Saturday, December 21, 2013

williamsburg

finals are over! finals are done... now we can finally have some FUN! haha and we did:) we decided to take a celebratory road trip to a place we've been wanting to go all semester, Williamsburg.  Williamsburg is such a fun, historic, colonial, quaint, beautiful, etc, etc place! We had such a blast touring around the old buildings, eating at a delicious cheese shop, and getting in the Christmas spirit. Santa Claus was there along with carolers and instruments playing christmas songs. We watched a rendition of the Christmas Carol live, and later at night saw the lighting on the lawn, which is a special tradition that dates back hundreds of years. So much history in one single spot. 

This church is 300 years old, and is still standing as a beautiful monument of Williamsburg. 
At the end of the night we went to a christmas concert featuring a choir that sang so beautifully and filled the church with a wonderful spirit.

Some other fun pics. Can you believe it was 75 degrees?











yum


The lights came out at night



Thursday, December 19, 2013

the end of a very long semester

what a long, long, terrible, awful, stressful final exam period. so much went into these exams, so much depends on them. they say the first year of law school is the hardest... and they weren't kidding. watching layton go through this past semester has been so hard at times and we have had to rely on each other more than ever before. neither one of us could do this alone and i am grateful every day for my determined law student that works so hard to make our dreams come true. 
i was at work the day he had his last final and couldn't wait to get home to him to congratulate him. i walked through the door and could not believe what i saw!! a spotless apartment and this bouquet of flowers...

i coudn't believe he would clean our apartment and think of me in the midst of his hard day with his last test! i had written him a letter earlier that day to say congratulations for making it! as i pulled it out to give to him, he handed me one too. 

thats what marriage is all about. supporting each other, and making sacrifices for each other. i am grateful every day that i am married to such a thoughtful person, and that we were able to have this experience living away from home to go to law school. it has brought us closer than we ever thought was possible. 

marriage is also about knowing how to celebrate! that night was the funnest night of the whole semester as we ate chick fil a and laughed our heads off at nothing in particular. more than anything i think it's time for a big exhale and sigh of relief. the semester is OVER!!!! i get my husband back!!! christmas break here we come!!! :)

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

a very happy birthday

as everyone knows, i am a freak about birthdays. i absolutely love them. and why shouldn't everyone love them as much as i do? its a day dedicated to celebrating one individual! and that is exciting! its the BEST. my family used to joke with me about my love for my birthday saying that i treated it like a national holiday... and ever since they put that in my head.. thats exactly how i treat it! a national holiday when everyone should be happy. haha. i know, i'm nuts it's true. 

anyways! 

my birthday was a blast. a couple girls and i went down to the Short Pump mall, (about half way to Richmond from Charlottesville) where we got delicious steamers at Starbucks, shopped around, and ate lunch at the Cheesecake Factory. 



Layton was such a champ and made my birthday so special even though he was in the middle of a hard week of law school. We went to dinner at a Charlottesville favorite, The Local, and came home to a cake he had baked me. now ladies... i don't know if you are the same, but whenever Layton makes any kind of food or goes shopping for clothing... no matter what I think it is the cutest thing in the entire world. it is the best present just to imagine him mixing the batter, or standing among clothing racks at Old Navy. what a cutie!

as if that wasn't enough, my darling family sent me a birthday box with all sorts of surprises... including ingredients for my favorite cake! yes, we had birthday cake round 2.  


thanks everyone who made my birthday and the national holiday of november 19th so special! until next year!


Friday, November 15, 2013

expanding

all my life I have been a pianist and more recently a teacher as well. Its what I love, my passion, my chosen major, my calling in life... whatever you want to call it! but its what i have always done, and who i have always been.


since graduating in may and moving to charlottesville i planned on instantly building a studio back up and getting 30 students that would provide a job for me. ... you guessed it, it didn't happen.  for the first time in my life i had to brain storm as to what else i could do?  i felt intimidated at the thought that i, a 22 year old, have never had a serious job other than teaching piano. i applied for dozens of jobs on craigslist, on websites, through the university, through contacts, etc, etc. here it is... the real world! i was lucky enough to find a job at anthopologie as a sales associate right off the bat, but, retail? really? was i cut out for it?

so, i have expanded myself into the retail world. i interact with a broad range of customers on a daily basis from entitled teens with daddy's credit card, to sweet mothers just out for an errand, to men frantically looking for the perfect gift.  i have loved expanding myself to meet new and interesting people.  i love my coworkers and the backgrounds they have that are so interesting.  i love that my coworker found a puppy on the side of the road and raised it only to realize it was a dingo.  i love that most of them have no idea where utah is on the map of the U.S.  i love feeling like no one knows anything about me, and i can be anyone i want to be! i love getting more into fashion and having a reason to get cute every day.  we get crafty and dirty with glitter and blast music as we close shop, and we work hard.  i love feeling like i'm expanding my understanding of people, my relationships, and my horizon.

well, anthropologie wasn't cutting it with our budget so i kept looking and looking. after a couple failures, one in particular that resulted in tears... i found an additional job at uva hospital as an administrative assistant. a hospital? really? was i cut out for it?

