Update: End of Semester and New Plans!

I know it has been a while since I last posted anything. I'm blaming that on how insanely busy this semester got with a never-ending supply of projects, papers, tests, and math homework to be done! It feels great to be done so I can refocus my efforts where they have been lacking at home. I definitely do not regret being so busy this semester because I learned (with the help of Josh) a huge lesson about taking it easy and not stressing regardless of what I have going on. I have always been a worry-wart and probably always will be but I think I have really learned how to manage it these past 4 months. I've narrowed the things I stress about into 2 main topics: having enough time and meeting expectations.

Regarding time, I've realized that as long as I am doing everything I can, it is the best I can do and I can't control how fast or slow time goes by. Since I can't control it, logically there is no point in stressing about it. As long as I am using my time wisely, whether I get everything I need to done or not, it doesn't matter because I've done my best and that's really what matters.

This semester has been hard trying to understand the expectations of some of my professors in order to meet them. I spent a lot of time worrying about whether I was doing "enough" to meet the expectations of an assignment. It got to the point where it was all I thought about day in and day out. This is when Josh knocked some sense into me and said that it didn't matter whether or not I met their expectations. I could only do what I could and I would still pass the classes and get my teaching degree so there is no point to kill myself over a few classes. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband to help me put things into perspective!

Anyways, I was a lot more happy and fun to be around once I learned how to manage the "bad stress" and focus on what really matters. Now for the exciting part of this post.....

We're buying a house!

That's right! We found a house with 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms on lots of land that we are in the process of buying. We are super excited and can't wait to move out of our cinderblock icebox and have our own home! It is definitely a fixer-upper but it is liveable at the moment (and it has a dishwasher :) ). We will hopefully be moved in by the first week of January. We definitely feel very lucky to have found it and feel that it is the right time for us to be making this step. Life is great!

Our New Toy

For the past couple months or so, Josh has been saying how much he wants a Jeep so 2 weeks ago, he finally found one that he liked and bought it! He's been putting it to good use and took it hunting with him last weekend. Yesterday, we took it for a drive through the mountains to try out the 4-wheel drive.

Here's the Jeep. As you can see it came with some pretty good-looking tires and rims for the summer and some airplane landing lights on top that had been added by the seller. The view from the top of the mountain was pretty great.

At some points of the drive the drop-off was so steep that I would look out the window and be looking down a cliff like this one. It was probably better for me to be looking straight ahead but I didn't want to miss out on the view!

We had a great time getting some fresh mountain air and climbing the mountain in Josh's new toy. I'm sure we have many more good times to look forward to with our new Jeep!

Piano

I'm excited to announce that we have a piano!!! Thank you so much to all those who helped bring it up and/or move it into out tiny apartment! I especially want to thank my Dad who was thoughtful enough to notice how much I missed playing the piano and found one that he put a lot of hard work into to fix it up and tune it. I sure owe him and everyone else who helped a ton!



As the saying goes, "If you don't use it, you lose it." Up until this week I could probably count the number of times I've played the piano in the past year on one or two hands. It's not that I haven't wanted to play the piano. Even in church, when we moved into our ward a year ago I was asked what my ideal calling would be and I said Relief Society pianist. They already had someone for that so I am the chorister instead (which I love) but I have felt my talent wasting away more and more each day. About a month or so ago the pianist was not there so I said I would play the piano if someone else would lead. I was not expecting the reaction of shock from others. "I didn't know you could play the piano!" I didn't realize I was hiding it! It was a humbling experience.



What was even more humbling was when I sat down at the piano yesterday ready to play all of my old favorite songs. My fingers were not used to finding the keys and my eyes were not nearly as quick as they used to be at reading the notes on the page! I had to think for a minute to even remember the order of the sharps!! Don't ask me to play any fancy cadences or scales because I probably can't remember how!



After the humbling realization that I have a ton of work to do to relearn this skill, I played the piano for about an hour and was able to work out some of the rusty old kinks. The void of playing the piano is no more [sorry Josh ;)].

