Finals, Birthday, Graduation, Anniversary Party

Happy Birthday to Matt! and Happy Graduation too! Big week for KerMatt and most especially for Matt with finals, his birthday, his graduation and his parents visiting. The week started out stressful but calmed down once finals were done and Matt's parents were here.


We didn't get to do much celebrating on Matt's birthday since he stayed late at the testing center but I did pick him up a whole box of Texas Roadhouse rolls. 


Then we all sat through 2 different graduation ceremonies on Thursday and Friday, which were both great but also quite long. One was the University Commencement for all BYU grads and their families with Elder D. Todd Christofferson speaking. The other was the Convocation for BYU's Marriott School of Business grads, which may sound smaller but actually consisted of 1,200 grads (meaning we had to sit through 1,200 names being read).

It was worth it to watch Matt walk across that stage and get his diploma (or diploma holder I should say). And we got to hear from J. Willard Marriott Jr., president and CEO of Marriott International (the college is named after his father).

We celebrated graduation with a crazy, but very good, dinner at Cracker Barrel with Jerry and the kids. And then the next night at Costco. :) We had some shopping to do for the weekend.


We also celebrated the 1-year anniversary of KerMatt on Saturday with a BBQ for our local friends and family. Lane (Matt's dad) cooked up some mean burgers and we all got to play games outside in some beautiful weather. Our friend Charlotte even brought over a mermaid pinata, which the kids loved taking a whack at. Of course, none of them were able to bust it open and the parents were a little antsy so Matt had to finish it off for them - and he loved every minute. :)


We finished the weekend with a big birthday breakfast for Matt on Sunday morning complete with Belgian waffles, strawberries, Orange Julius, bacon and cinnamon pull-a-parts. We were sad to see Lane & Kathy leave as it was great having them here. Although I'm sure we wore them out. Matt even made his mother play RockBand a couple nights, even though she hated every minute. But what a good mom. :)


Enjoy the pics & feel free to leave a comment!


 - KerMatt

Matt doing his happy dance after graduation - so cute :)

 

Matt and the girls - so glad to be done 

   

The girls and I entertained ourselves through some of the ceremonies by taking pics of each other and texting them to Matt, who was sitting with all of the grads

Dinner at Cracker Barrel - the place without a wait turned out to be ridiculously slow still in the kitchen (here we are with little Johanita)

Kathy and little Jaime

Lane and little Jeraldine

Jerry and Jeraldine not quite happy with the slow service

"King of the Grill" Lane

What party is not complete without Funfetti and leftover wedding cd's :)

Aunt Beth and Uncle Gary at the BBQ

 

Matt trying to teach his mom how to drum... RockBand style 

(you can see she is not loving it)

We went to our friend Charlotte's birthday party and she had the stage kit (consisting of fog machine and strobe light) for RockBand, which Matt just could not get over. Here he is trying out the stage kit, in a slight cloud.

And this is Matt really getting into the stage kit as you can tell from all of the smoke.

Celebrate good times... come on!

Matt is graduating in just 4 days people! 4 days!

But first, he has got to kick this cold that has gotten him down all week and get through finals. Yes last week was rough for Matt - and really both of us, let's be honest. With a sore throat and fever, Matt slept more than 16 hours a day and left the house maybe twice the whole week. Once to go to the doctor to make sure he didn't have Strep (at the urging of yours truly) and then on Thursday to buy a Subway sandwich for lunch. Besides that he has been inside and miserable. At first he couldn't swallow without pain and then he couldn't breath very well. After that, it was congestion and coughing, then sneezing and headaches. Friday and Saturday he was feeling better, but all day Saturday and Sunday he's been having some sort of migraine/tension/stress headaches where he's sensitive to light and sound.

If any of you know Matt, you know that this type of thing has happened before around Finals Week. His body just shuts down right before Finals. Poor guy! The Doctor actually told him that he's too young to have his kind of health problems. "Just wait til your thirties!" she said... Luckily things are looking up and he just has to plow through 3 days, 2 papers, 3 final exams, and a project/presentation until freedom (well, kinda)!

And as a wise man once said, "The tassel's worth the hassle!"


We are also looking forward to Matt's Birthday on Wednesday, his parents coming out for his graduation and  we are throwing ourselves a One Year Wedding Anniversary Party this weekend for all our friends in Utah. We can't wait!

