birthday boy.

Recently got to celebrate this handsome guy's birthday.

We celebrated with a day full of yummy food and goofiness. Because that's who we are. And presents. Lots of presents.

I made a beautiful cake in his honor. He LOVES coconut.

Happy 23rd Birthday David Rowe! I am so grateful to have finally spent the first of MANY birthdays with you.

zion's.

David and I were itching to get out of P-Town for a bit, so we took advantage of a three day weekend and drove down to Cedar City to visit my favorite cousin, Alesha, and her husband Daniel. Friday night included a trip to the Pastry Pub for chocolate cake, a rousing game of Canasta, and LOTS of talking (mostly Alesha and me - the boys fell asleep before we decided we should probably call it a night!)

Alesha and Daniel taught us how to play Canasta. It was surprisingly competitive and so much fun!

Saturday Alesha and Daniel took us down to Zion's to go hiking. The weather was BEAUTIFUL - sixty degrees and sunny. Even though the trees were still bare, the red rock was stunning. It was just the breath of fresh air we needed before we dove head first into the new semester. Brace yourself for a million pics...

No green, but so beautiful.

 

 

 

We had way too much fun climbing on anything and everything we saw.

These two were way too much fun - Alesha and I laughed about how lucky we married guys who got along so well!

David's favorite trick on all the crazy slanted rock formations. Don't mind Daniel's legs in the corner.

Favorite cousins! We realized we hadn't spent a weekend together since we were ten - it was about time!

Normal.

We like each other. A bit.

Like I said - we had to climb on everything. This was one of the more terrifying things we climbed on...

Such a great view.

The shadow of the car on the sunset illuminated red rock on the way home. Too great not to document.

Saturday night Alesha and Daniel introduced us to their favorite pizza place - delicious wood fired pizza makes a fine meal after a day of hiking! We topped it all off with nutella stuffed pizza for dessert. It was divine.

Sunday we went to Sacrament Meeting with Alesha and Daniel before packing up to head home - we had to be back in time for dinner with David's parents! A quickie of a vacation to be sure, but incredibly therapeutic and loads of fun. Thanks for taking such good care of us Alesha and Daniel! We hope to visit you again soon!!!

ikea date.

David and I were asked to go pick up Ashlee and Daniel from the airport after New Year's. I took the drive north as an opportunity to introduce David to Ikea. We picked out a cheap little side table to go between our couches and took advantage of the daily special in the food court. Not the most romantic date we've ever been on, but we had fun.

Fish and chips!

Of all of the photo ops in Ikea, the only pic we got of ourselves together was this self-timer thanks to a table in the food court.
But then, we had to prove we were both there somehow.

We spent this weekend in Southern Utah hanging with our cuzzies, so I promise there are some more exciting pictures coming...

but that's a separate post.

the first semester.

I have officially survived my first semester of grad school. But only just barely. And only just in time to start another one. Semester statistics:

- 2000+ pages of reading
- 50+ sources read
- 7 sets of tests graded
- 7 review sessions prepared and taught
- 2 sets of essays graded
- 1 set of AGONIZING research papers read and graded
- 65+ pages written
- 5+ hours of presentations given
- 3+ illnesses survived
- 100% sanity lost

So that was my semester. Hopefully you can begin to understand an appreciate why so few pictures survive from the last four months. But here is a (very) brief survey of the last few months of our lives anyway.

OCTOBER:

- First time proctoring student tests

- Booked tickets for an adventure in Chicago in February for an Art History conference

- Taught a craft for relief society. It was awful.

- Went to a wedding at the Salt Lake Temple.

- Bought candy for Halloween just in case, and had TWO trick-or-treaters. We were stoked.

While Mom and Dad remodeled their kitchen, Sunday dinners took place outside as long as the weather permitted. This particular day it was too cold under the gazebo, but too bright in the yard. Fortunately Dad had enough hats for all of us. The moment was too priceless to ignore.

David and I were fortunate to attend the sealing of my favorite cousin, Alesha, and her new husband, Daniel. They make such a great couple and we were so happy to get to witness our first temple sealing from the opposite perspective.

