BYU Grad

This past Thursday and Friday Willie graduated from BYU!  It was such a fun weekend.  Willie's parents came up from St. George, and his sister Mindy flew in from Colorado to support him.  We had such a fun time watching him walk and celebrating!  Oh, and taking lots and lots of pictures :)   

Willie and I before the commencement on Thursday

Willie and his wonderful parents

Willie and his sister Mindy--we loved having her here!

I love this picture of them

Everyone who was able to come to the commencement on Friday (Willie's brother Kenny and his cute girlfriend Jessica, his parents, me, his brother Robbie and sister Mindy)

Willie and I

Yay!  Graduated!

Willie was lucky to have some friends walking with him.  He was able to meet up and sit with our good friends Ed and Amanda, and another good friend from his program, too.  

After the convocation ceremony on Friday.  It was so fun to see him walk across the stage!  

Sister-in-laws!!  We missed you Marcie! :)

Saturday morning Willie and I hiked the Y to work off some of the delicious food we ate all weekend celebrating

We had such a fun weekend!  I don't have pictures of this, but we went to celebrate after each ceremony at Willie's choice of restaurants--Pizza Factory on Thursday, and JCW's on Friday.  We had so much fun going out together, and spending lots of time visiting and playing games all weekend.  Willie's comments about graduating: "It's just good to be done!"  Haha, he is so happy to not have any homework again for a long time!  We have about a month before we move to Las Vegas and Willie starts his job, so he gets to have a nice, well-deserved break in the meantime.  I am so happy for and proud of him!    

Recent Happenings

It's a Saturday night and Willie is studying (can't wait until he graduates!), and I am all alone with a redbox. So, I thought I would fill you in on what we've been up to.

Valentines Day:

I didn't take any pictures...sad. But it was really nice and a little funny! I had a fun day at school giving out and getting Valentines (as I mentioned in my previous post...it's so fun working at a school during holidays!) I got home from work and Willie had left me flowers and chocolate covered strawberries on the table with a really sweet note. He had class until 6:45 p.m. so, I rushed around after work trying to locate his present (the movie The Prestige) since I had spent my time the past couple days making Valentines for the kids at school, then put our name down at the Olive Garden and went to get him. They give you a little beeper thing to let you know when your table is ready, and it sings to you the whole time you are out of range of their restaurant. So that was fun. Anyway, we got there and had a bit of a wait, so we exchanged presents. Willie got me a book on Nevada, which was so cute! I have been researching fun things for us to do once we move, so it was perfect. We read the book while we waited, and then were seated.

This is the little funny part. The hostess said that they had a big table available, and asked if we would be willing to sit there with another couple and they would put up a divider in the middle. We had been waiting a long time, so we said sure. We got there and it was in a private room a step up and away from the other tables in the restaurant(if that makes sense...). The divider was a couple of menus propped up in the middle of the table. We sat down and talked about how awkward it would be when the other couple arrived. They would be just a few seats down from us at the same table in this private room. Our waiter came and while we were ordering I saw the other couple come out of the corner of my eye. We finished ordering and they were gone. Willie was facing the entrance, so he could see what happened. He told me they said it was too awkward and left. So, we got a humongous table in our own private area! The hostess must have realized it was too weird because they didn't bring any other couples by.

After our dinner we went back home and watched The Prestige. It was a perfect Valentines Day!

Next event: Willie's Dodge ball team wins the Intermural Championship!



The winning team



Celebration at Sonic after

Willie fulfilled his college dream and won an Intermural championship! I went to some of his games, and they were intense! Really fun to watch. They were fast-paced and easy to follow (a plus for me). They were beat really quickly their first game of the season because they didn't know any of the official dodge ball rules, but learned quickly and ended up winning the whole tournament! Willie was super proud of his Intermural Champion T-shirt he got. We had it hanging up in our apartment for a good week.

Last event: Vegas and St. George trip

The boys in Willie's family have a tradition of going to Vegas to watch the basketball tournament every year. They love it. And, so do I because for the past two years Kelli and I have gone to St. George to spend time with Jamie while the boys are gone! We had a lot of fun this year. We watched tons of good girl TV and movies, ate some yummy food, and enjoyed the nice weather when we went to watch Kenny's girlfriend's soccer game at Dixie. Here are a couple of pictures from the trip:



We went to Taco Bell before the soccer game



Unintentional matching outfits at church on Sunday

We had a great time. I also couldn't stop thinking about how next year in the winter it will be nice and warm where we are like it was in St. George! I am super excited for that :)

I never know how to end my blog posts...does anyone else have that problem? Anyway, that is all!

