Babysitting

On December 1, Mayke had an adorable baby girl named Hetty. Her parents came to help out (with her mom staying a bit longer than her dad) and on one of my days off I offered to come watch both Tessa and Hetty so Mayke and her mom could get out of the house. After I offered, I actually realized I had never watch Tessa before, but I wasn't too worried because she is a great girl. My only fear was that she would be really shy toward me.

When I got to the house Tessa ignored me for a minute, but she warmed up really quickly and we had fun playing. At one point she got on her rocking horse and I took a picture of her because, well, she is adorable:

(At one point she started singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" at the top of her lungs. She actually says "tinkle" instead of "twinkle", which makes it even more adorable.)

When Mayke and her Mom left, anytime Hetty got a little fussy (which wasn't very often) I would say, "oh, sweetheart." Tessa would get upset with me and say, "She's not sweetheart, she's Hetty!" (I guess she thought I didn't know her name). After a while though, Tessa started calling her "sweetheart."

After I took this picture Tessa wanted to take a picture of Hetty too. She took out an old school camera (you know, one that uses film) from one of her toy boxes and started "taking" pictures of Hetty. She then handed me the camera and asked me to open it so she could see the pictures and then was very confused when she couldn't see any. So, I offered her my phone so she could take a picture that she could see. She actually took time to get a good angle of Hetty and took this picture:

(I think Tessa takes after her dad in photography)

An Overdue Update

Obviously I haven't blogged in a LONG time. I've decided to focus on the main highlights and just do bullet points rather than going on and on and on. Here we go!

Jobs:

Brandon:

- He started with an internship at Paice Tax and Accounting and it turned into a full-time job. He loves working there and tax season just started.

(This is the picture that went on their Christmas card)

Dana:

- I found a job at Deseret Book pretty soon after moving up to Salt Lake City. 

- I love it there!

- I work about 30 hours a week.

Student Teaching:

- The main reason why I never blogged was because I was doing my student teaching at Highland High School.

Go Rams!

- My mentor teachers were Kevin Smith and Becky Blommer.

- I taught two 11th grade classes, two 9th grade classes, and beginning creative writing.

- My favorite unit I taught was Of Mice and Men. 

- I miss it. :(

- I passed and am now a college graduate!

So What Now?:

Brandon:

- He is applying for the MAcc program at University of Utah and hopes to start fall semester.

- He will continue work at Paice Tax and Accounting while doing the program.

Dana:

- I'm signing up to be a substitute for Salt Lake School District.

- I'll continue working at Deseret Book.

- I'm hoping to start a teaching job in the fall.

- I'm hoping to get a job at Highland High School.

- After a year of teaching I am planning on starting a master's in education (emphasis undecided).

New Apartment

So our friend Natalie Dixon told me about an opening at her complex, which was really nice because trying to find a place online was hard and I had seen Natalie's apartment before. She also told me good things about the landlord and the area. Brandon hadn't been there before so we set up an appointment for him to see it, but we were pretty confident that we were going to move there.

Brandon and I both really liked the spare apartment and we were able to get everything processed so we could move in as soon as we wanted. So far we have really liked it here. I like living on the top floor cause, obviously, there are no upstairs neighbors. The only downside is it can get pretty warm here. My mom has loaned us some fans, which helps but there have been a couple of nights where we have moved our mattress in our living room because it is much cooler.

Here are some pictures of the new place:

Funny story, our blinds are kind of cheap and one day I was raising the blinds so Sam wouldn't claw at them to be able to get to the window sill (he tore holes at the ones in our old apartment and we had to replace them). Well I was raising the blinds and then trying to straighten them out when they just snapped down and broke. The quilt is a temporary solution.

(the hole in those blinds were already there, but it has been convenient for Sam).

That's it! 

Moving and Anniversary

So I know I am WAY behind on posts, but I figure over the next week or so I will start catching up. Rather than do a HUGE post I am just going to go event by event starting with moving from Cedar City and our anniversary.

The day after Brandon graduated we immediately started getting ready to move. Brandon's family helped us pack and clean Saturday. On Monday we finished everything up, packed up the truck, and headed up to Pleasant Grove to live with my Dad for a couple of days while we found a place.

The next day, Tuesday (May 8), was our two year anniversary. We spent the day going up to Salt Lake City to look at an apartment and after feeling right about the apartment we signed a lease. We then spent the afternoon at my Dad's house changing our address with utilities, the credit union, insurance, etc.

We had dinner at a hibachi and sushi restaurant and then we went to the movie Cabin in the Woods. Even though it was a simple anniversary it was a great day -- especially since we found an apartment!

