A Day to Remember

Luckily with my school schedule I was able to be home during the week before my Grandpa's funeral. I got to help with different preparations/projects for the actual day.

I helped my mom go through pictures to put in frames for a display.

It was nice to be able to look through so many pictures of Grandpa throughout the week.
Lots of great memories!

My Grandpa always had red gumballs in his cupboard when we came over.
It was our favorite treat at his house.
I made these for all of the cousins to remember.

I printed these memory cards to have at the viewing.

Uncle Dean, Dad, Aunt Jill, Uncle Mark, Uncle Alan

Our Family

The funeral was perfect.

Thanks to my close friends and family who showed support throughout the week.

Spring Break

Cute Melissa, and spring blossoms!

Aren't they adorable?

St. Patrick's Day green!

I had my first spring break in five years! What a wonderful thing.

I spent four days in North Carolina with Melissa, Justin, and their twins, Isaac and Andrew. It was so much fun to spend time with them. I had been wanting to meet the twins for 6 months! Melissa and I were first friends in jr. high, then she moved away in high school and met Justin. We were reunited as freshman in college and became roommates until Justin came home from his mission and they got married.

I was so impressed by Melissa and Justin. Justin is working hard in a PHD program at UNC. He is one of the few first year students who is married, and as far as he knows, the only one with kids. They are focused on what's important in life and they are great parents. Melissa is amazing! Not only is she learning how to be a new mom, but she is learning how to be a new mom of two. I don't know how she does it, but I am impressed by her example. I was happy to spend a week with friends remembering what's important and learning from such great people.

And... I introduced them to Modern Family, which meant watching a few episodes of my favorite show! We had delicious meals. I tried Crispy Raisin cereal for the first time. I introduced them to O's and Starburst Just Red Jelly Beans. We spent time outside in the beautiful spring weather. We watched a couple movies. We played with adorable babies. We went on a little shopping trip. We ate at Five Guys and Moe's. We spent an evening at Chelsey and Kevin's and caught up with them. We talked, and talked, and talked.

Thanks Melissa and Justin for a fun time! I hope I get to see you again soon. (Okay... I'll be honest, I hope I get to see Isaac and Andrew again soon!)

Long Overdue

My sweet Grandpa passed away on March 19. While it's been a tender time for my family, I feel so blessed to have a sure knowledge of the plan of salvation. Namely, that families can be together forever and that my Grandpa is finally with my Grandma again.

I don't know where to start and stop with my favorite memories of my Grandpa. My older sister, cousin, and younger sister, told some stories filled with great memories.

You can also read his obituary here.

My Grandpa was an amazing gentleman.

He always told me how proud he was of all I was doing. Even during the last year, as his memory was fading. Living far away I tried calling on occasion to say hello. He always knew who I was, but would sometimes get confused about what I was doing. Every time I told him, he said, "Well, I'm sure proud of what you're doing." Once in a while, especially towards the end, he would say, "We're sure proud of everything you're doing." I think during those last hard months, Grandma was especially close to Grandpa. A sweet tender mercy.

I hope to make him proud always.
I hope to make them proud always.

Until we meet again. Love you Grandpa!

The Story of my "Holey" Sheets

I've had the same sheets since I started college. It's been almost six years! Can you believe it?

These sheets went on many adventures with me:
Chipman Hall - Freshman dorm year, I didn't spend nearly enough time with my sheets that year.
Bountiful Court - bonus points for making it through that one!
King Henry - Definitely a crazy year.
Summerlynn - Shared the last year of Provo with me.
The Park - Couldn't find enough time for my sheets during the first year of full time work.
The Avalon - Where the story ends.

After all of these adventures, my sheets finally gave in.
The cause: my cold, poorly circulated feet.

I have a habit of rubbing my feet together before I go to bed. It sounds weird, I know. But it helps warm my feet up because they are always cold. Last week, while rubbing my cold feet together, my sheets felt a little funny and sure enough I pulled down my covers and there was a hole! It wasn't very big to start out with, but the "fabric" around the hole was composed of thin strings ready to break. Within a few days my sheets were a goner.

When I told my roommates, they all laughed assuming it was a "small, no big deal" hole. They figured I was exaggerating, and didn't actually need to buy new sheets. Until they saw....
Do you think this is a "small, no big deal" hole?

Probably not.

Closer look.

It was definitely time for new sheets!

Presenting: My upgraded 400 thread count sheets!


And the good news is....

There's a 5 year warranty in case my bad habit strikes again!
I can't wait to wash my new sheets and put them on my bed.

Coming up next in the Holey Sheets series:

The Mystery of the Holey Sheets: How did I manage to always put the same end of the sheets on the same foot-end of my bed, every time I made it? (No seriously, I have no idea how that happened. It seems like I should have a hole in my sheets up by my head too, because surely at some point I made my bed and put the sheets back on opposite ends from where they had been)

Sequel- A look into past not so holey sheets: How I managed to never rub a hole in any of my previous sheets? (Really though, what's the deal)

Successful Trip

Brad and I had an awesome week, it flew by!

Tuesday:
Bradley arrived
The Spy Museum including the Spy Experience (with a really grumpy employee)
The Natural History Museum and the Butterfly Exhibit
Carlyle for dinner and a movie

Wednesday:
Monuments
Good Stuff Eatery for delicious burgers
Roosevelt Island- not that cool
Crystal City Sports Bar to watch the BYU game

Thursday:
Washington DC Temple
Potbellys
Georgetown Cupcake
National Cathedral
GWU
Bradley went to Chad's dodge-ball tournament while I had class

Friday:
Air and Space Museum
Botanical Gardens
National Gallery of Art
Newseum
National Archives
Thai Square for dinner

Saturday:
Morning fireside with Elder Bednar- amazing, the highlight of the week
Philadelphia
Philly Cheese Steaks at Jim's
Independence Hall and Liberty Bell
Shopping
Brian Regan- Definitely the second best highlight from the trip

Sunday:
Drive back from Philadelphia
Church
Drop Bradley off at the airport

It was so great having Brad here. It's always nice to have family around. It makes my apartment feel even more like home. Thanks for spending your spring break with me Brad!

Have you heard?

...We have a visitor coming...

My brother Brad is coming to DC today! He's here to spend part of his spring break with me, and I couldn't be more excited!

Academy Awards 2011

I wouldn't say that I am really into the Oscars. But I do enjoy watching the award shows. I had only seen a couple of the movies in this years line up. Was Justin Timberlake even in The Social Network? We had a little get together and watched the Oscars all night long, starting with the red carpet. I had a few favorite moments (including seeing some of the dresses) but I think I enjoyed one acceptance speech the very most:

Natalie Portman won best actress. She was humble, eloquent, and carried herself well. She said during her acceptance speech that, "her most important role" is soon to come. She is pregnant and looked awesome. Such a stellar comment! (Especially when you compare her speech with the winner of best supporting actress. Was she on something? She had to have been on something. But that's a whole different story...)