An Official College Graduate

Well, I did! It is official...I am a college graduate! This post is two weeks late, but things have been a little crazy lately.  On May 7, 2011 I graduated cum laude from the Jon M. Hunstman School of Business at Utah State University.  I actually finished classes in December, but this year they only had one commencement ceremony so I had to wait until May to "walk".  That Friday, my mom, dad, Jill, and the boys made it to Logan to party with me.  That night we went to eat at Firehouse Pizza to enjoy some delicious pizza and dessert.  We then headed to the hotel to take the boys swimming so they could get some energy out.

Saturday morning we got ready and headed up to campus.  I decided not to walk in the big graduation that they do in the morning.  For that, everyone meets on the Quad and then walks through campus to the Spectrum.  I didn't want to make everyone (and myself) sit through two graduation ceremonies, so I just walked in the Business School commencement.  We got there early and took some pictures outside before going in.  It was so great to finally be "graduating" even though I had been done with school for a few months.  It has been a long road full of late nights, early mornings, hectic schedules, too many tests, huge group projects, and countless other  tasks but it was definitely worth it.  Jon M. Hunstman donated $25 million to the business school a couple years ago, so he and his wife were there.  She spoke and then she invited him up to say a few words.  He is an amazing man and has done so much to help progress cancer research and now to help this business school.

After graduation, we headed to Hamilton's for lunch.  My roommate Andy also joined us.  It was very good food and so fun to have my family and friends there to celebrate with.  Jill took the boys back to the hotel for naps and my parents and I went to look for some furniture for my new apartment.  We found everything we needed at the first store and in less than an hour...that is pretty dang good for me!! We dropped our purchase off at my apartment and went back out for some more shopping and dinner at Cafe Rio. We went swimming again that night and had lots of fun with the boys!

Sunday morning we went to IHOP for breakfast then started moving my stuff from my old apartment to my new one.  It was so nice having extra help to make the moving process less stressful.  I truly appreciate all of the help from my parents and Jill and the boys.  After getting everything shuffled over to the new place, we went to dinner at The Beehive Grill.  They had to head back in the morning and I had to work, so we hit the sack pretty early that night.  It was so much fun having them here to celebrate with! I was so happy that they were able to come to Logan and spend the weekend with me.  They are amazing and helped me out so much.

Thank you to everyone who has supported me throughout the years as I worked towards my degree.  It has meant the world to me and I could not have done it without you!!

New Job!!

On Monday I got a very exciting phone call...I got a job!  The whole story is a little longer than that so here it goes.  A month or so ago I sent my resume to a utility billing company, Conservice, that had a position for a billing manager.  They called me back a week or so later and wanted me to come in and do some skill assessments.  This consisted of formatting an excel spreadsheet, a 10-key number test, writing a response to a letter from a customer, and reading through information about the billing processes and then answering some questions about it.  I thought that I did very well and felt comfortable doing all the tasks.  Later that week they called me back for an interview. YAY!! I was so excited but nervous.

The interview was one of the most nerve-wracking situations of my life because it was me on one side the table with 5 interviewers on the other side just firing questions at me.  But amazingly enough that was the calmest I have ever been in an interview.  I felt comfortable with them and just gave them the best I could.  Here is a little background info--I currently work at a restaurant called the Beehive Grill.  I have worked there since they opened in June 2009.  It has been a great place to work because they were flexible with my schedule and always gave me the time off that I wanted (so awesome!!) The day before the interview my manager at work talked to me about training to be an opening Manager.  I was open with her and told her about the interview I had with Conservice and that if I got that job I would take it because it was full-time with benefits.  

