Since High School Graduation

Seeing how I did a post of my high school years, I thought for my own Journaling purposes I should maybe give a brief synopsis of what I have been up to since graduation up to where I am today...as brief as possible. I've created collages to kind of give a visual, plus pictures can tell stories better than my words. I'm inevitably going to leave stuff out, but here are a few that have stuck out in my mind...here it goes: (P.S- I'm only allowed to upload 4 pictures per post so there is going to be more than one post pertaining to this topic (8 parts to be exact) so this first post is just the beginning...keep on scrolling down- if you even care!)
For starters, I furthered my education down at BYU Provo where I studied School Health Education (secondary Ed) with a minor in Drivers Ed (biggest whip-lash and scariest moments of my life were driving with some of those students...watch out semis!) I got to do my student teaching at American Fork Jr. High and LOVED my experience there. I had some of the best students and loved that age group, much to my surprise. I always thought I would like High School better. I survived the experience and graduated from there in the winter of 2007. I made good friends in the program, and gained myself a "Godfather," or so he calls himself (the bearded man in the collage, Paul Coon-greatest professor ever! We even still keep in touch, I love it! I actually just got a letter from him this week)

**For all the collages, if you click on them they will zoom in so you can see them better**

I simultaneously went to Hair school while enrolled at BYU. I went to Dallas Roberts Academy of Hair Design. I loved my time there and have made many lasting friendships from there. The single pictures of me with a flower in my hair was a photo shoot we had at the school-my friend needed a hair model and I suckered into letting her. She did a good job.

I've been lucky enough to go to one of my favorite places on Earth during the summers...LAKE POWELL. I love everything about that place, and take every chance I can get to be wake boarding!

I'm huge into water sports and summer-type sports, but have never really experienced the snow-type sports. I was finally introduced to skiing, and I LOVED it, probably because I had the best instructor of all times. I went with my friend from hair school, Cara Harris, and her husband, Aaron, and Cara's brother, Patrick Hendrix (who she had set me up with the day before...you may want to keep Patrick's name in mind for later. P.S.- He was my instructor that entire day). My sister and I are hoping to learn how to snowboard this year, so we'll see what happens.

Part II Since Graduation...

During my college experience I was able to live with a huge variety of girls. They were all so different in their own ways, yet I got along and loved them all! This collage doesn't include all that I had due to my computer crashing and taking all my old pictures from me, but here are a few.



When I finished Hair school, I took my first job as an official Cosmetologist and did so in the same salon for over a year and a half. Typically with so many girls working together there is drama, but I lucked out and had nothing but fun with the girls I worked with! (as for teh picture on the bottom right corner where I'm matching with the black and pink, it looks like my are is on Dani's- rest assured it is NOT, it is on the arm rest, but it still looks like an engagement pose...ha ha.)

Part III Since Graduation

I was able to go to a few Rascal Flatts concerts here in Utah. Then I got to see the Tim McGraw?Faith Hill concert in Arizona. I wasn't disappointed in any that I went to!


My cousin, Chaz, went to West Point. They were having a West Point Ball and some of his friends needed dates. So my two sisters and I got to go to New York for the weekend. It was such a flippin' blast, and way too short! We got in and got to walk around New York, then the next day we got to play football in Central Park, which was so fun. The weather was unusually warm for the season, which we were happy about. Then we went to the Ball later that evening. I really want to go back and take time to see more of the sites. I used to have more pictures of the clan we hung out with that weekend but can't find them.


I had never been to Arizona until I started dating my friend's (Cara from Hair School) brother, Patrick. He lived in Arizona so I made a surprise visit. Since then I have been a few times and really like it there. I was able to pick my first orange from a tree! It was pretty exciting business :). I also went to Texas for the first time for Patrick's grandma's 90th birthday. The area we were in was beautiful and full of trees. I had never seen such thick humidity where you have to leave the windshield wipers on- and it's not even raining! It blew my mind just a bit. Another place I visited a few times was Vegas. I went once with Patrick to go the Beatles' "Love" show (they didn't allow cameras so no pics), once with my friend Melanie, and once with my family. The first time I went, the first slot machine I ever played I won $35! Needless to say I was pretty much done after that first slot seeing how that little streak of luck was considered a major FLUKE, if anyone knows my history.

