First and foremost, my big brother graduated from BYU! My parents and grandma, as well as Kellen's in-laws came into town to celebrate. We first attended a large ceremony for all of the graduates on Thursday. Kellen, who did not want to make a big deal about his graduation, and who probably wouldn't have even walked had it not been for the forceful hand of my parents, decided he would rather sit with us than don his cap and gown and sit with fellow graduates. I was especially happy to have him sit with us so we could whisper silly comments back and forth about certain people in the crowd or things that the speaker said like we used to do when we were little (well, maybe teenagers) during church.
Friday was Kellen's smaller ceremony, the one where they announce everybody's names and it is just for the people in his specific college. Kellen graduated in Business Management, a part of the Marriott School of Business. **Might I just say that after looking at the word "business" twice in one sentence, I'm convinced that it cannot possibly be spelled that way, but after looking it up it certainly is!**
This ceremony was TWO AND A HALF HOURS. Don't worry, Kellen, I'm not complaining. All 150 minutes that I spent at your graduation were well worth my time because I support you in your endeavors.
Anyway, I am so proud of you, Kellen! I love you and miss you already!
(For those of you who don't know, Kellen and Olivia couldn't have been happier to get the heck out of Provo. They left the very next day for California and are now living there, enjoying the sunshine, without me. I'm not bitter.)
The next notable thing I would like to share is that I am employed! I am now working at the Intermountain Healthcare Memorial Clinic in Salt Lake as a physical therapy aide. I didn't really have any pictures to show on this one, so I decided to take a photo booth picture with my ID badge.
So far, I absolutely love it. I've been working for about a month and it has been great. I work about 19 hours a week and get to talk to a lot of different kinds of people who come in for therapy. The job is really hands on so I'm gaining tons of knowledge about what I will hopefully do someday as a physical therapist! Basically if you're having back problems or knee pain, talk to me. I'll hook you up.
Thirdly, I've come to find that Provo is a thousand times better in the spring and summer than it is fall and winter. I've been told this time and time again, but because I've never stayed out here for the full year I never believed people. I can now say that this is 120% true. Here are three reasons why:
1. It is not cold.
2. I am not in school.
3. It is not cold!
Ok so reasons 1 and 3 may be somewhat similar, but they are true nonetheless. My first weekend after finals ended was such a party I didn't even know what to do to myself. And no, dear high school friends who like to get wasted on the weekends (and some on the weekdays, too...you know who you are), this does not mean that I spent the first couple of days after finals blitzed out of my mind. Provo is not that kind of party.
Friday we went hiking up to Stewart Falls in Provo Canyon. The hike itself is not very difficult or very long, so we just enjoyed the warm weather and delightful scenery as we strolled along. I managed to snap some pics of the occasion.
Some of the group. Notice the really dirty snow we were trekking through.
Doing the Lindsey pose
Notice how there is still snow on the ground?! It was super warm out. This is just strange.
Some men under the falls.
By the way, that is NOT a swimsuit that Michael is wearing. It's just a gnarly pair of shorts he found somewhere in Indiana or something. While I'm thinking about it...
RIP Michael Petersen
Don't worry friends, he didn't ACTUALLY die (although some would argue he might as well have...)Michael is currently in Israel studying at the BYU Jerusalem Center. This means a few things:
1. He will have 80 new best friends when he gets home in August
2. He will have a lovely new woman in his life. They will try things out here in Provo but will shortly realize that it's just "not the same as Jerusalem."
3. You will never be able to have a conversation with him that he doesn't somehow manage to tie in with Jerusalem.
4. He will probably have forgotten about us completely.
Anybody who knows someone who has gone to Jerusalem knows exactly what I am talking about.
I'm probably being too harsh on Jerusalem Center students. But then again, maybe I'm not.
We miss you tons Michael. Don't let Jerusalem change you... :)
Saturday was filled with lots of relaxing mixed in with a bike ride to the park. The Provo River is about a mile from my apartment, and there is a lovely park that borders the river. Sometimes I like to go there and read or just think, and that is exactly what I did. And I slept a bit too, which was just fabulous.
Sunday was great too because we weren't freezing on our way to church! It has probably been warm weather for a few Sundays now actually, but no one could THOROUGHLY enjoy it because school was always in the back of our minds. After church, we saw the usuals lying out on blankets on the south end of campus. I really hope those basketball shorts do great things for your tan.
*Disclaimer: If you are a BYU student or alumni you probably know EXACTLY what I'm talking about. If not, you are probably not a BYU student or alumni and you probably don't live in Provo so you probably don't need to worry about that statement at all. Or it's possible that you are a basketball short tanner yourself, in which case I'm sorry if that offended you. I'm also sorry that you think it is a good idea to tan in basketball shorts.
I decided there is more that I wanted to blog about than I thought there was! Therefore I am splitting this up into multiple posts. Stay tuned for more!
I love when I see you and you say "Don't worry, I'm gunner blog about this."
ReplyDeleteLOVE the blog, and love you!