A couple days later I got a call from Conservice while I was at work and they told me that they had filled the position but they anticipated a couple more positions would open up in the next couple weeks.  I called them back and told them to keep my resume and information on file for those positions.  I then talked to my manager at  Beehive to get more information about the manager position.  They just needed someone to start training as an opening Manager and they had one day in April that they needed a manager to work then after that it would kind of a back up position.  I decided to go ahead and start training because it was not a permanent position and would be good experience.  I also figured that if they ended up needing to hire another full-time manager then I would right in line for that position.  I did one day of training the first week and also work just regular shifts as a server.  I still had two more training shifts before the day that I would open as Manager.

Then...I got the call!  Conservice called me on Monday and offered me the job.  They wanted me to start training that next Monday, but would allow me to take the full two weeks if I needed to finish up at my current job.  I was so excited but so nervous to talk to my manager.  It all actually worked out perfectly.  If I put in my two week notice that day then I would still be able to work the Managing shift they needed me to cover for them.  I talked to my manager that night after work (I was so nervous for some silly reason!) and she was so excited for me!! She was just happy that I would be able to finish training and still work that day as Manager.  She also said that she knew I probably wouldn't be there for much longer since I had just graduated and all that.  Whew!! What a relief! So my two week notice was submitted on Monday and I only have two training shifts, two (possibly only 1) server shifts, and a manger shift left!!!! 

I have really enjoyed working at the Beehive, but it is definitely time to move on.  Beehive has been so great to me by always giving me the time off I wanted, which was a lot!! They were so good about giving me the shifts that I wanted and worked with my school schedule.  I always got along with the workers and managers and I was grateful for the opportunity to train as a manager.  They are all sad to see me leave, but are very understanding and supportive which is so great!! I am so excited to start this new job too. I will  be a billing manager and will have my own portfolio of apartment complexes that I will be in charge of.  It really seems like a great place to work with amazing people and wonderful atmosphere.  It will definitely be a change of pace going from waiting tables to a desk job.  I will definitely like the hours better...I will not miss having to close the restaurant or not knowing when I will get done with work.  It will be so nice to not have to deal with annoying people who are picky about everything, or cleaning up after other people's messy children!! 

I am finally truly entering the "real world" now that I have a "real" job.  It will be so great and I have been truly blessed to have this opportunity.  I know that everything has worked out the way it has for a reason and that the Lord has helped get me to this point in my life.  I can honestly say that I LOVE MY LIFE!!! I have so much to be grateful for and can't wait to see where it leads me next! So here's to a new adventure and saying goodbye to a wonderful chapter of my life.  It's time to grow up, I guess. :)

Jackson Hill Climb

This past weekend Andy, Hillary, and I traveled over to Jackson for the snowmobile Hill Climb.  Andy's sister and brother-in-law, Amy and Frank, were going and already had a room so we tagged along with them for the weekend.  We left Friday evening about 6:00 and were ready for a fun-filled weekend of hicks, snow, country music, and snowmobiles.  Saturday we got up and headed over the mountain, which was only about 2 minutes away.  At the bottom of the hill were a bunch of vendors, booths, and spectators watching the hill climb.  We walked around for a little bit then Andy, Hill, and I decided to take the ski lift up the mountain so we could watch it on the way up and also find a spot on the mountain to watch.

It was pretty cool riding the lift up and watching the snowmobilers ride underneath you trying to climb up the steep mountain.  Once we got to the top we tried to find a good spot along the fence so that we could watch them as they got to the top of the hill.  There were a lot of people up there and the only way you could see anything was if you were right along the fence.  Since we were on the top of a mountain, it was pretty steep and covered in snow, so the only way to move down to another spot was to slide.  This was the funnest part of the whole day, I think!  We would slide down a little ways and try to watch for a bit, then slide a little farther.  Amy and Frank eventually made their way up the mountain so we met up with them.  We found a good spot a little farther down the mountain and watched the climb for a while.

