Limbo

Well, I survived my fourth year at BYU. One more year and I'll graduate with my Masters degree. Then I have to be a real adult. Wow. Freaky. I can't think about that right now. Moving on.

Right now is the time of year I love the most, but soon come to hate - the period right after I finish finals but before I start my summer job. Right after finals I feel exhilarated and free, but once I have too much free time without any sort of schedule I start to feel like I'm in limbo. Thankfully I fly home in a little over a week and will have my little nephew to keep me busy. However, there have been a few events over the past two weeks that are worth mentioning.

I had the opportunity to go to dinner with my mom's side of the family. My grandpa is German and grandma is Mexican - it makes for very interesting family gatherings. Anyway, we went to dinner in Salt Lake at a German deli. It was great to see McKell and little Hannah (although she's not that little anymore). I had a blast catching up with my aunt, uncle and cousins. Although this dinner reaffirmed the fact that German food is not exactly my favorite. I swear that my sandwich had at least an inch of sauerkraut on it.

Last week I had the opportunity to drive to Arizona for my cousin's wedding. It was great to escape the cold for awhile and get some sun. I am happy to report that I am a shade less pasty than when I left. (Observe the sunburn below)
Candace was a beautiful bride - she was absolutely glowing. I'm really glad I got to be with my family to celebrate with them. I was really happy to see Megan again, since I hadn't seen her since January. Due to a tragedy in one of our neighbor's families, Mom and Dad weren't able to come to the wedding - so I definitely missed them.

Family reunions always make for good stories. The family fun began on the drive there. My cousin Kenzee and I played chauffeur to my grandparents and drove them down to Arizona. On our first night in the hotel Kenzee and I got showered and in our PJs and started a movie. Grandma got in bed (it was 7:30pm) and said, "well goodnight girls!" and went to sleep. We found this pretty hilarious and teased her about it for the rest of the trip. But the funniest part was the next morning. We stayed in a little town right between the borders of Arizona and Utah. On one side of the room, Grandma's phone switched to Arizona time. On our side of the room, Kenzee's phone and my phone stayed on Utah time which is one hour ahead of Arizona. We were going to leave at 8am the next morning so I set my alarm for a little after 7. Yeah, that's right, my alarm went off at 6am Arizona time and Kenzee and I were ready wayyyy too early.

We had a family luncheon after the wedding, but before the reception. One of my aunts had made a whole bunch of heart shaped sugar cookies. She told us all that she had baked them in the shape of hearts because she loves us all so much. It was a very sweet speech and we were truly touched. But as there were tons of leftover cookies we continued to refer to them as "love cookies" for the rest of the weekend. In fact, I don't think I'll ever be able to think of them as sugar cookies ever again.

I think I can sum up these family gatherings like this: Coke/Pepsi, sports, eating, joking, eating, sports, eating, and eating. It's true. After you finish a huge meal it's not even two minutes before grandma tells you it's time for dessert. And she doesn't listen to you if you insist you need a little more time before dessert. This is the same grandma who I'm pretty sure has fed me approximately 10 lbs of popcorn a year since I started college.

Anyway, life has been pretty boring since I got back from Arizona. I really can't wait until I fly home. In the mean time however, I've been finishing my visa application forms for New Zealand. I'm so excited!