The Birthday Party

This year my birthday was kind of a bust. I had my first section of the CPA exam two days later so I was madly cramming all the last minute details into my head. Also, Nathan, his mom, and his two sisters were all working at Rock City all day everyday that weekend because it was Hoop Fest. Which for those who don't know is a giant 3 on 3 basketball tournament where people come from all over to play. My father-in-law, Nicholas and I went down one of the days to check it out and watch a family friend play. I love basketball and people watching so I got the best of both worlds all in one day. I forget that I'm not in Utah anymore and you get a much different mix of people outside of the bubble.

Anyways, because we were all so busy for my birthday we postponed the celebration until the night after my exam. I assumed this celebration was simply going to be my choice of dinner. Which turns out wasn't simple at all because I gave my in-laws a list of potential food choices and they made lettuce wraps, chicken/bacon fried rice, and sesame chicken. With chocolate covered strawberries and tres leches for dessert. I love, love, love having married into a family that has amazing cooks. Their fried rice is one of my all time favorite foods ever with their sesame chicken hitting a close second. I was incredibly spoiled.

Having thought my birthday celebration was concluded, I went downstairs to lay down and rest while my hugely overstuffed stomach settled down. But little did I know there was much left to happen that night. Nathan came and got me and had me come outside. I was met with giant confetti poppers and kazoos. They even made me put on a ridiculous birthday hat. It was a 7 year old's dream birthday. Complete with a pinata in the shape of a minion from Despicable Me. Everyone had a blast watching me attempt to hit the moving pinata while blindfolded and dizzy. They were smart enough, however, to make sure everyone was out of my range of motion because of the infamous golfing incident last month. I unfortunately, or more fortunately in my case, don't have any pictures from this event because I disallowed my husband from using the camera. I had gotten dressed up for the day but after dinner I put my pajamas on to veg out not knowing the surprise that was awaiting me. Hence, no pics of the birthday girl. I just wasn't looking my best.

So all in all my birthday this year may have been one of my favorites. Nathan is always trying to top himself. I'm excited to see what is in store for next year!

Life Changes

For most of you who actually take the time to read about our usually uninteresting but still enjoyable to us life, the fact that we moved to Spokane, Washington probably isn't news. But for those who didn't know, surprise! When Deloitte gave me the option to defer my start date until January, Nathan and I decided to move up North for a few months and enjoy all that this area has to offer. I was just tossing ideas around awhile back while noting that we had absolutely nothing tying us down for a little bit. No school for me, no kids, not even an apartment lease that we were signed into. Little did I know that would start something stirring in Nathan's brain. Until he came to me with a proposition. He pointed out that Washington has a higher minimum wage and unlike Utah actually pays servers minimum wage rather than $2 something an hour. So he would be making the same amount in tips, potentially more since Utah eaters tend to be stingy with their gratuities, and substantially more in base wages. He wouldn't quite be making up my missing salary if we decided to go and I left my job, but his offer to let me stay home and focus on studying for this nasty CPA exam rather than studying and working was just too good for me to pass up. So here we are in Spokane. A quick month, a drop off ride to Boise and back, and an incredibly boring 11 hour car ride by myself later.

Life hasn't been that exciting since we got here. Nathan is still searching for a job and getting a little frustrated. Luckily we don't have any major expenses so we have enough money to make it by for a little while. Surprisingly I'm not too worried about it. I had an extremely hard time agreeing to make the move up here. Simply because it was against everything ingrained in me to leave my comfortable job at Novell that I have been at for the last five years without knowing for a fact that we had another job in Washington. We were giving up two sources of income that were guaranteed for one that we might potentially find. But after many nights of prayer and a temple session, it was made very clear to me that this was the right place for us right now.Who knows why, but I do know we made the right choice to move for a few months and I know we will find a job soon.

