Dreamy Hawaii Trip: Part 1

We found out last Christmas that the whole Mortensen clan would be going to Hawaii! The wait from December 2013 to August 2014 was rough, but, most days, the anticipation was the only thing that got me through Spring and Summer classes. Needless to say, Monday morning at 3:30 I was extremely excited. The Delta flight attendant said, "woah, you are way too awake this morning." "I'm going to Hawaii!"

packing the car at 3:30 in the AM. WHAT!?

Hawaii airlines babay!

blurry plane selfie 

We stayed at this perfect condo on the Southwest side of Oahu. I forgot to get a picture! :( It was perfect for our stay! It had a full kitchen with all appliances. Our first stop was good ol' Costco to get groceries for the week. Costco is a great land. (Costco samples in Hawaii are the same as samples in Utah. In my mind they would be poi and coconut and fish. But, alas, jello and pretzel hot pocket thing.) 

magical pineapple. it's hawaii.

The kids stayed at the condo, while Steve's parents stayed at a hotel a few blocks away. Connected to this hotel were these lagoons. We spent the second day relaxing at the lagoons. Hello, horrible sun burn. on the second day. Apparently, when your skin hasn't seen the sun in a year a single application of SPF 50 is not good enough for this fair skinned girl.

Ko'olina Lagoon

Steve is swimming with two sea turtles in this picture. serious. 

I have the cutest nieces and nephews! 

Also, the cutest husband. 

That night we went out to a nice dinner and the gardens connected to the restaurant. It was a beautiful beginning to our trip!

I love my cute in-laws

These friends decided to hang out above my head at dinner. Thanks friends.

Primary President???

Steve and I currently go to church with a group of other newly married BYU students.  Our ward has about 25-30 couples in it during the summer and about 50 couples during the school year. I love our ward! It's really nice being around people who are all in similar life situations with similar life goals and problems. We have dinner and Family Night with different couples in our ward all the time and have been making some wonderful friends.

In my church we all have different jobs or callings. I was just released from my old calling as Relief Society Secretary. This was an awesome calling because I had the opportunity to get to know all the women in our ward better. I was also able to teach the women a couple times a year and help plan activities. I'm a little relieved and a little sad to not have this opportunity anymore. Today I accepted my new calling. A surprising calling. A calling that I'm sure will help me but I'm not totally sure what to do and how to do it in our unique ward. I am now the primary president of the Provo Utah Married Student 12th ward. (PUMS 12 if you will) The thing is no one in our ward has children. We have about 6 or 7 babies and quite a few pregnant women but no one in nursery or primary. I'm not sure how to feel about this, mostly just confused. Our bishop is convinced that we will have kids in the future. All in all I'm excited, confused, and eager to get to know more about the primary organization with or without kids to teach. :)

I'd love any advice about what makes a successful primary.  I want to learn as much as possible for that wonderful day when a child moves into our ward!

To learn more about the primary organization in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints click here.

RW MoveIt Summer Intensive

One of Utah's oldest and best dance companies is Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company. The last two weeks I was part of this company's summer intensive. It was an awesome experience. I'm so glad there are opportunities like this for dancer's to improve and learn more about the profession. We had modern and ballet technique classes, creative play (composition) class, and a collaborative repertory class. 

BYU dancers at the camp

My collaborative rep group
and the incredible professional dancers
Melissa and Brad! 

Dancers really are their own type of special. 

In the middle of the showing we had an audience interactive
movement time. 

 At the end of the two weeks we had a concert, showing all the collaborative works and student choreography. This is my groups piece. I am the one in purple and black. :)

I look forward to the workshop next year.

Steve (I'm a web developer) Mortensen!

 WARNING: I brag about my awesome husband a lot in this post. 

For the last three months Steve has been going to a web development boot camp. This was from 6-9 (let's be honest 9:30 or 9:45) Tuesday-Thursday and 9-2ish every Saturday, plus a couple hours of homework each week. Plus, his regular full time job. He has been a crazy busy guy! Even though I missed him a lot during the last three months, I am so proud of his accomplishments! 

