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.