UFHE

Every Monday in Utah is a sacred time. A time for families to come together, to talk of truths, to laugh, and to sing. We couldn't be prouder to engage in this uplifting and enlightening quality time, as well. Introducing Tara, Nick, Christin, Becca and Myself: the urban family. Every Monday night we gather in our sacred spot, the Rusted Sun Pizzeria, for our Urban Family Home Evening (UFHE).



The Rusted Sun Pizzeria has become our home away from home. The calzones here are amazing. Add a tasty green salad, awesome home made dressings, and endless Diet Pepsi's and this place is where we hang our Monday evening hats. Look how pumped Becca is, it's like she is in a food coma...

Sometimes we turn our UFHE's into early morning breakfasts. Here is part of the UF at Eggs in the City on a lovely morn. Tara and Nick, so hot right now. Isn't his sweater so patriotic?!


UFHE is our therapy, our dose of rock your whole body laughter, our best meal of the week, and our favorite tradition. Love these friends, love Doug and Joe at the Rusted Sun, and love our Urban Family.

Christin, Tara, Nick, Kath, and Becca gathered around our family table at Rusted Sun.

May 16th: A Magical Day in the Neighborhood

May 16, 2011 is a magical day. I'm finally full time at Career Services!!!! (insert celebration and hallelujah's...) At the beginning of the year I went through the application process for a job that I was head over heel's for. Career Services at the University of Utah was hiring for a Career Counselor and the job description was made for me: working with students, creating relationships on campus, giving presentations and workshops, event planning, advising, and engaging in my own professional development. In short, I wanted this job more than anything--and in February I got it! I was so excited to be starting in student affairs administration. Things got sticky fast, however. I was still teaching for the Department of Communication and because both offices are technically the same employer (the U of U), FTE became an issue. Originally, human resources told my director that I'd be able to work 20 hours per week at Career Services until the semester ended. I was okay with that, even if it pushed my benefits eligibility back a bit. However, after three weeks I was told by my office that HR changed their stance and Career Services could only pay me for 9.26 hours per week. At this point I had quit my job at the Spaghetti Factory and Becca had cut down to only one job as well. With the new salary we wouldn't have to work as much and were happy to be able to focus on school. Only problem? Now I was only working 9 hours a week! Things have been a bit tricky this semester based on that, but on May 16th at the end of the semester I was able to officially go full time at Career Services. Benefits are awesome, the pay is much better now that I'm full time (ha!), and I finally feel like I'm part of the team. It is hard to feel included when you are only there for a few hours a week. So, celebrate! May 16th is a magical day, indeed. Here's to full time work again.

University of Utah Graduation 2011

Friday, May 6th was a great day. Krysten graduated with a Bachelor's in Psychology, and I walked for my Masters in Communication. We decided to turn the day into a family celebration. I must confess that it was one of the greatest days in life thus far, to be surrounded by folks I love, on a campus which increasingly means a lot to me, and celebrating our individual journey's of education...life was good that day. With my graduation ceremony beginning at 1:45p, and Krysten's at 6:15p, we made a day of it. We started the morning out by heading to our favorite breakfast place, Ruth's Diner. Delicious!







After breakfast we hit up the store to grab picnic supplies, and then went home to cool off for a few minutes before heading to campus for the College of Humanities Ceremony. Taylor looks great, eh?



Erin M. is one of my students over the last few semesters. So fun to see her graduate with her BA as well! The ceremony was a blast, it was nice to be able to sit by Keriann and other friends. We were ridiculous in trying to figure out how to get those damn hoods on though... Ann (our advisor) just laughed when she saw that we couldn't figure them out. She helped me put it on, thank goodness.


With Dr. Ann L. Darling, advisor extraordinaire

Love these women. Dr. Darling and Keriann Lynch. I wouldn't have survived my master's program without either of these women. Congrats to Keriann for finishing on time!! She's a rockstar.

I was so glad the Swain's came. I feel so supported and loved by Becca's family and I'm so grateful they are were part of this celebration.

This lady deserves an honorary masters degree. Even though I'm still in the thick of getting the degree, working on my masters as we speak (in July!), Becca has been nothing but supportive. She is the constant that keeps me steady even when my whole day feels overwhelming and busy. I love her and was so happy to have her by my side. Thanks, lady!


After my ceremony we hung out on campus in the perfect spring weather. Becca led us to a perfect spot next to the HPER. Plenty of grass to hang out and enjoy an afternoon picnic while we waited for Krysten's ceremony. In the theme of sticking with our favorites, we decided to have a campus favorite for lunch: THE PIE! So good! Thanks to mom, dad, and Laurie for helping us with the cost of pizza. Such a fun time.





Mmm...BBQ chicken! Also, please note my dad's t-shirt. USU pride, still! :)


How cute is she!?
Mom, Krys, and Taylor vegging out on the grass.

It was so nice to have such a low key day with the family. Nate and Hollie, Austin and Krysten, Me and Becca, Mom, Taylor, Dad and Laurie, and Linsey and Vince. Thanks to each of you for spending your day with us! Oh, and thanks to Becca for being inapprope with the paper plates. This is a family event, put those away!

Hollie helping Krysten get ready for the next graduation ceremony.


Austin and Nate getting their frisbee on...

Dad and Laurie catching some R and R...

After Krysten's ceremony we went for the sister's photo shoot.



I'm so grateful to my parents--all of them. Education is important to me because it is important to them. I'm happy to have parents who instilled hard work and a desire to be curious in me and my siblings.


Love you, Mom! Always my ultimate supporter and best friend.




How attractive are these folks?

Walk MS 2011

I've been volunteering/working Bike MS for the last 3 years and Becca joined the fun last year. We go to support this lady:

Who plans epic events for the MS Society of Utah. Its always fun to head to the gateway, play, and get our volunteer on.



Around 3000 show up every year to walk the 5k fundraiser for MS research and programs. Tara plans one hell of a party.

Becca, Christin, and their boyfriend Toothy.

That's a wrap!

A royal day off

On the day of the Royal Wedding both Becca and I randomly had work off. Translation--a ROYAL day off! We enjoyed having some extra time together, especially since it was a Friday. Hola, early weekend! To celebrate the royal wedding we went to Fiddler's Elbow in Sugarhouse where we enjoyed some Fish n Chips.


Next, we hit up the Cinemark to see SCREAM 4. When we got to our 3:00pm matinee showing we found ourselves to be the only ones in the theatre. This of course scared the crap out of me.


As the lights dimmed I got even more afraid. However, not two seconds after the lights went down, they came on again and the screen opened. Then they turned off again. Then on again. I wasn't going to wait around for some recorded voice to ask "Do you like scary movies?!?" so I left Becca to hold the fort and went to find a projectionist. After 15 minutes they realized that that the projector wasn't working and they 1) refunded our tickets and 2) gave us ticket vouchers for our return. So, although we weren't able to see Scream that afternoon, we did return two days later to watch it for FREE and had the bonus of having other living souls to watch it with. BOO YEAH!