Part IV since graduation...

It looks like I've been going places in 3's. Since I graduated I've been to California three different times. The first time was with Cara and some other friends from Hair school. We went to a hair show in Anaheim. I ended up being a hair model twice- and got paid to do one of them. I can't find the pictures of the initial hair cut. But to get a picture of what if looked like, think of Shania Twain in the 80's...I was seriously sportin' a mullet! My sister was living in Navoo at the time and when I sent her a picture she said she literally fell out of her chair laughing because she couldn't believe that I REALLY had a mullet. I ended up having to cut off ten inches just to kind of blend how horrible it looked. Good laughs. After the hair show we made it to Disneyland to let out the inner child in us. It was a great bonding experience with Cara to give us a lot of time talking in lines and just playing around. I have great memories from that trip.

The second trip to California was with my friend/roommate, Melanie. It was a relaxing weekend of going to the beach, shoping, eating, and spending time with her family.

The third trip was with my family. It was our last summer together before my brother left for a mission. We spent some time in Vegas first, and stayed at Mandalay Bay. Then we went to Disneyland as well as the California Adventure theme park. My dad and I were surprisingly the ones that could handle the most rides. I hadn't laughed so hard in a while until this trip...thanks to mostly my brother, Steve.

I've been able to bust out a few Aliases (I always wanted to be Sidney Bristow...not just because of Michael Vartan, but for many reasons!). Our family always puts on a "Theme" party around Christmas, and people dress according to teh theme. Also, there have been a few Halloween costumes. I don't have pictures for all, but I had to make sure you saw me as a black woman- Lafawnduh to be exact (from Napolean Dynamite if you didn't know...but you should!). There are also pictures when I colored a panel of my bangs for the first time. Ilet my co-workers do it on a slow day at work,, we chose "Fire Rocket Red." It was a nice change since I can't do much with my hair color.

Part V since graduation...

I have attended my fair share of weddings (always the bridesmaid, ha ha). I swear my friends always planned on getting married the same day cause there have been many times where I'm doing reception marathons. Unfortunately I rarely took my camera with me so I don't have many, but here are a few to show you some of my marathon wedding day visits.


I love trying new things! I went skydiving (thanks to Patrick taking me for my birthday). I got to go shooting a few times. I let my friend, who is a cop, taze me. I've picked up biking and running (and have kinda slacked since winter has hit...oops). I was able to go wakeboarding on a freezing cold river in AZ with some friends. One new thing that I'm not a fan of is that I was diagnosed with Chronic Hives my Junior year at BYU. I lost all the gory pictures, but the one I have shows a little bit, but doesn't do it justice (it's the pic on the bottom right corner).


I have celebrated quite the birthdays (too many...time is flying!) But the orange cake was my first attempt to decorate a 6 layered cake with fondant. The "Pop it Lock it Drop it that Birthday Cake" was for my older sister, Kristin. It's a Sean Kingston song and she likes it a lot, and we told her before that we would decorate her cake with that saying. Luckily we remembered when that time came, she was pleasantly surprised. Our family went to the musical 'Wicked' and loved it. My brother wasn't too excited, but at the end he turned to me and said, "that was actually really good!" The cute little German Shepherd in the collage was our dog, Schultzi. She had the hereditary bad hips and got really crippled, so it came time to bury her. It was really sad. She was such a friendly, cute dog.



Speaking of sad events, we had to send my brother out on his mission. I'm glad he chose to go, but it doesn't make it any easier. He was my best friend at home and kept me sane. I actually was strong when we dropped him off! Not a single tear was shed...in public anyway :)

Part VI Since Graduation...

