Honeymoon!

It has been about 2 weeks since Devin and I got married and I figured it's about time to blog about it. The wedding day was perfect! We had great weather, lots of friends and family there, and the reception was great! Once I get our wedding pictures I'll make sure to post them, we're real excited to see them!

For our honeymoon we went on a Cruise that went to Catalina Island and Ensenada Mexico. It was a bit rocky on the water and even though we weren't drinking (like most of the people on the cruise) people may have mistaken that we were drunk because of the way we walked on the boat. Ha ha. But other than that we had a blast! The food was amazing and they had quite a bit to do on the boat. 

Us getting ready to be tourist :)

Day 1: Getting to know the safety precautions of our boat:

The 2nd day we stopped at Catalina Island:

Us before we got off the boat...the view of Catalina behind us

On the Island!

Went on a little hike and this is the view

Something we found along the way

Catalina Island...a little stormy but we still had tons of fun!

Our 1st night...every night they left an animal creation on our bed :)

Day 3: Ensenada Mexico!

Headed to La Bufadora!

La Bufadora...it's basically a blow hole and this is 1of 3 in the world

Some one came up to us and said that this was a perfect picture so they took our picture

The beautiful Mexian Beach!

Cool picture of our cruise ship

2nd night's animal creation

The last day on the cruise ship was considered "a day at sea" we were on the boat all day as we were traveling back to Long Beach. We played some mini golf, had a few ice cream cones, and people watched. We had a really fun time and would recommend a cruise to anyone for their honeymoon because you don't have to worry about anything!

I love to see the temple...I'm going there someday!

Twenty-one days ago I was able to experience the "best day of my life" as I entered the LDS San Diego Temple to make sacred covenants with the Lord. It was a beautiful experience and as I sat their in the 10 o'clock session I couldn't help but smile as I felt the spirit so strong. Looking around I was surrounded by several family members and friends which helped add to the spirit and love that was in the room. Since that day I have been able to go back to the temple every week with my mom, it has been so fun to go so often and learn something knew every time I go. I'm excited for 15 more days to come when I will be able to enter the temple again but this time with Devin and be sealed to him for eternity. I'm so grateful for temples and the convenience is it for me right now to go so often. I'm excited to move to Provo and also have that temple so close so Devin and I can go together each week! The temple is truly an amazing place! I love it!

Goodbye BYU-Idaho

I went to my last class today on the BYU-Idaho campus, definitely a bitter sweet moment for me. As I was walking out of my class this evening, turning in my last final, finished training the girl who will taking over my job, and just have graduation left I couldn't help but think how grateful I am. I'm so grateful for the people I have come in contact with while attending this university, I'm grateful for the jobs I was able to have and the employees I worked for, I'm grateful for the education I gained, I'm grateful for the experiences I've had the the lessons I learned, I'm grateful I was able to room with my sister, and I'm grateful that I met Devin and we are able to be getting married! I have such a blessed life! Graduating and leaving this place is going to be really hard for me but I'm excited for what is ahead of me. 

I just wanted to say thank you to some of the people that have touched my life while going BYU-Idaho:

Casandra Orduno - Casandra and I go way back...well maybe only by 2 years but her and I hit if off so quickly and have been best of friends ever since. I'm so grateful that we were able to go on the Meso-America tour together and then be roommates after that. She has always been someone I can count on, cry with, and laugh into the wee hours of the morning with. She has taught me so much through her positive attitude and her love for the gospel. I knew that if I ever needed someone I could count on her. She is an amazing girl and I know that even though I am leaving I will never loose contact with her. I'm excited for her life and all that she has ahead of her! Love you Saunch!

Alison Bates was my very first roommate. The first day that I was in Rexburg she helped me with everything! We really hit it off and became such great friends. Even when she went on a mission I wrote her the entire time she was gone and now that she is back in Rexburg we have had a lot of fun times together. She is such a great friend!

Lindsey Hendrickson - Being here with my sister has been such a great experience. Her and I have always been such great friends and I'm glad she decided to move from BYU-Provo to here so we could enjoy a couple more years together. She is such a strength to me and I have learned so much from her. I look up to her and strive to be better (like she is). I'm really going to miss her! 

Cami Christianson and I have taken many classes together and were even room roommates over this past 7 week break. We have had many adventures together - riding bikes, reading the entire Harry Potter series, floating, etc. I love spending time with her, she is an amazing girl and will be such the great missionary! 

Devin Graves of course has played a huge role in my life here at BYU-Idaho. I'm one lucky girl to be able to extend this friendship with him for eternity! He has taught me a lot and has helped me to discover who I really am and what my potential is. Love him!

