Our First Christmas Letter

Hello! In case you haven't noticed, it's a been a good four months since we've updated our blog. We've decided to send out a virtual Christmas card this year. That way, we are updating our blog at the same time!

Being busy is just part of life, right? There's something about being a first-year teacher family, newlyweds, applying to internships, taking 17.5 credits, and working 20 hour weeks that makes me think....we're a little busier than average. But then I see all the ways that we've been blessed this year and I'm grateful we are "busy."

In October 2012, President Uchtdorf said this of being busy:

 "Isn’t it true that we often get so busy? And, sad to say, we even wear our busyness as a badge of honor, as though being busy, by itself, was an accomplishment or sign of a superior life."

He goes on to describe how the Savior dealt with being busy:

"Instead I see the compassionate and caring Son of God purposefully living each day. When He interacted with those around Him, they felt important and loved. He knew the infinite value of the people He met. He blessed them, ministered to them. He lifted them up, healed them. He gave them the precious gift of His time."

This year, being busy meant we got to travel to Idaho to visit my mom and both grandmas, Montana to see Sarah direct and star in two musicals, California for Danielle's last Dance Production and Mark's homecoming, Texas to get MARRIED, Mexico for our honeymoon, and Memphis to visit Cory and Sean and meet our new baby niece, Emmy Rae!

It's been an amazing year! The best yet, I'd say. We got engaged in February, married in June, I graduated in August, and we started a new semester living in our sweet basement apartment in the foothills of Provo. We love it! Jake is still studying Facility and Property Management at BYU. He probably has 5 semesters left and is considering changing to study Finance. We will see what the next year brings with that. Finals are this week and he is studying away on the couch as I type this. His work and school schedule has been completely packed this semester, but he still finds time to:

1. Keep the house clean.
2. Score an internship with Boeing this coming summer in Southern California.
3. Win an Intramural Championship for 3 on 3 basketball.
4. Be an awesome Sunday School President in our ward.
5. Take care of me when I'm sick.

I have started my first year of teaching dance at Provo High School! They say the first year is always hard, and they are right. I'm trying to stay positive and tell myself it will only get easier! I've been so lucky to have such awesome students! Yes, some might sluff my class more than I like, but most of my students are excited to be in a dance class, want to get better, and enjoy my humor. My most fulfilling moments have been making my students laugh, blowing their minds with creative ideas, and watching them perform for others. While this new job can consume your whole life, I've still tried to find time to:

1. Go to all of Jake's intramural games (I only missed one flag football game because it was freezing and I was sick).
2. Win 1st place with our dance ensemble at this year's Shakespeare Competition in Cedar City.
3. Get a root canal.
4. Lose my voice twice (for 5 days each time) and only miss an hour and a half of school.
5. Put on my first high school dance concert ever!

I'd say we've had a great year. None of these accomplishments would be possible without all the support and prayers from our families. We strive to be good people and do good things, but we are lucky to be surrounded by such good examples. Throughout the year and especially at Christmas time, we remember our most perfect example; the Savior Jesus Christ, and resolve to be more like Him in all we do.

And lastly, today is our 6 month anniversary, so.....

  HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US!

School starts on Tuesday!

Since we got home from our honeymoon, I've been keeping busy by getting ready for my senior project showcase and for school to start. My mom and Sarah, and Jake's family came out for my senior project. It was pretty much only made for my mom to appreciate and I think I blew it out of the water. She loved it! It was a dance about the relationships that influence us throughout our lives and how they can mold us into who we want to be. The focus was on sisters, mothers, and friends. The music was the lullaby she would sing us growing up, composed by my oldest sister, Sarah. My dancers were five girls who will be on my Dance Company at Provo High this year!

 My hardworking dancers backstage!

Silly pic. They are goofs. Wish me luck!

While Jake's parents were in town, they painted my dance room! For free! They worked so hard all day for two days straight while I was in training. I couldn't believe how fast they did it and how perfect it turned out. Before, the dance room was dark, felt small, and had lots of random colors as decoration. 

Here is the before:

And here is the gorgeous, bright, huge, clean after!

Don't worry, I haven't finished my bulletin boards yet. There will be more color and pictures before school starts. Maybe I will make a post about that and my new, clean office, too!

We did it.

A few weeks ago, Jake got this strong craving to be outdoors. Might have something to do with the fact that he has been busy with school and work and we haven't seen the sun since the fourth. So he planned a week full of fun activities for us!

 Activity #1: Hiking the Y!

This was Jake's first time. Does the view remind you of Lord of the Rings, or what? 

No, seriously, tell us. We've never seen Lord of the Rings....

At the top! We weren't even sweaty or winded like at all....

Activity #2: On Wednesday evening we headed out to the Spanish Fork Fiesta Days Rodeo! This was Jake's first rodeo and he loved it. He didn't want to leave and right as we were walking out he heard them announce bull riding, so we had to run back in and see some of that, too. I loved the beginning when they had all the rodeo queens carry different flags that had flown over our country. They told about each flag as the girls booked it around the arena on their horses. So patriotic! My favorite event was mutton busting. I was surprised how many kids stayed on the whole way across the arena! Pretty sure Jake loved it all! Especially team roping. So fun! They even had girls perform equestrian vaulting which is like gymnastics on horseback. It was crazy! 

He we are in front of a huge bull with the big arena behind us.

Activity #3: That same night at about 12:45 AM, we started our hike to the top of Mt. Timpanogos! It took about 4 hours to get to the top. The younger boys who were leading the way basically power walked the whole way up. It was pretty much the most aerobic thing I've done in my life. Power walking uphill for 4 hours? No thanks. But we did it! We got to the top super early, so we waited about 2 hours for the sun to rise. It was so windy and cold at the top! Every once in a while there would be freezing cold mists and crazy loud thunder. The lightning was so close that all the girls' hair was sticking straight out from their heads. It was so freaky! But finally, it died down. We all snuggled up, ate some snacks, and some of us fell asleep, but it was awesome to finally see the sun come up over the mountains! What an awesome view of the valley on one side and the mountain range and valleys on the other side. 

