Darrell's Graduation

This past week was a big one for us--Darrell officially graduated from BYU with his degree in Psychology. His family came out for the special occasion and it was a week of lots of fun and eating!

Everyone in the Marriott Center for Commencement

 I was trying to be creative and get Y mountain the background.

 Walking across the stage at Convocation

 All Darrell wanted to do was throw his cap into the air. After convocation, he decided to throw it outside because he wanted to throw it high. Well, he definitely threw it high, but then it bounced down and hit his poor mother in the head as she was trying to take a picture. She's convinced Darrell has been practicing so he could hit her. Here is the staged picture version of him throwing it.

 Proud parents!

Darrell's Aunt Marlene came in from Reno

 Darrell's Uncle Bryce and him have always had a special bond since they are both the "Second Son"

 Darrell's favorite cousin Patrice and her husband Dan

 After walking out of convocation, Darrell thought he spotted Andy Reid (the Philadelphia Eagle's head coach). He was debating in his head if he wanted to go over and talk to him, but come to find out that my father-in-law knows his wife. Darrell was so excited and said sitting through the long convocation ceremony was worth it just so he could meet him. Guess we might become Eagles fans...

We're looking forward to seeing everyone again soon!

Plans!

Darrell and I have both loved living in Provo and attending BYU. But we are both excited about the next adventure that lies ahead for us. Darrell accepted an offer to get his PhD in Industrial/Organizational Psychology at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio! 

I could not be more excited about heading back to my home state. We will live about three hours from my parents, one hour from my sister, brother-in-law, and new nephew, and four hours from my brother-in-law and sister-in-law. Plus, some of my best friends from high school will be living about an hour away as well. We are both looking forward to being closer to family. I have been having so much fun looking for apartments and furniture online. 

Darrell will be going to school year round and I will (hopefully) have a steady job, so we decided to make  this summer all about having fun. 

First, we are headed for Reno/Lake Tahoe for Memorial Day to visit Darrell's Aunt Marlene and stay at her cabin. 

We'll start the trek cross country to Ohio the first week of June. We're planning on trying to break up the trip a little bit by stopping at Mount Rushmore

And Chicago

We'll then spend the weekend with my parents

before jumping on a plane for our six-week stay at Darrell's house in Niceville, Florida with Darrell's family

I am very much looking forward to spending lots of time at the beach, laying by the pool, learning how to play tennis and golf, play lots of hand and foot, watch lots of movies, and eat lots of Blue Bell ice cream!

We'll also be spending our one year anniversary with Mickey Mouse at Disney World and Universal Studios!

We'll head back to Ohio mid-July and head straight off to the Hill Cumorah pagaent in New York with my family. And still have time to go to Cedar Point, my grandparents cottage on Lake Erie, and spend time with friends before officially moving to Dayton.

I am so excited for our summer, but there are some things I will definitely miss about Provo. I've made such good friends here and it will be sad to say goodbye. We'll be saving our money for reunions!

Houston!

When we were with Darrell's Aunt Liz and Uncle Earl over Thanksgiving break, I mentioned to Liz that I always thought the Houston Rodeo sounded like fun (I love rodeos, fairs, monster truck rallies, and demolition derbies, and other redneck festivities like this). She remembered that I said that and a few months later invited us to come down and stay with them and go to the rodeo. We had such a blast with them! I couldn't believe how big the rodeo was. We got to see Zac Brown Band (one of the country bands that Darrell actually likes) after the show as well. We also played lots of cards, toured the Blue Bell ice cream factory, saw the famous Texas blue bonnets, act lots of delicious food, and did lots of relaxing. Thanks for such a fun trip!!

 Never been so proud to be Darrell's wife...

Bachelor

I have to admit something. Probably something Darrell isn't proud of, but we are both addicted to The Bachelor. We would plan our Monday nights around making sure we could watch the show. And as much as Darrell would deny this, I know if I stopped watching the show, he would most likely continue. We have some friends who are also addicted to the show, so we decided to have a Bachelor party. Complete with classy cheesecake, roses, Martinellis, and lots of candles. It was so fun!

Oh, I forgot to mention that our cable cut out during the last ten minutes of the show, AKA the rose ceremony. I had accidentally seen the results on line, so we had our own rose ceremony.  Can't wait til the next season starts!

Valentine's Day & Birthdays

I know I am so behind on blogging, but we had a lot to celebrate the past few months.

First was Valentine's Day. We waited too long to make reservations for dinner anywhere, but decided a candle-lit P.F. Changs take out would be just as nice.  I am usually not very PDA (including mushy talk), but I was lucky to have such a great Valentine!

About a week later came Darrell's birthday. On his actual birthday, he requested that I make him BBQ chicken pizza. It was delicious. We also went to one of his favorite restaurants, Tucanos, and had some of his friends over for molten lava cakes.

 It was a whole new experience singing a "Happy Birthday" solo. Also, Darrell wanted cake balls instead of an actual cake. They are so delicious!

About a month later came my 23rd Birthday. Darrell took such good care of me. I picked out my own present (a new purse), but Darrell made a little scavenger hunt to still give me some element of surprise. He made sweet and sour meatballs for dinner on my birthday, which is one of my childhood favorites. We also had fresh strawberry cake from Kneaders and it was divine. We also went out to celebrate at Carrabbas.