Oh, Hey. Fall 2014

J. Willard Marriott Library 

I love the new addition of the Imagine U 

:)

So now that the semester is like half over I should probably write about it, you think? I mean I haven't been drowning in frozen fruit or homework or anything for the last two months. Anyway, moving along...

School is pretty good. I'm finally a junior which is totally awesome. My GPA has yet to take a total nose-dive into the depths of the earth and I haven't quit yet so that's good! Also I'm only 20 and I'm half way to graduating, which is even more awesome.

I have four classes. I was gonna take five and then after the first day I was like "nah man, I can't do these 12 hour days anymore." So I dropped my nutrition class that was said to be the best and easiest class offered at the U. Spoiler alert: it isn't. I think word got out that it was so easy and the school intervened and made it more "academic". Meh.

I'm taking web design! It's super fun and super frustrating. I literally have no idea what I'm doing but it's pretty cool. It takes me back to the days of MySpace when everyone was a self-taught HTML master. It's evolved so much since then. Most of the basic stuff I knew isn't even relevant anymore. I have to make a website for someone and someone else is making one for me! Because just making a 10 page site isn't hard enough, we have to collaborate with others. Comm courses, man.

I'm also taking natural disasters. Right? It's not too bad though. I was actually totally committed to dropping that one before school even started but I figured I might as well give it a shot. SO WORTH IT. No textbook and no exams. What more could you want in life?! But you have to write like a billion papers but it's whatever. I don't mind writing.

Organizational communication is probably my hardest class as far as content is concerned. My teacher is an org comm expert which makes it really easy to raise your hand and give input without being afraid of sounding like an idiot. Not. No one says a word. But my teacher is awesome. Definitely a good teacher, just very, very smart. I got an A- on my midterm paper and my group presentation though so I guess I'm learning something. It's a super interesting class and I'm glad I've waited to take it until I can appreciate it more. A few of the concepts I've seen in other comm courses I've taken, so that always helps.

My last class of the day is communication and gender. I have the biggest love-hate relationship with that class. I can't stand how much people try to mesh men and women together into one giant group. I can't stress it enough that men and women are DIFFERENT and they are DIFFERENT for a reason. But, on the other hand I really enjoy learning about the struggles faced by a lot of people and what I can do to promote gender equality in society. My teacher is wonderful. I've learned so much so far in that class... even though I have to sit and bite my tongue.

Now that fall break is over it's only going to get harder. Prepping for finals is the worst. I love not having tests in any of my classes, but sometimes all these papers and projects that are due on the same day can be harder than a fifty question exam. Oh well. I chose this life.

As far as everything else is concerned I'm doing well. Jamba is still Jamba. I moved to day shifts and I cannot praise the heavens above more. It's so nice to be done with work at 4 and come home and actually see my husband. Getting up at 5:30 is no fun but it has gotten easier. I just love this routine we're in right now. Of course I wish we less homework and more hang out time, but you gotta do what you gotta do. School two days a week and work 3 days a week is the only way to survive. Never again will I do the school 5 days a week thing. Never.

There are sooo many other things I've been doing that I wish I could write about... but alas, nope. I need to just be better at keeping up with things. It's too hard to look back and try to remember what has been going on. But we are good and I am good and I am surviving another semester. Only four more to go :)

Please enjoy these three random pictures that (sort of) fit this post:

One day it just decided to pour for one hour straight. 

Foothill flooded and so did the psychology building.

It was pure insanity.

I had no idea such rain was in the forecast.

I wore my Toms and some capris.

It was totally freezing.

I took this at Courthouse while waiting for my train.

I now have an umbrella with me at all times.

(Which I have never needed since)

Stupid Utah.

This is Scott doing math homework.

Scott is ALWAYS doing math homework.

In fact, he's doing it right now.

I have several pictures of him doing math homework.

Anyway, I love him.

I'm happy he works so hard.

This is my infamous first day of school selfie.

I wore a scarf and a cardigan.

Typical.

Also TRAX is just as lovely as I remember it.

I didn't miss that 2 hour commute.

I PROMISE I will blog something worth reading.

Sometime.

Soon.

DFTBA

Thanksgiving Point

First of all, let it be known that I'm blogging something within a week of doing it. Unheard of, I know.

Summer is coming to an end and it breaks my heart. Even though I've had roughly four months off from school it still doesn't seem like enough time. There are so many things I was planning to do that I just never got around to. But! My sisters and I wanted to make the most of our last week together so we took advantage of Thanksgiving Point's two dollar Tuesday deal! Along with every other woman and child in the Salt Lake and Utah counties. 

We headed out pretty early (8:45) (that's early for us) and got to the gardens a little after nine. It was slightly overcast and not very hot. We saw almost the whole thing before the crowds and the hot sunshine came. It was so peaceful and so beautiful. I loved all the different trees and flowers. Who knew it was so beautiful? :)

Chantel is always up to being in pictures. 

