New Years Resolution Report for January

Ok so my New Years Resolution was to exercise and eat healthier. Then Blake decided that he wanted to join in on the fun so we ordered the best workout videos ever called P90X. They are some of the hardest workouts I have ever done in my life but I have already seen awesome results. For the first time in my life I have arm muscles or any muscles at all...I have to say it is pretty cool. There are three phases and Blake and I have almost finished Phase 1. Let's just say we are hardcore. Anyways one of my main fitness goals for the month was to lose 10 pounds I didn't lose all of it but I lost 9 pounds so I think that is good enough : ) but I have been working out six days a week so if I didn't see any kind of results I was going to be pretty ticked. School is boring as usual and work is good. I am definitely ready for some warm summer temperatures though...I'm tired of wearing fuzzy boots everyday...

I workout with these people everyday...like I said I am hardcore...haha



Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Blake and I had a great semester and have enjoyed our nice break including a wonderful Christmas. I can't believe 2010 has come and gone! Time continues to fly by faster and faster with each coming year but
here is a list of a few important moments that happened this past year....

• I officially left teenagehood behind and turned the big 2-0!
• Blake and I celebrated our first year wedding anniversary!
• I finally went and saw the Grand Canyon...it wasn't nearly as interesting as I thought it would be...
• Blake got an internship in Boston and we had an amazing summer there.
• I saw the most amazing fireworks ever for the Fourth of July
• Blake and I completed another year of school (all straight As except for one B+ on my part)
• I am now a senior in college and only have two semesters left.. AHH!
• My big brother came back from Afghanistan and never has to go back again : )
• My big sister got officially engaged!
• I left a miserable stint at JC Penney's behind and I now work at good ole BYU again
• I finally completed a real academic internship at the Museum of Peoples and Cultures...woo hoo!
• I tried snowboarding for the first time...
• I finally got Blake a present that he actually liked...I was really beginning to feel like Claire from Modern Family
• I have now driven almost all of I-80 from California to New York
• Blake and I have been together over two years now!
• Blake and I had our first Christmas all by ourselves...

Ok, so it might not sound all that exciting but that's what happened this year. I will try to be better about keeping up with the blog this year....along with my other resolutions for 2011!

Some girls should not drive...

Yeah so last weekend some chick ran a stop sign and hit Blake...he was fine but she hurt our car (over 1,300 dollars hurt) so right now it is getting fixed. Thank goodness she has insurance and was fully liable : ) So instead of our little car we have been driving a rental truck which makes Blake feel more masculine and makes me more nervous..it is sooo big! But it has been kind of fun to take a little car "vacation!"

Yeah so I am a negligent blogger...

Ok so I have not been on here in forever! Over the summer in Boston I had so much extra time to keep up with everything but with school and work things are much busier. Blake and I are doing really well in our classes so that is good...I even have a solid A in stats which was the class I was super worried about so that has been a pleasant surprise : ) My job is custodial which can be kind of sucky at times but the crew is awesome and I never have to work on the weekends which is a double bonus. It is already  half way through the semester which is crazy, time goes by so fast when you are in school. I only have two semesters left of school after this one which is doubly crazy! I have to say I am very excited to be finished and move on to new adventures but I am trying to enjoy school as much as I can. I am doing a three credit internship with the Museum this fall so that has been fun and it counts towards my history elective credit so I only need one more elective history class after this fall. I have been working on a interesting collections project which has been fun and I think I am going to take a museum methodology course during winter semester. My favorite class this semester has actually been New Testament...my teacher is awesome and has really amazing insights on the scriptures so it has been really great. My Jewish history class has also been really interesting but everyone who knows me knows how much I love the Jews...haha. Anyways though things have just been busy...the hubby and I hardly see each other : ( but Thanksgiving is coming up soon and then Christmas break! Blake is going to a linguistics conference in Denver next week for four days...it will be the first time we have been away from each other since we met (so over two years!) but I will survive...I hope!

School...

Yeah so I don't know how it is possible after two years that I still forget at the beginning of each semester how much reading and homework school requires! Thankfully I am only taking 12 credit hours which makes things a lot less stressful than last semester but it still sucks. At the same time though it is good to be back in the crazy swing-of-things. As you all know I am super impatient and I get bored easily so school is a good thing for me : ) I also got a new job on campus as an evening custodian in three of the off-campus buildings (we rotate every couple of weeks). My boss is super hilarious and the crew is nice and drama-free...something JCPenney's greatly lacked. So even though I have to clean again it is way less dirty than my job in the kitchen and has great hours (no Saturdays or Sundays : ) so I am really happy with it. Blake is still working at JCP unfortunately, but the continued discount on clothes is a major plus. Poor Blake has super hard classes this semester but he has got to push forward so he can get those grades for grad. school! He is very, very smart though so I am sure he will pass with flying colors. Oh did I mention that Blake and I have cut way back on eating out...only two times in two weeks...this is a big step for us on our path to becoming responsible adults!

