Moving On, Moving In

So, explanation of my lovely shadow picture? Yup, I graduated from college! And only...six years from high school graduation. Sheesh. I was on the defer a semester here and there for a surgery and a honeymoon and change your major a few times plan. Totally worth it.
Technically, I have 3 classes left and I officially graduate in December. I decided to walk a semester early because all of my immediate family could come this April, but not in August or next April (when December graduates are slated to walk).


I didn't know if I would feel like I was just pretending or if it would be a truly meaningful event. Leading up to commencement, I wasn't really feeling the excitement. It snowed on and off the day of commencement (still not a fan of snow), I was stressed with moving, tired from finals, I was almost late for processional, etc. I wasn't able to fully concentrate on the celebration at hand. But once I slipped into the line with some of my friends and started marching toward the Marriott Center...I felt delightfully exhilarated. It was so much fun!

For those of you who haven't graduated yet, if you have the chance to walk in processional...DO IT!!

Just before my college convocation with one of my sewing friends who is adorably plump and pregnant with her first baby.

(Side note to those that might care....I wore the mortarboard correctly at University Commencement - approx. 1 inch above my eyebrow and flat on top. Not so cute.)

Lots of family and friends.

I happened to snap a picture right as this girl was waving on the jumbo-tron. Anybody know her? If you do, tell her I have a cute picture for her.

That is a LOT of graduates!

Commencement speaker was Elder Bednar. His stated goal was to be short. He mostly succeeded. His speech/talk was good. And he was right. I don't remember any of it. (Except for the part where he said I wouldn't remember anything).

My graduation present was a trip to Disneyland! Tylan and I still had a few months left on our annual passes and we really wanted to go one more time since we wouldn't be able to go again before they expired.

Tylan and I walked around imitating the statues one night when I didn't want to leave the park yet. :) He's a cute puppy, eh?

Pictoral evidence. YES, this is me on California Screamin'. ME, the roller coaster aphobe. Who didn't go on SPACE MOUNTAIN until I was 18. I loved Screamin'! It is the most fun in the very front row. You know the highest part where you climb up and then pause? In the very front you get to stop and see the insanity ahead (well, below) of you. It looks a LOT steeper from up there. Like, straight down steeper. We went on it 4 times in a row. Did I mention I loved it?


The first time I went on it last summer....I was so terrified I was going to die. Seriously. I think we had just gotten off of Splash Mountain and we had about 20-30 minutes until California Adventure closed. Nobody had gone on Screamin yet, I think, during the trip and the plan was for the brave ones to go that day. Well, we were pretty much as far away as you can get from Screamin' and everyone except Tylan decided they didn't want to go anymore. There was NO way I was going to go on it, but I couldn't let Tylan go by himself! I ran to the back of CA with him and then somehow....I kept walking with him in line...I felt bad that he had to go alone and that he had been bailed on. But seriously, my mom and dad had a horrible time on it months before--shouldn't I believe that we had the same genes for roller coasters and not go on it? But we kept going and kept going and there I was waiting to board the very front. Then I was in the car....and moving. No going back now!

The SCARIEST part (which is now my favorite part) was the ridiculous acceleration at the beginning. I don't think I have ever screamed so loud in my life! I was trying to calm down and trying not to hyperventilate and I kept saying to myself, over and over (out loud), "I am safe. I am safe. I am safe!!" I kept waiting for the pain and horror to truly hit me. When we got to the high point pause and there I was looking straight down at my doom, I do believe I screamed Tylan's name, and not too lovingly. I *may* have been thinking hateful thoughts.

But guess what....it didn't hurt. I was shocked, but still scared since there was an upside down loop coming up and I knew I was going to die right there. I closed my eyes when we got to it, and I couldn't even tell we were upside down. After that I thought to myself, "well, heck, if THAT didn't hurt, then nothing will!" I started to let out some woo hoos! and I even loosened my death grip on the restraints and put my hands in the air! (Well, as much as you can put your hands in the air with an over the shoulder restraint). Tylan was relieved to hear the change in my screams and probably was really, really glad I wouldn't hate him forever (especially since we hadn't even been married a whole year, yet). It was exhilarating and I decided it was fun, and yes, I would go on it with him again. Next year.

Stephen and Holly braved it with us 4 times in a row.

On our way back from riding California Screamin', we happened to be walking behind a worker pulling boxes of churros into A Bug's Land...we oh so stealthily (or...not so stealthily) walked behind him trying to get a clear picture of the boxes. If you want the experience of Disneyland without paying admission...now you know where to get them!

