absence makes the heart grow fonder...right?

Since we last posted, I have graduated with my Bachelors of Science degree in English with an emphasis in literary studies. I technically finished all of my classes last December but Utah Valley University only has one graduation ceremony a year, so I walked May 1. My family, and TJ's parents were kind enough to come. The ceremonies began at 8am and went until 1pm...needless to say it was a long morning. President Monson spoke at the graduation {which was wonderful} and while I was listening to him speak I felt a kick to my back. I turned around to see a girl lying on the ground passed out. Well the guy next to her quickly came to her rescue while we awaited the medics arrival. After the girl was taken away, the guy that came to her rescue said that the girl warned him that she often will not get enough oxygen to her brain and will pass out! After all of the formalities had ended we all went to Brick Oven in Provo to have a delicious meal. It was such a great day and I am so glad that I was able to accomplish this goal. I must add that my grandma {Gram} made sure that she was at my graduation at that early hour. She was such a motivation for me to complete this goal and a huge influence in deciding to go into English. {p.s. although I am an English major, this does not mean I am good at using proper grammar or spelling... please forgive}

The day before graduation my mom spoke at BYU's Womens Conference and did a great job. My immediate and extended family as well as many of my moms friends attended this session of the conference.

Over the past couple of months, TJ and I have been doing interviews with his grandpa for his personal history that I am trying to put together. We both love hearing his stories and getting this chance to ask him all sorts of questions.

This past week after TJ had gone to work, I had began to clean my upstairs bathroom sink when all of a sudden the pressure of the water went crazy, so I turned the water off. BOOM! Yes there was a large explosion...large enough that it blew my upstairs bathroom cupboards open and shut my bathroom door. Then, I heard a rush of water down on our main floor...crap...I ran down stairs with some towels and found my water heater emptying on to our kitchen floor. I was rather reluctant to open the closed that has our water heater in it because I was worried there would be a fire from our gas line. I opened the door and tried to figure out which handle turned off the water, so I called TJ with an "emergency" call to find out which was the right shut off. TJ came home to evaluate the situation and to help me clean up the water. {side note this is the third time we have had major water problems in the last year} After some evaluation we discovered that part of the bottom of the water heater came off due to the pressure valve not working...we had to buy a new water heater. Thanks to Joel and his handy skills TJ and his dad were able to install a new one!

That is what we have been up to...how about you?