{Race&Emma}: Much Too Long

It's been much too long since I blogged last.

So now I get to play CATCH UP!

That sounds way more exciting than it really is.

But anyways, pictures are going to help me remember what all I did in the last month and a halfish.

So, here goes! I am going to begin with going home at the beginning of March to see Wes and Asae Bodily's new baby Siona Lin. She is absolutely adorable and oh so tiny!

I haven't seen her for a good month though so I'm sure she's not quite as tiny anymore.

And I am sure she is even more adorable.

Also in the past month I got to go to Oregon to visit my grandparents.
Both my sets of grandparents live in Oregon as well as my Great Grandma Usher.
I flew out for my Spring Break and got to spend a whole week in Oregon!
This was my first time being in Oregon for somewhere around six years!
Much too long to go without visiting where I lived from the time I was born until I was eight.
I had a wonderful time in Oregon.
I got to spend a lot of time with my grandparents and I got to talk to them a lot.
I loved being able to learn more about my grandparents and really get to know them as people rather than just as my parents' parents.
My institute teacher always jokes that grandparents and grandchildren always get along really well because they have a common enemy, the grandchildren's parents and the grandparents' children.
I'm pretty sure that's not quite why we got along so well but I did love being able to visit my grandparents and getting to know them.
I am so grateful for the examples that they have all set for me and the love that they showed me while I was there. Visiting just made me want to go back and visit again and again!
So I am sure it will not be anywhere near six years before I get out to Oregon again.
Also while I was in Oregon I got to visit my second grade teacher Mrs. Leighthauser.
She was an amazing teacher and she is an amazing person.
I got to chat with her for a couple of hours and tell her about my life and hear about hers.
She is such an example to me of a good teacher and just an overall good person.
Her husband has been disabled for years and I love seeing her patience and interactions with him.
It helped me know even more that I want to work with people with disabilities whether physical or mental.
Finally, I got to visit my neighbors from across the street while I was growing up.
The Cheney's.
It was super fun catching up with them because I remember spending hours over at their house when I was younger.
I am so grateful for family and friends from the past and the present and for the things that I have learned from each and every one of them. I hope that I have made some of an impression on their lives as well.
Here are some pictures from Oregon.

This is me at Smith Rock. And I don't know if you can see the mountains even further in the background but ALL week I was just amazed by their beauty. I could never get a super good picture of them though.

This is a picture of my old house. When I was younger it seemed soooo big. But it looks pretty dang tiny!

This is a picture of me at my old elementary school :]

These are the llamas by my old elementary school that I remembered walking by every day to school. I was telling my Grandma about that so we decided to find them and they are still there!

Here is a picture of me and my Grandma and Grandpa Olmstead, my Uncle Sean, and my cousin Peyton. My Aunt Rhonda was taking the picture so sadly she's not in this one.

Here are me and my cousins Curtis, Olivia, and Peyton. I hadn't seen Curtis and Olivia since they were probably about four and six or something crazy like that so it was super fun to see them and their mom and meet Sarah's husband Mark.

I'm not sure why this one won't turn but this is my Great Grandma Usher and I :]
She is one good lookin' gal!

Now last but most definitely not least on my list of things that has happened in the past month or so...
Just before heading home to see Siona I went on a few dates with a boy...
Excited to hear the rest??
Well, you should be :]
So I went on a few dates with this boy named Race Ashby (pictures will follow soon).
We go to the same institute but had never formally met before talking on facebook.
(Yeah, yeah I know it's a kinda lame way to "meet" but we can say we met on the internet and get some weird looks from people!)
He added me as a friend supposedly not knowing who I was other than that we knew a lot of the same people.
So, we started talking and the next day he invited himself over bearing gifts of ice cream!
(He works at Coldstone Creamery)
After we officially met in person he asked me on a date for the next day.
We went on four or five dates throughout that week and by the end of the week had the DTR (Determine The Relationship) talk and decided we wanted to "date exclusively".
We have now been dating for one month, one week, and five days :]
And what a good one month, one week, and five days it has been!
Here are some pictures of the two of us on our trip to Las Vegas to go to one of his mission companion's weddings, at my house in Chandler, and then a couple other random ones:

Riding E.B. and Jackie's sweet tandem bike at the park: