Catching Up

It's not possible that I've let this blog linger for over a year with not a word. I think that describes how life has been lately. It's either been too busy or not busy enough.

Shortly after graduation last year, I arrived home to discover that my roommate was moving out and I had to find a new place to live. I decided that with school payments behind me, I wanted to either buy a house (AH!!!) or just move into an apartment on my own. 

I got a realtor and looked at some places, but nothing really appealed to me in my price range. I even was prequalified but lost out on a couple of places that looking back I'm glad I didn't get. 

In the meantime, I was busy looking for apartments because I did not really want to stay in the place I was. In July, I found a cute little apartment in Holladay, straight across the valley on the east side. In a day I saw it, signed the contract, put my deposit and planned to move in August. 

Moving day happened, and friends came round to help me load up the rented U-haul. I learned that they are GOOD friends and next time I'm hiring help. 

Thirty days later, I was on a plane back to California. My brother and sister-in-law planned to fly me out when he had to travel for work to help with the three kids, but his trip got canceled. We had already purchased the tickets so I came out anyways and then flew down to San Diego to celebrate my parents' 50th anniversary.

(And now I have pictures)

Day one I got to see one of my new nephews for the first time. I was mesmerized by his beautiful round brown eyes. He was pretty unsure of me, though.  

That night we played trivia games and just visited. It was the first time we had been without any kids (except for two babies, but we didn't mind them!)

In the months leading up to the anniversary, we all worked hard to do temple work for many ancestors. Nieces and nephews did baptism and confirmations, while the adults were assigned to do the other ordinances. This was our stack that we took to the temple to do sealings:

While not all of us were able to be in the temple, it was still a great experience to go to the House of the Lord with my parents and all my siblings. I was able to learn some things.

It wouldn't be a family party without traditional homemade ice cream and some cake to celebrate my parents' 50th.

We also took some family pictures. 

I sure do love this crazy family of mine.

2014 Christmas Card

Not to be outdone by last year's Christmas card, I started early and brainstormed ideas for my Christmas card. One thing just stayed with me. 

I was pretty proud that I could figure this all out and design it. If you didn't get a copy in the mail, I apologize. But here it is:

Merry Christmas!

Graduation

It's been four years and four months since I started graduate school. It's kept me crazy busy which I didn't actually mind. I actually felt like I was starting to find direction for my career. 

In April, I passed my e-Portfolio. I had to use evidence from my classes to prove that I met all of the competencies of what a graduate of the program should be able to do. Once I got into the rhythm, it was easy and I realized how much I had learned. 

The first week in May I submitted my last paper for my program and received my last grade (an A if you were wondering). 

I hadn't thought about walking at graduation, but then I decided I wanted to celebrate my accomplishment. So I bought a plane ticket and headed to California to stay with one of my brothers.

First of all, I loved mandatory afternoon nap time. My sister-in-law was pregnant and her two girls still take naps so for two hours every day I was there, we had nap time. I took advantage to work from home or take a nap myself. 

The day of graduation arrived and I put on the cap and gown. (If you really want to see me walking across the stage, getting hooded and all that, I've cued up the youtube video just for you. 

After graduation, I had the obligatory photo shoot with my brother acting as photographer.

As my nieces probably couldn't stand sitting for 2 hours, they stayed at home and helped my sister-in-law to make a cake to celebrate this momentous occasion:

Immediately following graduation, I started considering what changes I should make now that I am a master (of Library Science, but a master nonetheless).

Happiest Day 5

Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4

So, Friday was the last day in Orlando. We had hit every spot we wanted, rode every ride multiple times, and basically ate all of this marvelous food. Magic Kingdom was really the only place we hadn't seen in the light of day. So what did we do?

We slept in.

No joke. We were exhausted. We slept in and then took a later bus out to Magic Kingdom.

And we enjoyed ourselves. We walked to and fro and rode the rides and just enjoyed the last few hours of this awesome vacation.