One of the best decisions I have made these past 7 years was going to Hair School. By doing so I ended up gaining a new family that I love so much! I'm not talking about some precious "hair school girls" family. I'm talking about my friend, Cara, from hair school and her family. We quickly became friends when we first started school, and then she became determined to make me officially a member of her family somehow. She set me up with her brother-in-laws, close family friends, and then some of her own step-brothers and brothers. After the first few failed setups, I was hesitant to accept another try. However, on one of our lunch breaks I happened to go with Cara to her mother's house. We were standing in the kitchen when suddenly a young man in nothing but a towel walked, then started to jog once he saw me, on past. Cara then informed me that the unclothed hottie was her brother, Patrick. He was in town from Arizona for family reasons. She had mentioned him before this incident and even had expressed that she wished I would like her brother, Patrick. Being able to put a face to a name helped and I thought, "wish granted." :) I didn't thin much of it because he was fixing to go back to Arizona and I figured nothing would come of anything, plus like I ever thought he would be interested in return- that never happens, right?!

Shortly after, Cara and I had to go back to school, but as we were heading out Patrick came out (with a Root Beer float in his hand...love the details I remember? Jeez I'm lame!) He asked if he could come get a haircut before he left. So he came along with us back to school where Cara cut his hair. Cara had me stay with her and keep them company as she was cutting. After he left, Cara asked if she could give him my phone number and email address. I agreed and she said, "Good, cause I already did." I'm telling you, Cara is one determined gal. She did say he was the one that asked for it, but you never know (but later Patrick did say that asking for a haircut was just an excuse to talk to me, so I'd like to think so). Anyway, more of that story is to come, for now let me go back to Cara and Patrick's family.

I did everything with Cara, and she happened to be living in her mother's basement at the time (which meant she was upstairs a lot too-which means I was at her mom's a lot). I got to know her family really well, including her mom, siblings, and in-laws. Cara's mom, Clyda (aka Nana), became my mother away from home. I look up to her so much and can't even begin to express the admiration and love I have for that woman. I will always see her as my "other" mom. I equally love the rest of their large family (there are over 14 siblings combined...you better believe it was hard learning all of the names and who belongs to who! It was so worth it though). I have become so close to so many of them, and truly consider them my own brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews and family. Here are some pictures of my other family (Hendrix and Thurman clan, aka- The "Thurmix" family). The first two collages are of the siblings, then there is a collage for the nephews and for the nieces.

Part VII Since Graduation...

I know you are dying with suspense to hear more about this Patrick character I mentioned earlier, ha ha jk. It would seriously be pointless for me to have written about my life since graduation and not mention him, because he has been such a major part of my life the past 4 years (I know, 4 years-can you believe it?! I can't believe how fast the time has gone by!)

Let me pick up where I left off earlier about Cara giving Patrick my number and email address. After that encounter we kind of became pen-pals via email. We did the typical get to know you questions back and forth for awhile. It wasn't until he came back to Utah for Christmas that we went on our first date. Since I'm trying to make this as short as possible, I will spare you all the details (unless you want details, you will have to comment your questions. Ha ha). Our first official date went really well. I had planned on going straight home to Farmington that night after the date, or early the next morning since BYU's break had started for the holidays. However, at the end of the date he walked me to my car and told me he wanted to take me skiing the next day since I never had been. After a little persuading I agreed to go. We went with Cara and her husband, Aaron. I can't even begin to tell you how much fun I had with him on that date. He basically skied backwards all day with me. It was nice because I didn't have to have an excuse for staring at him:). Plus on the ski lifts we were able to talk some more. Needless to say our second date was even more of a success than our first, and so it was after this date that our long distance relationship pretty much began...

Patrick eventually moved up to Utah, where we enjoyed the next 4 amazing years together. (WARNING...this next paragraph may get mush. You can't say I didn't warn you! For me, this RARELY happens) I can honestly and sincerely say I don't know what I would have done or how I would have survived those 4 years without him. I feel I have grown in many different aspects of my life solely from his influence, support, love, and unwavering faith in me as a person. He had a way of taking the weight of the world off my shoulders and was such a strength and anchor for me that I needed. He knows me so well, and I've never known someone to such an extent as I know him. Before meeting Patrick, I was like Snow White-sleeping through life, and he was the kiss to wake me up to a brighter, happier one. Once he came into my life, it felt like my life had meaning. He is my best friend and confidant. I have such unconditional love for that boy it is ridiculous.

ANYWAY...that was quite a tangent. He just moved back to Arizona for a new school semester, where tuition is cheaper. Talking to him long distance takes me back to the good old days when we first met, and feels kind of natural. I still miss being able to feel his hugs, see his calming smile, and gaze in incredibly blue eyes (check out the pictures if you don't believe me:) ). Although it is hard, I wish him all the best at the new school and in the new school year.

