spring/summer

SHE:

had a best friend get married.

completed an art minor.

took a photography class.

learned to sew swimsuits.

finished her last class at BYU.

perfected fresh homemade pasta.

bought a serger.

HE:

studied.

turned 26.

grew out a lumberjack-worthy beard.

studied.

took 3 of 4 CPA exams.

did most of the packing and all of the lifting.

sold my jeep.

played a lot of golf.

is still studying.

WE:

went to california with the bonhams.

swam and BBQ with friends.

went to idaho to see pickups.

hosted a primary party for these rascals (who we are really gonna miss).

celebrated two years.

went to st. george with the harmans.

saw tim mcgraw.

went camping with the goecks [at a very secure campsite].

learned to make grilled pizza with the webers.

are excited to move. and already missing all our utah friends and family.

expiration date

i was getting breakfast a couple mornings ago....and i noticed something.

before the milk expires, we will be in dallas.

oh my gosh!

power tools and curlers

this was supposed to be for mother's day, but i figured a month late is not bad. ha.

i took these impromptu photos of my mother. under protest. if she had had her way, she'd be dressed up all cute in a dress that she probably made, with ruffles. which is great.

but to me, these pictures really sum up my mother.

hard worker.

multi-tasker.

a little silly.

not ashamed.

dedicated.

a go-getter.

beautiful.

and those curlers are just the icing on the cake.

graduation weekend

after our last week of finals, we made it to that pivotal day in april....graduation!

my in-laws, doug and nancy, flew in for a visit. on thursday we went with them and my parents to the big university wide commencement, but opted out of walking in the procession. instead we just sat in the audience with our parents. among others, richard g. scott spoke. since we got to hear the speakers, and missed the pouring rain the graduates walked in, we had no complaints. we went to thai drift in orem/lindon with them afterwards....has anyone ever been there? if you like thai food, go....it's amazing.

on friday, we went got all dressed up and went to the convocation. i went with andrew in the marriot school graduation so we could walk together. it was kinda funny, cause i was one of only a few girls, and one of the only undergrads that walked with the mAcc (masters of accountancy) students. pretty much just me and a few other wives fit both of those categories.

another shining moment for me was during the dean's speech. he was asking the grads to stand if they had served a mission, if they spoke another language, if they had children in the audience, etc. needless to say i remained sitting throughout this part of the ceremony.

it was good though. i got to walk right after andrew, shake some hands, got handed an empty diploma, and looked official.

me, dad, mom

andrew, doug, nancy

me and grandma-- i think i am her second grandkid to graduate.

pickups sr. and jr.

the whole party

lunch at macaroni grill afterwards...so fun!

the masters students had black robes and wore this funny hood thing around the neck and down the back. it looked normal when we got it on right, but andrew, nancy and i had quite the time figuring it out. also, the sleeves were kinda like bat's wings. so all the masters students looked a little like wizards or dementors.

the classic sister shot we always take with us 3.

the not so happy ending to this story is that i'm already back in classes. i could have been done in april, but i wouldn't have finished my minor. so i am going in spring and taking 3 art classes and a sewing swimsuits class. hopefully it'll be fun and not too stressful.

it has been so fun to go to school with my husband for 3 years (he wasn't my husband for 1 of those years yet). which actually means i have had him with me for my whole college career. i have also been with andrew through the entire accounting program, starting with the jr. core. so if you ask me, i deserved to walk with the marriott school.

now that andrew is finishing up his last week working on campus, i will be making the commute alone. i am kind of sad, because that was about an hour each day that we spent together, driving. i'm really excited about the next steps in our adult life together, but transition stages are always different and bittersweet.

also, thanks so much to both of our parents and families who have helped us through our college careers. and they won't let us forget it:

(can you see it well? it's our dads with their empty pockets out--nancy's idea ha ha)

we are [pretty much] done with school! YAAAAAAYYYY!!

double duty

look familiar to anyone?

ha ha i love this picture.

turns out andrew and i are both pretty imaginative in our sleep. we try to write it down when the other says something funny. so here are a few...enjoy ha ha.

this morning,

andrew was waking up. i was sitting next to him in bed on my laptop.

A: rolls over towards me, starting to wake up. "watcha doing babe?"

M: "looking at apartments in dallas".

A: "parking in dallas." (not even a question, just an odd statement).

M: "apartments..."

short pause.

A: sounding very sure of himself: "that's a great couch".

M: "couch?"

A: nods. then goes back to sleep.

a week or two ago. andrew had just woken up, and we were talking normal, lucid. then there was a lull in the conversation, and next thing i hear...

A: "you're always banging your mallet".

M: confused, we had just been talking, both awake. so i thought he was still awake. "what? banging my mallet?"

A: "banging your mallet, like a judge. you're always banging your mallet like a judge".

ha ha!

also recently:

i went to wake andrew up. i had already showered and had just been blow drying my wet hair. andrew had his arm around my neck and felt how hot it was (from the blow dryer) but he didn't know that. since he was still half asleep.

he told me:

"you're as hot as a bottle".

"you're as hot as a bottle of warm milk."

a month or two ago, andrew told me that the night before, as i was falling asleep, i started talking crazy (no surprise there). i said:

"they have birdie birdie birdie birdie birdie birdie birdie birdie birdie birdie birdie birdie boots." and then turned and rolled over. 12 birdies. who knew.

another one, soon after we had gotten married. andrew was saying our prayer and i was super tired and falling asleep during it. i think i managed to say amen. then i tried to go the extra mile and say goodnight and i love you to andrew. only, instead of "love you andrew" it came out like this:

"i love you heavenly father"... and i left andrew bewildered. ha ha.

via

dessert. what a point of controversy around our house.

in most couples i know.....the wife is a little more health conscious than the man. not to overgeneralize, but i know this is the case with more than one man and wife we know. how do i put this?.....this is not the case with us. i am not downright unhealthy or anything, but compared to my husband... i am pathetic! he is extremely dedicated and works out in the gym 3 times a week no matter what, plus basketball usually twice a week. since this is my first semester not playing lacrosse, i am a spotty work out-er. really spotty. i won't discuss the specifics, thank you. ha ha.

along with his work out schedule, andrew has a pretty strict diet/regimen for caloric intake. contrary to the typical woman, andrew is always adding more calories to his diet. but he is fickle about what type of calories--rightly so--which puts some pressure on me to eat right, to keep up [also cooking for him can be intimidating!] but do i keep up? no. not really. i am not awful, but i don't put much thought into calories and specifics. [i let my stomach do the deciding and try to stay away/limit anything reaallly bad.] so far, i can't complain. the scale stays the same and the jeans still fit, so i guess i can enjoy my young metabolism for a little bit longer. but i like to think someday i will be a runner.

back to dessert...i guess what they say about sweet tooths is real. i didn't realize there were truly people out there that aren't crazy about sugar. i always have been, probably always will be, judging by how my mother is*. and the bad thing is, i don't want to change. i love being a sweet tooth.

but not my husband. since we are living with my parents, we are graced with her delicious desserts probably 3 nights a week. no matter how full i am, i just can't pass it up. but andrew almost always passes on dessert. crazy if you ask me. does anybody out there know what this is like? or am i the only wife that is WORSE than her husband? just curious.

oh yeah....did i mention that my crazy mom made me THREE different birthday cakes last month? ha ha. course i ate all three, whereas andrew passed on two out of the three. silly self controlled man.

i wish i had a picture of the homemade asphalt pie my mom made me. it was 3 tiered.

ps. *as long as i can look as good as my mom does, i will continue to embrace my sweet tooth.