Blessings!

Wow, can I just say, we have learned a WHOLE lot over the past couple of weeks. For me, I've definitely learned that the Lord works in mysterious ways. He has a plan for us, we just need to remain faithful and trust that it will all work out, as long as we are doing all that we can do. I've also learned patience. BOY, have we had to be patient with working out this whole motorcycle ordeal. I think I've realized that I much prefer things being in my hands, and then I can get them done when I want and how I want. Haha, I sound like a total control freak, but I guess I kind of am. Sorting out everything with the bike, we had to make a few phone calls here and there, but for the most part, things were out of our hands. I think I can finally say, though, that everything is all sorted out, and we're even better off than we could have hoped for.

Let me back up just a little bit...

About a week or so before the bike got tipped over, Todd and I were really starting to stress out about our finances. We were also starting to really stress out about time. Squished in to our short time in Utah we would have to: 1) drive up to Idaho, then take and pass TWO paramedic exams; 2) find a job; 3) find an apartment; 4) sell the motorcycle; and 5) find/buy a car. Not only would we have to do all of those things, it had to be in that order because we couldn't get an apartment nor get a car loan without any proof of income. We were both really starting to worry that we wouldn't have enough time for all of these things, and that we wouldn't have enough money for it either.

Todd suggested that we start doing something he did on his mission a lot, and that is to pray for miracles. I didn't tell him this, but at first I kind of thought that praying for miracles was a kind of selfish thing to do. Then I started to think about that just how we're asked of the Lord to do everything asked of us, if we do all of those things, it's okay now and again to ask for blessings in return. It's only hypocritical or selfish if it becomes a one-way street, where we're constantly expecting miracles to occur but neglect to do our own part.

So we started praying for miracles. Then, not even a week later, the bike was tipped over. RIGHT before we had to move, and sell the bike. So much for miracles... or so I might have thought at the time. As we did all that we could to work out the whole issue, we started praying more fervently that things might work out. As soon as we got to Utah, we took the motorcycle to a shop to get an estimate. The insurance said that in order for it to be considered a total loss, the repairs would have to cost more than $2700. That would be the miracle that needed, we started to think. If the bike were totaled, the insurance would just give us the $2700, and then take the bike. Then we wouldn't even have to sell it. So after about 3 days, the estimate came back from the shop as $3500! I started to get really excited, but we still had to wait to see if our insurance agreed with their estimate. So then, we had to wait about a week or so for Progressive to send out an insurance adjuster to do his own estimate, and come up with a figure that both the shop and progressive agreed with. Finally, we got the estimate from Progressive, and at first, it was disappointing. Progressive's estimate was $2540... just $160 less than it being considered a total loss. I was so frustrated that Progressive wouldn't just round up, and let us call it a total loss. After that, we started brainstorming some more ideas. We contacted our insurance again, and found out that we didn't actually have to get the bike fixed. Progressive would give us $2290 ($2540 minus our deductible of $250), and then we could do whatever we wanted with that money. That was already a great start. On top of that, we would get to keep the bike, and we could try to sell it as-is!

So that's what we decided to do. We picked the bike up from the shop, took some pictures of it with the damage, and posted an ad online for $2000, and explained what happened to it. Not even half an hour after posting the ad, there was a lady SUPER interested in buying it for her husband. They were so excited about it, that they decided to drive down from Salt Lake (30-45 min away) that day to see it. By the time they got here, it was dark out. We pulled the bike in the garage so her husband could see it well enough. He looked over every inch of it, and then took it for a little spin. It didn't take long for them to decide that they wanted to pay us full price for it!

The most amazing part of this whole bike experience, is that before it got tipped over, we had been planning on just trading it in at a dealership and probably getting a maximum of about $2500 for it. After the whole ordeal, we got $4100 for it, which is $900 more than we even paid for the bike a year ago! This was a miracle for sure, but definitely not in the way I could have ever imagined. I thought I already knew that the Lord works in mysterious ways sometimes, but I'm definitely more convinced of that now.

