"King Me"

Congrats to my number one favorite pro athlete LeBron James and the Miami Heat.

It was an awesome series and ended in the best way possible {with LeBron getting a ring and proving that he is the best player in the NBA}.

Congrats to OKC for making it to the finals and giving the Heat a good fight. It was hard to root against the Thunder, but my love for LeBron won out.

This is the first time the team I wanted the entire season to win it all actually did.. in any sport {The Jazz and BYU ALWAYS let me down}, making this finals even better.

Now that basketball is over it is a good thing the Olympics are right around the corner.... Looking forward to the Summer Games will make suffering through baseball season just a little bit more bearable. 

The Windy City

My mom and I went to Milwaukee to see my sister's brand new baby and help her pack for the big move to California.

To break up the packing madness we took a day trip to Chicago.

It rocked.

We walked all over the city and found out people in Chicago are just the nicest. On the street {and everywhere we went} we got wished Happy Mothers Day about a billion times, one lady going so far as to bless both my sister and her new baby. We also got a ton of free doughnuts. I love doughnuts. 

We visited Cloud Gate in Millenium Park.

We got an extremely nice, old lady that worked at the museum to give us her membership so we could all three get into the Art Institute of Chicago Museum for free {we (my mom) will do anything not the pay the $18 admission price}. 

It was hilarious.

We LOVED the art museum. 

Mostly because a lot of the paintings we recognized from one of our family's all time favorite games, Masterpiece. 

And  we did A LOT of shopping {I didn't get any pictures of all of our awesome stuff, sorry}.

It was the best day.

Cruisin'

To celebrate my college graduation {finally!} and one year of marriage we decided to kick off the summer by cruising down to Mexico. 

During the semester I would be at school from like one in the afternoon {sue me, I'm not a morning person} to nine at night and Brady would go to school before I woke up and come home around five. Basically, we never got to see each other. 

 It was so nice to get out of Provo and spend some quality time together, just the two of us.

Our activities consisted of...

hanging by the pool

playing mini-golf on the ship

jet skiing and snorkeling in Cabo

looking at pretty views

taking walks around the ports...

...and on the beach

zip lining through the jungle in Puerto Vallarta 

 and lastly, eating MASS AMOUNTS of food, especially chocolate frozen yogurt {for me} and chocolate/vanilla twist frozen yogurt {for Brady}.

Some of our interesting experiences consisted of::

-our dinner table teaching us how to take a water bottle lid off without breaking the seal so we would know how to sneak alcohol onto the ship 

-seeing these signs around every corner {I decided to leave this picture off facebook, but since this is a journal I just had to include it here because it was the cause of at least 50% of our laughter during the vacation}:

-watching the hairy chest contest {sorry, I know everyone is DYING to see a picture, but the only one I took was even more inappropriate than the sign above}

-and getting asked if we wanted to get high in a super creepy voice from at least fifteen Mexican men after we said no to all of the other activities they offered us.

It really was a magical vacation.

One Year

One year ago today....

I married this guy

In this place

and it was the best decision I ever made.

I can't wait to celebrate many, many more anniversaries together!

I love you Brady Reid! 

A BYU Grad, Finally

University:: Brigham Young University

Degree:: Bachelor of Art

{side note:: I had no idea I was getting a Bachelors of Art until I picked up my tassel. I mean my major was Political SCIENCE so I just assumed I was getting a Bachelors of Science. Whatev.}

Major:: Political Science

Minor:: Middle Eastern Studies

Date:: April 19-20, 2012

Here are some pictures for your viewing enjoyment::

{my awesome diploma holder}

{getting my awesome diploma holder}

{my lovely parents}

{my great in-laws}

{mother}

{father}

{husband}

{ashlyn and I at commencement} 

{my mom loves door signs, I love Dr. Pepper}

Thanks to::

-Brady, for putting up with my school  related breakdowns (well actually all breakdowns, but this is a graduation post so we will keep it about school}, and helping me combine millions of excel documents. I  know you loved every second of it :).

-The in-laws, for coming up to support me and letting me drag you guys around City Creek.

-Ashlyn, for helping me graduate with a decent GPA and for suffering through 328 with me. 

-My professors, for teaching me really cool stuff, and not failing me. 

-Subway, for making Turkey the "sub of the day" on Wednesdays, my longest day on campus.

-My dad, for putting up with years of school related breakdowns, helping me with my econometrics homework, giving me directions to buildings on campus {even my senior year}, and for always making sure I knew that whatever grade I got  was good enough as long as I tried my best.

-My mom, for creating the best house in the world to come home to when I needed a break from school, for always letting me talk to her about anything, for editing my papers, for helping me decorate my apartment, and giving me groceries every time I came home, which definitely made my life less stressful.

-And to everyone else for making my BYU experience great! 

The Rundown

Now that my life is not taken over by papers/presentations/tests I can stop neglecting my blog. 

Cool. 

So this is what we have been up to the past month or so...

1:: City Creek!

I don't know why, but I had been dying to go to this mall for quite some time.

Opening weekend I dragged my friend Ashlyn with me.

It was awesome. Well, I thought so at least. 

{purchases}

{no purchases}

2:: School Mishaps

Let's just say I failed miserably on my capstone presentation. 

I emailed myself an unfinished version of my powerpoint.

The powerpoint I emailed my self included the word "billionssssss" {yes, with every single "s"} in the space where the total cost of the Iraq War was supposed to go.

AND

I talked about the Obama REGIME instead of the Obama Administration.

Oops. 

On a happy note, I am done with school forever!

{graduation post coming soon, because it is too cool to be included in this catch up}

3:: Easter

We went down to St. George for Easter and it rocked.

We went to some awesome family parties.

Participated in the First Annual McArthur Pickleball tournament.

{we lost in the second round, chance and konner took home the trophy}

I got to see my favorite pregnant person {erin}.

We played some games, and went on an extreme Easter egg hunt. 

We got to see some of my favorite children.

We dyed some easter eggs {all ten of Anna's were straight pink}

{max looks terrified, but he love us all, I promise}

{Easter Sunday}

4:: The Nursing Learning Center

After four years, I am done working at the NLC.

Even though the manikins were creepy, 

I will miss it. 

"That's all folks!"

Barbara Jean

Today marks three years since the passing of this perfect lady.

Barbara Jean Stephens Hamm

She was honestly the best grandma anyone could ask for and I miss her dearly everyday. 

To give you a taste of how wonderful she really was here is a list of a few of the things I loved most about her::

-She was so selfless. Seriously, she would do ANYTHING that she could for anyone in her family. Including making me plain pie crust with sugar and butter at the bottom whenever I wanted because pie crust was my favorite.

-She was hilarious, even without meaning to be. One of my favorite memories is when we were sitting around the table one night after she got a cell phone and she asked if people could see her when they called because there are cameras on phones now {she was really nervous about this because sometimes she takes her phone with her when she goes to the bathroom}. We all started crying we were laughing so hard, including grandma.

-She was a MASTER cook and seamstress. She could make, sew, cook, or bake anything. 

-She let me (an annoying teenager) live with her for six months when my parents were overseas. Only a saint would do that. 

-She made everyone around her feel like they were her favorite person in the world {even though I was actually her favorite :) }

-She was the only person that believed I would actually wait for and marry Brady. One of the last things I remember her talking to me about was how she just knew that I was going to marry Brady despite everyones doubts. It meant so much that someone believed in us at that time and I am grateful to her for that. 

To sum it up:: She was just amazing.

I recently came across this picture. 

And while it isn't a great picture of any of us,

it is one of the most recent pictures I have.

And it makes me smile.