Awesome picture.

We decided our big splurge was to eat in the Blue Bayou. So fun! It was delish and the ambience was the best. We'll definitely go back. (Anybody a member of Club 33?)

We got to Disneyland around noon on Monday, and Tylan and I were starving. We went straight in ahead of everyone else and headed to the Carnation Cafe for some delicious vittles. (The Cobb salad is so yummy and huge enough to feed two). Right after we got our food, we started to get calls on our cell phones and frantic paging through the walkie talkies. The family ran into some Dream Cast member's who were handing out SOMETHING and we had to come back to Main Street RIGHT NOW to get them! So we left our food sitting at the table (you had to be there in person so we couldn't just send one of us) and we ran to get the passes and then ran back hoping our food was still there! Luckily it was and we then had a moment to check out the prize. Apparently, they had only done this once before and we were the lucky recipients of an extra hour in the park after it closed. :) Woo hoo!!! That night we headed to the little theater by the petting zoo/Thunder Mountain ranch (on the trail behind Thunder Mountain heading into Fantasy Land) and they basically held us (and a few hundred other people) there for 3o minutes while they shooed everyone else out of the park. We danced and did the Macarena and the electric slide and some other Disney dance until Mickey and Minnie popped out to tell us it was time! Mom and Dad and those of us without children ran to Splash Mountain. We rode 2 or 3 times in a row (didn't even have to get out of the logs!) After that, we split up. Some went to Fantasyland to be with the grandkids (VERY smart to do Fantasyland without the miles of lines!) while Tylan, Jake and I ran to Space Mountain. It. wasn't. working. No!!! They said they were trying to get it back up, but we didn't have much hope. We decided to slip onto Star Tours and then come back. Luckily it was up and running again and we mananged to squeeze in 2 trips through space. Fun way to end our first night!

A quick picture snapped while we were in the holding pen.

The Parade of Dreams. It was stopped for a LOOOONG time and lucky us, we got the big giant Ursula evilly laughing and threatening us for 20 minutes until it started moving again. Noah couldn't tear his eyes away. Apparently, this camera angle didn't capture how huge his eyes were, and the look of confusion/slight horror on his little face. I'm sorry, Noah, but it was pretty funny. Hopefully, he won't be traumatized for life.

Mmmm! This is a delightful tradition that Tylan and I hope to continue for a long time. There is a sidewalk vendor in Downtown Disney that sells Kettle Corn and it is so delicious. You can buy a huge bag for $6 and munch on it all day long. (Last summer it was $5, so hopefully it won't be $7 next summer. I'll still buy it though.) It is a fantastic deal. I'd say the bag goes from my fingertips to my elbow. Maybe someday I'll remember to ask the vendor how much is really in it.

The Princess Faire is adorable. The free stuff is fun and the goods are a lot of money. I enjoyed the 15 minutes we spent there, and we were impressed with what was available. But I do hope another musical production will come back soon. I've seen Snow White and Beauty and the Beast in this outdoor theater. AMAZING.

3 Disney princesses teaching us a simple dance and how to wave.

Is it okay that I want this in my bedroom?

After we bid adieu to the happiest place on earth we attended the last LIGHT performance and watched little bro be a *star*, Buble style.

And then he graduated from high school!! Are you seriously that old? Am I seriously that old??
The early monsoon prevented us from seeing the dude graduate (grrrrr), but I was able to get the lei I made to him in time. Remember the color of your MHS robes, you alumni out there? They weren't this dark! He was soaking wet when he came home.

The rain through my office window. I love rain, but not on the day of graduation!

Congratulating the graduate. Since we ended up not being able to go to graduation, the boys went and saw Indiana Jones.

And last of all for this post, a couple of fun pictures from Memorial Day.

Little nephew Josheph enjoying the fun part of making brownies. When I first came in he was licking it up off the counter. Pretty cute.

Playing with the dried ice we used to make homemade rootbeer.

Trying on Daddy's shoes!

So, that is a little bit of what has been happening in my life lately. I would add the rest of what I was going to post, like the "moving in" part, but then I'll have to spend the next 20 minutes fixing the spacing AGAIN. Seriously Blogger....fix it. For the sanity of all Bloggers! Well, at least the sanity of this one.

MIA

So sorry to keep you waiting on the explanation of my seriously awesome and mysterious shadow picture :) I'm working on a big 'ol post of pictures and fun.

In the meantime, here is another picture to ponder.