So another miracle we witnessed was our housing all working out. Our friends, Kelli and Rodrigo, live in a really nice apartment complex that we were even considering moving into in Vegas. Right now though, the rates are super high, and almost all complexes need proof of income. Since Todd couldn't even apply for jobs until he passed his paramedic exam, we couldn't prove that we had any income until after we moved there. Two days after the incident with the bike happened, we decided it was definitely time to go to the temple. We definitely felt at peace, and comforted that everything would work out when we were there. Just a couple hours after we left, I got a text from Kelli asking if we wanted to take over her contract since her and Rod are moving to Colorado at the same time that we're moving to Vegas. We're WAY BUMMED that they won't be there, because we were super stoked to hang out all of the time, but it is also a huge blessing because now we won't have to prove income, and their monthly rent is super low. Not to mention, their apartment is SO nice :).

Big miracle # 3 is how we decided on our car! We were having a hard time narrowing down our options for a car, and were really debating between a few Mazda 3's, and few Altimas, and a couple Civics. We had been praying that we might be guided in one direction or another, to find the most reliable car. We were planning on going out and buying a car today, or tomorrow, so we needed to narrow it down soon. This morning, Todd and his dad swung by a tiny dealership to talk to a dealer that his dad had worked with a lot. Thankfully, this dealer informed Todd about a vehicle background check (like carfax, but better), and also showed us that a lot of dealers sell their cars under a clean title, but those cars will have still either been in an accident, or had major frame damage. Don't ask me how those cars are still considered clean titles, but somehow they are. Anyway, we paid for a month's subscription to this website, and checked a lot of the cars we were interested in. It also turns out that the car we would have most likely bought had had major frame damage! So we checked all of our favorites, and found the ones that were totally clean. We went out to test drive, and we found a winner! Todd also cut us a really great deal on a 5 year warranty for the car. I'm so grateful that we found out about those cars, and feel really really good about the car that we got.

So this is the pic of the car we bought. We never thought that we would buy a white car, but this one was by far better than any of the others we could find. We do actually like the color too :)

That's about all! Sorry about the novel, I'm sure there will be more novels to come!

Keep Todd in your prayers, that someone will see his application and hire him!

We must have just had a little TOO much to be grateful for...

Yesterday was a pretty fantastic Thanksgiving, until things later that evening took an ironic twist. So the start of our day was pretty average. I woke up at the crack of dawn (okay, more like at 8, but it felt like it), and Todd slept till I got too bored and woke him up. Then we took a quick little trip to the store to get some last minute ingredients for our meal. We shoved the ham in the oven, and since it was so warm out, we decided to get outdoors a little bit! We went and played a little tennis, and then we got to play some disc golf after that. It was really nice to get out; we haven't been able to since it has been so cold lately.

Since Summer and Chris are in Nebraska for Thanksgiving with Chris's sister and her family, they left us a key so we could come over and enjoy their TV while they were away :). We decided to take our Thanksgiving feast over there, since we don't really have anywhere to sit in our apartment (nor do we have furniture of any kind here). So we got there about 3:30 and started cooking away. By about 5, everything was ready, and we were trying to hurry because Walmart's "Black Friday" sales started at 6.

 Right as we were sitting down to eat, there was a knock on the door. I answered the door and saw a man, and the first thing out of his mouth was, "Uh.... whose motorcycle is that?" I looked over, and the motorcycle had been tipped over.  My heart sank when I saw it. It had fallen right on the curb, and it didn't look like it was going to be pretty. There were two sets of parents (one mom, and one couple) who had come over to tell us about it. They said that both of their kids had been playing outside, and different neighbors saw them playing near the motorcycle. No one actually saw the kids do it, but as soon as it happened the kids were standing right by it with shocked looks on their faces. But since no one actually saw it, both of the parents were kind of trying to pin the blame on each other, while we're sitting there thinking that we sure as heck aren't going to pay the damages. When we picked up the bike, there were significant scratches, and the whole double exhaust pipe had been bent out of place.

