Brian's Birthday/Graduation Party

Brian is now 27! My 19 days of being a "cougar" are over. I threw him a birthday/graduation party to celebrate. We invited a bunch of friends from the ward and our immediate families. I did everything in lime green (Brian's favorite color) and we all had fun just chatting. The weather cooperated for the most part. It didn't rain, but it wasn't particularly warm.



The best part for me was when I brought out Brian's gift. I surprised him with the commuter bike he had been hoping for. I figured that it was for his birthday & his Masters graduation, so I figured he deserved something really great.

He was totally surprised and I was so happy that I was able to pull it off. I never seem to be able to get him something he doesn't expect.

He went for a ride right away.

The new bike. He has since re-wrapped the handle bars in lime green.

Thanks to everyone for coming!

Happy Birthday Brian!

A Cougar Once Again

Today was my 27th birthday.

Brian got me the movies Tangled and Anastasia.

After church we headed to my parents house for dinner. 

They gave me some cute new shirts and work clothes. 

And we had cheesecake for dessert.

We stopped by the Glad's as well.

They gave me all the ingredients and a mini bundt pan so I can make my own favorite dessert, 

Chili's Molten Chocolate Cake.

Overall, a very good birthday.

Even if it means Brian gets to call me a Cougar for 19 days.

The Big 2-6

On the 20th, Brian turned 26. Among other things, this means that he now has to stop calling me "Cougar" for another year.

He got the day off for his birthday. So of course he spent most of the day riding his road bike.

All over the valley.

For 3 1/2 hours.

Definitely not my idea of a good time. But he liked it.

He ended the ride by coming to my office when I got off work, and we drove over to his parent's house for a BBQ.

It was then that we discovered that he had lost his Driver's License, Temple Recommend, and Debit Card.

He keeps those on him when he's riding, in case of emergencies. They all fell out when he pulled out some treats. Somewhere along the way. Anywhere in the valley.

So we stopped by the bank to get him a new card and cancel the old one.

He wasn't holding out much hope that anyone would find it, let alone return it.

So Friday morning he went down to the DMV and got a new license. Thankfully he didn't have to wait in a 4 hour long line. Took him about 10 minutes. Sweet!

And on Saturday, our bank called.

Someone found his stuff and turned it in to the bank.

Yay for people who do the right thing, but boo that he had already done all this stuff to replace his things. But yay again that he doesn't have to set appointments to get a new temple recommend.

So that was the excitement on his birthday.

Well, that and the party. :)

Happy Birthday Brian!

I am a Cougar

According to Brian anyway.

Today I turned 26, which means I am older than Brian for the next 19 days. He finds this to be the best time of the year because he gets to tease me about being older than him and calls me his "cougar". I let him get away with it because it's only 19 days. :)

Yesterday I got a paid day off from my boss for my birthday. Awesome. Because Brian finished his final project on Wednesday he took the day off to be with me. We slept in and I lounged around while Brian went shopping for my presents. (Because my birthday always falls during finals, he never has time to shop until the day before or the day of.) Then I got all prettified and we headed to the DMV.

Yes, this was one of those fateful years I had to renew my license. Because of the timing of my name changes, I never got the chance to renew by mail, which I am mad about. I hate going to the DMV and I hate taking that eye test. I would've given anything to just renew through the mail and not have to take another picture. Owell.

It ended up being very painless. We walked in, took a picture (the best one yet I think) and waited a whole minute before they called my number. Then we just stood there while the guy entered my info, and then I had to take the eye test. Brian doesn't get why this causes me anxiety. I don't really know either besides the fact that I am far-sighted, which means I can see fine while I'm driving but focusing on small things like reading is hard without glasses/contacts. And those stupid tests don't understand my lazy left eye that needs my right eye to help. Seriously, when are you going to need to drive with only one eye open?

Anyway, I took an educated guess hesitated on the first two letters and zoomed through the rest. I almost literally wiped my brow after I was done. But I didn't want the DMV guy to know I was worried about passing. :)

Then we went to the mall and got me some new bras for my birthday. Pretty exciting, huh?