Ok, Trader Joes'....how do you expect me to make a nice, neat sandwich with this bread? Hmmm??

Ok, ok. One more.

This lovely picture was taken on Mother's Day:

5lb bag of potatoes: $

tiny, ergonomic paring knife: $$

carving the potato into a grumpy old man: priceless

My little brother was seriously born in the wrong time period. (Though I am personally very, very glad of the mistake.) He would probably be most at home on a farm. He almost always has a red, paisley handkerchief on his person. He has asked for (and received) wood and whittling tools for Christmas. When we went on a church history tour a few years ago as a family, he dressed up in period garb and remained that way as we traveled from New York and Illinois etc., to Nauvoo. He looked awesome and studly. And probably like he "worked" there and he needs to be cast in one of those shows ASAP!

What's that tune he's whistling? Not "Come, Come, Ye Saints" as one might think you would play sitting under a tree in Old Nauvoo. It was Frodo's theme from The Lord of the Rings. It sounded fantastic.

This last picture was taken 2 Halloween's ago. And I'm pretty sure my little nephew threw Aaron. Multiple times. ;)

More brother love and other fun to come!

How many hours of sleep does a person really need?

New posts coming soon.....we're recovering from moving out of our apartment (and moving everything into a storage unit and our car), traveling, a delightful family vacation, a wedding a'la Hawaii, and the anticipation of preparing to start our new jobs on Monday.


So what have we been doing? You'll see....

{A small glimpse into our life}

This is how Tylan celebrated the last day of classes:

This is what having good friends (and old roommates) over for dinner looks like: This is how my space looks when I study:
And........this is what Tylan's space looks like when he studies. Heh heh...opposites attract?
Have a lovely week everyone!!

{in a nutshell}

Well, it's that fun time of the semester again... the end. But before our professors bid us adieu, they like us to cram in as many papers, assignments, and projects that we possibly can into the last two days. That's where we are right now. Monday and Tuesday are the last day of classes and we are busy, busy!!

Some of the things we've been up to lately:

**Ty's grandma passed away. :(

Grandpa saying his last goodbye.

After the pall bearers placed the casket over the grave they all took off their boutonnieres and placed them on the casket. I thought it was beautiful.

**Conference was wonderful!! Even though I don't live that far from Salt Lake, I prefer to watch conference at home. I don't like walking past the protesters and it's just nicer to snuggle on the couch and listen to our great leaders.

And I really like eating during the entire 2 hour session. Twice a day. Yum.

Holly and I went shopping while our men went to Priesthood session. I have a huge stack of coupons for Bed, Bath and Beyond, so we walked in and out a few times so we could use as many as we could. :D

**This is what greeted us on Monday morning, APRIL 7:

Seriously, can it please stop snowing?!?!?!?!? It snowed again on Thursday or Friday morning. It was so cold this week, I don't even remember which day it was. What happened to spring?

**We went to the Singer's/Concert Choir concert last night. It was beautiful and I missed being in those choirs! You really do get to be a part of amazing things while you are in college. I felt very strongly, during a particularly touching part of the concert, that this is it. My last chance to be a part of BYU organizations during my undergraduate career and do amazing things. Of course I will still have opportunities to do great and important things during my life, but...it feels different. This has been my life, my world, for years. It is hard to leave it behind.

**I went to my sis-in-law's baby shower today! Isn't she cute? She'll be glad when her little guy is born. It's been a rough first pregnancy. It may take her a while to forget this one!

Last Sunday we stopped by her awesome house (thou shalt not covet, thou shalt not covet) for a visit and we got to see how her nursery is coming along. Her bedding is adorable! The walls are such a warm yellow and it feels so...happy.

**And on an ending note, I have a little spiritual experience to share. A few weeks ago we were doing our laundry and Ty asked me to grab the mail key (since the mailboxes are now located outside the laundry instead of right outside my door. Blah.) Well....I couldn't find it. And of course I was the last one to check the mail. Re-keying the mailbox is $30, so I really really wanted to find that little key! I said a little prayer and we started to walk out the door to switch our laundry over to the dryers. Tylan stopped halfway out the door and asked me to grab his cell phone which was charging in the living room. I was confused and asked him why? After all, we'd be back in just a few minutes. He said he didn't know why, but he just felt like he should bring it. I put his phone in my coat pocket and off we went. We checked the mailbox in case I had left the key in the lock or something (I didn't, thank you very much). As we walked back to our apartment, I reached in my pocket for his phone to check the time and see when we needed to come back for our laundry. And. it. wasn't. there. I stopped and started searching my pockets and told Tylan that I couldn't find his phone! Then I remembered that earlier that day I had discovered a hole in the lining of my pocket and I reached through the hole and there his phone was, sitting between the lining and the coat. Phew!! Then I had an epiphany (or the Spirit continued whispering to me). I said, "Hey, what if we were supposed to bring your phone so that it could fall through the hole and the key is actually in my coat??!!" Tylan ran his hands along the bottom edge of my coat, and there it was in the very corner!! I fished it out, looked heavenward and said, "Ok, that was really cool!!" Very, very clever, Heavenly Father. Thank you for the cool experience. And for loving me. I love You, too.

