Of course there is a post on the festivities. Holidays give ocassion for people to get together and party, which also lends to being something worth blogging about. :) So here's a run-down of our day.

After kind of a late night riding, we got up way too early. We met at Monarch Honda at 7am with the Honda Riders Club to head down to Provo High. In all my years doing the evil Freedom Festival Parade (it's not the worst - that's Nephi - but it's still not a favorite...granted, no parade is a favorite...dumb parades), I never knew there was a PRE-parade at 8! I guess they figure there are way too many people with no lives who camp out on the street to get prime spots for the real parade that they would entertain them with a pre-parade. So we did that.

Afterward, we (meaning I) decided to stay to watch the grand parade. I still wanted to support/see/yell at White Peaks. We went to park, and as we were walking back, we found my aunt, uncle, and cousins. They let us use two of their camping chairs. It was nice to hang out with family. WP was of course near the end (lame), so we watched the whole parade. I was thinking how much more fun it would be if I had a little kid to hold and point things out to. Kids are the cutest. They are my favorite to watch when I go past them in parades.

As for the parade itself, it was pretty cool. It is definitely still one of the best parades for spectating. There are actual attractions, not just politicians and business advertising. (One year at Saratoga Springs was especially bad. I thought the art of parades was dying.) The weather wasn't too bad, either. It was cloudy and stayed cool. Granted, it did rain some, but we survived. Nothing like at the SL games. Did I blog about that? Talk about torrential downpour.

After the parade, we came home and crashed. I didn't nap for nearly as long as Matt did, so I took some time to play Sacred 2. Once Matt finally woke up and got ready, we headed to Matt's parents' for some festitivities. We stopped in Spanish Fork to look at a development we're interested in, too.

A lot of the family we haven't seen a whole lot of were there, so that was really nice. We got to hang out and talk for awhile, then eat and talk some more. Then Grandpa Hadfield gave a lesson about the birth of our country as well as our church. He reiterated the events surrounding and following the Prophet Joseph and his brother, Hyrum's deaths. After the lesson, we sat around singing various songs. I am so blessed to have such amazing in-laws.

After that, it was time for fireworks! It is decided that if/when Matt and I ever need to actually purchase our own fireworks, we are spending the money to get the larger ones. They are actually worth watching. Matt's uncle Brian also doctored some of the lame little ones by attaching like 5 flowers. That made them worth watching, too. Even though it was cold and again a little rainy, we had a grand time.

After visiting for awhile more, we stopped at Walmart for some necessities and then crashed again at home. :)

Today, I french braided my very own hair for the first time in my 23 years. Some might not think this a momentous ocassion, but I'm impressed with myself. It's not great, but it's not too bad, either. My aunt Koreen taught me how to french braid many moons ago. I was okay at it. I think I've only ever really done her hair and my mom's hair. It's been years since I've french braided at all - but today, I know Matt is taking me for a ride tonight, so I thought I'd try it. Have a look for yourself. Not bad for the first time, right?

Today was a pretty good day. I actually exercised, which I've been meaning to do for awhile now. I did a segment of Hip Hop Abs and then I decided to go for a bike ride. :) I also finished cataloging our movies. The exciting moment was finally learning the keyboard shortcut to move between tabs in an excel file. That may sound lame, but everyone at work always wants to know, but we've been too lazy to look it up. So for everyone who has been just as clueless and would be just as excited to learn it, here it is: Ctrl and Page Up or Page Down. Simple enough, right? However, I had a tendency to use the up or down arrow, and that didn't work so well lol. That was pretty much my day, since I had to work last night. Work wasn't too bad, either. Weird, I know. ;)

I made it....I'm done with school! Instead of one last class, I ended up with two (did I mention that Fs really are Es at UVU? because they are..)

Clinical Research was a great class. Everything was about our research projects, so we didn't even go to class most of the time. Then, we finished our final paper a week or two before the end of the semester, so that class was over. Cameron has finally posted grades, and my group got a 95% A.

Then in Infancy and Childhood Development, I had 90 something scores on the first two tests. I was worried about my paper. (I hate papers...as you all well know by now. Finding sources is the worst part.) It was due a week before the semester ended, on a Wednesday. I was supposed to work the Tuesday before, but there wasn't much work, so I got the day off. It was such a good thing, too! Bhuvan and I printed off some more articles and then went outside to read them - I got sunburned, but it's healed now... With having the whole day off, I managed to crank out a paper just over 8 pages. I figured that wouldn't be good enough since Russell had said the papers that had already been turned in and were getting As had like 13-15 sources (I think I had 8 or 9..), and he'd mentioned the paper should be 10 or more pages. Fortunately for me, he graded based off what was in the syllabus (8-10 pages). He said the length was just barely long enough. Needless to say, while I was hoping for a C, I got 100%!

