Date Week

Because Jamba was moving all last week, I worked 8-5 and had every night off. For the first time ever. For a whole week. It was a rare occasion and Scott and I wanted to make the most of it!

Monday we just stayed home and enjoyed a delicious meal of stuffed peppers and watched way too many episodes of Secret Life. This is when we decided we weren't going to spend the rest of the week sitting on the couch.

The bae enjoying his cookies and milk

Tuesday we went to dinner at Zupas and I got Scott to give pesto a second chance. (He loved it) Then we drove down Redwood until we stumbled upon Nicklecade. I had never been before and it was super fun! Then we got sundaes at Arctic Circle.

Getting him to make a normal face is harder than you think

#selfie

This is what roughly 200 tickets will get you at Nickelcade

We clearly got our $10 worth

Wednesday we went "ballroom dancing". Scott is a Young Men's leader and attends mutual every Wednesday night. They were having a combined activity with a man from BYU's BDC and Scott invited me to come. The guy taught us a few different dances and I did pretty okay. I'm not really a dancer so it was nice to do something new! After we went to the Taylorsville library to check the place out and get some books. And I didn't take any pictures because I'm a bad blogger blah blah blah...

Thursday night Scott met up with me after I got off work and we got pedicures at the nail place next to the new Jamba. Scott actually enjoyed it a lot. He asked me so many times why more guys don't get pedicures. I think he's right. They're amazing!

Excuse my "I just moved for 8 hours" look

Friday Scott had work off and he got to come to work with me! He was such a good helper. It was nice to have him there! He gets along really well with the staff and we laughed a lot. I had to go to a work meeting that night so we didn't get to do anything fun, but it was nice to spend the day together. Again, with the bad blogger thing...

I loved date week so much. It seems like we're always so busy trying to fit everything in and we don't have nearly the time we would like to spend together. This week has been so much harder because we went back to our regular schedule.

Well, kind of.

Sunday night (as in five days ago) we were sitting around the fire at my parents house talking about places we could go for a summer vacation/honeymoon. My sister-in-law suggested that we go on a cruise. I kind of laughed because cruises are expensive and we probably couldn't pull it off this summer anyway. But, she found a super great deal for a cruise leaving THIS SUNDAY. We came home and realistically talked about it and decided that if Scott could get work off we could go. He texted me a 8 am and said he got the time off and that we should book it. I panicked and went to my parents house again and asked for help booking everything. It all happened so fast! But! We're going to Alaska. THIS SUNDAY. I can't wait to finally have a real honeymoon vacation since we couldn't miss school in February. It's going to be great. Yay for summer and yay for spontaneous vacations. I'm so so so excited. 

So this week has been filled with packing and planning and shopping and all sorts of things. It's been crazy and our apartment is a mess but I can't wait to get away and be with my cute husband. We deserve it. And we are SO ready for a vacation!

DFTBA

Ode to Jamba

Jamba Juice Jordan Landing

My second home

my sweetest friend

I can't believe

this is the end

All those times

you saved my life

You even saw me

become a wife

You watched me grow

You watched me cry

You even watched me

date a really terrible guy

You gave me money

And lots of it

I kinda wish 

I hadn't spent most of it on... crap

You've seen the spills, 

the cuts, and slips

You know our deepest, 

darkest secrets

You've made me friends

both young and old

You've showed me how 

to be more bold

You ruined two pairs

of my favorite shoes

You taught me how 

to deal with youth

I know it's hard

to say goodbye

But I'll see you soon

right next to Best Buy

We're moving on Monday

and it's kind of sad

But a brand new store

will make everyone glad

I love you, Jamba

with all my heart

I'll never forget 

what it was like to start

Working for you 

has been so fun

I cannot wait until 

this new chapter has begun

Spring 2014

Can we just have a moment of silence for all the times I just wanted to give up, quit going, and drop out... but didn't?

I. SURVIVED. THIS. SEMESTER.

I can't say it enough. I can't jump up and down enough.

All those 14 hour Wednesdays.

All those late nights writing papers at the last second that I magically got A's on.

All those tears and fears and worries.

I made it.

Oh, and I got married in the middle of February. 

So there's that. 

My four classes were actually really good though! I learned so much. I really feel like I'm gaining knowledge and skills that I will need for the future.
News writing turned out to be pretty great! I ended up with a B+. But! It wasn't because I was lazy or negligent... I just suck at journalism. So at least I know I shouldn't pursue that as a career. But I'm glad I took the class. I learned a lot about writing and the way the news industry works. I appreciate it so much more now. Scott and I have a subscription to the news paper on weekends and it makes me happy. I feel like a real grown up.