Rick Roper has been a good friend to me since my second year at school. He has provided me with lots of adventures and good times. He is definitely someone I put a lot of  trust in and I think very highly of. He is a great guy and tons of fun! 

Brother Tippetts was my first boss here and was so much fun to work with! He has given me some great council for life and taught me some very valuable lessons. 

Sister Beattie was my second mom! She took me under her wing and was a mother figure for me while I was away from my real mom. She truly became a close friend to me and I have learned so much from her! Really going to miss her!

Bishop Thompson and really the entire Bishopric! Each member of this bishopric has played a huge role in my life while being at school. I was so lucky to be in their ward for 3 out of my 4 years at BYU-Idaho. They are great men and are truly inspired men!

I have such a great life!

I'm Graduating!

So today I picked up my cap and gown for Graduation and I think it is finally hitting me that I will be graduating in 1 week! I can't believe it! Time really did fly these past four years. It's a bitter sweet feeling I have. I'm sad to leave this University, the people I've met, the job I currently have, and the education aspect of the school, but I think the sweet is going out win, I'm excited for the next step in life and for February to be here! Yay for graduation and for life! 

Sumo Wrestling

So the other night after being in the library for 5 hours straight to prepare for finals I came home and this is what happened:

By the looks of this video you might be confused why I am graduating in Health Science...too bad they don't have a Sumo Wrestle major here!

P90X

This past weekend Devin and I did a P90X workout video and oh boy I'm so sore from it! This has got to be my new favorite thing to do with Devin because we look ridiculous, but I'm sure one of these days we will be pros. As for now we get some good laughs out of it.

For those of you who don't know what P90X is here is a few sample workouts...it's hardcore!

XC Champions!!!

While attending BYU-Idaho it has been a goal of mine to win a championship t-shirt through playing intramural sports. I am in my last semester here and have been involved in several intramural sports to achieve this goal; some of them include: volleyball, floor hockey, flag football, ultimate frisbee, soccer, softball, and even bowling. After participating in all those sports I still had never won my t-shirt, although got really close a couple of times. Well today I finally achieved that goal!!!

This semester I decided to join the competitive sports cross country team. I have never done cross country before and I have never been involved with competitive sports at this university, it was definitely something out of my comfort zone but something I have always wanted to do, so why not? Well today was our championship race and when I woke up this morning and looked outside I had no desire to run. I looked out the window to the lovely view of white everywhere! It had snowed a couple of inches last night and I thought to myself: "there is no way I am going to run in this!" But I did it and I'm so glad I did! Although it was freezing cold, very windy, and I felt like my face was going to fall off I was so proud of myself and our team! Our girls team actually came in first place...yes that means I finally got my championship t-shirt!!!!

GO TITANS!!!

I love my team!

This was the race I ran my fastest 5K time...26:29!

Thankful!

Since it is now November I thought this would be an appropriate post about thankfulness! These past couple of weeks have been really stressful/overwhelming for me and it may have been apparent to others the last couple of days, but maybe not. Although my fiancee didn't know what to do to help me during this time, he sent me this song today by Josh Groban called "Thankful." Every day Devin sends me a song of the day and it is usually what's on his mind or just something fun to listen to. I don't know if he was thinking today about things he was grateful for but this song was what I really needed and helped me out as it made me reflect on what has happened during these past couple of weeks and that although it was a hard time for me as I struggled, there are so many things I have to be thankful for. If any of you who read my blog are struggling please listen to this song and reflect on your life and how great it is! I absolutely love this song now and love my fiancee!

Blessings

I love Ice Cream!

A Reason for Every Season!

I love the changing of each season because they all bring about different memories and happy times. As the weather has definitely been changing here in Rexburg it has gotten me excited for the Holiday season and then I got thinking how I absolutely love every season for different reasons. Each one brings about an exciting time and makes me so grateful for the different seasons God has blessed us with. Here are some of my favorite things in every season.
WINTER: "Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home." ~Edith Sitwell

What I love about wintertime:
Christmas
Crafts
Snow games
Listening to Christmas music
Giving gifts
Baking
Christmas lights
Family Traditions
Love, Happiness, and Joy
Christmas Caroling
Singing at the nursing home
Making chocolates with my Grandma Hyde
Going to Salt Lake City for New Year's Eve
My Birthday
Soon to be Wedding Anniversary
Decorating for Christmas
Sweaters, scarves, and hats
The first snowfall
Taking a warm shower after playing out in the snow
Sitting by the fireplace as we read Christmas Stories
Staying in your nice warm bed as the rest of the house is so cold

SPRING: No matter how long the winter, spring is sure to follow. ~Proverb

What I love about the spring:
Blooming flowers
Fresh crisp mornings
Easter-Easter egg hunts and Easter egg races
Gardening and yard work
The sun
Birds singing
Cold spring mornings and sunny warm afternoons
Spring cleaning

