'Till We Meet Again

For the past ten years, my life has revolved around BYU. Undergraduate. Graduate. Career.

Two weeks ago that chapter ended, but not without an amazing send off from my incredible colleagues (whom I miss very much).

They threw a party with #hashtags and all...



Bought me a gorgeous clock to remember my time at BYU...

 Took me out for one last amazing (kids') meal at the Creamery on 9th...

Adriane, Me, Adi, Heidi, Marvel, Bri, and Alli - Love them!

Afterwards, Heidi took the rest of the day off, and we went to the temple together one last time. Heidi has been such a great friend and example to me. She always knows how to cheer me up, what I need, and how to help me grow. She's the sister I never had and truth be told, I'm a little beside myself without her.

I love the Provo temple. It has been a special temple to me over the past ten years, and I am going to miss it.

Perspective and Self Improvement

January 31st was the Career Fair. It was really awesome. Alec and I were able to pull things together than ever before and it was obvious. Of course it wasn't perfect, but it was great. But, after the days events, I got a phone call telling me that our family friend, Sherrie, had passed away. 

I was so sad. 

I had written about Sherrie last May when she had had an accident in the Dominican Republic and had followed their blog for eight months of her fight to get well. Sadly she lost that battle to pneumonia that January day. 

One of the first thoughts I had was a student of mine from her ward in Chicago, and before I knew it he had sent me an e-mail asking if I'd heard the news. I felt a little guilty because I'd had the thought to send flowers earlier in the week, and was upset that I hadn't heeded that prompting. So, with a different reason I sent flowers. What kind of flowers do you send to the family of such a wonderful woman? Lucky for me, a sympathy bouquet was titled "Love of My Life", so very appropriate for the kind of woman she was and the love that her family has for her. 

While I wasn't able to attend her funeral (in Chicago), the family did have a brief visiting hour in Ogden a few days later and my dad, my student, Easton, and I were able to make the drive and see them all. 

It was such a wonderful testimony to Sherrie's life to see her family. It had been years (since before I was married) since I had seen any of the Labrum kids, but they were all just as incredible as I'd remembered. It's funny how we only lived in Chicago for a year when I was in 8th grade, but the influence of their family on me has really lasted a lifetime (because it will continue to). In fact, the most touching thing to me was that one of Sherrie's daughters-in-law who I'd only met once recognized me, knew my name and gave me a hug, just like her Sherrie would have--I think she would have been proud. 

Since then, Ron, Sherrie's husband, has asked each of the kids to post their funeral talks on the blog; Sherrie was vivacious and full of life. She was kind, without guile, and so friendly. She was an angel. And I wonder how she developed into such a wonderful person. 

I want to be that way. I want to develop into that kind of person. 

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As I've been thinking about this, yesterday I was able to attend the Temple. It was neat to have my frustrations and many of my imperfect thoughts evaporate as the Spirit of the Lord in His House settled on me. 

I like that feeling. I want to be that way. 

I'm grateful for Sherrie's example. I'm grateful for forever families. I'm grateful for a lifetime of improvement. 

Here's to forever, right? 

Christmas Miracles

My friend Katie is amazing.

We met in August 2008 the first day of graduate school. She was a recently returned RM and a stats undergrad. Basically amazing and super intimidating.

I remember when I first realized I admired her. It was in a during a presentation in managerial economics where she demonstrated supply and demand using her arms. Way more intellectually gifted than me.


I was lucky enough to be on the same team with Katie that semester. I learned so much from her and come to find out we were basically birthday twins (Oct. 26th/27th).


Halfway through the semester Katie came to class one Monday. We were chatting about the weekend, and I asked how her weekend had been. Completely non-chalently she said, great, I got engaged. Say what?! Yep, Katie was engaged to Fabio. Fabio is Brazilian, and amazing. He's also like 7 feet tall. Katie's basically like 5 fee tall. Perfect match? No doubt.


Because Katie was engaged, she was also moving going to be moving and leaving the program at the end of the semester... boo. It turned out okay though because Ryan was able to start the program with the empty slot.


It also turned out okay because Katie was moving to Tucson, and my parents still had ties there which meant we ended up there at the same time one random November weekend. It was fun seeing Katie in Tucson with Fabio, even before they were married.


After fall semester ended, in January 2009, Katie and Fabio got married in Salt Lake City. They had a luncheon first and were then sealed. Katie wanted the emphasis to be on the most important part: the temple. So she forwent a reception and a dress. I thought that was pretty neat, and the fact that her red dress, white coat, bouquet, and taxi ride were so completely classy.

Fabulous, right? 