I have been spending my days studying and sleeping in. I have had a job since the day I graduated high school and I don't remember the last time I had so much freedom in deciding how my day would go. I am absolutely loving it. I think I deserve a good break after my last intense five years. I get to run around with the dogs, hang out with my husband exponentially more than I have been able to in the past, and just pause to enjoy life. Except for those few and random moments where I happen to accidentally clock my husband in the eyebrow with a seven iron. Those moments aren't enjoyed as much. I think that was the first time I have heard my husband use, well, a not so nice word. Haha obviously he is a much better person than me! So let this be a lesson to all, do not stand close behind your wife when she is practicing her ridiculously awesome and strong golf swing. Luckily the cut is healing nicely and didn't require any stitches. It was extremely swollen the first few days but has since gone down and Nathan just looks like he is wearing some really dark eye shadow and liner. I would like to point out my awesome aiming skills though. Nathan was wearing his glasses while we were playing and I swung and hit not more than an inch above the glasses, avoiding a situation that could have been much, much worse. Thank goodness for those guardian angel moments.

Disneyland...Round 2

So a couple weeks ago we went to Disneyland....again...within 3 months of the last time we went. Obsessed much? But Nathan loved it so much that when my parents planned for their last visit back before their annual passes expired, he insisted we tag along. So we went and enjoyed a much less crowded version of the park than the experience we had over Thanksgiving. And then I could tell Nathan, this is the Disneyland that I love. When you can walk and spread your arms out without hitting at least 10 people in the process. And when you ride more than 3 rides a day because you aren't in line for a million hours.

The weather was so. much. nicer this time. Except that one day that Anaheim decided to have a record high of 90 degrees on the 1st day of March. We pretty much spent that day sitting on the ground by the waterfall of Grizzly Peak so we could feel its cool mist. Or riding Splash Mountain over and over and over. We also made it our mission to weird out the other people in our log.....hence the awesome faces you can see.

We also got to spend Blaine's birthday there, so being the awesome big sister I am, pretty much forcibly put an "It's My Birthday!" pin on him so that every Disney cast member had to wish him a happy birthday, along with multiple high school girls who just couldn't pass up the opportunity to say something to such a studly young man. In fact, while in line for Splash Mountain Erin and & I had the privilege of watching a group of about ten high school girls who were there for a choir competition ask if they could sing him happy birthday. It was very entertaining; the girls were talented and we got to watch Blaine's face progressively turn darker shades of red.

We FINALLY talked Chance into riding California Screamin. He actually rode it twice, which I'm completely surprised by because after having ridden it with him the second time, I'm not sure how he ever agreed to get back on. I wish we had gotten a recording of him because he truly understood the meaning of California Screamin. He did not take a breath the ENTIRE time. All the people on the roller coaster were laughing at him because you could probably hear his scream all over Anaheim. And I mean a high pitched, blood curdling scream. I don't even remember riding the roller coaster because I was laughing so hard. A cry inducing laugh. Nathan, on the other hand is still a wimp and wouldn't even ride it after a little boy showed him up.

Also, side story that no one else will find as funny as my family but Danika pretty much knocked a trash can over. Nathan was teasing her, as usual, so when he warned her to "watch out!" she assumed he was threatening her or something. But really he was just being a protective older brother and wanted to warn her about the big garbage can coming her way. She didn't listen and instead turned around with a vengeance and ran right into the garbage. So hard that her head almost went inside of it. The best part was Chance's reaction. He didn't even watch it happen but when we told him about it he laughed for ten minutes.

All in all, it was a great break from life. I'm hesitant to say vacation because every time we get back from Disneyland I am more tired than I was when I left. However, it was a vacation in the fact that my husband drained our bank account. Something about Disneyland brings out the little kid in him (okay, who am I kidding? Everything brings out the kid in him) and he thinks he needs to buy toys, toys, toys. But the tiredness and lack of money are worth it because we had a great time together as a family.

Riding the Teacups. I hate, hate, hate that ride but Nathan begged me to ride it. I think this is my "right before I throw up" face.

Oh and if you remember my reference to Nathan's creepy Yoda backback in this post. Well Chance decided Nathan is so cool and he wants to be just like him (Nah, not really. He just wanted a cool backpack) that he would buy one too. So here he is. We woke up to him tucked in on the couch in our hotel. That kid loves his backpack.

And to keep in tradition of our dogs doing something bad while we are gone, Charlie decided he would rip up the carpet upstairs. My mom is still refusing to go and look at the damage. All I can say is its a good thing my mom loves him to death or he would be finding a new home.

One time, I rescued a bird.