We're Back!

So we completed the 40 hour drive back to Provo yesterday afternoon. We drove the first 35 hours straight so it was pretty crazy but it was worth it to save an extra day or two so we could get settled in before school starts. This summer went by so fast I can't even believe it! We did soooo much and it was such a blast minus a few annoyances (like our landlady in Boston...who was crazy weird). Now we just have to get everything unpacked and then we start school. It is hard for me to believe that this is my third year of college and Blake and I have been married for almost a year and a half...crazyness...time really does fly!

Thoughts...

Ok so it is a little after one in the morning and for some reason I can't sleep even though I have to get up and go to work in the morning. I can't stop thinking about how this is our last week in Boston and soon we will back on the road to return to Provo. After the 40 hour drive we then have to move into our apartment (thankfully someone was finally willing to work with us : ) and then we have to find jobs and get everything ready for school which starts the 30th! So as you can tell I have a lot on my mind. However, even though this summer has been a crazy whirlwind I am really glad that we decided to come to Boston and do something different. Blake has been able to beef up his resume with his legal internship and I have had a lot of time to explore the city and see if we could handle living here in a couple of years if Blake decides to go to law school in the area. This summer has also given me time to reflect on my life and the path that I am on. When I tell people my age along with the fact that I am married and have moved all over the country in the past couple of years they look at me like I am crazy and tell me that they couldn't do it themselves. I am glad that I am able to step outside of my comfort zone and go to places that are unfamiliar and do new things on my own. I think it is good to get outside of your comfort zone because it forces you to grow...something my stubborn personality often tries to stifle. I am just so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ which allows me to have faith that I can achieve anything I want to if I set my mind to it and allows that growth to happen. I know I often take for granted the many blessings and opportunities that the Lord has given me in my life but I am very grateful for them and I want to take full advantage of all that He has given me. I am also so grateful for my wonderful husband and all the sacrifices that he makes for me. He is such a wonderful person and the longer we are together the more I love and respect him. Well those are just the things I have been thinking about...maybe I will be able to go to sleep now...

Maroon 5 happiness!!

My husband is the best!

So Blake surprised me with an an amazing Maroon 5 concert this past Monday! He had told me to take off work that night a couple weeks in advance but refused to tell me what we were actually doing just that it was a special FHE. Turns out he had been planning to take me to the concert for a whole month! I had no idea until we were right outside the venue in South Boston...I just thought we were going to this good seafood place which is conveniently right next to the venue. On the marquee I saw that it said Maroon 5 and Owl City and got super pumped. What an awesome surprise! Blake always plans the best surprises for me! Now I just have to come up with an epic surprise for him. Any ideas? Anyways though the concert was awesome and we had a blast! Then yesterday  Blake took off work and we went to Cape Cod finally. It was a beautiful sunny day...the water was icy cold but still bearable to swim in...however I did get an intense sunburn but I'm so white I figured that I would. Cape Cod is really pretty but it is always busy. The beaches and roads were super full even on a Wednesday! But we still had fun...plus we got to eat Taco Bell on the way home which was exciting (Taco Bells along with other normal restaurants are hard to find around Boston). We only have ten more days in Boston before we leave : ( Although it is sad I'm ready to start school again and get things back to normal...now we just have to find an apartment and jobs back in Provo...fun right?

Latest update...

So I haven't been on here for a couple of weeks. Not much has happened since then...I have been getting more hours at Macy's so I have been keeping myself a little more busy than I had been. I did a couple more cool things around the city...I went to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum which is a very eccentric art museum and the Arnold Arboretum. However it would have been more fun if I hadn't been by myself : (  Blake and I finally had real whole lobsters...it was exciting they are really hard to eat  though (thick shell) and most of the lobster is gross green stuff which was kind of disappointing. Blake and I also went to a great Jack Johnson concert which was much needed after the basement we are staying in flooded after some crazy torrential rain earlier in the day. I read a book for fun called Water for Elephants which was a good summer read and I found out that they are already making a movie of the book. I have also been watching way too many shows on Hulu like True Beauty (trashy reality TV), Pretty Little Liars (decently trashy as well), Make It or Break It (only a tiny bit trashy) and America's Got Talent (pretty free of trash except for Howie's occasional sexual innuendos)...summer TV is the worst because although the story lines are over dramatic and really fake (and they amount to the equivalent of brain vomit) they are so addicting! But hey at least I have tried to balance the TV with some cultural uplift. Oh yeah I cut 6 inches off my hair! I have been saying I am going to cut my hair short for the past year and I finally did so woo hoo for me being able to become unattached! Wow reading this post makes me realize that I need to start school again...