SUMMER: "A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken." ~James Dent

What I love about summertime:
Thunder and Lightning storms
Stars
Beach Volleyball
Snoasis snow cones
The Beach and the warmth of the sand
Hiking and discovering new places
Meteor Showers
The Sunshine
Long bike rides
Reading in the park
Adventures with friends
Floating in the canal
Eating watermelon and getting it all over your face
Picnics
Popsicles/otter pops
Sun tans
Summer nights - still warm from the day and just sitting in the backyard looking at the stars with the people you love

AUTUMN: "Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all. ~Stanley Horowitz

What I love about autumn time:
Leaves changing colors and falling off the trees
Running/walking in the leaves so they make the crunch sound
Listening to the rain outside while in my warm bed or cuddled in a blanket
Drinking hot chocolate on a cold day while watching a movie all cuddled up in a blanket
Making pumpkin bread
Eating left over Thanksgiving dinner
Carving Pumpkins
Wearing slippers around the house
Being home
Reading a good book

 

There are so many other things I could add to each seasons but these are some of my favorites! Life is just so great and each season brings something new and exciting to add to this great life!

Conference Weekend

General Conference weekend was so great!

Devin came up to Rexburg Thursday night and we headed down to Salt Lake early Friday Morning. We made a few stops along the way...first in Shelley, then in Bear River City, and we arrived into Salt Lake around noon. Our first stop in Salt Lake was at 7 eleven to get a slurpee of course! I hadn't had one of those since I was a little kid, and it definitely brought back some fun memories but also created some. Devin decided to get the raspberry citrus slurpee while I stuck with the original wild cherry. As Devin filled his slurpe to the top of his cup he pulled it away from the spout and all of a sudden it started to erupt just like a volcano. Slurpee was gushing out of the lid and there was nothing we could do to make it stop. We later found out that it was carbonated and we think that is what caused the eruption, just as soda bubbles up and fizzles out so did his slurpee. The slurpees definitely gave us the boost of energy we needed to get all we had to get done. Althought for some reason my straw would die my mouth blue, we probably looked like big kids with our medium sized slurpees and blue lips. What a great life!

We ended up stopping at a Joann's to find some fabric for our wedding colors and then it was off to the Gateway Mall. We've been trying to get some ideas of engagement pictures so we went to the mall to find some new outfits. Devin was successful, but I didn't find a whole lot. We didn't have too much time at this point because I was scheduled to try on wedding dresses at Latter-day Bride at 2pm.

Trying on wedding dresses was definitely a new experience for me. Amber came up from Provo and we had a lot of fun! I was a little timid when I first started trying on dresses but the girl who helped me was so great and fun. She asked if I wanted to go out to the show room where there were big mirrors and a stool for me to stand on. Once I went out there the first time I loved going out there. I felt like I was playing dress up. I tried on all different styles and ended up liking one that I would have never thought I would have liked. We didn't end up buying a dress there because they are rather expensive but I wanted to try on differeny styles and get an idea of what I liked.After that we went to a few other wedding dress shops but had no luck.

Friday night Devin and I went his mission reunion which was so great. It was fun to meet and talk with those who had served in his mission and hear some more mission stories. We ended up eating dinner at the same table as his mission president and his wife. I really enjoyed getting to know them, they are really neat people. This was Devin's last mission reunion because His president just got called to be the President over the Chile MTC. They are such great people!

General Conference was amazing and it was fun to get together with everyone (Amber, Alan, Elaine, Brittany, Alex, Brooklyn, Lindsey, and Devin). We had a great time! In between session we made homemade ice crean and had a little pic-nic. It was a lot of fun hanging out together.

During the Priesthood session Amber, Lindsey, and I were going to do some more dress shopping but I decided just to look online on KSL. Surprisingly I found one that was pretty similar to the style I had like at Latter-day Bride and it was my size! We couldn't pass up this opportunity so we ended up going up to Lehi to try on this dress. It fit perfectly! After contemplating it for awhile I ended up buying the dress and so happy I did! It was only $200 and I don't have to do any alterations. It really was a steal of a deal! Glad to get that out of the way. I would add a picture of the dress I got, but what's the surprise in that? Also, I can't show Devin what it looks like until Feb. 3rd so everyone else will just have to wait as well unless you come visit me and I will show you :)

We got back from Lehi kind of late so the guys ended up going to Ike's Ice Cream to get Blue Bell Ice Cream for us. I definitely found my new love...Blue Bell Ice Cream! Lindey, Devin, and shared a 3 scoop cup of the ice cream, we had Cookie Dough, Cookies and Cream, and Strawberry. I think Cookie Dough was my favorite!