Fourth of July

We had a great 4th of July weekend! It started out with some camping in Idaho with Jake and Miya on Friday night. It was very peaceful to be out in nature and enjoy the nice river, fishing, and tin foil dinners. After dinner it started raining a bit so we decided to go inside one of the tents and play games. After a couple of games of Uno, the peacefulness of being in nature quickly came to an end. It started lightning and thundering and the rain was coming down harder. We could tell that if we stayed, we would be in for a long night. As soon as the rain started coming through the tent roof, we were out of there! We grabbed everything but the tents and coolers and made a run for it to our cars. The second we stepped outside the tent, we were all drenched from head to foot! It was like walking through a waterfall, or as Miya would say: "The river was raining on us."

This is the view from our car as we are headed out of the storm. It was hard to get a good picture of the rain so you'll just have to take my word for it that it was very WET!

And so were we....

So we drove back to Josh's parents house to get dry and to spend the night. The next morning, we headed back to our campsite and were happy to see our tents still standing. We went on a hike through the "badlands" AKA Jake and Josh's hunting grounds. It started with us walking through what I like to call the toilet. I'll leave that explanation up to your imagination. It smelled a lot better once we got to the trail. The hike would have been lovely if it hadn't been so wet from the night before. The mosquitoes were all over the place! It would have been funny to watch us walking because we were constantly hitting ourselves and each other and waving our arms to keep the bugs off. It is safe to say that we didn't make it very far on the trail.

After our hike, we went back to Josh's parents house and hung out there for the rest of the day. We spent the evening at his sister's house with a nice 4th of July barbecue, bonding time as we played games, and fireworks as soon as it was dark enough.

It's been a long time since I've been exhausted at the end of the day from having so much fun. It was great!

Shelf Projects

I realized this week that my summer "break" is halfway over!! Although I have kept myself busy the past two months, I feel like I have not accomplished a single thing that I had planned to do this summer (besides school and work). The summer got off to a very slow start as I spent the first two weeks coughing up a lung or two. I got back into work the same time I started my first class of the summer. This was a 4 month course that was squeezed into 8 weeks. Gotta love summer classes! Last week, I started a new phase of my job where I spend my Tuesday and Thursday nights (until 10:30) on campus in class both as a student and a TA.

I know it probably sounds like I am complaining but I definitely am not! I am so glad I have something to do this summer because last summer was the exact opposite. I love my job(s) and I wouldn't know what to do with myself if I didn't have homework. I have learned that I would rather be busy enough than bored out of my mind.

So.....here is why I'm writing this. Even though I have had a very productive summer with my job and school, I can't say the same for the projects at home that have piled up over the past year. Projects that had me saying, "I can work on that in the summer." Right....

This shelf is where a lot of these projects have been stashed. My goal from now until I head back to school in the fall is to have these shelves looking a lot better (i.e. the projects finished). So.... here's what everything is:


1) Brighton Quilt - This lovely quilt looks great in my head but right now it is just a jumble of T-shirts, bandanas and jeans. That is why it stays hidden behind my cutting mat. I'm having a hard time getting this from my head into actually becoming a quilt.


2) Getting the ink out of our clothes - Some time ago, somebody left a pen in their pants pocket and it EXPLODED in the washing machine! Not the nicest thing to have happen. Luckily it didn't get on all of the clothes but I'm still working on getting some of the ink out. I hear hairspray does the trick but maybe I haven't tried long enough. Does anyone have a better idea?


3) 72-Hour Kits - The milk jugs are supposed to become nice little 72-hour kits. I still need to buy the stuff to go inside them.


4) Hang decorations - "They" decided to move our wireless internet router to the exact place where I had my cute frame that says "Home is where your story begins" so I need to find another place for that. There is also a "Welcome" sign for the front door and a Family Home Evening Chart that I need to finish making.


5) Organize School Books - Last (for now), I need to get my schoolwork from last semester organized in new folders and in the closet.


I can't wait to get started!

Mouse in the House

Josh found this on our kitchen floor last night. It was already dead. Here are my questions.... How did this mouse get into my house and how did it die?? I'm glad we didn't have to chase him around and set up traps to catch him, but why would it choose my kitchen floor as the place to spend his last moments of life?