The other morning started out just like any other morning. I woke up, let the dog out and got some breakfast before going to let her back in. When I called her name to have her come back inside, she didn't run in like she normally does. So after five minutes of trying to find her, Akaya came walking up to me holding something in her mouth. It had just snowed so it looked like she had a big chunk of ice or snow in her mouth. But when she got up to me, she dropped a big white pigeon at my feet. (I thought it was a dove, but I have since been proven wrong. I didn't know there were pure white pigeons.) I'm almost positive she wasn't the one that originally caught it because of the gentle way she was carrying it. It was almost like she was trying to take care of it. I know, I'm probably giving my dog a little too much credit. But later, Nathan found a trail of blood on the front porch which made it look like the bird had been hurt, then flew into our front door, which is where Akaya found her.

Anyways, long story short: Nathan went outside after an hour and the bird was still sitting in the same spot. So he put it in our old bunny cage, brought the cage inside, went and bought some bird food, and now we have a pet bird until its wing heals so it can fly. At least we are hoping its wing will heal. It seems to be getting better every day. Except I think the bird has now become so accustomed to its spoiled life that it will never fly away.

But now I can check another item off my bucket list: rescue a hurt bird and nurse it back to health. For some reason I have always had that desire since I was a kid.

Christmas Break Completed

We added a new little guy to our family. Meet Keno, our Siberian Husky puppy. He is stubborn and proving hard to train (and not to mention when he does his business it is already 3 times the size of our other dog's) but we love him all the same. I mean, look at him. How could you not love that?

Check off my life long wish of wanting to be surprised with a puppy for Christmas. Just minus the box and cute bow. Nathan just carried him inside. Maybe next time.... ;)

The rest of our break consisted of 10 amazing days in Spokane with our family. Relaxing, movie watching, eating, and sleeping. Couldn't have asked for a better vacation. Except maybe if I had taken pictures to show how awesome it was. One day I'll jump on the "taking pictures of everything" bandwagon. Its on my New Years resolution list.

We also got to be there to go through the temple with Nathan's little brother Connor. Such an incredible experience. We are so excited for him and the new experiences he will have when he leaves on his mission in March.

2013 is going to bring with it a lot of changes for us. I graduate in April and will start my full time job with Deloitte some time this summer. I am nervous but ready for the next stage in life. To make it even better, I was able to pay for all of my tuition with no school loans. I feel like I have the right to brag a little since this is my blog. I have paid for all my own expenses since I left home in August 2008. Rent, car insurance, gas, phone bill, groceries, and even vacations. You name it and I paid for it. I hate asking for money and I made it a point not to unless absolutely necessary. There were a couple of semesters that I was a little short and I have a very generous dad who helped me out in those situations. But overall, I worked hard and saved so that I could do this on my own. I was blessed to have an awesome and flexible job that helped me do all that. Even during the horrible two semesters of the accounting Junior Core where I was told I absolutely could not have a job. I still worked 20 hours a week and somehow got accepted into the Masters program. And I had an awesome family who helped support me and always encouraged me. There were many times throughout the last five years that I wished I had parent's who would pay for everything but ultimately, I am so grateful that they let me do this on my own. I now appreciate my education SO much more because I worked for it and I paid for it.

Okay, I'm getting off my high horse now. But seriously, I feel like I deserved to be there for a minute.

I wouldn't be completely fair without mentioning my incredible and amazing husband. He worked just as hard as I did to make sure that we had the money to pay my tuition. Not to mention I honestly don't know how I stayed sane without him being around. He is always there to remind me when I need to take a deep breath, just enjoy life and stop stressing. He puts up with my crazy school obsessed brain and loves me all the more every day.

So life is good. I am trying to make the most of my last semester ever at BYU while still playing and enjoying life a little. Probably a little more playing than school right now, but hey, I deserve it at this point.

Christmas Break Thus Far

'Tis the season and we are celebrating the season magically!

