Portland WRAMTA Conference for music therapy nerds.

In college, I got extremely close to two beautiful girls in my program (my music therapy best friends): Amber and Lauren. In November of 2013, Lauren got married and moved away from us to Hawaii. We missed her terribly, but were lucky enough that she was able to meet us in March 2014 in Portland, OR, for the Western Regional American Music Therapy Association conference!

Most of the conference was spent expanding our knowledge of music therapy and connecting with other music therapists in our region, but that doesn't mean we couldn't have some fun! Since we were in my family's city, I was able to take my best friends to some of my favorite parts of Portland! We ate dinner at my parents', had my family over to swim, walked down Hawthorne, ate at Portland-y places (ahem, VOODOO), and went to the Saturday market. Our hotel overlooked the Columbia River and we soaked up our amazing girls' trip while it lasted.

Graduation and Christmas and other wintery things.

Winter of 2013 was pretty fun - lots of things happened during that season! Most importantly was Christmas, of course. Kendall and I drank a lot of hot cocoa, ate s'mores, cuddled with our pups, and looked at our Christmas twinkly lights every night.

Next most important part of Winter was that I FINALLY GRADUATED FROM ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY! Getting my Bachelor's in Music Therapy has been one of the biggest accomplishments of my life. I am so lucky to have been part of the ASU School of Music!

 Last but not least, New Year's with my man. I sure do love him and that I get to spend every New Year's kissing his cute face.

Universal Studios; or, Kendall's Disneyland.

In November 2013 we went with our friends Kim and Tyler to California. We did all our favorite things while there including: eating Ruby's on the beach, walking on the beach, seeing the temple, and overall having a grand ole time!

We had every intention of topping our trip off with Disneyland, but the night before Tyler was having severe tooth pain and had to be rushed to the dentist. He slept most of the next day, but didn't want me and Kendall to just sit around. We decided since Kim and Tyler couldn't come it would be cruel to go to Disneyland, so Kendall talked me into Universal Studios. It was SO FUN. Kendall now loves it significantly more than Disneyland, and thinks that as soon as Harry Potter World opens I will forget about Disneyland all together...we'll see about that.

And for some reason these cronuts were really important. Feast your eyes.

The move.

In August of 2013, we moved out of my grandma's house - the house that I grew up in and that Kendall and I took over after my grandma got married. The house where I learned how to walk and swim. The house where I learned to cook and stayed up late watching movies. It was really hard for me to know that during this exact picture would be the last sunset I saw from the house that built me.

As sad as I was to move out of my childhood home, I was also excited to move into a new house with Kendall - one that we could make our own memories in instead of being stuck on my childhood memories. Our new home (that we still live in!) just so happens to be across the street from Kendall's oldest brother and his family, and in the same neighborhood as Kendall's parents and his second oldest brother and his family. The neighborhood is full of kids, block parties, young couples, and amazing families. I love my house, my street, and the people I've come so close to.

Welcome home!

Independence Day, 2013.

For the Fourth of July in 2013, we went with Kendall's family for a week long Colorado camping trip in the Rocky Mountains. I had never been to Colorado before -- we all know how well I do on long car rides and I was starting to think driving was a terrible idea, until we arrived. As soon as we started driving into the Rocky Mountain area, I could not believe the size of the mountains! Then, we made camp right next to the most serene, beautiful lake, hidden between soaring green mountains under deep blue skies. Just looking through the pictures makes me long to go back!

I've never been much of a camper, but for our wedding a friend got us a huge tent and a blow up mattress, making things just that much more comfortable. I had also never camped on a real camp ground, so I was able to shower and not be stinky the whole week.

For the 4th, we drove about 15 minutes down the mountain to a small town called Silverton, where they had a huge 4th of July parade! We stayed there for the afternoon for a picnic lunch, then came back later that even to watch the firework show from the top of the mountain. The whole town went dark as they lit fireworks from the opposite mountain for well over an hour, illuminating the entire valley. It was the most spectacular firework show I've ever seen.

A couple days later, we traveled about 45 minutes from our campsite to another small town, Ouray. Here we explored the town and went to the natural hot springs.

After these incredible adventures, we headed back home. On our way, we stopped in Durango where we ate lunch and visited the original Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory! Obviously the chocolate was way sweeter at this location.

Take me back!