C&K

Chandler & Karen sittin in a tree

2011-11-23T15:55:00.000-08:00

A special post that is long overdue

Music by Brian Boyer

Anniversary

2011-08-01T00:22:00.000-07:00

Chandler and I spent our 2 year anniversary in Hawaii! Two years doesn't seem that long, but we've made SO many memories! I love to reflect on all the good times we've shared. I'm so grateful we were married in the temple. We have grown together with the Lord. I know that families are an important part of our Heavenly Fathers plan. I'm glad Chandler's my family :)

Los Angeles Temple August 1st, 2009

Las Vegas 2010

Maui 2011

"Grow old with me, the best is yet to be"

Hawaii

2011-07-31T00:21:00.000-07:00

The Annual Boyer trip to Maui!

Chandler and I were so excited to go back to Maui this year. It was fun to have Brian and Naarah there for the first time too.

Our favorite drive around the island

The beach out front our place

We tried paddle boarding for the first time this year and loved it!

Jumping off the rock
Chandler

Surfing at our favorite beach

Naarah surfed for the first time and stood up!!

Beautiful Maui sunset

Beautiful Laura

Eating our favorite shave ice

Big Beach. The best body surfing on Maui. My favorite beach!

Chandler's sandy mustache... shows how creepy he's look if he grew a real one

Luau

Aloha 'Oe

The Johnson Girls

2011-07-17T00:10:00.000-07:00

After the weak at Solana Chandler and I stayed with Amy and her family in Laguna. We got there just in time to celebrates Nora's 4th Birthday. Shes such a silly head and we love her so much!

Chandler and Brian watched the girls one day so Amy and I could have some time just us hanging out. We could talk 24/7 so we just found a pretty spot by the beach and talked

We love going to our favorite beach by Amy's house at the Montage. Its such a beautiful spot and we walk down a ways where its not crowded.

Walking around San Juan Capistrano

Bridget is the happiest little girl I know. She gives lots of loves to everyone and just melts your heart. Chandler was lovin it!

Solana Beach Reunion

2011-07-10T00:09:00.000-07:00

Every summer Zan's side of the family meet up at Solana Beach for the Peterson reunion. It's such a fun and relaxing trip. We pretty much wake up and sit on the beach ALL day. My favorite. This year I had a really good book to read and little Cannon to cuddle with me in the shade :)

This was a random/fun game the boys played. I think it looks cool too...

we fit in some surfing too...

Alina would get so tired at the beach and wound up sleeping a lot of the time... in funny positions

Chandler loves playing with the kids on the beach. he's the funnest uncle EVER!!

The toddler pit...

sweet babies chillin in the tent

the last night of the week we had the classic root beer drinking contest! It actually just turned into a soda contest. Uncle Brad always finds the strangest drinks...

Lake Mead

2011-07-07T00:08:00.000-07:00

I finally got to visit Lake Mead. Our friends the Leavitts took us out for a fun day on the lake! Ive never been to the lake with Chandler and it was so fun to see him out on the water. The water felt great and it was such a fun day!

Little William was so fun to have on the boat with us!

Karen

Elizabeth

Trent

Chandler

Enterprise Reunion

2011-07-01T18:38:00.000-07:00

For the Hyer reunion we spent 4th of July weekend in Enterprise, Ut. Chandlers family has land there where they are in the process of building a house and developing the land. It turned out to be a fun weekend!

We loved cruising around the land on the go carts and John Deer.

Shooting was one of the many activities at the reunion.

My favorite thing to do was paddle around on the beautiful pond that Chandler and his family actually made!

We also went fly fishing in the pond (they stocked the pond with trout). It was SO much fun. Thanks to Uncle Kris we had all the gear and I even caught a few fish!!

We put all the fish we caught back in the water. Chandler was careful to make sure they swam off ok. One of the fish we caught didn't quite make it back in the pond so I decided it woudlnt go to waste. I made Chandler gut it and then I fried it up in the duch oven. It was my first time having trout and it was pretty good. It was also cool to catch my own meal!

Sunday night we had a beautiful performance by Ty on the bagpipes. Its an amazing instrument and such a fun talent!

The farmer who rents some of the land brought his horses over for us to ride. We felt just like real country folk :)

Chandler and his brothers built a 75 ft water slide into the pond. We had SO much fun riding down on inter-tubes.

I had such a good time at "the farm". Zan did a great job feeding everyone and it was so fun to see Dodds dream of having the family meet together in Enterprise come to life

everybody say bye house!

2011-06-29T23:12:00.000-07:00

We finally moved to Vegas! Saying goodbye to Provo was definitely bitter sweet. Attending BYU and living in Provo was such a fun chapter of my life. Of course its extra special because that's where Chandler and I met and spent our first 2 years married. We have so many fun memories here. But... we're also SO excited to move on with our lives and get started on the next chapter!

moving day went fast and we were so thankful for all the help, especially from Zan who came to help drive the U-haul!

Of course I have to say a word or two about my first job as a nurse. My experience working in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center was amazing. I worked with such an incredible group of people who were smart and inspiring. One year is hardly enough time to call myself an experienced nurse, but I am so grateful for all that I was exposed to in that short time. I learned so much. I really came to love my job and wish I had been better about recording some of my experiences. I feel so lucky to have a job that is so exciting and fast paced. I grew mentally, emotionally, and physically (lifting heavy patients!). I was able to feel like I made a difference in peoples lives. I felt the Lord's hand guide me every single shift as I carried a sometimes heavy burden of caring for the critically ill. I cant think of a better experience to have for my first year as a nurse and I am so thankful for the time I had in Provo.

Last night at work 6/20/2011

Next up is our summer of all summers!! Chandler starts school the end of August and I decided to hold off on getting a job until then. We have lots of fun summer trips planned and days with no work, no school, no rent (living in Chandlers parents house until we find a house of our own)... We are going to live it up and enjoy this last summer before Chandler starts Dental School! Woohoo, Vegas here we come!!

squeezing some fun in

2011-06-28T15:00:00.000-07:00

Random updates of what we were up to our last month in Provo...

At the end of May we took another trip to the beach house in San Diego and then partied in Vegas for Chandlers birthday.

cruisin around in the "la bamba" 1966 Chrysler 300

Eating at a yummy Vegas buffet for his birthday

Laura works at the gas station down the block from us so we had fun visiting her at work!

June 1st, Laura got her mission call to Lima North, Peru! She leaves in October

Naarah came and performed with the Orange County Mormon Choral Organization in June. She plays the violin and they performed "The Messiah in America", a beautiful Oratorio composed by Brett Stewart (the director of OCMCO) about Christ coming to the Americas. I was blown away by the performance and am in love with the arrangement. Cant wait for the recording to come out! My little neice Heidi also performs in OCMCO which has a childrens chorus ( AMAZING) as part of many of the choral arrangements.
We had fun spending time with Brian & Naarah while they were in town
Julianne had her beautiful little Layla after spending TOO long in the hospital on STRICT bed-rest. I don't know how Julianne survived sitting in the hospital for so long but I had fun visiting her when I had free time on my night shifts. She definitely deserved the miracle of little Layla being born healthy, still early, but much later than we expected!

Right after Layla was born Annalise had baby Cannon! We saw him a few weeks later when we came down to Vegas. We get to see lots of him and he's my favorite little cuddle buddy :)
We used our "pass of all passes" lots to go miniature golfing where I got my own hole-in-one to show up Chandler...
We also squeezed in some fun visits with all our Utah friends who I will miss hanging out with

Beach House

2011-05-06T23:42:00.000-07:00

The Hyer's have a great beach house in San Diego that Chandler and I got to take advantage of. It was so fun to visit with my family and hang out at the beach. Such a good week!