Today we opened presents before Brian went to work. He got me a few necessary items, and the movie Avatar. For the rest of the day I was just lazy and did nothing (including not cleaning my messy house) while Brian was at work. When he got home we went to Red Robin for dinner because I got a free burger for my birthday. We splurged and got a chocolate shake which was really yummy.

Then we came home and watched Avatar. Pretty relaxing birthday. (But no pics, sorry.)

Birthday Week

Some people celebrate a birthday week for themselves. For me and Brian, we have a Birthday Week in February where we have 4 birthdays in one week, all on different days.

First, Brian's dad, on the 17th.
Then Brian's brother Curtis, on the 18th. Unfortunately we forgot the camera that night.

Then my sister Nat's husband, Adam on the 19th. We ended up bringing Nat & Adam, and my brother Phil, to our Stake Valentine's Dinner catered by Cafe Rio.

Then my brother Brad on the 20th. This year he was at a school dance, and us girls had a bridal shower for my cousin's fiance. So we ended up celebrating on Sunday.

So basically, we were partying every night from Wednesday to Sunday. And each night we were out progressively later and later. I was worried that I was going to get sick, but I fought it all the way.

A few thoughts about the week:

*The bridal shower was thrown by my cousin Marci, who is so super creative. It was so cute and we had a lot of fun.

*I watched Marci's kids, Aria and Corbin, for about 30 minutes on Saturday until her parent's could get there. I was actually a little nervous, even though I'm the oldest of five and I've taken care of babies before. I just worried that Marci and Landon would leave and then both kids would start crying and I wouldn't know what to do. As it turned out, Corbin drifted off to sleep and all Aria wanted to do was play tea party and read books to me. Awesome! And then when the grandparents got there, Aria still didn't want me to leave. I felt very loved.

*I really need more sleep. But thank goodness for Vitamin C.

I'm not the old one anymore!

Yesterday Brian turned 25. He can no longer call me his "cougar." He picked up this term after watching an episode of Bones. (For you other fans out there, you know which one.) (And for those of you who don't watch that show, you should! It's hilarious!) Moving on...


Brian spent the morning mountain biking, but then had to work until 7. When he got off work, we went to dinner at Chili's. I did his gifts a little different this year, for two reasons. 1) We just went to Disneyland, so I knew we couldn't' afford a bunch of stuff. 1a) (But we ended up going to California for a lot cheaper than I thought it would be, so I could afford one really nice gift but not a lot of nice stuff.) 2)I'm not good at picking things out for Brian.


So, first I gave him a gift certificate to buy himself a new set of biking gloves. The ones he has now have many holes in them, and I feel bad for his hands. :) He gets a discount at the bike shop where he works, so I didn't buy them myself. And I know I'd pick the wrong kind.


And second, his really nice, once a year, good-thing-he's-not-a-father-because-he'd-get-nothing-for-Father's Day, gift:

A Canon G10. (If you can't tell what the picture is.)

I gave in. He's really wanted this camera for a while, and as some of you know He wanted it for My birthday. He said it was for California, but I don't know.... Anyway, because we had saved for about a year for our trip, and then it ended up costing about half of what I thought, we had some extra that I thought we could spend on this. It's a good investment and I really do love having lots of pictures of the things we do, but I'm not good at taking them. If getting him a new camera means he'll take the pictures I want taken, I'm all for it.

Again, I didn't go buy it for him because I wanted to make sure he got the right accessories and things. So today after I got off of work, we went down and got him his camera and a case and a new SD card and the invisishield to protect the screen. I think the sales people were a little surprised because when we said we wanted that camera, I think they thought we were still just looking. So they started throwing all these things in as part of a deal, like they were trying to convince us. And then we just said, "Sure, we'll take it." :)

So now, we've come home and Brian is playing with his new toy like a little kid at Christmas. Hence, I am blinded by the flashing and his persistent request to "try one more thing" as he takes my picture.

(I know I don't sound as enthusiastic, but I really do love this camera already. It takes AMAZING pictures. I'm so excited.)

This is a picture of us at dinner last night. Say goodbye to this poor quality of pictures, nevermore!