One theory is that because the lawns were sprayed yesterday, he got poisoned. That still leaves the question of how did the mouse get inside! If one mouse can get in that means another can get in, so even though this one is gone, what's to say that his friends won't find a way in too! I hope I never have to find out.

One Year <3

Wow! One year ago today I married my incredible husband. I can remember that morning waking up super early (before 6 AM) because I was too excited to sleep. One question I was asked a lot leading up to that day is "Are you nervous?" and the answer was always "Not at all." I was definitely a young bride (19!), but I knew my life was headed in the right direction by marrying Josh. I couldn't go wrong!

Well, here I am a year later, waking up super early because I'm too excited to sleep. Josh always wakes me up for a minute before he goes to work to say "I love you" and give me a kiss. I always return the favor but it is usually when I am half asleep and barely know what's going on. This morning, I instantly remembered what today was and beat him to the punch by saying "Happy anniversary!" Sleep was a lost cause by that point.

I started thinking about our beautiful wedding day and how lucky I am to be with such an amazing man. The day we got married was perfect. Even the almost-disaster that happened just made the day that much better. I'm sure you're all wondering what I'm talking about so here it is. This is part of a journal entry from last year:

"I met up with Josh, and we went and sat in the most gorgeous
room I had ever seen. Most people say it takes forever in that room while you
sit and wait to get married, but for me, it went really fast. That was mostly
because I couldn't breath in my dress! It has a built in corset that is barely
too tight and with all the extra clothes around my neck, I felt like I couldn't
get enough air. Josh went to ask the lady if there was time to go undo the
corset but she said we only had about 5 minutes to go. I would've had to go back
downstairs, have someone help me unlace my dress, unzip it, undo the latch to
the corset, lace it up again and put everything back on. I was told to just grin
and bear it because we didn't have the time. Our time came and I felt like I was
going to pass out. Josh was really worried. We walked into the sealing room ...
and the sealer started talking and giving advice which I know was beautiful, but
I can't remember any of it because I had to focus the whole time on each breath
I took. Finally, he asked Josh to walk me to one side of the alter, which he did
and then he knelt across from me on the other side. Then a miracle happened. I
could breath! I didn't even have to think about it. It was a perfect moment
where I was sealed to my husband for time and all eternity and he to me. It was
the happiest moment of my life. I couldn't stop smiling and I couldn't believe
it was actually happening. I couldn't have asked for anything better."

Time has just flown by since that day. I guess that's what happens when you're having fun! Happy one year anniversary Josh!

Paper and Gum

This is what happens when you give Josh paper and gum during sacrament meeting...

Top view

Summer time!

I was going to write about this past week of finals and show you a picture of my table full of nearly every dish we own that gathered while I decided I was better off studying than washing dishes. I guess you're not supposed to see that though because I can't get the computer to load the pictures from the camera! I think the problem is with the cord that hooks the camera up to the computer but I can't figure it out. Anyways, I did get the dishes done after my last final and it took about an hour and a half, but it sure felt great to have that done! Finals went well and it was the most amazing feeling to be able to put my binders and books on the shelf knowing that I don't have to look at them again for a LONG time. I was so happy that day that Josh kept asking me why I was smiling so much. I guess I don't smile enough when I have a lot of studying to do (something to work on I guess).

Well, now that summer's here, I decided to make a summer book list. First on the list is the Eragon Trilogy. It's something about dragons and comes highly recommended from Josh so I'll give them a whirl. I also want to read the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and Pride and Prejudice this summer. I started reading Pride and Prejudice when I first met Josh, but somehow got to busy and never finished it. I've heard it's really good so I'm excited to finally get it read. Well, that's my list so far. Do any of you have suggestions of books I could add to my list?

Paying for School

Sorry I haven't blogged for a while. After spring break (which was the second week of March for me) everything picked up and I got super busy. This week is finals week so I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. Yay!

Mostly what has kept me busy (besides schoolwork) is trying to figure out how I'm going to pay for the next year and a half of college that I have left. I was really lucky and had a scholarship for the first two years but it will be done at the end of the semester so I had to figure out something quick! Here's what I've been up to:

• I got a tutoring job which meant I was gone a couple of nights a week helping people with their math homework. It is a good job because it helps me review some of the math that I'll be teaching someday, but it isn't very reliable because I can only work as long as the student has questions and half the time they cancel on me.
  
