Cheese!

So graduation is just around the corner (19 days, but who's counting?), and its time to send out the announcements. Since we have a one of the most fabulous photographers I know in the family, I asked if he'd be willing to do some senior pictures for me. Jon asked me where I wanted to do the shoot, and after some thought I decided on South Jordan Library. It's just a couple of blocks from my parents house, the architecture is fun, the gazebo and fountain/ice rink between the Library and The Pie Pizzeria was a fun area, and since I worked there throughout most of high school, its a part of who I am. Hope you enjoy!

Jon's Favorite

My Mother's Favorites

My Favorites

Honorable Mentions

Getting pictures taken can be awkward, and usually result in some weird smile, and ultra formal pose. Jon knew me too well, and had me playing, and having a fun time taking these pictures. I think the only flaw in any of these pictures is simply the fact that I had a sunburn and was peeling on my forehead despite my best efforts to keep that at bay. Ah well, it was well earned, and so much fun, and doesn't detract from the pictures at all.

If you want to see more of Jon's amazing work check out his website

This will probably be the last blog before I graduate. The workload is piling up, and blogging is going to the bottom of the to-do pile. May 5th!

Spring Break: Take 2

A few years ago my best friend Britney got married, and I spent a lot of time at her parents house helping with the planning process. It was a fun time, and one of the best things to come of it (besides the awesome wedding of Brit and Oliver) was the relationship I gained with her family. I have dubbed them my bonus family. They aren't extra, which to me sounds disposable, and they aren't supplementary, because that sounds like my family isn't great, and I have to supplement them. Instead they are a bonus. A special treat, and I love them.

My bonus little sister Jamey texted me a few weeks ago to see if she and her friend could come up and visit over their spring break. She and her friend Nicole are graduating this year, and coming up here in the fall, and they wanted to meet with advisors, and get a feel for the town. Of course I was thrilled to have them come, and for the last two days I have had a blast enculturating them into Aggies.

I took the girls on my own personal tour of campus, showing them all the cool areas that I think are good to know about, that aren't on the school tour, such as hidden corners of the library, and study lounges in odd places throughout campus. We had to get some good exercise in because afterwards we went to Angie's to "clean the sink". For those depraved souls out there who don't know of this fabulous treat, Angies is the local diner here in Logan. While some diners have giant hamburgers or pizzas to eat, Angies has ice cream. They have small sinks that they fill with ice cream, whipped cream, and 3 toppings of your choosing. It's a tradition, so I treated the girls to this fabulous indulgence. We had a blast trying to eat it, and all went home with sick stomaches. If they come up for Prom in a few weeks we are going to go back, and bring along some help.

We lovely ladies and our ice cream :)

The "Sink."

We had Strawberries, Chocolate Syrup, and Oreos as our toppings.

Putting their dent in the dish.

Ok, it's not completely clean, but it's good enough, and no one got sick, so overall I'd say it was a success.

After stuffing ourselves with ice cream we went home and spread out on the couches and recliner, and watched a chick flick. These girls are so indecisive, but we ended up watching "The Princess Bride". A classic if ever there was one. So cheesy. So quotable. So AWESOME. I love it.

Loving to hike anyway, and needing to work off a few calories from the night before, we spent our morning today hiking along the river up Logan Canyon. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, and it felt so good to get out and enjoy the fresh air. We talked the whole time, and it was so fun to hear all of their crazy adventures. These girls are seriously so much fun. Hearing their drama, and recounting all of my funny high school experiences was such a blast. I don't miss high school in the least, but I had so much fun talking and laughing and hanging out with them.

I don't know why I look so weird in this picture, but I love the sentiment of it, so whatever.

This afternoon we went to the park and kicked around a soccer ball, and threw the frisbee. I haven't had so much vitamin D in a long time, and it felt wonderful. We laid out in the sun for a while, and just hung out, which was probably not the smartest idea, but it felt good at the time. (The bright red marks on my arms, and face don't feel so nice, but I'm a redhead so I'm used to it).

I think the biggest compliment the girls gave me, was when they, on more then one occasion, commented on how relaxed they were, and how it was a perfect Spring Break. I couldn't agree more. We played and talked for hours and hours.

I sent them home about an hour ago, and they should be getting back soon. Now I'm anxiously awaiting Jamey's text. Her brother Braden got his mission call in the mail today, and is opening it tonight at 8. I am so excited for him, and what the next two years will mean for him, and all of the Cleveland's. I love my family, both biological, and bonus. They make life fun, and I hope I get many more experiences like this in the future.

