Emma Blue Eyes

I once decided that I wouldn't put up pictures of Emma in the bath, but it was too cute I couldn't resist. I have the cutest baby in the world. She has recently outgrown her baby bathtub, and now she takes baths in the actual tub. She loves splashing around on chewing on the foam letters and numbers we got her. That is one good looking kid.

Graduation

A couple weeks ago we got to go up to Provo to celebrate Sterling's graduation. This past year he has been down here working as an intern. Being away from BYU made us almost forget that he was still a student, but we remembered every time when we saw his sad little intern paycheck. Anyway, Sterling didn't want to go up for graduation, but as the proud wife I had been looking forward to it for three years, so we went. I was so proud of him as he walked across the stage and received his empty diploma case. Sterling has worked so hard over the last three years of school and we've made some good friends along the way too. Here are some pictures of the day.

Sterling's degree is an Education Specialist Degree. It is halfway between a master's degree and a doctorate.

Emma did pretty well. She did fuss through most of the graduation, but at least it wasn't a full on scream fest. you take what you can get. Grandpa got her to sleep right at the very end.
She didn't sleep long. But she mostly held it together for pictures. I was so proud of Sterling. In that moment all the money we paid for tuition almost felt worth it.
Sterling's cohort, well, the half that graduated anyway.
I was very glad Sterling's parents were there to support him and to help me with Emma.

The professor Sterling worked with on his thesis. His thesis was about teacher perceptions of cyber bullying, and it is being published.
Sterling bought me these beautiful roses on his graduation day.

5K and Other Stuff

It's August. Time to go back to school. Ever since I was 5 years old I have been going back to school in August, excluding those 2 years I was on my mission/getting ready to go on my mission. Now I'm facing my first August with no school looming over me, and it feels freaking fantastic! (Please keep in mind I finished school, so don't drop out if you are still in school.) I am so excited about not going back. There were so many things I loved about teaching, but it was hard work.
Now Emma and I just get to chill all day watching soap operas in our pjs. Just kidding. Taking care of Emma is also hard work, but it makes me very happy. Whilst caring for Emma, however, I have been trying to decide what to do with my life. When I was younger I had lots of goals for after high school.
1. Go to Dixie for a couple years. -Check
2. Go to Europe. -Check
3. Go on a mission. -Check
4. Go to BYU. -Check
5. Meet a super hot guy and get married. -Check
6. Teach for two years and then have a baby. -Not exactly how it worked out but in the end -Check

I have been thinking a lot lately about how I seem to have accomplished all the important goals I have set for my life, now what? I'm 27 and my life is over. Not really. I still mostly like Sterling and I would like to have more children someday when I forget about the pain of labor that I endured for a full 45 minutes before getting an epidural. But what can I work towards?

I have set one new goal for myself. I am going to run a 5K. Now, I know it's only 3 miles, but I don't actually exercise very much and I want to run it and run it well, so my goal is to get ready for this 5K coming up at the end of September. My dad is a big runner. He has run the local marathon about 100 times. I have always wanted to run a marathon. After high school I signed up to do it and started training with him. I was doing really well too, but the closer it got the worse my anxiety got, and I finally couldn't deal with it and had to back out. So this time I'm starting small. Emma and I got running 3 times a week, that stroller is a beast to run with but until I can afford a jogging stroller it will have to do. Maybe I'll use my race winnings to buy a stroller. :)

So wish me luck on my first race since the Hershey Track Meet in 5th grade. And if you have any suggestion about goals to set in my life, please let me know.