Cassidy's Graduation

Cassidy graduated from SUU this past week and had three days of celebratory, ceremonious events! On Thursday the College of Humanities and Social Sciences had their award ceremony where Cass received his Certificate of International Relations. 

receiving his award &
being teased by a professor for turning in a paper late

showing off

Friday was the commencement ceremony for the whole university, and since it was just speakers, Cass attended by himself. That's also when they moved their tassels and became official graduates.

Chris, Pyper, and Nathan came down Friday night and Pyper loved having Cass play with her in the pool! I was just boring and sat on the edge though; it was so hot in there! Plus Ellie was sleeping in her carseat and I wanted to be able to hear her if she woke up. 

Saturday was individual college commencement. In the morning Cass got his AAS in Information Technology, and in the afternoon he got his BA in Political Science. Ellie was asleep for the ceremony, but she woke up as soon as it ended and wanted to eat, so she wasn't very pleasant for the pictures! 

 

receiving his diploma and shaking hands

 

Congrats on your graduation, honey! So proud of you and love you!

 

Our Life Lately

So I'm a slacker blogger lately, but life has been pretty chill. We had a super romantic date where we walked down to the Taco Bell for the new Cool Ranch Doritos Locos Tacos. They weren't as good as we thought they were going to be though.

Then, last weekend, or two weekends ago, really, Cassidy, cousin Caitlyn, and I trekked up to Flowell for the farewell of the latest Elder Swallow. Joel was called to Manchester in England. He gave an awesome talk and will be an awesome missionary. And it was great to see the Swallow side of the family. We played "family rook" for hours. I'm not very good but it's fun! 

This past week was Cass's spring break, so he was able to catch up on some work, school work, and rest. Now he's gotten his mo-jo back and is ready to finish this semester and graduate! Speaking of finishing the semester, we have lots of options now for post-SUU life. Cass has been accepted into the Masters of Education Administration program at the U and University of Nebraska, as well as the Masters of Public Administration program at the U and BYU. He even got a scholarship to BYU! We're just waiting to hear back from the U for a few things, and then we can make our decision! 

So that's life for us right now. Pretty routine for the next few weeks til Baby Girl gets here! 

iPatch

Welcome to my Friday night! 

I guess I should be doing something fun and exciting, but eh.

Thus is married life. 

Plus Cass is in bed asleep ;) 

So I'll catch up on some blogging!

Before I get to my thought on the plays I saw, I want to show you the neat door decs Cass made for his staff. Their acronym this year is PTCH, or Patch, so he and I were brainstorming and thought of pirates and eye patches. We went to the craft store and Cass couldn't find anything resembling an eye patch, so he figured he'd make some himself. 

The next day we were going to get crafty and 

Cass thought: "iPatch! like a brand!"

And I was all, "You should do the iPod guy, you know the one with the headphones? And give him an eye patch! Could you do that?"

And he did. 

Grati-Tuesday

Welcome to Grati-Tuesday!

Today I am grateful for:

1. my lover and eternal families

2. This great big crazy family of mine! 

[as well as all my in-laws but I have no photos of everyone together]

3. Disneyland

4. Friends

5. Dance . . . especially this beautiful piece!

And, of course,  6. BOOKS! 

What are YOU grateful for today?

Preparing for Hong Kong!

It came! I can now officially leave the country -- and come back!

Getting a passport was a pretty painless process, minus the multiple trips to the post office.

Less than four months til we get to go to HK!

Cass just got his tablet, and I have my books, so we should be all set for a billion hour flight, right?

Right!

And I know how to say "I don't speak Cantonese" in Cantonese.

I'm totally prepared :) 

New Year's Resolutions

[oops, almost typed revolutions]

I'm not generally a New-Year's-Resolutions-Type

Probably because I never follow through on any of my goal

I kind of lack self motivation

Cass, on the other hand, is the resolution type

or maybe it's just cuz we're married now

& he thinks we should make some goals together

So we did!

1. Live A Healthier Lifestyle

we are super unhealthy.

So now we're trying to be more healthy.

Walks together

Less fatty food, more chicken and fish

And less eating out

also, we're going to try waking up at a reasonable hour

{it's really hard when your job doesn't start til 10:45}

 2. More Spiritual Lifestyle

we try hard, but our spirituality is often pushed aside

mostly because we're lazy

I'd say busy, but lazy is really the case

3. Do not get arrested 

     I stole this from a friend who includes goals they're sure to fulfill. 

I figured I'd like to at least accomplish one goal :)

So this year, we resolve to these

-No Drug trafficking

-No money laundering

-No public urination or other sex offenses

-No importing of illegal goods or bads

I thought maybe I should have some goals for myself, too

In accordance with a Healthier Lifestyle-

I want to dance more with my dance classes

Mostly this means stretching and conditioning

Hello sit ups, butt ups, and more!

