the last days.

Heading to my last day of class. 

Celebrating with slurpees after taking my last final. 

And onto graduation from college!

(ya, my Dad showed up everywhere taking pictures and I felt like a star)

I AM DONE!

It is such a bittersweet feeling to know that I am done with school forever. 

...more on graduation at a later, less busy, day. 

bridal shower.

a few weeks back, Liz and I threw a bridal shower for this beautiful bride-to-be and my lovely sister, Callie Christine at my house. 

With finals coming up, it was great that a lot of Cal's friends could come. We all had a fun time eating lots of yummy breakfast foods, having a few little games, and opening some great presents! 

       

We love you Cal and are SO excited for your big day! :)

Party In Provo.

It's true.

These fabulous kids...

 and these fabulous parents...

arrive in Provo today!!!

Let the party begin! :)

i get distracted easily.

i am an official BYU graduate. what, what?!
according to kaycie, i'm "pretty" when i sleep.
i'm grateful for "Backstreet Boys" Pandora. It's the best.
i don't know much about politics. and when i say not much, i mean basically nothing.
i just learned that this is how to spell "phlegm"... that's weird.
packing up your life is one of the most stressful things.
Landlords=dirtbags.
i'm street smart, not book smart. welp, good thing i just graduated.
it's funny to me that there are some people who have never seen or have even heard of fireflies before.
i love slurpees. with all my heart and soul.
i lucked out in the roommate department this year. i'm sad it's over.

wasn't this just yesterday?

nope.

it was 18 months ago suckers. (thank goodness)

my best friend comes home from her mission TODAY! 

Welcome Home Sister Stone :)

not the easiest task.

i really, really hate packing.

especially when i need to pack up my whole room, find somewhere to store all my crap, and be homeless for 2 weeks. 

bring it on.

Father Dearest.

I feel like every other post I make it about a birthday, so forgive me. But I love birthdays, especially this one today because it is Daddy-o's birthday! And I think he's a prettttty fantastic person who should be recognized on this special day :)

My Dad is one of the most loving people I know. He truly cares for me individually and my happiness. He'll send me quick texts during the day just to tell me how much he loves me. And we'll have talks on the phone and I can just tell that he cares for me and is interested in what's going on in my life. I'm one lucky girl to have such a loving Dad. 

My Dad LOVES the Braves! I kinda think it's a requirement to be in our family. He is all up for going to games and he'll watch them at home with us. And since I can't watch all of them out in Utah, he'll keep me up to date with happenings of games through texts. He also loves all sports in general, including the BYU teams! It's nice to grow up in a family of sports lovers. Seriously, what a great Dad. 

My Dad LOVES the lake. Even though he is our captain the entire time, he just loves being out there. He also doesn't go too crazy on us when we're on the tubes unless we want him too. I trust my Dad when I'm out on the lake either tubing or wakeboarding. I think if he had the chance to go out on the lake every day, he probably would- and I think all the fam would too! It's always a good time! 

My Dad takes pride in the food he makes and we LOVE the food he makes! Just thinking about all the good stuff he makes my mouth water. I have been so fortunate to have parents that are amazing cooks! I hope one day I can be as good of a cook as they are! 

My Dad is a great Dad! 

With 5 kids and a dog, he is so great with each of us! We had some of the most fun times growing up! I know that one of the biggest joys in his life is his family. And we love him in our life :)

My Dad is super thoughtful. 

For example, this Christmas he went out and bought gifts for us that weren't on our list. Well, the girls got these bad boys (our down booties) and we were obsessed and people are jealous of them. He did a great job picking these out. It was a super thoughtful gift that I will always love. 

And during Christmas break, I was bored one day playing Super Mario Bros all by myself and my dad picked up a controller and asked how to play. So we played for about 30 minutes. What a sport. 

My Dad loves to have fun! (yes, that is him in the background- so great.) He is always up for a good time, especially if it includes the family. It's safe to say that we always have a fun time when we're together. 

My Dad is always there to answer all of my questions. I can go to him about anything- sickness, school, life, etc. He is always there to give me great advice and give me direction. I am so grateful to have a Dad like that. 

My Dad LOVES good music. If his jam is on in the car, he will crank it up, start singing, and ask if we know who it is. When we were little, he would ALWAYS tell us whoever guessed this artist would get $5. Obviously it was so he could listen to his song and enjoy it because we would never guess them. But, it was still a fun memory and he still does it to this day. He loves his music. 

I hope you have a fantastic birthday today Dad! You deserve only the best! Thanks for all you do for me! I wouldn't be the person I am today without you! 

I love you so much! I can't wait to see you this weekend!

Celine?!

 That's right folks. Another dream has come true... I got to go to a Celine Dion concert! 

On a Tuesday night, I ventured down to Vegas with these ladies [Kaycie, Nicole and Kristine] in preparation to see Celine Dion perform at Caesar's Palace on Wednesday Night! 

After trying to get some much needed rest, we went to the strip to go to just a few places before the concert. 

Caesar's Palace

 The Belagio, where they did NOT have the fountain show going. I was heart broken. But I did get to dance to a Celine song that came on over the speakers. That was fun.

 Serendipity. 

 And we went to the Cheesecake Factory where there was only a 5 minute wait! We told the guy we were in a hurry cause we were going to see Celine. He understood and we were out of there in less than an hour! Great experience and such delicious food!

 Needless to say, the concert was OUT OF THIS WORLD! And did I mention how great my friends are? They bought me my ticket for my birthday! WELL worth the wait! Love you girls! Thanks for such an epic night! 

