Joe T Garcia's

When we were in Ft. Worth, we ate out every lunch and dinner. We found a lot of good places, but the most memorable for me was Joe T. Garcia's. 

If you're ever in Ft. Worth, go there.

It's a five minute walk from the Stockyards, and when we got to the building, it took us another five minutes just to find the entrance. The parts of the building facing the street don't have doors. You have to walk away from the roads and into a parking lot, maybe mildly fear for your life for 6 seconds, then stumble upon wooden arched doors in a beautiful stone wall. Bam, an oasis across the street from a loan place and an abandoned theater. We walked into this courtyard with columns, plants and a beautiful fountain. My favorite part was that the menu only consisted of two dishes (enchiladas and fajitas), and we all shared them family style. If you go, make sure to bring cash because they don't split the bill, and they don't take cards.

An Education

I'm learning, thinking, processing and translating so much information about art education and museum education at NAEA that my brain feels like it might explode. It's daunting and exciting and makes me want to run the world, but also maybe just curl up in bed for five days. 

Tonight at dinner my colleagues and I somehow got on topics like women in the Church, the nature of God, immigration, how lucky we are to eat food, and how rare is to be an educated woman in America at this time in history of the world. A lot of opinions were stated, but received with an attitude of open-mindedness and a desire to discuss. Maybe it's because I elect to spend a lot of time alone, but I found myself really loving this rare occasion to have an engaging conversation with smart women who have opinions. 

Oh how wonderful it is to learn.

The Best Part

The best part about traveling all over kingdom come and not seeing Matthew for two days is seeing his face for the first time all over again. I know we spent two years apart, but even after two days we are almost just as excited to see each other as we were on March 17th.

Also, when I don't see him for a couple days, turns out he likes to take me out to 9pm sushi and cuddle in bed at night. Maybe I'll start leaving more often if this is the kind of return I get! :)

What We Did This Summer

This summer was full of activities. Here's an update of some of the things we did:

I went on a business trip to New York. That was my first time in the city! We got to stay at a fancy dancy hotel in Manhattan and had a great time! 

I was a bridesmaid in Moe's wedding.

Matt and I got engaged! (See previous posts)

I went through the temple! 

My aunt and uncle came up for our wedding and got to see me get endowed.

Momma and Dad

We got married! 

Bridesmaids! 

May 26, 2012

We went on our honeymoon to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. This is a picture of us in an old church. 

The view from our hotel room.

The resort! 

The beach at our resort.

The same church.

Haha.

We went to the Springville Art City Days carnival and watched the Battle of the Bands

Cousins

I got addicted to Draw Something for .5 seconds.

I taught Summer Art Classes in the month of June

Jeannette and Meggie came down to celebrate 4th of July. We went on the Alpine Slide and saw fireworks outside the Stadium of Fire

  

We hung out with Cari and Johnson a lot! This is us walking to the Manti Pageant. 

Matt planned a big roadtrip down to Lake Powell with all his mission people. This is us on the lake.

Waiting to pick up the boat.

We moved to a new apartment complex and quickly found out the neighbors next door were not awesome. This guy kept parking wonky on pupose to piss us off. I hurt my back during moving and had to climb in and out of the car once because of this guy.

 

I wrote and contemplated delivering this note, then chickened out. 

I discovered that Matt really hates when I have the mechanic change my oil (or do anything, for that matter).

I went hypothetical home shopping, then realized I had no money for fancy couches like this one just yet.

We went to see The Dark Knight Rises with Treadway. Epic.

They're so cute.

Matt and I went on a lot of dates. I think this is on our way to Salt Lake. It was just a pretty sunset.

I spent my fair share of time on the Internet finding dumb pictures like this one that make me laugh way too hard.

I turned 24. 

Rachel and Jessica decorated my office on my birthday and took me out to lunch! This is the fixings for mocktails.

We kept this up for about a month after my birthday! 

We had a dance party and ate cupcakes.

Matt threw me a party at our apartment.

I found out that this old church is being renovated into apartments. Someone I know, please move there so I can visit you.

Cool, huh?

During the summer, Rachel and I work at the museum. This is where we got to eat lunch every day.

Jeannette and I went shopping in SLC and found a vintage-inspired dress store. The guy who worked there almost convinced me to get this dress, but I felt like Shirley Temple. It was fun to play dress up for a bit, though.

A love note from Matt! We both work full time, and he leaves the house before I wake up. It's nice to be surprised by these every once in a while! 

We drove to California and my grandma hosted a party so we could see all our family in one day! This is my brother and his wife and baby.

We drove home in some cray weather! 

Right after we got home, we went to the Hardin family reunion. This is my niece, Claire.

I gave my boss a henna tattoo during a meeting at work.

We started going back to schools on a regular basis. This is Rachel talking to some middle school kids about SMA art.

We drive a LOT now. This is a picture of the valley in Weber. 

We went to a school that was entirely Spartan theme. The kids knew SO much about Greek mythology, and there were paintings like this everywhere! 

Now that the summer is over, I wish I had taken more pictures of other things we've done! It was a perfect mix of fun activities and relaxing at home. We also spent a lot of time apartment shopping and getting our new apartment settled. I hurt my back moving, so I spent about two weeks in bed recovering from that. We went to the Utah State Fair, took our nephew Charlie to the zoo, saw Arsenic and Old Lace with Matt's family, laid out at Seven Peaks a few times, and got addicted to shows like Breaking Bad and The Voice!