so, i expanded myself again and started working at a hospital as well. the learning curve was rough. acronym after acronym of medical terminology almost did me in for good. but after weeks of getting used to it, i felt more and more comfortable and actually at times, confident! every day people of all kinds walk in the door with different stories, aches, pains, and worries. some are just plain nasty and treat me as their outlet of frustration. but most are pleasant and happy to be alive. i'm expanding... learning how to make charts, read tb tests, fax (never knew how to use a fax machine!), report workers comp claims, etc etc.  i've learned you never know what someone is going through. like today when i asked a women in the waiting room if she is excited for the holidays. she replied that she hadn't even thought about it, because her 2-months old granddaughter had died 3 weeks ago of SIDS.  life is fragile and delicate and personal and you simply have to be kind to everyone no matter what.

my coworkers at the hospital are a riot. none have them have ever been west of the Mississipi, and they are southern women. every day i am called "honey bunny," "sugar," "cute patootie," and my newest nickname... "tinkerbell."  I love the stories of southern cooking and hunting and the greasy can of lard their mamma used to keep on the stove and put in everything they ate.  their loud laughter echoes the halls of our small clinic and often times i have people in the waiting room crane their neck around trying to see who is making that racket. they are sooo funny and i love learning more about them and their interesting lives. so different than mine. i'm expanding.

and my third job... teaching. my six students bring me so much joy. it is my passion, and my chosen career, but for now... to have these other jobs and opportunities to meet interesting and new people, and have interesting and new experiences in interesting in new fields is something i will treasure forever. i am grateful for this new experience of living away from home. i am expanding as a person every day. 

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

fall break

fall break has never been needed more than it was this year. with all of Layton's studying and my working... it was time for a BREAK. we went to virginia beach with three other couples and had such a blast. the weather turned out to be beautiful! we swam in the ocean, flew a kite, went hot tubbing, crab catching, layed out for hours on the sand, and just relaxed! at night we ate delicious food, played games, watched movies, and laughed our heads off. it was such a fun crew and my only complaint is that we didn't stay longer! i feel so grateful for all the amazing friends we have made in charlottesville already!












Sunday, October 6, 2013

mama's in town

my wonderful mama came to visit this past week, which was the best thing in the world! it was so much fun to show her around my new home and life. it was a weird feeling picking her up at the airport, driving her back to my place, where i had bought her groceries... it was like the roles had switched for a second! we laughed about this, and also about how after being together for 2 seconds, it instantly was back to normal and like we had never left each other's side. we had so much fun exploring Charlottesville together.  She came into Anthropologie to visit me working, which was so fun
 ... and then we shopped till we dropped!

we went apple picking at carter mountain orchard to get in the fall spirit. we laughed as we used "apple pickers"to get the high ones, failing majority of the time, but by the end we had an impressive bag of delicious fresh apples.
Afterward we sat looking at the incredible view of Charlottesville and beyond. with apple cider donuts in hand, we were happy campers!  


We went on an amazing hike one day up to humpback rocks, which looks down into the Shenandoah valley for an amazing view. We sat up there forever with our arms around each other. above the world, next to my mama, and felt so happy.

We watched movies, went on runs, explored campus, you name it! She washed our whole apartment, fixed our vacuum, put warm light bulbs in for the florescent (which literally saved my life) added her motherly touch to things, and was wonder woman as she always is! my favorite part of having her here was to just be able to talk face to face again, and really have our deep conversations we love so much. we were laughing because we always give the same advice to each other back and forth, and its always what we need to hear. there is a lot going on in life, living away is hard sometimes! and for my mom to come and visit and tell me that I'm doing a good job, that my apartment is cute, and that she thinks my life is great... means the world to me. the week went by way too fast and goodbyes never get easier! but i am so grateful she was able to come and that i got to hang out with my mama for a week. i think we both needed it:) 


Sunday, September 29, 2013

RAGNAR

it was hard, it was fun, it was doing more than i thought i could. it was running farther than i thought, on less sleep than i thought i would get.  it was miserable, it was hilarious... it was RAGNAR.

what a crazy thing for 12 people to jump in the car and drive 513 miles only to then run 196.2 more. what an adventure this weekend has been! run, drive, eat, ... sleep? repeat. from saratoga springs to lake placid, new york we ran.  on roads covered with orange, red, and yellow leaves. on bridges that stretched over lakes and rivers. passed boat houses and ferris wheels. up windy canyon roads, and next to cows. we ran and ran.

i ran at 5am for my last leg, which happened to be my hardest leg. as i began the run my team cheered me on and i ventured on the unknown road. soon, i was alone in the darkness. nothing but me, my headlamp, and my legs moving beneath me.  i started to feel scared and alone, and like a bear could pop out any minute and eat me.  good thing i had running shoes one and could run away hopefully... but as i started to feel more and more scared, i looked up at the sky and gasped to see the heavens were open. i have never in all my life seen so many bright, beautiful, stars. i felt so small, like i often do when i look at the stars, but i also felt empowered.  i was doing a hard thing, alone in the darkness. but with the stars as my guide, i knew i could do it. i wanted to prove i was strong and able. and so i ran. up hills, passed farms, for over an hour until finally my team came into view. i pushed on to the very end, and slapping that bracelet onto his wrist i smiled. i did it.

we ran across the finish line together and then celebrated with free massages and pizza. we had such a fun team! wahoos your daddy baby!!!




i am so glad that i decided to do ragnar. doing hard things is part of life, and overcoming them is when life is the sweetest. sweet as a getting in a hot tub that night to soothe my sore legs:)

layt was a champ while i was gone cleaning the whole apartment, studying hard, and even having time to be the sweetest husband in the world. we had the best reunion having missed each other terribly, and i got the prettiest bouquet a girl could ask for! life is good