• I applied for a math department scholarship and in the process, asked one of my professors to write a letter of recommendation for me. He said he would be glad to lie for me and lucky for me he did because I got a scholarship to cover part of my tuition for next year! What a blessing!
• I am amazed at how one good thing leads to another because the same teacher offered me an amazing job! The hours are pretty much any time I want to work. He said they weren't hiring but wanted to snatch me up because one of the employees is leaving once the semester is over. I have a lot to learn because it comes with a lot of responsibilities, but I'm not complaining because it's just what I need!
• Well, I'm not done because this job led to yet another job for the summer. The math advisor asked me if I would fill in as a secretary (sort of). I would be answering phones, making 4-year plans, and doing whatever else she needs help with.
  

I should be able to make enough money this summer to cover whatever scholarships and grants don't. It keeps me busy and I am glad that Josh has been so supportive of me working at night while he's home. I will be dropping the tutoring job though, because 3 jobs plus going to school full-time is not fun and I don't need to be that busy. I feel very blessed at this time with so many people struggling to find work and even losing their jobs that I don't have to worry about that. ;) Life is so good!

Pictures

Josh took a bunch of really scenic pictures on his mission and we decided to get a few of them blown up to hang on our wall. It turned out great!

Here's a closer look at the pictures...

I love them! Josh really has a knack for photography.

Decorating

We finally bought some nails and put some of our wall decorations up! It sure adds a lot of life to our whitewashed cinderblock walls. We still want to get a big picture to put above our couch but that project is still in the works. I couldn't decide whether to put the close up pictures on here or the wide shots (so you can see how it looks in the space), so I ended up putting both.

Spring!

For the first time in MONTHS, I walked outside in the morning and could not see my breath! That's right, it's 46 degrees and it's the warmest day of the year! I can finally break out in the capris and flip flops that I so love. Hopefully it's not a trick and I can keep the warm clothes out and put the winter clothes away. (Maybe I should leave the coats out for a bit longer so I don't jynx it.) What a beautiful day!

Mmm Mmm Chicken

Yesterday we tried a new recipe called Parmesan Roast Chicken. It was so good!! It had the perfect amount of tenderness and juiciness, and the flavor was absolutely delicious! We had it with the fettuccini alfredo recipe that my mom makes. They went really well with together. I am only posting the chicken recipe, but if you don't have the fettuccini recipe and want it just let me know.

The BIG 2-zero...

As I'm sure all of you know, I had my 20th birthday last Wednesday. I feel just the same as I did when I was 19 but it is weird to think that I'm not a teenager anymore. Time just keeps going faster and faster at this point!

We went to Preston to celebrate my birthday with Josh's family. My cute sister in-laws Lindsey and Lacey made me an awesome cake!

I love the polka dots and the colors look so fun together! Thanks girls!

Josh got me this cute little video camera that I can't wait to start using. It was completely his idea to get this for me. I didn't even ask for it, but he sure did a great job!!

I wanted to put this picture in, first of all, to point out cute little Skylee in the background. She seems pretty happy about something! And second, check out the "birthday" candles on the cake. Peggy didn't have any 'true' birthday candles so we used these tea candles instead. I thought it was pretty funny, but in the end, I suppose it goes with the polka dot design of the cake.

On the weekend we had a birthday dinner with my family. Sorry I don't have any pictures but I promise we had a great time and it was nice to see everybody that was there (although we missed Meg, Trent, and Tru). Thanks to everybody who helped make my birthday so great!

Dead Fish

We had 2 beta fish that we brought home from our wedding openhouse. A couple of months ago we purchased a small tank and decided to put both of them in it. For a few hours it looked like they were doing ok living together, but that same night the blue one got agitated and started tearing the fins off of the red one. To punish him we put him in a lonely jar and he eventually died.

