February, March, April

Tyler and I have been up to the same old stuff with a few exciting thing happening in between.
In February we went to STG for a long weekend and had a great time going hiking and geocaching, and eating and visiting. We also went to see one of my best friend Stephanie's little baby boy Tye. He was so sweet and we loved spending time with them.  It was a great little break for us.

We also were able to have my mom and sister come for an extended visit. And we had such fun times with them.  It was nice to come home to a clean house and dinner and company. We really got used to having them and I told Tyler after they left that I now became too accustom to that lifestyle that I now needed a maid and cook, he said go for it, but I soon came to my senses that we are poor students and that would look bad to be paying for those things on student loans. Definitely a want and not a need. But here are some pictures from their visit.

Tyler took Marta for a motorcycle ride.

Marta celebrated her 16th birthday while visiting so we took her to get her ears pierced.

Mom and I playing around in Claire's waiting for Marta.

We went to The Old Spaghetti Factory for Marta's big day!

Playing Jenga!!! That game sure gets your heart rate up.

Also in February we were able to go camping with our dear friends the Frei's.  I know this doesn't look like camping, but in fact the camp ground is just on the other side of the 1 freeway in Malibu. So you camp and feel like you are in the woods and then you walk a few hundred yards and you are at the beach.  It was such a fun time.

At the beginning of March Tyler took me to see WICKED for my birthday present.  It was amazing and I can't wait to see it again.

 In April we didn't have too much going on except school and work. However, we did have a fun friend come for a visit. Miss Larua Hale!!! It was so good to see her. We went to the Santa Monica Pier and went shopping and just made the most out of her short little trip to CA.

25

I realize that most people would say that I am in my prime years of life. I agree. However, at times I feel like I'm not doing anything with them. I'm sure we all feel this way sometimes. I don't know maybe it's just me.

• I think I should be traveling
• should be done with school by now
• have super cute clothes in my closet
• (that fit on my perfectly toned body)
• and a career that I love
• and always have fun plans.

Instead I have:

• homework
• braces
• an unmade bed and undone dishes
• a sweet tooth that keeps that toned body at bay
• a job that I don't love so much (although grateful for)
• and Saturday evenings of catching up on a few shows I like.

 But then once I take a step back I realize:

• I am married to the most wonderful man
• I know how to budget (hence the lack of cute clothes in my closet)
• My house is a mess, but I wouldn't trade spending time with my young women to clean it.
• I am still in school, but that it is such a blessing that my husband supports me in it and that I got in. And it's the light at the end of the tunnel to getting me out of my current occupation: do whatever my boss asks me to do even if it is something that she told me to undo last time we talked. I'm beginning to realize I am tired of bosses, although none of the past ones have been as much of a learning experience as my current one. I need some freedom! (So do you think I can last 2 more years until Tyler graduates and we move?)
• Um the braces I have nothing good to say about.
• And the boring Saturday nights are my own fault for not planning more. There is a lot of fun things to do out here in CA, I just need to start planning ahead.

As for my birthday it was quite lovely:
We had some friends over Saturday morning to eat ebelskivers for an unofficial celebration get together. Saturday night Tyler took me out shopping and to dinner. He had to pretend to enjoy himself while shopping with me as one of my presents. He did pretty good in fact when he got bored in the store that I was in he went and bought me earrings and chocolate. My parents sent me some beautiful flowers. Sunday was full of well wishers and I even got a magical cheesecake made for me by Amanda. And if you are wondering if I ate the whole thing by myself you would be correct. Well almost, I did share a bit. Tyler also surprised me with Wicked tickets! I am so excited to see it! My good friend Tia stopped by and surprised me.We were also treated to dinner at my visitor teacher's home on Sunday night so I didn't have to cook. On Monday my friend Kimberly brought me a bag full of waffles and toppings as a present. I was spoiled this year!

Other things:
Recently we got the hot tub in our backyard to work so we have been enjoying that a lot.
School is harder than I thought a part-time program would be. It is never ending, I have class Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and the nights I don't have class I am reading 50-100 pages per class per week. It is insane!!! But I love the material so that makes it easier and I have great professors with a lot of experience in the field.
Tyler is still doing his best in school and even received a scholarship for $2500. When compared to what we are paying each year in tuition it doesn't even cover well anything, but it is still nice to have him be recognized for doing such a good job. And at least that is $2500 we don't have to pay interest on.
Here are a few pictures:

Oh and I love California...it's going to be hard for Tyler to get me to leave. It was 80 degrees yesterday. My professor who is in North Dakota said it was -22 yesterday during class.  That's not going to happen to me!!!! Ever.