Thursday was "Demo Night" for DevMountain which really just means a celebration and a chance to show off what they've learned with a final personal project. Steve was chosen to present his project on the big screen to the whole audience. OH YEAH! I was so nervous and excited for him that I didn't even think to take pictures during the quick presentation, but he did a great job showing his project, explaining the challenges, and discussing the successes. Of course, he made the audience laugh. His project is a video chat website using Polymer and WebRTC. The goal is to be able to tutor speakers of other languages through the website. I don't totally understand everything he has learned but I know he has learned JavaScript and the basics of other languages. 

 Every single person I met at Demo Night had great things to say about Steve. "Your husband is a rockstar!" "He's the best in our class!" "Steve always knew the right answer!" This was a little embarrassing for him but he was definitely beaming on the inside. The thing I am most excited about is that he loves development. He'll wake up in the morning and tell me about the dream he just had about programming...weird! Steve has found something that he is good at and loves which makes me so happy! There is still a lot to learn about programming but DevMountain was such a great beginning to this journey. His goal now is to get a development job so he can keep learning and practicing. He currently has 2 job offers and a couple potential offers. In the next couple days we will decide which job is the best fit for him.

So proud! 

This Week

There are stressful weeks and less stressful weeks when you are a student. (actually when you are a human) This probably should've been a really stressful week with 2 substantially large research papers to write, a take home quiz, 3 weeks til my senior project, and a talk to give on Sunday.

I give credit to the sunshine for helping my week be less stressful. It's hard to be too overwhelmed when it is so beautiful outside. During my paper breaks, I sat on the porch and took deep breaths of wonderful summer air. I promise going outside and taking three deep breaths will make any situation seem more manageable. Plus, I married a really wonderful man who takes great care of me. He planned an exciting surprise date night and it was a perfect break to all the homework. 

I also realize that during stressful weeks I learn so much about the potential I have for accomplishing difficult tasks. I'm grateful for the stress that helps me grow and become a better person. 

Senior project rehearsal! August 8 & 9 is quickly approaching! 

We picked up our concert tickets in Sugar House then stopped by the Blue Plate restaurant.
We looked at the menu for a really long time and then when we finally ordered,
he got the chile verde breakfast burrito and I got the chile verde burrito. Great minds think mostly alike? 

Steve got tickets to the Twilight Concert Series from a very kind friend who is in his development class. It's been awhile since either of us have been to a concert and we were quite entertained from all of the 'energy' and 'character' that we were around. Illegal and non illegal substances make for a good side show. 

Music by TV on the Radio. Great jams. 

Schramm Fam comes to Provo!

4th of July this year was a blast! I was so excited to have my family come visit us and spend some time in good ol' Provo, Ut. The 4th may be one of my top 3 favorite holidays. It's always nice weather (hot=nice). I'm quite fond of things that bring an entire community together. I love going to the grocery store and seeing the entire place filled with a red, white, and blue wardrobe. The sense of unity and pride when several blocks of a parade route are filled with people who salute the flag and cheer for men and women serving in our armed forces.  The collective oohs and aahs following a firework show. I love knowing that celebrations like the "Freedom Festival" in Provo, Utah are happening all over the United States. I love this country and the freedoms we have. I am proud to be an American.

Those darling twin siblings of mine make everything in life a whole lot more joyful. They both got their first upper teeth while visiting and Ethan made a new PR (personal record) in sitting up, :30. (pretty impressive) After their first 4th of July, I'm convinced they will be a couple of patriotic children.

Check out the weekend's highlights in my video:

Art in Yellowstone

Several BYU visual art, music, and dance professors and students, along with about 16 visual arts professors and students from Liverpool, England were all invited to go to Yellowstone for a week and... make art. I had no idea what "making art in Yellowstone" looked like, but, it turned out to be a wild, rainy romp through the western wilderness! I put together a couple videos to document my experience.

We will be presenting our art - music, dance, and book arts - on Saturday, June 28 at 7:00. Come to the HFAC at BYU for a delightful evening of Yellowstone art!