November Gratitude!

Happy November! 

Life has been a frenetic blur of activity for most of 2014, and the time since we last posted on the blog has probably been even more full than before! I wanted to take a different approach with this post to capture it all - I've LOVED the #gratitude / #grateful posts on Instagram this month, so with a nod to Thanksgiving, this is a 'things we've been grateful for' / iPhone photo dump / catch-up sesh. Enjoy!

First of all, SO grateful for school and work. I never imagined that one day I'd earn a Master's degree from USC, but here I am! It came together SO quickly that I can still hardly believe it. I applied in February, started in May, and am already more than half way through my SECOND semester!! 

AND the fact that I get to work full time in my chosen field, while working on my Master's, is really something to be grateful for… we had a retreat in mid-October for all of the WellSteps staff from all over the country, at our CEO's big house in Mapleton. Really good to actually SEE the coworkers I work with every day through email, etc., since we all work from home and rarely get to meet up. 

Matt is also in school full time - this is his last full semester (something else to be grateful for!) and next semester he just has a few classes to finish before commissioning as an Army Officer in April. He's been crazy-busy between school, TA-ing, working on campus, doing ROTC jobs, being the camptain of his Ultimate Frizbee intramural team (they just won their 2nd tournament game!), doing volunteer security at BYU football games (with the other ROTC guys) and more. I'm grateful for a husband who is willing to work pretty much to exhaustion to make sure all his responsibilities, and even more, are taken care of.

And in the midst of all of this… we MOVED!

We moved across town and our new apartment is AMAZING. It's literally across the street from the Provo Rec where I teach yoga, and it's a million times nicer and way more comfy. Background: we had to move b/c our previous apartment was for studnets only, and we'll be in Provo for a little while after Matt graduates. 

setting up new furniture!!

Finished product. :)

The place opened on a Thursday and we moved in the following Saturday - it happened FAST. We ended up moving during mideterms for both of us, which was hectic to say the least, but necessary and I think it was worth it - so grateful to be in a better situation all around.

Barkley likes it, too :)

…mostly b/c he has new neighborhood doggie friends he gets to play with! One of our new neighbors introducted us to Provo Doggie Bros, the BEST club I could imagine, which is basically a traveling dog meet-up where dog owners bring their dogs to play in different nearby parks every night. SO cute and fun!

2nd from the left… our blurry ball of excitement!

Those are our major events! Other fun stuff..

Heidi and Mike came for a weekend! We took them to one of our fav resturants with Zac & Whitney. It was SO fun. :D

On the way to the restaurant I got this pic of Matt and his dad walking exactly the same way. Like father, like son!

Left hand in pocket, right hand swinging, left foot in front,
same outfit. Not planned!

Heidi and I got to go on a super-early-morning run while they were here - we went past the temple! Grateful for running buddies (Barkley included!) and for living within jogging distance of a temple. 

 Grateful for how Barkley makes us LOL every day. :)

His least fav activity...

…for how gorgeous Utah is in the fall

We took advantage of the fall colors and got some shots for Christmas cards. One from our DIY photo shoot - - 

And now, random pics from my phone

Hugest - and most delicious - apple that you ever did see

I signed up to run this half marathon and trained for it start to finish - but Matt had an unexpected Army training that weekend, and that in addition to some other things made it so I couldn't go. I did end up running 13.1 miles though! Just not in my pineaple costume. Ha.

Yoga at the world's most gorj studio in SLC.

Immediately followed by the world's most gorj fall day in SLC!

We did the Haunted Lift at Sundance with Zac and Whitney, which Matt and I have now done 3 years in a row! It's the best. It's by far my favorite Halloween tradition. We went the week before Halloween becuase this year we ended up moving on Halloween so that was our super hardcore Halloween party. ;)

Aaaaaand we were selected for the drawing for tickets to see the MOTAB CHRISTMAS CONCERT! I enter the drawing every year but have only been once before with Ellen when DAVID ARCHULETA was the guest, and it is still the best concert I've ever seen. This year, the guest is The Muppets and I have no idea what to expect! :)

Also I found this link from about a year ago I was in this video for work: https://vimeo.com/77234436 Feels life FOREVER ago!!

SOOO, we have a lot to be grateful for this Thanksgiving! My parents are renting a place in Sundance for the holiday and will be here soon. I'm SO EXCITED - I've been looking forward to this since summer!

Enjoy the start of the holiday season, friends! :)