Linds and I felt it appropriate to wear our Mickey and Minnie shirts.

I honestly can't say enough about this group. This was one of the best trips ever. These three girls were so much fun, so chill, and I felt like we all thought alike. If one of them suggested a trip, I wouldn't hesitate to say yes.

Our night ended as it had for the last few nights. With ride after ride on Splash Mountain. We convinced the ride operator to just keep letting us go through. I memorized it. We did poses on Splash Mountain. I think we rode Splash Mountain a total of 9 times during this trip. It was worth it.

 After all that, we took a cab back to the hotel, packed, got a few hours of sleep before getting a shuttle to the airport to come back to reality. 

It really was one of the most happiest and magical vacations ever.

Happiest Day 4

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4 sent us to Animal Kingdom. This was one that I was really excited before because it was going to be a little different. Growing up in San Diego I had many a field trip to the Wild Animal Park so I was thrilled to jump back into a childhood adventure. 

At this point, we knew the routine. We were up and to the park and pros at navigating the bus system. Our first stop was Expedition Everest to hopefully get in and through the link before we had to return for our Fast Pass. It was AWESOME!

Next, the other girls decided to take on the Rapids ride while I held the bags. I'm not really interested in getting my clothes wet but I'm all for supporting those who do!

It was a bit warmer on Thursday and not much shade, but we definitely tries to enjoy every moment. 

And this was my Wild Animal Park moment....

Bird show. Our feet were a little tired at this point.

It's really difficult trying to take a selfie with 4 people. 

I don't think we mastered it, but we got close!

After Animal Kingdom, we headed back to Magic Kingdom to get some dinner and play around a bit. Meaning more Heads Up:

None of us were really GREAT at it, but it was hilarious to try and provide clues so that the other person could guess.

I think I took a picture every time I passed by Cinderella's castle. It was at different times of day and it just looked so pretty. 

And yes... I desperately tried to fall asleep on a ride. It didn't work so well. 

Happiest Day 3

Day 1. Day 2. 

Day three we hit up Epcot. At this point, we knew the shuttle system to and from the park as well as how to get around Disney World. With only three days left, we knew that it was GO time.

We took this later in the day, but it's just so magical and iconic

Morning picture... we look good.

Flowers EVERYWHERE!

We weren't entirely sure on what to expect from Epcot. There were only two rides, but we had fun. We went on this ride about energy with Ellen DeGeneres and Bill Nye the Science Guy. I'm not sorry to admit that I got in a forty minute nap on that ride. Gave me lots of energy for the rest of the day.

Chelsea, myself, and Linds went on Mission: Space. We selected the "easier" version. It wasn't too bad. Chelsea and I went back for the more difficult version. I didn't like it. The G-Force gave me motion sickness. I didn't throw up but I did have a bad headache for a long while. I'm really glad I didn't decide to become an astronaut. I wouldn't have made it.

At Epcot I found appropriate mouse ears for myself. I didn't buy them, but I did take a picture.

After checking out one end, we headed in the World Showcase.

We stopped in Paris for some desserts.

Now, there was a long, LONG line around Norway. Why? To meet Anna and Elsa. We learned that the line was a 4 hour wait. We snapped this picture from the adjoining gift shop. Four hours was not worth it to meet Anna and Elsa.

We got some dinner in the Mexico area and then staked out perfect seats for the night-time show at Epcot. And it was epic.

Once that was over, we realized that we had a little time to kill so we decided to hit up Magic Kingdom for the first time. Using the awesome app, we learned that Splash Mountain had a 10 minute wait. We figured why not?

Round 1, we got wet. So we went back for round 2 and sat in the back:

With the park closing, we decided to go out and wait for our shuttle. However, we ran into a cast member who told us that the park was open until 1am. We decided to stay a little longer, miss our shuttle, and just split the cab fare.

All of the rides that were going to be long on Friday, we hit up on Wednesday evening.

We also got our picture taken with not a very busy park:

Snaps for Magic Kingdom!