Master.

Well. I graduated. There were times in the last month I was close to a nervous breakdown ... or maybe I did have one. Or two.  I'm not sure what constitutes a nervous breakdown in the eyes of my fiance...

yay, diploma!

All of it was such a blur that I can't even think of what else to update on from the last couple months of school!  Lots of work on my project, working at PEAK and nutrition clinics, reading and studying for classes, and taking advantage of my last few months with my friends.  In the middle of March I had seriously considered talking with my project committee to have my graduation extended to August -- I would have still been done with classes in May and been able to move home, but would have just "defended" (i.e. my final oral presentation and big summary paper) my project sometime in May or June.  I'm glad I just got it done with, though.  I went into my final presentation on the very last day of finals week, without having practiced at all (ha, surprise?) and did just fine.

my front row seat on stage ;-) 

The big news about graduation...I was the speaker.  Scary.  Not for the entire University of Utah commencement ceremony (which we didn't even go to...), but "just" the College of Health convocation, where we all walked and received our degrees.

This was definitely NOT something I volunteered to do!  Back in March, in the middle of one of our classes, I got a note from the chair of our department, Dr. Askew, that simply said, "Ashley, see me after class."  I hadn't gotten a note like that in years!! I sat through the remaining hour of lecture going over and over the past few weeks, trying to figure out what the heck I had done wrong...

speaking...

When I walked into Dr. Askew's office, though, he had his normal friendly grin on his face, and I was a bit more confused...and then, he told me why I was there and I panicked. I asked him if I could say no, and I was seriously considering it.  But, obviously, I did not say no. How could you?! All went well. It's still so surreal -- I think about it and ask myself, "Did that really happen?"  I cannot believe the last two years have gone by so fast.  The experience has been so much better than I ever could have imagined, from the people, to the education (of course), to the city in general.

Dusty, Mom, Dad, Nise, Bryce, Grandma, Harvey, and Miss Aurora Glynne all came out for graduation weekend. I rented them a condo up in Park City, which was absolutely perfect for us! Spent about $120/night for an entire three bed, two bath condo, rather than $100/night x 2 for hotel rooms! So nice to just be able to cook meals at "home" and not spend a fortune on eating out either. And nobody had to be cramped into hotel rooms or my apartment. We spent the weekend driving around the Salt Lake area and drove out to the Bonneville Salt Flats one day, where Mom had fun driving Gramma's car on the flats.

I'm definitely not ready to leave.  I'm ready to be home with Dusty, my family, his family, and my friends, but at the same time, I absolutely love Salt Lake City and the people who have become my Utah family.  I had originally planned on moving home at the end of the month (i.e. last week!), but I was asked to stay at my internship at PEAK until the end of June.  Somewhat of a tough decision (especially with how much we have to do for the wedding!), but in the end, the "pros" won out -- great experience doing nutrition counseling, being paid quite well, and, well, just being able to stay out here for another month. And more time for visitors!!

Chels came out to visit once more.  We took a trip down to Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks, camping Thursday and Friday nights and spending the days hiking.

Then, Dusty came out last weekend, Memorial Day weekend, and we went back down to Zion on Thursday, camping Thursday night and staying in a hotel by the park on Friday night. We spent over 6 hours hiking in Zion on Friday, drove to Bryce Canyon and hiked another 5 hours on Saturday.  Then, drove a scenic byway, Highway 12, and spent the night in Torrey, UT on Saturday night. Saturday morning, we drove to Capitol Reef National Park just 10 miles from Torrey. We were so sore and sunburnt from hiking Friday and Saturday and had just planned on spending a couple hours in Capitol Reef and then making the 3.5 hour drive back to SLC in early afternoon.  But, then we got to the Capitol Reef visitor center and saw that Moab (and Arches and Canyonlands National Parks) were only 2.5 hours away...and made the decision that we were going to hit all five National Parks in Utah.  I just put those pictures up on Facebook (click that to see them!)...well, 135 of the 900+ we took! We completely forgot to stop to get a picture at the Bryce Canyon sign!

The next few weeks will be busy, busy.  I have a bunch of wrap-up "stuff" to get done for my internship (reflection paper, evaluations, etc) that I have put off for the past three weeks.  And I should probably start looking for jobs (I'm taking advantage of my break...haha) and studying for my RD exam.