These pics are just a few events that we experienced together that was actually captured on film:

(You are probably wondering why there's a random picture of just me on the phone. My roommate snapped that while I was talking to Patrick and showed me and said, "You are always beaming when you talk to him." Guess he had that effect on me :) And for the random rose drawing, he asked me to draw him something and he had mentioned before that he wouldn't mind receiving flowers, so that was my attempt to give him a flower)

Part VIII- Last one!

On a happier note, during this economical crisis I was still able to find a job after I finished the Nuclear Medicine program at the University of Utah. I finished this summer in June 2009, took and passed the boards (Holla!), and started this new job as a Traveling Nuclear Medicine Tech in September. So that is where I am in life right now, a single workin' gal. I feel very fortunate and blessed in that department! I only work with one other girl, Carly. We get along great, which makes work a lot easier to enjoy. And there you have it, you are now up to date of my past 7 years since graduation to my present life. Congratulations! Flippin' exciting wouldn't you say??? Ha ha, jk. Pretty uneventful compared to others I'm sure with their weddings, babies, etc. But I am learning to enjoy every phase of my life as it goes. I hope you all do the same!

Girl friends

So I posted earlier my High School pictures and forgot to add some pictures of my close friends. The picture with more girls was my High School clan (the fun group :) ) and the one with less girls were girls from BYU Preference.

A formal affair

Here are my High School formal dance pictures, can you guess what year I was in each picture??? Here's a hint, my pale-faced Holocaust victim pictures were my earlier years :) If you can't see them well, click on the picture and it will enlarge for you...enlarge at your own risk!

Old School

I was cleaning out some things in my room and I found all my old High School Dance pictures. It was so entertaining to look through them and see all of my friends, and how they have changed since then. My sophomore pictures are hilarious...I sure hope I don't look like that anymore! So many good memories kept racing through my mind, it was fun to look through. I really had some great times and great friends in high school! It's weird to look at some of these friends and think, "Now they are married with 1, 2, or 3 kids!" Looks like I need to get on that! :)

(click on images to make larger)

Do I really look 18???

So, when I work at the American Fork Hospital I have to walk to the secretary's reception desk to get the patient's Creatinine level (basically to see if the patient's kidneys can handle IV contrast). I got to talking to the secretary and she brought up her son who just barely got back from his mission, and then started fishing for info on my relationship status. I kind of dodged that and mentioned I had a brother who has been out for 6 months. After I told her that she looked at me in shock and asked how far apart we were in age. I told her a little over 5 years, then she REALLY gave me a look. I told her I was 25 and she actually gasped. Then she said, "I thought you were 18!" ha ha ha ha! Seriously?? Does she think someone fresh out of High School can get a job in a hospital working with Radioactive tracers without any further education? Wow, but I guess I am at the age where I should be glad I look younger than I am (to some people anyway). Looks like I should get the boring scrubs instead of designs and prints, maybe that makes me seem younger too...who knows. Anyway, I thought it was pretty funny.

Bridal shower & game night

The other night I went to a bridal shower for my good friend, Melanie Moyes. We were roommates for a few years and became really close. I just can't believe she is getting married, girls are dropping like flies! I also got to see other friends of mine that I haven't seen in a while. I just wish it could have been a little longer so I could talk with them more individually to see what is new in their lives, looks like someone else needs to get married so I can get that chance (just don't count on it being me! ha ha).

(You can't really see my sister, Stacy, and Lu in the back (they are the tiny pin heads). I wish I would have noticed how small it turned out so I could have got a closer picture of them. I guess I'll have to wait for Lu's bridal shower!)

Then after the shower I went over to my friend, Cara's. Her sisters Meg and Kylee, Jake (Meg's husband), Mckay (Ky's boyfriend) as well as Kevin (Cara's brother) were all there. They were having a game night. We ended up watching the last bit of American Idol, then the guys were on the computer, so us girls had a good long chat about some events going on in our lives. It was really fun to talk and have fun. I totaly consider them my family!

(Kylee & I ...then Cara pullin one of her many faces)