Lita...

Dora Alicia Alvarado Beloved Mother Our sweet, loving mother and grandmother, returned home to her Heavenly Father. She was born April 14, 1929 in Santa Ana, El Salvador to Rosalvina and Pedro de Alvarado. Alicia married Armando Fernandez and had 10 children. She loved her family and always did her best to help and care for them. She always wanted her children to stay close to each other. She tended many of her grandchildren and loved to talk to them about her life experiences and the gospel. Alicia was a member of the LDS Church for many years and served an LDS mission to San Antonio, Texas. She loved the Savior and His gospel very much and was very close to her Heavenly Father. Alicia loved the outdoors and nature. She also loved dancing and was very creative. She is survived by her children: Alfredo (Edna) Escobar, Sonia Fernandez, Martha (Bruce) Gourley, Edgar (Lucely) Fernandez, Eduardo (Carmen) Fernandez, Roxana (Jeff) Bush, Ileana (Steve) Stephens, Cecil (Arthur) Daley; 35 grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren. Preceded in death by her husband, Armando; two sons, Rene Armando and Renato Fernandez.


When I was 7 years old my parents got divorced and when I was 9 my mom got remarried. I remember being scared to death to meet a new family and having to pretend that being shoved into a new life wasn't awkward. I had to meet TONS of "new" aunts, uncles, and cousins(my dad came from a VERY large family), and then there was Lita. Altough she wasn't my biological grandmother, I remember her making my mom, brother and I feel loved, welcome and at ease. Thank you for that moment and for every moment in which you made me feel at home Lita. I will always remember your kind and loving spirit. You are loved and will be missed.

My cute daddy:)

My dad and his siblings




We love you Lita, till we meet again:)

This band....

is awesome.



And this guy...

(The one with opposable thumbs), plays a pretty sweet lead guitar. Stay tuned for Bonneville Saints' upcoming shows, recordings and website.

You'll think it's awesome too.

I love free stuff!

First and foremost I need to send a shout out to my gal pal Alina! Without her, this post would not be possible:) Long story short, Alina knows rich people, and I got a beautiful antique rocking chair for, get this....FREE!!! She needs some work; I'm considering restaining and for sure reupholstering, but for the most part this chair is in great condition.

I love this detail

Although I love the color scheme and the vintage feel of this material I'm definitely looking to replace it. Matt really likes this material though.

So again, thanks Alina!

A couple weeks ago my family got tickets to the circus and Matt and I went with my parents and these cute little kiddos:

Here are a few pictures of the fun night

There were some crazy contortionist acts that I was unable to snap pics of because I couldn't do anything but squirm as I watched them fold in all sorts of freaky positions. I loved the elephants, the tigers and the motorcycle guys driving around in a tiny sphere. Overall it was pretty fun and seeing the kids enjoy it was even better!

More recently life has been good for both matt and I. Matt's band has had a few gigs and they just keep coming up with awesome songs. As soon as they get some decent recordings I'll post links so ya'll can hear them. It's good stuff.

Last piece of good news! Apparently Matt was going to surprise me the night of the show, but he's terrible at keeping secrets. He bought tickets this morning and was able to keep his secret for approximately 3 hours(when he was sleeping), but broke down when he woke up and told me that he got us tickets to see these guys:

AVI BUFFALO!!!!! I know they look like kids, but they're SOOOO talented. If you haven't heard any of their stuff, check out "what's in it for?" on youtube I promise you'll love it.

Settling in

It's taken a couple of painful weeks, but I finished unpacking the last of our boxes and put some final finishing touches on most of our place tonight. Nothing too fancy but I've been able to spruce up the look of our living room with a couple of new (and chic) little floor lamps and a new desk. I'm debating on painting accent walls. Sure we'll only be here for a year, but a couple of accent walls can be done quickly, affordably and add so much to a space. We'll see.

I'm always trying to keep my eye open for a really great steal on a sweet piece of furniture, decor, or jewelry. I'm not one to constantly shop for or spend money on these types of things unless I find something that I absolutely LOVE. Good thing matt's eyes fell upon this little beauty:

I'm really into tables with benches and tall bar chairs right now so this was love at first sight. Not only was it perfect for our little place, but it also comes with a leaf for our future home and family. I really wanted to invest in a NICE table so that I wouldn't have to worry about buying one later, so this worked out really well. Not only does it meet our needs but we got it (brand new) for a STEAL(thank you Labor Day sale)! If you want specifics let me know, but prepare to be shocked.