• Sewing, sewing, sewing. I thought I was being so smart and frugal when I decided to sew everyone rice bags for their presents. Wonder what I was saying 6 hours later when I was still sewing them.... But during the first couple hours I was enjoying myself. I forgot how much I love to sew and I can't wait until I have more time to spend on it. In addition to the rice bags, Danika and I made this cute little gem:

• Catching up on Alias. Nathan and I started watching it on Netflix at the beginning of the semester as our "watch together show." We haven't made it very far because of our awesomely opposite schedules so to make up for it we have been watching 2 or 3 episodes a day.

• Staying up past 10! This is mostly to accommodate our extra episodes of Alias. I know, 10 is late. I'm pretty hard-core during Christmas break.

• A cousin Just Dance party. Go on, just take a look. I can't believe I'm actually posting this for the public to see. I'm hoping not many people read my blog anyway. 

• Laundry. I pretty much had a mountain of it in our bedroom. Literally, a mountain. Finals makes me neglect my wifely duties. Or at least I will use that as my excuse.

• Delivering Sub-for-Santa gifts. My department at work sponsored about 6 kids this year and I got the opportunity to drop off gifts for a little girl. You don't know the Christmas spirit until you see the gratefulness on a mother's face of a family truly in need. I'm going to make it a tradition to give every year. Especially when I have kids. 

• Now we are looking forward to 2 family parties (Both of which I have been asked for the 1st time to bring an appetizer; hello, adulthood. I feel so dependable), Christmas, obviously, my Grandma Long visiting from Kansas, and heading to Washington for a nice long vacation.

First Timer

Over Thanksgiving break I took my husband to the Happiest Place on Earth for his 1st time. My parents and siblings bought an annual pass last March and so we decided to tag along on this trip. I was nervous about taking Nathan because his family trips usually consist of something involving the outdoors. And he loves that. Our family vacations however consist of pretty much just Disneyland. So I had been counting down the days until I got to go back to my very favorite place for months. I told Nathan that whether or not he liked Disneyland would basically determine the future of our marriage  Haha no, I was just kidding....but maybe not entirely ;)

BUT the verdict is....Nathan loved it! He said we can definitely go back so I'm looking forward to many more Disneyland vacations with my hubby and family :)

This trip was full of fun memories. The biggest being that Disneyland during the holidays is absolutely beautiful! The place is magical enough on a regular basis but when you add in all the lights, fireworks, and fake Disneyland snow, you just can't help but feel that Disney magic.

Rather than bore anyone with details of waiting in massive lines, (because that's pretty much all we did. I've never seen that place so crowded!) I'll just tell you the highlights and post pics. You can imagine the rest.

• Nathan cried on Tower of Terror. Okay, not really. I've gotten in trouble for telling this lie. But he might as well have. I thought he was going to die when I made him ride it a second time. Who would have thought that he would be scared of my favorite ride. I consider it payback for all the terrifyingly scary movies he makes me watch.

• Cars Land is my new favorite part of California Adventure. It looks just like the movie!
• Nathan, who was completely convinced before we left that he wouldn't want any stupid Disneyland souvenirs spend a hefty sum on a freakishly real looking Yoda backpack. Everyone kept staring and asking to take pictures. It looks like a baby is riding on his back...an ugly baby anyway.

• This is the first time EVER that we have left every night before the park completely closed. In fact, we were outta their by about 9 or 10 every night. I'll blame it on the little kids but in reality, none of us could handle the park the whole day. We just don't have the Disneyland energy we used to have.
• I cried during the Pocahontas part of World of Color. I LOVE THAT MOVIE! And I love being reminded of my childhood Disney memories. 
• My dad laughed so hard he cried when my mom got soaking wet on Grizzly River Run. I have honestly never seen him laugh so hard in my entire life. Crying, red faced laughter. Best moment hands down.

• I popped my jaw out of its socket while eating a caramel apple. Caramel apples are one of my favorite past times of Disneyland. I will probably never eat another one again because I get chills just thinking about how gross it felt to have my jaw move somewhere it should not be.
• Danika is the bravest little girl I know. She rides everything! Her favorite is California Screamin. We probably rode it more than all the other rides combined.

• Chance is more conniving than I would have ever thought. He told me he was scared to go on the swings so I bribed him with an ice cream sandwich. Come to find out from my dad, the swings are actually his favorite ride. The little turd conned me!
• Blaine became dubbed "Insane Blaine" by Crush the talking sea turtle. But then Crush later told him his name should be not-insane Blaine because he swims too slow. Haha
• Nathan's favorite ride is Space Mountain. Chance...not so much. He pulls the best faces on rides

These two are becoming best buds. 