*Update*

Right before I finished this post, the half charged battery on his new camera died, so he had to stop playing with it. But he's so excited about it that he decided to still wear the case with the camera just sitting inside. I had to take a picture with "my" new camera. (Brian generously gave me his old camera. :) How nice of him.)

Quarter Century Old

I am 25. Doesn't feel too different from 24. I guess that's what happens when you get old. :) Just kidding.

For my birthday my boss gives me a paid day off, so that was nice. Brian was done with his projects by Friday, so he didn't have to worry about going in to school either. So we slept in, then went to lunch at Training Table. Then Brian took me to buy a frame for the cross-stitch I just finished, and I bought a new one. It's even bigger than the last one. Hopefully it takes me just as long to finish. That seems to save us money, if I get something that takes a year to finish, instead of buying 4 in one year. :)

After we got home, Brian gave me his other presents. He bought me a few household items, like a towel rack, because our apartment doesn't have anywhere for me to put kitchen towels. So they end up on the counter and table and never get dry. He's very thoughtful like that. :)

He also gave me a book called "Unlocking the Book of Mormon." It's like the Book of Mormon Made Easier books, but I think I like it better. It's bigger, and it has the scriptures side by side with notes and quotes and things like that. It also leaves space to write your own thoughts and notes down. As a writer, I love that! I started reading and marked up and made notes all over the place. It was great!

That night we had dinner at my in-laws. I don't like much Mexican food, but my mother-in-law makes these enchiladas that I really like. Probably because there's not much in them and they're not too spicy. :)

After dinner we had cake and ice cream and my brother-in-law commenced to eat all of the extra frosting no one else wanted. It's become kind of his "thing" and it's totally gross. We video-ed it this time, but I don't have that. Be thankful. Really gross, but funny.

After that, we decided to watch a movie, and since it was my birthday I got to choose. I picked Twilight. It's only my second time seeing it and I wanted Brian to see it, and also, my mother in law has 5 boys. They don't watch chick-flicks that often, so it was a treat for her too.

On Saturday Brian had to work, but that meant I got a whole day to just relax and do whatever I wanted. Then Brian took me to dinner at Winger's.

Sunday we went to my family's for one more birthday dinner of "Walker Chicken" and my mom even was so thoughtful to buy me an ice cream cake. She knows me well.

And to finish off the birthday weekend, my mom took me to lunch on Monday. :) Sweet!

I got some really cute new tops and some money for our California trip, but I'm just glad I got to spend so much time with family. It's the best part of birthdays.

Birthday & Graduation

Well, for my birthday my boss always gives me a paid day off. So I got to spend the whole day with Brian, because he had just finished his semester the day before. So we actually spent the day clearing out his desk. It was like he was moving in to our apartment finally. He had so much stuff that it filled the entire living room. Granted, it's not a huge living room, but still. That's a lot of stuff!!

Then he took me to the mall and I got a Mani/pedi which was nice. Then we went out to dinner, and went over to his parents house for cake and ice cream. It was a pretty good day.

May 2nd I graduated! Well, almost. It was the ceremony anyway.

It was really nice to have so many family members there to support me.

Me & Brian

Me & My Parents

Me & My sister Natalie. She & Adam came all the way from St. George.

Me & My Grandpa & Grandma Walker

Brian & I with his parents

Brian & I with his Grandpa & Grandma Merrell

The Ceremony was about two hours long, but it went by pretty quickly, especially considering that they had over 1,000 names to get through. (College of Humanities, pretty much where they group all the misfit majors that don't fit into another category.) That was probably the shortest part compared to speakers and things. I was in the very front, so I was probably the 10th person called. I waved to my family before they called my name, but then I was focusing so hard on not falling down that I didn't even hear them scream for me. My mom assured me that they did though. She also admitted to crying during the ceremony. That's my mom! I would be more concerned if she didn't cry.

It was an awesome feeling to walk across there. I know I still have 3 months left, but still. I was so happy to have reached this point. There were a couple of my professors there that congratulated me afterwards as well, which I thought was pretty cool.

After the ceremony, my grandpa took some of us out to lunch at Chuck-a-Rama. I ate so many scones with honey butter. It was so yummy!

