Grownup Life

Jake's first day of school on campus! 
He wasn't thrilled about having 

to wear pants instead of shorts, 
but he toughed it out.

This past week has been stressful for both Jake and me, since classes started up again for the semester and Jake is finally taking one on campus as well as online. He's got a 9 credit semester, but it feels more like 12 because one of his online classes is EXTREMELY demanding. He's also still working full time, so he's got a heavy load for the next few months. This past week I signed up to take my PRAXIS exam (the test I have to pass to become a certified teacher) and I'm very stressed and anxious over the "impending doom" of that experience. All my life I've had test anxiety because I don't do very well on most tests, even if I know the information like the back of my hand. I'm taking the test next month, so I've got time to study and take the practice exam online so that I feel confident in what I'm doing. 

Our humorous incident of the week was on Friday night. Jake and I were both in the kitchen near the sink, and Jake was eating a slice of homemade bread. I asked him for a bite, and he pulled off a piece to give to me. We both dropped it during the handoff, and bent down to pick it up...and hit our heads together HARD. I heard the "clunk" noise of our skulls hitting each other haha. Jake was fine (because he's got a GIANT head) but my head was a little bruised...ok, a lot bruised haha. I took some Advil and put an icepack on it for a while, which seemed to help. Jake felt awful though, partly I think because his head was hardly hurt at all. Imagine someone punching a rock, and that's about how the incident went down: I was the fist, and Jake was the rock. That doofus.

Happy 2016!

Jake and I rang in the new year by watching my favorite Disney movie, The Sword in the Stone, and working on a puzzle--the tradition we started on our first New Year's Eve together. It's fun keeping up our traditions and really starting to solidify the things our little family will do at certain times of the year!

On the first day of the year, Jake had work but managed to get off early and come home to spend the day with Zoe and I. We finally swallowed our fear of clipping Zoe's toenails, and did it! She was a lot more cooperative than we were expecting. She obviously didn't enjoy it, but she didn't fight us as ferociously as we'd been afraid of. Hooray!

Sunday was the first one of the year, and the time that our ward meets was changed from 9:30am to 1:30pm. Both have their good and bad qualities, but I am really missing our early morning church...by the time we get out at 4:30, the sun is starting to set! Hopefully as the year goes on we adjust to our meeting time and learn to love it, but for now it's just making us grouchy haha.

On Saturday, I put together all the videos Jake and I have recorded of Zoe in the year 2015. We only had her for about three months, but we had quite a lot of footage! I put them all into chronological order, and created a YouTube video that you can find below. If you've got some time to kill, enjoy her antics!

Reflecting on 2015

Apparently one year ago today I posted about 2014, so I thought it was only fitting that I do the same today. 2015 has been an adventure-filled year, that's for sure. It's been filled with some heartbreak: losing three grandparents and your childhood pet all in one year is not exactly ideal or enjoyable. But it happened, and the best part is that it can never happen again!

2015 was also the year of travel. I went back to California twice by myself, and Jake and I took our fun trip to Texas to stay with his family.

Going home for a funeral wasn't a pleasant reason, but it was still nice to see people like my cute baby brother again!

My next trip home was MUCH happier, since it was because Carly got home from her mission! Being her first hug after coming home was the best thing ever.

Our trip to Texas was definitely an adventure! It was SO HOT and I managed not to get sunburned, which is something I will probably be proud of for the rest of my life.

Aside from traveling, a lot of other things were accomplished in 2015. Jake and I celebrated our one year anniversary, I honed my crafting skills, and Jake and I moved into our current apartment which we absolutely adore.

One year down, eternity to go!

One of my embroidery projects

Not only have we done a lot of traveling this year, but we've had several visits from family and friends traveling to see us here in Idaho. My mom came up to visit us in July, and my whole family spent Thanksgiving with us. Carly came and stayed for Christmas!

My favorite adventure of 2015 would (of course) be finally adopting our furbaby, Zoe. We've made so many fun memories, laughed a LOT, and taken hundreds of pictures with this goofy little girl. We never thought she would have such a big impact on our lives, but she has definitely become an irreplaceable part of our world!