I have been LOVING this nice weather and have officially busted out my road bike for the year. I have ridden a few times in the past couple weeks with my co-worker, Rachel (see pic) and then on Saturday, I rode from our house down to Provo. This time I did it in about 2 hours instead of 2 and half. I am trying to get back in shape for "Little Red Riding Hood" that I signed up for in June with a couple of my co-workers. It is a women's only ride in Lewiston, Utah (right outside Logan) and I am doing the 57 miler. So I have to start putting in some serious time on the bike to get my bottom used to the ride, which is really the worst part of riding. Just after my 25-mile ride down to Provo yesterday, my tush (yeah, Matt and I debated the correct spelling of this word) was in serious peril :)

But I've done worse and I can do it again. My best motivation is to sign up for events, which then motivate me to get outside and train. I will say though, that I miss riding in San Diego as it just seemed like there were endless routes and here I feel a bit a limited. But I am still learning... and if anyone knows of any great routes, let me know.

Can't wait for summer and the awesomeness that it brings! And we only have to wait 27 more days to find out if Matt gets accepted into the BYU ISys Master Program! The end is in sight! We are actually going to add a countdown on our blog for this very day - May 15th!

Life is good :) Well all except for Matt's health but we still have much to be enthusiastic about!

- KerMatt



P.S. The American Heart Association will be launching a national relationship with Nintendo in May. For the launch, AHA and Nintendo will be looking for families across the country who have found creative ways to become or stay active while using the Nintendo Wii Fit.


 If you know of a family who has lowered their vitals, lost weight or just became more active by using these games, please let me  know.


They want to know:

How has using the Wii Fit impacted your family’s lifestyle?
Do you use it mostly for fun or to stay more physically active?
What games do you play with your children?
Does your family have any health concerns such as high blood pressure, weight issues or family history of heart disease?

Please note that a story consisting of 500 characters, a family photo and a signed legal waiver will be required. 

Happy Easter!

...and a happy April! This year is flying by and we are excited about some great things coming up. This post will sum up our past couple weeks.

Keri got to spend the last week of March in Fairfield with her family, while Matt stayed in Utah for school. She had a blast while Matt enjoyed his time alone :)


The highlights from Keri's visit home:

• Helping paint &  redecorate my parent's guest bathroom (and seeing my little bro get excited about the redecorating)
• Watching "The Last Song" with my parents and my brother, Josh
• Taking my niece, Jayla, to play with my bro, Bo, and my mom
• Hiking at Rockville Park with my mom and their dog, Elvis
• Taking the BART to San Francisco with my parents - eating at Cheesecake Factory, shopping at H&M and making them walk to Chinatown with me to find a gorilla-shaped hand massager
• Attending a spaghetti dinner for my dad's VFW group
• Dinner with my grandma and then going to a wonderful musical fireside with her and my parents
• Spending a day with my little bro, Seth, and my mom (while Seth stayed home from school) - even having lunch with Grandma and my dad
• Putting together a shelf for the guest bathroom - and torturing my dad with my unconventional carpentry
• Playing "Name That Tune" with Josh, until he started cheating with his Droid applications
• Seeing my old Scandia friends and hitting up the batting cages with Seth  

Highlights of Matt's time home alone:

• Winning a game of Frisbee Golf with our FHE Group
• Playing poker with the boys on Del Taco Tuesday (the usual 8 tacos plus a churro)
• Playing basketball
• Better sleep schedule surprisingly with Keri gone :( Even making it to church choir for the first time, even though Keri has been trying to get him to go for months now
• Interview with WaveTronix
• ASM Officer party at NickelCity - his team even won at Laser Tag

Surprisingly Matt survived without Keri to feed him, just proving to Keri that he is quite capable of taking care of himself. 


Keri returned the Friday before General Conference to attend the Jabbawockeez concert with Matt at SLCC. For those of you who aren't familiar with the Jabbawockeez, they are a hip-hop/b-boy dance crew from San Diego who won the 1st season of MTV's American Best Dance Crew. We watched them while they were on the show and were excited to hear they were coming to "little" Salt Lake.


Check out this video for a sample of their awesomeness:





We loved the concert and want to see them again in Vegas now!!! The Jabbawockeez are seriously some great dancers and so clean as a dance crew and they put on a cool show (even doing the Beyonce "Single Ladies" dance). 


Matt's friend C-Bass even came up from Arizona to perform with a local dance group who opened the show and he was definitely the best performer out there! We loved cheering him and loved hearing all the great comments about him around us. Go C-Bass!


