The Ship, The Stowaway, and The Newest Crew Members

Its been a while since I have posted in this blog BUT for good reason. There aren’t many exciting things happening during school, so less adventures.

Winter endings

The rest of winter semester went well, with the end throwing us right into our summer plans. The day after finals, Brad left for Guatemala. Last summer he got involved in a humanitarian group called Smiles for Central America. This group goes to a country in Central America and does all the physicals for LDS missionaries turning in their papers. It’s a 10-day long trip, working from 8 a.m. to around 11 p.m. Once the 10 days are up though, they get 2 days of vacation. Brad wanted to go on the trip again this year, and with the help of his parents, he was able to go.

So Brad left. I was home for about a week on my own. I finished up working at the Creamery. It was definitely my time to go…being there 3 and losing all my good coworkers. It was time for a change. David, a past coworker at the creamery, got me a job at Gloria’s Little Italy. It’s a nice restaurant located in Provo on Center and University Ave. I started out as a hostess and then got trained to be a server. I was only there a week before leaving to go back home to California and work at Jan Thomas Swim School for a 4^th summer. Gloria’s held my job while I was in California, so that was really nice.

There’s no place like home

Now you’re probably thinking, why did you go home to work? Brad is only going to be gone for 10 days and its already been 7. Yes, well you see, when you get married, you pretty much do what you can to stay afloat financially. Brad and I are both hard workers and we do all we can to make sure that we are stable. We decided that I should return to Jan Thomas this summer because I make good money there. I wouldn’t stay the whole summer because that would really suck being away from each other that long, but I would go for 5 weeks. So! Off I went to California.

I loved my time there. Each summer that you work at the swim school gets easier and more fun. It’s still a demanding job! Working from 9:30a-7p Mon-Thurs definitely wears you out, but it was worth it. I was able to teach a couple of kids that I’ve had previous summers. I love watching them grow up and see their swimming improve. I love asking the swimmers that I’ve taught since day one, “So who taught you to swim?” and with a big smile they say “YOU DID!” That’s right!

The lovely visor tan

To think I was done with swimsuit tans...

So many tanning days

Our day of spontaneous fun

Not only did I get to teach at the swim school while I was home, but I got to see friends and hang out with my siblings. Tiffany and I were able to do a couple Girls Days, where we just went out on the town and did whatever we felt like doing! It was wonderful. There’s never a dull moment with Tiff. I cherish every moment I get with her since I don’t see her very often anymore. We spent a lot of time in the Wood’s backyard laying out. Sherry came out and we had some fun girl talk.

He's flyin!

Bon Fonte Gardens

We went running a couple times...bad idea when it's 92 outside.

I also got to spend some time with Jared; not as much since he was still in school. He was finishing up his senior year…so weird. We were able to take a trip to Bon Fonte Gardens, an amusement park we used to go to as kids but he still loves. It was a fun time. He was also working on his mission papers…and by working on I mean he had me fill out everything because I’m faster on a computer. But hey! It got done. After he graduated, he wanted to come live with Brad and I and live with us until he left for his mission. I was real excited about it.

      Sidenote: While I was in California, Brad had talked to his boss who had a duplex that needed a new tenant. The apartment was 2-bedroom and since Jared was coming to live with us, it would be awesome if he had his own room instead of having to live on the couch in our current small apartment. After like a WEEK of convincing his boss that we’d be good renters (we also had to convince him of letting us get a pet…more details will come later), he said yes and Brad moved all of our stuff into the new place!

This was our life for 6 weeks.

Brad drove to California 2 times while I was there. He came on the halfway mark/weekend 3 (since we were apart for 6 weeks total when you add in his Guatemala trip). It was so nice seeing him and what a trooper he is for making that drive there and back on his own. I would’ve died. Guess he loves me or something.  The second time he came was for Jared’s graduation and to take us all back to Utah. It was so funny seeing Brad’s reaction to the graduation ceremony…CUSD has a very strict/formal/everything is mapped out kind of graduation program. Brad had never seen something so intense. But anyway, Jared graduated, we cheered, found him afterwards, got a picture, and then he left haha. No sticking around; he was done with high school.

Beach trip!

The weekend after graduation, we went on a family vacation to the beach. Camping trip woo! We went with my mom’s sister, Gwen, and her kids. It was a 2-day trip. Funny thing was that it was overcast most of the time. It’s ok though! The beach is the beach.

Back to the Mothership with a stowaway

Either the next day or the day after, we left to go back to Utah (still can’t get myself to call it home…). There was some unpacking to do, which was totally fine with me. I dodged the moving process altogether! Jared got all set in his room and we got to finding him a job. After about a week, he landed a job at Dollar Tree and I got him a bussing job at Gloria’s where I was working. Bussers only work on the weekends so it was really nice that he worked at Dollar Tree as well.