A few more recent purchases I'm loving at this moment include:

These little guys...

Fabric earrings

Stud Owl earrings

And these big guys:

Trust me. They were not cheap;)

Happy fall to all, and hopefully I can keep up with the bloginsky.

cheers!

Starting over

I'm not sure if it's because I make a lot of mistakes, or simply because I become bored easily, but there is just SOMETHING about starting over/something new and different that gets me giddy!!!! I'm so excited for a new school year (both at the U and at my work)! New clients, new classess and lots of fun/crazy little preschoolers to chase around. And to add to all of the excitement we are moving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yes I am currently a VERY happy individual. We are moving to a really cute apartment complex in murray which means matt and I don't have to drive an hour (4x a day) to get to and from work and school anymore:) Saturday is the big moving day and boy, do we have A LOT to do. As of this moment I constantly have painting, cleaning, packing, and planning therapy going through my head, but it will all get done somehow. anywho just wanted to share the happines!

peace & love,

This is what summer looks like...to me

Well, June-July anyway...

School has been crazy (for me, other people have definitely got things together in comparison to myself), but amidst the madness it has been a pretty awesome summer so far.

We've had a couple graduations including my beautiful cousin Vianca and Lilly's graduation from preschool. Slumber parties with lilly; pretty much every friday night consisting of movies, peidcures and "facials" while I do paper work. We've had some fun celebrations for my dad and BIL paul's b-days, and the 4th and 24th. There has been a lot of hanging out with family and by far the biggest event has been the birth of my little niece Emilia Summer!!! She is such a doll, I can't get enough of her. Matt and I also "celebrated" four years of being together on the 24th(aka just another reason to let each other spend money on new music)!

Other than that I've just been slaving away at school and work. My last day of clinic is actually this friday, wohoo!!!!!!!!! BUT (yes there is a but) I decided to participate in a stuttering clinic t the U that is going to take up two weeks of my three week summer break. Yes, I'm feeling a little annoyed at myself at the moment, however I know it will be a really great experience. It's one of only two clinics like it in the U.S. so the clients are pretty diverse. There are only 7 students doing the clinic, and I know I won't ever get this type of experience again. So here's to the next few weeks until school starts again on August 23!

Hope everyone else is enjoying their summer!!!

Three Years

Three years ago I married my best friend. He is absolutely perfect for me in every way. Even in ways that he is the exact opposite, he is perfect for me. I'm so grateful for his love and respect for me. His kindness and humor that keep everyday wonderful and interesting. His hardwork and desire to provide for us and our future family. His forgiving nature and love for the gospel continually make me want to be a better person and wife for him. Just these few qualities remind me of how lucky I am to have him as my husband.


But most of all I'm grateful for the opportunity to not only have him by my side for now, but also for time and all of eternity.

"The most wonderful of all things in life, I believe, is the discovery of another human being with whom one's relationship has a growing depth, beauty, and joy as the years increase. This inner progressivenessof love between two human beings is a most marvelous thing; it cannot be found by looking for it or by passionately wishing for it. It is a sort of divine accident, and the most wonderful of all things in life." -Hugh Walpole, Sr.

Girl's best friend....

My buddy has...

Lazy days: He purposely knocked the pillow and the throw off the couch to make a bed.

Silly days: His new thing is the "head-in-boot" maneuver. What we really need to document is the "snake"...

Naughty days: notice the blue ink is also around his mouth...

And we're Bff's.

Diving back in

It's been a while people! The sad thing is that I had a whole two weeks of nothing to do and of course I choose to do my blogging after a very hectic week. Can you believe I am officially done with my first year of graduate school and already started summer semester??? I never thought this day would come haha. I can't even start to think about graduation day(which is only 349 days away by the way) without getting emotional. This is by far THE most intense experience I have ever been through in my entire life. I'm getting a little choked up now, thinking about the day that I will have survived all of this and have that little degree in my hand. I am truly grateful for this experience though. I have met some wonderful people and am learning an incredible amount. Most importantly it's becoming more and more apparent to me that this career is really meant for me.