We loved watching General Conference and then spent a wonderful Easter Dinner at Keri's Aunt Liana and Uncle Peter's House. They always put on a great dinner and even decorated the tables with little easter baskets. It's so nice to have family around to spend holidays with! 


The past week has been a usual busy school/work week for KerMatt, although we did find time to attend Keri's friend, Aaron's, wedding reception. We also went to a Raqlette Cheese & Chocolate Fondue Party at our friends, Brian & Lyndsay's (Matt eating only the food, no cheese of course). Matt put on his ASM Closing Social last night (complete with a nice plated dinner, prizes and a game of Techie Jeopardy between the students, professors and PwC reps).


We are looking forward to Matt finishing classes this week then plowing through finals. His birthday is on the 21st with his Graduation just days later, which his parents are flying out for. And we are also coming upon our 1st Anniversary (http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=111820975506304)!!! 


We love you all and hope April is bringing good things for you!


KerMatt


 

Keri's Mom & Dad chillin at the VFW Spaghetti Dinner (Dad wearing his ridiculous guitar shirt)

Mom and I at the VFW Dinner

Beautiful view at Rockville Park 

Mom and Elvis hiking at Rockville

Keri and Elvis 

Hiking along with the cows roaming free

Mean cow close-up #1 (i'm telling you these things were ridiculous and just waiting for a good opportunity to attack)

Mean cow close-up #2

Spring Coming!

It's been a busy past couple of weeks for KerMatt... and we're loving Spring coming!

School, school, and school for Matt as he gears up for his last month before his Undergrad Graduation. He has also found a huge interest in our financial health - especially with the introduction of a new "Money Merge Account" program. After weeks of research and driving his wife crazy he finally invested in a program that will help us manage debt and minimize what we pay in interest. He loves talking about this program and will tell you all about it now that he is an independent agent for United First Financial. Check out http://u1stfinancial.com/canceldebt for more information.

He has also taken to trying to institute new rules in our home: such as "you get 1 bowl, 1 cup, and 1 spoon per week" and "if you have not bought more bowls in 2 weeks, I am bringing home the old plastic Wal-Mart bowls that are at Derek's house."

Matt is enjoying his new Dell laptop, of course, which is quite chic and definitely an upgrade from my old work laptop he has humbly been sporting around school to his techie classmates and friends. He also won a new XBox 360 game in a Microsoft drawing at school. He recently interviewed with the Church but was turned down due to not being able to guarantee full-time work in the fall. Keri was also turned down from the Alliance For A Healthier Generation position. But all is well and we both still truly blessed with only more fabulous opportunities still to come.

Some other funny quotes from Matt recently include:
"Thank you for leaving out some of the flavored water last night. I killed that crap when I got home." That flavored water would be Crystal Lights packets and "killed that crap" means that he drank it all.
"You put an onion in the garbage, really?! What were you thinking? Are you trying to make our home smell like Dwight Shrute's beet farm?"

I have been spending time lately helping my old roomie, Mary, plan for her upcoming wedding and attending her bridal showers and bachelorette party. After Mary's wedding Friday, I flew home to Fairfield to spend a week with my family because I have to take the week off due to furlough time at work.

I am looking forward to the vacation but also hesitant to leave Matt since he seems to forget to eat and then falls apart. Though he says that if he orders pizza early on, he can live on that until Thursday (free pizza day at school).

I finally finished my curtains, which my Aunt Liana helped me make. She showed me how to understand the pattern and cut them out. Then she gave me a quick refresher course on how to use the sewing machine and sent me home with the machine to sew them myself. I was nervous but I found that I really enjoyed the sewing. And I love my curtains! They are not perfect by any means but they actually turned out pretty good.  And now I'm hoping to make some matching place mats and a table runner.

I'm really turning into quite a Domestic Diva, it's weird :). I also went to the cannery for the first time and put together a little food storage for KerMatt. Our ward has really been pushing Provident Living and self-reliance and I am grateful for all of the advice and opportunities we are given to learn and prepare.

We love you all and hope all is well in each of your lives!

- KerMatt

My homemade curtains (you cant tell from this pic but they are red & white polka dots)

 Mary (one of my bestest friends) and her new husband, Tyler, during their reception.

 I'm so happy for these two and she had one of the most beautiful receptions I have ever seen - including her gorgeous dress, which was made by one of the bridesmaids, Charlotte.

