Forever a Student

Tomorrow will be my 17th annual first day of school. Can you believe that? This summer was the longest amount of time I had been out of school since Kindergarten. Tomorrow I begin graduate school and I have all of those typical first day feelings. Excited to be in class again. Excited for new opportunities. Anxious because I don't know what to expect. Nervous about the work load and scheduling my time.

I will be pursuing a Masters of Arts at Texas Woman's University. It is a two year program and is a kind of "create your own program" degree. There are set classes in the dance department that are required but I also have freedom to take graduate level courses from many different departments if I choose. I don't know exactly what my focus will be yet-- I can find a way to use study history along side dance or I could venture out and study something new. Studying dance and film or dance and photography would be interesting and there is also an option to work with the education department and get certified to teach. It will be a great opportunity to explore my interests and how I can combine them with my love of dance.

Meanwhile, I will still be teaching dance at the studio in the evenings. It is hard not to be home in the evenings but I love teaching at the studio as well and it allows me to pay for my degree without student loans so that is good. Grant is very encouraging and helps me to "fly in the direction of my dreams" as President Hinckley put it.

As a last note, this week we have had amazing weather! I never knew that low 90's could feel so cool. It is starting to feel a bit more like fall (even though I know the heat will inevitably be back soon), and we are excited for the time when we can go on a nice leisurely walk without coming home all sweaty.

Austin Trip

Kelsey and I just got back from our second vacation of the month to Austin, TX. Two vacations in one month: San Antonio and now Austin. Not too bad. If only the budget could always afford two vacations in the same month. But Austin was awesome! We went with our good friends Logan and Emily Mallory. We had a blast. Technically, we drove down there to see...

WICKED

It was a GREAT show. It was funny, exciting, and the music was incredible. The wicked witch Elphaba had played the role on Broadway; she was incredible. As a matter of fact, the entire cast was really good. It was a great Friday night performance.

We spent the rest of the weekend getting to know Austin. If you have to move to Texas, move to Austin. It is definitely the best part of Texas that I have seen. It is the"hill country." It was quite refreshing to see hills. It is like the Boulder, Colorado, of Texas. There are lots of hippies, granola, outdoorsie type people with lots of fun things to do. We did some hiking, shopping, and went to several really cool restaurants.


Saturday night we ate at this place called The Oasis. The picture of the lake (above) was taken from our table at the restaurant. This place sits over Lake Travis and seats 2500 people at a time. It was absolutely HUGE. It was a really cool place. We enjoyed watching the sun go down over the lake with good food and great company. This weekend trip was a definite success.

One Year

Can you believe it was a whole year ago when we got married? Time really does fly when you're having fun, but most of all, when you spend it with your best friend. Yesterday was our one year anniversary!


Grant surprised me with a trip to San Antonio to celebrate! It was the first trip we've been on with just the two of us since our honeymoon and it was amazing!


Our hotel was downtown so we walked most places. We ate along the riverwalk, visited the Alamo, saw lots of cool buildings (as shown here), and checked out the artisans' market. I could walk around those places for hours but it only entertains Grant for about one. There's a river north of the city that we were going to float but the line for tubes was about 2 hours. Instead, we just jumped in and swam it instead. We decided it turned out to be more fun swimming anyway. It was a quick trip but just the break that we needed.

And in reference to our anniversary, it has honestly been the best year of my life so far. Grant and I have done lots of little things this year. We've cooked dinners, learned how to budget, and adjusted to sharing space on a (not so big) bed and in (not so big) apartments. But this year has also been filled with big events and changes. We graduated from college, moved across the country and started on our journey to becoming the kind of family we are striving to be. I can't believe I was so lucky to find the man who not only is perfect for me, but loves me just as much as I love him. I can't wait for all the years to come!

A Simple Pleasure

I was desperately craving this:

The ridiculously tasty "Chunky Strawberry" use-a-spoon smoothie from Jamba Juice. However, the budget doesn't allow for such indulgences (mostly because if I had one then I would be compelled to come back again day after day...). So I found a recipe and made it myself! For unbelievably good tasting stuff, I found this recipe.

2 .OZ of Vanilla Low Fat Yogurt
4 . OZ of Vanilla Soy Milk
2 TBSP of Peanut Butter
6 OZ of Frozen Strawberries
Some Ice
One Banana
3 OZ of your favorite Granola

Makes 16 OZ serving
Place everything in blender except granola and banana
Blend everything untill mixed well
Pour into big glasses add granola and sliced Banana

However, I have no idea what an ounce looks like, and I didn't have soy milk, vanilla yogurt or even a banana...... So I used regular milk, strawberry banana yogurt and nixed the banana and it was still AMAZING! It's the little things that make life so good :)

Catch Up!

I recently uploaded the current pictures from my camera and realized that I haven't done that since April or so.... hence there will be a few catch up posts letting you know what we've been up to but just haven't told you!

First, we visited my Nana and Papa a while back and took lots of pictures. It was just a quick weekend escape, but it was good to see them and take a break for a day or two.

We checked out the temple. Nana and Papa worked at the visitors center on their mission so they showed us around.This was right after I decided to try brown hair. It was supposed to be reddish brown and it didn't take long for my hair to decide it actually wanted to stay blonde. I haven't colored it since and it's pretty darn blonde again.
We also drove up to Tuacahn to check out the theatre. What a cool stage and setting!

And did I mention that we moved?! Yep, it was a big fatty process getting ourselves down here and I have many (horrible) pictures taken from the car because I was so bored driving.
Grant drove this beast with my car attached to the back. When we picked it up he said, "Do you want me to put your name down so you can drive it too?" I think you can guess what my answer was....

We stopped in Arizona to visit some of Grant's family. We stayed at Grandma and Grandpa Tanner's beautiful home for a few days and I got to meet a lot of his extended family that I hadn't met before. (Grant probably has more family within a 4 mile radius down there than I have of total living relatives hah)
We went to the temple while we were in Mesa and it was beautiful, of course.
We drove through New Mexico...
And we FINALLY got to Texas! What a funny sign... (I think it should read, "Drive Quickly, or get out of the Texan's way" instead)
I am aware this is a crappy, taken-while-driving picture, but it illustrates two things I have since become accustomed to: giant interchanges and giant storms.

We finally made it! This was taken when we arrived at our complex. The building in the back is actually our building, but we didn't know that when we took the picture.

Phew! Well there are more pictures and posts to come detailing our exciting lives as "Texans." (We have decided that we may never actually call ourselves that... to be continued)