Sunday was amazing! We had a brunch with Devin's Cousin and her husband and watched the Sunday Morning session with them. We then headed over to Salt Lake City to watch the last session in the conference center. It was such a great day and I didn't want this weekend to end.

We ended this great weekend at my Grandma and Grandpa Hendrickson's house and had dinner with them. A few of my aunts, uncles, and cousins were also there.

Such the great weekend!

Here are some pictures at the Conference Center:

Devin, Me, Cariel, Hannah, Liza, Uncle Tim, and Lindsey

Lindsey and Me!



My Stud of a Fiance and I



I'm Engaged!

I am engaged to Devin A. Graves! Sunday afternoon, September 18th, Devin proposed to me and I accepted.

He took me out near the Snake River in Rexburg Idaho and had it all planned out, but I was clueless since we were just going to do something he had planned a couple weeks ago on a date but we ran out of time. He had gotten 2 pillowcases for us to draw a story on, but the rule was that he and I were the main characters, it could be any story, something that has happened or something that hasn’t and that we were drawing it for each other. Then after we were done we would show each other. Once we got to his designated spot he pulled out 2 camp chairs and set them up back to back. We took out the markets and got to work. He finished way before me so I felt bad because I was taking my time to make sure it looked half way decent since I’m definitely not an artist. I finally finished and he said I had to present mine first. So he patted down the bushes around us to make a somewhat stage for us to stand on. So I presented mine. I did a collage of previous dates we had been on and us in a hot air balloon in the middle just for fun. I also wrote on top “the best is yet to come…” Then it was his turn. He went on the “stage” and showed me his and he did the same thing! It was set up a little differently, but he put symbols of dates we had been on and memories we have. Then he said “But mine has a back side to it…” He flipped it over and he had drawn stick figures of him proposing to me! I was kind of caught off guard by this and he says I took a step back and then started to cry, happy tears of course though. He then knelt down on one knee and asked me to marry him! And I said yes! Then I ran and gave him a hug before he even had a chance to put the ring on me, but apparently as I gave him a hug the ring went flying into the bushes. I had no clue that this happened so after I gave him a hug he said that we needed to go find the ring because it flew in the bushes. So we got down and started searching for it. It wasn’t too hard to find but I thought it was perfect; every engagement has to have a story like that.

We will be getting married February 3rd, 2012 in the San Diego California Temple!

This Picture was taken the day he bought the ring...but I had no clue!

BYU-Idaho Online Magazine

So a few blogs ago I mentioned how I got interviewed for the BYU-Idaho online magazine. Well the Fall issue is out now so for those of you who wanted to see the video here is the link: http://www.byui.edu/magazine/fall2011/features/Developing_Disciple_Leaders/


Hope you enjoy!

Another Blog!

For those of you are interested and would like to follow another one of my blogs, I just had to create a blog for my Family Relations class I am taking at BYU-Idaho. I will be posting every week about different topics discussed in my class about the family. I would love your insights and comments to the thoughts and impressions I gain throughout this semester, and maybe you can learn something too from what I post.

You can find this blog at: http://caitlin-fam160.blogspot.com

FAMILY!

This past weekend I went to a family reunion and had a blast! We were at Lava Hot Springs and it was with my Grandma Hyde’s sisters, so in other words they were my great aunts. And they are definitely great. I think I laughed for more than half the weekend! They are such fun people. Some of the activities we did include: tubing down the rapids, an action, played card games til the wee hours of the morning, had tons of delicious camping food, got my feet zoned, did arts and crafts, and Monday some of us went to the Easter Idaho Fair! Such the great weekend!

At the fair Lindsey and I stayed later then my cousins and ended up watching a hypnotist show, it was so funny and crazy! Very entertaining. On our way out we say tons of tractors on display and I was in tractor heaven so I had to get a picture with one of them, even though they are just little ones. We also went to the petting zoo and they had a sign out that said “we are not feeding the animals today due to over eating yesterday” we thought it was pretty funny because that is how we felt from this weekend of eating at the reunion, but that definitely does not stop us from eating more.

So while I was home in San Diego we took family pictures. It feels like awhile since we have done this and our family has grown so much since the last time we took pictures, we have had 4 additions to our family (2 brothers in laws and 2 nieces). Also, we have never taken family pictures on the beach even though we have lived in San Diego for over 20 years. I think they turned out really well.

I LOVE MY FAMILY!!!

I also love my mom! She is such a great lady and I hope I can be half as great as she is!

I am truly blessed to be born in such a great family and have such strong ties with them! I hope my future family will be the same. Family plays such a crucial role in Heavenly Father’s plan of Happiness and my family truly does make me happy!