A Sweltering Celestial Celebration

Today Ruth and I got to be part of a very special event for our friend Amy, as we got to attend her marriage in the St. George Temple. It was so great to see one of our good friends take this important step in life, and reach such an important milestone in the gospel. I also enjoyed the opportunity to reflect on our marriage and the blessings of being an eternal family. I consider myself very lucky to have Ruth in my life and know that if we can live the right way, we will never be separated. It is very humbling to contemplate the blessings that are available to us as we keep our covenants and honor those who will help us achieve the highest blessings that can be bestowed upon us. As kind of a fun side story, it was fun to attend a sealing in the same temple that my parents were married in. Well, after witnessing a very nice ceremony, we all gathered outside the temple to congratulate the newly weds and take a few photos. We were all huddling under whatever shade we could find, as it was a real scorcher in St. George, but it was fun to be a part of all the festivities. After all the photos were taken, we went to a church a few blocks from the temple for a nice luncheon. When the luncheon was over, Ruth and I went to Target to kill some time until the reception. We would have just headed back for Cedar but the reception was in New Harmony, and we didn't want to have to do any back tracking. When we were leaving St. George, just before 6 PM, the thermostat in my car read 107 degrees! It made me wonder how hot it was when we were taking all the pictures. Anyway, this trip to New Harmony was a first for both of us, and we thought it was a very nice little community. It was interesting to see where a fire that happened last month had come so close to some of the homes there. On a lighter note though, we enjoyed having one more chance to congratulate Amy and Dan, and to thank them for letting us take part in their big day. As always here is the best part of my posts, when I quit boring everyone to death and show some pictures. Enjoy!

Presenting Mr. & Mrs. Morris

The bride and groom rocking some old school Converse kicks.

Ruth and the bride.

Me and the bride (with Amy giving one of her classic poses).

The top of the individual box lunches that each guest received at the luncheon.

My two favorite treats from the vast desert offerings at the luncheon, a cheesecake cup and macadamia cookie.

I didn't want to put this picture on because it looks like I am dying, but I was laughing because DaNae just pulled mine and Dillons chairs in so nobody had to move in close for the picture.

Tara and Val enjoying the luncheon.

We may not be the bride and groom, but what an awesome couple!

A Magically Extended Birthday

When that time of year rolls around for another birthday and you get that chance to celebrate by relaxing and being spoiled by loved ones, do you ever wish that it could last a little longer? If only there was a genie that could magically keep the party going. Well, I hope that is what Ruth was thinking as we continued her birthday celebration yesterday in St. George. As part of Ruth's birthday this year, I gave her an IOU for a trip to see a show at Tuacahn. I wanted to just give her tickets, but I didn't want to chance getting them for a day when one of us had to work. So yesterday we drove down to St. George and enjoyed a nice dinner at Outback. I went with my usual Outback sirloin, but this time I tried the sweet potato fries, and they were awesome. Ruth ordered a dish of Mahi Mahi, with veggies and rice that was very tasty. After dinner we took a few minutes to browse through the outlets. We wound up finding a shirt Ruth had been looking for at Down East, and I found some clearance polos. Happy with our successful shopping run, we made our way out to the Tuacahn theater to watch their broadway production of Aladdin. I think we both really enjoyed the show. There was lots of great music, dancing, 3D effects, and pyrotechnics. We even had great weather for the show. It was a little hot in the beginning, but it progressively got cooler and more pleasant. The show got out pretty late, so we didn't make it back to Cedar until just after  1:00 am, but it was worth it. I was just happy to have another chance to spoil Ruth a little, and remind her how much I love and appreciate her.

Heading into the theater.

Ruth with the stars of the show.

Testing out my 3D glasses before the show started.