We met up with everyone at Amy's house which is a good meeting point between the beach house and my family in Claremont.

Nora modeling my Mom's high heels...
Bridget is always happy!
We also got to spend Mother's Day all together! I didnt take any pictures but it was a fun gathering with everyone there! Love you Mom.

We had so much fun on the beach with everyone and even a few days Chandler and I had the beach all to ourselves!

Classic shot of Dad with a long board

Playing our favorite game "ladder ball"

These birds flew above us ALL day long every day...

We stopped by the San Diego temple. SO beautiful. I hadnt been through since I FIRST went through the temple almost two years ago!

On our way back to Utah we had to stop by and see Amy and her cute family one more time. We stopped by a farmers market to get some yummy fresh fruit!

We love visiting with family and have been making trips down to California and Vegas about every other weekend since mid April... Cant wait to move closer soon!

Hole-in-One

2011-04-22T23:28:00.000-07:00

Chandler has done a LOT of golfing lately. He took a golf class this last semester and it really got him going! While we were in Vegas house shopping Chandler went golfing with his brothers and had a hole-in-one!! He always impresses me with how talented he is at sports :)

The hole-in-one shot was made over the water and sand patch you see there. Looks pretty tough to me!

The Hair Cut

2011-04-01T23:07:00.000-07:00

I hate to be one of those people who cant cut their hair, but I became that. My hair had grown pretty long and I was afraid to cut it short. I decided I would do it in small steps. For the first haircut I was going to cut 3-4inches... Somehow the first cut became much shorter then I had in mind. I mightve been a little traumatized, but I got over it :) In the end I'm glad I skipped the steps and have a fun shorter haircut!

The first haircut wound up being so close to my future goal for a short haircut that I cut my hair again just a few weeks later to finish it off.

I have to add that the haircut happened on April Fool's day and I woke up to this...

so freaky

Random pictures to catch up

2011-03-31T19:25:00.000-07:00

I started a new form of journaling this year. It's "a picture a day" and I found a cool app on my phone that keeps a calendar with the pictures I take everyday. Its been so fun to keep up with everything we're doing. I thought Id share some of the stuff we've been up to!

Saint Patrick's day was celebrated Boyer stile with corned beef and cabbage and my new favorite soda bread.

Saturday before my birthday Chandler and I went to the temple and planned on going to dinner... but Laura got in a car accident :( I got to play nurse for my sis and we still had yummy pizza later that night.
For some reason I didnt take any pictures on my birthday besides this....

We love to hit up the batting cages!
General Conference in the conference center
Eventually got around to going out for my birthday dinner... Our new FAVORITE restaurant Cucina Tuscana. Its a little extravagant for our budget but the home-made pasta melts in your mouth!
Bowling with the ward and lots of game nights with friends
We've also spent a lot of time doing the drive from Provo to Vegas and California...

The house hunt has kept us pretty busy as well. We've walked through quite a few homes... We've found some places we like but haven't sealed the deal yet!

The Hyer's love their UNLV Rebels and were very excited to meet the new coach Dave Rice (from BYU) at a friends BBQ. These boys have NEVER wanted me to take their picture so bad :)

CALIFRONIA here I come...

2011-03-08T16:44:00.000-08:00

Right back where I started from! Laura and her roommate took a weekend trip to California and I decided to join. I actually turned it into a week long trip and flew home a few days later. I had to drive in a car full of girls after working all night, so I wound up being awake for like 36 hours straight, but it was all worth it when I came home to sunny California!

Saturday we had a late celebration for Amy's birthday. We had a girls day out and shopped all the fun antique stores by the beach. Later we had a pizza party with everyone (minus poor chandler who had to stay and do school). I loved spending time with my family!

such a silly head...

happy girl

Ikea trip, of course we had to eat there!

The beaches by Amy are fabulous and we had some GREAT picnics with amazing views! I loved staying up late talking to Amy and loving on her beautiful little girls. They are too cute!! I could seriousyl ramble on and on about all three girls...

Beautiful Heidi

I have to add that my mom took Laura and I for a girly day.We got mani/pedis. Randomly we stopped by an eyebrow place. I just have to say it was life changing! haha, I have NEVER had my eyebrows done. This coming from a girl who started tweezing at age 10 (TMI?). We went to a place that does threading, it was cheap, fast, it didnt hurt and my eyebrows have never looked so good :) Just had to share that little tip...

In the Jordan

2011-03-01T16:34:00.000-08:00

I had a patient from Jordan the other night! She didnt speak English, but her family was there to translate. I had so much fun talking about Jordan, all the places I visited and how much I love the people. I could sit and listen to them speak Arabic all day. I seriously love it. And every time they said a word I recognized I would say, "oh I know what that means!" they were so nice to put up with me :) One thing that totally reminded me of Jordan, was that the patients daughter stayed all night and practically did my job. I remember in the hospitals in Jordan the patients friends and families were SO involved in their care. Example, I walked in and the daughter had given the patient a bed-bath (which is a LOT of work). Oh how I love Jordanians!!
Here's a link to my Jordan blog posts if you want to reminisce with me :) JORDAN

February fun!

2011-02-28T15:46:00.000-08:00

What we've been up to...

I finally started using the sewing machine I got for Christmas! I found some cute patterns and random fabric to practice. I still don't have a finished project, but little by little I'm working on it when I have time.

Provo Beach Resort is such a fun hangout. Chandler and I went exploring there a few weeks ago and had a lot of fun! There's SO much to do there, including indoor surfing! We weren't prepared for the surfing so we just played some games (we will be back for surfing). Shuffle board might seem random, but we actually went through a phase of playing it on Chandlers phone and got kind of obsessed, it was fun to play the real thing!

Chandler always plays intramural sports and this year he played basketball with some friends. I love cheering him on at his games!

grown up stuff

2011-02-20T15:38:00.000-08:00

Amazingly I didnt have to work over Presidents Day weekend so Chandler and I were able to go out of town. We decided to go down to Vegas to start looking at where we're going to live. Crazy! It was so fun to start the search but definitely a little overwhelming also... SO many changes! We found some neighborhoods we like and just had fun hanging with family.

We're still debating on buying vs renting, house vs town house, what neighborhood, how far away from school, where I will work, and many other decisions. Such an exciting time of life!

love love love love love...

2011-02-14T03:55:00.000-08:00

I really wanted to have a special Valentines post... But since its now March, this is just a quick post for pictures. I had to work the night of Valentines Day so we celebrated over the weekend before. We randomly stopped by Utah lake on our way to dinner and saw a BEAUTIFUL sunset!

Part of the lake was frozen so
we ventured out on it...

love birds :)

We also did a countdown to Valentines Day. It was such a fun thing that made the month special! The calendar I made was WAY low budget, but I highly recommend doing something like this. It was just simple little things we did every day. Some examples... One night we read some of my old journal entries. We had a blast. It just made me fall more in love with my hubby remembering how it all started :) another day we looked through a scrapbook I had made of our dating years up until engagement and our wedding album. The calendar also took the pressure off of the actual holiday because we had been celebrating it all month!

Chinese new year

2011-02-03T03:42:00.000-08:00

Chandler and I decided to celebrate Chinese New Year by eating Panda Express and watching Chinese documentaries on Netflix. It turned out to be a fun night :) Thanks to my sister Amy for the inspiration.

Big announcement!!

2011-01-29T16:33:00.001-08:00

I have some BIG news people. Its actually not completely new... We've known for a few weeks now, but I'm finally announcing...

