Election Day!

Alright, I haven't posted in a while.

But today is an important day for Americans.

Election Day.

I encourage everyone that hasn't voted already to get out there and voice your opinion.  Regardless of your political views, it is extremely important to take an active role in the future of the country.  Your vote DOES count.  Can you imagine what would happen if EVERYONE thought their vote was worthless?  There would be no one voting.  You as an individual have quite an influence on the people around you.  Also, there are many, many people in United States history that have given their lives and their time to provide us with the RIGHT to vote.  Show them you appreciate their sacrifice.  As American citizens we have a wonderful and unique opportunity to choose where we want our country to go and who we want to be leading us there.

I am truly grateful that I am an American.

Monday Madness...

Whew.

It has definitely been a much longer day than I planned.

BUT

I have been crazy productive.

Today I have attempted my first round of freezer meals.

I planned out a menu for a month. An entire month.

And went shopping and prepared a ton of food.

It took a lot of time...and I'll let you know how I like it as soon as I decide.

On a completely different note...

I have a job interview tomorrow...and I'm pretty much freaking out.

It would be beyond amazing if I got this job.

Wish me luck!

And here is my thought for the day.

An Almost Grad

Alright, I've once again neglected to keep up to date on blogging.  I just decided that until I'm completely done with school, it will probably never happen.  Although I am pretty good at spending lots of time on Pinterest...

So, my parents flew out at the end of April for my convocation ceremony.  Hard to believe that I've already completed 4 years of college.  Oh, and that I have a bachelors degree...well, almost.

Me and mi familia outside the Mariott Center

Me and my sister.

Since I am officially done in June, there are not graduation exercises then.  So I got to choose to participate in either April or August's ceremonies.  So, naturally, I chose April.  Now I'm just working on finishing up my last few classes and I will officially have a bachelor of science degree.  Weird.

After walking across the stage.

Me and David...isn't he cute?

However, the job search is proving fruitless.

With the Y.

On a positive note, I'll be taking the GRE in August and applying to grad school shortly after.

Wish me luck.

At the Victory Bell.

The weekend of my graduation, my super cute new cousin had her baby blessing.  It was really cool to be able to be there for that.

Introducing Leah.

Too stinking cute.

So where have I been since my honeymoon??

Oh, just here and there.

I worked catching fish all summer. (Which included trips to Wyoming, Salina, UT, and Utah Lake).

David has been working at the MTC and Progrexion (the latter of which he pretty much despises, but you do what you have to I suppose).

And now we're happily back in school.  Or not so happily.  I guess it depends on the day.

However, before the onslaught of school, we took a nice weekend getaway down to Arches National Park.

Pictures will come later...I haven't uploaded them yet and I'm feeling rather lazy.

We're getting a membership to the climbing gym! Hooray! I got a beautiful pair of climbing shoes and a harness, so now we're all ready to go.  :)

It's nice to know that I'll have another thing to do when I feel like procrastinating.

School....

I'm taking 16 credits (crazy, I know) and working 15-20 hours a week.  Not terrible, just busy.  I'm still working as a research assistant, but I've also got my wonderfulamazingbestjobever TA position back for the semester.

David is only taking 6 credits (which sounds easier than it acutally is....) and working 40+ hours a week.

Needless to say, we're pretty busy people.

And yet here I am.  Wasting my time blogging.  But the worst part is, I haven't just been doing that.  Note to self: Pintrest is extremely addicting.  And before you know it you'll realize that it's 8pm and you should really be working on homework assignments.

But look at some of the way cool things that I found:

Engagement

Well, for all of you who have been waiting for this moment...it has come.

I'm officially engaged.

The next question that would come out of your mouth, if you were here next to me, would be, "How did he propose?"

I'll answer that before you have to take the time to message me or pick up your phone...

We went out to dinner. I had delicious pesto pasta and a piece of chocolate raspberry cake. Yummm! Then David made some weird random excuse to drop me off at my apartment again. After he left, I slowly made my way back to my bedroom. What did I discover?

A sign on my bedroom door with instructions and a pin. I had to pop my way through all these balloons to find the ones that were different than the rest.

In these balloons there were notes of some of David's favorite memories that we have. In the last balloon, there was a note telling me to contact one of my good friends, Wistie. Right about this point Wistie just appeared out of nowhere, which was pretty awesome. She blindfolded me and put me in her car, where we proceeded to drive in all directions and I had no clue where we were, although I did have a hunch as to where we were headed.

Eventually the car stopped, Wistie got me out of the car, took off the blindfold, and told me to go to the place where Dave first told me he loved me. So, I headed over toward the swings...

He was there with a flower and a ring. And then we were engaged...

Apparently while we were at dinner, Dave enlisted the help of friends and family to blow up all of those balloons. There were 500 of them...which is nuts.

Now that you have oohed and awed over such a cute and thoughtful engagement, the next question you probably have is when and where.

We're getting married this summer on June 11 in the Salt Lake temple.

And don't worry. If I need your help, I will let you know. :)

wedding weekend.

this weekend my cousin got married.
therefore, i got to see my dad, because he came out.
which also means that my dad and david got to meet each other.
also, i took david to the reception.
hopefully that didn't scare him too bad. :)

whew,,,

it's been a while.
sorry 'bout that my friends.
just know that i've been having a ton of fun this past month.

i started classes again on the 30th.

• Biological Diversity of Plants
• Organic Chemistry (part one)
• Introduction to GIS (Global Information Systems)
• Public Land Conservation
• The Living Prophets
• Beginning Contemporary Dance
• Intermediate Jazz Dance

yes, i'm aware of how big of a nerd i am. and i love it.

this past weekend i went with my wonderful boyfriend and his family up to bear lake.
it was beautiful, and i had a ton of fun.
i'll put up some pictures from this last month (hopefully soon...)

the other day...

...i was looking through some old photographs.
and i came across this one.

it's from virginia beach.
my senior year of high school.
on our choir trip.


it got me to thinking...
i've been stuck in provo for a pretty long time.
the beach is my favorite place in the world.
and i would much rather be there than here right now.
too bad we can't always have what we want.

camping....

this is some of the group.
we were getting food ready for hobo dinners.




the beautiful sunset.




we went cliff jumping.
this was FREAKING amazing.