Done Forever

For those of you who do not know, I recently finished my VERY last day of my undergraduate career at BYU. It really has not settled in yet that I will not be going back to school next semester. I mean, I've been going to college for 4.5 years (almost) straight. School has always been there in the back of my head somewhere and now, I feel like I should be reading, studying for finals, finishing some homework, writing a paper, etc. but alas, I do not need to because I am done. Wonderful. We had our graduation dinner we last Saturday since we didn't get a real Graduation hoopla. Afterward, Laura and Sarah, hubbies included, came over and we played the best game of Guestures I've played to this day. It was hilariously amazing!! We will definitely be having more of those nights. So glad our husbands are friends now too! Here are some pictures of the wonderful ending. Enjoy!

Us enjoying our last day with SAM, gonna miss that guy!

The Carpool after our very last class on BYU campus. We got a little nostalgic.

Ryan and I at the graduation dinner at Magelby's Grill.

Our side of the table. Ryan, Me, Sarah, & Rob.

The most amazing friends that I made in Nursing School. I wouldn't have made it without them.

What's That I hear?

Oh ya, that must be Ryan singing "Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland" in the bathroom. Is that the sound of Christmas nearing?
For the Gardner home, yes, yes it is.

Thanksgiving

What is Thanksgiving without 80 degree weather? Well we don't really know because our Thanksgiving was filled with sun and heat! I forget how great California is until I go there and enjoy the fantastic weather!!

Our day started early with an hour drive to Dana Point for the Turkey Trot. We all did it except the Bri/Kell family. I was really proud of everyone because we all finished! Even Ryan said he ran the whole thing, so we are totally ready for our half marathon in April! :)

After the run we did a lot of getting ready, cooking, picture taking, watching football, and eating. It was a great Thanksgiving and yes, we have a lot to be grateful for.

Ryan and I before the race

Best Friends

These are my best friends. I feel like I know them better than I know some of my friends in real life. Some might say that is a little sad, but you don't know these girls like I do. They are the epitome of fabulousness. I aspire to be like them in (almost) every way.

Gratitude

We are speaking in Church tomorrow on the above topic. Wish us luck...

What's all the Traffic For?

I was driving today and I could not believe the traffic that there was!!! I was going crazy. It was 11 AM and there were people all over 123rd and the freeway was packed and I could NOT figure out what was going on. On my way home, I realized why... In 'N Out is officially open within walking distance from my house. I am happy that Utah is improving, but not too fond of the people flocking to crowd my streets. Hopefully, it will die down soon and then I can go and get a delicious hamburger animal style with a fantastic chocolate shake! :) Happiness is just down the street!

(note the long line of cars lined up at the drive-through)

*Update: we counted the number of cars at the drive-through on Friday night at approx 9:30 PM and we counted 66 cars. Wow, it was crazy!
And, we did finally break down today. We stood in line for about 35 min before we ordered. We were number 89 and they were on 25! wow! It took about another 30 min to get our food. Was it worth it? Well, I'll have to say yes! It was delicious! We loved it!

13 going on 22?

For those who do not know, my parents came to visit last week and, of course, there was shopping to be accomplished. We went to the infamous Nordies and bought fantastic new jeans. When we were walking out, we saw a sign talking about New Moon movie tickets, so of course we took a second look. We went up to customer service, showed our recipe, and walah!! They hand us 3 tickets to New Moon. Free!! Anyone who knows me knows how much I love FREE! Even better, the tickets are NOT for the midnight showing, but for the premiere 9:30 showing. After talking to my gal pals who might want to attend the night, meaning Becca and Brooke, we had a plan for a fantastic Girl's Night Out. Becca and I kept saying, "The 13 year old girl inside of me is SO excited for this movie!!!" And it really is true. At the movie, I felt like a teenager (ok, no like the annoying teenagers that were actually there, but a teenager nonetheless). We got there about 3 hours early to find only about 6 groups of people in front of us. I was actually expecting a much longer line. However, we and the girl in front of us decided the Nordstrom crowd was a little less crazy than those waiting since 6 AM for the midnight showing. I was glad to not be in the latter group.
All in all, it was fantastic! After a lot of waiting and being cold, they let us in the theater 2 hours early so we could be warm (also a plus of the Nordies group) and before we knew it we were watching New Moon.
This book was actually my favorite (so much emotion... I love it) so I was really excited for this movie, and I was not disappointed. The acting was better (especially by Edward and Bella, not so much for Jacob... sorry) and the quality was definitely better. There were funny parts as well as the sad (not as sad as the book makes it though).
It was a grand night and we all had a blast, feeling like we were special getting to see the movie all early and such. We walked out of the theater at 11:30 to see those who had the midnight tickets and I had to giggle a little bc we had already seen it. It was fun doing a premiere showing. Thanks Becs and Brooke (and baby) for coming with!!!

London & Germany & Paris Oh My!!!

For the last week, my husband has been traveling all over Europe training the Euro-ites how to be a real business man. (Ok, or just training them on Salesforce, but same thing). It is one thing when he goes away for a conference or when he goes to Alabama to do some trainings, but when he goes to Europe, one thing changes: no cell phone usage. That means for a whole week I don't get to hear his voice (except when he cheats and uses his boss's cell phone to call me--thanks for cheating!). No small texts or a call to see how things are going. We have been surviving off of emails explaining our day and what we did and didn't do. Twice we caught eachother online and got to chat, which was fun, but it was like 10 PM his time and 2 PM my time. So, needless to say, it wasn't very long.

