Y, You Did It!

After four years of college (one of them while we were dating long distance and a year and a half of them while Rod was commuting from Murray after we were married) he finally graduated!! I know he is so happy to be done with BYU and ready to move onto the next chapter. We basically celebrated for an entire week straight, which was no bueno for the Costa Rica diet, but it was a lot of fun!

My mom made Rod this sign as well as a really cool "Y" cake (which unfortunately we forgot to get a picture of before we devoured it).

Rod on his last day of school! (which ended up being a 12 hour day on campus). The first thing he did when he tried on his cap and gown was a celebratory hula hoop dance

The night before, we went to dinner with Rod's parents and Aunt Candy and Grandparents at Macaroni Grill (a favorite).

His graduation was at 5 PM so Rod's parents took us to Tucanos (his favorite restaurant of all time) for lunch and and my parents came too. It was their first time and I think they're fans now.

The business school's graduation was HUGE (the people on the floor are just the graduate students, and the undergrads are all up the bleachers) I think there were like 1500 total graduates, which made for a LONG ceremony as they called each person's name. Bill Marriott (President of Marriott Hotels) was the guest speaker. They had all the grads sign this piece of the old basketball floor from the Marriott Center, and they will display it in the business school from now on.

They were nice to come and sit through the hours of ceremony

Pure joy

Thanks to everyone who made it possible and for the fun parties!

Word to your mother

Happy Birthday Mother Earth!We love you

Just Because

WAHOO! Spring has sprung and the popcorn trees get me all riled up!

Today we spent the entire day riding around with the sunroof open and sporting shorts, like most of you. Businesses kept their doors wide open and people were walking around with sunburns. There's nothing better. We got brown toppers at Arctic Circle (it was either that or a slushy from Sonic - maybe next time).

Things are getting exciting around here. This week I sold "my precious" (my car). Jaikwonda the Honda has a new owner now. I was very sad to see her go, but I know that it's for the best that we go down to one car.

"Goodbye my lover, goodbye my friend . . . you have been the one . . . you have been the one for me"

Last night we went to a Venezuelan restaurant for dinner. It was really fun because I pretty much hadn't had Venezuelan food since my mission and Tanya has never had it. We ate tequeños, empanadas, arepas, plátanos fritos, caraotas, and frescolitas (bubble gum soda). It was very authentic and pretty good, although how could cheese wrapped in dough and then fried not be good?

2 finals down, 2 to go for me! Each day of this semester dragged on, but overall it has flown by. Soon I can say:

And 3 weeks from right now we will be on a plane to

Just sayin'

Ready and Waiting

I feel like time is moving so slowly that it might actually be going backwards.
All of our plans are in place.
We have plane tickets.
We have a house.
I have been accepted to school,
and Rod has a lot of good leads on jobs.

I want to be there NOW.

The problem is I’m wishing every day away and then all of a sudden it will be July 21st and I will realize how much I am going to miss our families and friends.

We REALLY want people to come visit.
I’m going to make a giant calendar for our house and schedule people in, so you better book your stay at our shack ASAP!



I long for the smell of the OCEAN.
I can’t wait to ride my bike to school every. single. day.
I'm excited to teach.
My student teaching is already set up for King Intermediate School in Kaneohe.
It's really happening!

I am also excited for Rod and I to be on our own.
We have a sweeeet setup living in Sterling and Cheryl’s basement apartment
and I know I’ll miss the huge closets, nice furniture, and endless canned food supply.
I will also miss being so close to them.
Rod and I will be on our own for the first time.
REALLY on our own.
Like Christmas with just the two of us alone.
I am excited for the adventure.
Is it JULY yet?


Rod tells me to be patient.
I'll try to listen to him.

Step Up

We love hip-hop music and dancing. It's pretty much the only reason I (Rodney) watch So You Think You Can Dance. We try to go to hip hop classes at the gym whenever we can too. I wish I were better, but we're working on that. Our first Valentine's Day together when we were dating we went and saw Step Up 2 on opening night, and the soundtrack brings back a flood of memories of Tan and I driving around stirring up trouble. Over a year ago while we were watching America's Best Dance Crew they announced that they were working on making Step Up 3(D). For awhile we thought they forgot, but alas it's happening this August!

Here is the trialer

And did you notice Twitch from So You Think You Can Dance is in it?

I can't wait for the soundtrack either

Easterz in George

Last week we got to go to St. George to celebrate Easter. It worked out that both of our families would be down there at the same time so we spent Wednesday - Sunday enjoying the spring weather and just relaxing with family.

The drive down was terrible. For most of the time we couldn't see and we were just on the edge of our seats trying to get there alive. There were way too many tears and swears, but we got there alive - rolling into George with a snow covered car.

We loved testing out our waterproof camera at the pool! We had a tea party and for some reason thought the underwater pictures were so funny at the time.

We also got to hang out with our Danielle and Matt and our nephew Brenden. They flew from San Francisco to Las Vegas and then drove to St. George. We love them and had so much fun swimming with Brenden and dunking him under the water.

We went to some sand dunes

We got together with Tanya's family and aunt Misty and Uncle Doug and cousins. We dyed Easter eggs, had a hunt, flew kites and rode scooters!

A scooter is officially on our wish list.

And on Easter we had another Easter egg hunt with Brenden. Isn't his suit dapper?

Seasider

Tanya has been thinking of going back to school and becoming a teacher ever since even before she finished at the University of Utah. She has been applying like crazy to places in Hawaii and we have been playing the waiting game since January. This week she had phone interviews at University of Hawaii, Hawaii Pacific University, and BYU-Hawaii. On Friday during her interview with BYU-Hawaii they loved her and immediately accepted her! The decision has been made and she is going to become a BYU-Hawaii Seasider!

She'll be starting classes July 22nd (the day after we fly there) and is going to study to be a middle or high school health teacher. They already have her student teaching at a middle school set up Kaneohe, which she'll be doing from January to June of next year. Then she'll be certified and ready to teach her own class by next fall!

Doing homework will go something like this . . .

And our house is so close to the campus that all she'll need is a beach cruiser to get to class every day!

I'm so proud of Tanya. She has worked really hard for this and I know that it's the right thing for her. We just can't wait to get there and get going!

Luck of the Draw

Last week we went out for Chinese food with our friend Gent and ended up with this fortune

It's so perfect and makes us so excited for summer.
Is it May yet?