Utah According to My Phone

We packed in a lot during our week in Utah. We spent time with family and friends on the lake, we went on hikes and walks, we enjoyed an outdoor concert, and we soaked up down time around the cabin.

I have just a few more things captured by my phone that I don't want to forget.

When we started our road trip there, we picked up Blake and Nash from their Jr. Lifeguard camp at the beach with our fully packed vehicle and immediately hit the road, sandy swimsuits and all. We had planned to only drive half way to Park City since we got a late start, but when the boys kept dozing off, we decided to just keep going. We didn't arrive until around 2am, but sometimes it's nicer to not have to deal with a hotel. 

We always love to see the "roller coaster landmark" near Vegas.

And of course, stunning sunsets from the road.

We met up with good friends from our old neighborhood for dinner one evening, and then paid a surprise visit to another one of our favorite families. Those now grown-up kids used to entertain my wiggly boys every Sunday at church.

We took a break from the lake one day to bring our boys to BYU. They had never really been on a college campus, and it was fun to show them our old stomping grounds.

We showed them the library where Troy used to study for hours and I worked on family history when we were first married. They weren't all that interested in our old study corners, but they were fascinated by the moveable shelves.

We took them through the engineering and business buildings, and ended at the music building. We found some practice pianos for Blake and Nash to play.

We had lots of good discussions on how hard it is to get accepted into a good school. The boys asked question after question and we were happy to get the wheels turning about college.

Another day, we hit up the local small town bowling alley that hasn't changed a bit since the 1960s. The boys were pretty excited when they spotted a ball with my name on it.

The drive home is always dreaded, but we broke up our drive with a few days in Vegas.

Full Circle

As we began the two hour drive back to the beach from visiting my best friends in mid-Michigan (here), I started passing Michigan State University signs. I wasn't planning on stopping by after an already late start, but my vehicle practically exited itself when we got to Trowbridge Road.

I wasn't expecting the draw to my old campus to be so powerful. I just could. not. resist. 

I hadn't been there in over five years. Blake was just a baby the last time we visited. And even though it was late in the evening, I couldn't be that close to MSU and not show the boys where their parents met many moons ago.

We drove through the center of campus and I pointed out the buildings where I had classes, the bike paths I took, the Spartan stadium, the apartment building that Troy and I both lived in, and the tree under which we had our first kiss (I think I lost them a bit there).

But I was mostly focused on one thing.

I had to know if the initials we carved into "our bench" facing the river were still there.

I felt as anxious as a child on Christmas morning as we unloaded out of the car and walked on the path behind the dorm buildings towards the river. Would our mark still be there? Finally, the benches came within view.

A wave of emotions rushed over me when I saw that our initials that we carved into the railing just over 10 years ago were still intact. I was surprised that the bench hadn't been replaced or refinished. But I was also relieved. I would have been really disappointed if the evidence of our memories there was erased.

I didn't build up the outing to the boys in advance in case the initials were gone. I let them discover the letters and guess what they stood for. They thought it was pretty amazing that the bench was around before they were.

I sat on the bench and watched my vibrant boys play down by the river during the golden hour of sunlight. I felt amazingly grateful for the beautiful place that was the start of us becoming a family.

I wondered how many people had sat on that bench in the last ten years and noticed the initials. As runners and bikers passed by us on the path, it was like I had this little secret. I smiled and greeted them, but no one could possibly know how much that place meant to me, and how rare it was to be able to visit.

I felt incredibly nostalgic as I remembered the hours and hours of conversations that Troy and I had on the bench overlooking the Red Cedar. Conversations that were the start of us. That now have led to these three perfect little boys. It was a full circle moment for me.

Next time, we're making the trip a full day affair so we can soak up more of the campus beauty. I will forever be grateful for the memories that seep out of that place.

Reunited

We couldn't avoid our friends that we've been waiting to see for so long all weekend. So, we took our chances with the boys being sick and came home to spend time with them on their last night in town.

Jimmy was one of our best friends in college. He was Troy's roommate and still likes to take credit for hooking us up. I remember one of the first weekends of school when Troy went out of town for a funeral. Jimmy and I dropped him off at the airport, and Jimmy immediately turned to me and said, "I know someone who likes you." It wasn't obvious at all after that comment...

After all these years, Jimmy and Troy are still buddies.

