Time is Marching On :)

The funny thing about having a full schedule is that it makes time seem to fly by. Which explains why it's suddenly March when I swear we JUST came home from our trip!

Two days after we came home we were thrown right back into school and work, jet lag and all. I started my third semester of graduate school which is turning out to be the hardest one yet - mostly because I just can't seem to get my head into it? I even took a week off of work last week to be able to focus on midterm projects - I've been able to avoid taking off time at work since starting the program until last week.

In February I fit in a weekend away thinking that might help me bounce back into school mode (which it didn't) - Bethany and I drove down to Southern Utah to spend the night with Heather and all hike Angel's Landing together!! It was SO FUN!

Angel's Landing in Zion National Park is one of the most dangerous hikes in America, but also one of the most exciting. :) Especially when you hike it with fun girlfriends!

^ The hike goes up that skinny peak behind us and climbers hang onto chains bolted into the rock! The trail is about 2 feet wide and the drop is 1,400 ft down to the valley floor :D

We did it!

View from the top!

It was so good to get away for a quick weekend and let the boys (Matt and Barkley!) have the place to themselves for a while, which let Matt focus down on homework and finish his indipenent study Doctrine & Covenants class (which he's doing in addition to a regular school load, ROTC and TAing!) He also had fun renting a car and driving a Ford Focus around for a while since our car was with me. :)

Between things I've been cooking for fun and trying new recipes (here and here are two favorites) and running almost every day with Barkley when I need to step away from my laptop. 

The weather has been so unbelievably warm and dry that people have been wearing shorts & t-shirts, and we even biked to church one week! It's been great but it was good to see snow again this weekend.

Those last two pictures were taken on my way in to teach yoga - which I'm still doing every week! :) 

And we had an unexpected visit from some of Matt's family members in February, which was a nice opportunity to spend time with them.

Since we will be far away from both of our families for a good part of this year (4 months of Army training ((BOLC for Army friends!)) on the east coast), it was good to spend time with some of Matt's extended fam. We will finally find out his training dates this month! I've been pretty patient about it this whole time, but am starting to feel antsy. We have a cross-country road trip to plan! And weekend trips to NYC, DC, Charlotte, and more! Can't wait to put those in the calendar and start planning trips. Please let us know if you have any suggestions!

Later this month is Matt's trip to Virginia with his ROTC buddies, then we should find out WHERE WE ARE BEING STATIONED after training (BOLC). Once we find out when his training starts, and where we will be going after that, things will feel a lot more stable and exciting. :) 

And the most exciting of all??

Last week the directors of my graduate program informed us that the program curriculum has been changed and I will be graduating in AUGUST instead of December!! Hallelujah!! It was the best news I have ever received.

So while the first two months of 2015 have been all about work and school, things should get a lot more exciting pretty soon. :)