Chandler got accepted to UNLV Dental School!!!! It was one of our top choices and we are so excited Chandler got accepted!! Its so crazy to think we know what we'll be doing with our life for the next few years. Everything's been up in the air for so long. I couldn't be more proud of Chandler. He has worked SO hard!!

We celebrated all weekend!

Nursing school reunion

2011-01-17T15:09:00.000-08:00

It was so fun meeting up with some of my best friends from Nursing school. We went through a lot together and we have so much fun reminiscing. We all have different nursing jobs and its fun to talk about our first year as nurses. Some of them have already started their families!!

These are some amazing women!

Ice Skating

2011-01-16T15:50:00.000-08:00

Chandler and I have so much fun going out with Brady and Nicole. They plan such fun dates! A few weekends ago we met up and went ice skating at the SLC outside skating rink.

Chandlers a pro on the ice.

So back in the day I took an ice skating class at BYU with my roommates. We got pretty good, and I was bragging about how good I was on the drive over to the skating rink. Well, its been a few years since that class, and I made a complete fool of myself! I was terrified on the ice and Chandler had to hold me the whole time. haha, that's what I get for bragging....

March 2007

Good times!

2011

2011-01-01T15:03:00.000-08:00

For New Years we celebrated at a fun party Nicole and Brady hosted. We literally danced the night away with the Kinect. So Fun!!

Fireworks on the strip.

Christmas

2010-12-25T14:55:00.000-08:00

So I had to work for Christmas Eve and Christmas. That's just part of the job... But I still had such a fun Christmas. Fun Christmas parties with the Hyer's, lots of amazing gifts, yummy food, and good times with family. I flew home to work and came right back to the celebrations the next day. I really just came home, worked, slept, and came back. Chandler stayed with family, but he left special surprises all over the house for me. Spending Christmas alone, working, was a new experience for me...While I was at work I read a talk by Elder Holland that made my Christmas feel special.

"Maybe the purchasing and the making and the wrapping and the decorating—those delightfully generous and important expressions of our love at Christmas—should be separated, if only slightly, from the more quiet, personal moments when we consider the meaning of the Baby (and his birth) who prompts the giving of such gifts.
As happens so often if we are not careful, the symbols can cover that which is symbolized. In some of our lives the manger has already been torn down to allow for a discount store running three-for-a-dollar specials on gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
...I, like you, need to remember the very plain scene, even the poverty, of a night devoid of tinsel or wrapping or goods of this world. Only when we see that single, sacred, unadorned object of our devotion—the Babe of Bethlehem—will we know why “tis the season to be jolly” and why the giving of gifts is so appropriate."
Jeffrey R. Holland, "“Maybe Christmas Doesn’t Come from a Store”", Ensign, Dec. 1977, 63–65

Sitting in the hospital, there really weren't any distractions from what Christmas is really about... I felt very blessed to have that special experience at Christmas to focus on the birth of Christ.

Christmastime

2010-12-20T14:15:00.000-08:00

Christmas was a whirlwind this year! Chandler and I did LOTS of traveling. First we drove down early to celebrate an early Christmas with my family.

We read the story of the Nativity with some great character reenactments....

Heidi was an AWESOME angel!

I dont remember what Nora was supposed to be, but whatever it was she didnt like it. She decided to be a hula girl.

After celebrating with my family we drove back to Vegas to meet Dallin at the airport. Dallin just returned from his mission in Ukraine!
His plane didnt land until 2AM. It was a long trip for his parents who picked him up as well. Everyone still gathered at the airport to greet him. Even the grandparents!
the babies woke up to see him too! They were pretty excited.

Here's the group waiting...
I decided that instead of catching the moment I wanted to be a part of it... so I dont have any pictures of him actually coming out. But here's a picture of the returned missionary!

Dallin

Christmas lights and Reindeer

2010-12-13T14:05:00.000-08:00

We took Laura for a birthday celebration. We saw Christmas lights and ate a yummy dinner at Thanksgiving point.

We saw Reindeer!

My favorite!

Family Photos

2010-11-27T13:19:00.000-08:00

While we were all down for Thanksgiving we took family pictures!

Mom and Dad lookin Good!

Amy's beautiful family

Brian and his cute new wife Naarah

The grandparents and grandbabies

Who could resist this cutie?!

Thanksgiving

2010-11-26T12:23:00.000-08:00

I was able to get the week of Thanksgiving off work! It was so fun to have my whole family together!! I didn't take too many pictures but here are some gathered from others.

A visit to Amy's place by the beach and a beautiful walk...

Dinner at Mom and Dads

My mom makes such a great meal.

Love these girlies!
My family loves to sing Christmas songs around the piano. That is not Chandlers idea of fun. Look what a good sport he was :)

I got to accompany Naarah playing the violin. Playing" Jesu, Joy of Mans Desiring" was the highlight!

This baby is so silly. I'm obsessed.

She tried her first solid foods. This video is hilarious!

Another favorite video, Nora is SO good at dancing!

Tea Party

2010-11-19T11:48:00.000-08:00

This was such a fun place. Laura is missing her London, and took us all to this fun little tea shop. We had yummy herbal tea, scones, and shopped in an England shop.

Cheers!

One Day More

2010-11-08T15:05:00.000-08:00

The 25th Anniversary of Les Miserables!
Will be in theaters Nation Wide! Find a theater near you...
http://www.fathomevents.com/performingarts/event/lesmiserables.aspx

Ode to Autumn

2010-11-01T16:44:00.001-07:00

Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.
-George Eliot

driving though the canyon with Laura

my favorite bread to make!

great butternut squash bisque recipe!!

my first time making pumpkin pie :)

This fall we have had many yummy meals and beautiful drives through Provo canyon.

Happy Autumn!

In Shape

2010-10-20T11:27:00.000-07:00

I am not "in shape"... I hate making time to exercise, I hate being sore afterward, I hate that I have to time it just write between eating and sleeping or it will disrupt both. Chandler tells me that most people agree with me, but they do it anyway. Because its good for you. Which I should know, I'm a nurse, I'm a cardiac nurse, I instruct my patients about how important it is for them to exercise regularly to have a healthy heart... So I decided to get in shape.

It started on Saturday when Chandler and I were shopping around the mall to get Christmas gift ideas. There was a nice exercise kit (ball, resistance bands, etc.) majorly on sale. I thought the different equipment looked fun and Chandler found a pull up bar on sale he'd been wanting so we decided to go for it (we shouldn't start Christmas shopping this early...)

On Monday the exercising began! Chandler did his P90X which I hate, while I did my little routine with the new "equipment". It was fun, but we started a little too late and neither of us could get to sleep that night. Then last night we both got into out exercise clothes, sat on the couch, and watched TV... and I ate a bowl of ice cream...in our exercise clothes. Very embarrassing.

The reason I'm posting this is because I have a goal!! I want to exercise, and if I share that goal with friends I am more likely to keep it. Or so Ive heard.

So today, I woke up and exercised. It feels great. It turns out there are some pros to exercising as well. Please keep me on track people, give me a pep talk, tell me I'm not the only one who finds this goal SO difficult!!!

Vegas Trip

2010-10-18T17:02:00.000-07:00

Last weekend (10/9) we got to visit our Vegas family. We were there for the wedding of these beautiful people:

Trevor and Jordan Petersen (Chandlers cousin Trevor)

It was such a beautiful day and the weather was amazing!

At the Las Vegas temple

The reception was at a beautiful golf course. There was such a pretty sunset.