Pikey, me & Charlotte (talented dressmaker) I recently chopped my hair and dyed it darker again (much against my husband's preferences but when it comes down to it, I'm going to be a lot happier than he will be sad).

All the bridesmaids

Pikey & her husband Chris

Chris & Matt were both fantastic helpers for the wedding day, including doing embarrassing things like holding their wives bouquets.

My sis Tori and Bryan

Pikey, me, Charlotte & Mary in their fun photo booth (complete with silly props)

Surprise Visit In Class

Last week one of my professors emailed the class saying that today's class would be mandatory. I wondered that meant there was going to be a class activity or something important. When I arrived to class I quickly figured out why he sent out that email. Elder Neil L. Andersen, the newest Apostle of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, was sitting in the front row. I quickly opened my laptop to take notes and I decided to put it into a blog post. 

A student asked about agency and revelation in terms of making decisions: 
-"Act and not be acted upon." He said Elder Bednar frequently speaks about this topic and to look for it. 
-No matter the situation, we can always act in some way or another. 


Landon Davis asked about whether to live in or out of Utah when starting a career: 
-He asked where Landon's wife wanted to live and started talking about his wife being from Florida and wanting to live in Florida. He ended by saying that he wouldn't make that decision a big part of deciding where to start a career.


A student asked about what the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve thought about BYU's motto "Enter to learn, go forth to serve." 
-Elder Andersen said that every decision ends up being between good and evil. Service is not principally determined by where you work. A lot of life is just work. There is an opportunity to serve while we work. 


What do the Apostles talk about? 
-He spoke of the importance of families. 
-The number of converts is not as important to the Lord as is righteous people being across the world.


A student asked about behavior: 
-Feeling guilt easily is a blessing. 
-Understand yourself. 
-Take a hold of the Iron Rod and don't beat ourselves over the head with it. 


A student asked about women balancing family and career: 
-Education for women is critical.
-The purposes of life today are the same as they were a hundred years ago or in a different part of the world. We need to try and see through our culture and generation. Families are of utmost importance. 
-"Do the best you can." - Hinckley
-There is a nurturing power of women that cannot be denied. 
-Everyone's situation is different, there is no prescribed solution. 


He spoke directly to the sister's in the classroom specifically about missions (two sisters just received mission calls to New York South and Washington Tacoma):
-Tacoma Mission is doing amazing things with teaching investigators in the Chapel.
-"You'll meet a lot of interesting people in New York."


A student asked about studying scriptures with his spouse and asked for suggestions (He asked Sister Robison from the Young Women General Board to talk about it first): 
-Study 10 minutes at a time (Chunking - Elder Bednar)
-Ongoing thread more than a specific study time
-Make it a habit
-Wife likes to study by going through book, he likes to study topic by topic
-He prays with wife night and morning
-Establish routine for daily scripture study.


A student asked about going through the temple: 
-It took him a few years to "get it."
-Try to feel the sacredness, even if you don't understand everything.
-Be patient with the learning process. 


A student asked about difficulties with exams and success in school, life, and church: 
-Stability is important to be a leader in the Church. 
-Success is not a qualification. Goodness is. 
-Grades are only one determinant of one's success. 
-Some people take tests better than others.
-Don't feel sorry for yourself. 
-Desire to be financially stable. 
-The Lord has no more love for him than he does for each of us. 


A student asked about being an example to their family who is not very strong in the Church: 
-Be grateful for who you are and the family you have.
-Love them and think about all the good and determine what pattern you will set for your family. 
-Praise them for their goodness. 
-Set your own course. 
-Eventually the child will become the parent.
-Be easy on them, they're even better than you think.


A student asked about supporting his wife in her Church calling: 
-Women are harder on themselves typically than men. 
-Keep letting her know you love her. 
-Help her, she deserves it. 


Maddie Mills asked about overcoming temptation: 
-Scriptures are powerful. Memorize some. 
-Memorize some hymns. 
-Pump positive thoughts into your mind. 
-Pray
-Think about the right things you've done. 
-Remember back the times you've felt His love. 
-Retold a story (General Conference) about talking with a missionary who wanted to go home. "You do know that God loves you."
-Referenced a war story from Elder Nelson about being blessed - "I knew that God knew that I knew."


"Do not underestimate who you are and what your future is, despite being currently surrounded by so many outstanding people."


I feel very blessed to attend BYU and be able to meet and hear from an Apostle of the Lord in a classroom setting for an hour and a half. 


 - Matt