Memorial Day Weekend

We spent the first part of our Memorial Day weekend at G & R’s (Grandma and Grandpa Hyland’s) cabin at Fish Lake. It was tons of fun, especially because I finally feel like a “true Hyland.” Fish Lake is a tradition for them, so I needed to experience it to be a “true Hyland.”

Here we are with G & R:

We played lots of Hand and Foot; Chad’s uncle’s set up a Frisbee golf course through the trees (I found out quickly that throwing a Frisbee, especially through the trees, is not my greatest strength); and, we ate lots of yummy food.

A highlight of the weekend though was attending church in Loa. It was held in a beautiful, old church building. The inside reminded me a lot of the Provo Tabernacle because we got to sit up in the balcony. Chad and I spent a good portion of sacrament meeting reminiscing about the stupid things people used to do in our singles wards during Stake Conference in the tabernacle. Besides quietly laughing and reminiscing, it also allowed for some time to think about my ancestors and those who have served and currently are serving in the military. I’m so grateful for them. Tears come to my eyes just to think of them. Thank you will never seem to be enough!

Here’s the exterior of the building:

We came back Sunday night so we could go to my brother’s baseball games on Monday. He did awesome! Their team took second place out of some very talented teams and I couldn’t have been prouder. Go Lone Peak!

I finished off my weekend by going to my best friend’s bachelorette party (Chad invited some of his friends down to our apartment for a guy’s night while I was gone). Chelsey gets married TOMORROW to one of the best guys I know, and I’m proud to say I played a role in them meeting and falling in love...

Ryan and I were friends our freshman year and I wrote him while he served an LDS mission in Uruguay. Chelsey and I were “random” roommates my sophomore year and we quickly realized we were going to be the best of friends. In my letters I started telling Ryan about my amazing roommate and how excited I was for them to meet. He responded awhile later with a letter written specifically for Chelsey enclosed within my letter. It took off from there. He came home. They met. They fell in love. They get MARRIED TOMORROW! Two of the best people I know get to spend forever together! I’m so excited for them! Marriage is the greatest.

Anyway, needless to say, it was a great Memorial Day Weekend!

Education = Always Learning

Last week Certiport, the company I work for, announced that we were acquired by Pearson VUE, the computer-based testing arm of Pearson, the world’s leading education company. No, I did not lose my job through this acquisition. In fact, no Certiport employee was terminated in this acquisition. We were all considered “a great addition to the Pearson family” according to the CEO of Pearson VUE. I’ve spent this last week learning more about the company and can definitely say, “I’m a proud new addition to the Pearson family.”

Pearson’s slogan is “Always Learning” and I absolutely love it. Why? Because I passionately believe in the value of education and that education should never end. Of course formal education should come to an end [Seriously, friends, graduate from college already :) ], but we should constantly strive to learn something new and develop our skills. I also love Pearson’s slogan because they LIVE it. They provide multiple opportunities for education and learning for their employees and employees families. Yay!

This acquisition has also made me think back about how the value of education was instilled in me from a young age. My parents always encouraged my siblings and I to excel at school. They would read with us, help us with our math, assist us in paying tuition, and stay up late into the night with us finishing a project. I value so much now the time they spent with me instilling the value of education. I’m sure it is something I will carry with me and promote throughout my life, especially with my own children. And, I’m so glad to know Chad’s parents did the same for him in teaching the value of education.

Now, as much as a swore to myself that I would NEVER be a teacher, I find myself deeply entrenched in the education industry—and I’m very happy with it! Teachers, continue on with your quest to instill a love of learning within your students. You have a special gift and I’m proud to support you, even though I couldn’t do your job. I’ll continue doing my job, support worthy education causes like The Perpetual Education Fund (http://pef.lds.org/), and continue “Always Learning.”

Honeymoon

We've been home from our honeymoon for a week now and despite both of us making trips to the doctor's office this week, it has been pretty good. It was hard to come home from paradise, but reality is good too.

So here's to reliving our week in Cancun and remembering how fun it is to spend every day together...

We knew we were in for a treat when we were welcomed with glasses of champagne into our beautiful resort lobby (We obviously had to turn down the nice champagne welcome).

This was the stunning view from the lobby.

Once we checked in we were whisked away on a golf cart.  Much to my glee, we arrived at our room--an ocean view, swim-up suite.

The view from our room was incredible and so was the resort, so we obviously spent our first few days just hanging out.

We read, swam, and enjoyed our complimentary dinner on the beach and breakfast in bed.

We relived Switzerland with a life-size chessboard.

Cancun 2012

Switzerland 2011

We even witnessed a few weddings.

After a few days on the resort we decided to start our adventures off the resort. We went on the Tulum and Xel-Ha tour. It was great to be back on a bus together, again...

Tulum was spectacular. The Mayan's thoroughly amaze me.

And, Xel-Ha was also great. It was my first experience snorkeling and once I figured out how to keep my lenses from fogging, I was good to go. Trick - spit in them, rub it around, dip them in the water, wet your face = success.

The following day we went on the Snorkel Xtreme tour. We started out this tour by ziplining through the jungle, then rappelling off a tower. I only screamed once. After that it was amazing!

The third part of the Snorkel Extreme tour was snorkeling in a Cenote (an underground river where the get their freshwater). It was the coldest water I've ever been in because it doesn't get any sun, but it was well worth it. There were points where the stalactites were inches from our head. So cool!

To finish off the Snorkel Xtreme tour they took us out to a reef to snorkel. We saw sea turtles, stingrays, schools of fish, and lots of other beautiful sea creatures. It was surreal. Now I've got to go get scuba certified!

For our last off-the-resort adventure, we swam with the dolphins and fulfilled my life-long dream. Anyone remember me saying I wanted to be a dolphin trainer in Elementary school? It was soooo cool! The highlights were laying Superman and having two dolphins push me up out of the water, then riding belly-to-belly with a dolphin swimming upside down. It almost felt like I was a trainer, so I can say I essentially fulfilled that dream. Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of pictures from that day because they wanted us to pay $80 for 3 pictures on a disk. It only went up from there. Ridiculous. So, we walked away with only this picture.

Seriously, Cancun was amazing! It made me reflect on how great it was to travel across Europe with Chad and spend nearly every day of 5 weeks with him. We've now traveled to 11 countries together and we can't wait to travel to many, many more. Which country should we visit next?