Hot! Hot! Hot!

Yeah so the last couple of days it has been blazing hot! I have wanted to go out and do more things in the city but it's miserable! Oh well at least I am finally working now...I had my first day on the sales floor at Macy's today and I work again tomorrow. I'm so thankful for AC! Blake's internship is going great he actually gets to do real work with the legal team instead of just getting coffee the whole time he is there so he has been getting so great experience. I am so proud of him! He is so smart and such a hard worker and I don't know how I ever got so lucky to be his wife : ) Well we have been able to do some more fun things since the last time I was on here. We went to our first Red Sox game which was so much fun even though Blake and I aren't huge baseball people. In fact, we are going to another game in August before we leave! We went to Lexington, Concord,  and Salem which were not as cool as we thought they were going to be but fun nonetheless. Plus it's just cool to say that you have been to the places where so many important things happened! For the fourth of July we went to the dress rehearsal for the Boston Pops Fireworks Spectacular...it was fun but crowded by obnoxious old people...so he left at intermission. On the actual day of the fourth we went to church in the morning in our beautiful new building in Cambridge (I love morning church so much better than in the afternoon!) and then we grilled out and had some new friends from church come over. Then that evening we went and saw fireworks which were the best I have ever seen in my life! We were right by he water so we had a great view (they shoot them off from a barge on the Charles River). I had never seen such amazing fireworks in real life so it was a blast (literally...haha)! I will try to keep the blog updated on our Boston adventure!

Boston!

So a lot has happened in the last month. Blake got an internship with the legal team at the Massachusetts School Building Authority in Boston. It was sort of last minute but within two or three weeks we packed up our apartment, put everything in storage and headed out by car to Boston! It has definitely been a whirlwind but we love the neighborhood that we are living in and the family who were are renting a basement from are really nice! I have been looking for a job the past week and half so I will not go completely insane this summer and thankfully I was offered a position at Macy's earlier this week! The city is beautiful....very expensive...but beautiful! We live in Cambridge just a few minutes from Harvard so it has been fun to walk around the campus and all the surrounding shops and restaurants. There is also a train station there which makes it really easy to go downtown. Oh yeah did I mention that people drive CRAZY here? Thank goodness for public transportation because I am way too chicken to drive around here! Anyways Blake and I have had fun visiting all the sites and museums (my favorite : ) and we look forward to what the rest of this summer will bring...including our first Red Sox game this coming Wednesday!

It finally feels like summer!

So today it finally got up to 80 degrees which was super exciting considering it has only been in the 60s at the most and we still had snow a couple of weeks ago. Although it is starting to get a little cloudy now it is still a nice temperature. I had a nice relaxing weekend. Blake and I finally got to have a normal date night on a Friday! We went to the Olive Garden and then went and saw Robin Hood which ended up being really good! Blake and I were also both off on Sunday (finally) so that was nice as well. Our ward is so much smaller now that so my people have moved out but in a way I kind of like it better because you are able to get to know people better. Other than that this weekend was pretty boring. On Friday I continued one of my projects as the Museum and interviewed the Director and I learned a lot about the collections and the history of the Museum which was really interesting. Other than that I am pretty boring....hah.

Movies

Although I worked all weekend I forgot to mention that Blake and I along with our friends Neil and Kilee saw Iron Man 2 late Saturday night. The storyline wasn't as good as the first one but it was still really fun and entertaining...the movie theater we were in though was really, really loud and it blasted my ears in some of the the intense action scenes. Roger Ebert gave it a B and I usually agree with what he has to say about movies and I give it about the same rating. The movie I am really excited to see is Robin Hood. It stars Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett so it has to be good...well hopefully.

Rain, Rain Go Away!

