Spring Break and Such

I cannot wait for school to finally be out and for real spring and summer to be here! Work and school together can be a little overwhelming sometimes. Let's see what's happened so far this year to catch up. We got to celebrate a million birthdays here in the first couple months. For mine and Jared's birthday we ate dinner at the always delicious Olive Garden. We haven't done presents really for each other yet . . . we're working on it. Jared wants an XBox 360. I want a million dollars. But you know, you're grateful for what you get. Ha ha!

We just bought a new TV and entertainment center. They are some great additions to our living room . . . which is now really where we live. In the living room. We've been wanting to do this for a while though so we love it!

Spring break was awesome! I worked a 12 hour shift and got 35 hours in 3 days so that we could go to Vegas. We went to Jared's cousin's wedding in the Las Vegas temple and it was so much fun! Not only to get away from the miserable Cache Valley weather but also to be able to spend so much time with family. That's got to be one of the very best things ever.

The Las Vegas temple is so beautiful! And the area was gorgeous. I love weddings.

I cry the day that I take the tree down

The end of one year and the start of another. I always love the Christmas season and I'm always sad when it's over. It was so much fun being able to have all the the time off from work and school to be able to spend that time with each other, our family, and everyone important to us. I was very excited to put our first tree up, even though we had nothing but lights to decorate it with. The tree has always been an important thing for me. I miss the days of real trees. I always associate the smell of pine trees with Christmastime. I made a paper chain to put on our tree and a few awesome people gave us some decorations as gifts. We kept everything very simple. On Christmas Eve day we went to my parents house and ate posole and tamales, and watched some Christmas movies with everyone. That night we came home and read the Nativity story together and talked about Christ. It was a very special way to spend our first Christmas Eve together.

Christmas morning we went to my parent's house again and had a very simple gift exchange. It's always fun for me to see my younger siblings get excited about everything, as well as my 2 year old cousin Sophia. That afternoon we went to Jared's parents and got to talk on the phone with his brother Brett who's on his mission in Fiji. We got to play with our super cute nieces Savannah and Olivia. (I swear one day Olivia will be old enough to like us. Ha ha!) That night was the craziest snowstorm I've ever seen. It took us about an hour and a half to get back home from Richmond (normally only a 20 minute drive). We had my little brother and sister stay the night with us that night.

For New Years eve we wrote down ten favorite memories/blessings we'd received in the past year. It was really nice to be able to spend the night with each other talking about what we'd done with each other the past year and remembering everything we have to be grateful for. I'm very excited for this new year. Jared and I are back in school and we have two classes together which I'm pretty excited for! Living with Wildlife and Creative Arts. (They're required to graduate.) It's now a competition to see who can get the best grade. ;-D It's gonna be a great year!

Weekend in Salt Lake!

We got to use Jared's Christmas present this weekend! We went to the Jazz game vs. the Orlando Magic. The only reason I bought tickets to that game was because Jared's favorite player in the NBA is Dwight Howard. He's one of the best players in the NBA! Since 2004 when he was drafted into the NBA he has never missed a game. He played over 300 consecutive games. Never missed a game ok?! Until that night!!!! Seriously. Seriously? The first game that he misses and it had to be that one!? I'm still feeling a little bitter about it. On top of it we lost. We totally died in the second half. But I wouldn't have cared so much if Dwight Howard had actually played.

When we got to Salt Lake we went to the Olive Garden to eat (which was part of my Christmas present) to kind of celebrate when I first met Jared's family last year and the night he decided that he wanted to marry me. It was such a great night. We then walked around Temple Square, another one of my very favorite things to do. The temple is so amazingly beautiful. And since that's where we were married it means that much more to me.

It was so much fun and we were able to spend a lot of time reminiscing, talking about the future, and just enjoying being with each other! It feels so good to be done with finals, have a break from school, and just be able to spend my time with Jared. We have a lot of fun together!

Getting Married = Being Sick All of the Time!!

Yes my friends, we are sick . . . again. November was horrible for it because that's when it all really started to get bad. Jared developed pneumonia the first week and I had a bacterial infection. We were told that pneumonia takes about a month to get over. Well, a month later it's December and the pneumonia is gone, but Jared has a cough that shakes the entire apartment. I also have a cough, but it's not nearly that bad.

After talking about it with a couple of girls at work, we decided that once you get married your entire body decides that it's going to fall completely apart. Jared used to go years in between getting sick and it's really frustrating that it just won't go away now. It's put a little extra stress into our already busy and stressful lives. And insurance companies. I've pretty much decided they're run by the devil himself. Where they pretend for a while like they're good and helpful and what not, but when it really comes down to it they'll just leave you to rot. They don't really care. Except to make themselves some bucks.

On the upside, the semester is just about done!! Hallelujah! One more week of testing all week long and then a great break that I'm definitely looking forward to. I always like starting out a new semester, and really going through the rest of the semester isn't too bad until you hit about the last 2 or 3 weeks. Then it just sucks. So one more week of sucking!

Finally, I gave Jared his Christmas present 2 nights ago. I got him 2 tickets to the Jazz vs. Orlando Magic basketball game. I bought them clear back in September and I was worried about it since then because they're not cheap for one. And two, if I had waited like a day or so I could have had better seats. That's frustrating. He was excited about them anyway and we're excited to go!! The game is next Saturday and he's going to give me my Christmas present then too. I love December!

Thanksgiving is so great!

Thanksgiving Jared and I went to Las Vegas with his parents to spend the holiday with his extended family that lives there. I hadn't been to Vegas since I was teeny tiny so it was pretty sweet to go and see it again. There is so much stuff that goes on there! We were able to go up the Eiffel Tower and look over everything and there are just so many lights!

I was very grateful for the way my new family treated me while we were there. I tend to be shy when I'm in a new situation and everybody made me feel incredibly comfortable, welcome, and loved. I'm very lucky to have married into a good family! There are those people that talk about the "horrible" in -laws and relatives and I definitely do not have that problem at all! Thanksgiving dinner itself was crazy!! There were lots of family and tons more food. Of course that's one of our very favorite things is food. I love Thanksgiving because it's a day specifically dedicated to being grateful. Something that I think should happen more often, but it helps you to remember to reflect on all of the blessings that God has given us. There is so much to be thankful for. And I for one am incredibly grateful for my family. All of them. And most especially for Jared!! I never would have thought I could ever be this lucky and so happy!

We love you all!