Enjoying the Tiki Room

The best part of our trip: getting home and hearing about how Erin locked herself our of the house with the dogs locked inside the house. I wish I had pictures of the results. If you have met our dog Akaya you know she still has all that happy, puppy energy. So when Erin didn't show up to yell at her for awhile she decided to have a party in my parent's house. She drank a leftover Pepsi (probably fueled her 5 hour rampage), ate an entire bag of dog treats, ate two cans of opened dog food from the kitchen counter, dug through the trash and splattered marinara sauce all over the kitchen, and Blaine's favorite part: left her business right in the middle of his bedroom. The only thing we could all think of the whole situation was, "Poor Charlie." Charlie is my family's more human than dog pet that never does anything bad in fear of my mother's wrath. I'm sure he was running around after Akaya for the whole 5 hours, begging her to stop before the humans got home.

Summer in Review

And yet again, despite my promise in my previous post, here is another summary blog post because my summer was much too busy for me to sit down and update this on a regular basis. So here we go...a story of our first full summer as a married couple...

May

To kick of the summer the right way, my cousin Mary and I decided to plan a camping trip to Moab. We ended up in a small cabin, perfect size for the 6 of us that went, and we spent the weekend hiking around in Arches National Park. I had yet to see the famous arch yet, so it was an awesome fun experience. We had blast spending time with the Finleys: Mary, Leland, and Sean, as well as my sister Erin who was luckily able to tag along.

June

I started my internship at the very beginning of the month and that pretty much consumed my life for the next 10 weeks. I only worked 40 hours a week, despite the typical accounting stereotype of 70 hour weeks, but unfortunately being a newly married...and kinda poor....couple, we only have 1 car. So 1 car equals an hour bus ride to the trax station and then another 35 minutes to the office. And then at the end of the day I got to turn around and do the same commute again. It got old, really fast. But on the bright side, I did finally overcome my carsickness because I was determined to do something productive like reading during the 2 hour commute.

Quite the feat...we fit about 20 people in our small apt

Despite my busy schedule, we did have some fun. On my b-day I came home to find my very own surprise party! I had never had one before, and I have to admit that I'm not a huge fan of the surprise thing. Haha, I may have almost punched my newly acquired cousin Cory in the face when he jumped out from behind my door. But, it was awesome to have all my friends and family come over and show how much they love me. And the best part, all 3 sets of my parents and Nathan decided to pitch in to buy me a keyboard. I was so excited! I had been complaining about not being able to practice piano for months, so I have loved having it.

Two of my favorite boys.

Cory and Leland playing with the little ones

July

July consisted of more working at Deloitte. We did start the month of right with an awesome 4th of July. I let Nathan splurge on some pretty big aerial fireworks and we had one of my most memorable holidays over at the Bramall's house. I had never seen aerial fireworks like that up close and I would have to say I enjoy them a lot more than just going to the Stadium of Fire to watch from afar. So I think it will definitely have to be a tradition we keep up.

I also got the opportunity to go to Deloitte University for intern training. Its basically this huge multi-million dollar resort that Deloitte built to send its employees to all year long for training in Dallas, Texas. It was a big, fun party all weekend with a bunch of college interns. There were about 15 of us from Utah and I'm pretty sure we had a much different party experience than the rest of the group, but it was still a lot of fun. Unlimited delicious food and all kinds of activities. Almost like a cruise for work.

August

We celebrated our 1 year anniversary!! To commemorate the awesome occasion we went up to Park City for the weekend and just enjoyed being together without any of the normal everyday worries. We spent way too much at the outlets and eating out and enjoyed every minute of it. Nathan went down the Alpine Slide for the first time and asked me why I hadn't told him about it sooner because he had a blast. (And he won't admit to this but I totally beat him down the slide.)

Please ignore the men's sunglasses...I seem to have misplaced mine...

I also finished up my internship the second week of August and I excitedly accepted a full time offer as a tax accountant for Deloitte Tax starting next summer of 2013! I can't wait to start my real life career and life after school is out in April.

