Curtains

One of the projects that I worked on with my mom in Wisconsin was curtain's for Jared's room. We found the fabric and the fringe at separate stores, so it was AWESOME to have them work so well together!

Also, to my fellow Wymount-ers, I put up the curtains using a kit that came with magnetic brackets and a longer cafe style rod. The curtains are high enough, so I am not worried about any cute babies pulling on them.

Wisconsin!!!!

I just got back from spending the past few weeks in Wisconsin with my family and it was wonderful. I spent a lot of the time at home working on different projects. Now I have inherited a fault from my ancestors and it is that I forget to take pictures, so I didn't document all of the events, but I do have a few token pictures (also supplemented by Carrie).
One really shocking thing I experienced is seeing my little brother Peter- he's grown up quite a bit since the last time I saw him!

Dad and Mom with Hunter

These pictures are from the few minutes before my older brother Joseph's convocation ceremony at Notre Dame started. (No, I didn't go to commencement where Obama spoke.) I hadn't seen their family for almost a year and a half! I am so proud of what they've all accomplished in that time. Joe is now a master of business administration, they have a new son, Sawyer can almost read (or at least memorize some Dr. Seuss), and Carrie is a super-mom. Impressive, huh?
Here's a picture of us after the ceremony


While Dad and Carrie went to the commencement, I got to play being a mom with Hunter and it went pretty well!


Also, during our weekend in South Bend, we had one of the best meals of my life. It was an authentic Amish meal. We went to a farmhouse where a family cooks for customers to make extra money. There was fresh bread, potato salad, noodles, stuffing, corn, fried chicken, ham and pies. It was delicious and such a fun cultural experience.

I was able see lots of people as there were a few fun events happening in my home ward. A young man got his Eagle Scout award, a family moved out and had an open house and one of my friends got home from his mission. So other people threw parties and had amazing food and I socialized with a lot of old friends.
I went to the movies (not dollar theater!) a couple of times. I saw Angels and Demons and also Night at the Museum 2. Both were great in very different ways.
I got to do some gardening with my family. In Wisconsin, Memorial Day weekend is when everyone does their planting because there is very little chance of frost after that. We did some planters, the vegetable garden, and also we did a fairy garden (tiny plants and statues and little rock paths) for the kids. My family, most especially my mom, is into gardening. So here are some shots of the yard:






I tried my hand at gardening before my trip and all my indoor plants died. I was glad to find out that my green-thumbed mother also had poor luck with indoor plants.
Like I said, I am not a very faithful photographer, so dear sister Ruth is not pictured, nor is 95% of the people I visited with. C'est la vie.
I went alone, while Ken stayed and made the money at his new internship at L-3 in Salt Lake. He didn't hardly have any fun while I was gone, except for his camping trip (which he should blog about later). Here he is in his engineering uniform!


My trip was very refreshing and I wouldn't trade it back, but I am sure glad to be home with this stud!

32 weeks

Today is 8 weeks away from my due date! It is both a very long and a very short amount of time. Luckily, I still have a lot to do to get ready for little Jared!

22nd Birthday

Friday was my birthday and it was a wonderful day. This is probably the last birthday I could spend reading all day long! We celebrated by going out to eat at PF Chang's, one of our favorite restaurants. Before dinner, Ken finally gave me the surprise present he has been taunting me with and hiding for two months.

It was a Chinese puzzle box to add to my box collection with a lovely necklace inside!

The next day, Annalisa and Vance came over and brought cake (German Chocolate is my favorite). Thanks to everyone who made this day special!

Fried

Yesterday my computer blew up a little. I was plugging a USB in and sparks erupted from the port. Ken is working on fixing it. So I probably won't be posting as much in the near future.

But I do know I'm due for a pregnancy update so hopefully get that done soon!

Anniversary

Ken and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary this weekend. We didn't do much on Sunday (even though that is the actual date) because of our obligations at church and with friends. Monday, we worked in the morning and then went shopping for and cooked dinner together. It was quite possibly the best meal that has ever graced out kitchen. We had leg of lamb, a bleu cheese and asparagus salad, a pesto tortellini salad and sparkling cider. We didn't take a picture of it because we were too hungry!
Also, as an anniversary present, Ken gave us a VCR. We have a few VHS tapes, so we chose one to watch. We watched Much Ado About Nothing, a favorite of mine. For those of you who haven't seen it I do recommend it (there is some nudity, so get an edited version so you don't have to worry about fast forwarding). It has excellent acting and is one of my favorite Shakespearean comedies.
To sum it all up- Ken and I are not only still in love, but more so than we were 733 days ago!

Graduation Weekend

I graduated last weekend! My parents and Ken's parents all came out to see me walk. Commencement was Thursday afternoon and convocations was early Friday morning. Fortunately, Ken volunteered to drive me so I could line up by 7am. The speeches were all wonderful and really convinced me that this was a big deal.
Because our parents were in town, we got to go out to eat a couple of times too! We went to Tucanos and the Bombay House, both of which I recommend for the great food and wonderful customer service. Other events include dinner at my Aunt's house, Dad and Ken's hike up Rock Canyon, a wedding Saturday morning, a tour of the Museum of Art and a fair amount of shopping.

Finished!!!

I am completely finished with my formal education! I'm graduating with a BS in Communication Disorders (aka Audiology and Speech Language Pathology). It has been a wonderful experience and I am very grateful to BYU. I really have seen that BYU is doing all that it can to enhance each student's experience and provide exceptional opportunities. I've been able to take part in many of these:

• Study abroad
• Teaching assistantship
• ORCA (Office of Research and Creative Activities) grant
• Academic Conference (Society for the Interdisciplinary Study of Social Imagery)
• Clinical observation hours

While I am really excited to have finished, I am also going to miss taking classes and the buzz of energy on campus. I certainly have not and will not stop learning because of the excitement for discovery that I've learned here.
I love the Y!!!