The crowd at the bottom of the mountain

Me and Andy riding the lift 

Jackson, WY

Hill found a cozy spot to rest and eat some snacks

One of the hill climbers on his way up

Andy and Hill watching the Hill Climb

The next part was the funnest thing! We had to slide all the way down the mountain, and I mean MOUNTAIN!  It was like a big snowy waterslide because there were grooves that had been formed from other people sliding down and they took you through the trees and down these little drop-offs.  I really wish that I had been able to video us going down the mountain because it was so much fun.  We got to a flat spot and had to walk over to where one of the ski runs was to finish sliding down.  There was a group of people getting ready to race down so we joined them.  It was pure craziness!  It started out fun and then we picked up a lot of speed.  As we tried to slow down, the snow would just spray up into our faces making it impossible to see and freezing our faces.  I was trying to slow down because I was flying down the hill, but I couldn't breathe because of the snow and ice flying at my face.  At one point I had turned completely sideways and was afraid I could just start tumbling down the hill.  Eventually we all stopped and just busted up laughing because our faces were covered in ice and snow!! It was so hilarious and I really wish we had videoed it.

This video was from one tiny little hill that we went down.  Sliding down the whole mountain was way more fun and bigger than this!

After that adventure, Andy, Hill, and I went back to the hotel and sat in the hot tub then got ready to go out to dinner.  We met up with Amy and Frank for dinner at The Merry Piglets.  It's a mexican restaurant and it is so yummy! Sunday we got up and had breakfast then walked around downtown and checked out the shops.  It had snowed that night so it was pretty cold which made walking around outside not too fun.  We headed back to Logan after that and I think we all had a super fun and relaxing weekend in Wyoming!  It is always fun to go to Wyo...even if my friends make fun of it! :)

Moving Time!!

March has been a pretty fun and exciting month so far!  To start is off, Jill and Christian found out that they would be moving back to Wyoming from Nebraska...YAY!!! I immediately made plans to go out there to help them move back.  But before that happened I got to celebrate my birthday a little bit.  My wonderful friends Andy and Hillary surprised me on Saturday with tickets to the Jazz game down in Salt Lake.  Well, they didn't actually have the tickets, but that was part of the fun!  Our friends Channy and Brianna also joined us for a great girl's night out!  We headed to The Pie in SLC for super delicious pizza before the game.  It was at the point that I found out that my camera was no longer working...BUMMER!  I need to get pictures from Channy so that I can post them.  After dinner, we headed to the Energy Solutions Arena to find some tickets.  We had been checking KSL for any deals, but didn't find any that were good enough, so we resorted to buying tickets from a scalper.  That was an experience! We bought upper bowl tickets for cheap and headed to our seats.

We immediately started scoping out some empty seats in the lower bowl that we could move into.  Andy's parents had seats in the 12th row behind the basket with a couple empty seats beside and behind them.  As soon as half time hit we headed right down there and got much better seats! We ended up staying in those seats for the whole rest of the game which ended up being way intense.  It went into overtime and the Jazz finally won! It turns out that those seats originally sell for about $115 and we only paid $15. Booyah! After the game, we went down the court and watched them interview Harris, saw CJ Miles, and I even gave Harris a high-five! Pretty much the best Jazz game!!

That next Wednesday I flew out of SLC to Nebraska to help Jill and Christian move.  My parents had been in Mexico the previous week without cellphone reception, so they had no idea that I was flying to NE.  My mom was also flying out that same day and I knew that we were going to be in the same flight from Denver to McCook, so I decided to surprise her in the airport.  It was so funny to see her reaction when I found her! Priceless!  We made it to McCook (For the last time ever!!) and got right into packing and cleaning.  They had started packing up their stuff already, but we still had our work cut out!  My birthday was on Thursday and after a long day of cleaning and packing, we went over to their friend's, the Blomstedts, for dinner.  We enjoyed a delicious dinner and then some cake and ice cream.  Friday was the big moving day.  We finished packing everything up and then most of the people from their Branch came over around 5 to help load up the Uhaul.  We had about 40-45 people there helping and it seriously made a difference! They loaded that truck up in no time.