Brandon and me at dinner on our anniversary.

Brandon's Graduation!

On Friday Brandon graduated from Southern Utah University receiving a bachelor's of science in accounting. He has worked so hard and I am proud of him. 

Brandon's parents and his siblings David and Susie came down to Cedar City for the ceremonies.

Brandon and I both really like this spot on campus. It is actually where we decided we wanted to get married and that we were ready to.

Our friends Kyle and Kenzie also graduated. Kyle got a degree in outdoor recreation and Kenzie got a degree in Spanish (this is her second degree from SUU).

This is a picture outside the Centrum (our sports arena) of our brother-in-law Steve and Brandon and I wanted to get a picture with it. 

Here's Brandon and Kyle.

Kenzie, Kyle, Brandon, and me:

Them jumping for joy.

Brandon kept calling himself Graduate Man (like Batman) and he wanted a picture of him flying. I think the fact that we got basically no sleep the night before because we went to the midnight showing of The Avengers (AWESOME movie).

Brandon getting his "diploma" (it is actually just the holder and he will get the actually diploma probably in a couple of months).

After Brandon's college's graduation. He is holding his alumni card and diploma holder.

Kenzie got Brandon an alumni sticker for our car. 

As far as Brandon's future he is starting a summer internship at an accounting firm and will look for a permanent job up in Salt Lake City. He didn't get into the MAcc program at SUU, but he is going to try again next year (I think at both University of Utah and SUU). Brandon is actually kind of happy he didn't make it because he just wants a year off.

Tennessee!

Last week I went to Harrogate, Tennessee to see my sister Stephanie and my brother-in-law Steve. Steph and I are close in age and so we've always had a close relationship. When she moved to Cedar City I was so excited to have her closer! She got married though and moved to Tennessee where her husband is going to medical school. Since I was only taking one online class this semester I decided I wanted to go out and see her because I have missed her and Steve.

I booked my ticket and since my flight left at 7:30 a.m. Brandon and I decided to book a hotel room in Las Vegas for the night before. Here is some advice: don't use Expedia! We booked a room that was supposed to have one king sized bed and instead we got a room with two full sized beds. However, this worked out perfectly because about two weeks before we left I learned that our friends Kenzie and Whitney (who both work at the Journal) were flying out the same day as me to go to a workshop at the New York Times. We asked if they wanted to split the room with us and they said yes. They were planning on sleeping on the floor and so when we got there it was a nice surprise to see two beds:

All four of us in the hotel room:

Us at the Cheesecake Factory:

Outside the hotel:

The next day I flew to Tennessee and on Friday we drove to Atlanta to meet up with our sister Dianna who lives in Florida. Atlanta is a nice middle point from Harrogate and Tallahassee. It was nice seeing Dianna because they last time I saw her was in May before she moved to Africa to work on her dissertation. By the way we had an Expedia problem at the hotel there too. Dianna booked a room with two beds and instead we got one bed so I volunteered to sleep on a rollaway. DON'T USE EXPEDIA!

While we were in Atlanta we went to the aquarium. It was really cool:

Ever since I was little penguins have been my favorite animal. I don't really have any good reasons except I think they're cute and walk funny (like me!):
 

The exhibit had this really cool tunnel that took you to an area where there was a plastic cover right in the middle of the cage so I got to be very close to the penguins. It was a great moment:

More aquarium pictures:

Me about to touch a stingray. I actually screamed after touching it because it felt really weird:

Steph and me in Atlanta:

On our way back from Atlanta we stopped in a city called Chattanooga. It was beautiful! Steph and I got some dinner and then we went to the Walnut Bridge (interesting fact it is one of the longest pedestrian only bridges in the world). It is really pretty:

On Monday we went to the Pinnacle. Basically you walk up to an overlook and you can see three different states: Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee:

There was one point on the walk where it went from Kentucky to Virginia:

Earlier that day Steph and I wanted to get a pedicure. We went to this place and waited for like 45 minutes before we gave up. I suggested we buy stuff to do our own pedicures at her place while watching Gossip Girl:

Steve took a break from studying and Steph gave him a pedicure:

On Tuesday we went to Cumberland Gap. It was such a pretty hike! Tennessee is so green and there are trees everywhere:

At the top there was a spot where you could be in Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee all at once:

This is an iron oven:

Look how pretty Tennessee is:

It was a lot of fun and I already miss my sister! I also wish I could combine the green and trees from Tennessee and the mountains from Utah it would be the perfect place to live.