Here we are freezing our buns off!

The view on the way down.

The funniest picture of my life. Jake snapped this on our way down the mountain.

We got down the mountain in about 3 1/2 hours. Making our trip a total of 9 1/2 hours! We hurried back to Provo so I could be there in time for my Senior Project rehearsal. Jake and I couldn't walk right for at least two days. I did zero dancing at rehearsal that day. But we recovered and now we can say we hiked Timp! Woohoo! Never again :) Our advice: pace yourself, bring lots of snacks and water, and dress warm!

Our Wedding Album

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Our first 4th....

....as married people!

I originally had some funny/scandalous sentence about fireworks and being newlyweds written here, but Jake vetoed it.

 This first picture was actually taken on July 7th up in Sandy. Jake's uncle Gary and aunt Michelle invited us over for a BBQ and fireworks in the street! They have 4 sweet little ones who we played with all evening and got to watch them light their sparklers and swirl them around in between Mark and Jake setting up bigger fireworks in the street.

Here we are the morning of the 4th! We headed over to Mark's, who lives about 1.5 blocks from University Ave, where the Freedom Festival parade is. We watched bagpipes, high school bands, the Silver Band (my favorite, made up of older folks who play instruments riding in a big fancy wagon), Cosmo and his dunk team, and lots of pageant queens! It was so darn hot so we decided to have a BBQ and swim all afternoon.

That night, Mark ditched us to go see Carrie Underwood at Stadium of Fire with a free ticket he got from some pretty girl (I'm not bitter). Jake and I walked up to the grass in front of the temple with our new camping chairs, a big bowl of popcorn, and some yummy fruit to watch the fireworks coming from the stadium. We could see lots of different firework shows from all over the valley, but the best one was the finale from the Stadium of Fire! My good friend and former roommate, Shelbey's dad did the fireworks for them this year, and it was definitely the best yet. We loved it!

Here are some of the highlights!

Our Story

May 4.

The day after my 22nd birthday. I got myself a haircut and was excited to go to lunch with some old friends. After lunch I headed back to their place. Right when I walked into the apartment, this cutie boy with freckles and big blue eyes walked out of his room. I probably stared at him for way too long, but I couldn't help it. So cute. The cutest. I could immediately tell he was kinda shy so I took it slow. Didn't throw myself at him. Kind of. But we all walked to the park to play ultimate frisbee and I definitely made sure I walked next to him. He was such a gentleman while we played and, luckily, I was having a good fake-like-you're-athletic day.

Summer.

We decided to officially start dating on June 8th after spending the day at seven peaks, washing Jake's car, and hiking Bonneville Shoreline trail. It was magical, but our butts were hurting from the rock we sat on for so long while Jake worked up the courage to ask me :) Worth it.

Here we are on our second date. Christine and Jordan took us shooting in Payson.

After a few weeks of dating, we planned a trip to Disneyland later that summer. I thought he was a little crazy for committing to 3 months down the road already, but my mom thought he was even crazier. I should have known that was a good sign that he wanted to stick around.

My first time experiencing Disney magic. It changed my life!

We visited the lake house, too! I got to watch Jake water ski (so impressed), meet Jody, Carlton, and Johnny, hang out with Steve (he let me drive the boat!), and even meet Jake's best friend, Bryce.

Fall.

When we fell in looovey dovey, mushy gushy, love. Since we started dating, we made dinner together every single night. I think I can only remember one time when this didn't happen. In my opinion, we got over the "Why do you cook everything wrong?" stage pretty fast. Fall was no different. Jake worked, I was a slacker student, so we made lots of meals and had tons of quality time together. In September, Jake told me he loved me! Accompanied by beautiful flowers and a sweet letter. I felt so lucky that the sweetest boy in the world thought I was worth loving. Jake also found out that he got into BYU! I knew he would, but it was so exciting to know that our futures would keep us both in Provo so we could be together. As November and December came around, we started talking about marriage.

At one of the 57 wedding receptions we attended last year. My favorite thing to do is dance with my cutie at weddings!

2014.

As Jake started school and I started student teaching, our lives became sooo busy. Somehow, making dinner took even longer and by the time we were done with homework, it was way past our bedtime. Luckily we devoted our Saturdays to spending time together. On Sundays, we usually visited my sister and brother-in-law, Cory and Sean, for dinner or games. We were lucky to have them so close by for the past year. One weekend, we went ring shopping and Jake decided on what ring I wanted. He could tell by my reactions, and he was right. On February 17, Jake proposed! I didn't know he had the ring, and he tricked me into thinking we were hanging out with Cory and Sean that night, so it was the perfect surprise. He took me up to the same canyon where we first kissed that past summer and, as the sun was setting over the lake, he told me sweet things, melted my heart, and asked me to marry him! I said yes, of course. How could I turn down the most patient, humble, cutiest boy I've ever known?

June 14, 2014.

We were married in the San Antonio Texas Temple with a reception in Austin. It was the perfect day. Warm, but not too hot, surrounded by friends and family, in the House of the Lord. What more could I ask for? My family put together a beautiful reception and it was so fun to see so many people I have missed from back home! We stayed in Austin a few nights, went on a cruise the next week,and were thrown a gorgeous reception back in Murrieta as well.

Since being back in Provo, there is nothing I love more than when Jake comes home for dinner! We love spending time together, going on walks, making yummy food, and spending time with Jake's brother, Mark, who just moved out here!