The Birthday Party

This year my birthday was kind of a bust. I had my first section of the CPA exam two days later so I was madly cramming all the last minute details into my head. Also, Nathan, his mom, and his two sisters were all working at Rock City all day everyday that weekend because it was Hoop Fest. Which for those who don't know is a giant 3 on 3 basketball tournament where people come from all over to play. My father-in-law, Nicholas and I went down one of the days to check it out and watch a family friend play. I love basketball and people watching so I got the best of both worlds all in one day. I forget that I'm not in Utah anymore and you get a much different mix of people outside of the bubble.

Anyways, because we were all so busy for my birthday we postponed the celebration until the night after my exam. I assumed this celebration was simply going to be my choice of dinner. Which turns out wasn't simple at all because I gave my in-laws a list of potential food choices and they made lettuce wraps, chicken/bacon fried rice, and sesame chicken. With chocolate covered strawberries and tres leches for dessert. I love, love, love having married into a family that has amazing cooks. Their fried rice is one of my all time favorite foods ever with their sesame chicken hitting a close second. I was incredibly spoiled.

Having thought my birthday celebration was concluded, I went downstairs to lay down and rest while my hugely overstuffed stomach settled down. But little did I know there was much left to happen that night. Nathan came and got me and had me come outside. I was met with giant confetti poppers and kazoos. They even made me put on a ridiculous birthday hat. It was a 7 year old's dream birthday. Complete with a pinata in the shape of a minion from Despicable Me. Everyone had a blast watching me attempt to hit the moving pinata while blindfolded and dizzy. They were smart enough, however, to make sure everyone was out of my range of motion because of the infamous golfing incident last month. I unfortunately, or more fortunately in my case, don't have any pictures from this event because I disallowed my husband from using the camera. I had gotten dressed up for the day but after dinner I put my pajamas on to veg out not knowing the surprise that was awaiting me. Hence, no pics of the birthday girl. I just wasn't looking my best.

So all in all my birthday this year may have been one of my favorites. Nathan is always trying to top himself. I'm excited to see what is in store for next year!

The Last Days

Last school presentation.
Last time in the testing center.
Last day of classes.
Last group project.
Last final project.
Last final exam.
Last walk through the Tanner Building as a student.

There have been many lasts lately. But that just means lots of exciting firsts coming up. 1st day at a full time job in January, first August in forever that I haven't had to go back to school. And lots more that I am looking forward to.

This past weekend was full of fun times and celebration. Nathan's whole family (minus the missionary) came up to support me for my graduation. It was such a blast to see them all and spend time with them.

Friday April 26 was my official college graduation. It was the longest ceremony ever. Ever. But it was worth it for my few seconds of fame. I also enjoyed pretending that I was going to Hogwarts...seriously, look at our robes. I totally felt like a wizard.

Wouldn't have made it through the last 2 years without these two. Love them both!

The Tanner Building...our home away from home. 

Afterwards we went to dinner at Mi Rancherito in Payson and then celebrated Nathan's belated birthday with some cake and presents. I also got an adorable graduation carving of Jiminy Cricket from my in-laws. Nathan told them that I have started collecting Disney carvings (yes, I'm just a bit obsessed with all things Disney related).

Saturday we got to celebrate with Jared and Melissa on their special wedding day. We love those two so so much and are so happy for their upcoming adventures. We have loved spending time with them in their dating stage and look forward to having another married couple join the pack.

Saturday night we enjoyed the evening by grilling over our fire pit. My husband sure knows how to grill a mean meal. It was all so good. It helped that he got a bunch of new grilling tools from my parents for his birthday.

And that about sums up the fun but busy weekend. I'm so grateful to all my family for the support they have given me throughout my schooling. I felt like the coolest girl in the world this weekend with all the attention I got. So now I'm looking forward to spending the summer studying for the CPA exam (okay, not looking forward to that part), going on vacations, and spending time with the family.

Summer in Review

And yet again, despite my promise in my previous post, here is another summary blog post because my summer was much too busy for me to sit down and update this on a regular basis. So here we go...a story of our first full summer as a married couple...

May

To kick of the summer the right way, my cousin Mary and I decided to plan a camping trip to Moab. We ended up in a small cabin, perfect size for the 6 of us that went, and we spent the weekend hiking around in Arches National Park. I had yet to see the famous arch yet, so it was an awesome fun experience. We had blast spending time with the Finleys: Mary, Leland, and Sean, as well as my sister Erin who was luckily able to tag along.

June

I started my internship at the very beginning of the month and that pretty much consumed my life for the next 10 weeks. I only worked 40 hours a week, despite the typical accounting stereotype of 70 hour weeks, but unfortunately being a newly married...and kinda poor....couple, we only have 1 car. So 1 car equals an hour bus ride to the trax station and then another 35 minutes to the office. And then at the end of the day I got to turn around and do the same commute again. It got old, really fast. But on the bright side, I did finally overcome my carsickness because I was determined to do something productive like reading during the 2 hour commute.

Quite the feat...we fit about 20 people in our small apt

Despite my busy schedule, we did have some fun. On my b-day I came home to find my very own surprise party! I had never had one before, and I have to admit that I'm not a huge fan of the surprise thing. Haha, I may have almost punched my newly acquired cousin Cory in the face when he jumped out from behind my door. But, it was awesome to have all my friends and family come over and show how much they love me. And the best part, all 3 sets of my parents and Nathan decided to pitch in to buy me a keyboard. I was so excited! I had been complaining about not being able to practice piano for months, so I have loved having it.

Two of my favorite boys.

Cory and Leland playing with the little ones

July

July consisted of more working at Deloitte. We did start the month of right with an awesome 4th of July. I let Nathan splurge on some pretty big aerial fireworks and we had one of my most memorable holidays over at the Bramall's house. I had never seen aerial fireworks like that up close and I would have to say I enjoy them a lot more than just going to the Stadium of Fire to watch from afar. So I think it will definitely have to be a tradition we keep up.

I also got the opportunity to go to Deloitte University for intern training. Its basically this huge multi-million dollar resort that Deloitte built to send its employees to all year long for training in Dallas, Texas. It was a big, fun party all weekend with a bunch of college interns. There were about 15 of us from Utah and I'm pretty sure we had a much different party experience than the rest of the group, but it was still a lot of fun. Unlimited delicious food and all kinds of activities. Almost like a cruise for work.

August

We celebrated our 1 year anniversary!! To commemorate the awesome occasion we went up to Park City for the weekend and just enjoyed being together without any of the normal everyday worries. We spent way too much at the outlets and eating out and enjoyed every minute of it. Nathan went down the Alpine Slide for the first time and asked me why I hadn't told him about it sooner because he had a blast. (And he won't admit to this but I totally beat him down the slide.)

Please ignore the men's sunglasses...I seem to have misplaced mine...

I also finished up my internship the second week of August and I excitedly accepted a full time offer as a tax accountant for Deloitte Tax starting next summer of 2013! I can't wait to start my real life career and life after school is out in April.

To end our summer we headed up to Spokane for about 2 weeks to spend some much needed time with Nathan's family. We spent a few days in Montana at Glacier National Park hiking around and seeing the absolutely gorgeous sites. If anyone ever has the opportunity to visit, I would most definitely recommend it. Its one of those places that just makes you stop and think about how great God really is, because he took the time to create such a beautiful place for us to live. The water is perfectly clear, but absolutely freezing. I did get brave on the last day though and jumped straight in.

The beautiful, freezing, glacier water

So now we are back in school and work mode and just as busy as ever. I miss the summer days of seeing my husband for more than a couple hours, but this will do for now. I love my life, we love our life, and wouldn't change a thing.