I went home and took a nap because the only downside of the whole weekend was that I got sick. I started not feeling well on my birthday and it just got worse as the weekend progressed. But I kept popping DayQuil and that helped a little.

That night we went out to dinner with my family to Red Robin. Then we went & watched the Jazz game I think. I can't remember.

Saturday was my brother Brad's Eagle Court of Honor. I'll post more about that later.

Sunday we had my monthly family dinner at my parent's house, which was extra fun this time because all the kids were there because Nat & Adam had come up from St. George for all the festivities. I love getting together with everyone like that.

I got gifts from family for graduating this year, and it was very generous of everyone. Thank you! But the one gift from my parents was really cool. My dad dropped out of college when he was younger because he had a good job and they were just married. He came to regret that later on, but he worked hard and he graduated when he was 43. Because of his experience he feels that it is EXTREMELY important to graduate from college. So my parents wanted to show this by the gift they are willing to give when their children graduate. We didn't know what this meant because I am the first. This is what my parents gave me:

We are so proud of you upon your graduation from the University of Utah.

Choose one of the following for your graduation gift:

A trip to Disneyland! (Round trip tickets for 2, tickets to the park and accommodations).

A laptop computer.

$800 work wardrobe shopping spree.

I was totally shocked. That was so amazing. It took me a long time to decide because all those things are so great. I finally decided to get a new laptop. I've been wanting one of my own because as soon as the summer's over Brian will take his computer back to school and I won't have one, at the time when I'll finally have time to write & do my scrapbooking. And we talked about getting me one, but I know I'll never spend that money on myself when we have loans to be paid off and things like that. So this will be good. I'm way excited.

It's definitely worth it to graduate, and not even because of the gifts. It's just a good feeling knowing that I've accomplished this and I can be proud of myself that I made it through, even with all the trials.

What Makes Me Happy Today

1) My G &G Walker were going to be on a trip out of the country this next week, leaving on Friday, which is the day I'm graduating. (And they would also miss my cousin & fiance going through the temple for the first time.) I just received a message from my Grandpa that they are not leaving and are going to come see my graduate! It's hard for me to explain why this means so much, but I guess it's because I'm the oldest grandchild, and the first to graduate, and I just really wanted them to be there.

2) I graduate on Friday! Granted, I still have to do school over the summer, and when I'm done with that I'll be even happier, but just the fact that this time period is even here is exciting.

3) Tomorrow is my birthday! 24! Man, that number used to sound so old. Like when my cousins (Mike, Kevin, Adam, Matt) were all 24 I thought they were way old. (Love you guys!) But now I still feel really young. But Brian likes to remind me that I'm older than him, by 19 days.

4) I don't have to go to work tomorrow or Friday. Don't get me wrong, I like my job, most days. I just hate when it's slow. Of course that's usually the only time I have to blog... but owell.

Everyone have a great couple days and I'll try to post pictures of the graduation sometime this weekend.

Countdowns...

28 days until my birthday

47 days until Brian's birthday

29 days until graduation ceremony

14 days of spring semester left

6 papers left

3 tests left

4 months until I'm done with school completely!

Brian's Birthday

We spent Sunday down in Sandy because 1) It was Brian's birthday, so we had dinner with his family. 2) His brother turned 14 on Thursday, so he was being ordained a Teacher. and 3) One of Nat's friends, who became very close with our family, was speaking in his church because he's leaving on his mission on Wednesday. So we went to hear him speak.

The first meeting we went to was a double farewell, so two missionaries spoke and though Josh's talk was very good, (the other's was just annoying as he was trying too hard to be funny) but you could tell that they were both young and had only a little experience, if any in life. The next meeting we went to with Brian's family, there was a returned missionary speaking, and the difference was amazing! I love to hear returned missionaries speak. They're just wonderful to listen to. You could tell he had grown a lot on his mission and learned so much. It makes me so grateful for that experience they go through. I think it's the smartest thing a young man can do.

Finally, we had dinner with Brian's family, and then ice cream and cake. It's always fun to go home and visit family. Brian's brother's love when he comes to visit because they can tackle him and wrestle with him. He's such a good big brother.