New Pics

Okay so maybe I was a little slow with getting these on here, but I finally made it! We have somehow been blessed with the opportunity to have our pictures updated on a yearly basis and it has been awesome! Here are the latest courtesy of the lovely and talented Donna Shelby.

Ah! I bet you thought I was going to go right into the pictures there; I sure fooled you. Instead, I'll close with a brief update.

Ty and I have been dancing our hearts out with the youth of our surrounding stakes and learning a lot about the Polynesian culture, commitment, faith, and ourselves in the process. It really has been a fabulously trying experience and I hope to post pictures of it once we all perform live at Weber State University's football field.

We are very much looking forward to this summer with girls camp, youth conference, scout camp, Island Park trips, and motorcylcing to look forward to. In the mean time, we've been enjoying the sights and sounds of spring time.

Tyler has been hard at work building flower boxes on our patio and a path of flowers following the side of our driveway. I had no idea that my husband was such a gardener, but he really and truly loves it. This is great news considering the fact that I don't know the first thing about yard work. All and all, it's been an excellent learning experience and we're looking forward to many more improvements throughout the year.

We hope you are all doing well and are so thankful for those of you who blog and provide us with heart-warming/laugh inspiring reading material every day. Keep it up!

And with that, I'll turn your attention over to our latest and greatest graduation images:

Tired of hearing about this yet?

Tyler and I have long been against sending out graduation announcements for ourselves, but between the talent of our friend Donna Shelby and the constant pleading of a very dear-hearted mother, we caved. Donna took many lovely pictures of us and if all goes as planned, I'll be posting them within the next week. In the meantime, here is a sneak peek, along with my very favorite graduation picture of all time:

P.S. I can't figure out how to upload these images so that when you click on them, they get bigger and you can actually read the writing. If anyone would like to advise me on how to alleviate this problem, I would be forever thankful.

Update

Have I totally neglected this blog or what? I frequently read peoples' blogs in my down time and find myself disappointed each time I log on to find no new posts to peruse. Then it occurred to me- I haven't updated mine since our post-valentines day entry, so I have no room whatsoever to complain. With that in mind, I'll add my two cents to the blogging world and let you all know what we've been up to so I can feel free to complain about the rest of ya'll without feeling guilty ;) Here's what's new:

Tyler is one assignment away from finishing this semester. We are very much looking forward to walking together on April 23 and thrilled to be hearing from this man at our commencement:

PRESIDENT MONSON!! How cool is that! We really weren't planning on attending commencement until we read the program and of course changed our minds the instant we saw his name. Needless to say, we're pretty stoked. Tyler will officially be done with his B.S. in June and plans on pursuing his MBA next spring. Whew. Moving right along...

We recently had an awesome opportunity to participate in the Weber County political process. Tyler and I both recognize a need for our generation to be actively involved in politics. Regardless of political parties and agendas, young people NEED to become educated and actively involved in politics. Sometimes it really scares me to look around at all of my crazy liberal professors and the students who believe every crazy thing those professors tell them and wonder what our world is going to be like when I'm raising children one day. Another thing that scares me: maybe it's due to my limited perspective but from what I've seen, people are becoming less and less patriotic. Whenever I attend the Celebrate America show at Utah State University, I marvel at the seasoned men and women who would give their very lives in defense of our freedom. Their eyes fill with tears when they hear the national anthem and they stand up proudly when given opportunities to be recognized as veterans. Why don't we, the younger generation, have any of that emotion or commitment?

We are so blessed to live in a free country with rights and processes! It's true that there are several corrupt politicians making and contributing to decisions that change our society from both parties, which is exactly why we all need to speak up and do what we can to create positive change.

I just went off on a soap box, didn't I? Ahem. Sorry about that.

I'll tell you our story in a nut shell: Ty and I attended our neighborhood Republican caucus meeting and rallied people to vote us in as county delegates. We were lucky enough to be voted in together and then we watched in awe as our mailboxes and email accounts were FLOODED with literature supporting different candidates. We did our research, picked what candidates we thought were best, and then met all of the other 500+ delegates at the Weber County Republican convention. Here, we ate many yummy treats and visited booths of different candidates, attended a few meetings, and casted our votes to help determine which Republican candidates would end up on the next ballot. The convention was full of very formal processes and several votes regarding resolutions, motions throughout the meeting, and of course candidates. What a completely and totally awesome and educational experience!!

Though we've always had good intentions to get involved, the real kicker that convinced us to step up to the plate was my Uncle. Terry Thompson ran for Sheriff and asked for our support. We rallied supporters, wore pins and t-shirts, wrote letters to the editor, and even danced around at the convention holding campaign signs for all to see. In the end, he won and became the next Weber County Republican candidate for Sheriff. Woo hoo! Sadly, I only have one picture to display as part of our political extravaganza, but I'll share what I've got. It was an awesome experience and I encourage all of you to gather up your courage and get involved; I think you'd be surprised at what an enlightening experience it can turn out to be

(Please excuse the bobble head appearance. This picture was taken on a cell phone that was apparently unhappy with the short length of our faces.)

I think I'll end this post here, but stay tuned. I'll be posting some neato graduation pics soonly.

Feelin the Love

I've been a slacker about getting on here and posting this, but our Valentines Day was great this year so I thought I'd share the love.

In previous years, we've spent our Valentines Days at the student dorm computer lab, surrounded by several weird computer junkies watching anime movies loudly. As a result, I'm pretty laid back about Valentines Day; all I ask is a nice dinner with my husband and I'm cool as a cucumber.

