Over the River and Through the Woods…

This last weekend I made the trip to Vernal, UT to spend the weekend with my Grandma and Grandpa Hales.  I haven’t stayed all by myself at their house all since I was a little girl, so it was so much fun to spend three days with them and get spoiled by the undivided attention!  They fed me delicious food that is always in abundance at Grandma’s house, we watched the Jazz Game, played a few competitive rounds of Mexican Train and Zilch. (I am pleased to say I came out the winner!)  The highlight of the weekend was when my cousin, Holly, and I spent the afternoon in the Vernal Temple with our grandparents.  I’m going to have to make weekend getaways to Grandma and Grandpa’s house more often!

 

Last Thursday and Friday was BYU Graduation, and I got to celebrate with two of my roommates received their Bachelor’s degrees.  Congrats Britt and Elise!

Also….despite the moody Utah weather, Spring is here and with it comes playing outside, blossoms on the trees, and my favorite flowers in bloom.  Yesterday at work, Katie and I took a photography break to take pictures of the fantastic spring flowers in bloom.  Enjoy! 

Take Me Out to the Ballgame!

Last night was an SUU Alumni Event at the Salt Lake Bee’s opening game. I will be two years removed from being a T-Bird undergrad, and it was the first alumni event I have attended since then. It was so much fun to see friends in school I haven’t seen for a little while. I took my sister, Allie, as my sidekick for the night and had so much fun!

Kara moved back to Utah from Michigan after three LONG years! You say make a funny face, and this is typically what Sherstin & I come up with! Thor & the Ladies The Blake’s The Finley’s The Smailes’ The Pace’s It all ended with a bang!

To top the night off Me, Allie, Sherstin, and the fantastic Mindy Benson had a late night ice cream at IHOP. There’s nothing like a good sugar rush at one in the morning!

I loved seeing and catching up with friends. It made me realize, once again, how grateful I am for the people I met and the experience I had at SUU. GO T-BIRDS!

What happened to March!?

March turned out to be quite the month! It was filled with fun adventures and exciting new experiences. We finished off the inner tube water polo season in our single elimination tournament. Our team lost the second game in the tournament, but it was the most fun by far! I had to say goodbye with a little regret in my heart!

Mid-March brought a fun road trip for my sister, Allie, and I. My friends Jon and Liz McNaughtan are living in Palo Alto, CA while Jon is working on his graduate degree at Stanford. I have been wanting to find the chance to visit, and Allie’s spring break turned out to be the perfect excuse. We flew out of Vegas and the McNaughtan’s picked us up at the airport in San Jose. The next few days were filled with a drive-in movie double feature, a couple trips into San Francisco, Wicked!, the Oakland Temple, competitive games of Ticket to Ride and Bang!, scenic walks to “the dish” and around Stanford, and the most delicious homemade pizza you could ever imagine.

Best of all I got to visit two of my best friends (who I have missed terribly!) and spend some quality sister time with Allie. After spending about six hours in the San Francisco airport, I contemplated that maybe I just was supposed to stay and live in Northern California for the rest of my life. I would be okay with that. The city. The sun. I would definitely be okay with that.

Most exciting news of the month…I got a new job! Cougar fans plug your ears, because it looks like I am going to the dark side and will be working for the University of Utah in the School of Business Executive Education Center. I am so excited for this new opportunity. This new experience will be filled with new challenges in a setting that will feel pretty new to me, but I am anticipating the change and am excited to be moving to Salt Lake. Funny how I am moving back to the city that I was raised for the first 16 years of my life. As far as where my sports loyalties lie…I think I will keep that little secret to myself.

This past weekend was general conference, one of my favorite weekends in the spring. My roommates and I pulled our mattresses out into the front room for the bi-annual conference mattress party. Not only did we enjoy the sessions from the comfort of our own home, I enjoyed it from the comfort of my own bed! Don’t worry…I didn’t fall asleep once! Honest!

Saturday afternoon I got to attend a session at the Conference Center with my roommates and a group from my ward. My roommate, Amy, had never attended a live session so it was fun to be there with her. That night I met up with the girls and we celebrated Ladies Night, Cheesecake Factory style! Any opportunity we can ship the boys off to priesthood session gives cause to get together and have our own fun.

I love the opportunity that arises once conference is over. I usually find little things in my life that I know I can do better at and change after I have listened to the guidance and counsel of today’s prophets and apostles. It is a great opportunity to re-evaluate and set new goals to work toward over the next six month. I hope you all enjoyed the weekend as much as I did.