Highlights of 2014 Part 2

May

The month of May started out with a few different job offers and I had no clue which one I was going to take (this was a good problem to have, but it was also stressful trying to pick the right one). So May I did a lot thinking about what I was going to do with my life. 

To kick off the month though I had a good time going to Fathers n Sons with my father in law and my bro in law Luke. Then about a week later this awesome dude entered the world, my nephew Jed! 

On May 15 I graduate from ASU with my bachelors in Communication! It felt really good to be done with school (all thought I suspect that I still have some more school to go). We spent that day celebrating with family and eating at Grimaldi's pizza! 

I also made the switch from a PC to a Mac! And I love this baby! 

To celebrate graduation that weekend Taylor and I drove up to Vegas to hang out with our cousins Derek and Amanda at a condo about 20 minutes from the strip. We stayed there for a few days and only went down to the strip for a few hours. We spent most of the time relaxing, watching movies, swimming, paddle boarding, reading, eating delicious food, taking awesome selfies, and just hanging out. That is my kind of Vegas trip! 

About a week after that trip we got a call from mom telling us that my Grandma was really sick and they weren’t sure how much longer she would be around for. With very short notice a few of my family members and I packed up and drove up to see her one last time. She was in a lot of pain so we really didn’t get to see her for very long but they are moments I will always treasure. I wrote about some of the things we talked about here. She ended up passing away on May 30 at home with her family. My mom was there when she passed and she died without much pain. She is greatly missed, but she had suffered for many years with numerous health problems. 

One of my last chats with my Grandma. 

May we also got the best movies of the year X-Men Days of Future Past! 

June

To start off the month of June we traveled with my family up again to Utah for my Grandma’s funeral. We spent a few days there with family. While funerals are never a fun thing to go to I do always enjoy the unity that comes from being around family in those somber times. I also got to see a few cousins I hadn’t seen in a long time. 

When we got back to AZ I really had to start making a choice about what I was going to for work. The final two offers were between working for a cheese company selling cheese (I could of been a cheese salesman!) or working with my dad at a social media marketing company in Utah. When I have to make big decision like this, I stress about them so much (It's one of the few times in my life when I experience anxiety) and I spent weeks thinking and discussing what was the best option for us. After a lot of thought and prayer Taylor and I decided to take a job in Utah. For some reason we felt like this was what really needed to do. Looking back 6 months later I know we made the right choice. 

10 years ago this past June, my best friend Carl passed away. To celebrate the 10 year anniversary of his death we had a big party, Polynesian style, just the way he would have liked it! 

In June I finally put my obsession with movies to good use and started writing reviews over at Mormons at the Megaplex. Check us out, and like us on Facebook!

Mormons at the Megaplex

June also included a lot of Mario Kart! A lot of Mario Kart, the new Wii-U version and Mario Kart 7 on the 3DS. 

Since I was out of school I found myself with a little bit more time on my hands so I decided I would start reading more. I’ve never been a big reader and honestly I’ve always kind of struggled with it. I’m pretty sure I have mild dyslexia, and I have a hard time focusing when reading. I use always tell myself that I would never be a reader, but I’ve always secretly wanted to be a reader so I knew I had to at least try. And you know what, since June I have read 13 books! Now some of them I have listened to on audiobook, but still for me that is impressive. I think since I’ve been home from mission (Dec 2009) until June of 2014 I had only about 5 books. 

Some of my favorites that I read this year were: Leadership and Self Deception, The Anatomy of Peace (these are great to read together), Delivering Happiness, Outliers, Weakness is not Sin, 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, the Steve Jobs biography, The OZ Principle, Good to Great, Putting on the Armor of God, Outwitting the Devil and Mindsight. 

July

To kick off the month of July Taylor and I were on yet another road trip up to Utah! Seriously we should have just moved already. This time it was for my dads wedding and picking up Taylor’s brother, Jake, from his mission in Provo Utah. 

The first day of the trip was my dad's wedding, which was on the Fourth of July. All my siblings were there as well so we spent the evening getting some JDawgs hot dogs and watching fireworks from a median in the middle of the street. 

The next few days before picking up Jake we went River Rafting, Cave Swimming, hung out with friends, and of course ate delicious food. 

The next week we got to pick up my brother in Jake! The first time we saw him was actually in the Draper Temple. Anyone who has ever had someone close go on a mission, knows the sweet feeling of seeing them again after 2 years, and it was especially an unique experience to see him for the first time in the temple. We spent the next four days with him touring around his mission, meeting people he worked with, and listening to mission stories. It was such a fun time. 

When we got back to AZ it was crunch time for us and we spent the next few weeks pretty much packing and cleaning. In between all that though we did our best to spend as much time with all our family friends before we moved, and eat at our favorite place to eat. 

At the end up of the month we headed up to Snowflake AZ, with most of my family to celebrate the 24th of July with our good family friends the Christensen. 

August 

August started out with us on the road again up to Utah, but this time it was permeant! Having made that trip about 100 times it felt so surreal to drive up there and know that I wasn’t coming back to AZ for a while. Besides my mission this was my first time moving away from my home town. 

August was pretty much a big adjusting month for us. Starting a new job always has it’s ups and downs as you try to adjust, and so does trying to get the swing of things in our new neighborhood. The first few days up there Taylor and I were both so exhausted all the time. I'm not sure if we were adjusting to the elevation or what. We spent about the first 2 weeks there binge watching Scandal on Netflix because we were both always too tired to do anything else. (I watch a lot of wasteful TV, but this may be one of the most. Don't start because once you start you will never stop!) 

In August I also decided I was going to give up dessert and soda for a year. To be honest, I’m not really sure why I am doing it, but it’s really not that hard anymore and it feels really good to be a little more in control of my health and what I am eating. But I didn’t feel that way at first though. Along with no desserts and soda I started going to cross fit. I know a lot of people that think cross fit is bad your body, but I have absolutely loved it. As long as you have good form and know your limits its a great exercise. 

We had to start getting use to these guys hanging around our house.