I hate snow unless it's only for a few hours

We have been so busy this last month but we also squeezed in some fun. This year we went to STG for thanksgiving and had so much fun with the Utley' and friends. Then we came home and started getting ready for Christmas.

I found a new love...cookie butter. You can find it at Trader Joe's.

I made new Christmas wreaths with some guidance and inspiration from Tricia and Andrea.

We had friends over to make gingerbread houses. It was a lot of fun.

 

We went up to the snow with Tia and Tod and their two dogs. It was fun especially since I knew I didn't have to drive in it or live in it this year. Just a short little visit.

Other good news:

 Tyler is finished with finals!!!

He got really good grades again.

I got into a Masters of Social Work program that I will start in January.

I got an iPhone as an early Christmas present.

Not Complaining

Everyone has heard the phrase "when it rains it pours" right? Well today that literally happened (yes, I am using that word the correct way, I recently read a article about the words people use that make them sound stupid when they don't use them correctly)

Recently, Tyler and I have had a number of things of ours break:

• his watch
• the microwave
• he dented his laptop
• the sound system we ordered came broken, so we had to send it back
• our car
• and I believe there was something else I can't remember right now

On Monday I came down with the stomach flu which was absolutely awful so I guess you could consider that my body breaking. Yesterday, the engine light turned on in our car and we figured there is something wrong with the temperature  gauge. Then last night it wouldn't start. Thankfully I had already gotten home from work. So we planning on just going to work/school together on his motorcycle. Well then Tyler broke...he got what I had and was very sick all night. Then this morning it rained. So even if Tyler wasn't sick he couldn't have taken me to work on the motorcycle in the rain.

So as my post title says: Not complaining. I am here to say I am very grateful for:

• his watching lasting almost 4 years ( I gave it to him our first Christmas together)
• home warranty that paid for most of a new microwave
• that his computer didn't break when he dropped it 
• that we have received good customer service and they will be sending us a new one
• and that I have an understanding job that pays me sick leave and that Tyler picked a good day to be away from school because he has had a quiz/test or two almost every single day but today.
• I am grateful that I was home when the car decided not to work and that I have a very skilled hard working husband that likes to work on cars.
• oh and of course I am grateful for the rain :)

We are kinda boring....

Tyler and I have been very busy, but that is nothing new. I am still working my two jobs and Tyler is still doing his very best in school. On the weekend we try to work on the yard, but usually we just pick up our messes from the week and do dishes and laundry. We attempted to go to the beach a couple weekends ago, but after driving an hour and only being half way there because of traffic we decided to head home and watch the new Batman movie instead. We both really enjoyed it.
We had our friends Tanner and Brynne come on weekend in July and that was a blast. I took them to Yoga and I'm sure they thought I was trying to kill them. Hopefully, I made up for it by cooking a lot of good food. I love having company because I actually cook.

This last weekend we went up to visit my family and see my friend Jamilyn get married. It was a beautiful wedding and it was so good to see my friends after so long. It was also fun to see our nephew AJ, he is growing up so fast and is the happiest child I have ever met.

This weekend Tyler and I plan to retouch the paint in the front room and dinning room so we can finally hang pictures.

I feel like almost everyday Monday-Thursday is a repeat of itself and then on the weekend there is a bit more variety added to my life. I guess that is what happens when you work so much.

My Favorite Holiday

Happy 4th!!!

Yes, the 4th of July is my favorite holiday. Here are a few reasons it is almost guaranteed to be a warm day, watermelon, day off work, BBQ, time with friends and family, and to top it all off you get fireworks at the end of the day. More importantly though because I love my country and I believe it is important to show patriotism. Our new neighbors were completely decorated and generously shared a little flag for our yard. (I will be going to buy some discounted decorations today for next year.) Our neighborhood has a block party every 4th of July. One neighbor opens their pool to everyone and when it gets later everyone moved down towards our place, because it has the best view, for the firework show put on by the city. It was pretty impressive, they had firework designs that I had never seen before. We also went and hung out with all of our dental friends at a park for a bit. Our friends the Gordons threw the party and her parents brought a candy cannon that uses compressed air to shoot off candy for all of the kids. It was pretty fun, I think Tyler wants to make one.

