Goodbye Provo

In the middle of December I had my last day at work and we packed up and said goodbye to Provo.  We've left Provo many times, but we've always come back.  It felt weird great knowing that our time there was coming to an end.  We enjoyed Provo- it's where we met, made many fun memories, and met wonderful friends that we hope to always keep in touch with!  But we've both been living in Provo for a while now and we were ready to move on.

                                                       P caught gaming rather than packing

Leaving work was bitter sweet for me.  I started as an intern at Utah Valley University, in their Wellness programs, back in the Fall of 2009.  I worked there from Sept-Dec and then we moved to California for 6 months.

I was lucky enough to come back and finish my internship there, in Sept 2010. In Dec, my internship hours were finished and I started working there part-time.  I've been at UVU, working in their Wellness Programs, since then and it has been a great job.

I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to use my degree to educate the students and faculty at UVU about health and wellness.  One of my favorite things that I had the opportunity to do there was coach clients in Intuitive Eating.  It was so rewarding to work with someone and watch them make a behavior change.

I'm grateful to my boss, Amy, who was always so flexible (letting me leave in the summer, work from Arkansas, come back to UVU, etc) and I'm grateful to have met a great friend there, my co-worker Becca- I already miss her tons!

                            Last day of work :(                                                           Amy, me, Becca

My College Grad

Between Christmas, moving, and BYU not having a commencement ceremony for December grads,  I feel like P's graduation from BYU was a little unnoticed.  Thought I better at least document it on our blog!

P has graduated with his bachelors in Finance from the BYU Marriott School of Business.  I'm so proud of him for all of his hard work and determination to finish and do well in school.

Did you know he almost chose to study pre-med and become a doctor?  Before his mission he took a bunch of courses (at Snow College, University of Utah, and Iowa Sate) to go the pre-med route.  After his mission, he decided do pursue a different career path, and chose business.  His decision to study business (along with his decision to attend BYU after his mission) added a couple of years to his college experience, but we're happy he chose the course he did.  And I'm so happy he came to BYU so we could meet!

Congrats babe! No more studying from 8am-11pm in the Tanner (I'm not sure who is more excited about this one, me or him!) 

 Love you P!

Toffee Christmas Tradition

I wrote this post for my best friend Synth, to post on her awesome blog called Igniting Creativity.  She posts recipes and other fun ideas from people who have ignited creativity in her (such a fun idea for a blog).  She asked me to write about a favorite recipe of mine and tell who has ignited creativity in me.  I decided to post what I wrote on my blog too because I want my posterity to know that this toffee is a Christmas tradition.

Toffee

 (don't be mislead by the name! If you are like me and you don't enjoy traditional toffee, the kind that's super hard and crunchy, don't worry, this does not taste like that, I promise!)

Heat oven to 400 degrees.
Line a large cookie sheet with foil.  Heavily grease foil with lots of butter.
Line cookie sheet with saltine crackers, salt side up.

Mix the following together in a saucepan, then cook on medium/high until it comes to a boil.  Boil for 2 minutes.  Stirring constantly.
1 cup real butter (no substitutions)
1 cup brown sugar

Pour the above mixture over the crackers, spread around (it will start to thicken).
Put in oven for 5 minutes (watch it because you don't want the crackers to brown too much on the edges or burn).  Remove and cool for a second.
Pour 1 bag of chocolate chips (I use less than 1 bag) on top and spread around until all the crackers have chocolate on them.
Put sliced almonds or any kind of nut you like on top. (optional)
Let cool (place in freezer or outside if you're in a hurry) and then break up the crackers into small pieces.

I chose this recipe because it reminds me of Christmas time and my mom.  I remember helping my mom make this recipe every Christmas.  She taught me how to make it (even though it's super easy) and we gave it away to neighbors and friends.  That is, if I didn't eat all of it!  It's super addicting!  

My mom has ignited creativity in me by always encouraging me to "Dream Big."  She always taught me that I can do anything I set my mind to-- which I actually learned was true in college!  She was right, but moms are always right, right?  And although I wouldn't consider myself a very creative person, I truly believe (thanks to her) that I can achieve any dream I have- with hard work and determination, of course!

Here's to our future!

After months of interviews (this whole process started in September), with ten different companies, we finally decided on a company!  

It's definitely not who we thought P would be working for- but we've learned that life often surprises you and this was definitely a surprise (a good surprise).  And even though this company wasn't on our radar at first (he almost turned down the fly out interview,  so glad he didn't!) we feel very blessed to be a part of a great company and to have a secure future.

Come June - yes he doesn't start until June! - we will be calling Michigan home, Midland Michigan to be exact.

And P will be working for......

DOW Chemical!

We are both so happy to finally know where and what we will be doing.  I decided it was necessary that we celebrate by toasting to our future, with a little sparkling cider, of course.

Notice anything funny out this first picture?

We had to do a re-do photo the next day because I forgot to draw the letters backward so they would spell DOW instead of WOD! oops!

That's better! 

Since we have a few months until we start we'll be vacationing on a tropical island until June......ha! I wish! This was my idea, but I was informed by P that unfortunately we don't have enough money for that!  But we are hoping to visit Thailand for a bit before P starts work (we've been planning this for a while and are happy that it seems to be working into our plans just right).

We'll also be moving back to Centerville to live with my parents until we start in June.  I'll be working for my Dad, and P will be studying and prepping for the GMAT/hopefully finding some kind of work to keep him saine.

We are so so excited for this next chapter in our life.

Life Lately

Thanksgiving break came and went, but it was such a nice break!  Here's a best and worst of the thanksgiving break and the first weeks of December.
Best
-stuffing ourselves with thanksgiving yumminess
-sleeping in and working out all but one or maybe two days (quite an achievement for me since I usually don't work out on vacation)
-spending time with family, visiting with my mom's sister, Lisa, who came into town to see Grandma for the last time (we hardly see her or her family since they live in Alabama)
-going to the movies with some of the fam, saw Hugo, a great family feel-good film!
-helping Mom decorate the christmas tree
-a quick catch-up with a best friend
-hanging with Melis, who was in town
-shellac gel nails with my aunts and cousin nicki, awesome
-watching Matt perform in RENT- he's a superstar, he had 5 or more parts and he did all the costumes for the show
-finally deciding what job P will be working for and where we will be living!!!!


Worst
-getting a call late saturday night that Grandma was possibly dying.  She didn't end up passing, but we hope she will soon since she's not doing well and we don't want her to suffer any longer
-having to come back to provo/real life after vacation
-the crazy wind storm that hit Bountiful and my hometown Centerville, 102 mile per hour winds, lots of damage and the city is practically tree-less. Well at least when it came to pine trees, those suckers just seem to blow right on over, roots and everything, when you get a lot of wind! 

movie time, 3D style

matt and jod

after Matt's performance

This was just the damage near our house. Our back fence was missing some panels, and the huge tree next door blew over.  There was a lot more damage spanning Bountiful and Centerville that I wanted to photograph but didn't get the chance, so crazy!