July

Now that we are getting closer to the present, I guess I will let July have its own post.
I became homeless in July.
My lease for the house I was living in ended in June so for the first half of July I was livin' it up on Mel's couch.

Ok lets back up.
Some important information to know.
So remember back in October - Decemberish when I was frantically applying to PhDs.
Well I had some interviews and turned down an interview
and decided to get my Phd at
the University of Minnesota!!!
Woot Woot! (This school is literally where counseling began.)
(Also their mascot is the golden gopher. I think thats a good sign.)
It is in Minneapolis and a top ranked school in my field of study.
I will be getting my Phd in Counseling Psychology.
(It will take me another 4 years. At least. Hopefully at most.)
There are only three other people that were accepted along with me.
Madness.
Just further proof that you never know where life will take you.

So on July 15th I packed up my car and headed out on a cross country road trip slash move.
If it couldn't fit in my car, then it didn't get to come.
Here is proof of the madness.

(once Meghan sends me the pictures cause they are all on her phone.)

I then proceeded on my 20 day road trip!
(I had never counted the days until just now. Wow that is alot.)

I spent a couple days in Rexburg with the wonderful Kennedy family.
(They are so near and dear to my heart.)
And of course my bffff Griffin and some great friends like Drew, Ford, Jack, Ryan, etc.

A little stop off in the Opal capital of America.
Spencer, Idaho.
(I know right, who would've thought.)

Then off to Utah to be with my best friend of so many years,
SAM!
I had a blast playing with her kids and just spending time with her.
It had been two years since I had last seen her!

Those kids of hers really wore me out.
Also I got to see a ton of temples in Utah.
(At least five. Oquirrh Mountain is pictured above.)
Cause well, thats what happens in Utah.

I also had the privilege of attending Michelle Castillo's sealing at the Draper temple.
She is amazing and I want to be her when I grow up.
She also has the most amazing family that I claim as my own.

Next it was off to Denver to spend a day with Brady.
Love that kid.
Then one night in St. Louis.
(I got a ticket in Kansas. It was not a good day.)
(Speaking of, I should probably pay that ticket.)
But I did get to see the St. Louis temple.
(Which I didn't know was there. lol.)

Then I finally made it to Indiana.
Where I spent a week with Jackson and his family.
I had a blast and his family is so wonderful.
He really does have the sweetest mom.
He took me to the IMA.
Indianapolis Museum of Art.

Jackson is laying on some art in the contemporary wing (don't worry it was allowed).
It was this section of floor with tons of tiny people holding it up.
Ah modern art.

Next I spent one night in Milwaukee.
Had to get my Meghan fix.
Then finally arrived in Minneapolis on August 3rd.
I will tell you about my new home,
but that will have to wait because this post is entitled July and we are breaking into August territory.

April - June

Apparently nothing happened in the month of April.
Well actually I started dating a guy named Jackson that I met in Utah.
We dated for about 4 months but broke up recently.
We are not in the same place in life and that is a hard thing to handle.
We are still friends.
He is still important to me.
But I guess some things are just not meant to be.
Other than that nothing happened in April.

More importantly, 

in May,

I graduated!

With my masters in community counseling from Gonzaga University. 

Oh yeah! 

My parents came out for the event and my sis and Glenn of course live here already and would not have missed it. 

Also in may, I went on a trip to Seattle with Jackson.
Those pics are on my facebook so I will just share a few here.
It was super fun.

Road trip!

So in March I needed to go to the American Counseling Association conference in San Francisco to give a presentation and show a poster.
(At a national conference!)
So some friends and I (Lindsay, Meghan, and Julie (aka Jules) (pronounced Hules)) decided to turn it into a week long road trip of fun and amazingness.

We drove through Oregon and saw some nice ocean views.

Meghan even got to touch the Pacific ocean for the first time!

And we illegally took a banana into California.
(Apparently you can't bring outside fruit into the state. They think they are their own country or something.)
Julie almost died with the guilt.