I can't explain how much I love working with my clients at the clinic and my little articulation class with the district. Last semester I was priveleged to work with some AMAZING clients. My buddy H.(I will use initials for confidentiality purposes of course) an 8 year old with Down's Syndrome aka my little "enigma". My other buddy H. a 13 year old with severe Autism who required an AAC device(assitive technology) to communicate(so cool!). And then my two adults D. and D.(haha! I really had a hard time with names sometimes because my kids had similar names as did my adults). D. #1 was my 44 year old with Asperger's. Probably the cutest of my clients. I have never met someone more christ like than this guy. Every week, he had some type of association to make between the gospel and our therapy tasks:) He was one of those special people that radiate with a testimony of the gospel without verbally expressing it, but did through his kindness and actions. And D.#2 who I BEGGED to work with again this semester(because I got him more than half way through last semester). He is a 58 year old client with Aphasia and only 4 months post stroke! VERY COOL! I actually started working with him when he was about 1 1/2 to 2 months post stroke. He is such a funny guy and we have a blast working together. I honestly feel that I could go on and on about each of these clients but it's just one of those "you have to know them" kind of things, in order to really appreciate how great they are. Just take my word for it:)

This semester I've got D.#2 again, my litte S.(5 year old little girl-artic and phonology) and D. #3(6 year old boy artic and phonology). Although my clients are not as involved as they were last semester I'm actually pretty excited to just have a REALLY fun semester with my two little artics. I only have two classes this semester AAC(Augmentative and Alternative Communication) and Motor Speech Disorders, but it's still going to be a pretty busy semester. Wish me luck!

Oh! before I forget. For those of you who don't know yet, I was chosen by Intermountain Medical Center(IMC)for an externship starting in December!!! SO excited. My second Externship will be with Early Intervention, so I get to work with cute little 0-3 babies doing not only speech but also learning some of the ropes of OT and PT(Occupational and physical therapy) with these little ones! After this whole experience so far I'm still not 100% sure whether I want to work with strictly adults or kids I absolutely LOVE them both. One of my supervisors said that I'm most likely one of those people that will do both. lets hope I have it in me:) So, I'm grateful that I get to do externships with both populations. So much to look forward to! life is very good:)

Southern Comfort....

So, spring break came and went and I'm pretty sure it is one of the best spring breaks I have ever experienced! Alabama was absolutely beautiful, the people were so nice and it was really great to spend time with my in-laws. My mother-in-law comes out to Utah every once in while, but I had never met matt's step dad Billy. I was extremely nervous to meet him, but he is honestly one of the sweetest, kindest, and funniest people I've ever met! We had such a good time. It was amazing to not have to think about clinic, school or work for a whole week! It was soooooo relaxing and all I can constantly think of is how absolutely beautiful it was. In no particular order here are a FEW pics. of our trip:

Beach+M+C= Bliss

Delicious sausages being cooked at the

**Elberta Sausage Festival**

Band and Oldies at the Sausage fest.

One of the many tiny for sale signs on huge pieces of property.

For some reason I found this funny. Well at least Matt laughed

with me:)

These people live DEEP in the woods.

I wish I lived here:(

They've got these and we've got....snow. in march.

Sweet houses right by the water. *note: said water is right

down the "street"(dirt road) from matthew's house.

The following are of some people's back yards.

.Another cool home.

Momma and Billy's. One of the cutest and most

charming places I have ever visited.

Joey.Dillon.Mathias

I like to call this one "humidity blows".

Alice in wonderland in 3D

Southern gentleman

One of the 20 Jellyfish we saw washed up on the beach.

I couldn't stop touching them...

Boys night out

Cool little wind chime spinner thing we got for

momma at an arts festival in Lillian

Pretty flowers in momma's front yard

Momma and Billy<3

In a VERY small nutshell, there is Alabama. If I had more time/patience/motivation I would post all of our pictures, but let's face it...it's going to be a long time before I regain any of those things. I will say the ONE and only thing that was not my most favorite thing about AL would have to be....FRIED FOOD. I'm pretty sure that after day three my body was rejecting the stuff. Oh Alabama, I hope we meet again...soon.