I Graduated!

After almost 10 years, I finally graduated with a bachelors of science in web design and development! I had done about 2.5 years right after high school between BYU-I and BSU, but then decided to pursue esthetics instead.
After moving to PA and having a baby I kind of fell out of sync with the esthetics world and decided I should just finish the bachelors I started so long ago! In January of 2015 I started back to school online through BYU-I. I then did 6 semesters of 12+ credits in 18 months so that I could finish faster. Graduation was July 20, 2016 and we went to Rexburg for the occasion.
We first drove to St. Anthony to meet up with one of my all time favorite roommates, Erika! She had just had a baby but she still made us an awesome lunch and it was so fun to meet her husband, daughter, and just catch up! It was like no time had passed even though I hadn't seen her in probably 8ish years?!
After that I had to get back to Rexburg to pick up my cap and gown. The rebel in me worse shorts. ON CAMPUS. to get it. I had looots of stares, ha. Once we picked it up we went to Porter Park to meet up with another roommate, Megan, and her family! She has 2 adorable little boys and it was so fun to see her and watch the boys play. Spencer saw the little splash pad/water park as soon as we got there and it was a lost cause trying to get him to do anything else. He was fully clothed and sopping wet just bombing it head-first down the water slide! He was in heaven. Jake and Emily met up with us at this point and as always, it was so fun to see them (and to have extra eyes on Spencer).
We went and ate dinner with Jake and Emily and then went back to Porter Park to see even more friends! Another roommate, Becky, who lives in Arizona, had been up in Island Park with her family and so they were nice enough to drive down to Rexburg to see us, even though it was only like 20 minutes!

I got really lucky in the roommate department at BYU-I and lived with some of the best girls! I love that even though we never see each other, they were willing to come reconnect! If only I had taken some pictures with any of them!!

Finally, it was time for the actual graduation. We were running late so I didn't even have time to fix my hair or really even look in a mirror. I ran into a bathroom stall and put a dress on about 10 minutes before the ceremony started. I walked, and for some reason I was about to cry the whole time I was shaking the important people's hands, ha. I think just the relief that I was actually done, and because it was a really hard year and a half for me!!

The next morning we headed for Yellowstone with my mom and dad. We had such a fun 3 days there, camping, hiking around, seeing all the wildlife, and just not having anything to worry about!

Spencer spent a lot of time up there.

seriously, so pretty with the blue and orange!

Nate's at the bottom of the falls, can you see him?

The Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone

we thought that looked like too many stairs for us.

this guy walked right through our camp the last night.

he's pretty popular with the tourists! This is the second time the Asians have just been infatuated with him and wanted to hold him and take his picture :)

Spencer was hilarious, every time we saw a buffalo he would say, "there's a buffalo lets laugh at him" and then he would do this crazy fake laugh. Or else he would say "let's moo at him" and then would moo. No idea where it came from but it was great!

I had really wanted to see a bear and a moose while there and I did get to see a bear's back half, it wasn't good enough so on our way back to Rexburg we made a stop at Bear World and it was so much fun!

When it was finally time to head back to west Idaho on Sunday, we drove the "back roads" and made a stop at Craters of the Moon. It was neat, my favorite part was climbing through the caves, plus it was nice and cool down there, great to escape the hot sun! We also had an eventful half hour where my dad locked his keys in his truck. Fortunately, his window was cracked just far enough that between he and Nate and fishing poles, and a bent roasting stick, they were able to get it open. Though not before setting off the alarm multiple times.
A fun trip but I am SO glad to be done with school!

May, June, and July 2016.

What a crazy couple of months!

In April I started my LAST semester of my undergraduate degree. Thankfully, it was my easiest semester and how grateful I was for that. I also got another round of straight A's bringing my final GPA to 3.76, I can be proud of that.

May
I also started working again at the beginning of May. The company is called Contract Laboratory and I am doing their social media marketing which is fun! I've also just started getting into a little more of their web development. I am only working 2 days a week in the office, and then 5-6 hours from home a week. I am really enjoying that I still get to be home with Spencer!
For Memorial Day we went fishing with my dad in Caldwell. I caught a fish, then my dad caught a frog, and then Nate caught a fish all within 5 minutes.

he wasn't too sure about holding the fish.

Nate also had a run in with the neighbors' basketball hoop above the mailbox. He ripped his bike right off the roof rack on the truck and had to replace the fork. He wasn't so happy about that.

June

In June we took a couple of trips to Meridian Speedway with our friends which Spencer loved! We spent a LOT of time at Lakeview pool with and without our friends, its the perfect pool for little kids and its close and only costs $4 for me and Spence to get in.

at the speedway.

watching the races, the Barnes' were nice enough to share their cotton candy with him, though we wasn't sure what to think of it.

I also took a quick overnight trip to Utah for my best friend Kelli's wedding! It was so fun and I stayed the night with my friend Melissa from high school and it was so great to catch up with her!!
The next day I even got to do some quick shopping by.my.self!