She looked so pretty with the Italian Garden :)

So many Koi fish! I thought they were going to start eating each other.

Along with not being able to wake up early, we also have the HARDEST time deciding where to eat. We sat in my car in the Firehouse Subs parking lot for 30 minutes trying to decide where to go. We finally decided to just go to Firehouse. We walked in, I took one sniff, and said "I don't like the smell here. We gotta go somewhere else." And then we ended up at Smashburger. It was a good choice.

After lunch we were gonna hit the farm! By then it was noon and everyone and their dog (child) was at TP. The line to pay to get into the farm was insane. But we waited and waited and then got to enjoy the cute animals. Even though curly haired boy kept getting in the way at the rabbit cages.

How often do you see the stereotypical black and white cow? 

Not very often.

It deserved a picture.

Feeding the little goats was my favorite part :)

Kaylee decided to be a thug that day.

SL represent.

We went on the tractor ride and the driver was so funny.

And we literally drove slower than a person walks.

But it gave us time to take selfies :)

After we said goodbye to the animals we washed up and headed over to the Museum of Ancient Life. If I've ever been there before it was a long long time ago. It was a neat place! But again, there were so many running, screaming children it was hard to look at things long or read the information plaques. We still learned a lot and enjoyed the "fossils" :) Chantel taught us what she teaches her kindergartners about dinosaurs. So it was pretty good :)

After we got out we were all pretty tired of walking but not quite ready for our day of fun to end. We decided to go see the Great White Shark 3D movie because the movies were discounted too. I accidentally fell asleep for a bit but the movie was good! I've never been a huge shark fan but when you live in Utah they aren't exactly a threat... 

We safely made it home (despite my terrible driving skills) and realized that we didn't have one single fight all day long! Even though the three of us are separated by 15 years we still tend to act like sisters do and argue over dumb things. But this day we didn't. And it was the most perfect day. And it will go down in history as one of the best days we've ever spent together. 

If you've got nothing to do the next couple Tuesdays, GO! It is super cool and the August discount is awesome. Most of the stuff regularly costs $15! The gardens were my favorite and I recommend them to anyone! 

Thanks for a fun day, sisters! I love you guys :)

DFTBA

You Make My Dreams Come True

You know those pictures of your grandparents

where they are sitting on the porch 

in chairs holding hands,

just like this one?

Last October we took this picture

so that when we are old

our grandchildren could have a picture of us 

just like that.

We want to look back at this picture and

think of all the wonderful things that

we have done together.

I already look back at this and

think about what has happened

in almost a year.

I could never say enough times

how grateful I am for a man 

who makes my dreams come true

every. single. day.

I don't feel like I have given up

anything to be married.

I still get to go to college,

pursue my career,

spend time with my family,

and be lazy sometimes.

I don't have to give up on my dreams.

Scott is only here to help me accomplish them.

And even better, I get to

come home to the most handsome man,

eat, sleep, and live with a companion,

plan for the future with one constant in mind,

and laugh and cry and play

with my best friend

every. single. day.

I love him so much.

I could never, ever

say that enough.

Why I Loved My Wedding

Scott and I have been married for five months TODAY. I can hardly believe it. It seems like it has flown by yet I feel like we've been here forever. I've been thinking a lot about our wedding day and the time leading up to it. I've been thinking a lot about our sealing ceremony and our reception as I have attended several of those for our friends this summer. I can't help but envy those who have beautiful flowers in their wedding pictures. We got married in February where everything was deader than dead. It wasn't even beautifully snow-covered. Just dead. I can't help but envy those who have perfect little decorations that probably took hours to make. I can't help but envy how beautiful some brides look. I wish I would have taken more time getting ready and making myself look good. But truthfully, I didn't HAVE the time. I was literally doing homework two days before our wedding. I had a huge project due Wednesday and I had to get it done before the wedding or it never would have happened.
I sometimes regret not waiting until the "normal" time of year to have a wedding. I hated having to go back to school just a few days after we were married. And then still having two months of school left. It sucked, I tell you.
But honestly, I loved our wedding. I loved loved loved it. I can't tell you one single thing that wasn't perfect about it. (Except of course...all the dead everything.) We got engaged on September 20th and we had already picked our date... February 15th. The only thing special about it is that it was President's Day weekend so we had an extra day off of school. We later realized it was also the day after Valentine's Day. Oops.
The next morning was a Saturday and we were off to Magnolia Grove to book our reception. I couldn't wait another minute. I had to have my wedding there. I mean, it's gorgeous. Scott called and booked the temple. We planned our sealing for the perfect time of 11 am. After that day I felt like nothing else mattered. We had our temple and reception center booked. Everything else were just minor details.
It wasn't super hard to plan because I already knew what I wanted for our wedding. (I'm going to be so creepishly honest right now..) I have had a crazy obsession crush on Scott for most of my life since I met him. Before he left on his mission we sort of talked about maybe one day having a life together. It was nothing serious and it was nothing that kept me from living my life. But man, I sure did mentally plan out our entire wedding for quite a while after he left. So really, I had already done all the specific planning. Turns out it wasn't such a waste of time after all ;)
I believe in formal weddings. I believe in tuxedos and veils and roses and matching bridesmaid dresses and wedding lines. These are things that are dying away and that kills me. You get ONE day in your life to be fancy. Embrace it! I'm happy people were nice and let me have what I wanted. While it was pretty simple, it was so beautiful. I loved it.
Everything ran so smoothly and our families didn't have to spend all night cleaning up after us. That is something I'm very thankful for. I'm also thankful that we were the only people having a wedding at the time. I know this may sound selfish and terrible but I loved all the attention. I loved that almost everyone we invited came. We sent out over 400 announcements and got a huge turn out. I loved feeling important and loved. It was so nice to see people I haven't seen in ages. And to meet (literally everyone) who knows and loves my husband. It was a very special day. I wouldn't trade it for anything. And I wouldn't trade my wonderful husband for anything.