I love spending time with family. We always get spoiled with amazing food and fun conversations.

great day

2010-10-15T12:16:00.000-07:00

-First off, I got ACLS certified!! Its an extra certification for health care providers and it makes me feel like a better nurse :) To get certified I went to two days of classes that started at 8 AM. That meant I was a normal part of society waking up (and leaving the house...) before 9AM! That doesn't usually happen with me working nights shifts... I did come home and take a nap, but that's because Chandler and I decided to have a talk-fest until 2 AM the night before... I love being married to him!
-Second, Laura and I had an amazing picnic lunch. Even better, Chandler resurfaced from his CRAZY studying to join us the WHOLE day!! We drove up the canyon to a favorite park of mine. Chandler took me there when we were first dating... It was the most perfect fall day EVER! The canyon was amazing to see the whole way up, and the park was almost empty and so beautiful. Pictures couldn't even capture. But we did do a little photo shoot.... Which I wasnt prepared for fashion wise, hairstyle wise, or makeup wise so please dont judge.

Driving up the canyon

Chandler explored down by the creek while Laura and I chatted on our picnic blanket

Soaking up the sun, surrounded by this...

Our amazing photographer

-Third, on the way down the canyon we stopped to get caramel apples, apple pie caramel apples from Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory to be exact (Me and Laura's favorite!!). The book store by the chocolate shop was having a book sale which is my favorite thing in the world. I didnt actually buy any books but perusing was just as great. Also on the way to the chocolate shop a girl handed us a "buy one get one free" coupon for Tucanos because it was closed when we walked by... That was thee amazing things in one trip!!
-Fourth, I had dinner with some of my nursing school friends. It is so fun to tell crazy nursing stories and talk about how much we love/hate our jobs! haha, I think we all have a love/hate relationship with our jobs. Those girls are so fun and I couldn't have made it through nursing school without them!
-Fifth, Chandler and I had a late night Del Taco run and hulu fest. OK, I know the Del Taco thing sounds gross to most people but its kind of my favorite... haha.

Well thats the end of the great day. I loved every moment of yesterday and it felt good to fill a day with so much greatness. Sorry for the cheesiness and exclamation points...

Recalled to Life

2010-09-28T23:00:00.000-07:00

I haven't quite jumped into Fall yet, still hanging onto summer. Provo has been nice enough to give me some sunny/warm days over the last few weeks so I can continue to pretend that its summer. Chandler and I have been having some great bike rides and lazy afternoons at the park.

I have finally been getting into my reading groove (school kind of took that away for a while). I have been reading up a storm and just started to re-read my favorite book by my favorite author: A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. There are so many beautiful themes in the book, but my favorite is the theme of resurrection. Dickens was originally going to title the whole book "recalled to life". The book reminds me that we all are able to be "recalled to life". Many of the characters make huge changes in their lives and its very inspiring.

One of my favorite parts is when the character who gives up his life for others in the end finds true peace and happiness, he finds life when he is in fact "losing it". He reminds us of the Lords promise when he quotes "I am the Resurrection and the Life, saith the Lord: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die." I have been thinking about this topic a lot lately. In my job I see many people at the end of their life. I have been grateful for the opportunity to ponder more on life after death. My testimony of the plan of salvation has grown so much. The Lord's promise regarding resurrection has never been so important to me.

"An understanding and testimony of the resurrection can give us hope and perspective as we experience the challenges, trials, and triumphs of life. We can find comfort in the assurance that the Savior lives and that through His Atonement, "he breaketh the bands of death, that the grave shall have no victory, and that the sting of death should be swallowed up in the hopes of glory" (Alma 22:14). "
http://new.lds.org/study/topics/resurrection?lang=eng

SO interesting...

2010-09-28T21:04:00.000-07:00

Chandler randomly brought home Forbes magazine the other day and I found this interesting article. It adds some interesting ideas to something I already knew... Its short and worth the read.

On My Mind

Yes, Money Can Buy Happiness

If you give it away.

Michael I. Norton, 08.26.10, 09:00 AM EDT

Forbes Magazine dated September 13, 2010

Does money buy happiness? We certainly behave as though it does, spending most of our waking hours pursuing it. If only we got that raise, owned that second home, third car or 3G iPad, things would be better, we tell ourselves. We would finally be happy.

Truth be told, people drastically overestimate the impact of changes in income on their well-being. In a survey I conducted with my colleagues Elizabeth Dunn and Lara Aknin at the University of British Columbia, we asked 315 Americans to rank their happiness on a 100-point scale and predict how happy they would be if they made ten different incomes, ranging from $5,000 up to $1,000,000. Those who reported earning $25,000 a year predicted that their happiness would double if they made $55,000. But when we measured the actual happiness of these two groups, the change was only 7%. Beyond that, our data showed that once people reach the median income in the U.S. (about $60,000), the happiness return on additional income is very small.

Hapless lotto winners, take heart. We did discover at least one way to buy happiness with your money: Give it away.

Why might this be the case? We hypothesize that making more money leads people to accumulate more and more material goods, but not to accrue the things that really make people happy--relationships with others. Think of the wealthy person who buys three homes with 15 guest bedrooms--yet finds himself without any friends or family to host. Even shopping, Americans' longtime preferred method of social interaction, now requires no social interaction at all. You can fill your 16-bedroom home with goods without leaving it. All you need is a cable modem and a PC.

To test our idea, we approached strangers on the street and gave them different sums of money ($5 or $20) and told them to spend it by 5 p.m. that day. Half were told to spend the money on themselves, while the other half were told to spend it on others. When reached that evening, those who spent the money on themselves bought things like coffee and food, while those who gave money to others reported spending it on things like gifts for their siblings or donations to the homeless.

The result? Those who had spent their money on others reported feeling much happier at the end of the day than those who had spent their money as they usually did, on themselves. There was no difference in happiness between those who spent $5 or $20, suggesting that it is not how much money you spend, but how you spend it, that boosts the spirits. When we asked people to choose what would make them happiest, most people predicted that spending money on themselves would make them happier than giving it away, suggesting that people overestimate the buzz they get from a new purchase and underestimate the warm-and-fuzzy benefit to social spending.

Money certainly makes some things in life easier, but many aspects of life remain irritatingly the same. You might make more money, but you're still stuck with the same in-laws, siblings, traffic jams and software glitches. So should you keep trying to make money? Absolutely. As long as you remember to spend some of it on others.

http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/0913/opinions-ipad-happiness-money-lotto-on-my-mind.html

BYU

2010-09-25T18:22:00.000-07:00

We got to go to a BYU football game! Thanks to Chandler's brother we had connections to a game! I haven't been in so long and it was such a beautiful day to watch the game. BYU lost, but we still had fun :)

Utah State Fair

2010-09-10T21:56:00.000-07:00

Chandler and I have been going to the Utah state fair every year since we started dating! This year we decided to check out the rodeo and enjoyed it with the some of my favorite cousins!

My cousin Steve and his beautiful family! Gracie and her “nana”

The real-life beautiful cowgirl! Natalie loves horses and has become quite the hors-back rider!

Provo, UT

2010-09-06T21:49:00.000-07:00

We decided to call Provo home again. Chandler started his last year at BYU, and I’m back to working and relaxing! We started off the school year with a hike to the Y. I’m not going to talk about how out of shape I am, but it was a beautiful evening!