Red fish (we never got around to naming them) has been living it up in a nice spacious tank all too himself, but we often forget to feed him. Lately, though, the lack of food wasn't his biggest problem in life. It has been VERY cold in Logan the last couple of weeks and we keep our apartment at a decent 50ish degrees if we can help it. Josh and I never thought this would affect anyone but ourselves until last night we saw our poor little fish lying on the rocks at the bottom of the tank! It wasn't dead so we tried to get it moving and get it to eat but it refused to touch the food. We put him in warm water and kept him by the stove overnight in hopes that he would improve but there was still just as much food as we had left the night before and he was not swimming around like he used to.

So, we put our poor little fish out of his misery this afternoon and definitely learned our lesson that fish need to be warm just as much as people do!

New Year's Resolutions!!

I know this is late to post since we're already halfway done with January, but better late than never. :) I can't even find my resolutions from last year so I don't remember if I reached my goals or not. It's possible that the only goal I accomplished from last year's list was to get married in the temple. I think that's a big enough accomplishment that I'm not going to worry that I didn't even remember my other goals.

This year, I'm keeping it simple with just a few reasonable goals.

1. Get in shape! Throughout my high school years I was pretty fit, but once I started college a lot of that went out the window. It's not really a big deal because all of my clothes from high school still fit but I sure did gain the "Freshman 15." A large part of that has been since I got married. (It doesn't help the figure to start out married life with about 15 eclairs a whole cheesecake and 30 brownies in your freezer.) I also wasn't as active as I had been in high school. I'm not really hung up on the weight, I just want to be fit and feel good about myself! So... this semester I'm taking a ballet class and I got weights, an exercise ball, and a mat for Christmas so I'm already to go with this one!

2. Find new recipes: One thing I've learned since marriage is that I don't have much of a variety of recipes. I want to find a new recipe each month that will become a permanent member of our other favorites. So far this goal has gone well. This month we had Slow Cooker Creamy Italian Chicken. It was delicious!

3. Learn how to quilt: For a long time I have wanted to make a quilt from old t-shirts, bandanas, jeans, etc that I wore when I worked at Brighton Girl's Camp. Both years I worked there were incredible and I think a quilt would be a wonderful way to memorialize some of the good times I experienced there. This year is as good as any to do this and learn something new!

My CRAZY first day of school!!

Today was the first day back at school for spring semester. My first class is at 9:30 so at 5 minutes to 9 I headed out to catch the shuttle bus. Normally I wait for at the most 10 minutes and then it comes so I have plenty of time to get to class. Ten minutes passed, then 20 and I was wondering what could be taking so long! I thought maybe the bus had slid on some ice and crashed, or they only had one bus going instead of 2 like they normally do, or something else that was taking a ridiculous amount of time.

Finally after about half an hour of waiting in below zero temperatures, it came! Well, it turns out that it takes a long time to fit 100 people on a shuttle bus!! Mr. Bus Driver told us that we could only ride if we could get behind the white line. The problem was that there was no room behind the white line! No one even attempted to scoot back to let us freezing, numb people on the bus. We were already going to be late for class at this time, but still we had to shuffle off and wait for the next bus to come.

Fifteen minutes later (ten minutes after I couldn't feel my toes anymore) we saw a glorious sight. A completely EMPTY!! bus came around the corner to save us from frostbite. It was so warm on the bus I didn't want to get off, but I had to get off on the second stop on campus to get to where I thought my class was. It turns out that the building I headed to was not where my class was and for a moment I had no idea where the right building was. Hello Erinn! This is your FOURTH semester on campus! You'd think I'd know by now where the buildings are. This crucial information came back to me after a few seconds and I realized I had to walk clear across campus and should have gotten off on the first stop to save time.

I finally found the building and climbed 4 flights of stairs up to my classroom. I ended up being only 20 minutes late. Not so lucky though because they were well into learning how to do the first homework assignment on a computer program that I haven't used since 9th grade. I guess I'll have to brush up on that in my own time. Also, every seat that had a computer with the program was taken! So, I sat in the back and was told to look over on someone else's screen to see what they were doing. Luckily I knew someone in the back of the room so I sat next to her and she was very nice at explaining what was going on.

That was the end of the craziness for the most part. Other than nearly falling down from slipping on the ice about 5 times and the VERY cozy shuttle ride back home (this bus driver was nicer and told everybody they had to scoot back so those of us coming on would fit), the rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Maybe I'll have to leave an hour early to get to class on time!! What a day!