So now, 6 days before we leave, we have to sort out a way to get the bike fixed. We called our insurance, and they started the claim, but we won't hear back from a representative until sometime today. To make matters more difficult, we're probably going to need to file a police report so we can prove to our insurance that we were not the ones who damaged the bike. Since we didn't want the police contacting these parents before they were aware, we called them just to let them know that we were going to file a police report just as proof for our insurance, not to get them in trouble or to press any charges or anything like that. The couple didn't answer, but when we called them mom, she started freaking out. Then her husband/boyfriend started yelling things like how we were trying to use them to pay for damages that were already there.

It's really stressful because we are going to have a deductible to pay, and we don't feel like we should have to pay it. Since neither of the parents will take responsibility,  if we're going to have these parents pay it, we're going to have to go through the court system... which could take a really really long time.

What most frustrating about this whole ordeal, is that these parents are not willing to take responsibility for their own children. If Todd and I had kids who did that, we would 100% pay the consequences, and then have our kids work to repay us for what they did. As a parent, my kids are my responsibility, and if they did something while I wasn't supervising them, that's on me. Unfortunately, these parents don't see it that way.

Despite the fact we did absolutely nothing wrong, we're the ones who have to pay for it. That's how life works I guess.

After that, staying grateful for the rest of our Thanksgiving was pretty difficult. We did notice a little miracle though. I didn't mention before that the bike was already over there from when Todd rode over while I was at work, and then it got too cold for him to ride it home. If we hadn't decided to go hang out at Summer and Chris's, we would have never found out about the bike. We would have gone over today, or Saturday and seen it on it's side, with no one there to let us know what happened. So that was a miracle amidst the heartbreak.

More than ever, I'm grateful for Todd. He is so good with talking to people and handling situations like this. I wouldn't be able to cope with or handle all of the things we've had to go through without him.  We'll keep you posted on what happens. Keep us in your prayers that the Lord might work miracles to help us sort this out before we leave.

Oklahoma #3

I'm pretty sure I promised that I was going to have a lot more time to update our blog more frequently, and that hasn't happened at all! So sorry, I guess I just haven't felt like there has been much to update... And I think we always think we're going to be less busy than we actually end up being (if that sentence made any sense at all).

Todd's internship has been going really well. He had to endure a lot of drama with one of his preceptors, who was... not the nicest guy to say the least. Despite the trials, he has learned a ton, and he's gotten to see a lot of different things. I am constantly amazed by all that Todd does, and how much he loves helping people. My husband is amazing. On top of working 12 hour shifts, four days a week, he is also taking (and rocking) two online classes. He also just started the night shift last week, which has been another challenge. On top of not seeing each other the days he works, we can't even talk to each other over text because either I'm sleeping, or he's sleeping. Even on our days off we hardly see each other. It's been brutal, but he only has 3 weeks of the internship left! I'm counting down the days!

A few weeks ago (maybe close to a month ago) we started to realize that the weather was going to make it too dangerous for Todd to be able to ride his motorcycle to and from work. We didn't anticipate that we'd be living as far away from his work as we do, or that he'd have to ride on the freeway for his commute. We started considering trying to sell the bike and buy a car in Oklahoma. We were car shopping for about 3 weeks, getting quotes on the bike for a trade in, and test drove quite a few cars. Then, one night we got talking about the bike/car situation, and we sat and figured out a way we could make it work with just one car until the internship is over. Our new routine is pretty complex, but it's worked out nicely so far. We were getting pretty stressed about how we were going to be able to afford a car right now, so it's a relief that we can put that off a little bit longer. It is also a HUGE relief to have my sweet off the streets and safe. I was getting so worried every time he rode it, and would panic every time I didn't hear from him. Anyway, I'm just happy not to have to worry anymore.