As for his mission papers, Jared had gotten his papers sent in right before we left. The call came in 1.5 weeks. Talk about fast. We had put his availability date as August 5^th, thinking that he wouldn’t get called until a month or two after that because that tends to happen a lot. Nope! Jared got his call to the Idaho Nampa mission and was to report to the MTC on August 5^th. Well there goes that plan. The two places he was working at though understood his situation and weren’t mad that he would have to quit sooner than he thought. Was he happy about his call? I think so. We had mom, dad, Tiffany, grandma and grandpa on Skype, Shanna and Andrew drove in, and Kris was on speaker on my phone. After he read his call he said, “Cool. Can I go shower now?” Oh Jared. So nonchalant.  He had 6 weeks till he was to report so he had time to digest it all.

Now, jumping back to when I was in California and the pet thing. I wanted a dog. The place we lived in didn’t allow dogs. Brad’s boss didn’t want us to have a pet…but we convinced him otherwise (: We found a cute cockapoo on KSL before Brad and I left for our summer trips. She would be available to pick up once we were both back in town. Brad was able to go to the owner’s home and FaceTime me while he saw the puppies. We originally decided on getting a tan puppy…but Brad FaceTimed me back 2 minutes later and said he wanted the black one. I decided to be ok with it since he was letting me get a dog in general, so we put a deposit on the little black one. The day after we got back to Utah we went to see her. ADORABLE. A week later, we went to pick her up. Weighing in at less than 3 pounds, Leia became a new member of the family. She’s quite big now, but just as energetic as ever.

So the summer went on, all of us being busy workers. Luckily Brad and I had weekly double dates with an awesome couple, Baylee and Trevis. We had some definite fun times. In July, I got an email from University Communications news manager asking if I would be interested in an internship. I had applied for an internship there earlier for spring/summer, but because I was going to be in California for spring term, I didn’t get the job. Well, the current intern was leaving early because of a job offer. I ended up getting the internship and its my current job. I wouldn’t have gotten the job if my past professor who works in University Communications hadn’t have suggested me, so thank you shout out to Todd! 

Coming to an end

August rolled around and I was soon making trips to Draper every morning. Jan Thomas’s daughter, Becky, ran a swim school out of her home after returning from the main swim school in Clovis. She asked me to be one of the teachers this summer, so from August 11 to September 9 I was driving to Draper to teach Utah kids. It was different than Clovis; can’t really compare them. But I had a good time. Yes, it was hard juggling 3 jobs, but I made it work!

Jared left for his mission on August 5^th. The parents and Tiffany came into town for his farewell talk and then Tiff stayed a couple extra days. That was nice having her here since I thought getting Tiffany to Utah was impossible. The next Wednesday, Jared went into the MTC. It was short and sweet, hugs, pictures, and then he was off. I’ve been getting emails from him every week and he seems to be doing good! His stories are the best.

Hey new roomie

After Jared moved out, Brad’s cousin, Hayden, moved into Jared’s room. Why did I let a bachelor move in with me and my husband? Yeah I get that question a lot. Well, he’s really low-key and he helps with rent. It’s been nice not being so tight with money. He also loves doing the dishes…you better believe that makes me happy.

Fall Semester began on August 31^st. I had to juggle school and the swim school for only two weeks, which was nice. I ended up putting in my 2 weeks at Gloria’s because there was no way I was going to get through the semester if I had to work weekends on top of the 20 hours at the internship during the week. I needed homework time. So now I’m just doing school and work. I love coming home to Leia every day; totally worth getting a dog. The first month of waking up every 2 hours at night sucked, but like I said, worth it. Brad is doing well. He’s taking 4 classes and working at the heating plant. His homework load is quite a bit lighter than mine, so he’s enjoying having extra down time. I was able to see my two best friends not long after school started. Kiley is finally back from her mission so we had a reunion. So so nice. I've also been able to see all my freshman friends. Everyone is coming back from their missions; it's great!

Here and now

I’ve also started back up on my hobby of crocheting. My mom taught me when I was in 4^th grade, I finished that blanket like my junior year (wasn’t really a priority obviously), and then hadn’t touched any projects since then. Now that I’m married and life is boring (kidding, but its definitely less social) I decided I needed something to do. So! Baby blankets. NO I’M NOT PREGNANT, they are just easier to make because they take less time. It’s actually turning out to be a good thing because I have a handful of friends and family having babies. Yay homemade gifts! If I’m ever watching TV, you best believe I’m working on a blanket. It’s nice having something to do. 
Sidenote: I colored my hair. Dark brown. LOVE IT.

It’s the middle of the semester, so midterm season. The semester is flying by which makes me so happy. Only one more semester after this and I’ll be done with school FOREVER. Can’t really say the same for Brad since he has dental school, but hey, he loves dental stuff so its good! I will be starting my career. Weird. Financially that will be nice though. After we graduate, the real adventures begin.