How we spent our summer vacation

2010-09-06T21:29:00.000-07:00

We have been so busy this summer! The great thing about working 12hr shifts is that I can have lots of days off in between. Chandler and I definitely took advantage of that this summer. We both feel like we were hardly in Provo all summer. We would leave, come back to work, and leave again. It was crazy at times, but so worth it. We enjoyed spending so much time with our families! To get a recap of our summer click HERE or just scroll down where we left off…

Silly

2010-08-20T21:21:00.000-07:00

We had lots of fun staying in Vegas in between our trips to California! Zan always makes a delicious dinner and Alina and Peter provide great entertainment!

Little Alina has a silly habit of humming while she eats. I tried to capture it in this video, but you really just have to see it in person!

Aren't they so cute sitting at their little kid table?!

Old Mans

2010-08-18T20:12:00.000-07:00

While we were in California Chandler got to do lots of surfing! I love seeing him out there surfing, he’s getting really good! I didnt have my wetsuit and was too wimpy to join him. Lame, I know (the water was freezing!). But on our last night down visiting my sister Chandler and I drove down to Old Man’s. Its the beach I surfed at back in the day. I have SO many memories at that beach, SO many early morning surf trips. I had such a great time just sitting on the beach remembering all the fun times and watching Chandler catch some sweet rides.

One last California trip…

2010-08-17T20:03:00.000-07:00

After work I flew back to Chandler so we could have one last trip before his school stared. We spent a few days in Vegas and then headed back down to California to stay with My sister in her awesome beach house that she lives in year round!!!

The 3 minute walk to the beach from her place…

Amy’s children are obsessed with Chandler. He played with them pretty much the entire time we were visiting. Even when he tried to take a nap Nora wouldnt leave him alone…

One morning Chandler and I went for a walk. After walking through a long stretch of rocky coast we found our own little secluded beach :)

While we were down in CA my parents celebrated their 31st Wedding Anniversary!! We all ate out at the melting pot, yum!

We tried out the free breach shuttle one morning. We visited a beautiful beach and had such a fun time with the girls!

The girls having a blast with Chandler... Right after this picture Chandler quickly put the girls down (Nora was pretty sad as you can see below) He told me later that when he picked them up they both screamed s0 loud in his ears that it felt like a sonic boom. I laughed so hard when he told me that. He’s definitely not used to little girls screaming all the time!

She really wanted to be out in the water!! Look at those cheeks!!

We spent a lot of time in this baby tent. We could seriously talk forever!! Love my sister :)

The Roomies!!

2010-08-12T19:30:00.000-07:00

After the wedding I flew back to Provo to work (Chandler stayed in Vegas with his family). After work I flew back to be with Chandler, but first I had a fun girls night with my old roommates! I’ve been through a lot with these girls. They were the friends I made when I first came up to Provo 4 years ago!! We really have been through everything together and I feel so lucky to have them as friends. These girls are my very favorite and it was so amazing to be all together again. We are all so busy and it was the last chance to have us all in the same State :( I hope we do it again really soon!!

These pictures required lots of practice shots with me pressing the timer and running back to the couch…you get the idea. Anyway, it was so worth having a good picture to remember our fun reunion!

The Wedding

2010-08-07T19:18:00.000-07:00

Brian and Naarah are married!!

Amy is really good at this….you cant even tell what shes doing!

The reception was so gorgeous!!

Chandler and I loved going back to the LA temple for the first time since OUR sealing! We will miss having Brian and Naarah close by!

The bachelorette party!

2010-08-05T19:34:00.000-07:00

I was so excited to go down to California for Brian and Naarah’s wedding!!! We had such a fun bachelorette party! We ate at a yummy Indian restaurant and got our nails done. It was so fun seeing Naaras mom and meeting her sister Ingrid (and her two adorable children)!

The beautiful bride to be getting pampered!

My favorite guest at the party!

First Anniversary

2010-08-01T19:33:00.000-07:00

Chandler and I celebrated our first anniversary!! We decided to drive to Vegas and stay in a nice hotel on the strip (like we did last year after our reception in Vegas). The hotel was so nice and I took a wonderful nap after working all night! We enjoyed a fancy dinner and Chandler took me to see Phantom of the Opera!! I had never seen it before and absolutely loved it!! Chandler also got me a new camera!!! Ive been wanting a smaller camera to carry around in my purse for a long time. This was truly a selfless gift because Chandler HATES taking pictures.

I was trying out my new camera and Chandler was regretting buying it for me…

A TV in the mirror!

Chandler and I have had an amazing year. He is truly the love of my life. I think we really make a great team, I make him take out his contacts every night and he makes me wear my retainer :) I love our late night talks and lazy days. I love our summer night bike rides, midnight snacks at Wendy’s, Wii wars, yummy dinners, the list never ends. On our anniversary we danced to our wedding song and remembered our special day. Our wedding day was such a beautiful day, everything went perfectly! We have been through so many big changes this last year and we are so excited for our eternity together!

Idaho Reunion

2010-07-23T19:53:00.000-07:00

The Corbridge reunion is in Soda Springs, Idaho every summer. I had never been to Idaho so I was pretty excited. On the way up we stopped at a spring so I could find out why it was called Soda Springs. There was natural bubbling pools of carbonated water! I really didnt care to try the water….but Chandler wouldnt take a picture unless I did!

Chandlers blocking his face because I hadnt drank the water yet…

Tasted like a dirty penny…

As soon as we pulled up to the ranch Chandler and I went straight for the horses!

Every year there is a fun “themed” hay ride. This year the theme was Harry Potter. There was some pretty creative stuff involved!

Chandler and I had such a fun time in Idaho. One of the family members from the reunion is an amazing photographer and I wanted to share a few of her pictures that really caught the beauty of the place!

Chandler said this swing set and horse are a big part of his memories of this place…

I have to add that on the way home we stopped by Lava Hot springs. We decided to go tubing down the river which got a little crazy… Apparently we went over the wrong side of the falls and got pretty banged up. I have some scars to prove it! But it was still a fun memory I dont want to forget :)

Family Reunion at the beach

2010-07-17T20:28:00.000-07:00

Chandlers family on the Peterson side meet at Solona Beach every year. I've been a few times when Chandler and I were dating, but this year we went as a married couple :) It was such a relaxing week spending every day at the beach and eating lots of yummy food.

The Annual root bear contest!

Happy 4th

2010-07-04T13:46:00.000-07:00

4th of July was a relaxing weekend for us. Chandlers aunt and uncle let us babysit their adorable little puppy. We fell in love with this dog and I was very close to going out and buying a dog after that!

We went up the canyon for a BBQ with Brian & Naarah (the engaged couple!) We always have so much fun with them.

that night Chandler and I rode our bikes up to the Hinckley center on campus and had a perfect view of the stadium of fire. It was a beautiful night.

In Hawaii

2010-06-17T13:41:00.000-07:00

We had such a great time in Hawaii!! my parents have been taking my family to Maui for the last ten years and I was so excited to bring Chandler along this year! There was lots of shave ice, surfing, and RELAXING!

We went to our favorite Luau with great food and culture!

The BEST snorkel trip in Maui!!

Look at Chandlers shaved head!! The night before we left for Hawaii I wanted to try to give Chandler a haircut. He really wanted to shave his head so he let me give it a try. I thought the cut turned out nice but as you can see Chandler didnt agree and he got to shave his head like he wanted…

We went on a beautiful Sunday drive around the Island

So many good surf trips!

Some yoga at Big Beach…

Towards the end of the trip Chandler decided to try some spear fishing. He was too afraid to kill any of the beautiful fish so he didnt get anything… but it looked like fun!

The beach outside our place.

Chandler and I LOVED our Maui trip.

I love being a Nurse!