All in all, Ryan is doing a great job training the Euro-ites all about business and I am really proud of him. He will (I'm sure) post more about his fabulous traveling when he returns, but for now you only get to hear my side of the story, which is that he hates Europe. He used to love it, back in the day, but now, it does not give him any satisfaction. Mostly because it is dirty there and there is really no depth to life without a woman by his side. So, needless to say, he swears he will never go back without me to show him that Europe really is a great place, as long as I'm there with him.*

Welcome home Ryan (in roughly 22 hours!)

*This was all from emails Ryan sent me... I have the proof if you need it. No, really, I do.

Here's a Little Advice

Here's a little advice... Don't get Hives. They are not fun! I somehow ate a tree nut today (or so it seems) because I had a sudden onset of nausea and vomiting, my heart starting pounding, and I had this fun little rash all over my body. I started getting all itchy and when I looked, I had this rash all on my tummy and my back and then strangely on my wrist (shown below). I took 4 Benadryl (I threw up 2 of them, so I took 2 more) and now I am feeling fine (no hives and all).

The worst part is I became a nurse so I would know what to do in these types of situations, and yet I still went to my mom and said, "What do I do?" Thanks mom for taking care of me!!

oh, and ps. it was much worse than this picture paints it out to be...

The Rest of Halloween

Our actual Halloween day wasn't too eventful. Mostly, I finished cleaning the spare room, which took a long time, but is now not filled with boxes of our random stuff!! We got a call from Jeffrey saying he was in Sandy at Chipotle getting a free burrito because he wore tin foil. Needless to say, we headed there immediately and got a free burrito for wearing a tin foil crown and sailboat hat! It was fantastic! That night we watched The Island with Becca and Jacob and make pizzokies (which were fantastic!). Ryan was upset that we didn't see kids walking around trick or treating so we had to make sure our neighborhood was actually trick or treating before Ryan would be happy again. He says it was not right for kids to not be trick or treating on Halloween night. He was very particular about it! Anyway, we had a great Halloween and it was a great time!

My Crown!

Ryan's sailboat had and tin foil wrapped around his arm...

For our ward party I volunteered to make cupcakes for the cake walk and so Lynne and I made these beauties. (They are spiderwebs, in case you couldn't tell! Haha)

Pumpkins

We had a great Halloween Celebration last weekend with Steph and Michael. They finally found time to come see us up here in no man's land Draper and carve some pumpkins with us!!! This year I caved and bought those cool stencils that you can carve more than just triangle eyes and a jaggedy mouth and we went all out!! It was a fun night... HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

This one is mine and Ryan's pumpkin. I choose treat.. anyone else?

Michael and Steph's pumpkin. They went for the scary side and did a monster!

Me and Ryan with our pumpkin

Steph and Michael with their pumpkin

If You Have a Bad Day

I you have a bad day...

Go to Zupas and eat Tomato Basil Soup
Watch Gilmore Girls with your sister (or alone)
Search for good recipes
Do NOT do homework
Take a bubble bath
Take a nap
Chick Flick, Chick Flick, more Chick Flick

Yes, that is what I would do, if I had a bad day.

Please Refer

Please refer to the best story ever here. It's the best!!
Happy Halloween!!

Forever Family

In our new ward I was called to be a Primary Worker -- basically a Primary Teacher. I teach half of the 7 year-olds (there are like 12 of them!) I have 6 cute 7 year-olds and we have a great time!

Today, our lesson was on temples and how families can be together forever. We talked about being sealed in the temple and how that can make us be together after we die. For our activity we made paper chains with each member of our family's name on them and then we each made a chain. While I was showing them how to do it, I did one with my name and Ryan's name on it and made a little chain.

One little girl said, "You don't have any kids?" I said, "Nope." She gave me this strange look like I was insane and said, "Hmm. That's weird." Didn't know I was such an outcast to a 7-year-old! The pressure is starting young!

Pictures

I know there are people out there who just love to look at pictures on blogs. For them, here are some pictures for your enjoyment!

BYU (fake) Graduation Ryan and I

I LOVE these girls! If it weren't for them, I might be crazy from nursing school by now. (Not to say that I am not crazy). But we have had so much fun doing everything but homework or actually listening in class and I really am going to miss them when school is for reals over!

Me and my mom after graduation

The siblings that came to support me in my graduation-ness. Thanks for coming!!!

Me and my Grandma Nancy after graduation! LOVE!!

Me and Grandma/pa Workman after graduation. Thanks for coming to support me in my fake graduation!!!

My beautiful sister Lynne Marie on her wedding day. She is gorgeous!! Love her!

Ryan and I at the Temple after Lynne's wedding. It almost felt like a redo for us with all the pictures and everything. It's very different not being the bride/groom. Refreshing!

Lynne and Dave coming out of the temple. They did surprisingly well with all the center of attention things, although they walked way too fast out of the doors. One second there were there and the next picture I have is of them passing me... This will have to do! :)

This is the Thompson Family Reunion up in Layton, UT. Well, this is up Cottonwood Canyon where we hiked to this really pretty Lake. We will have to do some more exploring around there because it was a very pleasant hike and we had a lot of fun!