So over the past couple of months I've been studying hard to take my Spanish PRAXIS test (again). The Praxis tests are the tests that are required for teaching. I took the math and spanish one last semester, passed the math, but not the spanish. So last Sunday, Todd and I had to drive up to Wichita for me to take the Spanish Praxis up there (because it's not offered in Oklahoma). We got a hotel room Sunday night, and Monday morning I took the test. I was suuuuuuuper nervous, to the point that it was making me really sick. Todd helped calm me down a ton, and he also helped me study and prepare. I think it went pretty well for the most part. I'm just praying that my score will be good enough to pass. I find out in about a month, so keep your fingers crossed!

Tonight is Halloween, and my love is out saving lives! I was sad when I found out he'd be working, but we did get to party a little bit at the trunk-or-treat on Saturday and with Summer and Chris on Monday. We had a pretty sweet costume that I'll have to post a pic of when I can get the pic from Summer and Chris' camera. Well, I think that's about it! Until next time,

Todders and Christiners

Oklahoma: Part II

 Thought I might take this opportunity to show you some pics of our new pad! We have all of our things put away, and I think it looks quite nice. It's funny though... I think this apartment is about 3 times bigger than we needed. That's alright though, I love our little set up.

So this one is our bedroom. We decided it wouldn't be worth it to put the bed in there since our TV is in the living room. All we have in there is a few suitcases, and all of our clothes in the closet. 

And it's a walk-in closet! Turned out to work very nicely. 

This is our living room! we borrowed that massive air mattress from Todd's parents, then Summer and Chris loaned us their super big, memory foam mattress topper which is the most comfy thing ever! So we designated the air mattress as our couch and the mattress topper as our bed. It also gives us a very nice back rest when we're sitting watching tv or something. Also notice our cute little TV stand! We found it at Goodwill for only $10! We did have the tv on our ironing board, but it was still too low to the ground for us to see it well. 

We also needed some decoration, so we just taped a ton of pictures to the wall. I'm most proud of the black and white ones above our couch, and the cute little picture frame below the window.

 Here is our bathroom! we love it :)

 The lovely kitchen! I love the dark wood and the countertops. It's really too bad that we're only here for 3 months, because I do really like this apartment a lot!

Kitchen again. Notice, we have a pantry! 

And I think this is as full as it will ever get!

Look how much room there is! Hehe, oh well!

Well, there you have it! That is our apartment in 9 pictures. I probably could have shown less, but I wanted to show you every aspect.

In other news, I've been job hunting my little heart out up here... and officially have been hired by one tutoring company, and had my interview yesterday for the other one. I think it went really well, but they want someone who can fill the position permanently. So we'll see, I should find out at the end of the week if I got the job or not. If I don't get it, I will probably just substitute teach... even though I'm leaning more and more against that... only since the pay is so awful. We will see though. I just want to start working soon, because I feel like our money is dwindling fast! 

So Todd is on his first day of the internship today! It's going really well, and he really likes the people that he's with. He says they're super patient, and really nice. It's such a relief! I'm glad he's already having a good experience :). 

That's about all of the updates for now... just living it up in Oklahoma!

The Trip

Alright ladies and gentlemen, the day has finally come... we are in Oklahoma!! We witnessed a couple miracles along the way that allowed us to make it here in one piece.
So we were able to fit everything that we were taking in the back of the car with us, so nothing had to go on the trailer with the bike. That was nice. So we strapped up the bike and headed out. Everything started off just fine. Todd started driving, and then we switched when we got gas. Then I drove for about 3 hours up a canyon in Colorado through a storm. It was windy, there was lighting, and it was raining pretty hard. Not to mention, the freeway was fairly busy, and our little car was STRUGGLING so hard to get up the hills (too much weight). It was hard to keep it going above 45 when we were going uphill. We finally made it to the top of the canyon, and stopped for some gas. We hadn't gone very far, but we burned so much fuel trying to get up the hills. We checked on the bike just to make sure it was still strapped on tight, only to find out that one of the straps was totally loose! It was still hooked to the bike, but wasn't even hooked to the trailer anymore. Not to mention, the other 3 straps were super loose. We were incredibly lucky in two ways. The most obvious is that the bike was still standing! We don't know how, but it only moved like an inch backwards, and that was it. The second lucky thing was that we didn't lose the strap. It could have easily popped off the bike, and would have been gone forever. If we didn't have a fourth strap, I don't know what we would have done to get the bike the rest of the way. Miracles.

