Graduation Weekend

I'M DONE!!!!!! I'M DONE, I'M DONE, I'M DONE, I'M DONE, I'M DONE!!!!!! I also just checked my final grades, and they were by far the best of any semester at BYU. For that, I give nearly all credit to Steph. She helped me work hard through this semester. I wanted to do it this way because I want to be ready for the workload ahead of me.

My parents were here for the weekend, which made everything that much more fun. They came in on Thursday night and stayed through Monday morning. We just got to relax and spend time with family the whole weekend, which was really nice. Steph's parents were gone on vacation, and we were sad they couldn't be a part of it. I'm sure they had plenty of fun in Hawaii, though.

Russell, Stephanie, Brendon, Sheryl
Cousin Will

Lunch at J-Dawgs

If anyone lives in Utah, likes hot dogs and hasn't tried it, I highly recommend it.

Brent, Lori, Sheryl, Stephanie, Brendon
At the Thanksgiving Point Tulip Festival

Stephanie and Brendon

Happy to say we're done at BYU

I'M DONE WITH FINALS AT BYU!!!!

And that's all I have to say about that.

Short Update

Here's the excitement in our life lately:

I'm graduating on April 25th! All family and friends who feel the need to attend the graduation can show up at the Marriot Center for the ceremony at 8 am. If that's too early for you, then don't feel bad. I also just got an internship offer at Overstock.com, where Stephanie works! Now we get to carpool and have lunch together every day. :) We were really hoping it would work out, since we only have one car right now. I'll probably start the week after I graduate, then we get a week off for our cruise to the Caribbean. We are SO excited.

Grant and Julia's wedding

We took a short trip to California for my brother Grant's wedding. He married Julia Warner on March 22, which happens to be 6 months to the day after our wedding. Grant and I got up at 4:30 the morning of the wedding to go surfing with Julia's brother Richard, her cousin Matt Sant (who grew up in our stake and is good friends with Grant) and one of Richard's friends. We spent about an hour in the water at T-street in San Clemente and came back to Grant's apartment to get ready. When we got there, Steph had waffles ready for us. :) She's the best.

Pictures!

Fresh out of the temple

Brendon with nephew Jackson (who's barely awake)

The wedding party

The six-month anniversary picture

All the brothers plus Trevor Graves (to the left of me)

Moab Tournament

Our friend Tracy wanted to get a team together for a men's volleyball tournament out in Moab, so our pick-up group of players headed down. The tournament was about two weeks ago and i just got the pictures from Tracy. His wife was good to come with us and be our photographer. I had to take a history test the day before to make it down. Steph didn't come with me and spent the evening making custom cards with her friend, Cassie.

We got there around 6:30 and started playing at 7. Pool play went all that night and the next morning, and the tournament started at noon on Saturday. We ended up in either 5th or 6th place of 8 teams, which isn't too great, but it was fun. We had never played as an organized team before, so it took us until day 2 to really get into covering our roles in each position. We won some respect by the end of the tournament, losing in some really close matches. Here are some pictures:


Our fancy hotel- The Lazy Lizard Hostel. We got a room for all 6 guys for less than 60 bucks. It had 4 bunk beds, and the owner was completely drunk when we checked in at around 10:30 pm.

The team. Back row, L to R: Tracy (S), Scott (OH), Steve (MB), Me (MB), Ryan (OH)
Front Row, L to R: Reed (OPP), Glenn (S/OPP)

Down and ready

Blocking with Glenn

Blocking with Ryan

Taking a back side hit

Warming up with some quick sets

Celebrating a point

Got it through the block

Coming home to the love of my life. :)

Locked and Loaded

We found an apartment!!! I just talked to the landlord this afternoon and he's sending a lease agreement to us in the mail. It'll be available in August, which is perfect timing for us. Housing is less expensive out there, so we're getting a great deal for 1000 sq. ft. plus an unfinished basement. Here are a few pictures that were sent to us by our friend, Katherine (thanks again!!!), who is friends with the family living there right now.

the bigger bedroom
(because you can't exactly call it "master")

Nice and spacious kitchen

Snowshoeing

We went up Provo Canyon a few weeks ago to Big Springs (Enter Vivian park and take a left at South Fork Road, pass South Fork Park and it'll be on the right). It was about a 3.5 mile round trip, and there was enough fresh snow to make it fun. Here are some pictures...

Breath-taking view of the mountains from the trail.

A little bridge over the snow

Lovey Love