A Forever Family

On June 15, my cousin Briann was sealed to her adorable little family in the Brigham City temple forever.  It was such a beautiful ceremony.  I had never seen a sealing done with kids, but it truly opened my eyes to being a forever family.  Watching Bri and Todd be sealed, and then to watch them be sealed to their kids was the most amazing experience.  It was also really emotional for me too.  I am so happy for them, and know that Briann has been waiting for this day for a long time.  4 years ago, I started my own forever family, but I know have a different understanding and perspective on the whole thing.  I am so grateful that Bri and Todd invited Chris and I to be a part of their special day. 

What a special day for their family.

I know that it is a day that they will never forget.  Every time I go to a sealing it reminds me of the day that Chris and I kneeled across from each other and started our journey together.  I get pretty emotional and sappy because of it.  But who is surprised to hear that?  It helps me fall in love with Chris all over again.

Our very, very small but eternal family.

June 11: The Second Best Day of the Year

My birthday was pretty much amazing.  It is the 2nd best day of the year for me.  Chris's birthday is the best day of the year.  I love to spoil him.  This year, I kept it low key and spent my day with Chris. Of course I got to sleep in, which is a welcome change from the work week.  We went to the Spanish Fork movie theater and saw G.I. Joe.  Not a great movie. . .  At all.  The Spanish Fork theater is super cheap, so we didn't really care.  We just enjoy going and spending time together.  Ahhhhh.  After the movie we went to drop some things off at his parents house.  I call dibs for the best in-laws of all time.  They are really nice to me, take care of me, and treat me like their own daughter.  They don't treat me like a daughter-in-law and I love that.  For dinner, I of course chose Happy Sumo.  Chris doesn't do sushi, so I only choose to get it once a year.  Luckily they have other options there, so he usually gets a chicken and rice or noodle dish.  I always go for the sushi.  This year I got the Venus Roll.  After dinner we went home and watched some Chucks and Storage Wars.

It was so yummy!

It's weird to be 26.  I definitely don't feel that old.  I don't fee a day over 23.  I'm just sad I have to wait another 360 days till it's my birthday again.

Birthday Weekend

As most of you know, it was my birthday last week.  For those of you that knew that, you also may know that my birthday is a pretty big deal to me.  Some people don't understand why, but I always have to do something amazing to celebrate.  This year I decided that I wanted to go to the cabin the weekend before my birthday.  It was wonderful!  On Friday after my 'working interview' at my new job we headed right up.  We stopped on the way to get some food at Day's and a Papa Murphy's pizza to take up with us.  While we were at Day's I noticed that they had a snow cone shack, so naturally I had to stop and get us one.  I love me a good snow cone.  And I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to start my birthday weekend off right.

Blue Raspberry.  My favorite.

I got the snow cone and we were off.  Friday night we has pizza and ice cream, watched episodes of Chuck, my newest favorite show, and a movie.  Since we were up in the mountains, the weather was perfect and while we were waiting for our pizza to cook, we went on a little walk.

My mouth is still kind of blue from the snow cone.  It's fine, I'm a child.

We also decided that we wanted to have dinner on the deck.

It was perfect.

We of course slept in on Saturday and made a yummy breakfast of pancakes and eggs.  Later that day Chris's mom, dad and Scott came up to the cabin for the afternoon.  I really wanted to go on a hike, and Chris's mom was the perfect person to be the trail guide for us.  It was a beautiful day.  The sun was shining and it was not too hot out.  It's like it was meant to be.

No filter needed.

On Saturday we decided that we needed to be a little useful, so we helped haul a bunch of wood.  That was the first time that I had the privilege of doing that.  And I have to say, it was a lot of fun.  It sounds a little bit intense and not fun at all, but it was.  I was pleasantly surprised by that.  Sunday my mom, dad, and Zach came up to the cabin for a birthday celebratory dinner.  We had hamburgers, cucumber salsa, watermelon, and brownies.  It was awesome.  A lighter dinner at a wonderful location with my family.  We took a little walk, did some of a puzzle, and just talked.  Everything about that day was perfect.  And then it wasn't anymore.  DUN DUN DUN!  As we were cleaning up the cabin before we left disaster struck.  I was folding up a blanket and felt a pinch.  Thinking it was a burr I tried to shake it off, but doing that make the pinching tighter and more painful.  As the "burr" fell to the blanket, I realized that it was a giant wasp.  Seeing as I am a really big baby and went into instant hysterics.  Mostly from the excruciating pain that I felt, but also from the fact that I am allergic as well.  I hadn't been stung in 10 or so years because I am terrified of them.  I wasn't sure how my body was going to react, so I possibly overreacted to what had just happened.

It's hard to see, but the white circle under my pointer finger is where it happened.

We went upstairs to find something to help with the pain.  As we were looking it started to get pretty swollen, which naturally given my irrational state, made me even more worried.  Chris gave some ice, which helped with the pain, and then he was back downstairs to kill the jerk who did this to me.  He was very sweet to take care of me while we hurried home to get me some Benadryl.

Overall, it was a great weekend.  It just had a sad ending.  But that's okay.  I am not going to remember that part in a few years.  I am just grateful that I have Chris to help make anything we do a great adventure.

It's Funny How Things Work

Ever since we have moved I have contemplated about finding a job closer to home.  Driving to the Pleasant Grove office of Timpanogos Vision Center is now 25 minutes one way.  But I loved my job enough to make the drive every day.  Finding a new job is a hassle and I didn't want to learn the way another practice did things.  But 2 weeks ago, my schedule had changed and I was now required to drive to the Highland office 2 days a week.  That was not going to work for me.  The drive is 45 minutes one way, and I couldn't make that drive 2 days a week.  I took that as a sign, and I knew that my days at Timpanogos Vision Center were at an end.  The day I got my new schedule I started to look for a new job.  That day I took my resume to 4 or 5 different places in Springville and Spanish Fork.  Every place was exactly the same, "I'll make sure to give your resume to the office manager."  Which meant, 'We have no intention of actually looking at this, so you're wasting your time.'  I was a little discouraged, but decided to take my resume to one more place.  A new practice in Spanish Fork called Eye Physicians of Utah that had opened up less than a year ago.  I walked in, handed my resume to the doctor of the practice, and told him I was looking for a job closer to home.  I ended up staying there for over an hour as he talked with me and conducted my interview for a position there.  I was so surprised that things were happening so quickly, but I knew that it was meant to be.  He told me that he wanted me to come back for a 'working interview' to make sure that I was going to work with his practice, but I essentially had the job.  It only took me 45 minutes of looking to find my next job.  Needless to say, I was pretty impressed with myself.  And the best part is, it's only 7 minutes from my house.  AND there is no freeway driving involved.  I went back for my 'working interview' a week later and was offered the job.  I start on Friday the 28th.  I am really excited!  I think that it is going to be a wonderful opportunity to help build up Dr. Gubler's practice.  Putting in my 2 weeks was rough, but I got through it and now I just have to get through the last 4 days of work.  I am grateful for everything I have learned from Timpanogos Vision Center.  It has been a great place to work for the last 2 1/2 years, but it is time for me to move on.  Everything worked out perfectly and I could not be more convinced that Eye Physicians of Utah is were I am needed next.