Leprechaun Day

Working at a school is super fun, because every holiday is a much bigger deal than it would normally be for me. The kids (and their parents) are so sweet and give us lots of treats, gifts, and cute cards. The kids are excited for weeks, and we do all kinds of fun things. "Leprechaun Day," as the kids call it, is no exception.

I don't think I would have even known it was St. Patrick's Day if not for my job! But this last week has been fun celebrating it with the kids. Mostly because they are super funny. The teacher I work with was telling them what St. Patrick's day is, and she told them that they need to wear green on Saturday or someone will pinch them. One of the little girls (who is the cutest) got this confused/scared look on her face and said "Who?!?" As if there is an assigned person who will come around and pinch everyone in the world who is not wearing green. It was so funny. Then, later, the teacher was introducing a book she was going to read them called "The Luckiest Leprechaun." The book is about a grumpy Leprechaun who makes friends with a dog and learns that friends are more important then gold. She asked them if gold was the most important thing in the world and the kids all shout "No!" She asks what is the most important thing, and some of them say "Family" or "Love," and then this one little girl says very seriously, "Leprechauns!!!" So funny.

And, apparently Leprechauns are very mischievous. This must have been something I missed growing up. But the kids blame everything that happens in the classroom on the Leprechaun. Their backpack falls out of their cubby, and "that pesky Leprechaun" moved it. They get a new pencil in their box--the Leprechaun. They spent all of their recess one day tip toeing around the playground hunting the Leprechaun in a huge pack. One of the girls swears she saw it looking at her from a window in the school. It's been a really entertaining week.

Anyway, it's been fun. Hope you have a Happy Leprechaun Day!

Something New

For the past little while, every time someone asks me what's new, the response has been...absolutely nothing. Well, I finally have some news to share! Willie has accepted a job at MGM Resorts International in Las Vegas! He starts June 11. My job ends at the end of May, so we will be moving there right after.

We are so excited for this! It is such a huge blessing. Las Vegas was actually one of the places that we thought would be fun to live. There are lots of members, lots to do, and it will be amazingly nice to live somewhere warm. Pretty sure I'm going to love that (although maybe not right off the bat...I looked up the weather for summers in Vegas and it's going to be crazy hot). And, this job seems like it will be a great opportunity for Willie. He will be in MGM's Corporate Finance Management Associate Program. It's for recent college graduates. He will get lots of training and experience, and it will hopefully be a cool place to work! We are crossing our fingers for some cool benefits from MGM. Also, we will be only an hour and a half from my parents' home in Mesquite (when they are in the U.S.), 2 hours from Willie's parents, and 5 1/2 hours from Utah. So nice.

Of course, all changes are bittersweet in some ways. We will miss all of our family and friends out here. We have been so lucky to live so close to my sister Emily and her husband Joe, and to Willie's brother Robbie and his wife Kelli, and his brother Kenny, for so long. It has pretty much been the best. We will miss them so much! We have made some good friends who we will miss too. I actually had the thought, "Who am I going to watch Emily's season of the Bachelorette with when we move?!" I maybe enjoy our weekly Bachelor parties a little too much :) Another ridiculous thought shortly after I found out: "What if the Zumba teachers in Las Vegas are no good?" I promptly looked up Gold's Gyms in Las Vegas, and was comforted by the numerous amount of Zumba classes. Looks like it will probably be ok. We can still move.

But really, we are so happy for this opportunity. I am so grateful for how it's all worked out, and really feel like it will be a good thing for us. I feel a little bit of trepidation at the change, but, well, that is to be expected from me. I am also so happy for and proud of Willie!

So, that is what's new with me. Wish us luck, and come visit! :)

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

I have been SO excited for Christmas this year! I love it always--the magical lights, pretty songs, shopping, family time, Christmas movies...it's all the best. But this year I have been especially excited. The following are major contributors in my excitement:

1. I learned last year how fun it is to have your own apartment and tree to decorate. I was itching to put up our decorations as soon as the Halloween ones (which really just consist of a Happy Halloween sign and some spiders) were put away. I waited until the day my Thanksgiving break started, then couldn't wait anymore and up they went!

2. My family is going to be together! For the past three years my parents have been living overseas and they have not been able to come home for Christmas, so everyone has been mostly doing their own thing. This year they are coming in the day after Christmas, along with my sister and her family from Minnesota, and my Grandma from Arizona. We will all spend a week together in Mesquite, and I am so excited!