Happy five months to my sweet boy.

I love him with all my heart.

DFTBA

Photo Credit

Birthday Weekend!

Scott was pretty adamant about letting me pick exactly what we did all weekend for my birthday. He's a real sweetie pie. So naturally, we had the best weekend ever.

Thursday we both worked all day and by the time we got home I was too lazy/tired to cook anything. I told Scott I wanted to order pizza and with the happiest look on his face he said "REALLY?!" :)

Just look at that delicoiusness.

We're keeping Dominos in business.

The next day was the 4th and we both had to work all day again. I wore the It's My Birthday badge at work because I do what I want. And I wasn't working my actual birthday but still wanted a chance to wear it. Our owner came in to drop off checks and he hugged me and told me to have the best birthday ever. He's such a sweet man.

After work I went to my parents house to eat spaghetti and wait for Scott to get off work. We were planning to go to the Sandy parade and watch the fireworks like we had done the year before. But since we weren't actually IN the parade it sounded less and less fun every minute. My family was going to the Bees game and suggested we just go and sit on the grass. So that's just what we did. :)

It was hot and sunny and packed. About the 6th inning my mom texted me and told me there were two empty seats right by them so we fought through the crowds to get to them. It was a good decision. It was nice to be back where we always sit. I have never and will never sit on the grass again. Section 106 or bust. We had a perfect view for the fireworks :)

We moved just in time for the pretty sunset!

Dat iPhone doe

My sister thinks she's so cool

(She kind of is)

Saturday was my birthday! I danced around and couldn't believe that I was finally 20. Scott went to get eggs and came back with donuts and a card. There isn't much in this life better than sugar donuts and Scott's scrambled eggs. He knows me well.

Then I showered and started getting ready while he cleaned the ENTIRE apartment. I just thought he was waiting to shower and whatnot because he didn't want the steam in the bathroom to ruin my hair. (which was partly true...) But he was actually just killing time waiting for the delivery man to bring me these beauties :)

Then we headed for the mall. He told me I had a $400 limit. (HA! LIKE I WOULD EVER SPEND THAT MUCH ON CLOTHES.) He was so cute and so patient while I tried on a million things at a hundred different stores. I was eventually done and we went to Chick Fil A. I got a free shake! And then we went home so I could get ready (again) to go to dinner. My family met us at Macaroni Grill! Then we went back to my parents house for cake and whatnot. Scott surprised me with the sweetest gift. He had collected little happy birthday/why Kara is awesome messages from a bunch of my friends and family and put them in a book with some of my bridal pictures. It was so fun to see all the nice things people wrote to me. It was such a thoughtful present and I absolutely loved it. As well as the Urban Decay foundation and scarf/cardigan outfit my sisters gave me :)

Kaylee made me flag cake.

I loooooveeee flag cake.

I loved my new outfit :)

Notice: Scott and Kaylee are the only people who like to take pictures with me.

That's why they are the only people featured in this blog post.

Sunday we had church in the morning and then after we went to see Scott's family. They had been camping all weekend and were totally beat. I pretty much just took a nap and played with the cats. My two favorite things. :) Then we went over to my family's house for a BBQ with my grandparents. It was fun and delish. I love that our families are two minutes from each other. It makes holidays/events so much easier. After dinner Scott and I helped Kaylee clean her room. That was quite the task! Eventually we went home and I enjoyed my new VS jammies. I got them for $16 and it was amazing.

Birthday weekend was a success! I'm happy to finally be 20 :)

DFTBA