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.

More vacation pictures

More Oregon and California pictures - enjoy!

Oregon Coast

We just got back from a trip to the Oregon/Californian coast - we had SO much fun! We played on the beaches, hiked around and got to see the giant Redwoods. It was so beautiful and the kids really had fun. We stayed in a yurt at Harris Beach in Brookings, OR - it's the perfect cross between comfort and camping. The hardest part of the trip was driving there and back. On our drive home we got stuck in California an extra day waiting for the roads to open after snowstorms in the Sierra Nevada mountains. We ended up driving across on I-80 going over Donner Pass and then down into Reno - those mountains are beautiful but wow, tons of snow.

February

Hello everyone!

Well, it's still February and it's still winter here. We've had so much snow this season - it's finally starting to warm up to melt some of it, but I don't think winter is over yet.

Brad and I got to go snowboarding in January and hopefully we'll make it once more before the season is over, we love it so much.

Well, I'm officially a college grad now. I received my diploma in the mail, so now I'm just waiting until April and I'm going to do the whole cap and gown thing. I'll be sending out announcements soon. The big ceremony is April 24th and we're having a dinner party that evening at the clubhouse in Melinda's neighborhood.

The pictures here are of the boys when we went to go see the Goldenspike monument that's located outside of Brigham city about 30 miles. It was a gorgeous day and we needed a change of pace, so I loaded the boys and we took a drive. They had alot of fun playing on the tracks and watching a Charlie Brown movie about the railroad inside the visitor center.

Enjoy the rest of February - and don't forget March is the most important month of the year - my birthday!