July
July was another fun and busy month! We went to my grandmas in McCall to pick huckleberries with Nate's sister and her family, and his newly married brother and his wife. It was a quick trip and even though we got rained on we still had fun. We love McCall and can't wait to find more time to go back!

hanging out in McCall

For my birthday this year....we got new floors! Last year for my birthday it was new floors in the living room and hall, this year it was the bedrooms getting recarpeted! This was the last "major" thing we wanted to do inside so it's looking good!

when your mattress is as big as your living room...

I ran in the Boise Women's Classic 5k and didn't train nearly as much as I s







hould have. Though I PRed at about 35 minutes (slooooow) I puked as soon as I crossed the finish line.

And lastly, on July 20, 2016 I graduated from college (but that deserves a separate post)!


A final note I just want to add for my own memory's sake...before we left for graduation/Yellowstone at the end of July I had taken a pregnancy test and gotten that faint positive line. It was still a little early so I didn't get too excited and we went on our trip. Part way through the trip I had some spotting and assumed it was just signs of my upcoming cycle. When we got back to civilization (if you can call Rexburg civilization) there was more spotting so I took another test, it looked negative. By the time we got home I was 3 days overdue and had a "feeling" similar to when I knew I was pregnant with Spencer. I took another test and this one was clearly positive. We were beyond excited! I calculated that I was probably about 5-6 weeks. The next morning I woke up to a lot of blood and clots. The disappoint that I wasn't pregnant was heavy. I don't know if it is considered a "loss" as it was so early and technically just a chemical pregnancy, but it was a little heart breaking to go from extreme excitement one day, to the exact opposite the next.

So a little depressed, but ready to enjoy the rest of my now homework free summer and the last few trips we have planned!!

April 2016.

I keep thinking "once life settles down I'll get caught up on the blog, I'll get back in shape, I'll clean my house top to bottom..." and it just isn't settling down!

April was yet another busy month, I finished my second to last semester, Nate's youngest brother got married the weekend school ended, we planted trees, we did a lot of yard work, my little brother and his wife visited for the last time before they graduated from BYU and movd to California en route to South Carolina for 4 years of dental school, and we had family pictures taken.

I've pretty much become the worst photographer because I never take pictures of anything. Which is funny considering I have a camera with me all the time.

Highlights from Jake's wedding weekend include:
- lunch at the park with Allison, Dallin and Lizzie while we waited for grandma and grandpa.
- going to the zoo!
- getting up extra early to drive to Twin with Aaron and Alyssa
- Spencer having so much fun with all his cousins he never gets to see enough, he talked about them for at least a week after. And still does.
- meeting "baby" Tim!
- witnessing the sealing of Jake and Emily who I just love, Jake did well :)
- the beautiful and wonderful luncheon and reception
- Nate refusing to dance with me at the reception, Spencer on the other hand would!
- Spencer trying to drown in the hotel pool
- watching base jumpers off the Perrine bridge in Twin. Spencer called them "poppers"
- going to the fish hatchery and Spencer calling the giant sturgeon a dolphin
- Box Canyon Springs, seeing the alligators (though way less exciting than the last time I was there)
- filling the entire restaurant we stopped at for lunch
- seeing Emily's brothers as we drove back to Boise
- getting to eat Costa and Arctic Circle to please pregnant Alyssa
- having a FULL house for one night, but sure loving getting to spend time with family
- going to church together
- not wanting the weekend and fun to end!

And a few pics from our photo shoot the other week:

Blue eyed boy.

Today I had 2 people at church comment on Spencer's wide vocabulary and how clearly he talks. So I wanted to write down some of my favorite things he's been saying before I forget. (Someday Nate and I won't be so busy and when that day comes, I'll get back to updating this family journal of ours)

Spencer's in LOVE with dinosaurs right now. He loves to walk like a dino and roar like a dino all day long. He loves the shows:
Dinosaur King
Dinosaur Train
The Land Before Time (all of them)
DinoTrux

When I take him to the indoor playground (Jabbers) he loves to commandeer the t-rex and another smaller, t-rex looking dino (I really should know what it is by now). He calls the Farmer Pickles and Sue.

At home he only has one dino and then a little car dino. When he knocks over the car dino he will say "You alright little guy?" And it's pretty adorable.

He knows what a stegosaurus, pterodactyl, triceratops, tyrannosaurus rex (though he calls it a "towey rex") and long necks.

Spencer also likes to sing. He knows his ABC's, Twinkle Twinkle, Baa Baa Black Sheep, Row Your Boat, Once There Was a Snowman, Old McDonald, Bingo, and I'm sure more. My favorite thing about him singing is if I join him, once the song ends he'll say "nice, job singing, mom!" And even though I'm terrible, he is so serious and sincere.

My favorite part of ABC's is "...h, i, j, k, m, m, m, o, p..."
He also makes Old McDonald have about 5 dinosaurs.
Bingo is also a dinosaur and not a dog.

He watched Toy Story for the first time the other day, he was loving it until it got to the part with Sid and his toys. He came running to find me and had his hands over his face like he was pretending to be scared. He said "I'm 'fraid of the 'pooky 'pider!" And it took me a minute to realize he was talking about Sid's toys spider that has mechanical legs and a doll head with a missing eye.

Spence loves to "nuggle" when he's falling asleep. He'll also ask, "mom, wanna pet me?" which is code for rub my back.

He asks "can I hold you?" when he wants to be held.