David and I took a chance on an adventure for Halloween and made our way up to the Sundance Halloween Lift Ride. Despite the blizzard that we were carried through as we crossed the peak of the mountains, the ride was lots of fun! Note the glasses - just a few days before I decided I had just about had it with my contacts and committed to getting LASIK. This was the beginning of nine weeks in my glasses prior to having my eyes adjusted once and for all.

We also got to carve pumpkins this year with our friendly neighbors, the Deckers. I'll let you guess which is mine and which is David's.

NOVEMBER:

- Panic sets in as my first project comes due...

- Set up our first Christmas tree.

- Spent Thanksgiving with the Rowe family.

- Black Friday shopping with the crew.

- Enjoyed the first snow storm of the year while the rest of Provo learned to drive.

Thanks to the hard work of Stacy and the organization of Matt, we had a really special experience with the Erdmann family participating in sealings for family names at the Provo Temple. It was really neat to be able to get (almost) everyone together in the temple and to do work for our ancestors.

Of course, it was such a beautiful morning, we had to snap a self-timer picture from the hood of our car.

DECEMBER:

- Finished my first semester of grad school.

- Celebrated our one year engagement date.

- Hosted a pizza party extravaganza to celebrate the end of the semester with my peers.

- Crammed Christmas preparations into half a week.

- Celebrated our six month anniversary by seeing the Hobbit.

- Got LASIK two days before Christmas. Most terrifying thing I've ever experienced, but I started to cry when I woke up and discovered I could see.

- Spent Christmas Eve and Christmas Day back and forth between two houses, but reserved Christmas morning for ourselves. It was great.

The only picture we managed from our first Christmas together. We did manage to sleep in until about 7:15. Featured in this image is our first tree - yes, artificial (due to time constraints) and borrowed, but we loved it and managed to fill it just with ornaments the two of us have received since childhood. Additionally, you can see the stockings I made in about two days once my finals were finally graded - I was pleased with them. Lastly, you may notice that I finally hung some pictures up on the wall. One day I procrastinated all my schoolwork with reckless abandon and determination to get the massive pile of frames in our second bedroom hung SOMEWHERE. It definitely makes the room feel a little cozier.

And that sums up the last of the year. Four years ago tomorrow David and I spent New Year's Eve in a car in a park playing checkers, because we wanted to spend time together, but nobody was home at either of our houses. Three years later he proposed in the same park with a checkerboard. Tomorrow we will spend our first New Year's as a married couple and then begin a year with many other firsts, and maybe some seconds and thirds. Hopefully in the coming months I'll have things a little more under control so that I can actually record some of those moments as they happen, though reflecting has been rather rewarding.

What a year. Happy 2014 everyone!

those days.

I figure I ought to say something since it's been a whole month without a post.

Plus, today is one of those days.

You know, the kind where you wake up with the intent to accomplish a million different things because your 45 minute presentation may have possibly just been bumped up a week and you'd really like to have an actual break over Thanksgiving and not just a break that means studying at home instead of on campus, but then you realize how little you really want to accomplish any of those things and let's be honest, last night you almost had a mental breakdown just over the idea of having to make dinner, and so in all actuality, you do very few of those things and waste the morning on the internet.

Then about midday you rally yourself. There is still time left in the day! you tell yourself. And you recommit to accomplishing half a million of those things (because obviously there is only half a day left, but half is better than none, right?) and for a while you pretend to accomplish those things. But then the rest of the day slips between your fingers like your diet did when you chose that bag of tastefully delightful Skittles over the healthy pretzels and cheese you packed for a snack. And you try to justify that decision by reminding yourself that pretzels really aren't all that healthy anyway because they have at least twice the sodium of potato chips, so really it was a pretty even trade.

Of course, this is all hypothetical. Right? I think I'll take another stab at focusing on this medieval triptych now.

Happy November, friends.

the time i spoke at graduation and other short stories.