3. I now have 3 MORE DAYS of school left! YAY! I love being on a school schedule.

We have done some fun Christmas activities so far. We have watched some Christmas movies, and spent a couple nights driving around looking at the lights with our good friends. We also went to a fun holiday fashion show at my sister-in-law Kelli's hair school. It's been so fun!

Yesterday we had our annual Christmas celebration with Emily and Joe. This year my family picked names for our gift exchange, so we didn't do presents. Instead, we decided to go to the Temple.

When we came out of the Temple, there was a gorgeous sunset. It was so pretty!

After the Temple, we went to Pizza Pie Cafe. For those of you who don't live around here, it is a delicious buffet of different kinds of pizzas, pasta, and salad. My favorites are the Spudolicious pizza, which is pizza with potatoes on it...so good, and the cookie dough dessert pizza. It was so so good. Well worth the 3,000 calories we surely consumed.

After the Pizza Pie Cafe, we came home to build gingerbread houses. We had a good time building them. We also came to the realization that there is a reason the Walmart gingerbread houses are priced at 7 dollars. They are definitely not the most attractive or user friendly houses. The frosting was impossible to use. The houses turned out nothing like the picture on the box! Here are both of our pictures with our finished houses:

Notice the creepy demon eyes on our gingerbread man.

Joe admiring their work.

After we made the houses we started playing a game called Pounce. About 20 minutes later we looked over at our houses and saw this:

Our house was leaning and about to tip over

Their house had already tipped over.

Oh well! We had a good time making them. Later that night Willie and I went to Macey's to pick up some groceries, and looked at all of the gingerbread houses on display for their annual gingerbread house competition. They were amazing! Maybe next year :)

Halloween Cruise

I love Halloween. I don't know if it's because it comes around my birthday (which was great and will maybe get it's own post later), because it signifies the start of the holiday season, or what it is but I like it. Last year we didn't do anything for Halloween, at all, and I was determined this year to do more. So, we found a good deal and went on a Halloween cruise!

It's not nearly as exciting as it sounds. It was not a cruise to the Carribean or Mexico, but rather down the Provo River. Pulled along by our "captain." He literally pulled our boat along by a rope that I guess was tied to some trees. We were attacked by a pirate on a canoe who told us Halloween jokes and gave us candy, and were treated to a recital of a spooky poem by our captain. There were jack-o'lanterns, some lights, and minimal decorations along the shoreline. Does it sounds cheesy? Well, it was! But I don't mind the cheese. In fact, I love it and my only complaint was that the captain and pirate did not stay in character the whole time. We had a great time!

The girls on the cruise

Boys picture take 1

And take 2

Our trusty captain

Some fun decorations

The girls warming up by the fire

All in all we had a fun time with some of our favorite people!

General Conference

I'm a little late, but General Conference was two weeks ago and we had a great weekend! It is definitely one of my favorite times of the year. For a whole weekend we have the opportunity to hear messages from prophets and apostles, and receive inspiration and instruction from them. I always feel so comforted and inspired, and there is always at least one talk that I feel like is especially for me. I definitely wore out my copy of my favorite talk from last April's General Conference, and am excited to get the ones from this past conference!

One of my very favorite talks this year came from the General Relief Society Meeting.

In his talk, President Uchtdorf uses the forget-me-not flower as a metaphor for five things that we should not forget.

1. Forget not to be patient with yourselves

2. Forget not the difference between a good sacrifice and a foolish sacrifice

3. Forget not to be happy now

4. Forget not the "why" of the gospel

5. Forget not that the Lord loves you

All of the other talks from General Conference can be found at www.lds.org. One of my other favorite talks was "It is Better to Look Up," given by Elder Carl. B. Cook. He talks about the importance of looking toward the Lord, and how this can help us in our lives.

"If we... exercise our faith and look to God for help, we will not be overwhelmed with the burdens of life. We will not feel incapable of doing what we are called to do or need to do. We will be strengthened, and our lives will be filled with peace and joy. We will come to realize that most of what we worry about is not of eternal significance--and if it is, the Lord will help us. But we must have the faith to look up and the courage to follow His direction."

--Elder Carl B. Cook

It was so wonderful to be able to hear these messages, and I am so grateful for the opportunity that we had to listen and learn from them. Willie and I watched at our apartment on Saturday, then went up to his parents' house in Alpine to watch on Sunday with them. We had a nice lunch, and it was so fun to all be together! It is such a wonderful time of the year to be able to hear all of these messages and to relax and spend time together as a couple and with family.