Gradumacated!

Today Brian graduated from the Nursing Program at the University of Utah! I'm so proud of him! He has worked hard to get to this point.

Here he is in his wonderful cap and gown!

Or maybe I should say my cap and gown. Yes, this is the same cap and gown I wore 3 years ago. I'm amazed that it fit him! We were both glad I still had it hanging around so we didn't have to fork out a butt load for another one.

Other exciting news... on May 1st Brian turned the big 27! Happy Birthday Hun!! And Happy Graduation!!

Green

Happy St. Patrick's Day Everyone!!

To honor St. Patrick's Day I thought I would talk a little about my favorite color... GREEN!!! Some of my favorite things in life are green! Here are a few examples:

Grass

I love grass and I'm so excited that spring is near so I can enjoy grass again!

Green Apples

To me green apples are delicious and I love them!

Forest

Most forests are gorgeous and full of green foliage. I love this picture below. If only I knew where this was.

My Green Neon

Though my Neon may not be the prettiest shade of green and it's taking on more a rust color these days, it has still been a really great car for me for almost 8 years. It is the only car I have ever owned and we have made many great memories together.

Passat

My newest favorite thing in my life that is green just happens to be a 2003 Volkswagon Passat. Though I'm sad to see my litte green Neon go I absolutely love my new Passat! I feel very spoiled driving such a nice car. Isn't it cute?!

So there you have it. Those are just a few of my favorite things that are green!! Is there anything green that you love?! Please share!

Touring Salt Lake

On Thursday I was able to get off work a little early so we decided to visit some places here in Salt Lake that we have never been to or at least haven't visited since we were little. We jumped on TRAX and headed downtown. The first place we went to was The Church Office Building. We took a tour of the lobby and then they took us up to the 26th floor. The view from up there was amazing. Here are a few pictures I captured on my phone.

The next place we toured was The Beehive House. It was really neat to see the rooms Brigham Young and his family lived in. It was a nice home and we learned a bunch of things we never knew before. For example, Brigham Young only had 11 days of formal education and a lot of the rooms in the house were added on after Brigham Young died. Here are a couple of pictures from the house.

Our next stop was The Conference Center. That building is so amazing and truly inspired. We got a tour of the inside of the building and learned neat facts about how the 21,000 chairs were installed and how much weight the main beams can hold. It's amazing. And then we went to the roof. A place we have both wanted to visit ever since the building was constructed. It was beautiful up there, even in the winter. There were running fountains everywhere and beautiful trees and a large grassy area.

It is hard to believe that most of these places we hadn't visited before even though we have lived in Utah our whole lives.

After the Conference Center we decided to get something to eat. We ended up walking almost all the way home before we decided on a Chinese Place. My feet were killing me when we got home but it was fun to visit some neat places and spend the afternoon with Brian. It is awesome living in downtown Salt Lake.

Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!

So this is pretty much the extent of my decorating this Valentine's Day. I love holiday decorations but since tuition cleaned out a bunch of our checking account I decided to stay modest on the decorations for now.

I put up a few other decorations but nothing too exciting. That one was definitely the cutest. On Valentine's Day I came home to this beautiful flower arrangement on the table.

I, like most girls, LOVE flowers!!

And if anyway knows me.... I also LOVE food!!

And of course Brian knows that and he made me a lovely, delicious, candlelit dinner to go along with those beautiful flowers! I seriously have the best husband!

Don't worry, that's just Sparkling Cider! :)

The best thing about the whole night was that I got to spend time with Brian. He has been quite busy with school lately and it was nice to just be with him.

Thanks for a wonderful Valentine's Day hun!

Awesome Shorts!!

Brian went to see a Sports Medicine doctor today about some knee troubles and they gave him these amazing shorts to wear. I just had to share a picture of them for your viewing pleasure. I'm positive they are going to become a latest trend.

More Snowshoeing

This last weekend we were invited to spend the weekend at a friend's cabin near Kamas. We were only able to stay one night but we had a great time. We arrived there just after dark and after a great dinner we went for a night time stroll with our snowshoes. There was barely a moon that night and the stars were amazing. Living in a big city has made me almost forget how many stars there are in the sky. It was beautiful. On our way back to the cabin Brian and I decided to race down a hill. Half way down I tripped and went flying onto my stomach disappearing into a magical poof of snow. Brian won the race of course. :)

The next day we went on another hike. It was surprisingly warm, a definite warning that a storm was brewing. We had to keep peeling off layers as to not overheat. But it was a beautiful hike. This is a picture of Brian, Arne and Brannon in front of the cabin before our hike.

And me with my awesome snowshoes!

We were definitely amongst good company and we were glad we were able to spend the weekend with good friends.

Now to back track a little bit, the week after Christmas our good friends Mandy and Andy came out and spent an evening with us. We went to dinner and then took Trax down to Temple Square to see the lights. It was the night that we had a huge snow storm so were glad we didn't have to drive to Temple Square and find somewhere to park.

It was definitely cold that night but the lights were beautiful. And, of course, more good times with friends. We can't get enough of that.

New Year's Eve

Well the New Year is here whether we were ready for it or not! I can't believe that it is already 2011. Our New Year was not very eventful this year, which we are grateful for. Last year was eventful enough. We spent New Year's Eve and New Year's day with family which was a lot of fun and relaxing at the same time.

We did take advantage of the little time off we had from work and school. Last summer Brian went to one of Sport's Authority's huge sales and he purchased snowshoes for super cheap. So in the morning on the 31st we decided to finally try them out and go snowshoeing. The fun thing about that is that the first time we went snowshoeing together was on New Year's Eve 3 years ago. Nifty, eh?

We went up Big Cottonwood Canyon and found a trail near The Spruces. It was about 9 degrees that morning so we bundled up the best we could. Let's just say that hand warmers are amazing!

It was beautiful up there.

The trail we went on ended up leading to a bunch of cabins.

So we did some exploring and found a deck. You can see what that lead to.

We had a lot of fun running down hills, pushing each other down and as you saw, jumping off of a deck. And of course making fun of each other because we often looked ridiculous trying to get up out of the deep snow. Here, you can see for yourself.

Look how cute he is.

Brian had pretty awesome hair when we got back to the car. I had to take a picture.

I stayed bundled till about the time we got home.

If anyone wants to go snowshoeing with us sometime just let us know.