Now this second miracle, I think, is even more incredible, and I am absolutely convinced the Lord was looking out for us. This is also a perfect example of how the Lord blesses us, and watches over us through his children. So we had just crossed the Kansas-Oklahoma border, and entered into a toll section of the freeway. To enter, you had to stop and get a little ticket stub from a person in a booth. To exit, you did the same thing, gave them your ticket, and they tell you how much you owe. When we were leaving, we pulled up to the booth, and the man working in it asked us if we knew our trailer wheel was wobbling like crazy. Apparently, even when we were slowly pulling up to the booth it looked like it was about to pop off. We thanked him kindly, and pulled into a parking lot right next to where we were and checked it out. Turns out, every single one of the lug nuts on the wheel was about one turn away from popping right off.  It was an easy fix, all we had to do was tighten them right up, and we just so happened to have the right tool handy. It was so lucky though, because we're both convinced that if we had gone any further going 75 on the freeway, that it would have popped right off, and the trailer would have been ruined, the bike probably would have been ruined, and we might have caused a huge accident. We just feel so much of the Lord's love when he looks out for us like that, and it's moments like these that make you realize that you can't deny His love and His power.

So, I I'm not sure what we were expecting, but our first impressions of Oklahoma were that it's super flat, and a little run down. I don't know if we've seen like a new-ish development or part of the city. Everything seems kind of older and out-of-date. Other impressions... people here have SO much state pride! They are all about how absolutely wonderful Oklahoma is. I'm not saying that they're wrong... I just have yet to be convinced :). We know one thing for sure, the freeway system here is so different than anywhere else we've ever lived. I think we've gotten lost every time we've taken the freeway anywhere.

Other than that... Todd has orientation for his internship today! He is nervous about the internship, mostly cause he's worried he won't remember things, but overall he is just excited to finally put everything into practice. I'm excited for him, and I know he is going to be great. The day after we got here, I had two job interviews. One was with a methodist daycare, and the other with a tutoring company. The daycare  was a little sketchy, and just really not something I think I'd like to do, so I'm going to call and tell them no today. The tutoring job, however was perfect and exactly what I want to do. It is part time, but in the afternoons. I could potentially still substitute teach during the day, and tutor in the afternoon. Before I decide to do that though, there is another part-time tutoring position I am looking into. It is a Math Lab Assistant for a community college. Both tutoring jobs together would be full time, and I would get paid much more than I could by substitute teaching. I got the job offer at the one tutoring place, so hopefully they'll want me at this other one. The only thing I am worried about is the fact that we're only here 3 months... I'm not sure if they'll want me because of that. Anyway, I will keep you updated on what happens!

Oh, one more thing! Our apartment is super nice, we really like it! It's a shame that we have zero furniture and/or decorations. Also, we found out when we got here, we have no washer and dryer. They also told us that we couldn't park our trailer here, even though it is so small. AND, despite it being 90-100 degrees every day, they closed the pool for the rest of Fall! So, quite a few frustrations... but we'll get over it.

That's about it everybody, I'll update soon with some pics of our cute little set up, and details about our jobs!

The Trailer

Todd and I are off to Oklahoma today, can you believe it? We're looking forward to it, but basically only because we will get to be with Summer, Chris, and their new baby girl, Scarlett. We're not so much looking forward to the whole, Todd working without pay and me trying to get hired on as a substitute, and then getting paid a ridiculously small amount (did you know subs only get paid $50 a day in OKC? That's like $6.25 an hour for an 8 hour school day!). Anywho, it will be an experience for sure! We love new experiences.

