Indy 500 Practice

This spring has been crazy at work with tons of school visits and a few big events thrown in. This event was the easiest one ever, though, because I barely had to do anything! I found a couple of schools to participate and then my counterpart on the Customer Success team (the team that manages our partnerships) and our partners did the rest. I just showed up to the 10th floor suite of the pagoda at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, ate delicious food, and saw all kinds of behind-the-scenes stuff at the track. It was awesome!

The first day we had students from Ben Davis University High School and the second day was George Washington High School. 

We started the day with a Q&A with Zach Veach, one of the Indy car drivers and one of our sponsors.

Then a tour of Firestone's garage

Q&A with Honda Motor Sports

And a tour of the garage learning all about the car

All of that mixed in with lots of cool views from the balcony, good food, and fast cars. It was such a cool event, and I loved it!

Flowers and Family

I love watching Brandon be a dad. Jackson loves him so much and is sometimes VERY affectionate, meaning he just wants to be on his lap or on his back or be close to him in whatever way he can. Brandon is great about letting it happen and it warms my heart to see how loving and attentive he is.

I went down to visit my grandma one day after work and she'd just gotten these beautiful flowers from my cousin, so we had a little photo shoot. She's such an inspiration to me.

After years of wishing, I finally bought myself a year-round wreath for our front door and I'm obsessed. My Christmas wreath is hands-downs my favorite Christmas decoration and now this wreath I think has taken the title of favorite decoration for the rest of the year.

On Mother's Day, we had dinner at my parents' house with Tessa and her kids and Dominika and her kids. I didn't get any pictures that day, other than this picture of the lemon poppyseed cake I made which was delicious. I made an angel food cake with fresh strawberries, too, and they were both fabulous.

For Mothers Day, Brandon brought me these beautiful hydrangeas, which I'm loving because they last way longer than a bouquet of flowers. It's easy to feel invisible on Mothers Day, especially since I'd really like to be a mother but biology is not working for me right now, and the one child I do have the opportunity to mother REALLY loves his biological mom so he doesn't have much love or affection left over for me. I'm grateful, though, to have a husband who sees me and loves me on Mother's Day and every day of the year. <3

Johnnyswim

One of my favorite bands, Johnnyswim, came to town and I convinced Tessa to come with me even though she didn't even know who they were. We had dinner beforehand at Bru Burger then went to the show in the Egyptian Room at Old National Center.

Johnnyswim is a husband and wife duo and I love them and their music. So many of their songs are love songs but they're more long-term love songs, rather than that initial excitement of falling in love. Like the kind of love that comes from years of being together and going through all the good and the bad and coming out stronger. I think that's one of the things I love about their music - it fits my stage of life, where I feel like my love for Brandon grows stronger the harder we work on it. Cheesy, but it's true. :)

At one point in the show, they came out in the audience to perform a few songs. Tessa had the genius idea to start moving way over to the side of the stage where they had come out, rather than pushing in to see them in the crowd like everyone else was doing. We were able to get right up in the front on the far side so we saw them as they came back through to go back up to the stage and had a better viewpoint for the last few songs. To be honest, the main reason we wanted to get a closer look was to see what kind of shoes Amanda (the female half of the duo) was wearing with her super cute dress that we both loved.

Between following both Abner and Amanda (the duo) on Instagram and seeing the show, I now feel like we're best friends, so it was a great night spent with my best friends and my sister.

Springtime!

Brandon and I started working at the temple in April. We're working a double shift one Saturday a month. We both picked things up pretty quickly, I think. Brandon was even officiating in a few ordinances by the end of the day! I really enjoyed being there and can't wait for next month. My favorite part of it all was randomly seeing Brandon in the hallway as we both went about our duties. I love him so much and am so grateful to have him as a partner forever.

I had to travel for work a lot in April, so I had a lot of subs for seminary. Between that and the weather getting nicer, it became harder and harder to focus on it - definitely felt some senioritis! One day, though, I came out to this gorgeous sunrise. It's always a great reminder that Heavenly Father knows me and is aware of the sacrifices I'm making. It's probably been my hardest calling, behind full-time missionary, but I know the Lord has blessed me and I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve Him.

Jackson lost his other front tooth! He's now got an officially toothless grin. :)

Easter 2019

We had Jackson for Easter this year - I think for the first time ever. It was fun to put together an Easter basket and pick out new Easter clothes for him. Brandon - the Easter Bunny - hid his basket outside on our garden hook so it took him a minute to find it!

We managed to snag this very-scenic family picture in the parking lot after church. :) It was such a gorgeous day, which was a blessing after a few days of cold rain.

After church, we headed down to Columbus to have lunch with my family. Tessa, Jacob, Alisha, Nalon, and Alexander were there, plus my parents and us, of course. My mom got into the spirit of things and decorated the table festively.

I love all these people!

We stayed and hung out just for a bit then headed to Brandon's sister Brooklyn's house for Easter with his family. They were nice and waited for us to get there before doing the Easter egg hunt. Between his loot from the egg hunt and the basket Brandon's mom gave him, Jackson was loaded up with candy and treats.

We hung out there for a while chatting and playing. Elexis's baby Nova is at such a fun age right now - super smiley and easy to laugh. It was fun to hold and play with her. I got to play with Alexander at my mom's, too - it was a great day for babies and cute kids! We had a really nice time there then came home for bedtime. I loved getting to see both sides of our family and celebrate such a wonderful holiday together. I'm thankful for our Savior, who makes it possible to enjoy these family relationships now and forever.

Indiana Attorney General Event

One of the cool parts of my job is working with our sponsors on events. Honestly, I hate the planning part of the events (fortunately, I'm not in charge of most of it), but I always enjoy them the day of. This spring, one of our sponsors, Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill, hosted a group of students for a Youth Prevention Summit at the statehouse to talk about prescription drug safety. I love any excuse to be at the statehouse - it's so gorgeous!

We had speakers, some activities, and a tour of the statehouse.

My favorite part was hearing from our State Superintendent of Instruction, Dr. Jennifer McCormick. She's a powerful speaker and a dedicated advocate for educators - I've been a fan for a while, so I was so excited to get to meet her and talk to her!