Lots to Celebrate!

We've had so much to celebrate since we moved to Minneapolis: my 23rd Birthday in February, our ONE YEAR Anniversary and Easter in March....And, you better believe I celebrated when it finally started to look like Spring around here! We had two days at the end of April where I thought it might, then it snowed again. Oh, Minnesota. But, the past two weeks have been blissful!

Here's a brief re-cap of all of those fun celebrations, and Part Two of my blog "catch-up:"

MY GOLDEN BIRTHDAY

It was my golden birthday this year.Chad planned a lovely evening for us. We went to dinner at Bar La Grassa, my new favorite restaurant in Minneapolis. The flavors of their food is simply incredible! Honestly, if that was all we did for my birthday, I would have been satisfied. The food and atmosphere were perfect.

The fun didn't stop there though. After dinner, we went to the Mall of America for some mini-golfing. It was a lot of fun and we had our own little competition.

Last but not least, Chad spoiled me with a new Chi hair straightener, the new Maroon 5 and Fun CDs, and a new pair of shoes. I'm a lucky girl!

OUR ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY

It seemed pretty surreal to celebrate our one year anniversary. It went by so quickly and I definitely didn't imagine we would be living in Minneapolis. Life is an adventure, but it's so great when you take that adventure hand in hand with your best friend.

We started our celebration a few weeks early by going to the musical Spamalot. It was only in town for a few days and we loved it! It was hilarious.

On our actual anniversary we went to Murray's steakhouse and shared their famous silver butter knife steak for two. It's a 28 ounce strip sirloin that they carve tableside. I think my jaw dropped when they brought out the massive block of meat and began serving me my "portion." It was absolutely delicious though! I had so much fun getting dressed up and enjoying the famous Murray's experience with my sweetheart.

We also had a good laugh about a few things that happened on our wedding day. Here's a few of the laughable moments:

1. As we sat holding hands in the celestial room, excitedly waiting for our turn to be sealed, the temple worker telling us how some couples have made it all the way to the celestial room before deciding they couldn't go through with the sealing and "it's not too late yet." I think she thought she was funny.

2. Our temple sealer calling us "Chandace," then quickly correcting himself as the Hyland clan had a little laugh because that's what they called us after we were engaged.

3. Me looking at my mother in-law when the sealer referred to me as "Sister Hyland." One year later and I'm still quite sure that "Sister Hyland" is my mother in-law.

4. Chad's friends keeping him hydrated throughout the day with a Camelback full of Mountain Dew.

5. My sister, Natalie, running through the tables at our reception, grabbing Chad's brother Cody's plate, setting it on the table, and pulling him to the dance floor. He still had his breadsticks in his shirt pocket.

6. Chad's very *creative* friends re-arranging our reception sign because I wouldn't let them decorate our get-away car.

EASTER

Easter was our first big holiday away from family. We would have loved to have been with our families, but we are so grateful for such good friends here that invited us to their Easter Dinner. It was absolutely delicious! I even channeled my Aunt Julianne and made some homemade croissant rolls.

We gave each other Easter baskets. My Easter basket contained the new Les Mis DVD and some yummy candy, most importantly being my favorite Easter candy, Cadbury Mini Eggs. I filled Chad's Easter basket with candy and a pass for us to go do some glass blowing. I'm so anxious to get that scheduled and go do it!

SPRING

We celebrated on the two days that it got above 70 degrees, along with the rest of Minnesota, by going to the lake and enjoying the sun--some of us more than others. As you can see below, people were out on the "beach," in their swimwear, laying out on their beach towels...with the ice still on the lake. I repeat my prior sentiment, "Oh, Minnesota." It snowed again after this.

I'm so glad it really is Spring now. I may admit to having teared up at the sight of blossoms. We've been able to go on bike rides and to the Farmers Market. I'm in heaven. These pictures are from our bike ride to the Mississippi.

We're now excited to celebrate our Memorial Day Weekend in Duluth! 

Busy, Busy, but Good

Better late than never, right? I finally decided I better sit down and blog about what we've been up to during our first three and a half months in Minneapolis (Part One).

We're keeping busy, busy here with work and church stuff. It's great though that we were both able to jump right into our new responsibilities! It's made these first few months fly by and the adjustment has been great.

WORK

Chad started working at Target a week after we moved here. He began his clearance pricing training in Women's Apparel (his mentor's category), then a few weeks later he was given responsibility for Healthcare clearance pricing. In week 6 of working for Target, due to some staffing changes and how well he was performing, he was given additional responsibilities. He is now responsible for the clearance pricing of what is categorized as "Household, Personal, Baby" and "Snacks, Beverages, Pet Food, and Candy," in addition to continuing his responsibility over "Healthcare."

As you can imagine, he's being kept really busy with that level of responsibility and has had a few late nights in the office. He's really enjoying it though! In fact, he's added about 30 minutes of shopping time to our Target runs because we HAVE to go check out the clearance items. I'm not complaining though; we've found some great deals!

I've happily continued working for Certiport. My job responsibilities have begun to shift because we've had some people leave, new people hired, and new positions made available. I'm now responsible for the North America marketing campaigns for the Adobe Certified Associate, Autodesk Certified User, and QuickBooks Certified User programs, as well as our corporate social media accounts. I'm also continuing my responsibility over the marketing for our partner program, until we hire someone for that position. Yes, they are keeping me really busy.

Fortunately, the big focus of my time right now is on something I absolutely love! I am prepping for our biggest event(s) of the year--the Global Partner Summit, the Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship, and the Adobe Certified Associate World Championship. This year we are having them in Washington, D.C., July 31-August 3.

This picture is me and the other student ambassadors at last year's event. I can't wait for this year's event!

CHURCH

We both had callings and spoke in sacrament meeting one week after our records had officially been moved! They don't mess around in this ward. They put you to work, and we're glad they did.

Chad was initially called to teach Elders Quorum. Then, just as the Elders Quorum President had forewarned us might happen, the Bishopric "stole" him rather quickly and called him to teach the youth Sunday School class. He's perfect for that calling and the youth love him!

I was called to be the 2nd Counselor in the Young Women's and Girls Camp Director. Let's just say that when the bishopric extended my calling, I put my hands above my head and exclaimed, "YES!" Bet they've never gotten a response like that before. They found out rather quickly how much I loved Young Women's and Girls Camp, and how excited I was/am to work with the Young Women in our ward! I really love them so much.

Things are going great here and we're grateful for the opportunities we are having at work and at church!