He handed our papers back on the second to last class of the semester (the following Monday). He also handed out the final to be take-home. He read a sizeable list of names of people to stay after class because he had to talk to us about something. Well, my name was on that list. Bless his heart, he said that we all had high enough grades that he was waiving our final, so we didn't have to take it. (Sorry, Russell, but it's too good of news not to share! At least I didn't put it on FB.) So while I was expecting to stress over one more test then be done, I got a little graduation present. Even more anticlimactic than finishing off with a test (the final wasn't comprehensive), it felt really nice to just be done with no stress.

So I just checked UVLink, and grades are officially posted. I officially got As in both my classes this semester. Woot! However, my graduation status is still only "applied." No diploma mailed yet. That is okay though, because I know that it will be on its way!

I guess the real question is.... now what? :)

Today, my sister-in-law and I decided to go shopping! It was way fun. I spent more than I normally would (don't worry, not that much, but normally I'm good at talking myself out of stuff). However, I did not find what I was looking for. I wanted to find some bermuda/board shorts. Dang Gs - we couldn't find any that were quite long enough.



It was good to hang out though. We both got to know each other better. More girl-time will definitely be in the future. Camile enlightened me to Susie's Deals. Eclectic collection - but we found some good deals. I'm tempted to go back to Ross and get one of the dresses we saw. It looked comfy :)



I know you're just dying to know what I actually got - so I'll tell you :) I bought a brown shirt at Target. I got a heather grey long sleeved shirt for layering in the Winter, a cream shrug, and a green shrug from Susie's. Then I used a gift card to get the little sleeve socks to be worn with ballet style shoes. I'm way excited for those because I really needed them :)

Next time, hopefully Chelle and Jenn can come too! That would be way fun :)

Matt's "dream job" is apparently not going to be much of a dream. He still likes the atmosphere, being around bikes, and the people; but it isn't shaping up to be what he thought it would be. After deciding he wasn't quitting band, he asked for the Salt Lake and San Diego games off. Then he found out he can't take any Saturdays off in the summer because those are big sale days. I get that. It makes sense. Summer - best season and Saturdays - best days, but to not allow ANY Saturdays off at all?

Initially, Matt was going to train to be their accountant. Their current accountant isn't planning on retiring for at least another 10 years, but Matt was supposed to train in order to assist their current accountant. Had they done that, when the accountant was in the hospital, they wouldn't have had to do without. It sort of sounded like once he got back, Matt would start getting trained, but I don't think that has happened. Who knows if/when it will.

I'll admit, I blame myself in part for this. As if the cut in pay and three months without insurance weren't bad enough. I wish I'd never given in so quickly to tell Matt to take the job. At least with the bank he could take time off (even if it annoyed his boss sometimes) and we had insurance. I wish we hadn't given up looking for a job in Arizona so quickly. Afterall, Matt is accepted to ASU.

So we're both looking a little bit harder. Matt is moreso looking in California - but I'd still like to move to Arizona. (There are still decent and cheap houses there. We can't afford to live in California. It's only like a 5 hour drive between the two.) Next time, before he takes a job, I'm going to make sure they're fully aware of his band requirements and will allow him the weekends he needs for rehearsals and games.

Considering it has been quite awhile since I've posted, I figured I'd come up with something to let you know what's going on.

Pretty much things haven't changed. I am guessing life is going to get a lot more boring upon graduation. :) Matt is still at Monarch. He loves it. He's actually sold some stuff now, so that's good. Money is always nice. :) He's taking the summer off of school. He did finally matriculate into the Accounting program, so now he can register for school. He thought about taking a class second block this summer, but decided to drop it. His Associate's diploma finally arrived, too. It's bigger than mine was. lol

I'm still editing. It's weird working full-time hours now. I essentially worked 30 hours before, but it was split between here and the RTC. However, I don't really mind it.

As for school, tomorrow I meet with Jack to interview him for our project. The rest of my group is interviewing the other four therapists on Monday. The block ends in three weeks! I need to buckle down and write a research paper for Infant and Child Development. That and two tests are what's left for that class. Finishing up our research and finishing that paper is all we need to do for Clinical too. That should be pretty easy. We've been writing as we go - and it's a group effort. Really, the biggest thing is getting the other paper done. :p Three weeks! eek! Now I'm a little nervous. The graduation application is due Friday too. Guess I need to do that so I can be done!

Matt decided to get Bhuvan's wings clipped again. He was sick of Bhuvan's independence. When his wings are clipped, he's dependent and more sociable. Bhuvan doesn't seem too keen on this idea. He still sometimes tries to fly, and then he falls. However, he has wanted a lot more pets.

Well there's your update for a little bit. :)