HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL!

This needs no explanation except to say: High School Musical Marathon! Thanks all for making this happen.

Bear Lake!

Here are some photos of a trip to Bear Lake that Alex was nice enough to make happen.

Here are some of my favorites. My friends were kind enough to be my models.

CABIN TIME!

After graduation, the whole family, even the Texans, headed to the cabin for some fun and relaxation. Even some aunts, uncles, and cousins we able to make it. It was a great break and beginning to the summer!

Audrey's new outfit from Grandma Nedra

Ain't we cute?

the boys admiring the new addition to the family

the caretaker's cabin

what does that grin mean?

the swing is always more fun with more people

Danen impressing all with his strength

who would guess she's from Texas?

Maybe the best family photo EVER!

a few of the cousins. I promise that Logan is not trying to eat me.

Every year we take pictures for Mother's Day and this year we tried them with a twist. I'll let them speak for temselves.

GRADUMATATION!!!!!!!

So I thought I needed to give all of you an update of the last going-ons in my life! There will be mulitple posts, so get excited!

On May 8th, I officially became a GRADUATE of THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH with my BACHELOR'S DEGREE in ARCHITECTURAL STUDIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I believe those exclamation points show I feel about this fact! Most of that has to do with the fact that it took me six and a half years to get to this point. And thats not even counting the year and a half break for my mission. Yes, if you do the math that means that I have been out of high school for eight years. Thanks for rubbing that in! It has been a long process to get to this point and I'm not really sure what to do with myself at the moment. Oh, right, go back to grad school! Half of the journey is now over and it now feels wonderful to say that I actually have that little piece of paper. It may not mean much, but it has been a lifelong dream and can now be checked off my list. You know how you feel when you get to cross something off your daily list of to-dos? Well just imagine that feeling on a much bigger scale......and a much bigger to do list. That morning I opted not to go to the big University wide commencement so I didn't have to be up there til mid morning. My cute mom and I went shopping to buy a whole new outfit for me and it was so nice to actually have time to get ready! The ceremony was just the right length and since I knew just under half of everyone that graduated with me, it made it a whole lot more bearable. There are no unblurry pictures of the actual ceremony, but it felt great to walk across that stage and shake the Dean's hand! Afterwards there was a simple reception at the Architecture building where we all got to take pictures and see everyone. After a few formal and traditional pictures, my family headed off to celebrate with a lunch at CAFE TRIO! It was delicious and we got to enjoy our food in the sun on the patio. That night our family was all headed to the cabin so everyone was pretty anxious to get up there.. Overall it was a great day! Here are some pictures to catch you up on the days events!

Me & Tams

Me, Steve-O, & Enzo

Almost all the girls

I love how it looks like we are all conspiring something.....we probably were.

Christin & I

The Whole Fam...that could be there.

Just like everything else in this world, this has been a process. Little did I know two years ago that I would have gone to LA just to study schools, pulled so many all nighters, and learned so much. Architecture has always been a passion of mine and I have always known what I have wanted to study in school. None of this would have been possible if it wasn't for my parents. My father taught me to love architecture and instilled in me a sense of hard work. My mother gave me my creativity and the power to go after my dreams. Both of them taught me to try and fill the never-ending thirst for knowledge. Without their love and support I would not be where I am today and I certainly would not have my degree. Thank you for everything that borh of you do for me........usually without blinking an eye! I love you!

Hypocritic Oath

Yes that is right. I am actually posting a blog! I know, you can all grab the paper bags and start to hyperventilate! I have learned something the past couple of months......don't go on a rant about how people need to blog more often for my enjoyment if I do not plan to have the same curtosey for them. Or at least don't go on this rant if you don't want to hear about it! I am admitting it here in public that I am a hypocrit! Yes I say things and then don't comply with what I just stated. I know this about me and the first step to recovery is admitting it. I love reading blogs and spend a good chunk of my day doing so. I now promise to TRY and update my blog on a more regular basis. I say try because I can't say I will do something and then not do it, especially after this post. Please do not harrass me if I fall off the wagon, I will get back on eventually. I use school as my excuse for many things and this is one of them. Gladly school will be done soon enough....graduation is in a week.....and therefore will no longer be aloud to be an excuse...at least until next fall. This last week has been especially painful in the school department. I have spent more time there than I would like to admit or count. During this week, just like the blog, many things have been neglected. I didn't realize how ridiculous it was until after the fact. Luckily I have a very understanding roommate. It does help that she is in the program with me and therefore understands it a little bit better. Here is a little photo update on what happened......

my sad sink

my laundry and yes everything on the floor is or was actually clean

and this is a jungle of a front yard, which has now been attacked and overthrown.

and finally I wanted to give you all a little taste of where I was and what I was doing all week.

this is what the studio looks like at about 4 am during finals projects.

this is my desk as I am building my model. My grandmother sent me some tulips from her yard to brigthen up my weekend. They smelled great and it gave me a nice change of scenery!

