  Our rent is going up starting in September.  Yes, we're only going to be here until April, but I don't like that we're paying more for a one bedroom place than other people who have two bedrooms.  This makes me want to move, to get more space and to save money, but this likely means we'd have to go a little further from campus, which would be fine for me but hard for Aaron.  It would also mean that we would need to buy some serious furniture, more than just the coffee table and bookcases we already have.  Which means that we'll have to move it all when we leave Provo in April.

I mentioned some of this on facebook and I've already received lots of comments.  I just don't know what to do. And we have to let our complex know if we're going to renew our contract by June 5, which means we have only a week to figure out if we want to move and where to move.

And I'm going to need a new job once I finish my 910 yearly hours in August.  I don't really even want to think about that now, although I've looked at a few Provo City jobs that are constantly taking applications, and I'm thinking I'll apply for them once it's a little closer.  Really, I'd just love to stay where I am, but unfortunately I can't.  It seems a little backwards to me that graduating is losing me a great job, but it is what it is, right?  Lame.

Anniversary Weekend

So Aaron and I decided to take a weekend trip for our anniversary to Cedar City and Zion National Park.  We had a blast.  We left right from work at about noon on Friday the 14th to drive down.

That evening we found a really neat wooden playground and walking path and did some exploring before dinner.  I wish we had taken some pictures there because the playground was awesome!  It was all made of wood and had all kinds of fun things to play with.

So we spent all day Saturday in Zion.  It was so beautiful... in a desert kind of way...

We did the Angel's Landing hike (as well as a couple smaller ones afterward) which was really neat.  The last stretch of the hike is super steep and you have to use chains to get to the top.  There were some really cool spots along the way...

...And some really steep switchbacks...

...But the view from the top was amazing!

Not that the view from the bottom was bad either:

We had originally planned on going back to Zion on Sunday before we headed back to Provo, since the pass you pay for is good for 7 days, but we were so exhausted from hiking and being out in the sun so we changed our plans and slept in.  It was so nice and so relaxing!  The hotel bed was big, and comfortable, and the hotel breakfast was amazing, complete with hash browns and waffles and sausage.  Once we finally headed out, we stopped at the Parowan petroglyphs...  I guess they were discovered by the LDS pioneers when they first got out west.

And we even made a little friend while we explored!

It was such a fun trip and we had absolutely perfect weather while we were there... nothing like this crazy snow we had today!  Absurd!  But that's a totally different topic...

It's been the best year of my life, married to the best friend I've ever had.  We're so in love, and we're looking forward to many more incredible years to come!