Yeah so it is almost halfway through May but it is still rainy and cold : ( I'm so ready for summer to finally come to Provo! This last weekend was so long! I had to work everyday including Mother's Day so I basically felt like I never left JCPenneys. However, my internship at the Museum is going well...I have been doing more research on the objects that I am going to include in the exhibit case and I have found out some pretty cool stuff...especially about the little cylinder seals from Mesopotamia which are around 3,000 years old! I really like the future idea of working at a museum and I'm pretty positive that is what I want to do for my graduate studies. Oh yeah a Winco opened near Lindon and I am so excited to have a cheaper grocery store that has a much bigger variety...I went shopping last night and was so psyched! I guess that's when you know you are married when you get excited about a grocery store opening...haha.

I wish I could figure out how to do the slideshow on here!

Zion National Park and Grand Canyon!

     So this weekend we were finally able to get away and go down to Zion for some camping and hiking. The weather was perfect for hiking during the day and we had a great time. We hiked Angel's Landing which was a blast since it had been forever since I have been down there and Blake had never been. The hike was a lot more intense than I remembered. I forgot that for a mile of the hike you have a 1,000 foot drop on one side or both sides with a trail only three to four feet wide (or less) and you have to hold onto to chains or you risk falling to your death. However, we made it to the top which gives you an awesome view of the canyon below. I was so proud of Blake because he has a little fear of heights but he did great and made it to the top! However, it was a little nerve racking on the way down since we found out at the summit that someone died last week on the trail but we completed the hike without any problems. We also did a couple other trails that Saturday...we went on the Watchmen Trail, the Riverside Walk, and the Weeping Rock Trail (about 10-12 miles altogether). I'm still a little sore after all that hiking but it was worth it.
     On Sunday we decided to go down to the Grand Canyon since neither of us have been. We had to take a little bit of a detour because the North Rim was closed due to snow so we had to go around the canyon to the South Rim. The view was amazing but it was really cold and it was snowing off and on while we were there (but we a little over 7,000 ft so we should have expected it). I wish we could have gone on a hike into the canyon but we were both a little tired and the weather was great for hiking so we started heading back. We stayed the night near Lake Powell which was another site I had never seen. Southern Utah and Northern Arizona have such amazing scenery it was great to finally see more of it. I wish we had longer to poke around but its good to be home too. My internship at the Museum is going great and I'm working on some cool projects including an Ancient Near Eastern exhibit case so it will be fun to get back to that this week. We are so blessed to be able to do so many amazing things!

So over the weekend Blake and I celebrated our first anniversary by going up to South Jordan and eating at the Market Street Grill. The food was amazing! They have the freshest seafood I have ever had in Utah...I had some type of fish fillet (steelhead?) and Blake had this cajun fettuccine with shrimp and scallops. For dessert we had this amazing raspberry almond torte which had two layers of sponge cake on top and bottom, filled with pastry cream and fresh berries...soooo good! Blake got me a bouquet of pink and red roses and a card. He also got me an electric toothbrush...something I have wanted forever! (I know it sounds dorky). He is so sweet and spoils me too much. We had such a good time! I can't believe we have been married a year...time flies when you are having fun I guess...haha. The weather has been beautiful the last couple of days so I hope it stays that way for the rest of the week so our trip to Zion National Park will be enjoyable...I've been getting so psyched to camp and hike this weekend!

We will celebrate our first year wedding anniversary on Saturday, April 24th. This first year of marriage has gone by so quickly I can hardly believe it. Blake is such a wonderful man and I am so lucky to be married to him. I love him so much!

Winter Semester is Over!

Wow so I haven't been on here for forever like I predicted but I have been so busy the last month it has been hard to find time to sit down keep up on this blog. However, now the crazy semester of five history classes is over and I will have a couple of months to relax a little bit. I'll still be working at JCP and starting as an intern at the Museum of People and Cultures this coming Tuesday but I won't have that enormous reading and writing load that I've had the last couple of months. I'm really proud of myself that I still pulled out As and Bs this semester... some of my classes were really hard and they were all very demanding. Anyways now I am just getting excited to work at the museum and finally get a little bit of experience. The Curator of Education already has some projects lined up for me including some that have to do with Egypt so I'm getting pumped. It looks like my Ancient Near East emphasis is actually going to be of some use to me. Today though I am just relaxing and I might attempt to catch up on some cleaning...but we'll see about that.

New Blog

New Blog!
So I have been trying to find a way to keep in touch with family and friends other than using Facebook which drives me crazy! So although I have been resisting starting a blog, I think it is time to try it out and see how it goes. I thought I wouldn't start one until we had kids but hey there is some pretty exciting things going on right now in our lives and we definitely keep busy!