The three of us

Kathryn, who drove up from Las Vegas with her mom and kids, came up to my house with Melinda for an evening. We had a nice time - we got dinner at Bajio and brought it back to my house for a couple hours of "girl talk" and going through the cute baby clothes that Kat brought up for Melinda. Halfway through Melinda's pregnancy, she found out that her baby girl is actually a baby boy - ooops. So this will probably be the last time we will be able to hang out, all three of us, before Melinda moves to Hawaii and China for the next two years while her husband, Jeremie, gets his MBA. It's the first time that Kathryn has been to my house and the second Melinda had been - I just commented to Kathryn that it just seemed so normal though. They're both such a part of my life, even though we don't see each other all that often, that it seemed perfectly normal for them to be sitting in my living room, like they're here all the time. Anyways, thanks ladies, I had a nice time. Love you both!

Just a quick correction - I had to leave 2 Wendy's salads outside, not 3. We weren't THAT hungry.

Well, a much anticipated evening came and went much too quickly-but it was alot of fun and I won't forget it. Melinda got us tickets to go see Stephanie Meyer in person at Thanksgiving Point for The Host booksigning. Poor Melinda had to wait outside in the sun for hours before the door opened, while I battled traffic through Salt Lake. I got there a little after they opened the doors at 5:00pm and fortunately we got some great seats in the 3rd row. The most inconvenient part was I had to leave 3 perfectly delicious Wendy's salads outside and eat nasty nachos from their concession stand as an alternative. Well, a small sacrifice to pay for my Twighlight and Host loves. I giggled too much, talked too much, smiled way too much - I was a like a teeny-bopper at a New Kids On The Block concert Anyway, it was a fun experience. We talked alot about the books and the characters - until the ladies in front of us said they hadn't read The Host yet and could hear everything we were saying. Who goes to a booksigning without having read the book? Ok, so I've never been to a booksigning before, but I would have felt like a student going to an important lecture for an important class without having read the assigned reading - and then having to fake it during discussion time. Whatever.

Since we were in the 3rd row we got our books signed fairly quickly, within 40 minutes after she was done speaking. Hearing her speak was nice - she's just a normal person, like anyone else you've ever met, but of course very pleasant, obviously talented and it was nice to hear answers to fans' questions. The one I really wanted to know, which I considered asking her when I was on stage but thought better of it, is WHY did she choose Wanda as the name for Wanderer? Horrible. Well, she was very nice to sign the 6 books I plopped on the table, so I just told her thanks for coming and signing books for us, to which she replied "Well, thanks for coming" She sounded sincere, like she was surprised people showed up. Right. She's amazing and her books are fantastic. It was such a great time. Now, I can't wait until August 2nd for Breaking Dawn, and hopefully we'll get to read more about Wanderer and Ian in a couple years.

Well, here's the proof, I finally did it.

Graduation was actually really fun. Rich & Donette drove down from Idaho, my sweet mother flew all the way from Alaska and I had some dear friends and family around to celebrate with me. The night before walking we had a nice dinner at Camelot Village, where Melinda lives, which was the main celebration. Except for ending up having to buy pre-cooked, pre-sliced ham because the pork loin was still raw by dinner time, everything went smoothly. ( ; I don't have too many pictures of the dinner, but a few of graduation ceremony the next morning (which came very, very early the next day). Thanks to everyone that helped make this accomplishment possible in my life! I love you all.

Happy Birthday, Jackson!!!

Here are a few pictures from Jackson's 2nd birthday. He had alot of fun trying to blow the candles out - it took several tries but he finally got it down. He loved opening presents, his favorite were the vellum helium balloons from the dollar store, of course.