Sammi is coming to visit June 12 through June 17!! Woohoo!    Then, I'm driving to Sioux Falls the third weekend in June to go to Amanda and Andrew's wedding, pick up Dusty, and exchange my car for my mom's pick-up for the big move back home!  Then, I will be working Monday through Thursday of the last week of June and hopefully be headed home Friday, June 28!  Should be back in Minnesota on Saturday, June 29 or Sunday, June 30.  And, of course, there's the wedding planning :)  Cannot believe it's less than 4 months away!!  So excited for all that is to come.  It's been a good year so far, to say the very least :) 

Love you all and I cannot wait to see you in a month (or sooner!).

Two months?!

The time has come in which I could legitimately start a countdown to home that doesn't involve a 3-digit number. (Well, technically it came about a month ago...) I haven't start said countdown, as I think it would just confuse me further as far as my feelings about leaving here.  Honestly, I don't even like to think about it.  "Two months!" can get me incredibly excited one day, and equally sad the next.  "Two months!" when talking to Dusty or my sister or my parents gets a very different reaction than with my friends or professors here.

There are certainly days I'm ready to be done with school, move home, and to just get settled into a real, grown-up, adult life.  Actually, it's most days now.  I am just thoroughly exhausted and would give anything to go to work for eight hours and be able to come home and just relax until I have to go back the next morning.  Or to have a weekend that doesn't involve me sitting in my room doing school work or grading papers or assignments for 10-12 hours straight.

However, as stressed out as I am, I can honestly say I am thoroughly enjoying this semester.  My focused area of study project is going incredibly well.  I am getting a little taste of what teaching at the university level is like.  I've already designed and taught a three lessons, four assignments, and have two more lessons and assignments left to develop.  The professor I'm working with seems to  be quite happy with what I've done, so that makes me feel much more confident (and excited) about a potential career in higher education.  CSB/SJU Nutrition Department, here I come.  In a few years, anyway ;)

Everyone asks about wedding planning.  I think I make things a bit more stressful than it should be.  School doesn't help either.  I barely have enough time in the week to do my work for my own classes, my project, my TA work, and my internship hours.  Just thinking about what I should be taking care of for this wedding right now is way overwhelming.    Honestly, sometimes I wish we had just waited until next spring to get married because I'm not feeling like I can actually thoroughly enjoy it.  (And yes, Dusty and I have talked about this, so I'm not just blindsiding him with this thought, ha).  However, I guess when you spend two years 1300 miles apart, YOU JUST CAN'T WAIT.

I also just realized something very exciting.  I will actually be home for the majority of baseball season!! Girls, be prepared to visit Target Field for a certain someone's bachelorette par-tay. I may also get to plant a garden! Oh, the little things that get me excited to be home.

I'm literally to the point at which I can't take more than an hour or two for myself...work, work, work!!! (You should see my room right now...) So, here is a condensed version of the past few months...

Chelsea Elizabeth came out to visit for a long weekend just a couple weeks after I got back from Christmas break!  We made the five hour drive down to St. George and Zion and Bryce Canyon National Parks.  Definitely a nice escape from the wonderful inversions we were having at the time. And it was 60 degrees down there!

we made a very quick drive through Bryce Canyon on our way home from Zion! 

Then, less than a week later, Dusty came to visit. I bought him King George's "Cowboy Rides Away" concert tickets for Christmas! Such a great concert.  Martina McBride opened for him, too.  Best Christmas present ever! ;)

A fun night out with the girls at dueling piano bar in downtown SLC!

And...finally, Britt, Steph, and I went to a diabetes expo a few weeks back and met Bobby Dean!

Wedding planning update...

I got my dress over Christmas Break. What a process that was.  I have never resented my indecisiveness so much!! When all was said and done, I visited seven different shops and tried on probably 50+ gowns.

Bridesmaid dress shopping was a whole different story though...we were in and out of the shop within 75 minutes.  I had intentions of letting them all choose their own style, but in the end, everyone liked the same dress! And I'm in love with the dress and color!  It's a beautiful coral-like shade of pink, with it being more on the pink side than orange, like some "coral" can be.

Also, got our wedding website (mostly) set up, as well as save-the-dates addressed and ready to be sent out.  Addressing save-the-dates and really looking closely at our guest list was definitely a bit of an eye-opener for me.  Our guest list is close to 600 people, mostly family and close friends. How does that happen?!  Many of those won't come, especially since the wedding is over 3 hours away from the majority of the people, but 400 to 450 people is still sooooo many!

Oh, and our engagement pictures are up as well :)  Although, I'm sure most of you have seen them already.  Sara was so great!  I'm definitely not someone who likes my picture taken, especially over and over again over 2+ hours.  She made it very fun, though.

Alright, time to get back to the grind...six more weeks, six more weeks...ugh.

Love and miss you all.