Updates!

Wow so much time has passed and I have been lousy at keeping updated! I can't believe Jake and I have been married for almost 8 months. I guess the saying is true that time flies when you are having fun with the person you love, and that's exactly what Jake and I are doing.

Where do I begin?! Let’s see…the last time I updated on our super fun lives was back in October. Since then, we finished the semester (in Jake’s case, barely), moved to a new apartment, had a great first Christmas together, and went on a cruise, and now the new semester is kicking my tooshy!

Jake had a really interesting Fall semester. In Jake’s words, “it sucked.” He was stressing out because he didn’t have a helicopter slot, and a class he was in was ridiculous. His teacher was the worst teacher of all time and wanted him to write 16 hour papers every other day. There were only two other people in the class, and it was pretty much like a semester long job interview to be a flight instructor. One of the other people was a girl who would suck up like no other and bring cookies and baked goods to class. Jake barely finished with his sanity (and mine as well), and he got his helicopter slot! We’re going to Alabama for sure in a year and a half or so. Pretty much whenever the army says, “go.”


Right before the semester was over, I started thinking I really wanted to move to a new apartment. I wanted a place with two rooms so I could have our computer and TV in another room. (This really came down to I didn’t want to sleep on the floor in the living room anymore because Jake was up working on his papers until 5:00am.) I talked to Jake about moving and we both said, “why not?” Jake thought I was crazy at first, but as soon as I dragged him to our new apartment and we signed the contract and moved in all within two weeks, he realized it was for real. :-) Our new apartment is so great! We went from our 510 sq ft. apartment to a 1200 sq foot townhouse! It has an upstairs with two HUGE rooms and a walk-in closet with a HUGE kitchen and a cute little living room and dining room. We bought our very first couches for a steal-of-a-deal, and got a very nice, very heavy, wooden dining room table with chairs on KSL for $250! Jake whined that the table and chairs smelled like cigarette smoke for weeks, but I think he was just being difficult. :-) I am so happy with our new little house!

We not only got a new apartment, we also got a new special friend. Our neighbor’s name is Darla and she is this funny 50-year-old woman with a dog named Wally. We befriended her and she really needed our help. The more I get to know her, the more interesting she gets. I’ve recently found out she had an amazing bridal business doing all the celebrities hair and makeup and planning their weddings, owning an old folks home, and she even had her own line of makeup and jewelry. Darla got in two pretty severe car accidents and is suffering from those. I feel terrible about her situation. She is very sweet and has given Jake and I the opportunity to serve her. A month or so after we moved in to our new home, I went over to visit Darla, and when I came home I was hit with the strongest impression that Jake and I were supposed to move here because Darla needed our help. My testimony on being an instrument in the Lord's hands and being guided to where He needs us to be has been tremendously strengthened. I am honored I could be a part in serving the Lord through Darla. 

Jake and I went down to my parent’s house for Christmas this year, and my mom went all out for us. She even bought us our first Christmas stockings with our names on them. Jake gave me quite a scare the week before Christmas. He was on his way to drill early in the morning and it was sleeting pretty good when he left. He hit a slippery patch and spun wildly out of control off the road going 50 miles per hour on the freeway in our Rodeo and about gave me a heart attack when he called. It was miraculous he only damaged the bumper a little bit because it should have been a lot worse. He told me he also pushed another car off the road and saw them screaming as they whizzed past him, missing each other only by inches. I am so glad he is safe!

 My parents took my whole family on our first cruise ever right before school started. It was so much fun! We flew into New Orleans and went to church in a little branch there before we boarded the ship. The sacrament meeting was hilarious! It was fast and testimony meeting and people were getting up and walking around, and there were so many funny people! One lady went off for 25 minutes talking about her life history and the tragedies she’s had, and the bishop finally had to get up and tell her to sit down so other people could have a turn. Jake really got a kick out of a man who sat in front of us. He swore it was Milton off of Office Space. It was a great experience and allowed my family to see what the church outside of Utah is like. I felt very ungrateful sitting there in that sacrament meeting. These people didn't have much, but they had faith and love. It was an eye opening experience.

The ship was huge, the food was all you could eat and fantastic every day, and we had the best excursions on shore! We went to Costa Maya and my sisters Stephanie and Melanie thought it was fabulous they could barter with the men selling their products. They thought they were pretty good. :-) We went to Guatemala and took a taxi into the city. Holy cow! I thought we were going to die! He was a crazy driver! It was a humbling experience because the people there were so poor. Little Katie asked my mom if we could come back to visit the city some time because she wanted to bring food and toys for the little kids to play with. In Belize we went zip lining in the forest and got up to about 100 ft! It was super fun and all the little helpers kept telling me what a natural I was. (I liked that.) We also went cave tubing. They gave us these tubes and we went through these natural caves in a lazy river sort of way. In Mexico we went to Tulum. Tulum is an ancient Myan city that was abandoned. It was amazing! I couldn’t believe how accurate everything was, like their measurements, buildings, and symbols. I hope we can go back there again someday.

(We flew into New Orleans and saw a huge statue of Louis Armstrong. My dad is showing off his P90X muscles. He worked really hard for this cruise.)

(There was a pet monkey in a tree in Guatemala! He was on a leash and had a dog house and everything!)

(Tulum)

Cruising was a lot of fun, but I don’t know if it’s necessarily an activity Jake and I will do frequently. There were SO MANY PEOPLE all over the place! And one night the ship was rocking so bad it made me feel like we were going to capsize! Jake slept through the whole thing the bugger!  

We got back from the cruise Sunday night at around 10:30pm and school started the next day. I won’t do that again because I’m still trying to catch up on everything. School is pretty easy for Jake this semester, but it’s kicking my behind. I hope things get easier from here, but I’m not so sure they will. Jake is going to graduate in either May or August, and I’m going to graduate in December! Wahoo!  

Today is Valentine's Day and we get a long weekend because of President's Day. I love having breaks. It gives much needed breathing room. To celebrate our first Valentine's together, we went to the temple on Saturday morning and then out to lunch at Texas Roadhouse. Jake LOVES Texas Roadhouse. I'm really glad we went to the temple to celebrate. What better way to celebrate a holiday of love than to go to the one place that gives you the opportunity to be with the one you love for eternity. I cut out little hearts, wrote fun sayings on them, and hid them all over the house for Jake. It has been really fun to watch him find the hearts. Jake wrote me the sweetest letter and put it in my car for me to find when I went to church. He even drew his hand on the back of it for me! What a sweetie! 

I feel so blessed to have Jake in my life. I can't imagine life without him. We have grown so close to each other over these past 8 months, and I am so happy to be with him. I often reflect on the advice I was given before I got married, that the first year of marriage is really difficult. I agree that some parts are tough, but overall, I couldn't be more pleased or satisfied with my first year of marriage. 

Happy Valentine's Day!