I saw Katie a few times while we were finishing graduate school. She came up to Utah a few times, and worked for a government agency in Utah the entire time she was finishing her MPA at U of A f--she teleworked. Like I said, she's amazing. 

In Feb/Mar when I went to Arizona for work, Katie and Fabio took me out to dinner, it was such a treat, especially because it was the first time I'd seen her since finding out she was expecting! 

And, as luck would have it, I would get to see her again while she was still pregnant. 

After moving over 8,000 miles away, Katie had her baby in Singapore in early November. I had been dying to know if she'd had her baby (she was due on her birthday, October 27th) and considering there is a 15-hour time difference and no texting between 8,000 miles I had to sit and wait and wait. 


Finally, I heard the good news and a few days later she blogged with this darling picture of their complete family. 

How cool would it be to take your new baby home in a Taxi?!

Anyway, fast forward to last week when I sent an address request for Christmas cards. I hadn't heard from Katie. I sent her an e-mail, I wrote on her facebook wall, and finally went to send her a message when I saw that I already had it in a previous message. 

Then Wednesday, I get this: "Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you... I've been in the hospital for the past nine days. I'm in the mend now, don't worry. Long story, but you should know I'm definitely not ignoring you!"

What?! 

What could possibly have happened to Katie? Why would she have been in the hospital for 

nine days? Was her baby okay? And Fabio? Were they in a car accident? 

I responded immediately, but didn't hear back right away. (Curse you 15-hour time difference.)

I was a little panicked, despite knowing she was on the mend. 

In fact, yesterday morning when I was eating breakfast I told Ryan that I might look up her parents in Kaysville... it wouldn't be too hard, right? They would certainly know something. 

Then, during lunch my iPhone buzzed with a facebook message from Katie directing me to her blog. 

She wrote about the whole ordeal. She almost died. I couldn't help but cry. I cried for all that Katie must have been thinking, worrying about her little boy and husband. I cried for Fabio, thinking he might be losing his wife with a 6-week old son. I cried because I knew that God lives, that miracles are abundant, and that the heaven's are not closed, but that they are open. God speaks to man and priesthood blessings and praying and fasting can provide medical changes that can only be described as miraculous. 

After reading Katie's blog, I jumped on gchat to see if she was there. Sure enough 5am medications had her up and we talked for a little while. I learned more about what had happened, and feel blessed--even as a friend from far away--that I have been able to witness her miracle.  

Miracles are real, and I'm grateful for the prayers and fasting that brought Katie's Christmas miracle about. 

Merry Christmas

Holiday Weekends

This past weekend was busy and interesting to say the least. It started with these classic moments, had a few ups and downs, but ended on a wonderful note...

Saturday afternoon, we drove up to Salt Lake to meet Ryan's family at Temple Square. It was so much fun!

It was cold outside so we started inside the Visitor's Center. Adi saw the Christus and wanted to give it a hug.  I love the ideas that she comes up with! His arms are open. (:

On our way out we stopped to listen to a choir performing, Adi liked that too. She started to sing along. 

After making our way outside, we caught the nativity story about halfway through. 

And although Adi really liked the manger scene, she cried when the lights went out and said, "broken!" And had a really rough time with it. So... we stayed to see it again. 

Stars are one of Adi's favorite things, so I had Ryan snap a picture of the manger with the star. 

And even made it into the Salt Lake Tabernacle (I'd never been inside before.)

On our way out, we asked a nice family to take a picture of us. Just another reason I need to invest in a really nice camera. Sometimes the iPhone just really doesn't do it for me. But happy we got one just the same. :) 

 

After leaving Temple Square we headed to Ryan's parent's for their annual Christmas dinner. Can I say yummy. I failed to get a picture, but we had such yummy food and even crab legs. We toasted the coming year, and to say that I am excited about 2012 would be an understatement. Gonna be the best. year. yet.

The Mr. and the Mrs.

Congratulations Austin and Bri!

est. 11.11.11

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The wedding day was full of excitement...

Adi had fun and learned a new word: temple...

Played on the steps with daddy...

And Grandpa...

We snapped some candid family pictures...

And celebrated with the happy couple!

Adi wanted to be part of the fun!

And gave hugs all around!

Here's to fun weddings and family!

*Post-dated to the wedding date and time. (:

The Sun! The Sun! I saw the Sun!

That's right! The sun actually shines in Seattle. I felt quite lucky that the weather was so incredible--I thouroughly enjoyed my trip and found that it was the most fun and successful outreach trip I've been on to date. We'll see if Portland in December can sway me to the Northwest even further.

My first day in Seattle was overcast. As I drove to the city after landing, I noticed the grey skies immediately. But, by early afternoon, the skies started to clear, the sun came out, and my trip to the top of the Space Needle was perfect.