Milestones and Pebbles

It has certainly been a long time since I have posted anything, so needless to say I am a little overdue. Since there is too much ground to cover to try and tell everything that has been going on, I will focus on a couple of milestones, and maybe a pebble or two also. The first big milestone that I need to mention is graduating from SUU. After a lot of stress and hard work, I am proud to say that I finally eanred my Bachelors Degree in Accounting. I graduated as a member of Beta Gamma Sigma (a business honors society) and Magna Cum Laude (signifies a final GPA between 3.6-3.8). To help celebrate the occassion my parents, Ruths parents, and Ruths sister Hannah came to Cedar City. They all endured two ceremonies (which is more than I would have asked for) one for the general university, and later a ceremony just for the School of Business. Between the two ceremonies we took the chance to enjoy a delicious lunch at the Garden House. It made the day much more special to have so many loved ones close by to enjoy the success with me, so thanks to all who came and those who wanted to be here but couldn't be. Just after the second ceremony Ruths family headed back to Salt Lake. Luckily my parents were able to stay the whole weekend. The day after graduation, my Dad and I went and played a little golf while Ruth, bravely, went shopping with Mom. Later we all went to St. George, where the men and the women were separated once again. Dad and I went and saw the Avengers, which was amazing, while Ruth and Mom did some more shopping. Before we headed back to Cedar we had a nice dinner at the Cracker Barrel. The following morning my parents headed back to Blanding. Here are a few pictures of the big day.

Before the ceremony.

The general university ceremony.

Friends Ashlee and Hannah

Walking up to receive my "diploma."

Don't trip, don't trip!

Even though the two ceremonies seemed long at points, I am glad that I chose to take part in all of it. I wasn't planning on walking at first, but Ruth talked me into it. Speaking of Ruth, she is as the center of the second milestone. It is crazy to think this has already happened, but Ruth and I just celebrated our first wedding anniversary! To celebrate the occasion, we took a few days off from work and headed north. We spent the first night of our journey at Snowbird. We had planned to spend some time hiking in the canyon, but the weather had other plans for us. It turned out to be a very cold and rainy night so we just explored the hotel and watched TV. It might sound like a boring start to our anniversary trip, but since we don't have TV at home it was a bit of a treat. The next day we headed into downtown Salt Lake to spend a couple of days of shopping and being entertained. Along with checking out the Gateway, and the new City Creek Center, we saw a couple of plays. We saw Father of the Bride at Hale Center Theater in West Valley and Xanadu at one of the SLCC campus theaters. For our two nights downtown, we stayed at the Hyatt Place right next door to Energy Solutions Arena. The hotel was very nice, and the staff was incredibly friendly. One of the big highlights of the trip was eating at The Roof on Temple Square. The food and the views were incredible. When I was setting our reservation, I read a review online that said this was what every buffet in Las Vegas is trying to be. While it was smaller than a lot of Las Vegas buffets, it was much higher in quality.

View from our table on the Roof.

The temple looked amaing.

The most beautiful scenery was sitting across from me though!

After spending a couple of nights downtown, we spent Sunday with Ruths family. It was fun to hang out with all of them again. We owe them big time because they were nice enough to be the dog-sitters for Moose. All of it made for a very memorable and enjoyable first anniversary. I know that I am a very lucky man to be married to Ruth. She is the source of so much joy and happiness for me. I really don't know what I would do without her in my life. You are the best babe. One final milestone before the pebbles, today is Ruths birthday! It is kind of fun having our anniversary and Ruths birthday so close together because I get the chance to spoil her for a week straight. She deserves all the best because thats what she is!

This was Ruths gift from Moose! He was nice enough to sign her cake.

Now for a couple of pebbles. A few weeks ago we had the chance to go to Moapa Valley for a friends mission farewell. Our friend Lyndsay will be serving the Lord in Russia! I am sure she would be mad at me for calling her mission a pebble when it is such a milestone for her, but thats just it, its her milestone and I don't want to steal her thunder.

Good luck in Russia Lyndsay. Do the ROAR!

Finally, while graduation was a significant success, my academic journey is not over. I have been accepted to the Masters of Accountancy program at SUU. If all goes according to plan, I should finish the program during the summer of 2013! To help make grad school possible I was also accepted to the Assistantship Program. This program allows me to work for one of the professors as either a teaching assistant or a research assistant. I am excited for such an exciting opportunity, but I am equally excited for the nice tuition waiver that comes with participation in the program! I hope that I will find similar succes in the masters program and that my next post won't be a year away.