Vacation from school!!

Well the last two and a half weeks have been so great. I forgot what it was like to be able to do whatever I wanted, when I wanted and not feel guilty for not doing homework. :) But these last few weeks have reminded me of how much I am going to love being done with school. Although I must say that I have loved school so far. There are aspects that I could do without (papers, more papers, projects, tests, late nights, pointless reading, etc.). But I do love all of the learning. I have learned more useful information in 2 semesters of grad school than I ever learned in 4 years of undergrad. Go figure!

Anyway, so I decided to take advantage of this rare break from school and do some fun stuff. It all started with going to Moab with some friends a few weeks ago. It was actually the weekend before my final presentation in school, but close enough. It was beautiful and I had a blast. I did forget sunscreen on two parts of my body, and they weren't very happy with me. The back of my right arm and the part in my hair. Oh well. On the way home we stopped at Dead Horse Point State Park and drove around.

Dead Horse State Park

Then after school got out I went to the tulip festival at Thanksgiving Point. I love flowers and Spring, so this was a wonderful combination. The weather was perfect and I was in heaven.

Beautiful flowers!

Then last week I went to the Lifehouse/Daughtry concert. Lifehouse is my favorite band of all time, so needless to say, I pretty much lost my voice when they were performing. And Daughtry was ok. They are good entertainers, but they are just so loud and pretty hard live. I had a hard time even hearing Chris' voice when he sang. But overall, it was a wonderful concert. The day after the concert I took the morning off and went to get pedicures and go out to breakfast with two of the people that I went to the concert with. It was great!

A pre-concert s.p.

The four of us waiting for Lifehouse to come out!

I didn't get a good picture of the bands at the concert (I need a much better camera)! But here is a video of Lifehouse on a morning show in Salt Lake the day of the concert.

This week has mostly been nice and relaxing. On Tuesday I went to the temple with my sister. It was the 8 year anniversary of when I went to the temple to receive my endowment! :) I have only been able to go back on the same day a couple of times in the last 8 years, but I love it when I do. It makes me so happy. And it was great to go with my sister. She wasn't endowed when I went though, so she wasn't there. Maybe by the time my ten year anniversary is here, all of my family will be endowed. That will be great! I was going to try to find a picture of me when I went through, but I haven't had time. So just imagine me 8 years ago with really long curly hair (it was permed) :) And it was a lot more blond. And I was skinnier and tougher (I had taken a weight lifting class that semester in college)!

And finally, I am attending BYU's women's conference. Today was the first day. This is my third year going, and I just love it. Each year the talks that I go to are exactly what I need to hear. Sister Julie Beck spoke this morning and talked about finding out what our mission is in life. I love her! And that was sort of a theme for the other sessions that I attended. I am very excited to go back tomorrow.

On a random note, I just love Josh Groban. A friend of mine just found out and sent me this video last night. This would very much be me if this ever happened to me, but with probably a lot more hyperventilating. :) And this is my favorite song! So enjoy!

92 years old

My grandma at her 90th Birthday party.

Yesterday my dear sweet Great-Grandma turned 92 years old!

This year is a little bit different. She had a stroke a few months ago and the recovery has been very slow. One of the hardest things in my life is for me to see my grandparents get older. I don't like it! She is my last great-grandparent alive. And for someone whose last great-great grandma died when I was 14, it is really weird to only have one great-grandparent still alive. But I am not complaining, I have been very blessed in my life!

Back to my grandma. She is the funniest and sweetest lady. The first time I saw her after her stroke, she was trying to remember who I was and finally she said, "You aren't married are you?" When I told her that I wasn't, she patted my hand and said "Bless your heart! I have 4 granddaughters who aren't married." I just had to laugh. Of all the things that she could have remembered about me, the fact that I am not married was the first one that came to her mind. Then the next time I saw her, she once again made a comment about me not being married and she blessed my heart again. I can see what is really important to her. :) But hey, I can use all of the blessings she wants to send my way!

One of the sweetest memories that I have of my grandma recently was at my cousin's baptism in February. I was sitting next to my grandma in the chapel. Near the end of the meeting, we sang "I Am A Child Of God". Since the stroke my grandma hasn't been able to read and like I said, her memory isn't too great. But she remembered and sang every word of that song! Whenever I sing that song again, I will always remember that experience. Singing about how we are all children of God and that he loves us, while holding the hand of my great-grandma.

Happy Birthday Grandma! I love you!