To end our summer we headed up to Spokane for about 2 weeks to spend some much needed time with Nathan's family. We spent a few days in Montana at Glacier National Park hiking around and seeing the absolutely gorgeous sites. If anyone ever has the opportunity to visit, I would most definitely recommend it. Its one of those places that just makes you stop and think about how great God really is, because he took the time to create such a beautiful place for us to live. The water is perfectly clear, but absolutely freezing. I did get brave on the last day though and jumped straight in.

The beautiful, freezing, glacier water

So now we are back in school and work mode and just as busy as ever. I miss the summer days of seeing my husband for more than a couple hours, but this will do for now. I love my life, we love our life, and wouldn't change a thing.

The Last 7 Months....(and our new baby!)

I have been lacking significantly on this whole blogging thing. I got busy with school last semester and then the thought of writing a big summary blog post just seemed much too overwhelming so I continued to put off an update even when school was over. So I decided that I would just do a quick update with the major points of our life the last few months. If I can remember all the major points :)

November:

We had our first Thanksgiving as a married couple.....in separate places. One of the bad things about working in the food industry is that restaurants don't close on holidays. So Nathan had to work and miss the Thanksgiving feast at my Grandma Roberts' house. But don't worry, I'm an awesome wife and saved a plate for him in the fridge to eat when he got home late that night :)

December:

We had fun trying to make our little apartment as Christmasy as we could. We bought our first mini Christmas tree complete with lights and ornaments. Nathan even wrapped my presents early so he could put them under our little tree. 

We spent Christmas in Washington with Nathan's family and had a blast. Complete with all I could eat delicious homemade cinnamon rolls. And the Webb's cinnamon rolls are about a million times better than Cinnabon. Just sayin. But luckily my little sister's Alex and Elizabeth got Just Dance 3 for one of their presents so we burned off all the calories with hours and hours of choreographed, dancing fun :) I love that game. So much.

January:

With a new semester starting, we needed to bring it in with a bang. My cousin Mary had her birthday party at Fat Cats bowling alley and we had a blast bowling until after midnight....way after my bedtime! But in the end it was all worth it because....I FINALLY beat my husband at bowling. I can't even remember the exact score at this point but all that matters is I beat him after many, many attempts. 

February:

This month brought our first Valentine's Day as Mr. and Mrs. Webb and with that came the best present a husband could ask for. We brought our first baby into our home ;) For those of you who haven't yet, meet Akaya. 



Akaya's 1st night at home

She is a basset hound Labrador mix and she has taken over our hearts. Or mine at least. Haha I just can't get enough of her. Nathan and I usually work completely opposite hours since he works at a restaurant and I have the typical day time job. It's amazing how big of a difference it makes that I have a dog to come home to every day. There is nothing like an excited puppy to bring a smile to your face. I'm her favorite person in the world and I love it. Nathan, not so much. He's still trying to convince Akaya that he should be the favorite :) 

She immediately became best friends with my family's dog Charlie. When we first got her she was about the same size as full grown Charlie but she has continued to grow and is now much larger. But I don't think Charlie has realized that. To him, he will always be the big dog at his home. And please excuse the massive amounts of pictures. Haha, like I said I'm obsessed with her :)

We also celebrated my sister Erin's 19th birthday on the 17th. We went out to dinner for yummy Chinese food and and also played Just Dance 3. Like I said, I love that game. But I also love my sis. We have had our ups and downs but now that we are both getting older and she has gone off to college I'm finding we get along much better. She has always been one of my best friends, but now she's an even better best friend :)

March:

We went to the ever increasing in popularity festival of colors during March. It was my second time and I didn't really have the desire to experience it again, but Nathan hadn't been yet so I went for him. It's one of those need to experience once things but never again. I'm not a big fan of the whole strangers throwing colored chalk in my face. But it's fun one time :) We went with a bunch of my cousins and my little brother Blaine. Nathan and Blaine had fun, especially when my mom made them hose off outside in the freezing cold well water ;)

April:

This month we flew out to Washington to visit Nathan's family for a quick weekend trip. We were celebrating Nathan's Grandma Witt's 100th birthday. I met more of Nathan's family that I hadn't been able to meet yet and we had so much fun playing volleyball, eating, and studying. Haha I had a test the day we got back so I was lucky enough to have to bring my textbooks with me on this trip. But even so, it was an awesome break to rejuvenate right before finals week.