It was hard not to reminisce about the good ol' days during his visit. I think that year of college was one of the best years of our lives. Memories started flooding in; like how we used to stay up late watching Strongbad clips. Or how we'd pile into a few cars and go bowling every Thursday night, and secretly point out how Troy hiked up his right pant leg every time he stepped up to bowl. Or how Troy and Jimmy would attempt to write songs on their guitars. Or the time Jimmy gave Troy a rug burn on his face from wrestling with him on the carpet. Or when the three of us went to see one of the Harry Potter movies, and Troy and Jimmy traumatized me by pretending to be spiders the whole way home.

We remembered the weekend that we spontaneously drove to Boston and saw the sights when it was 0° outside.

And then we got stuck on the way home for three hours behind a huge crash. We got out of the van and had a snowball fight in the middle of the freeway.

Then there were the countless spring break memories, where we again piled into a van and drove to Florida through the night. Troy likes to point out that everyone here looks normal except for me.

I had some pretty crazy hairstyles back then, so Troy and Jimmy made a sport out of taking all of the bobby pins out of my hair.

Then there were the every day ongoings back at our apartments. I have no idea what was going on here.

I could go on and on. There are so many great memories from that year, but one of my favorite memories was walking into their apartment and finding Troy and Jimmy like this:

Instead of doing homework, they would play online Euchre and would cheat by playing on the same team. (Those computers and the fact that I had to scan these pictures is making me feel ancient.)

Those days seem like a lifetime ago. We haven't seen Jimmy since our wedding five years ago.

We were long overdue for some catching up. We also got to meet Jimmy's girlfriend, Serenity.

And it felt like we picked up right where we left off. We loved being reunited with both our friends and our memories.

Hopefully, if they get sick, they'll still think it was worth it to hang out with us.

A Trip Down MSU Lane

On our last day in Michigan, we met up with some friends and walked around Michigan State's campus. I found myself feeling incredibly nostalgic for college days. We pushed our strollers along the Red Cedar river and talked about so many memories that we made together. Although none of us would trade where we are in life now, we recognized those years at MSU as such a unique time in our lives filled with amazing experiences. It was at MSU where we all met each other, and where we all met our husbands as well. I hope to bring Blake back someday so I can tell him more about memories with friends and with Troy.

Spring 2004, in front of Sparty.

Spring 2008, four children later!

The building behind is us where we all lived.

There is a bench that faces the river that holds a lot of memories for Troy and me. We used to go there all the time and talk for hours.

We even carved our initials into the bench 5 years ago, and I was so happy to see that they were still there! A little corny, I know, but every time I rode my bike past this bench while Troy was on his mission, it made me feel better to see that our initials were intact. I can't believe they have lasted this long, and are still so clear!

Congratulations Troy

Troy is officially a college graduate. I am so proud of him. He worked incredibly hard in school and received straight A's since coming to BYU (even last semester when he took finals a week after Blake was born). We talked to some of his professors before the convocation. They all raved on how great Troy is and how he is going to do great things with his career.

Troy complained all day about having to walk in the ceremony and take pictures and participate in all of the nonsense he associates with graduation. However, after receiving his diploma, he had a huge smile on his face. He looked genuinely happy. The actual ceremony was surprisingly very interesting. My favorite part was when the Dean of the Business School was doing some poll taking, and asked all the college graduates who had served full-time missions to stand up. About 90% of the graduates all stood up together. It was chilling to see how many returned missionaries there were and how they had all sacrificed two years of school to serve the Lord. It made me realize that I had a very different experience at MSU than Troy did at BYU. I loved my education at MSU, but it made me feel a bit jealous for a moment of all the amazing opportunities Troy has had at the "Lord's University" as he calls it. The poll continued by asking how many of the graduates were married, had children, etc., which also represented large percentages.

I feel so blessed to have a husband that has been so serious about school. He not only passed his classes, but did so with flying colors and stood out among his classmates. I am going to miss editing Troy's papers and recording grades for the classes where he was a Teacher's Assistant. Troy is very grateful that he transferred to BYU, mostly because he was given amazing job opportunities that he would not have received elsewhere. We are exciting to have finished this chapter of our lives and to move on to the next adventure.

Troy was a very distinguished graduate.

We geared up for a long day ahead.

We overlooked the BYU campus library before the convocation or the "big glass hole" as I call it. The library is mostly underground with a glass atrium jetting out, hence the label. Troy spent a lot of time there.

Troy's whole family came to honor him.

His parents were proud of their first college graduate.

You would think that Troy would be the star of this day but we still ended up with more pictures of Blake.

The tassel was finally flipped...

We're so proud of you, Troy!