2010-06-16T11:25:00.000-07:00

Orientation at my job ended right around graduation. Working as a new nurse was exactly what those who have gone before said it would be. I have put off blogging because of that very thing...

I HATED my first month of working. I really sincerely hated it. Anyone who asked me how my job was going got nothing but the truth. I couldn't pretend that I liked it... haha, I didn't handle it very well. But I have to say, after a month I started not hating it so much, and lately, I have even liked it!! It is still very scary and sometimes I wonder why in the world I chose to do this... but I have begun to receive the satisfaction that keeps nurses going. In the beginning I felt SO incompetent and freaked out of my mind, but I have begun to realize that there will always be new things and I will always be learning. I have started relishing in the special moments I share with my patients and all the new things I am learning. I still struggle functioning like a normal person after working all night long, and I still have nights where I feel overwhelmed, but I am starting to find joy in my job. I have started to feel like I actually help people, I learn, I grow, I will some day be the nurse I want to be.

I have to say that the Lord has truly blessed me. As much as I have complained and hated starting this new job, it is exactly what I wanted. And the Lord has helped me with every step. During one of my hardest times I was reading the Hymn: Lord, I would follow thee. Ive talked about it before... Anyway, I read something that stood out to me and needed to be shared. A part of the verse says "finding strength beyond my own", and "find in Thee my strength my beacon". It hit me, I was not strong enough to do this on my own. Obvious to many... but I just hadn't recognized it. Even though I felt weak and incapable, the Lord would help me.

I have to recognize someone else who has helped me...Chandler has been my biggest support. Visiting me for a late night snack at the hospital cafeteria, holding me while I ball my eyes out after a long night, surprising me with treats when I get home, making dinner for me before I go to work (even though I havent cooked for him since way too long...), refusing to let me do the dishes when I get home in the morning, running errands, and just putting up with all the craziness Ive felt. He is just the best. I cant imagine a better companion to be by my side through all this.

This post is for EVERYONE who has put up with my complaining... I know I'm being kind of dramatic, but I am learning. Tomorrow I start orienting in the ICU. Lets see how much I learned from this experience...

Trips Home

2010-05-22T12:02:00.000-07:00

Chandler had to be in Vegas for his friends wedding + I needed a break from work/Provo= fun trip to Vegas! It was a busy weekend but we had lots of fun visiting family in Vegas! I left Chandler in Vegas to come back to work, it was a long week apart...

As soon as Chandler got back, I went home to visit my family and meet my brand new niece Bridget!!! It was such a fantastic trip with really good sister bonding. I absolutely LOVED spending so much time with my adorable little nieces. They make me so happy. Amy is such a cute little mommy with a cute little family :)

Meet baby Bridget!

mmm... so cozy!

they love their grandpa!

The Birthday Girl!! (hello kitty party) Heidi is 6!

The Nora

The yummy cake!!

We got Heidi a bat... Chandler says he wants boys because they're funner to play with. I always tell him you can have the same fun with girls. So we got Heidi a bat. And shes a darn good baseball player!

Graduation 2010

2010-04-23T10:50:00.000-07:00

Chandler and I walked together for April BYU graduation. So it was kind of anticlimactic for both of us... I graduated last December and Chandler graduates this coming December/will be in school FOREVER! But BYU doesnt hold graduation in Decemeber so this was the best time to celebrate. Lots of family came to celebrate with us and it was a really fun two days!

My mom worked all night making her famous money lei, always a hit!

Chandlers Cousin Anne Marie and her family shared the celebration with us!

We also made an appearance here... we're famous

We walked together with the college of nursing ceremony. I got pinned!

Lets just bask in the beauty of all the initials next to my name for the ceremony... I earned it!
Karen Nicole Boyer Hyer R.N, B.S., MCL, STT, GK, PKP
MCL: Magna cum laude
STT: Sigma theta tau, Nursing Honor Society
GK: Golden Key Honor Society
PKP: Phi Kappa Phi BYU chapter honor society

I cant wait for Chandler to graduate from Dental School!!! But first he needs to get in...

Girl's Day!!

2010-03-30T10:14:00.000-07:00

Right before I started my new job my mother-in-law and sister-in-law came up to visit and have a girls day! It was a much needed outing and they were such good sports going to the organ concert (I'm a dork) with me :)

I really wanted to explore Temple Square more and this was the perfect day to do it. We checked out the church library (and got a special tour...), the Museum of Church History and Art, the Tabernacle (and a lovely organ concert put on by Clay Christiansen), lunch in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, peeked in at the Church Administration Building, and finally had a beautiful visit to the Relief Society Building. I wasnt aware of the special history of the Relief Society Building, but you can learn about it HERE and find out why my grandmothers name is in this special book :)
The Relief Society (one of the oldest and largest women's organizations in the world!) is such a special organization and I'm so proud of my grandmother's sacrifice (she was a single mom and worked hard for her money!).
It was such a fun day! Zan and Annalise made me feel so special!

Workin Hard

2010-03-29T16:51:00.001-07:00

I survived my first week on the job! I was SO nervous the first day that I didnt sleep at all the night before. Luckily I had enough adrenalin to survive. I have to say, it really has been a good experience so far. Not as tortuous as I thought :) But it was a lot to take in for the first few days and I'm glad to have a few days off. There are so many things to learn!!

"for my hot sugar mama"

I came home to this nice treat from my hubby after my first day!

I'm so glad I chose to go into nursing. It is such a fulfilling and satisfying job. I cant imagine doing anything else. It's hard for me to comprehend all the things I am going to experience over the next year, I'll just take it as it comes.

I worked sunday which was new for me. This is definitely a Utah thing, but they actually pass the sacrament around the hospital. I got to take the sacrament with my patient. It was a neat experience. I think it was a missionary couple and the wife shared a quote:"If we will...walk hand in hand with Him in His paths, we will go forward with faith and never feel alone." Elder Craig Zwick. It was a special feeling to stand in a room with someone very sick and share a sacred moment. I felt the spirit very strong. I knew I was where I should be.
So I just wanted to say I survived my first week and I'm excited for whats to come.

This was at the end of 3 12hr shifts in a row....dont judge me

Somewhere in the weekend of working 48hrs I had a birthday! I mainly just wanted to sleep but I also got pampered with Laura and ate yummy food with Chandler.

Olive Garden the night before my Birthday with friends and family. forgot to take a group pic :(

Randomly, I was craving seafood and Red Lobster is all we have in Provo... I enjoyed yummy crab legs on my birthday!

"Sunny Days"

2010-03-21T19:16:00.001-07:00

Chasing the clouds away... remember that song? I cant believe how great the sun has been lately. All the sudden (with the time change) its just been hanging around a lot more! I walk outside at 7pm and am shocked to see the sun still there, I am SO grateful for that! I have been going to the park as often as I can to let my pale skin soak up the sun. I always tell Chandler I need to "warm my bones" :)
It really hasn't been that bad of a winter, but the spring weather is just so incredible. Chandler and I went on a walk the other evening and as we were walking along a random college student on a bike shouted at us "SPRING IS HERE!!" It made me happy.

Today was an especially beautiful Sunday and we had a picnic at the park! It was so relaxing.