 I know that I can sometimes say that there are things that change my life, but this is definitely on top of the list. She was breathtaking and more than I could have ever anticipated! She is such a cute, classy, funny, and humble lady. Seriously, amazing. 

It will definitely be a night I will always remember!

baby sister comes to utah!

Lucky for us, this gem came back to utah for another trip during her Spring Break!

And of course, she remembered how much she loved J-Dawgs this past summer, so it was our first stop once we got back from Denver. She was wishing to see Jimmer there. No luck. Maybe next time?

Our days were a little crazy since we were trying to end our semester and still had to work, so we didn't do too many exciting things except go to yummy food places, play the Wii, and she'd read her book at times. I also took her to Comedy Sportz for a sister night with Nicole and Kristine (and Zack and Lendrum, but I want to make it sound more like a sister date), But sadly, we did not take any documentations of that night. But it was grand time. 

Also, we did take a trip to Texas Roadhouse with the fam [thanks to Mom who paid for that one] so it was fantastic! 

Suddenly the week was over and she was heading back home! It was great to have the little sister here for the week, even if it was crazy for us!  Not to mention, getting her back to Georgia was even more of a nightmare than we anticipated. But I think she had a fun time and I can't wait to see her again next week! :) 

denver highlights.

i went to denver over conference weekend, mainly for a bridal shower we threw for Cal Pal.

it consisted of some family and then mostly grandma's friends. it was a great time.  

But, we did have some quality family time.  Here are some highlights: 

-started the trip to McDonalds (yes, the fast food place) for a lunch with the grandparents. it's their new thing apparently. they are a crack up

-killing time at the airport while waiting for Mom and baby sister, Lexie to fly in!

-Family dinner. can't even put into words how fun they are- they make me laugh so much.

-Watching General Conference. 

-the Bridal shower and my Grandma wanting everything to be proper and perfect. [she is adorable]

-watching Tangled TWICE, in less than 24 hours. once was with these ladies late Saturday night. Ya, we like to party. 

-Breakfast at David and Jenny's and watching conference on Sunday

-Attempting to leave Denver during a random snow storm (when the weather was 80 and sunny the day before) and having to turn around an hour into it because they closed down the highway. Resulting in us not leaving until the next morning [not so much a highlight]

Oh and this diva, Lexie, came back to Provo with us for her Spring break! 

So there you have it. It's always nice to go to Denver for a little fam time.  For once, the girls outnumbered the boys. We have 24 cousins on that side and only 9 of them are girls. We had 1 boy cousin around for about 2 hours that entire weekend. So weird. I love the girls, but definitely miss those boys! Regardless, it was a fantastic time with family. Not to mention, a much needed break from Provo land. 

Meg Time.

it's this pretty ladies birthday today.

and i sure do love this Megan of mine and am SO glad we got to be roommates this year!

Meg is the creative one. She loves taking cool pictures, like this little guy. [and this was our first picture together] And maybe this was when I realized how much I love this girl. Seriously, such a fun one. And might I add, this was a fun afternoon eating some popsicles on our stoop on a warm sunny afternoon. 

Meg is part of this awesome house of the Green Gables Gals. I am SO glad we got to be roommates this year so we could become friends and have some fun late night chats or saturday homework parties. She definitely adds a little extra to our house. And I know I can speak for all of us in this house when we say we love Megan as our roommate. 

Meg loves this church. She works at the MTC on the mormon.org website to chit chat with others for HOURS about this gospel and why it is so awesome. She has a strong love and testimony for this church. She also served a mission in Taiwan! And she LOVED it and will talk to you forever about it if you'd want her to! I know she was an awesome missionary who blessed and touched SO many lives. She's always a great example to me. 

Meg LOVES to have fun. Put on some music and you can almost guarantee she'll start breaking it down for you. And, her dance moves are to DIE for. Seriously, if only I could dance the way this lady did... 

Meg is a great dresser. Only she could find some great things at Savors and make it look awesome. Or even how she will just put random things together for an outfit and look GREAT. how does she do this? I don't even know, but she looks fantastic every time. 

Meg was part of my Valentine's Day date night. Strong connection right there. 

Megan likes to be active and do fun/random things. This bike ride was probably one of the best highlights of the semester. 2 bikes, Meg on her rollerblades equals a good time. 

Oh, and have I mentioned that she's a crack up? Cause she is. She will make me laugh ALL the time. 

Meg is a great friend. We took her to a friend's reception one night and she came out with THREE things of cotton candy! We were ecstatic! What a great friend she is. Who else would do something so nice? But seriously, you know she sincerely cares about and loves her friends so much! 

So here's to this gem in my life! Love you Meg! Hope it's the greatest birthday ever because you deserve it! :)

Festivaled.

A few Saturday's ago, I got to go to the Festival of Colors in Spanish Fork with these awesome friends of mine- Kyle, Nick, Amelia, and Carter. 

 We had a fun time. We stayed at the top of the Indian Temple as long as possible to avoid getting colors thrown at us earlier than they were supposed to (we weren't 100% successful, but we didn't get it too bad)

 Then we braved the crazies and went in the middle of everyone on the field, dancing to Hari Krishna music, and ready to throw our colors

 and things got wild and crazyyyyy,

 then within minutes, it was over, and we were colored and we were happy. 

We had a blast together and I'm glad I got to go with some of my greatest friends! 

 And just when I thought things couldn't get any better, as we were dusting off before getting in the car, we ran into our BFF neighbors from our ward who were heading to the next session of the Festival of Colors. 

I'm sad I have to wait another year to go to the Festival of Colors. But this definitely was an epic time with some great friends. 

 Not to mention, I have never felt so clean in my life than I did when I got home and showered.

Festival of Colors 2011? Success.