So I have a bit of catching up to do...

Back in May Tyler turned 25 and I threw him and Mustache Bash.

This was a very competitive game of Guess Who's Stache

Our good friends the Tattons looking fabulous

I got braces!!! My insurance approved me for corrective jaw surgery, but the first step is to get braces on for a year. I would say I'm pretty self conscience about them, but I keep telling myself it is only a year. They are the least noticeable braces I have ever seen though, so I am happy about that. It looks more like a retainer.

We moved into a house!!! So we switched wards and are a bit further away from Loma Linda, but it still takes the same amount of time to get to work and school because we take the freeway now. My favorite thing about this house: 

The Kitchen

As nice as this house is we have quite a few projects. One of the major projects is taking the office out of the garage so that we can use it as a garage. This week Tyler was doing that. It went from this:

To this:

Next project is to finish the garage and put a new electric door in.

Tyler also started school again this week. He is now officially a D2!! I am so proud of him. He is a really good student and I think this year will be harder, but more fun for him since he will start working in the clinic.

Along with moving and doing projects on the house we were able to visit UT. In fact we got the keys to the house on a Friday, we moved in on Saturday and left Sunday morning to Utah. So we didn't even unpack and came home to lots of boxes, which are now unpacked thanks to Tyler.
Here are some picture of our trip:

Nephew Stetson

Nephew Jack

So for the last two months you can see we have been very busy. Thanks to my mom for coming and helping us clean and pack I was able to remain sane during all of this while I worked my two jobs. And we have the best of friends that helped us clean and pack too, we are so blessed here!

Bomb Threat

So every once in a while I find something cute I want to do for Tyler to show him I love and appreciate him. I usually find something on Pinterest and it usually takes me months to finally get it done. This idea was no different. I literally had been wanting to do this since November, finally bought Rolos in January and wrapped them in red paper in February ( was hoping to have it done by V-day) and finally assembled in April and delivered in May. I know it shouldn't take that long, but hey at least I finally finished a little craft. I decided to use/abuse my access to the dental school lockers since I am a JDA officer ( it's a dental student wives club) and put it in his mailbox on Wednesday afternoon. 

Tyler cleverly posted this picture Thursday morning with this caption on Facebook.

Found this in my locker at dental school. This was obviously a premeditated attempt at my life.

An hour later...there is a bomb threat at Loma Linda hospital. Crazy coincidence huh? I got all of the blame from his dental school friends. Tyler even said for split second he thought he was in trouble for having something that looked like a bomb when they announced the issue to everyone at the school. 

Other news...MIDTERMS ARE OVER!!!!!

What a nightmare those are and in a few weeks finals will be here again, at least then we only have 3 years left after that. Right after finals Tyler and I will be moving into Loma Linda University housing. The current place we are at is quite disappointing. We had a choice to sign another lease with rent going up about $50 a month or go month to month for an increase in rent of $350. But the plus side of month to month is we only have to give them 30 days notice instead of 60. So our plan is to pay one month of MTM and then give our notice and move somewhere cheaper while we wait to hear on the house. Well we went in on Saturday to give our 30 day notice and they told us they changed their policies the day before (Friday) that everyone now regardless of what type of lease will have to give 60 day notice. They are a bunch of crooks!!  We will be asking very politely for them to make an exception for us when the manager is back in today, hopefully they will.

On Saturday we were able to go to Hadlee's baptism. Hadlee is the daughter of our good friends and fellow dental couple Amanda and Tyler Tatton. It was such a nice baptism beside the carpet stinking like mold inside the RS room where we were. But Tyler gave a talk on the Holy Ghost and he did a great job.  Later that night we went over to the Tatton's and ate cake that Amanda made. It was a 4-tier cake and it was beautiful and delicious, she is my baking idol. One day if I ever get a kitchen aid mixer and have more time I hope I can learn to be as good of a baker/cook as she is. Here is her blog if you want some amazing recipes.

This month is probably going to go by super fast, tomorrow I have a consultation with an oral surgeon, I have a couple JDA events, babyshowers (there are so many babies being born lately it is crazy, I am a bit worn out from babyshowers), Tyler's birthday (I'm throwing him a mustache party), packing (hopefully), and then the beginning of finals. I will try to keep updating.