On Friday, Todd and I found out about a Labor Day 3 v 3 ultimate tournament that would be held by BYU. Since your team could be super small (3-6 players, depending on how many subs we wanted) we quickly got a team together. We invited an old friend/coach who lives in Lehi, and he brought a friend. Then we met someone at pickup on Saturday, and he brought another friend. So we ended up with 6 amazing players! We played six 30 minute games throughout the day. We lost our first game, and then fought back to win the rest of our games to qualify for the championship. Then, the team in the championship was the only one we lost to! We claimed redemption immediately, and ended up beating them 7-2. The last point was so exciting because Todd was playing, the other team had the disc and were about to score. They threw it to a wide open receiver, and Todd comes out of nowhere and gets a layout D! Then right after that our team moved it quickly and efficiently to score and win the game! Super exciting finish :). They had some jerseys and discs as prizes for winning, but all of the jerseys were women's (unfortunately for everyone on my team but me). It was cool to win those prizes and stuff, but the cooler part was getting to play some high-level ultimate. Todd and I haven't been able to do that in a looooong time.

Now, to the reason I even started this blog post... THE TRAILER! While I was in Australia, Todd didn't have much to do. To keep himself sane, he devoted his time to our rickety little trailer that we bought to tow the motorcycle to Oklahoma. If you can't tell in this pic, the wood on the deck was soooo old and falling apart. The paint job was also rusty, and extremely old looking.

Todd, with some help from his dad, ripped off the old deck, gave the trailer a nice new paint job, cut the wood to size for a new deck, stained it, and installed it. When I got back from Australia, it looked like a new trailer! Todd was hoping to get some sides up while I was gone, but ran into a roadblock. Do you see, in the picture above that black metal bar on the side that's closer to the car? Well, that bar was completely in the way for putting sides up. Todd found out that if he wanted to have the weld broken, he'd have to redo the whole deck. Not happening. So instead, Todd's dad was so kind as to help us just cut that bar off!

Todd and I came up with a plan for the sides, and went to Home Depot to get all of the wood. We stained it with the leftover stain, and cut the pieces to size. After some trial-and-error with the hardware, and a lot of help from Todd's dad, we got the sides up! The only glitch is that the frame of the trailer is pretty warped, it was when we bought it. Due to this, the deck is uneven, and the sides are not all parallel/perpendicular. If you look from the back, the railings noticeably slope to one side. It doesn't matter too much, it just gives our little trailer a little character. Anyway, here's a pic of the final product! I'm so happy with how it turned out, and now we'll be able to take a few extra things with us to Oklahoma :)

Well, now we're off! Wish us luck on our 20 hour drive, and we'll update again soon about the wondrous Oklahoma!

Oh, and one more thing. I might have mentioned in the last post that we're entering in a contest with Chaco's to win some sweet prizes. You can submit pictures or videos that feature the Chaco's. Todd and I think there would be less videos entered, and the video that won last year was LAME. So, we decided to make a video of our own to enter. Here it is!

It's Summer!

I can't believe that the last time I updated was close to Christmas! Sorry guys, but it turns out I'm not so good at this blogging thing. I decided it's not as fun to play catch up and update super quickly about everything that has happened, than it is to tell one little story at a time. So, sorry about that. Today will be a little catch up, but I'm going to try to stay on top of this blogging thing.

So since our last post, we finished our last two semesters at college! Hallelujah! It doesn't feel real to me that we're done forever. Technically, neither of us have received our diplomas yet, because Todd still has to do his internship, and I still have to student teach. As far as coursework goes though, we are finished! 

Since we finished school, and Todd's internship wouldn't start until the start of September, so we decided to save a little money and move out of our apartment in Rexburg. Todd's parents are amazing, and came up with their trailer to help us move stuff down to Utah. When we move out to Oklahoma, all we plan on taking will fit in our little car (plus the trailer with the bike on it). 