My other goal is in regard to my Books-

I have a bunch of friends with goals about reading books

That's not really a problem for me (if you hadn't noticed)

but I would like to work on [a] reading the books I have

aka not buying new ones

[b]  reading books on my own level.

ya'll know I love YA books

So those are my goals for the new year. 

Wish me luck!

If I had a twitter. . . aka #ihatemoving

• Woke up this morning, Hubby had unpacked the kitchen! Yay! 
• It sounds weird to call him hubby. 
• Moving is sooo  much easier when you don't have work/school. 
• Dirty colored walls and showers are hard to clean #ihatemoving
• Ahh! I broke the wall!! #ihatemoving
• Old apartment = clean and empty! Now to tackle the new. . .   

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! We sure did & posts are coming soon! 

CVHS Craft Fair

Every year the CVHS Talons have a craft fair as a fundraiser and have dancers from around town come for entertainment. My first visit was in 2006 and was my first date with Cass. Sort of. As long as a bet doesn't make it not a date, for he and I made a bet. He thought I couldn't go a week without tv. Turns out I'm pretty stubborn, so I won the bet. So he had to take me out on a date. [I'm not actually sure if this was my idea or his, or what would happen if I lost the bet. Okay, so I just asked Cass what would have happened if I lost. His response: "You would have paid for dinner. Or that's what I told you." -- "So really you just wanted to take me out to dinner?" -- "And get you to stop watching tv" -- "So I would spend time with you?" and he smiled sheepishly. Oh my husband :)]  Since won, I got to choose the date. There was only like three places to eat in Cedar back then, so I chose Wingers. I also had to dance at the craft fair with Waukeenyans that night, but I wasn't taking any chances. This date would not be postponed! We had a lovely dinner at Wingers, well, I did. He ordered something gross. He's since learned the error of his ways. We then sojourned to the craft fair where he paid to watch me dance. Afterwards we went back to my apartment and watched Gilmore Girls. I thought I would punish him for making me go with out :P However, I quickly fell asleep, mostly due to a lack-of-caffeine migraine because I'm a good date and only got water at dinner. And Cassidy left, lonely and dejected. Poor guy. I make a pretty bad date!

This year I was a much better date for the craft fair -- at any rate, I didn't fall asleep or subject him to Gilmore Girls! Again, we went to Wingers; I just love their sticky fingers! And fries!! mmmm :) The girls I teach were dancing at the craft fair, so we had to get their half an hour before they went on and then be there for the dances. I was busy with the girls for the first half hour, so lucky Cass got to walk around and look at all the cute crafty booths. Then my girls danced; Cass got to record them for me while I stood on the side, shepherding them on and off the make-shift stage. (You can watch their dances on my "choreography" page) After the fair we came home and played Risk. Don't worry, I totally won. And, thanks to the diet coke I'd had that afternoon, I was still good to go, so we watched 10 Things I Hate About You, which we both enjoyed, so it was a win-win situation! Overall, I had a great night! Date nights are always great and my girls did a great job at the craft fair!

Vermillion Castle

Since my parents bailed on Saturday, Cass and I found our own hike to go on. Right nearby Parowan, Vermillion Castle is a "moderate hike" with steep, narrow switch backs, but great scenery and a few Hoodoos along the way and at the top. Here is our journey in pictures!

At the trail head

Scaring off mountain lions!

First Hoodoos, about half way up!

Cassidy's Metaphor

Climbing up the big rock!

 

Me climbing the big rock

King of the Rock!

View at the top -- Can you see why it's called Vermillion Castle?

The other side

 

With the Hoodoos at the top!

We had a great hike! It wore us out but we can't wait to go again; it's beautiful at the top and totally worth it!

Honeymoon

For our Honeymoon Cass and I spent half the week in Midway and half the week in St George. Aside from my car troubles, we had a great time!

BBQ on the Patio! (I take awkward photos)

Tandem Bike Ride!

Went to the St George temple

The Dinosaurs Museum had an origami exhibit: I made a swan!

My failed attempt at a crane

Cass with his successful crane!

We saw Grease at the Tuacahn our last night in St George; it was great!

Wedding: July 18, 2011

Cassidy and I were married for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake Temple on July 18th, 2011. We were very blessed to have many of our family members and close friend with us on this special day! Here are a few pictures!

Here we are exiting the temple! Cassidy took forever to change and I ended up being the one waiting for him! I was worried he was waiting somewhere else or that someone let him leave without me!

Pictures outside the temple with the fam!  (Flowers! Love them!)

Flirting for the camera! ;)

At the reception

My "Princess Chair" where I would escape to sit whenever I had the chance! 

Overall I had a great time! Everything went perfectly!

*Hopefully the professional pictures will be coming shortly!* 

Cuz crazy is perfect, so I will be perfect. . .

So . . . my life is a little crazy. I've been a little busy. But here's the run down on my haps as of late. 

