Farewell, Minnesota!

I wrote this 2 weeks ago (man, was graduation really only 2 weeks ago!?), but with the craziness of moving, guess I never posted it. 

I can't believe our time in Minnesota is already over. In some ways, it has felt like forever, and at the same time, it has come really quickly. A couple weeks ago at a Girls Night, we were all saying what we were going to miss about Minnesota. I was full of things I won't miss. Wanna hear some? :) The confusing roads, needing winter coats 8 months out of the year, state insurance paperwork, not having a central location for shopping, the lack of amenities in our apartments...

There are also plenty of things I am going to miss. The number one thing is the people we've met here. Also, the playgrounds, walks around the lake, the amount of free things to do with Sophia, the beautiful Minneapolis skyline, a couple great food places we didn't get explore enough (grad school budget...), and the community we live in. I've grown up moving around, so although this move still feels surreal right now, it is not uncharted ground for me by any means. The hardest part of moving is always leaving friends and the routine of life we've settled into.

I remember a BYU professor once saying some of the best friends you ever make are made in graduate school because you're all in the same phase of life. Plus, I can go outside in our complex at almost any given moment and run into someone I know. We have game nights and girls nights all. the. time. because we all live so close to each other and have busy husbands. It has been awesome, and I am going to MISS having friends to hang out with all the time.

Love this picture. These are some friends who were at my baby shower when we remembered to take a picture. haha I wish we would've taken more pictures all the time when we hung out.

First trip to campus in August 2011

Last trip to campus in May 2014

Most of all, I am so proud of Russ. He spent a couple years working in Provo without a lot of direction, but when we decided on the University of Minnesota, everything fell into place. I was nervous about Russ being so busy we'd never see him. There were late nights and stressful weeks, but even those were manageable because of how flexible his schedule was. Plus, we were really lucky with recruiting. One month into Russ's first year (on Sophia's 1st birthday, in fact), he had more interviews than anyone else in his program and was offered his internship with Chevron - which has lead to his full-time job. Nothing makes graduate school feel quite as worth it as knowing you have a good career at the end of it!

Play Where's Russ!!