Living in a media world was a freakin cake walk! I only had formal class once a week. The busy work was obnoxious but certainly not hard. I got an A and enjoyed having an easy, entertaining class to help me get through Wednesdays.

Communication theories was the most terrible experience of my life. I spent the whole semester with a 59% average and I panicked. There were only 5 assignments, 3 tests and 2 papers, one of which got dropped and the four remaining scores averaged out to our final grade. I thought for sure I'd have to re-take it. But! My teacher showed us some mercy and gave us a stellar study guide for the final, WHICH I GOT 90% ON! Thankfully I got 80's on my papers so I ended up with a B-. I cried. I feel like I conquered the hardest grader I've seen yet.

Visual communication was super interesting. It was supposed to be a three hour lecture every Wednesday night but my teacher was a cool guy and made sure we only went two hours. I was thankful for that. I learned a lot about advertising and how different languages and cultures play into visuals. I did really well on all my tests/quizzes/assignments! It was a lot of work but I liked it. I never knew I would find visual comm so interesting. Plus who doesn't love another A? :)

These were definitely the hardest classes I've taken so far. I know it's only going to get harder, but I've only got five more semesters *hopefully*. I know I shouldn't be so excited to rush through it and graduate, but I am. I like school, but I really just want to be done and start real life. As much as I love living in this basement apartment I would rather own a house one day ;)

I'm so glad I had Scott by my side to help me through it. Even though he worked twice as many hours as I did and took just as many credits, he still helped me with homework and proofread papers for me. He stayed up until the wee hours of the morn with me while I panic-wrote last minute essays and such. He was a really good sport and he did really well in his classes too. Go us! We definitely proved that we can do basically anything. :)

Happy summer! I know this is the last summer I'll ever have, so I am going to live it up!

Don't Forget To Be Awesome

I Love My Mom

Since Mother's Day is Sunday I wanted (like the rest of the world) to share why my mom is an awesome mom and why she's the best mom on the planet. Because my mom really is the best mom on the planet.

For almost thirty years my mom has been a mother. She has taken care of four children and sent three off into adulthood so far. Since moving out three months ago, I've appreciated my mom so much more than ever before. Not because I learned that I can't live without my mom, but that I can. 

Every day I am thankful that my mom taught me how to cook, clean, and most importantly shop. She taught me the importance of making my bed daily. I never once made it a habit at home, but now that I have my own house, I see why it's important. I make our bed every day and it makes the whole house seem happier. Scott and I eat dinner together every night because she set that example for me. I love making her recipes and remembering her tips and tricks when I cook in my own kitchen. And I can't forget to be thankful she taught me how to live on a budget. Making a shopping list and sicking to it helps me not go crazy at the store. I love her for that. I wouldn't be able to do it without her.

My mom has so much faith. I can't even begin to write all the stories of times she has prayed and been helped because of her faith. I used to see her wake up early to read scriptures or conference talks before going to work. I always wondered how she stayed so happy and positive throughout the stresses of life and I didn't understand it until I followed her example. Taking time for spiritual things helps keep everything in perspective. 

My mom is the hardest working mother I know. Ever since I was little she went to work every day and never complained about it. She went from being a kindergarten teacher to the headmaster of Challenger's Salt Lake campus. I admire her for standing out and moving up and proving to me that hard work will pay off.

My mom is the sweetest, most loving person. When you think of a "mom" you think of my mom. She's the one that comes into your room at night when you have bad dreams. She's the one who lets you cry about people who are mean. She's the one who will always make you feel better when you are sick. I've had friends tell me that my mom is really nice. My mom IS really nice. You can always find her doing something good for someone else. She's just that kind of person.

My mom has always made sure that my siblings and I have everything we've ever needed. She loves and supports us in everything we do. I will never forget when my mom was sitting in the pouring rain to watch one of my marching band competitions. Even though she had seen our show a million times, she wouldn't miss a performance. I appreciate her so much for always building me up.

I appreciate her for giving us a good father. I love my dad! As great as my mom is, her and my dad as a team is even better. She always knew the kind of man she wanted to marry and have a family with. She stuck to her standards and gave us a wonderful dad. 

I just love my mom. I could go on and on about her. I hope one day I can be as great of a mother as she is! I'm glad that my mom has taught me everything I've needed to grow up and move out and be a good wife for Scott. She turns every minute into a teaching lesson. She just wants to know she's doing all she can to make sure her children turn out to be good people.
Even though I live on my own now, I still love to go back home and see my mom. I still have questions and concerns about life and she's always there with an answer. I'm glad that even though I can live without my mom, I don't have to. Because no matter what, she will always be my mom and she will always have something to teach me.

I love you, mom! Thanks for everything you do!

And if you feel like crying, go watch this.
Seriously. It's amazing.