Alec's Farewell/MTC Drop Off

*This is a very long blogpost, but I want to document every bit of these memories, if it's too long for you to hear all the nitty gritty details, skip to the last few paragraphs where I causally bear my soul

The series of events that led to Alec leaving for his mission were nothing short of exciting. Alec submitted his mission papers shortly after graduating high school. We were expecting to hear his report date and where he would be serving around the 4th of July. I even brought my laptop to our hotel the weekend of the 4th just in case we needed to Skype last minute. 

Weeks rolled by and we were all wondering how long the mail really took to get a couple states away. Long story short, on Wednesday,  July 13, we found out that mail doesn't take that long. Instead, his mail got lost in the mail. We found this out through an email Alec received welcoming him to the Idaho Pocatello Mission. We all thought it was a joke because Ethan and I live 15 minutes away from the boarder of his mission and our family is known to play pranks. *cough cough Mark*

4th of July Weekend!

This year 4th of July took forever to get here. Mostly because we bought tickets back in March to attend the Stadium of Fire where Tim McGraw was performing! Ethan has never been to a concert, and we are both huge Tim McGraw fans, so we anxiously awaited the day to come. 

We got off work early Friday and drove down to Salt Lake to watch our good friend marry his sweetheart Caroline. We missed the ceremony, but made it to the gorgeous reception at the Joseph Smith building at Temple Square. It was gorgeous and all the pink and sparkles had me reminiscing about our wedding. It was fun to spend time with friends from home and celebrate the newlyweds. 

That night, we stayed in a hotel and spent the next day hanging out with each other while walking around beautiful Salt Lake. We headed back to the hotel early and got ready for our night! The drive down to Provo went by faster than usual as we chatted the whole way down with excitement running through our veins. 

We got to the stadium and found our seats. They were pretty close to the field, and the weather was just right. The event started with performers and music and skydivers! It was awesome, but we really were looking forward to the main event... watching Tim McGraw.

Alec's Graduation

Alec and I have always been very close, but as if leaving to college didn't make it difficult enough to make it home for all the major events back home, getting a big kid job where I have limited vacation days really made it rough. 

Alec graduated from high school over Memorial Day weekend, and I started my new job just two weeks previously. I requested the time off,  but my boss said it probably wouldn't work out. I was devastated, but tried to work through every situation in my mind of how to get to the graduation. The Thursday before Memorial Day, I realized that it was't going to happen. After attending all of the major events in Alec's life, I wouldn't be there for this one. I was probably crushed more than he was. 

Friday rolled around, and five minutes before my shift ended at 6:25pm, I jokingly asked my managers if I should start driving to California for the weekend to make it to the graduation. My manager looked at me and said "Actually, I can take your shift. Go for it." 

I pretty much freaked out, I knew I would be there for Alec. And so Ethan and I ran home to pack and were out the door and on the road by 7 pm. 

Ethan is actually the best human in the world for driving to and from California all the time for me.

What Happens in Vegas...

In case you forgot, I got Ethan a trip to Vegas for his birthday!! After about a month of waiting, we finally got to cash it in, yippee!!

We stayed at the Excalibur which was fairly nice, but I probably would have picked something more central to everything next time. We got there at night time, and went to dinner at Rainforest Cafe. Ethan hadn't been there before, and I wanted the trip to be full of fun, and exciting experiences.

Spring Break 2016

After graduation, Ethan and I took a month long spring break trip to visit our families and play before heading back to our full time jobs. Let's just say... we definitely made the most of our time off. First, we headed over to Colorado Springs to hang out with the Watsons for a week. During that time, we played tons of games and went on too many ice cream trips. We were too busy chatting most of the time to take any pictures, but I realize that this has become a trend, so next time we see them, I will have to remember to document. 

After fun in Colorado, we met my family in Nevada for a two-day handgun defense training course. Mark has been wanting to take us, and got the family passes for Christmas last year. I wasn't really sure how it was going to be, but it ended up being a blast! Katie had to work, but her husband, Chris, still came and it was loads of fun!

 

College Graduate!

CLASS OF 2016: WE DID IT!! 

In September 2012, I showed up at Brigham Young University in Rexburg, Idaho completely unaware of what I was getting myself into. Since my first day at that school, I have...

-taken 52 courses

-had 23 different roommates

-attended 9 semesters of school

-attended 8 weddings

-lived in 7 different apartments

-created 6 different PR proposals

-completed 5 internships

-survived 4 Rexburg winters

-kept 3 different jobs

-suffered 2 broken hearts

-failed 1 class

-switched my major 0 times

Pink & Gold Bridal Shower!

Back in February, I had the opportunity to plan a bridal shower for one of my friends. It was so much fun to plan everything, poor Ethan had a pink & sparkly home for the months leading up to the party.

Originally, I purchased a majority of the decorations, but at the end of the day, nothing was exactly how I wanted it, so I decided to save money and make everything by hand, I'm pretty pleased with how this bridal brunch turned out!

Here's a little peak into the special day!