Tyler knocked my socks off this year by setting a beautiful table and making every part of our dinner (I wasn't allowed to help). He made us orange glazed chicken with rice, a lovely dinner salad, and chilled sparkling white grape juice with champaign glasses; he even lit candles!

Just to clarify: YES, I am most definitely bragging about my husband :) He made the night lovely and fanciful and as a result, we had a fabulous evening!!

I feel so blessed to have Tyler in my life! He is awesome and it's always fun to reflect on what a joy it is to be married and to be able to enjoy one another and grow closer together every day. I hope all of you had equally exciting holidays. From what I've read so far, that has been the case.

Here is a picture of our table minus the food. Aren't husbands the best?

Our Christmas Vaca

Does anyone else feel like Christmas came and went too quickly this year? I can't believe it's over already!

We had a completely wonderful, relaxing break this year for Christmas. Early last year, the Wall family decided that their next Christmas would be spent outside of Utah. Instead of the traditional gifts, we all decided to take a getaway. Originally we all wanted to go to Ohio to ride the tallest/fastest roller coaster in the country, but the bright eyes of this little girl convinced us to pursue a different location:

She told us all about how she was the only twelve year old who had never been to one of the Disney theme parks before. She has been all over Mexico and cool places like that, but they all amounted to nothing without a visit to Disney World. And away we went.

We had such a blast partying with the fam in Orlando! Everything was so much fun and the company was even better. I suspect that the trip helped prep Tyler for another semester of school. It was a wonderful Christmas!

This was taken on our way from the airport to the condo. We had a few hours to burn before the rest of the family got there, so we were able to go for a walk and explore the area before all the excitement began. We also hired a chauffeur to pick us up from the airport and this is what he showed up in. What an exciting start to our vacation!

This ride won my award for the best roller coaster of the trip. Each seat had an MP3 player type of gadget where you got to pick what music you wanted to listen to throughout the ride. The drop right at the beginning of the ride was FANTASTIC!

Here we are inside Hard Rock Cafe, which was delicious and overpriced. We also accidentally stole an I heart MJ pin that belonged to our hostess. Once we figured out whose it was, we snuck it back onto her desk and ran for the doors. What a silly night!

This was taken during the first day at Universal Studios. In case you can't tell by my gigantic perma-grin, we were a little excited to be there.

How cool is this building? I just had to have a picture of it! Once inside, we rode Mission Space, which makes you feel like you are taking off in a space shuttle. I was most impressed with the experience and have never been so excited to push two buttons before (each rider is instructed to push their own buttons throughout the ride). It seems silly in hindsight, but we were all feeling pretty intense as we soared off into space that day.

This car represents the one cool part of the Test Track ride in Epcot. I was not a fan of this ride, but the cars we got to see along the way were neato.

Our pose in this picture was inspired by the giant belly above our heads, which belongs to a blow fish. Unfortunately Mom is opposed to needless scenery in pictures, so instead it just looks like we decided to puff our cheeks out for the heck of it.
These next few pictures were taken at Epcot in Disney World. For those of you who haven't been before, they have individual areas dedicated to several different countries so you feel like you are touring the globe. One of the best parts was the soccer store in the United Kingdom. We were able to get Tyler a Manchester United shirt. Between his shirt, and my fascination with all the cool UK accents, we were both in heaven.

We couldn't go to Epcot without visiting Japan. They had all sorts of really cool Japanese items inside for purchase. One of my favorites were the socks and sneakers that separate your big toe from the rest of your other toes. Tyler said it stems from a religious belief. They look exactly how you're imagining it: like a mix between mittens and toe socks, only they also came in sneakers. I almost wish we would've bought some just for the sake of owning them.

Rockin the 3D "safety visors" at the Simpson's ride in Universal Studios
This is just a really cool wall we found at Epcot Center at Disney World that I insisted on having a picture of. I want one of these at my house.
One of the things we were determined to do in Orlando was to visit the temple there. It was gorgeous and the celestial room completely blew me away! While inside, I met a temple worker who was my age. She had moved to the area so her husband could fulfill an internship. I was so impressed that at such a young age, she was serving in the temple. What an awesome opportunity for her and what an excellent example of faithful service!

These next few pictures were taken at the Toy Story Mania ride inside Hollywood Studios at Disney World. They must've had the most creative interior designer ever. The place looked amazing! Everything from the walls to the ceiling were covered in giant toys that made you feel like you were the same size as all the toys. I've never been so excited to wait in line before! The actual ride was fun as well. We got to shoot a cannon at toys just like a carnival ride and Tyler schooled me every time. Here are some pictures of the completely adorable building:

The entire street is covered in lights like this that "dance" to Christmas music. One of the highlights of this trip occurred on this very street. Tyler agreed to dance with me down the street between all these bright buildings while fake snow fell from above. After one particular dance, we heard a group of people clapping for us. Apparently they had gathered just behind us and stood there watching us get our jigs on. It was just like out of a movie and I will never forget it!
Here is a glimpse of the new Harry Potter land they are creating at Universal Studios. It is not opening until May, but we were able to get some really cool views of the work they've done so far and it looks incredible! Once it's done, it's going to have all of the cool little shops in it from the book. We were a little sad that we missed it by such a short amount of time, but were happy to see some of the progress they were making on it.

Here we are on the cutest merry-go-round I have ever seen. It was inside Grinchville in Universal Studios.
The prince and his noble steed.

This is what the top of the merry-go-round looked like. So cute!