A Feeling of Accomplishment

Today was a great day.  One that I have been looking forward to for 23 years, but mostly for the last 5 years.  I guess what makes it so special is it ranks as completing one of my big goals in life.  The first one was getting married in the Temple and now I can check off the second one of graduating from college.  I guess you could say I have always been the type of person that makes school important in my life and I've always wanted to do my best and get good grades. 

My dad showed me, about 2 years ago, the requirements to graduate with Latin Honors.  At the time, my GPA wasn't quite up to where it needed to be if I wanted to graduate Summa Cum Laude (Highest Honors).  It was a motivator to me, seeing that I was close, to do my very best my last 2 years so that I could achieve my new-found goal.  Thanks to all the encouragement from Trav and family and a lot of hard work, I was able to do it.  I graduated Summa Cum Laude, with a 3.95 Cummulative GPA.  I feel kind of weird sharing this in my blog because I don't want to sound boastful, but I guess I am just so happy that I was able to reach my goal, working full time, and keeping everything running at my house.  It is just a huge accomplishment for me.  I really thank my dad for believing in me in the first place!

Graduation Day~

So I guess I should explain a little more about the event.  So Trav and I got up at 6 o'clock to get ready so we could head out by 6:45.  We firstt had the whole graduating Class of 2010 Commencement Ceremony.  Danny Glover was the main speaker.  He talked a lot about politics and civic rights movements and I'll be honest it was more of a political speech, than a commencement speech.  I think we were all glad when he sat down.  The Valdictorian of Business School spoke on having creativity in life.  She did a great job.  After it was over, my grandma and grandpa Tidwell treated us to some famous Aggie Ice Cream.  We had to kill a lot of time because the Commencement Ceremony ended at 11 and the Business School's Graduation Ceremony didn't start until 4.  We ate lunch at Sizzler to celebrate.  We were also able to visit the grave of Trav's grandparents.  I only knew his grandma Alene, but I miss her dearly!  It was nice that we could do that in some of our extra time.

Then it was time for the big moment. The actual Graduation Ceremony.  The key speaker was Spence Eccles, who was the CEO and President of First Interstate Bank before it merged with Wells Fargo. He gave some great words of advise and encouragment. Then I became a true Utah State Unversity graduate.  I received my Bachelors of Science Degree in Business.   

If you can see me, I am receiving my diploma from the Dean, Douglas Anderson.

Celebrating my accomplishment!

Famous "Old Main"

I want to thank everyone that was able to come, Mom and Dad: G&G Tidwell, Ray and Marian, G&G Ford, and of course Trav.  It was definitely a day to celebrate and I am so grateful for all of my family for supporting me through school.  It is a day I will truely never forget! 

Administrative Assistant Appreciation Day

So I explained in an earlier blog that I started my administrative assistant job at the beginning of March.  So this Thursday, April 21, I was just doing my thing, and my manager stopped by and asked me to schedule a team meeting at 2:30.  He didn't tell me why.  So I did.  Up until 2:30, I was wondering what this meeting was about and I was a little nervous that it was not going be good news.  So I got my pad of paper and a pen to take notes.  Well when I got in there everyone was acting like they didn't know what the meeting was about.  Then Shaun, my manager, came in with these orchids, a cake, a card from everyone, and a gift card to Market Street Grill. He said that today was administrative assistant appreciation day and that they wanted to thank me for all I did.  I thought to myself, "Well all I do is ask questions because I am still learning."  It was such a suprise and everyone laughed that I had brought my pen and pad of paper and I was ready for a hardcore meeting. I was blushing, from the unexpected spotlight, the whole time.  We all enjoyed the cake. I just want to say that I work with awesome people and I'm just loving my new job!  Thanks Team for making me feel special!

Aren't they beautiful!  I love having them bring freshness and color to my office.

I have been blessed...

There have been 2 times when I was in the car and "I have been blessed" by Martina Mcbride has come on the radio and it has reminded me of what really matters and it has brought me to tears.  The second time was today, but let me tell you about the first time.

I had been up in Logan going to Utah State University for about 2 months, so this was almost 5 years ago!  I was driving home for the weekend and I was in the canyon.  It was the prettiest fall day I have ever experienced.  All the trees were orange, red, and yellow and the sun was out. This song came on.  I was having a rough time with my roommates (no worries Cait, not you),  and I was just so dang excited to get to home to my family for the weekend.  As the song played, I was so grateful for the nature's beauty and that I had such a loving family in Centerville that was always so excited to see me, wanted me to be happy, and sincerely cared about how I was feeling.