Saturday we made the looooong trek back to Wyoming.  After about 14 hours, we finally made it back to my parent's house in Powell.  That was one of the longest trips I have ever experienced and I was very glad to home.  Sunday we headed over to Lovell to start unloading the Uhaul.  They are going to be renting Christian's grandma's house for now.  Christian's family was all there to help with the heavy lifting and unloading.  Monday I went to Basin to see Mallory before she had her baby and then headed to Lovell to help out with the cleaning and moving.  Tuesday we started to paint the bedrooms. Tuesday night we all went out to dinner for my late birthday dinner.  I was originally supposed to fly out of Cody on Wednesday afternoon, but I ended up getting to stay another day.  The plane was overweight so they were looking for volunteers to not go on that flight and take the first flight on Thursday morning.  I was so excited that I could finally actually do this so I volunteered and ended up getting a $400 flight voucher for Delta.

Mom and I cleaning away

Yes, the cake says Happy Birthday Butts.  Should have seen the girl's face when Jill asked her to write that!

The boys wrestling

Taking a break in Casper and giving Opie a little lovin

Letting them run!

Boxen!

Carson helping out!

So we had this packing tape that was not sticky AT ALL so what does my dad do with it?? Use it to wrap me up, of course!

Using a knife to cut the tape off...little scared if you can't tell!

What a cute little dork :)

Oh how I love cleaning!

Since my camera has decided to die on me, I had to steal pictures from my mom and sister...thanks! I am so glad that Jill and Christian decided to move back to Wyo.  It will be great to get to see them every time I go home and will get to spend more time with them and the boys.  It was a lot of fun getting to spend the whole week with them.

Up, Up, and Away!

On Monday I finally got to go flying with Jabin!  He is now a flight instructor at the airport here in Logan and he took me, his friend Chet and his wife Morgan on an amazing sunset flight.  It was so cool to see Cache Valley, the mountains and Bear Lake from 10,000 feet.  It is such a pretty area and is great to see it from a different perspective.  I had never been in a small plane like this before (even tho I have been on some pretty tiny ones flying to Nebraska or Wyo!) so I was a little nervous but mostly excited.  I can't believe he gets paid money to fly airplanes all day...how cool is that?!?

So, for our flight we headed south then turned east and headed over the mountains.  We came around and flew over the top of Bear Lake and then headed back to Logan by flying over Logan Canyon.  The weather was perfect and it only got a little bumpy as we came out of the canyon at the end.  We couldn't have asked for a better sunset either! It was beautiful anyways, but to see it from the air was spectacular!  I even got to fly the plane for a little while! I thought he was joking when he said I had control and was flying it, but then I took a hold of the controls and I sure was flying! He even pulled some maneuver so we could experience zero gravity...wow!! That was a crazy feeling! This is definitely a memorable day and hopefully something I can do again!

Me and Jabin before our flight

This is one of their "biggest" planes!

Logan Temple

I'm flying!! AH!

Bear Lake

I love flying :)

Beaver Mountain...where I went snowboarding that morning

seriously the best sunset ever!

Old Main on the USU Campus

Back on the ground

A Little Craftiness

I got a Cricut Expression for Christmas along with a computer program to use with it.  The computer program is called Sure Cuts A Lot and it is so amazing.  It allows you to cut hundreds of fonts, shapes, images, and even import your own all without the use of Cricut cartridges.  It is so nice to not have to pay for tons of different cartridges but still be able to use my Cricut! I had been dying to use it and try out all of the cool features.  I made some Valentine's Day cards to send to my nieces and nephews and also some little decor for the cupcakes I gave my roommates. 

This card was my favorite!

Somehow I have just now discovered the art of Distress Ink...and I love it!! You can do so much with it and it adds a really cool effect to paper.

This is the inside of the Be Mine card.  I listed the 10 things in the space below.

I am excited to try out new things with my Cricut and see what else I can create.  My next project will be to get caught up on my scrapbooking...oh boy!! That will be a massive project!