My favorite part of the trip was the redwood forest. 

It was so overwhelmingly huge and peaceful. 

Check it out. 

We also lived it up in San Francisco. 

We took a little trip out to Alcatraz. 

It was amazing to learn about the history and break outs. 

The audio tour is even narrated by inmates and guards. 

Saw China Town.

And Fisherman's wharf. 

I even tried lobster for the first time. (Thanks Megs!) (She actually does read my blog) (I think.)

And another special treat for me was taking my friends to see the Oakland temple.

I love temples and the gospel of Jesus Christ so sharing that with close friends is just such a special and sacred experience for me. 

This is also where my parents were married so it has extra meaning. 

It is where my family began. 

Oh wait, what did I go to San Francisco for?

Thats right the conference!

I did my presentation and here we are with our poster. 

I also met Irvin Yalom and he signed my book. 

So psychology nerdy of me. 

I also got soaked. 

Rode a subway for the first time.

And flew home with only the contents of this bag (see below). 

(Lindsay and Julie drove the rest of our stuff back.) 

Whew. What a trip!

January - March

More and more and more school.
As always in my life.
Also I started working as a graduate assistant on campus.
This didn't actually change my life at all.
I just got paid for all the tasks my professors already always had me do.

I also got to meet this little punkin!

Courtney's baby Mason! 

He is so much bigger now. 

Its crazy how fast kids grow up. 

This pic is from when he was not quite a week old. 

This also happened. Right before I had a PhD interview at BYU.

Some lady t-boned me. 

I was fine but it still really sucked. 

I was just driving along and she just pulled out right into me.

Apparently she didn't see me. 

Apparently my car is invisible. 

The insurance company said it was totaled (who would have thought that word would only have one L).

But it did lead to me getting this!

Apparently I don't have any pictures of my actually car. 

This is just off the internet.

But it looks just like this. 

2010 Toyota Corolla. Very low milage.

I love Toyotas. 

(Thanks again sister!) 

(Cause I couldn't have gotten this car without her signature.)

This was a very stressful event but turned out for the best because I had a much more reliable car for my cross country move (remember the breaking down that happened before) (you'll have to wait for the move story.)

I also took a trip in March but it was so epic it will have to have its own post. 

September - December

Fall semester.
I kept plenty busy with school and my internship.
Always a lot of working and being pushed and learning so much.
I also had the opportunity to do some teaching in Canada.
Yeah thats right, I teach internationally. Ha ha.
We have a site-based program in Canada and our professors regularly travel up there to teach the cohort.
I got to tag along a few times and get some teaching experience.
My professors Paul and Lisa as well as my wonderful and amazing friend Meghan and I always had a blast on these trips (and got paid for it!).

This is also when it was thrown in my face by my wonderful professor Lisa that I was wasting my potential and should be going for a PhD.
It was very unexpected and I really didn't know what to do with the information.
She said things about how she was smart but I was smarter and could really go far.
I had to rethink my whole life plan.
I got together with the wonderful Meghan (who was already working on applying) to look into it.
I decided I would keep going until it didn't feel like the right thing for me.
That never happened and in two months I ended up retaking the GRE and applying to 10 PhD programs across the county.
It was madness. (I do not recommend applying in such a haphazard, late-in-the-game way.)

This was also the point in my life where my car broke down about an hour and a half from where I live and my sister had to come save me.
Very late at night. (Thanks sis!) (She doesn't actually read this blog but don't worry I thanked her plenty in real life.)

Christmas also happened.
I spent Christmas in Spokane with Mel (my sister) and Glenn (her boyfriend) and my Spokane family.
It was amazing and fun as always. Mel always takes care of me. :)
Apparently I have no pictures to share with you from this period.
Sorry.

Finally an update.

I know. I know. I always forget about this blog.
Such is life.
A lot has happened in the last almost year since I have posted.
Lets see if I can give an overview.
It may take a few posts but hopefully you'll be glad to hear about it.