Dear friends, expect to see less of me these days. Or, hear less from me, rather. In graduate school, each class likes to assign you 100 pages to read for the next class. It's doable. Until they also tell you that you are supposed to be reading every source you can possibly find for your research papers due at the end of the term on top of that. PLUS grade papers and meet with students and add your two cents to an undergraduate survey course or two. It's fun.

So here's a little catch up post to summarize the last of my summer. Once upon a time, I finally decided to apply for graduation. It was sort of on a whim - I guess I decided I had to graduate in order to go to grad school. (In fact, as I was working on my application I received SEVERAL emails reminding me that I did have to graduate in order to attend graduate school. I guess some people forget.) So I applied and decided August seemed like an appropriate time for said ceremony to take place. That way I could keep my job a little longer. Then I got an email informing me I was speaking at graduation. I said, "Hello? How did I get entered in this drawing?" No raffle folks. Everyone is at risk. If the department things you are a piece worthy of advertising, you get chosen. And so I spoke at graduation. And skipped a line in my speech. But it's fine. Nobody knew. So here are some belated pics of the jolly occasion.

No idea who I was shaking hands with that day.

Can't forget one of these. Ever.

My incredible and beautiful friend, Christy, who I was lucky enough to graduate with and privileged to enter my master's program with.

My favorite part of graduation? Getting to recreate this photograph. Three years ago my best friend made a big deal about coming to my high school graduation, despite my inward, shy concerns about what people would think if they saw us together. A day later we shared our first kiss. Three years later, my husband came to support me at my college graduation. Now we're working towards another graduation - one where we can hopefully walk together.

The day after graduation we got to go four-wheeling with David's grandpa up behind Squaw Peak. It was so much fun! We had a hard time keeping up with him. We rode for a few hours and saw some pretty vistas, then zoomed off the mountain before the storm we spied from the top could catch up with us.

So many wildflowers! And the leaves were already starting to change.

Grandpa Buckner, David, and me with Springville and Mapleton behind us.

Sooooo dirty. I had to throw that shirt away.

My twenty-second birthday was the first day of school. The day before David took me to Park City for some  Labor Day shopping and dinner on Main Street. Luckily I didn't have classes the next day, and David decided he could miss his only class to spend the morning with me. He surprised me with balloons and flowers, made me breakfast, took me to dinner and invited some family and friends over for pie and ice cream. And for the first time in my life I got surprised with trick candles, which explains why he insisted on capturing the moment on film. David also surprised me with a full size keyboard so I can play the piano whenever I please.

Main Street Pizza & Noodle followed by some treats at Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.

This last little tidbit I have to include was a fun date we went on. We took a wedding giftcard and had dinner at Macaroni Grill, then wandered the "gallery" and farmer's market at Chalk the Block at Riverwoods. Live music, vendors, and art. It was too much fun. We took some pictures, but for some reason this accidental video clip captures the night better. Enjoy.

That sums up life lately in a nutshell. If I don't get too overwhelmed (I did just finish grading my first set of midterms) I'll think about adding another post. Be patient. In the meantime, just think about how jealous you are that on top of everything else I'm doing, I get to go be paid to catalog ancient Egyptian textiles for a few hours a week. What could be more exciting than that?

family reunion.

The day after we got home from our wedding we got to head up to Sundance with my family for a little Erdmann reunion. Joke - our reunions aren't little. It was so much fun to have everyone up there all together for some great activities. Here are just a few snapshots from our day in the sun at Wallsburg. Mmmm... mostly the kids. But let's be real. Those are the pics you want anyway, right?

Mila discovering some exciting weeds.

Grandpa teaching Caleb to fish.

Number one "cheese" I got out of anyone for sure.

Elora didn't need Grandpa's help to fish...

Snapped this beauty... You're welcome Natalie.

Psych! Even better.

Shouldn't have left them alone to fill those water balloons...

Annie had way too much fun popping water balloons as they were filled.

The slime that Brandon brought out of the pond with his face, post zipline adventure.

David waiting for his turn to take the plunge...

Tanner and Brandon swimming in said disgusting slimy water.

David's stunts when he finally made up his mind to jump off the platform ;)