BFF's

My sister and her best friends call themselves the Musketeers. They are a core group of friends that have stayed close over many years, schooling and career changes, moves, marriages, kids, and life's many curve balls. I love how close they have remained, and am grateful to have an equally amazing group of friends myself. My best friends and I don't have a name for our group, but we sure do have fun together. Tonight we were actually talking about how we as a group came to be. Some of us remember exactly how and when we met, while others only know that at some point they all entered the same group, and eventually got to know each other. We have several mutual friends, but throughout middle school and high school, as several of the others got involved in different activities throughout the school, and everyone went their separate ways, the 6 of us stayed constant. College has separated us, and made it more difficult for us to all get together, but between facebook, texting, and other technologies we stay close, even when we can't be together. It doesn't matter how long it's been since the last time we got together, we always settle right back in to our group.

This was a special get together. We gathered at our friend Britney's new house, which she and her husband just moved into a few weeks ago. She is the first to buy a place. She was also the first to get married, and is now the first to be expecting a baby. Kind of funny that she is the second youngest in our group, but awesome. We celebrated by kicking back, relaxing, and laughing so hard over every thing. I loved every second of it.

Out of the 6 of us 4 have graduated from college, and the other 2 (myself and Alesha) will both be graduated by the end of summer, 2 are married, and 1 is expecting her first baby. Most of us are in a transitional stage trying to figure out jobs, living arrangements, post graduation plans, or planning for a new baby, and it's insane, but I don't think any of us would want to be going through this without the support of each other. I know I wouldn't and couldn't be where I am or who I am without them. We're just beginning our adventures, but it amazes me just how close we've stayed over the years, and I just can't see that changing anytime soon, no matter what the future has in store for any of us.

Here's to my amazing group of friends, Love you guys!

(Me, Lindsey, Chelsie, Alesha, Dawn, and Britney)

Spring is here (for now)!

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade. ~Charles Dickens

This quote nearly perfectly describes the weather here in Logan today. I have been thrilled with the mild winter we've had this year, but even so, I am even more excited for Spring. Today is technically the second day of Spring, but yesterday there was still snow on the ground from this weekend's snow storm, so I waited until today to take some lovely Spring pictures. I love the beginning of Spring. I love opening up the windows and getting the cross ventilation going, and feeling the great warm air. I have no disillusions that Winter is done and over with, this is Utah after all where it has snowed every finals week since I've been up here, but I am grateful for any reprieve I can get, and will take full advantage of it when it comes.

These are the view from my front door.

The gorgeous Logan Temple

The Wellsville Mountains

The park area in front of my complex. Can you see the green starting to show!?

View up to campus. You can see Old Main through the trees and a little bit of green on the hill.

It is a gorgeous day!

No Soup for You!

Happy St. Patricks Day!

I have had the most amazing luck today. Actually, I've had the best luck this whole week. As I may have mentioned before, I spend so many weekends in Salt Lake that I keep my records in my singles ward in West Jordan, despite living in Logan for school during the week. This has worked so well, and I've actually gotten to know my ward, hold a callings, and be a part of a ward. I have loved it, but the one thing I have missed is being able to be involved during the week as well. This being Spring Break, I finally have gotten to do just that. Since my friend Alesha has complained that by not having a car, she hasn't been able to be as involved in her ward as she would like either, I dragged her along to all of my stuff this week too.

Monday was Family Home Evening. We had a blast learning to index names from censuses and other documents. It was so much fun. Alesha is about the biggest reader I know, and she has had so much fun, she's been indexing instead of reading this week.

Friday was Ward temple Night. My ward has never had the best luck at getting people out. Usually 7 people is considered a good turn out. This time we did a big dinner beforehand, and we had a great turn out, 20 continued on to the temple from there. It was such a neat experience. Seriously, we laughed so hard we nearly cried as we were eating dinner. The people in my ward have such a great sense of humor. Especially my nephew Ben, and niece Chelsea. Laughter is great.

Saturday morning we got up and went to go help clean our church building. There weren't all that many of us that showed up, but we worked through it pretty quickly, and it looked really nice when we were done. We had a short break afterwards, and we got to play card with my daddy and Maile. It was a blast.

