I Love to see the Temple

This is pretty far after the fact but on April 25th I went through Ogden temple. It was such an amazing day filled with so many wonderful people. I choose Ogden because I went through the open house and thought it was so pretty and it was also really convenient for all of my family coming into town.

Those that came were my parents, my sisters Erin and Emily, my brothers-in-law Todd and David, my aunts Heidi, Linda, and Karen, and one of my best friends Rachelle.

This was a really special day for me especially because I tried to go through when I was 20, but the handbook age is technically 24 and the stake president said I was too young to make an exception, but this time he felt I was ready.

Here are some pictures from the day, I wish I would have gotten one with everyone but most had left at the picture point.

Florida - Harry Potter World

Following the first two days at Disneyworld I finally got to go to Harry Potter World!

Wednesday we got to Universal Studios right when it opened and headed straight the the new ride Gringotts Bank. It was amazing it feels so lifelike, we were able to do that three times then we took the Hogwarts Express over to the other park to go to the other rides. We rode the castle ride a few times and that was phenomenal. Frozen butter beer followed which was amazing. After we did all the Harry Potter stuff several times we rode all the other rides at universal.

The goblins move and are all extremely life like.

Florida - Disney World

The last time I went to Florida I was 15 so it was very high on my list of places to go since I had never been to Harry Potter World. We figured going after graduation would be a good time to go since Emily and David were on a break from school too. My mom didn't want to go so it was just Emily, David, my dad and me. We left Saturday the day after graduation and flew for most of the day.

Sunday we woke up and hung around for a while then we went to church and to see the temple that morning. We were staying at a resort so following church we went paddle boating and played mini golf around our condo. 

Monday was our first day at Disneyworld we started at Magic Kingdom and did everything there then headed to Epcot then to Hollywood Studioes. We also lucked out because we managed to get 3 special fast passes for any ride at any time from different employees giving them out. 

Tuesday was another day at Disney and we did Hollywood Studios, Magic Kingdom, and Animal Kingdom that day. This was my first time ever going to Animal Kingdom and it was pretty fun! 

We took a lot of pictures with characters but we were in Disneyworld so I was just embracing my inner child. That about sums up those days.

Skipping ahead to Friday we spent our last day in Florida at Disneyworld again. This day was pretty insane we got there a half hour before it opened at 830 and stayed until 10 that night. We went to every park and rode every ride multiple times. We stayed and watched the parade, castle light show, and fireworks which were all amazing. 

I graduated!

On Friday May 8th I graduated! I received a bachelor of science is business management.

 

Right after I accepted my diploma two of my favorite teachers were there to congratulate us.

My family was amazing throughout the years and they have all shown me so much support.

I seriously could not have done it without these guys. We were all in the same program and had basically every class together, I'm going to miss seeing their faces everyday, but they will all go on and do such great things. 

This girl is seriously one of the best people in know. We both love to read blogs and we love the same shows. I wish we had became friends earlier on, we had so many classes together without even knowing it!

Cassie and I spent our entire last summer doing our internships at Macy's together. We aren't in the same program but we bumped into each other lining up. It's always so fun to catch up with her!

Scott and I have had a few classes together too, and have been on quite a few adventures. 

Welcome to the World Harper

On Tuesday April 28th my sister Erin welcomed a new little girl into the family-Harper Sophia. She is beyond precious and may just be one of the cutest babies I have ever seen (this is not me being bias because she is my niece.) Emily and I went up to see her a few hours after she was born and then I followed them home Sunday and spent a few days in Wyoming helping my sister and brother-in-law out.

Look how adorable she is! She weighted 8lbs and was 20 Inches long.

My nephew Cade with his new little sister. He is so sweet with her and just loves her. My other nephew Bryce ran straight to my sister and avoided the baby.

Cotopaxi Questival

After learning about Cotopaxi's "Questival" last year I knew it was something I had to this year; I just had to find the right team on board. So I asked my roommate Caitlin and we got two of our friends Scott and Emilio, then we recruited Collin a few days before the big race. If you aren't familiar with the Questival it is a giant 24 hour scavenger hunt type race where you take pictures doing different tasks. The list consisted of about 300 challenges spanning all of Utah and even in California.

Here's how we did it.

Thursday night the challenge list was released so Caitlin and I began color coordinating our list location specific tasks, object specific tasks, and tasks that could be done anywhere. I also created a google map that showed had a pin at every location that list required so we wouldn't miss anything. Later that night Scott and Collin came over to help us strategize and tie up all the loose ends. Friday we went on our day as normal then around five we met up and began our journey to the kick off party.

Here's some of the pictures we took during those 24 hours.

Team photo of The Canadian Border Patrol

This is my favorite picture we took

When the race ended at 7:00 we were in first place! However, with all the outside judging after the race ended we finished in 16th. We were stilled thrilled because 500 teams competed and we were in it for the fun. Being it first just made it extremely exciting.

This was the very last picture of the day that pretty much summed up what we were ready for.

Spring Break 2015 - Philadelphia

Our last stop on the spring break journey was Philadelphia. We flew from Salt Lake to DC, then rented a car and drove to Philadelphia stopping in Maryland to site see on the way. Philly is a place I have been to many times. With my dad working there I have had a chance to go out and visit quite frequently, but I still look forward to going every time and I always manage to see something new. 

We got to Philadelphia around eight on Monday night, then picked my dad up to go get steak sandwiches while we still had a car. We went and ate them in his office that overlooked and walked around downtown a little bit.

Saturday we spent the morning walking around outside where he lives which is across the street from the new temple. His apartment overlooks it, so you get a great view of the entire thing. Then my dad met up with us for lunch at our favorite little diner type place there called Sabrina's and then we headed to look at the down town historical monuments for the 153rd time. 

This time visiting the monuments was unique because we had a chance to go upstairs in City Hall. The tour guide said they usually only pick one week out of the year to open the upstairs and that it was basically a once in a lifetime experience. So that pretty much made it worth it to go take the tour again. 

This is the blue staircase that leads to upstairs, also seen in National Treasure

 The room where they signed the Declaration of Independence

This is from the ballroom upstairs

The Liberty Bell

After touring the Liberty Bell my dad left us to go back to work so we walked around down town again and stopped into Reading Terminal to pick up some cookies. By that point we were so exhausted and didn't want to make the 10 minute walk it would take to get back to the apartment to come back an hour later so we walked into a Marriott and found a sitting area and took a nap in there, which at that point was incredible. Then we moved on to wait outside the theater so we could get tickets to Annie, which we greatly enjoyed that night. I had seen it before in New York but my dad hadn't so it was fun to watch it with him. After that we got back to his apartment late that night and woke back up at four in the morning to return home to the great Salt Lake City. Overall I would say it was a pretty great spring break trip.