So we bought this cute little trailer because a moving van out to Oklahoma costs like $500 each way (and that's one of the cheapest ones). Renting a trailer would cost around $250 each way. We needed something to get the bike there. We figured since we will only be in Oklahoma for 3 months, we don't need to bring all of our furniture and stuff. So instead, we spent a mere $300 on this baby, and it's ours for good! Todd also just spent the last few weeks fixing it up. He put a new deck on it, and repainted everything. At the moment, we're trying to figure out a way to put sides up. It looks so good though, I wish I had a picture!

Very beginning of this month, I had the wonderful opportunity to go to Australia and visit the family that I nannied for 3 years ago. Since my stepdad is a pilot, it would only cost $50 each way. Sadly, it was going to cost around $700 each way for Todd to come (which is cheaper than a ticket, but too expensive for us to afford). At first I refused to go without him, but he convinced me that I needed to take advantage of the opportunity while I still can. So I left on July 31st and came back August 15th. It was sooooo hard to be away from Todd for that long! That's the longest we've been apart since we got married! But it was really great to see everyone again, especially Nicci, Adam and their adorable little girls. It is amazing how grown up they are now! It was also cool because Marvin (my step daddy) flew in for one of his trips, and we got to spend a whole day together in Sydney!

Look how big they are!

With my two favorite girls!

I love these ladies!

Got to hike up at the Blue Mountains with old friends and new!

In Sydney with Marvino :)

After I got back, Todd and I wasted no time and took off for Vegas! We went down there to apartment shop, because that is where I will be student teaching after Todd's internship. We have narrowed it down to five, but three of those five are all the same owner, so they all look the same. So really, we have it narrowed down to three. The one we pick will largely depend on the price at the time we need to sign the contract. 

 This is Turtle Creek Apartments

These apartments are definitely the cheapest of the 3 (at the moment).
They're still very nice for the price though, and we like how homey it felt. 

This one is Firenze, which is one of the three Ovation apartments that we are considering. 

The other two are Verona and Arzano, but they look really similar. 

This is the apartment that our friends Kelli and Rod live in.
We love the lighting in here, and how open it is. It's also just a really nice, clean apartment.

Last, but not least, The Venue Apartments!

These apartments have been our favorite even before we got to tour them.
And trust me, they are even better in person than in the pictures!
This complex is also really nice because they have much more security than any
of the other complexes, which is really nice. These apartments were the most
expensive for sure, but we are hoping prices will go down by January. 

 So where we will be living is still up in the air, but we do want to get something nice since we will likely be staying in Vegas for a little while while Todd takes prerequisites for PA school. There is also a PA school in Vegas that we are looking into, so we may actually stay for that as well. We will keep you posted what happens though. 

So after we went to Vegas, we took off for Zion National Park! I don't have much to say other than it was gorgeous down there, and we got some awesome pictures. Check it out :)

This was Angel's Landing. Part of the hike was climbing up this narrow
ridge with a 1400ft drop off on either side. It was pretty intense!

At the top of Angel's Landing! 

Hiking the Narrows

The Narrows again :) So cool!

So before we left for Zion, we invested in some Chaco's! We knew they would be great for the Narrows, and... they're just awesome. We also found out that Chaco has a picture contest that is going on right now, and they pick winners who get free chacos and some other sweet prizes! Our whole trip, we made it a focus to try to take an award winning photo. How cool would that be if we won?!? There is no limit to the number of pictures you can submit, so we've submitted like 20 so far. Here is a sample :)

Well, that is about it for this update. We're off to Oklahoma soon, and can't wait because Summer and Chris are out there with their adorable new baby girl Scarlett. We can't wait to meet her, and get to spend lots of time with Summer and Chris! It's going to be awesome!

A Novel of an Update

Wow! It has been a looooong time since we last updated this thingy! Since so much has happened, I'm thinking I'll just make a list of the highlights... and of course, the pictures!

