A Busy April

Happy April, everyone! What a month it has been, full of birthdays, a wedding, graduations, travel, a baptism, and all sorts of celebrations. Happy birthday Oden and Lucas! Ryan and I definitely ate extra dessert for you guys on his birthday to celebrate. :)

A Tornado

You could say that this month started off with a bang, since we experienced our first Oklahoma Tornado that first week. We were lucky: the storms passed over us and instead hit small towns on either side of the northernmost edge of our new city. Though of course there was a lot of damage to those places, most everyone was very prepared and safe. It was absolutely crazy to watch the storm-trackers on the news on my laptop while we huddled by the closet-just in case. Images like the screen capture below filled the news reports for over an hour. All in all it was a small incident, though the news station itself lost power. Ultimately Ryan and I concluded that we really shouldn't make fun of Oklahoma so much for their lack of snow-storm-preparedness, because they are clearly and impressively professional when it comes to tracking, predicting, watching tornadoes, etc. It was stunning actually to see how immediate and organized the response was across the entire community. Way to go, Oklahoma!

 A Birthday

This month was also Ryan's birthday. It was an awesome day filled with food, meals, dessert, food, shopping for hiking gear, a new vinyl record!, face-making contests, more food, and chocolate-covered cinnamon bears.

A Baptism

This month a new friend of ours was baptized into the church! It was so great to attend his baptism; he's one of those impressive people who are just so incredibly full of faith from the very beginning. Often when we help the missionaries teach people, we end up feeling like the ones who were being a taught a lesson that day. That has definitely been the case here!

A Surprise

Ryan surprised me after work last week with an early, first anniversary gift: tickets to see the Phantom of the Opera! The Broadway tour was only in town for a few days, and it was such a fun production. The set was amazing with spiraling walls, disappearing staircases, and intense pyrotechnics all over the place.

 A Wedding

Teran and Justun walking out of the temple

SLC Temple

Ryan and Liam

Last week was Teran and Justun's wedding! We flew to Utah for the weekend to attend Ryan's sister's wedding at the Salt Lake City temple. Magically, the rain stopped just for the pictures on Temple Square, kinda like it had just in time on our own wedding day. It was a beautiful day, beautiful ceremony, and a beautiful, happy couple. It was so good to see some family and friends, especially Ry's niece and nephews. Little Liam is so big now! And as smiley as ever. I think the best comment I heard that day was said by Justun's son, Henry. As soon as Teran and Justun walked out of the temple after the ceremony, Henry turned to Jaxson and said, "Hey, Jax, we're cousins now!!" They immediately began chasing each other around the grounds. It was pretty cute.

Ry and Jax playing

Henry and Jax playing

A Graduation

The day after the wedding, Ryan and I visited Provo. We wandered around town and campus, enjoying the changes since we left last year. Is there any place that isn't lovely in the spring? We made sure to walk by the new Provo City Center Temple, and it was amazing to see all they have done with it so far. 

After picking up some favorite treats unique to Utah, (oh, how I've missed Graham Canyon ice cream! and Ryan's missed BYU's chocolate-covered cinnamon bears!) We ended up catching the end of one of the convocations. We were meeting with some friends afterwards, and I assumed I was too late to see my old roommate walk. So I totally screamed when I heard them call out Melanie's name! Oh, I'm so proud her! Another of our old roommates was there, and this was another surprise since I hadn't seen her she was serving her mission last year. Marieke, Melanie, and I together again! It was awesome to see so many old roommates, friends, and professors all over Provo that day.

 A Cakey Celebration

 While staying with Ryan's family, we took the chance to try out a different tradition. The top layer of our wedding cake was frozen, and waiting for us to taste it on our first anniversary. We decided to thaw it and try it this weekend since it was pretty close to the actual day. Since we were so "nice" to each other on our wedding day by not smashing the cake all other each other's faces, we figured we had to be messy this time around. It was fun, and crazy tasty! Seriously, it was like a delicious lemon poppy seed muffin with raspberry sauced drizzled on top.

It's been quite the month, and promises to be a great next few months. Ryan's ankle has healed, and he is stoked to get back to running. I'm excited to explore the local bike trails better. We are both getting more settled at work. I can sub nearly every day now that I'm at two districts. All our love, from this fun-filled month.