Celebration Time!

This blog post title is a tribute to my father-in-law who thinks the song "Celebrate Good Times" is really "Celebration Time!" But hey! I think it works. That is what we have been doing lately. I have been so bad at blogging lately so this will be my attempt to catch up.

1. I walked at BYU graduation and officially closed my chapter there. It felt a little funny to be going back and doing that since I actually graduated in December and had been teaching full-time for 4 months, but it was so fun to go back and see all of my friends. I really can't put into words how I feel about my time at BYU. I went there, a naive freshman, and met people who forever changed my life, changed my major, met my husband, and just grew in more ways than I could count! And no! I am not talking about the freshman 15 when I say that! :) BYU will always hold a special place in my heart.

All of the wonderful people who came to support me!

The two who made it possible. My fan club! :)

We started and finished together! I was so blessed to have Katie(affectionately known as kinks) randomly placed as my roommate our freshman year. Love her.

Kiss the graduate!

2. I completed my first year of teaching. Okay...first half-year. We had a "Hollywood" theme for our last day, dressed up, walked the red carpet in our classroom, gave out awards, played Disney Scene-It and other movie games, and then said goodbye for the summer. Yes, I did cry a little. These students have become so dear to me, from the thousand and one funny things they say everyday, to their hard work, to their sweet little hugs and high fives at the end of the day. I hope they come back and visit. I will be back teaching 4th grade again next year.

3. We moved! We had repeated water damage in our old apartment, and although we loved our ward, we felt it was time to move on. Below is a picture of the bump that developed in our kitchen floor. You can't see it super well, but it was soft to step on, and I developed an acute fear of mold! We are still in the process of unpacking, but I will post pictures of our new place soon.

4. Almost done! I promise! We celebrated our anniversary last weekend up in Park City. I wish I would have taken pictures of where we stayed because it was SO fun! A big, soft king bed that I had to hop into, a fully equipped kitchen, flat screens in the living room and bedroom, and our own personal hot tub on our balcony! It was really fun. We explored the Olympic Village and museum. We even saw skiers practicing their aerials by sliding down a plastic ramp on their skiis, doing their tricks, and then splashing into a huge pool! There is a picture below. We shopped around the outlets, ate a yummy lunch, and then drove back to Provo and out to Utah Lake where Jeff proposed. We talked about some of our favorite moments from the last year. Here are some of them:

• playing unofficial, spontaneous games of hide-and-go-seek. Every so often when one of us heard the other one coming home, or getting out of the shower, we would find a place to hide. I was so bad at it though! He would always get me laughing, so he could find me in the closet or in the pantry by listening for my giggle!
• taking our first little weekend getaway in January when I was completely overwhelmed with my new job and its accompanying responsibilities. The first of (hopefully) many to come: the mini-moon.
• learning to cook new recipes together, and trying to choke down the few that were not so edible! It's amazing what you will eat when yes, you are THAT hungry!

• making the most of our time together! Be it learning to play tennis, going for a bike ride, sitting on the couch together while we study or prepare, teaching a Sunday School lesson together, or going on a road trip, we love to be together. It's been an amazing first year.

At the hotel!

The skier! Can you spot him? They would cause the water to agitate so it wouldn't be as rough of a landing!

Holding the Olympic torch!

Jeff hitting the slopes!

On Main Street

The view from Utah Lake. Spectacular.

Okay, I will be impressed if you read this far. I promise shorter, insightful, inspiring, ridiculously witty, laugh-til-you-cry posts in the future!! Yeah, right. I only guarantee they will be shorter!