Views from the top of the Space Needle, Seattle, WA 

From above and below. (If you look closely you can see a helipad and helicopter. Those belong to Bill Gates.) 

After a beautiful trip to the top, I headed out of the city for dinner with recruiters at the beautiful Palisades restaurant. Elegant, delicious, simply beautiful.

I loved our view of the marina from our table--perfect sunset. (I was sad Ryan wasn't there to enjoy it with me.)

The next day, I headed out to a beautiful building owned by Weyerhaueser. It was a pyramid built into the ground and was covered with greenery. It was really neat. And, because it was outside the city, it was more calm, relaxed, and peaceful. 

After my appointments that day, I thought I'd drive to the Seattle Temple. I was just going to take a few pictures, but decided that I would do a session. Needless to say, I got lost amongst the escalators. 

The rest of the week consisted of walking Pike's place and eating some delicious food. Photographic evidence...

Ivar's was good, especially their famous Clam Chowder. Stopped for some peach crepes, slightly disappointed. And, of course I love breakfast, so the Brown Bag Cafe was on the menu (and those were the leftovers! And, don't listen to what google tells you because Topolino's wasn't that great. 

Loved the old-town architecture, fresh flowers and peppers, and who doesn't love a good fish market with an onlooking pig!? 

I got to enjoy sights of the market from every direction and saw the space needle from every point in the city as well. I walked everywhere.

Visited Weyerhauser headquarters--gorgeous, and the first Starbucks. I also made it to a bizzare Asian market inside a building downtown. Awesome? I think so.

Sin-City Whims

You've heard the phrase, "what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." 

Well, truth be told, "what happens in Vegas, God knows." Best billboard slogan ever? I think so.

In June, a few colleagues and I drove down to Las Vegas to exhibit at the SHRM conference. It was... interesting. 

It started out innocently enough. We left on a Saturday morning, checked into our hotel quickly, and set up our booth. We headed back to the hotel and we started to notice things: the stench of the casino (old cigarette smoke, lingering in the air), scantily-clad women... everywhere, and the theme of the hotel overall that left something to be desired.

We ignored the tell-tale signs and grabbed dinner in the hotel. After dinner, we thought we'd check out the pirate show. We'd heard good things about the show and nabbed a spot in the "splash zone".

Lies. All of it. There was no "splash zone" only an eyebrow burn-off zone. Yes, it was that hot and fiery.

Oh, and the "show". Let's just say the old pirate show (that we'd heard about) was for families, and the replacement "Sirens" show was for mature audiences. And we are definitely not mature.

To repent, we woke up Sunday bright and early and headed to church at a Las Vegas ward where we met the wonderful family of the Ward Mission leader. (One of my colleagues has a brother who is serving in that mission and had been transfered from this ward only a week previously.) They invited us over for dinner, so we swung by the Las Vegas temple to snap a couple photos, and then enjoyed a great afternoon with new friends.

 

The conference started Sunday night, so we headed to the conference center ready to work.

Does anyone else think it's ironic that the BYU booth ended up across from the mini-bar where they served 1,000 martinis in 3 hours?

The trip flew by after that. I had an opportunity to spend some time with Ryan's Aunt Julie and Uncle Chris while I was there, it was a lot of fun. They lived about 20 minutes from our hotel--definitely a needed respite from the filth and smut of the strip.

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My final night in the city, I actually got to enjoy Las Vegas. We walked the strip and explored the Venetian and the Bellagio gardens, shops, and fountains: definitely the highlight of the trip. I texted a bunch of these images to Ryan and his response was "Random, where are you?" Looking back they are really random, but completely whimsical and definitely the most family-friendly location in town.

The Independence Day spread at the Venetian

Umbrellas at the Bellagio Shops

The Chandelier at a shop

The "flower" painting at the Bellagio Gardens

 

The Independence Day spread at the Bellagio

I loved the carrousel and ferris wheel, it seemed so American and so appropriate. And, it was whimsical!

They also had hot air balloons hanging in mid-air which is perfect for the Fourth! 

Finally I snapped a couple pictures of amazing hydrangea because I love them (growing in Las Vegas of all places!)...

and real and fake birds for Adi because she loves them. 

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On our way back, we visited... 

 the Lourve in France...

the Trevi Fountain in Italy...

And a random statue of Siegfried and Roy

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The day after the conference, we got up bright and early and headed North. We stopped for breakfast in St. George and got to see the temple up close. Definitely a different feeling than the hustle and bustle and then some of the city. 

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Until next time...

Viva Las Vegas!