My favorite part of the day though had to be our afternoon service project. Our ward was assigned to go and help down at the local soup kitchen downtown. Although not a lot of people from our ward showed up, I was impressed to see just how many people were there to volunteer. I was a little nervous about this one. I hold a lot of my emotions close to me, and seeing people who are suffering is really hard on me psychologically. I was grateful to say that it went really well, and I met some people who really helped me laugh, and enjoy the experience. We were filling trays at one point, and the woman filling bowls with soup missed a tray. I am so glad that I got to have this experience, and I am really thankful that Alesha got to go with me for some moral support.

To finish off the day we met up with our friend Britney and her husband for dinner at Zupas. It was mostly just a get together, but also a celebration because they just moved into their first house, after closing yesterday, and announced this week that they are expecting their first kid in September.

I feel so much closer to my ward. It is made up of some pretty amazing people. I was skeptical when they first formed the ward. I went the first time just to support my brother who had been put in the bishopric, but have since found so many reasons to stay. I have enjoyed getting to help out and serve this week, and am glad to have such good friends as Alesha who are willing to let me drag them along to everything. Not the Spring Break you might expect from me. It's not the Spring Break I intended to have, but I couldn't imagine a better way to spend it.

Book Club

Tonight we had the opportunity to host the Lindsay Women's Book Club. It was such a blast. We had a whole bunch of us laughing, and enjoying. Now you might hear book club and think that we actually have a book we discuss. You'd be half right. We did have a book. I can't for the life of me tell you what it was. I did learn it tonight, and I do remember the author, if that makes you feel any better. You'd be wrong to think that we got into a whole discussion about the book though. It did come up at one point. It was at least an hour after we got started, and after we had been around the room to get updates from everyone there. The mention of the book took a grand total of 2 minutes, and basically consisted of those who had read it saying that they had been skeptical about it being JF, but that they had actually enjoyed it. I was thrilled to see so many of my cousins, and get to hear whats going on in their lives. One was was there with her little 2 month old baby, who was adorable. I got to hold him for a while, and that was exciting. My cousins are the best, and we were laughing, and talking, and really just loving catching up for several hours. It was perfect

Both Lisa and Lori came with their girls so I got hugs from my blondies and my redheads. Olivia was adorable. She just started saying "Luh oo" (Love you). I laughed so hard when Lori rolled down the window of her car as they were leaving so I could hear Olivia (and Hannah, who didn't want to be out done) saying quite loudly "Luh oo" over and over again. It was so much fun. I think my favorite time with the girls tonight was playing "gravity" with Hannah. Gravity, for those of you who don't know is when Hannah (or Chloe, Kelsea, Olivia, etc.) sits on my lap and I hold her hands while she leans as far back as she can so her head is almost to the ground. She decided that it would be funny if every time I pulled her back up she made a silly face. Needless to say I nearly busted a gut laughing. That girl is hysterical.

Final thought of the night: My family ROCKS! Looking forward to the next book club in May.

Saturday at the Temple

Blogging is definitely not happening as often as I would have liked, but it's Spring Break, so I finally have some time on my hands.

What better way to spend the first day of Spring Break than at the temple? I got a text from my friend Marisa while I was at work Thursday night to say she, and a few of our friends were going to do a session at the Draper temple Saturday morning, and wondered if I wanted to come too. Sure! Despite it being way too early in the morning, and running on 3 hours of sleep, I had an awesome time. It was the first time any of us had been to the Draper temple since it's open house 3 years ago. It's GORGEOUS!!! I have said many times that it's my favorite architecturally of all the temples in Utah, but being inside confirmed it. The best part was being with my friends. Regina got back from her mission to the Philippines last summer, and Marisa returned from hers to South Dakota in December. Grace is leaving for the MTC on Wednesday, heading to Toronto. This was such a cool trip.

All of us in front of the temple.

A close up of our faces. (Well most of our faces. Sorry Marisa!)

My friend Marisa and me. I love all of these pics! Thanks to Grace for taking them, and posting them on facebook for me to steal :)

If one session weren't enough for one day, how about 2? My stake was having Stake Temple night at the Jordan River Temple. I don't know that I would do two sessions in one day again, especially running on empty, but I had a blast. My stake was awesome. It was a great session, and afterward we had ice cream at the church building next door.

In between the two sessions I got to spend time with a couple of my sisters, and my little niece Olivia, so all in all there isn't much that could have made the day any better. I loved it. I started and ended the day with sessions at the temple, and in between, girly fun. It was fabulous.