May:

And this brings us to the current month. Our first month of summer has been pretty uneventful so far. We enjoyed spending time together for the first few weeks because without school, I get home much earlier in the day from work. Nathan just got a second job at Mimi's Cafe here in Orem and he is loving it. That also means that I see less of him again but that's life when you are starving college students. I start my summer internship at Deloitte in Salt Lake next week so I'm getting ready for that. I'm excited but nervous but mostly excited for the great experience it will be. 

Well that's all for now folks. Hopefully I'll be better at updating in the future so I don't have to do massive summary blog posts anymore. But nonetheless, I hope you have enjoyed!

"In sickness and in health"....but mostly sickness

Life has continued to be just as busy as the last time I posted. School has increased in workload and I am spending way more of my time than I would like to researching the tax code. Yes, such an exciting major. But weirdly, I don't completely hate it. I guess I made the right choice :)

On, the bright side recruiting season is finally over and now I just have the decision of where to accept my internship. There was a huge sigh of relief once I realized that all this hard work I have put in the last few years and will continue until my graduation are not for nothing. I'll have a job when I graduate!

Lately in our home there has been a lot of sickness and more sickness. Nathan came down with an awful fever/sore throat a couple of weeks ago. I did my best to avoid it with excessive hand sanitizing and wiping every possible thing Nathan touched with Clorox disinfecting wipes. If I get sick, I don't get better for weeks because my busy schedule doesn't give me a lot of time to sleep and recover. Plus I had a couple of office visit interviews that I had to be on my game for. I thought I had missed it but just when he started to feel better, I got the same sickness with a vengeance. Try giving a presentation in school when you can't stop coughing, sniffling, or sneezing. I'm quite proud of the fact that I made it through :) Needless to say, we have been eating a lot of soup in our house lately.

We also lost my good, ole car a couple of weeks ago. That car has been through a lot, including a high school wreck, a deer collision, and even a few incidents with ducks......haha don't ask. So I have been driving around a mini-van and we are trying to figure out what to do about a method of transportation.

A few other things have happened lately in addition to sickness and the loss of my car that have made the statement, "When it rains, it pours" completely applicable to our life. And for those who know me well, I am a stresser. I stress about money and I stress about the future and I stress about....well everything. But I definitely married the right kind of person to mellow me out a bit. I was talking to a friend today who gave a great analogy of life that relates a lot to me and Nathan. Life is a road and in the past, on one side of the road, are rocky mountains you have already made it through. The other side, the future, is a straight drop off cliff. If you start veering too far to the left you are living in the past, which is never a good thing. If you start veering too far to the right, you become anxious and stressed. So ultimately we need to stay in the middle of the road to live a happy life. Live in the present and enjoy life as it is. I tend to be a person who veers strongly to the right. But my husband is amazingly talented at staying happy and in the middle. I noticed that there were a few talks this last General Conference that gave this point as well. This is an area that I have always been trying to improve on and now that I'm married to Nathan, I think I may finally be making progress. I am blessed to have someone as grounded as he is to constantly remind me that Heavenly Father is watching out for us and will make sure everything works out for our good as long as we are doing our best to follow Him. So regardless of the fact that I have felt like every possible little thing that could go wrong has gone wrong lately, I have to have faith that everything will work out. There's my little feel good thought for the day :)

In between work, school, and homework we do occasionally find time to have some fun. A few weeks ago we went to Color Me Mine. For those who don't know, this is a ceramic painting studio. Nathan picked a monkey and I painted a Volkswagen bug piggy bank. I am not even remotely artistic or creative and I found this experience way more frustrating than it was enjoyable. Nathan on the other hand spent hours articulately painting every inch of his monkey. It was the funniest and cutest thing. Ultimately though, I have learned I can never go back because my perfectionist personality makes my art hideous. I start with a cute idea but I take it too far, and then it becomes overwhelming and too much. I gave up about 20 minutes into painting and just hurried to finish the rest of it. I am completely left brained. I didn't inherit any artistic ability.