Saturday I took the kids to 7 peaks. I sunscreened them and totally forgot about myself.  That sure hurt, and I learned my lesson! It was nice to just relax and read in the sunshine though. 

Tuesday I headed up to Salt Lake to have dinner with Cass and his boss. BBQ -- Delicious!

Wednesday the lovely ladies in the ward threw me a shower, and I was pleased with the attendance of ladies from the old ward and some friends -- as well as a very special friend's mom! Highlights were my new cookie press, my stack-able cooling racks (which I'm way too excited about!) and being able to chat it up with Nattie Cat :) Downside: I don't know Cass we'll enough, apparently, and ended up having to stick about ten pieces of gum in my mouth, which really isn't that big!!

Saturday was a crazy busy day! I had the eye doctor- lovely- and am not too much worse (yet I never ever ever! drive home from the eye doctor -- not safe!!). Then Cass came down and we headed to the Stone Family Reunion for lunch and some games. For dinner we headed up to meet Cass's best friend (and his wife, sister, and brother-in-law) who I have never met before. I was a little nervous.  I don't like meeting new people.  But I think it went okay.  They were nice. I don't think I was too weird. Afterwards we continued north towards Cass's homestead for the night.

Sunday we went to church and played with Cass's fam.  His baby sister is a doll. She's hilarious and I love her.  She's crazy fun. However, that evening I fell ill.  Cass drove me home and I took to bed for quite a while.

But! I still made time to read in the last little bit, leaving me with these lovely reviews to dispense for ya'll:

The Center of Everything : A Novel
I have had quite an adventure reading this book. You see, I got to page 214. And I read it, and finished it. And then my eyes went up the next page, and it didn't make sense. I read it again. Nope. And I checked the page number. It was not 215.  So I trekked to B&N where they didn't believe me that I bought the book there-- but we finally got sorted. About a week later it came and I was finally able to finish this lovely novel about the coming-of-age of a Midwestern girl in a America with a crazy mom, a crush on the neighbor, and a hottie friend who  dates the neighbor.  Best part: the mom was a teenager when she had our main character and has younger sisters close to the age of her daughter. At a family dinner, the Mom's sisters think their dad called her a Horse. Nope. Not it. Not horse.  I found this to be a great novel with both hilarious and touching moments. It's cited as akin to To Kill a Mockingbird.  I'm not sure I would classify it as such, but close as a coming-of-age novel.

 

 

And now I try to ---

-finish my thesis . . . Oh Isadora Duncan. How you plague me. I wish we could be friends. But I think we're on to the easier part now. . . I hope.

-print, address, and send announcements.  They should be done on Monday from the printers, so I suppose I shouldn't stress until I actually have them in my possession. 

-I also work every day, which I nerdily spice up with my myriad of howstuffworks.com podcasts.

-I also babysit twice a week, which is a nice respite from life. :)

-I have a busy, busy weekend!

-My mom's gong out of town next week, which doesn't really require any extra work from me - unless there is an emergency

-Not go insane! :)  

Beaches by Iris Rainer Dart 

So. No lies. I picked this book up because it had Bette on it and cost a dollar. I originally took it with me to 7 Peaks on Saturday because  I figured it would be easy to read in a loud, crazy environment.  Which it was.  But it was still a cute book. I enjoyed it, as I enjoy most books about friends throughout the years. Beaches is nothing special, but don't let that turn you off.  It's still touching and cute.

 The Red Pyramid (The Kane Chronicles, Book 1)

So I guess Rick is starting to rival Philippa, but I really enjoy reading "Matthew" books! They're easy to pick up and put down with my schedule and don't require too much thought. This series is similar to the others of Rick's, but it is about the Egyptian Gods and magicians.  I did like that he switched it up with the mortals being "blood of the pharaohs" and magicians instead of being demi-gods. I also like this because I do not know as much about the Egyptian Mythology as the Greek or Roman. Similar to my prior review on Rick, I just love that he can get kids to read. I don't care what kids are reading, as long as they are. However, I did not like that the chapters switched back and forth between Sadie and Carter (the main characters are brother and sister), and at times the action got a little rushed. However, if you're into "Matthew" books like I am, I'm sure you'll enjoy this.  

A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick

I did not enjoy this book at all. It was not fluid. It was consumed with sex. It tried to be literary, and I just feel that it really failed. I will not be recommending this to anyone anytime soon, nor rereading it. So if you love it, maybe you can talk me into it. But I doubt it. I'm sure part of the problem was that I had misconceptions about the book when I picked it up, but even after I figured the setting and everything, I didn't like it. It took me quite a while to get through it for a book I thought I would enjoy. I almost didn't finish it, but I have moral issues with not finishing a book. So I trucked through and hoped it would get better. It didn't.  Don't waste your time.  

Engagements

Last weekend, Scott Myler took some fantastic engagements for us! Here are my favorites :)