Okay so after almost six years I can finally say I have a bachelors degree! I didn't walk or attend commencement, but I did complete my education and its a milestone. Back in February when we found out we were having a baby, I was so burnt out from going to school year round that I talked to Kent about not finishing out the next two semesters and just jumping right into medical transcription so I would have a job. Of course to him that didn't sound logical and he encouraged me to finish and I am so glad I did. This morning I reflected on some of the class rooms I have been in and how much I really have learned from a formal education. First semester at BYU, excited, overwhelmed, ambitious. I signed up for honors courses and participated in Freshman Academy and had a job at the BYU Bookstore. I lived with my fabulous aunt, Kamilla and got to be there as she dated Nick. I attended a real singles ward and FHE group and felt like a little kid with no social skills. I rode the UTA bus and got lost. I experienced so many changes and barely got through finals before taking a break from school and working for a semester till I transfered to BYU-I. Excited again, I signed up for English classes and studied Frankenstein and grammar and felt disappointed. So I took a foods class and a family relationships class along with generals and got excited again with the skills I was learning. But I couldn't major in child development or Home Ec? So I took more English classes, Shakespeare and literary interpretation. Disappointed again and not able to analyze and write like all the other English majors, I took Money Mangaement and parenting as I decided to minor in marriage and family skills. Insert an 18 month mission in their somewhere. Then I realized I better figure out this English thing or not and I took a communication writing class that about killed me as the teacher told me my words were too flowery and off topic. (Guess I can interprete literature and ideas after all). So how could I combine my love of words with a job other than reading great works of literature to high school students?(I will never read Frankenstein again). Then my grandpa published a book and my mom was telling me about how he paid an editor to go over the book and prepare it for publication. A light bulb went on and I looked into the English emphasis of Editing and Professional Writing. To good to be true, I had found my niche. I could work with words as a science (spelling, puctuation, structure) and not as an art where I wrote creatively and analyzed life (trust me I do that enough with my own life). So I took an editing class which I enjoyed and then got caught in the wonderful whirlwind of steady dating, engagement and marriage. I had no desire to finish school, but I plugged along with mediocre grades and at the point where we were expecting a baby, I didn't quit but I opted for a university studies degree so that I could graduate without an internship, capstone, and three more upper level English classes. So while I am not a true graduate of the English department, I will definitely use those skills as a medical transcriptionist. So it has all worked out for the best!
This is a long post but it was for me.
Cute and handsome refreshment eaters.
I volunteered to make these skirts for some of us to wear and i was sewing on them the hour before! Oh well, they turned out pretty good.
Kim was a good sport and took pictures with the pregnant ladies.
Aunt Joni is the queen of fondant and wedding cakes.
We made breakfast and played games while this little guy ran around chirping and exploring as we tried to decide if he was hungry.
5.5 lbs and about 23 inches. Good job, Kent!
Kent and I celebrated the 4th of July by spending the day at Yellowstone National Park. This picture is of the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone; really it was very, very deep and it was breathtaking!
Can't forget the buffalo of Yellowstone, this big bull was actually quite close to us as well. 
A herd of elk cows and thier calves were in a part of the park called Mammoth. Kent said that every year his family has gone to Yellowstone they have seen elk in this yard.
We had a picnic for lunch and then later went into the town of West Yellowstone to eat some good old barb-que pork sandwiches. Then we headed to Freeman Park in Idaho Falls to watch the freedom celebration fireworks with Kent's aunt and uncle.
About forty minutes of non-stop fireworks are shot up across the Snake River in sync to festive fourth of July music. Very fun, even though traffic is a nightmare afterwards as everyone in Idaho tries to leave and get on the freeway.
