The Big 2-5!

Happy birthday to my dashingly handsome fiance!

As I'm sure you all know, the 25th birthday is a big deal because 25-year-olds can rent a car from anyone, anywhere. Such a momumental birthday requires an extra-long celebration, of course, so we kicked it off by letting Matt come to a Girl's Night on Thursday.

Just kidding. Kind of. See, I happened to be on the exact same flight as Jodie's sister, Becky, so Matt & Jodie picked us up together and we headed to Cheesecake Factory... which happens to be in a great mall... where Patsy happened to be running errands... so we happened to do what girls do best: shop. I helped Matt feel included by letting him pick out a shirt for me to wear for his actual birthday. I think he did well! Oh, and Cheesecake Factory was delicious as usual.

On Friday, Air Force's JV team beat the #7 JC team in the country 38-36! Matt's parents, brother & sister-in-law came into town for the Utah game and got to see Matt coach as well.

We went out to Ted's for a little post-game meal. If you don't remember my previous tribute, Ted's holds a special place in my heart thanks to their juicy buffalo burgers... even though mine looks like it's sticking its tongue out for the picture? Maybe I should lay off on the ketchup.

Since Matt's family was leaving shortly after the Utah game on his real birthday, we decided to have a little birthday party with them and some of Matt's best friends Friday night.

Matt's parents basically made his year by giving him the Garmin he's been obsessing over since he was in the womb. (Not that Matt really needs it, since he only ever drives to the airport or Anthony's, but that's beside the point.)

The highlight of the night, however, was the PINATA! These boys had fun trying to hit the ref...

...although Matt & Chase were mildly upset that Anthony broke it open and not them.

I guess beating up a referee the night before a big game is bad karma. The Falcons led Utah for most of the game but lost it in the final minute. Shoot, huh? Good thing we took our picture before the game.

(Also a good thing my Cougars continue to win in rather convincing fashion!)

If not for Texas Roadhouse's pork dinner, I don't know if Matt ever could been consoled.
Matt's family flew home after dinner, so it was just the two of us that night. We began our laid-back birthday date with free ice cream at Cold Stone (you have to love those birthday clubs)...

...and then went back to Anthony's to watch a movie, open presents from me & my fam, and just enjoy our alone time together. Being in a long distance relationship, we never get enough of that.

My life is like an episode of The Office.

Every rose has its thorn, right? Now that you all know I don't hate my job (I work as a marketing communications specialist and actually like it a lot), let me tell you about a big, fat thorn in my side right now:

My working conditions.

Picture, for a moment, Michael Scott & Co. getting kicked out of their office and moving in with Darryl at the warehouse. For three months. Someone please send in this storyline because you can't make this stuff up.

Here's the short version: My company decided to move to a brand new building right by my exit in Pleasant Grove when its completed in October. Heavenly. Not so heavenly? The fact that our old building in the Riverwoods threw a fit about us not renewing our lease and kicked us out. And what happens when a company becomes temporarily homeless? Why, they move into their warehouse in Spanish Fork, of course. Amuse me for a moment and take a little tour!

THAT would be the outside of our warehouse/manufacturing facility, right next to my parking spot. THIS would be the sound that it makes:

I only wish I could record the smell. Feel free to conjure up burnt rubber mixed with rotten fish and take a whiff. Anyway, so the sound is slightly obnoxious when I'm trying to talk to my fiance who lives one thousand miles away on my lunch break. Naturally, I try to walk away from the noise by going around to the back of the building, where I'm greeted by this:

This may come as a surprise, but those semi trucks aren't exactly quiet, either.

Thank goodness for our quiet next-door neighbors:

Too bad their fields attract every wasp in the Northern Hemisphere. My solution? I tend to walk along the cracks in the middle of the road for the duration of our phone calls (Good thing we're in the middle of nowhere).

Now, you may ask, why don't I just stay inside? May I present to you the mental asylum hallway, lovingly named for its appearance... and the fact that there were two scientists in white lab coats at the other end on Day 1.

Not convinced about its psych ward charm? Check out what's inside the doorways on the left:

At the end of the hallway & around the corner is a storage room that we, the marketing department, have adopted as our own (the track lighting & hanging cords are my favorite. Then again, when the room gets FULL of boxes, that's pretty fun, too).

We even got to choose our table buddies! (Anyone else flash back to 5th grade for about two seconds?) Luckily for me, I love my table buddy. See, Lacey and I even look happy in our corner:

For now, the wedding countdown has been put on the shelf and replaced by the countdown to the move-in date for the new building (which was just postponed thanks to a flood).

I may or may not have already made a paper chain.

Why thank you, Job.