Our first family photo, right after picking Zoe up from a home in Utah and finally starting our road trip back home after visiting Texas!

I'm glad that 2015 is ending, because of how rough the year has been overall for my family and I. I'm sure 2016 will hold many challenges and heartbreaks, but it will also be filled with more fun memories and lots and lots of laughter. I can't wait to see what I have to write for my "Reflecting on 2016" post on this day next year!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

This past week was SO AWESOME! My best friend (and basically sister) Carly came to stay with Jake and I, and we had so much fun. We hadn't seen each other since September when Jake and I came back from Texas so it was great to see her again. 

Christmas Eve Jake had to work during the day, so Carly and I had the apartment to ourselves (with Zoe, of course). We made some Christmas crafts, watched Bones on Netflix, and talked each others' ears off! We also baked lots of Christmas goodies. That night when Jake got home from work, we continued our Christmas tradition of making sugar cookies and listening to Christmas music. They turned out delicious of course!  

After making cookies, Carly and I got into our matching Christmas pajamas and we all opened one Christmas gift. I gave Jake and Zoe a poop bag dispenser I found on Etsy, which cracked Jake up but he also LOVED. I gave Carly a necklace that had a football charm on one side and a football helmet charm on the other, that I found on Etsy. She was pretty excited about it. Jake gave me a necklace and a pill splitter for my medication. Pretty exciting stuff, I know...but I desperately need one! We opened the Christmas Eve present my parents had sent us, a board game called Tip It that my mom apparently loved playing as a kid. It was pretty entertaining to play, although somewhat stressful!

Christmas morning we were up around 7 to open presents!! Our living room was a mess of wrapping paper, boxes, and ribbon. We managed to get everything condensed and out of the way pretty quickly, though. After we opened presents we watched some of the movies that Jake had given me: both Avengers movies, and Bedknobs and Broomsticks, a Disney movie from the 70s that isn't very well-known but always makes me smile. We took pictures outside in the snow before it got dark, and it was FREEZING but so much fun!

 The day after Christmas Carly had to leave to get back to Utah, so it was a pretty short trip but still appreciated! We had so much fun together and I can't wait for our next adventure.

The Final Countdown + Priesthood Blessings

This week was finals week for Jake and I, and we made it through! Jake did very well in his class, and I'm hoping to at least pass all of mine since this semester was extremely difficult. The hardest one I've had in college, I think. We managed to get through the mountains of homework both of us had, and I didn't explode from stress, so it was a solid finish for the semester!

On Thursday night, I was really having trouble falling asleep. I had an exit interview with one of my professors the next morning that I was very nervous about, and it was affecting my ability to just relax and allow myself to get some rest. I tried all my usual tricks that help me fall asleep, and nothing was working. Finally, feeling pretty guilty, I rolled over and woke Jake up to ask him for a priesthood blessing. A priesthood blessing is using the power and authority that worthy young men receive in our church, which allows them to do things like bless and pass the sacrament on Sundays or give blessings to anyone that is sick spiritually. physically. etc. A blessing is a prayer given to one specific person. According to our church website, which I went to for help clarifying what I mean, it is: "given...by the laying on of hands and by inspiration, to one who is sick or otherwise in need of special counsel, comfort, or healing." For more info, you can watch this two minute video here. Jake got out of bed groggily and shook himself a bit to wake up, and then came over to my side of the bed, placed his hands on my head, and gave me a blessing. I don't remember everything that he said, but I could feel the Spirit so strongly, and tears were streaming down my cheeks after a matter of seconds. I know that he blessed me with the ability to feel comforted and let go of the tension I was feeling so that I would be able to sleep, and that I certainly did. The second my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light! My meeting the next morning went well, and it was my last thing to do for the semester, so as I walked out of the building I could feel even more weight being lifted off of my shoulders.

I'm so grateful that at a very young age I knew I wanted to marry a worthy priesthood holder, and that I stuck to that decision as I got older. Having someone who supports me through thick and thin and can give me extra spiritual strength and blessings when I need them is something that I hope I will never take for granted!