Family + Pizza = Fun

My darling mum has been here helping my sister with her cute little brood for a few weeks after Evelyn's birth. The time came for Mom to go home and my dad came to fetch her. We enjoyed a traditional family dinner at a local favorite pizzaria.

We celebrated some April birthdays with a giant sucker in the middle of ice cream, whipped cream and rainbow sprinkles. An interesting substitute for a good old-fashioned cookie or brownie, but the recipients thought it delightful.

The happy newlyweds.

One last "I love you" before the girls drove away.

Full and happy.

Tidbits

This is all that is left of St. Patrick's Day. We did not, I'm afraid, have a whiz bang, blow out green breakfast or lunch or dinner. In my busy haste I managed to pick up some mini cupcakes sprinkled with clover sprinkles and I called it good for this year.
When I was younger my mom and her sister planned a big green dinner/party and everything we ate was green. There was green milk, green veggie dip, green butter, green jello, etc... I wish I could remember it all. I'll have to ask my mom what she remembers of the menu. It sounds really fun now, but we never did it again, at least to that great extent, because we kids would NOT eat most of the green food. I believe the green milk and butter were the greatest trauma. I think it will be great fun to see how my kids react!

At BYU, we don't have a Spring Break and Winter Semester can get pretty monotonous. I have found that if I give myself one day of "Spring Break" I do much better the last month and a half of school.

Last Monday afternoon I got done with one class, ate lunch and was on my way to the next class when I inexplicably walked out the closest doors of the Wilkinson Center and found myself headed home! Apparently, I had decided that today was to be my spring break. I headed to Bed, Bath and Beyond to get some air-tight containers for storing staple foods and with my stack of "5 dollars off $15 or more" coupons I walked out with a few more things. The clearance sections were thick with fun and ridiculous items! I'll have to remember to bring my camera with me next time. But I did walk out with some very cute apothecary jars and a few bags of Yankee Candle potpurri that seemed to be made expressly for display.

I'm not sure where I am going to put this big one yet. It came with the most HIDEOUS filler, though I can use the pinecones. At the moment I have filled it with easter eggs and it's sitting on my kitchen table. I love them! I have been in a very "decorating" mood lately.

These are the beautiful lillies that Tylan bought me last week! Nothing better than coming home to a cute husband holding beautiful flowers "for no reason". :) He brought me a gorgeous pink gerbera daisy a few weeks ago and I am thoroughly enjoying this trend.

Well, I'm off for a delightful Easter dinner with my family. I have to remember to bring the powdered sugar with me for the cake frosting. Happy Easter!

Homemade Bagels

Last month I decided to attempt making bagels. It was fun and I enjoyed taking much longer than the recipe indicated to make them. Most of them were even tasty!
Recipe complements of Emeril Lagasse. A personal friend. I even have his cookbook.

Homemade Bagels

2 cups warm water, about 110 degrees F

2 (1/4-ounce) packets active dry yeast

3 tablespoons granulated sugar, plus 1 tablespoon

5 to 6 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons vegetable oil

2 tablespoons yellow cornmeal

Optional Toppings: 1/2 cup lightly toasted chopped onions (2 teaspoons each)

2 tablespoons poppy seeds (about 1/2 teaspoon each)
2 tablespoons sesame seeds (about 1/2 teaspoon each)
1 tablespoon kosher salt (about 1/4 teaspoon each)

Combine the water, yeast, and 3 tablespoons of the sugar in the bowl of an upright mixer fitted with a dough hook. Stir and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Gradually add 4 cups of the flour and the salt, and mix until the mixture comes together.

Add 1 to 1 1/2 cups additional flour 1/2 cup at a time to make a stiff dough, either stirring with the wooden spoon or working with your hands. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and no longer sticky, about 5 minutes, adding just as much flour as needed. (Dough should be heavier and stiffer than regular yeast bread dough.)