After years of working at my dream jobs (BYU football, Cougar United, Utah Jazz, Salt Lake Bees...), I sold out and took a corporate job because it was best for me & Matt. Honestly though, for not being in the sports industry, I seriously lucked out--I have awesome coworkers, great bosses and just a good situation overall. Oh, and a few perks too. For example, last weekend my job required me to:

Fly to Long Beach...

Stay in the lovely Anaheim Hilton...

Play Guitar Hero & hang out with my work friends...

Make new friends...

Wear pretty dresses and play "Vanna" with Lizzy...

Go to Disneyland...

Enjoy a few of my favorite rides...

Stay in California Adventure after hours for a dessert buffet in Stage 17...

And watch the Cougs kick some serious trash.

(The Falcons weren't televised thanks to the hurricane, but they won, too! 3-0!)

Not bad, eh? Granted, I worked 15+ hour days... in heels... but still.

Sometimes work is fun.

Put Simply.

Last weekend...

I flew.

Matt coached.
FALCONS won (so did the COUGS!).We celebrated. And watched lots more football.
Matt baked cookies.
Very yummy cookies.
The rest of us reaped the benefits.

The end.

Still engaged and (finally) legal!

Tuesday was the 1-year anniversary of this:

If I may say so myself, it was the best proposal ever.

Because of our 1-year engagement anniversary (who has those?) and my birthday, Matt took me to the Cliff House for dinner last weekend. It was delicious, the service was incredible, and I was thisclose to convincing Matt to order something other than steak.

After dinner, we went back to the Hendricks' to open my birthday presents. Matt gave me a couple new AIr Force shirts and the Jessica Simpson shoes I've been wanting for months (I was pretty excited, as you can probably tell).

My actual birthday was pretty anticlimatic, considering I turned 21 and don't drink. Although, I am pretty excited about the prospect of getting a horizontal driver's license (they're vertical in Utah until you're legal). My baby brothers, on the other hand, were extremely excited to celebrate another birthday (they don't care whose birthday it is as long as there are candles to blow out, cake to eat, and presents to open).

They are always in every single picture with me and are also responsible for my cake's design inspiration. When I turned 19, I got a dinosaur cake. This year they decided that I should have a flower cake since Matt sent me flowers. I was only a little disapointed I didn't get a pirate cake or something similar :-) They all helped me blow out the candles...

And open my presents:

But they called it quits when we turned on the Republican National Convention immediately afterward.
Go figure.

E is for Engineer, F is for Football, G is for Germany...

Last weekend was Parent's Weekend at the Academy, which means we all got to go to class with our cadets on Friday, watch one of their big parades and enjoy parking in the middle of nowhere. I go to school with Matt a few times a year already so I can: a) know what on earth he is talking about when he tells me about all of his classes, b) get him plenty of attention, and c) continue my studies to become an engineer. Just kidding about those last two, but I do like pretending I know what's going on in those ridiculously hard classes.

Anyway, school was especially fun on Friday because Matt's capstone partner was gone so I got to fill in. Right now they're working on building something that can get this 3.7 million pound machine:

In and out of this one safely & easily:
(Trust me, it's a lot more complex than it sounds--I just wanted to spare you all the gory details.)

Good thing I was there to solve the problem for them.

That would be me getting a kick out of the sketch I drew during the brainstorming session. I'm not really familiar with the technical terms for things, so the main components of my creations were labeled football crane, lazy susan, pizza pan and grocery store belt. Genius, right? There's a reason I majored in Communications and not some technical headache.

Onto the parade! It's not too much fun for the cadets to have to march and stand at attention for an hour plus, but it's really neat for everyone else to watch.

Matt's squad (13)--the Bulldawgs. He's in the second row, third from the left.

Matt was happy when it was over:

Then... it was on to football! Matt coached his JV boys on Friday & then the varsity team whopped SUU 41-7 on Saturday.

Go Falcons!

Matt was busy with the team, of course, so I tailgated with Jodie, Preston & all of his buddies (they came for his birthday party) and then watched the game with our friend Kristi (who's boyfriend is a cadet).

On Sunday night, the Hendricks' neighbor Sarah was having a dinner party and invited us to tag along! Sarah's friend from Germany, Matthias, spent the summer with them so they were having a big authentic German meal with their friends before Matthias went home. Matt served his mission in Munich (where Matthias is from), so we were really excited to go.

It was fantastic! We had so much fun making friends with everyone, hanging out with Matthias and gaining 7 pounds each from the delicious German food. Matthias immediately became one of my favorite people in the world when he told me that I'd be able to get around Germany saying "ick" instead of "ich." (I've been trying unsuccessfully for the past year to learn how to hock up a hairball to pronounce "ich." It means "I" in German, which means my learning has been stalled while I've focused on trying to learn that basic little word haha.)

Matt's taking Matthias to school tomorrow and we're hoping we'll get to see him in Munich next year!