Please ignore the snow on the mountain, its Utah, and when its 50 degrees or higher people go outside and enjoy it!!
I was also excited to use our picnic basket! (a wedding present)

sun on our backs

an essential picnic item

we were sitting on a little hill and this was our view

These last two weeks before my job starts I keep saying "before my life is over" when Chandler and I do anything, as if its the last time we'll be able to do anything fun... I know its not true, this job is going to be a great thing, and I will make time for beautiful sunny days!!! But by the end of sunday ( I have to work on sunday, sick people dont take breaks....) I will have worked 56 hours. Thats 4 12 hour (3 in a row) shifts and an 8hour day of orientation. Wish me luck, actually pray really hard! Anyway, I just thought I'd get one last blog in before my life is over... ;)

*Ashley and Sarah: remember "the last time before Sarah leaves!!!" haha, good times, this reminded me of that

St. Patricks Day

2010-03-17T20:39:00.000-07:00

I have to post on this holiday, in honor of my Irish blood! My mom has always made this holiday special and its come to be one of my favorites. We actually ate the traditional corned beef and cabbage on Sunday with Laura, Brian, Naarah, and Naarah's mom. I decided to try something new this year and made some Irish soda bread. It was really easy and yummy!

This morning I woke up to Chandler pinching my legs. I was so confused and then I came to and remembered I specifically slept with a green shirt to avoid that (how rude!). I had lucky charms for breakfast and wore green to my relief society activity. Nothing special. But its a fun occasion for me to think of my ancestors. My mom sent me a link this morning that helped me think about some of the things my ancestors went through. I am proud of my Irish blood, thanks for keeping it alive mom!

I'm a working woman

2010-03-16T20:07:00.000-07:00

Almost... I officially start next week at my new job. I was hired onto the Cardiovascular ICU! Its taken a week for me to be able to say that with an exclamation mark. I have been SO nervous about this job. Here's the thing, I have been sitting around applying for jobs for the last 3 months with no success (only one interview out of 50+ applications). I started losing my nursing drive, and definitely my confidence. This job just popped up, I applied, I got an interview...and they hired me! I was shocked. Its scary/humbling/time consuming/tiring/intimidating/overwhelming...I could go on and on. But I am finally just accepting it. Life is full of hard things, and I'm taking it on. Yes I would like to only do easy things, I'm not ashamed to say it, but I am taking this job anyway. So even though I get slightly nauseous every time I think about it, I AM excited to have this job. To be a working woman. To do hard things. But more importantly, to be a NURSE!!
Karen Hyer, RN BS

First semester in nursing school

"Nursing is an art: and if it is to be made an art, it requires an exclusive devotion as hard a preparation, as any painter's or sculptor's work; for what is the having to do with dead canvas or dead marble, compared with having to do with the living body, the temple of God's spirit? It is one of the Fine Arts: I had almost said, the finest of Fine Arts." ~Florence Nightingale

Zumba

2010-02-26T13:39:00.000-08:00

Laura's roommate Tatiana is from Ecuador and teaches Zumba. She taught for Laura's relief society the other day and I came along for the fun. If you haven't heard of it, its only the most amazing workout experience of your life! It is basically intense dance/aerobic moves set to really fun Latin music (reggaeton, samba, etc). It really was a workout though, I was so exhausted at the end! Noone looked as cool as Tatiana, but we had such a blast following along to the fun dance moves and music. I really want to join a Zumba class!!

Valentines Day weekend

2010-02-26T13:25:00.001-08:00

Thanks to Presidents day Chandler and I had such a relaxing Valentines Weekend.
-Friday: We made valentines with Brian and Naarah to hand out at the nursing home. Watched a movie and ate conversation hearts :)
-Saturday: slept in, went to the temple, ate out at the Spaghetti Factory (tradition), I got a new dress on sale!! we played yahtzee

-Sunday: Chandler made a french toast breakfast and had beautiful flowers and a PEARL necklace waiting for me!
After church we passed out our valentines at the nursing home and sung to them, it was so fun! Then Chandler made a delicious dinner!! We reminisced about our past valentines and when we first fell in love :)

The chef... I love him

Chandler really wanted me to get a picture of him flipping the asparagus in the skillet. You cant really tell but if you look closely...

Monday: SLEPT IN! went for a drive with Brian and Naarah. Went to the Nickelcade.

We just had such a fun relaxing weekend. It was the best!

Brings a smile to my face...

2010-02-24T11:12:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting to watch this video SOOO badly! Amy finally posted! I will be clicking on THIS link many many many times. If you want some 18second entertainment I suggest you click on it too.
explanation: Norah is my little 2year old niece. She walked around singing this ALL Christmas break. She just has such a funny monotone way of singing it! And the little dance is cute too! I also love that when we captured it she didnt have any pants on...

Updates!

2010-02-23T13:28:00.000-08:00

I finally completed all the updating I wanted to do. I guess it was a little ambitious of me to try to update all the way from last summer... but I did it! Just keep clicking older posts to get to the beginning of the updates with our engagement photos. You know this is for you mom, so enjoy :)

New Blog!!

2010-02-14T18:23:00.001-08:00

I'm finally switching my blogging over to this site! Ive been using my old blog for a while but I decided to use this blog to update everyone on our life together! I finished blogging my semester in Jordan on my old blog so you can click HERE to check it out! But now I have a lot of updating since the wedding so keep checking in on us!

New Years Eve in California

2009-12-31T23:19:00.000-08:00

For New Years Eve we visited the Johnsons in Dana Point. It was a beautiful day and it was so fun to celebrate with the girls again!

Posing in front of the clock...

So darn cute!Crazy new years girl!

A toast!

Christmas with the Boyer's

2009-12-25T21:38:00.000-08:00

It was so fun to go down to California for Christmas. The best part was having Heidi and Nora there on Christmas morning. They pretty much made Christmas morning!

Its tradition to sing Christmas songs around the piano

Chandler avoided the tradition with my dad :)

I really love watching Chandler play with Norah and Heidi. They adore him (more like theyre obsessed with him) and he is so good with little girls! I know this is excessive...but I just had to post these videos (theyre really short)!

Norah loved getting scared by Chandler... I coudl watch this over and over again!!

Norah has such a high-pitched voice but when she plays with toys she has an even higher voice for her dolls!

After Christmas we took a trip to the LA zoo. I havent been there since we had passes when I was little. It was so fun!!
I wish I could post all the fun animal pictures I took, but I dont think anyone wouls enjoy them as much as me! Here's a few...

We always used to call Amy a flamingo so of coarse this pictures had to be taken

My two favorite girls!
Sunday after Christmas
Watching Avatar in 3D. I thought Chandler looked super cool in his glasses. I had to wear my regular glasses underneath the 3d glasses...not as cool

Christmas with the Hyer's

2009-12-23T21:33:00.000-08:00

Chandler and I were so lucky to spend the long holiday break with both our families! First we stopped in La Vegas to join the family festivities.

We got to celebrate Christmas early with a party at Grandma Petersons. Chandler and I were lucky enough (we fought Brady and Nicole for the part) to play Joseph and Mary!
I knew I was officially accepted as part of the Hyer family when I received a few UNLV Rebels shirts.

Laura's Birthda

2009-12-15T20:38:00.000-08:00

Chandler and I had fun surprising Laura at midnight for her birthday. Chandler really got exposed to girls night out... he chauffeured us around and couldnt believe how silly we were acting!

We celebrated again later at dinner and bowling

If you look closely at Chandlers face, you might recognize that this is his teasing face...he's tickling Laura

Temple Square

2009-12-11T20:10:00.000-08:00

I always want to look at the lights at Temple Square with Chandler. We finally decided to go and it was the coldest night EVER! We were seriously freezing. Chandler tried to warm me up with hot chocolate but it just wasnt enough... We hurried back to the car and met up with Brady and Nicole at IHOP. Still a fun night!

Laura came along for the fun!

