Labor Day Weekend

Our Labor Day Weekend started out not so exciting...Sam already had a bunch of homework (and school hadn't even started!), and I caught a horrible cold. We laid low Friday and Saturday, which felt pretty good for about an hour. I realized I can only watch so much TV. We were supposed to do our 18-mile run on Saturday, but that just was not going to happen, so we postponed it until Monday. Saturday, we listened to the BYU-Virginia game on the radio, I slept, and Sam did homework. By Saturday night, I was feeling a lot better. My parents were out of town (in Virginia for the game, which proved to be quite the let-down), so we had Tara over to hang out on Saturday night and go to church with us the next day. We watched the Proposal, which was funny and cute, albeit with two dumb scenes that made me feel uncomfortable...why do they always have to put those in!? 

Sunday, after church, we went over to the Lisonbees' new house for dinner for Micah's birthday. We had a great time, especially in their fun backyard!

Monday, we ran our 18 miles...It was a really hard run for both of us. I was still feeling pretty sick, and Sam just felt off. We went SUPER slow, and thankfully my dad ran the last six miles with us. He kept us distracted and moving. We were so happy just to finish!

After our run, we had a few hours to recuperate, and then we went to lunch with my dad's side of the family. My Grandpa Wayne is one of the founders of Chuck-a-Rama, so that's where we went. I liked the salad bar, the rolls with honey butter, and the frozen yogurt. We had fun, but were so ready for a nap afterward!

Long run + Lots of food = pure exhaustion.

Sam's Phlebotomy Class

During the month of August, Sam took a training course to become a licensed phlebotomist. He felt like becoming a phlebotomist would be a great way for him to get the clinical hours he needs to apply for medical school and also add a little to our income. He really enjoyed the class and felt like it confirmed to him that he wants to be in the medical profession. He loves that in medicine, whether it be with something as small as drawing someone's blood or something as big as brain surgery, the medical professional is faced with a problem that needs to be solved. He is excited to continue on in his education, and I am so proud of all the hard work he puts in to work toward his dream of becoming a doctor.

At the end of the phlebotomy course, Sam needed a number of friends and family members to come let him to draw their blood. It was a lot to ask of people, but he had such a great turnout. We have great families and friends! The first night, Sam's cousin Kevin came in along with some friends from our old ward, me, my parents, and my aunt Diana. The second night, Sam's cousin Kaleo came in along with his dad, his sister Sophie, and his brother, Rick and Rick's wife, Kori. Sophie and Rick were super nervous and hate needles, but they really stepped up and showed their support for Sam in coming and letting him poke them! Overall, his practice blood-draws went great. He is now a certified phlebotomist! Go Sam!

(Had to steal this pic from Kori's blog :))

BYU Graduation!

It's official! I'm a BYU graduate! It feels like it took me forever to get here, and it kind of did, but I did squeeze a mission in there! I am so grateful for the wonderful experiences I had at Brigham Young University. I never planned to go anywhere but BYU for college, and it was the perfect place for me. Below are some of my favorite memories at BYU:

• My freshman roommates/living in Heritage Halls. (After I overcame my homesickness from being ten minutes from home, oh dear...)
• Grocery shopping in the Creamery on 9th
• Eating in the Cougareat
• Working as a tutor in the Writing Center for three years
• American Heritage--my all-time favorite class I took at BYU
• Deciding to serve a mission
• That awesome feeling walking out of the Testing Center after a test, just so happy it's over
• Being at BYU at the same time as Jake
• Devotionals in the Marriott Center
• Entering the BYU Brimhall Essay contest and winning honorable mention
• Homecoming 2008, honoring my grandpa Rex E. Lee
• Football and basketball games--sitting with my dad and in the student section
• And, of course, my number 1: meeting, dating, and marrying my wonderful husband!

I love you BYU!

Hip Hip Hooray!

Today, I celebrate the last day of winter semester! I don't know if the classes I took this semester were extra hard or if I'm just really burnt out, I'm sure some of both, but this semester was rough! So happy to move onto my FINAL two classes at BYU. I am going spring term (end of April-June), and then I will officially be finished! I will walk and receive my diploma in August. Hip Hip Hooray!

I am so grateful for the opportunity I have had to attend college because it has taught me how to think critically and to appreciate the world around me. I have told several people lately that I regret not putting my whole heart into school while at BYU. I still feel that to some extent, but after thinking more about it, I feel satisfied with my time at BYU. (I know I'm still speaking a little prematurely as I have about 8 more weeks to fully soak up my full-time student status.)

I moved into the dorms my freshman year and felt so homesick and overwhelmed I thought I would never make it through the year. Turns out that first semester proved to be my best as far as grades are concerned. My sophomore year, I did several internships, including one that got me a job at the Writing Center where I've worked off and on for the past four years. My junior year, I applied and got accepted to the English teaching major and then decided to go on a mission. (Read more about that here.) Since returning from my mission and jumping back into school, I have had a very busy, preoccupied (and fun, wonderful) senior year because I met, dated, and married my husband.

