The Decision

Well, the decision has finally been made. We are going to....

This is a major decision that will affect the rest of our lives, but we are very confident that this is where the Lord wants us to go. We are so excited to be able to stay in Utah and live close to family. There is only one problem with attending the U...

We officially now have the Battle of the Brothers in our home!!!

Eventually, Skyler will forgive us for going to what he calls "The Devil's School" :)

Déjà vu

People may think that we are crazy, but for our 1 year anniversary we decided to get dressed up in our wedding attire again and take some more pictures at the Bountiful temple where we were married last year. There was just one little problem, Bryce and I stayed at my aunt's house in Erda and so I couldn't put my wedding dress on until we met my mom at the temple. That would have been no problem except I didn't have a dress to wear into the temple so we had to find a vacant church parking lot nearby so I could get dressed. Getting into a big, poofy wedding dress isn't easy, especially in the back of a trailblazer, but we did it and we were ready to go!

My aunt and sister did my hair and my mom took the pictures with her camera. My family is so amazing and we are so grateful for all the things they do for us. They are truly selfless and love Bryce and I so much! Of course, we love them too :)

Here are just a few pictures from our "year later" wedding shoot.

These next two pictures look like they could be used to advertise the Bachelor or Bachelorette!

Bryce Carter, will you accept this rose?

After taking some cute serious pictures we decided to spice it up a bit with a few that show our personalities and how much fun this first year of marriage has been.

This is a collage my sister made with a few of her favorite pictures. My family is so amazing. We couldn't have asked for a better day or better family to spend it with. Thanks Kat, Mom and Brittanee, you guys are the BEST!!!

And to my amazing husband, I love you so much! This first year of marriage has been the best year of my life. You inspire me to be a better person and you love me no matter what. You always make me laugh and you are such an amazing person. I can't wait to spend eternity with you.

I LOVE YOU!!!!

U of U Acceptance

I woke up to some of the greatest news ever this morning. For some unknown reason, Bryce felt like checking his U of U status when he woke up. I was still asleep and it took him 10 minutes to wake me up. He was moving all around and I finally woke up when he said "I have some good news to share with you." He showed me his computer screen which said Congratulations Bryce, you have been accepted to the University of Utah's Medical School. After looking a little closer we realized that Bryce was actually accepted on April 7th but we still haven't gotten anything in the mail. Good thing he had the little prompting to look at it this morning. They also let us know that there is a $100 deposit due April 21st if we want to keep his spot. This means, we have a decision to make and fast.

We are going up north this weekend, but we were getting into the Salt Lake area earlier than we need to, so a few days ago we decided that while we waited for my aunt to get done with work we would visit one of the temples up north that we haven't been to before. The Lord definitely works in small and simple ways. Now, two days after making the decision to go to the temple, we get an acceptance and hopefully (if it is the Lord's time) we will be able to get our answer as to where we need to go to medical school this weekend.


I am so proud of my amazing husband. He has worked so hard for years to prepare to go to medical school and he has been accepted to 6 different places. He is amazing and gives 100% in everything he does. I must have done something right in the premortal life to end up with such an amazing man and I am excited to go on this new adventure (med school) with him, and to spend the rest of eternity by his side!!!

Oh My...

Oh my... I'm so behind on my blogging. What has been going on in the Carter home since my last post in February?!?

It feels like these past two months have been a blur. Time for a quick recap:

My brother got his mission call in February. He will be serving in the McAllen, Texas Spanish speaking mission. He leaves July 20, 2011. It will be sad to say goodbye for two years, but I know that he will be a great missionary and that our family will be blessed because he will be serving the Lord. We decided that this is the perfect mission because he will be able to learn a new language and be immersed in a new culture (if he went anymore south he would be in Mexico), but he will also be in the States in case he has any medical problems. It will be hard and we will miss Skyler so much, but I know that the people in Texas need Skyler more than we do right now.


School has been crazy!!! We are so excited to both graduate this spring, but with graduation comes busy class schedules. This semester, Bryce is taking pathophysiology, biomedical ethics, cadaver practicum, embryology, and history and literature of science. This schedule is not as bad as last year (bio chem, physics, vertebrate physiology etc.), but he is still keeping pretty busy. He is loving his cadaver practicum class. He comes home with many stories which he loves to tell me at the dinner table. Unfortunately, in this setting I do not find the same facination as he does, and oftentimes it makes me kinda sick!!! Looking at the classes I am taking this semester, you would never guess that I am a nutrition major. I only have one nutrition class (Advanced Nutrition). My other classes are educational psychology, teaching reading to children, sociology of health and medicine, and an online class family resource management. I really enjoy learning about a variety of things, but sometimes it feels like a lot of work. I study more for these "fun" classes than I do for advanced nutrition. The online class keeps me extremely busy. For one of our many assignments we had to prepare a meal (appetizer, main dish, 3 sides, and a dessert) for less than $2.50 a person. Lets just say after two meals I have almost become an expert at planning meals for 6 people and setting a table :)

Thinking about medical school basically consumes most of our time. We have so many things to plan (housing, my job, paperwork, buying books, moving, etc) but it is hard to plan all of these things when we aren't sure where we are going to medical school. After this process, Bryce and I better be experts in patience. This must have been a virtue that we were both really lacking in because this process has definitely tried our patience and hopefully taught us many things along the way. Deciding where to attend medical school is one decision which will affect our future choices and ultimately will affect the rest of our lives. Because of this, we want to make sure that we go where the Lord wants us to go. We have been fasting and praying about this decision and we are leaning toward Iowa, but we will continue to pray and wait until we are 100% sure that we know where the Lord wants us to go. Although this experience has been very difficult at times, I know that I have grown tremendously. I have grown a lot closer to my Heavenly Father, and I have more faith in Him and in His plan for me than I ever thought I could have. Although trials and afflictions are hard, I can truly say that I am grateful for this experience and how it has helped me become the person I am today.

Speaking of our future, a few weeks ago my nutrition professor pulled me aside after class and asked if we were planning on staying in Cedar for the summer. I told him I wasn't sure and he told me if we were, he had a job offer he thought I would be interested in. I applied for the job and found out a week ago that I got the job :) For six weeks in the summer, I will be tutoring high school students in nutrition. I will be working with this particular professor, and am so excited!!! He loves nutrition and I am hoping to gain more knowledge and experience from spending time with him for six weeks. The only down side to this is that I will have to live on campus during those six weeks. It will be hard to be away from Bryce that long, but I do have 2 hours everyday, 5 hours every Sunday, and 1 Saturday and 1 Sunday off during those six weeks. We have prayed about this and we feel that it will be a great opportunity for me and something that will benefit us both. While I will be working, Bryce will be working construction for his dad. We decided that since I would live on campus for 6 weeks and Bryce's parents live in Cedar it would be pointless for us to continue to pay rent for him to live in our apartment by himself. We talked to his parents and they were more than willing to let him live with them for the six weeks. It will be great to be able to save money for our rent, and be working at the same time. It will also give us an opportunity to spend some time with each of our families before we leave for medical school. We will spend the week before I leave with Bryce's family and then two weeks after I finish the job with my family. We are so grateful for our families and all they do to help and support us.

Well I think that is about everything that is new in the Carter house. These next few pictures were ones that I found on my camera and they were too cute, so I had to post them. We watched our nephew Keegan, a month ago and he was so cute. He wanted Bryce to read him stories, but towards the end he decided he would read to uncle Bryce instead. Bryce was so cute with him. He is going to be a great dad someday!!!