The second time this song came on was today.  I had just got finished with what will be my last assignment for school EVER!  I was driving in my car with the windows rolled down, the wind blowing in my face, and the sun shining and it was the perfect temperature on a perfect day.  The song came on.  Once I again, it brought me to a few little happy tears. I just was so grateful for the sun and the fresh spring air, but I thought about how getting a bachelor's degree has been a lifelong goal for me and that on May 8th I would receive my diploma.  I feel so forturnate that Trav and I have found a way to both go to school and that my employer helps pay for my tuition and has allowed me to work different hours to work around the classes I needed. I also thought about how one of my goals was to get marrid in the temple.  I feel so grateful that I had met Trav and he was worthy to take me to the temple. He has been so supportive and works so SO hard in his schooling. He is the GREATEST blessing in my life!  I also have the greatest love and support from his family and my family.

Here is the chorus of the song "Blessed" by Martina Mcbride.
  
I have been blessed
And I feel like I've found my way
I thank God for all I've been given

At the end of every day
I have been blessed
With so much more than I deserve
To be here with the ones that love me
To love them so much it hurts
I have been blessed 

I think there was a reason that I heard this song today.  I know that throughout my schooling and Trav's schooling I have had many complaining moments and poor me moments. In all truthfulness, I have been blessed with so much more than I deserve.  This was a good reminder.

What's been going on at our apartment...

In the midst of trying to finish my last semester with a bang and trav coming towards the end of his hardest year, we had a little surprise.  There was an awkard smell in our extra closet.  I don't go in there much, and Trav never goes in there, so it didn't bug me enough to even mention it.  Finally I said to Trav, "This closet smells funny."  He came over to smell it and was like, "I don't smell anything." I said, "How can you not smell that?" He said, "Well my noise is pretty stuffy." That was that....until the next day when I get home from work he told me to go feel the carpet.  I did and it was soaking wet through and through.  So we took out all of our stuff that was on that half of the closet.  Then we started soaking up the water with towels.  It soaked several towels and was still really wet.  So we put a fan on it hoping to dry some of it out until our landlord could come check it out.

This is the side of the closet that was flooding and we pulled back the carpet to fan the paddinig as well.

Our landlord came over an ended up having to cut the sheetrock out on the wall and part of the ceiling to find that it was a leaking pipe.  It was the upstairs kitchen sink drain pipe.  No wonder it smelled!  Oh it makes me sick to think about it. He found that the people who lived there before he bought the house had had the same problem.  The previous owner had fixed the leak with a piece of an inner bike tube and 2 clamps. Side note: Why in the world would you fix a leak like that and take the time to sheetrock over it, plaster it, and paint it??? Wouldn't you think that an inner bicke tube and 2 clamps is a very temporary fix. Anyways, our landlord fixed it properly and now we are back to normal.  Our landlord is quite the handyman and he was super quick to come and get it all taken care of. (It was still a week long process)

This is alal of the stuff we kept in the closet.  The closet held a lot more than I realized!!

We had evereything from files, to textbooks, to Trav's Physiology notes (5  binders full), to camping gear, to games, to food storage (a ton of that ), microwave, and wrapping paper sitting out in our 2nd bedroom.

In our bedroom, our dresser was covered in our clothes and we can't forget Trav's stuffed antelope head and guitar.

Needless to say, we lived in a mess for a week and I'm really glad everything is back in its place and more organized than it was before.

New Job!!

I'm really weird about not wanting to post unless I have pictures, just because I think it makes it more interesting, but here goes a just text post. 

So as most of you know I have been working as a teller at Wells Fargo for over 3 1/2 years!!  It has been a really great job while I've been going to school and it's been flexible as well.  I had been waiting to seriously look for another job after I graduate this May.  Well I would always check the Wells Fargo job postings just to see what was open and who was hiring.  Well I looked one day at the beginning of February and I almost couldn't believe it.  There was a posting for an Administrative Assistant.  I had been waiting for something like this to open.  That night I worked on updating my resume for a good 4 hours and submitted the application the next day because I knew it would be in high demand.  Well I got an interview, and then had a call back phone interview and was made aware that it was between me and one othere person (at this point I was freaking out and there was a time when I thought for sure I didn't get it, but that's another long story...basically he said he would call me to give me an update and I waited and I didn't get the call, so I thought he chose the other person, but he had in fact emailed me instead and I didn't see it until the next day), and then they offered me the job!  I was super excited and accepted! 

It was so crazy how fast it happened.  It went from me not even seriously looking for a job, to hurrying and updating my resume, to getting the interview, to giving my 2 weeks notice.  It was kind of surreal because I had been doing the same thing for 3 1/2 years and it was so weird to think I would be doing something else.  I really loved all the people at my branch, I had some really close friends there and I had what I liked to call "customer friends", people that came to the bank regularly and we had normal conversations that consisted of more than just the weather, their weekend plans, and how their day was going that I wouldn't see anymore either.  So I knew I was going to miss all the friendships that I knew would dwindle overtime as always happens when someone leaves.  So I tried to cherish my last 2 weeks there.

Now I have made it through my first week at my new job.  I am the administrative assistant for the Commercial Real Estate Group in Wholesale Banking for Wells Fargo.  I work full-time in the tall downtown Wells Fargo building. I love it already!  I have learned a lot this week and all the people are welcoming and so nice.  It's so great to have a challenge of learning new skills because I basically knew everything about my last job, so I really enjoy the learning aspect of it.  I also love the fact that I can sit down (as a teller, I stood all day).  I also get my own office that I can make my own and I get to wear jeans on Fridays!  That's what I consider a luxury. I never bought new jeans because I could never wear them to work, well that just changed.  The other awesome thing is I don't have to go job hunting after I graduate.  All in all I feel very lucky that I was offered this posititon and it is a very positive and exciting move for me.

But for all my Wells Fargo branch buddies...I will miss you all alot!  You better keep me updated.

Bringing in 2010 and my 23rd year of life.

We spent New Year's Eve with the Tidwell's.  It all started out mighty eventful.  So my mom had decided we would eat taco salad for dinner.  I was in charge of bringing shredded lettuce. I decided that the best lettuce would be a head of lettuce.  I was cutting it up in a mad rush so we would be to the New Year's Eve party on time, and I sliced my thumb right open.  As Trav and I toiled over whether we should go to the instacare, I was shaking and mildly in shock (just a little big).  Trav said the only real benefit of going to the instacare was that if it did need stitches it wouldn't scar as bad.  So I said, "well if the only benefit is so that it doesn't scar then we aren't going.  I could care less if I have a scar on my thumb and I don't want to go pay $40 to potentially have them say that we should just bandage it up." So we bandaged it up ourselves with our little first-aid kit and off we went to the party.  My thumb may have been beating and bleeding a lot but a little bit of IBuprofen and some good pressure and we were set.  We had a lot of fun playing games and doing puzzles.  As you can see from the pic we all blew our horns as loud as we could on the porch to welcome in 2010!  I'm excited to start a new year and it should be full of new adventures!

My 23rd Birthday

For my birthday Trav and I went to Chili's.  The main reason I chose to go there was for their moulton chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream and smothered with hot fudge, chocolate, and caramel.  Nothing can beat that dessert.  Trav suprised me on my birthday when he brought home roses after work.  I absolutely LOVE them.  I also got a new purse.  I seem to get a new one for my birthday or for Christmas because it is about that time when my old one is getting hashed.  I had a great time spending time with Trav for my birthday.  Thanks honey for making it special!

Trav insisted taking a picture before I opened it...

after I opened it....

and with the roses.

Christmas in Huntington!

This was our first married Christmas that we have spent with the Guymons.  It was definitely another great Christmas!  We joined in on some of the traditions that they do every year including having Christmas Eve dinner with everyone who can come, wrapping and delivering gifts to needy families in the neighborhood, and reading the Christmas story and a few other touching Christmas stories.  It was a lot of fun to be the secret Santas to 2 families that were struggling at this time of year to have a Christmas for their girls.  I also really enjoyed reading the the Christmas story.  It always brings the spirit, and helps everyone to remember why we celebrate Christmas and be grateful for Christ's life. 

Christmas morning came and I'm not going to say that we had set our alarms to get up all that early, but when we did get up and went by the Christmas tree, our stockings were full.  We were very spoiled with all the many gifts we received. Trav and I had also bought gifts for eachother that we brought down with us so we could have a fun time Christmas morning.  I think Mark was just excited to actually have a rotation of whos turn it is to open the gifts because usually it's Mark...okay Mark open another one.....there's one over there for you Mark.  We all had such a great time and enjoyed every moment we got to spend with the Guymon's.

Mark was COMPLETELY suprised when he opened up his very own pistol.  He seriously couldn't believe it!

Mom and Dad Guymon Christmas morning

Travi an I were very excited to get some new clothes which were much needed.

We are so glad that Trav and I could make the time during Christmas to spend several days down in Huntington.  We don't get the chance to go visit very often because of work and school, but we had a wonderful time!

P.S.  We watched this show called Seasons of the Heart...I thought it was so touching and by the end I think most of the Guymon family had tears in there eyes.  It has such a great Christmas message.  I recommend you see it.