What Will I Miss?

For those of you who have not heard, Mike and I are moving to Spartanburg, SC. We will be living in Charleston for two months with my parents while Mike completes his internship but then we will officially start this new phase and be on our own again. Anyone who knows me knows that I hate Rexburg weather and I do not like that I have to drive 25 miles to be able to go to a descent restaurant or to go shopping. However, Rexburg is where I went to college and where Mike and I met and got engaged so I guess I'm a little sad. I'm going to miss our ward the most. Mike and I have been sunbeam teachers in the 13th ward for almost two years and we have LOVED it. We have had the sweetest kids and the best behaved kids (trust me they didn't start out that way though). Some may say that having favorites is bad but oh well, we did. We had one favorite sunbeam and she knew it. She may have our favorite but Mike was definitely her favorite. It was pretty cute :) Aeris and Mike

Aeris and I

When I asked Aeris to take a picture on my lap I got tons of funny faces. This is still a great picture of us though. When Mike asked her to take a picture with him, she gave that adorable smile that I had been waiting for. I would have been more upset but she is too sweet and that picture of the two of them is just too cute. This leads perfectly into the next thing that I will miss. The friends we have made while we have lived in Rexburg. First, Lisa and Skyler Hebdon. Lisa and I in our graduation outfits that were found after many shopping trips.

Second the De Jeans. They were our neighbors for the past year and great friends. We don't have many pictures but these are few at the good bye party we had with everyone who was moving. We'll miss having great friends and neighbors like Kim and Arthur.

Something else I will miss about Rexburg is having a temple a mile from my house. I will miss being able to see it from my living room window.

Living in Idaho has also allowed me to be closer to my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. I have enjoyed being able to get to know them better and visit them. Mike and I were sure to stop in Salt Lake to say goodbye to my family before we move East. I wasn't able to get pictures with everyone or of everyone that I wanted mainly because I just forgot but I did get a couple. We were sure to visit my cousin Breanna and her family.

We also got to visit Aunt Gail, Uncle Bob and my grandparents even though I didn't get any pictures. For those we didn't get to see, we hope you will come to visit us one day so we can see you again. We're now off to our next stop....Las Vegas!!!!

Graduation 2012

April 6, 2012 will go down in history as the following: The anniversary of the day that the Church of Jesus Christ was re-organized, the anniversary of Jesus Christ's birth and......... The day that Michael and Nicole Epperson graduated from Brigham Young University-Idaho!!!!! That's right everyone, we are college graduates. I have a bachelor's degree in Elementary Education and Mike has a bachelors in Chemistry (or he will once he finishes his internship). The day we graduated was so much fun! I had been done with school for over two weeks by then but Mike had a final just hours before the event to he was a little more stressed than I was and a little busier than me. We woke up on the morning of April 6th to snow. We had a very dry winter in Rexburg but apparently it decided to dump a few inches the day of graduation..(I could hear Rexburg laughing at us and whispering...."you're not getting off that easy") However, it did stop and the sun came out just as we were leaving for the auditorium and no one was happier about that than I was. Doug, Me, Stacey, Joshua and Mike before commencement

Mike and I before commencement

We actually graduated at the 1st stake center in rexburg, ID. So it looks a little like seminary graduation but I like it and really that location isn't what is important. Mike and I with my friend Jackee

Me with two of my favorite teachers...Sister Kay and Sister Hovey :)

Mike and I with Brother Dorman. He was our Book of Mormon teacher in Spring of 2009. He was the teacher of the class that we met in.

Skyler and Lisa were two of our friends. They are such a great couple to hang out with. Lisa and I were both elementary education and we graduated together and Skyler and Mike were both chemistry majors. They are both a lot of fun and we will both miss them when we leave Rexburg.

I should mention that we graduated at 8 pm and by the time it was over it was after 9 pm. Thank you to our families for being patient with the picture taking. It was a great day! Thank you to everyone who celebrated with us!

"As I prepared for this talk today, I asked for guidance to know what message our Heavenly Father would want me to share with you. The calming and assuring words spoken by the Lord to Joseph Smith came to my mind: “Be of good cheer, for I will lead you along. The kingdom is yours…and the riches of eternity” What I believe the Lord wants me to tell you is that you should replace fear with faith—faith in God and the power of the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ..... My dear graduates, the purpose of my message is to help you envision your future. Have faith and hope for the bright future you face as you leave BYU-Idaho and move on to your next great adventure." -Elder M. Russell Ballard, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: April 6, 2012 BYU-Idaho Commencement Address