Experience

Our project this semester for school is to design an URBAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL. The site is located downtown and will be focusing on the teachings of Montessori. This is a collage that I made of different materials that are around the site. Part of my concept has to do with the richness and experience that this site provides. I chose to represent that through displaying the materials to help show the experiences that can be had on this site. This week we are headed down to LA for a field trip. Seriously. We are going down to study buildings and walk around like a bunch of architecture nerds. Maybe I should say as instead of like. I am excited to go and not have to make any of my friends suffer the aggravating hours of me examining every building I walk past. As I looked at the itinterary, I thought to myself that even I might get bored. We are going for the purpose of studing so there is no free time, but I am really excited to do something other than sit inside the same building day after day. I am posting this for two reasons, one, I wanted to give you a warning that I am going to post lots of really nerdy facts and two, cause it has now been a month since my last post. This is pretty much getting ridiculous. Who would write about how she hates it when no one updates their blog and then become a huge hypocrite? I mean, seriously

A New Year

As a new year begins, it is customary to start it with some resolutions in mind. I have often thought about some and decided that I would persue some of them, but nothing has even been that successful. A companion of mine taught me that it isn't a goal until you write it down, so this is my attempt to keep myself in check this next year. You are also welcome to ask me about these goals and how they are coming throughout the year. It is harder to flake out on something when you have to answer for it.
I have spent the last couple of days deciding what exactly it was that I wanted to focus on this year. Many things have come to mind like: perfecting my already incredible beat boxing skills, finally learning to properly cut a bonsai tree, and my all time favorite, pick up casual swearing (thanks for the idea, Anne). While all of these are good, sound goals, I am not sure that they are the ones for me this year. Here is what I have decided to help me be just a little bit better.....


1. Get in shape.....and I am not talking about round being a shape. This has been something diffucult for me troughout my life and it is time that I get it under control. I worked out on my mission because it was a rule and I had a great motivating companion (remind me to tell you about Christmas Marathon 2004). I had never felt so good than I did when I came home from my mission except the whole not being able to understand english thing. So my specific goal is to workout five days a week. Some days may only be fifteen minutes, but I must make time for it everyday!

and we all know how poor I am.

2. Study the scriptures everyday........this is a continuing goal. I try to read the scriptures everyday even if it just a few verses. I have recently switched to reading my scriptures in english. It has been a whole new experience since I have read it in spanish for the last four years. Its incredible to learn something new when you translate it. Daily study of the scriptures and not falling asleep while doing it and not being afraid to take time to look something up for fear of not finishing a chapter.

3. Temple Attendance.....needs to increase. While on my mission I promised that I would never take advantage of the temple when I got home...oops! I need to be better and go to any and all temples that are accessible. With the opening of the Draper Temple this year, I should have even less excuses.

4. Look for new experiences.....and don't be afraid to take advantages of them. Most of my best memories is when I have attempted something new, travel to a new place, or just got out of my comfort zone. It is easier to just do the same thing all the time, but what do I learn from that? Whatever comes this next year I must take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves even if it seems scary at the beginning.

seriously something I want to do yet freaks me out.

5. Follow a generous thought.....I often think of something nice that I could do for someone else, but second guess myself for fear of looking stupid. I need to follow those thoughts and not supress an act of kindness. Take action and stop being scared that others with think I am crazy.

6. Respond to emails......I have this weird thing that once something goes into my inbox, it gets lost and never attended to. So it is now my goal to respond to my emails when they are recieved. Attached to this goal is the need for me to follow up with emails. I often tell people that I will send them something (mainly pictures) or check on something else and let them know. For some reason, I get distracted and never follow through with this. If I have promised you something and have yet to deliver, please remind me of it and I will get it taken care of. These next pictures are for my sister whom I promised that I would post these. this is my new amazing haircut and highlights
we made this for my parents this year and the texans haven't seen it yet
7. Follow this motto:.... "You can't do everything, all the time, but you can do most things, most of the time. But whatever you do, make sure you do nothing, none of the time." This motto has continued to grow and progress over the course of a couple of years and with a few different friends. Throughout different circumstances and times, I believe that this is how I want to live my life. I went through a time period when I thought I could do everything and that I was Super Woman. After a few stubborn years, I have come to realize that it isn't possible and I need to relax just a little bit more. It can't be perfect, so learn to roll with it. But no matter how crazy life gets, don't give up! This post has ended up being a little longer than I had planned, but it made me put it all into words so that these goals can be accomplished. Some are more simple while others will be a lifelong quest. I hope that all of your new year has already started off well and that it may continue. Hopefully, I will become so great at accomplishing these goals that I will find sometime to perfect the ones I mentioned at the beginning. Anyone know a good recording artist for beat boxers?