Grease a large bowl with 1 teaspoon of the oil. Place the dough in the bowl, turning to coat. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free spot until almost doubled, about 1 hour.

Remove from the bowl and punch down the dough. Divide into 12 equal pieces, about 2 to 3 ounces each, measuring about 4 inches across. Form each piece of dough into a ball. Roll each ball into a 4 to 6-inch log. Join the ends and place fingers through the hole and roll the ends together. Repeat with the remaining dough. Place on a lightly greased surface, cover with a clean cloth, and let rest until risen but not doubled in a draft-free spot, 20 to 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a baking sheet with the remaining teaspoon of oil.

In a large, heavy pot, bring 12 cups of water and the remaining tablespoon of sugar to a boil. In batches, add the bagels to the water and boil, turning, for 30 seconds to 1 minute. Flip bagels onto the prepared sheet pan. Bake for 5 minutes, turn over and cook for another 30 to 35 minutes.
Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.

The bagels that turned out the best were 1. cinnamon and sugar and 2. sprinkled with kosher salt. Plain and onion did not turn out for me. Twice. We'll be eating cinna-gar and salt bagels in this family.

Even though it is the only recipe I have tried as of yet, it's not my favorite. BUT, the recipe did produce bagels and it was a fun experience. And they sure looked good while rising! When I find the best and most fool-proof recipe ever, I will definitely share it.

I'm looking forward to making this:

She's Here!

My beautiful new baby niece was born last night just after 9 p.m. She has a very healthy set of lungs. Congratulations, Melanie! Evelyn is darling.

My little sister and I missed the actual birth because Evelyn came much faster than we anticipated! The hospital called about 5pm and told Melanie to mosey on over to the hospital (because they didn't have a room for her just yet). Previous babies were born after hours and hours of labor so we thought we had plenty of time. Only 4 hours later, as sissy and I were moseying over to the hospital after getting some homework done, we received the call that Evelyn couldn't wait any longer and she'd decided to make her entrance.

I have been blessed to be at the births of 2 other nieces and I am so grateful for the experience. The first time was my freshman year at college and it was scary... I literally stood at the door in case I needed to run out of the room. The thoughts running through my head were, "I am NEVER going to be able to do this! I'm going to have to adopt all of my children..." But then - the baby came. And I paused in my moment of terror and felt a moment of peace. My fear was not completely gone, but it was at that moment, finally, that I felt like - "ok, I think I can do this."

So whatever your personal feelings may be about inviting others into the delivery room, for me, it did a great deal of good. Thank you, Melanie. Now your kids will have cousins to play with. ;)

Art Projects

Among other things, I have spent the last week and a half burning LOTS of pictures and other info onto CD's and off my poor, choked up laptop. I'm very pleased at how much better it works now that it has much more than *cough* 3% free space *cough*. My computer is a lot happier now that it is mostly dejunkified. We celebrated its new freedom with a spring-y desktop picture of yellow tulips and not as many impatient scowls from me.

Now on to the fun!

"How to Dress Up White-Washed Cinderblock Walls When You Live in On-Campus Housing"

During the first few months of our marriage, I wrote fun dates and things to do on a bunch of strips of construction paper and put them into a cute box. That way, if we didn't have something planned, we could just reach in, pick a slip, and wah-lah! Instant date idea! (How do you really spell that? Oillah? Wala?) One of those ideas, which I have wanted to do for the longest time, was to go to the dollar store and pick up some of those cheap strips of watercolors and paint pictures to adorn our home. How fun is that?? I know, I know, really fun.
For Valentine's Day, I finally bought some of those watercolors and I had a blast painting my first watercolor "painting".

My husband was so impressed with my art-i-ness. I decided I needed some heavier paper and I wished for some nicer brushes than the wild-haired brush they include. I picked up some watercolor paper at the BYU bookstore (80 to 90 lb weight), but the art brushes were astronomically priced! (No wonder we call them starving artists; they have to spend all their money on paint brushes!)

I had a few errands to run at WalMart, and I decided to stop by the art supply aisle and found THIS:

A much LARGER collection of watercolors and these delectable "professional" RoseArt brushes! I had them in my hand in an instant. This is what resulted from that happy purchase. The same simple tulips and a calla lily of delight.

Watercoloring is fun to do, fun to do, to do, to do!

The next project was to recreate this adorable idea from Nicole Hill:

Half an apple and some red paint later:

A delicious kitchen decoration.