When I look back at all of that, I feel like my time at BYU has definitely been worthwhile and is something I am proud of--even if my dad, while editing my resume a few days ago, kindly suggested I remove my GPA because "it is not one of my strong selling points." Yep, not the best GPA, but I am getting a diploma, and I will always have a very special place in my heart for BYU. My family has so much history here, and now I do too.

Some pictures from the past few weeks:

Tara and Danny turned 12 on April 6th, so Danny got to go to Priesthood for the first time. Lucky boy to have all those guys to take him!

Tara got approved to go on toe shoes, and I got to go with her to the fitting. Cutest girl!

My mom, Tara, and I went and got pedicures for her birthday. Lovely picture of me, but I just love Tara in it, so I had to include it. Not sure what I was doing...probably trying to tell my mom how to use the camera :)

I love General Conference so much and look forward to it every year. I love the traditions that surround it and all of the great family time. I couldn't help but snap a few pictures while we watched. So fun to be with all my siblings. I'm going to miss Ben so much when he leaves in June (on a mission).

For Tara's b-day party, I taught her how to make these fun tissue paper pom-pom flowers. They are fun, cheap, and easy.

Quick Pic Update

Happy Easter!

We've been making lots of rolls for family gatherings:

  

I've tried lots of recipes, and so far my favorite is definitely this one:

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups of milk
• 3/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon Sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 Tablespoon salt
• 2 Tablespoons yeast
• 2 cups of warm water
• about 9-10 cups of all purpose flour
• at least 1 cup of butter

Instructions

1. Scald 1 1/2 cups of milk, 3/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup of butter, in a microwave safe bowl, for about 2 minutes. Cutting the butter into pieces helps it melt faster. There will probably be some little cubes of butter still floating in the hot mixture, they will melt.
2. add yeast to this hot mixture, but it will be too hot to just dump the yeast straight in (it would kill it!). To cool it down stir in 1-2 cups of flour, then add 1 egg and 1 Tablespoon of salt, and leave it to cool for a couple of minutes. Meanwhile, in a measuring cup dissolve 2 Tablespoons of yeast in 2 cups of warm water and 1 Tablespoon of sugar. Let it sit for a couple of minutes until it is bubbly.
3. Make sure your milk mixture is just warm, not boiling and add the yeast mixture!
4. Using a fork or wooden spoon, gradually stir in 9-10 cups of flour (counting the flour you have already added to cool it earlier). I would recommend only adding 2 cups at time and stirring in between. These rolls turn out so much better when they are mixed by hand.
5. At the end the dough will be dense and sticky, and may be hard to stir, you can use your hands to incorporate the rest of the flour if needed. Be sure not to add too much flour. Then smooth the dough out and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Leave it in a warm place and let it rise.
6. When your dough is close to raising completely, butter 2 cookie sheets and set them aside.
7. Let the dough raise until it has doubled in size.
8. Cover your working space with flour to prevent the dough from sticking. Dump your dough out and divide it into 4 balls. Eyeball the sizes, then lift them up and feel the weight of each ball. Try to make them even, but they don’t have to be perfect.
9. Using one ball of dough at a time: roll the dough into a circle on a floured counter. Once it is rolled out spread the top with butter from edge to edge. You will use about 2 Tablespoons per circle of dough.
10. Cut the dough into quarters using a pizza cutter.
11. Then cut each quarter into 3 pieces. You should end up with 12 triangles from each circle of dough.
12. Roll the dough starting with the wide end of the triangle
13. Tuck the tail of the triangle under the roll and place it on the buttered cookie sheet. You will make 3 rows, with 8 rolls per row. This will give you 24 rolls per pan. Two balls of dough will fill 1 pan. You will get a total of 48 rolls!
14. Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees. Place the pans of rolls in a warm place (on top of the oven if possible) to let them rise. Once they are touching and full in size, cook (one pan at a time) in the oven ’till they are golden brown. About 10 – 15 minutes, It may take longer depending on how hot your oven cooks. Keep a close eye on your first pan to get the right time for the second.
15. While they are still hot and fresh out of the oven run a stick of butter over the tops of the rolls for a delicious buttery glaze.

{From howdoesshe.com}

 Yummy Easter dinner at the Roberts:

Another yummy Easter dinner at the Lees:

Freezing cold Rex Lee Run:

Surprise Party for Penny's Bday:

Sam got some new running shoes--hoping to run together lots this summer! Our big goals are the Hobble Creek Half Marathon in August and the St. George Marathon in October. We are waiting to see if we make it in with the St. George Marathon lottery.

A little over one more week of classes until finals week. I think I can, I think I can!

Finals week when you're getting married in three weeks...

Today I spent hours cleaning out and packing up my room and more hours scanning pictures for a slideshow for the luncheon and reception. We also did really important things like watching Everybody Loves Raymond for an hour and going out to lunch. Then, at 10:00 pm, I suddenly panicked a little that I hadn't studied at all. Luckily, Sam helped me calculate that if I get at least a 40% on my final tomorrow in my Brit. lit. class I will get at least a C in the class. Awesome. My old perfectionist student self cringes at my new attitude toward my grades. I really do love school, but planning a wedding and reading for hours on end just don't mix. Happy Monday!