Nursing School

2009-12-10T20:53:00.000-08:00

I finished nursing school. I didnt really know how much it owned me until I was finally free!! What an amazing experience. A lot of nursing school is a blur, but it was such a huge part of my life. Click HERE for some of my past posts about nursing school. I wont actually walk for graduation until April, but I am officially finished. Words cannot describe the life changing experience of nursing school.

On the last day of class we went down to the Nursing Learning Center and took some pictures in the places we spent lots of time studying!

This wasnt just any "dummy" he talked, breathed, had a heartbeat and did many other things. He taught us a lot :)
We had a fun graduation dinner where I got voted most likely to argue for one point back from a teacher... I guess I'm proud of that...
I havent figured out how to download this video from facebook, but it was put together for our graduation celebration. Click HERE if you want to see it!

The BYU Nursing School's motto was "Learning The Healers Art". We use the Hymn "Lord, I would Follow Thee" as a theme and the nursing school added a few verses that have special meaning to us. Nursing school was a big accomplishment for me and I cant believe I finished! I will be forever grateful for the MANY learning experiences I had. Healing is a unique and personal process for everyone, being a part of that process is something I have a strong passion for. I will forever use my nursing skills in every aspect of my life :)

Lord, I Would Follow Thee (hymn #220)
1.Savior, may I learn to love thee,
Walk the path that thou hast shown,
Pause to help and lift another,
Finding strength beyond my own.
Savior, may I learn to love thee—
Lord, I would follow thee.

2. Who am I to judge another
When I walk imperfectly?
In the quiet heart is hidden
Sorrow that the eye can’t see.
Who am I to judge another?
Lord, I would follow thee

3. I would be my brother’s keeper;
I would learn the healer’s art.
To the wounded and the weary
I would show a gentle heart.
I would be my brother’s keeper—
Lord, I would follow thee.

4. Savior, may I love my brother
As I know thou lovest me, Find in thee my strength, my beacon,
For thy servant I would be.
Savior, may I love my brother—
Lord, I would follow thee.
*following verses were additions made by the nursing school:
1.Stir my heart with Love’s compassion,
When in weakness I withhold,
I would heal, as thou hast healed me,
Comfort, strengthen and enfold:
Stir my heart with Love’s compassion-
Lord-I would follow Thee

2.Precious, fleeting is my time here,
Whisper wisdom to my mind,
Courage when my heart is aching,
Faith when fear is all I find:
Precious, fleeting is my time here-
Lord, I would follow thee.

Chandlers Art Clas

2009-12-09T12:35:00.000-08:00

Chandler took such a fun class this semester. It was a sculpture class but he was able to work with so many different forms of art! I reaped the benefits of lots of beautiful art made personally by Chandler!

A lamp!

his boombox ready to be bronzed

Thanksgiving in St George

2009-11-26T12:41:00.000-08:00

We spent Thanksgiving in St George with the Hyer's extended family. It was beautiful weather!

The cousins

The boys played a round of soccer
Watching the game from the sidelines

After St Geoge we headed down to Vegas

Shopping with the girls

Beautiful baby Alina
We had such a fun time celebrating Thanksgiving and spending time with family!

Moms Birthday

2009-10-09T20:06:00.000-07:00

Chandler and I were excited to make a trip to California for my moms birthday. I left a little early to help out at the Senior Olympics in St. George (so fun!!) It was such a fun weekend with the family!

These girls are always my favorite part of trips home!

Utah State Fair

2009-09-18T19:58:00.000-07:00

This was our second time going to the State Fair. Chandler and I went when we were first dating and he won me a stuffed animal that I still have!

Laura and Chandler share a love for eating food and going on dizzy fair rides...

Chandler REALLY wanted to hit those bottles...

Labor Day

2009-09-07T19:57:00.000-07:00

We had such a fun day playing at the park and having a BBQ in the mountains with Laura, Brian, and Naarah

Back to Utah

2009-08-16T19:39:00.000-07:00

On our way back to Utah we stopped by beautiful Enterprise. Chandler helped with some of the work and I enjoyed the beautiful scenery.

He's such a hard worker

We chased a cow out of the fields.... surprisingly fun!

Driving back to Utah... Chandler was being difficult

I gave up on taking a decent picture... but I love his silliness :)

The Honey Moons

2009-08-09T19:11:00.000-07:00

We had a whole month before school started after our wedding, so we made the most of it! First we went to the family beach house in San Diego. It was so beautiful and we got to just relax after a busy weekend! Then we headed up to Vegas for the next reception. Chandler had a surprise hotel room on the strip! Such a cool hotel...
Next we were on our way to Aruba!!! SUCH a beautiful island

I made Chandler take SO many pictures on this balcony... I kept trying to get the perfect pictures, It kind of became a joke so we decided to take one there EVERY day! haha, thanks Chandler...

The hotel gave us this little bag of goodies

Unfortunately there was a big bottle of wine in the bag...
We used the local bus to get around the Island
Chandler tried escargot for the first time!

He's such a goof
We went on a fun snorkel trip

Chandler waiting for me to set up the camera...
It was SO humid the lens on my camera kept fogging up

What an amazing trip! We loved our week in Aruba!

The Wedding

2009-08-01T17:55:00.000-07:00

Our wedding day was such a perfect day. The whole day turned out so great and I wouldnt have had it any other way. The weather was perfect, the temple was beautiful, our families were there, and we were so in love.

Getting ready with my sisters

Family Prayer before we left for the temple

Coming out of the temple

The Whole group
The Wedding Party

Married!

After our week at the beach, we had another reception in Las Vegas. It was so fun to get dressed up again! I dont have pictures from that day, but we looked the same... and the weather was perfect again!! Oh, and there was dip'n'dots...

Summer of LOVE

2009-07-04T16:42:00.000-07:00

I finally returned from Jordan to plan the wedding and see my Fiance!! Chandler and I spent lots of time traveling back and forth to see each other. It was a very long summer not living in the same state, but we actually saw each other quite a bit!

Dinner at Cracker Barrel with the family

Chandler had a Bachelor party weekend in Yellowstone.

He caught the Biggest fish of his life!

I got to attend the Hyer family reunion, celebrate Grandma Hyers Birthday, and 4th of July in Park City, Ut. It was such a fun weekend! We decided to go on a mountain biking ride with some Uncles and cousins.... not such a good idea! The bike ride was pretty crazy, but it did have some beautiful scenery!

watching the fireworks!

On our way up to Park City Chandler took me by our new apartment (I hadnt seen it yet)!! As we walked through the rooms Chandler had put my real engagement ring in the bedroom. When I finally noticed it, Chandler got down on one knee and proposed, again! It was so sweet and such a special place in our new apartment together. I thought it was cute how nervous he was even the second time... I already said yes!

I had lots of Bridal showers thanks to my friends and family!

Provo Shower

California Shower

Amy put together such a beautiful shower and I am so grateful for the amazing memories she compiled for me (album AND interview of Chandler(!

I dont have pictures from the Vegas shower but it was great to have all the Vegas family celebrating!

Picking out flowers in the LA flower district. I couldnt have done it without Mikey!!!

Finally the time came for me to go through the temple to prepare to be married! What a beautiful place. I am so grateful to have the gospel of The Church of Jesus Christ in my life. It makes my life beautiful.
San Diego Temple

While I was in Jordan

2009-06-08T12:29:00.000-07:00

While I was in Jordan Chandler was on a humanitarian trip in Guatemala. He had such a great time there and was able to do amazing things!

Engagement Photos

2009-06-07T19:11:00.000-07:00

Here's some of my favorites.

The Final Choice!

For Zan...

Ok, I have a lot of favorites...