1. We finally found some chairs! They match our table really really well, and we only paid $25! Talk about a stinkin' sweet deal! One of them is a little rickety... It feels like it might snap in half, but as long as you don't lean back it that one, it's good. We've been really happy with them, and we think they fit really well in our apartment.

2. For the first half of our winter break, we went to Oregon to spend some time with my family, and Jeffrey was only going to be there until the 21st, so we needed to catch him before he went to Washington. We had an amazing time spending time with my family, and checking out all of Eugene's most awesome attractions.  We celebrated an early Christmas there, so we could have Christmas in both Eugene, and in Highland.

3. After an amazing time in Eugene, we began our journey to Utah. My first Christmas with the Brooks was an amazing one. Todd's family is amazing, and I'm so lucky to be a part of it now. Probably some of the highlights of being in Utah include snowboarding at both Brighton and Snowbird, sledding/snowboarding off jumps on the golf course behind the house, taking the kiddos sledding, and just relaxing with family. We also had the opportunity of attending David and Allison's sealing the weekend before we came back up to Idaho. It was a beautiful ceremony, and it was so great to see a lot of the Fajardo family. Also, this Christmas we decided to invest in a little "family" christmas present, which is a Canon Rebel T3i. With all the sledding we did, I had a blast testing it out, and it is UH-MAZ-ING! I love love love love it! The pictures turn out so great, and I was able to get some pretty sweet shots. Here are some of our favorites from our time in Utah.

Our cute matching PJs

Todd's impressive facial hair after about 2 weeks

Ping pong tournament. Pretty much went on for like two weeks

I just love this picture! What a cutie!

Funniest picture of all time

Todd is a pro... that's all I have to say

Cute little Annie

LOVE this picture of Noah!

My first attempt at going off jumps

The Brooks "Cheesy smiles" at David and Allison's wedding

The happy couple!

So cute

This one rival's Noah's for best picture OF ALL TIME

Photo-bombed!

Todder's and I at the Salt Lake Temple

 4. So now we're back up at school and the updates are much less exciting. We also have no pictures to go along with our updates. So the school has started these "Open Pool Kayak" clinics in the school pool on Thursday nights. Todd heard about it and has been working on his "kayak roll" and thought it'd be a sweet place to learn, with people who can teach him. In just an hour, he improved soooo much, it was fun to watch! 

5. So this week I had my student teaching interviews. Student teaching is a little less than a year away, but they want us to be squared away with where we will be student teaching pretty early. It turns out there isn't a partner high school in Salt Lake City that we can student teach at, but there is a middle school in South Jordan. So I interviewed with pretty much all of the high schools that I could have (in Vegas, Mesa, and Ogden). In the end, we decided that even if I have to student teach middle school, it would be better for us to save some money by possibly living at home for a few months while I student teach instead of moving to Vegas or Mesa or something. So the way it works is we turn in a "wish list" of our favorite schools, and the principals turn in wish lists of their favorite student teachers, and they try to match us up with one of our top choices. So if we don't get our number one choice of South Jordan Middle School, I will either be going to Las Vegas High School, or to Mesa High School. We won't find out for a couple months though, so it'll be interesting to see.

In other news for "future plans," Todd and I recently heard about opportunities with the Coast Guard. There could be some benefits that the Coast Guard could offer, like paying for Todd's grad school, and our housing, and things like that. Anyway, it's only something we've barely started looking into, but it could end up being a good option.

6. Finally, for the sad news. You may have seen on facebook that I re-injured my ACL. How did it happen, you ask? Ultimate Frisbee.... again. I don't think I have the best luck with that sport. The doctor doesn't think I tore it, but he thinks it may be "stretched." The problem with this is that once it stretches, it never goes back to normal. And the stinky part is that an MRI doesn't even help to show how bad the stretch is. So we basically have to wait and see if I'm going to need surgery again. For now, I'm just trying to get better, slowly starting to walk again and trying to get my strength back. Keep your fingers crossed! If it's not stretched too badly, I won't need surgery, and I could be playing again in just a few weeks! We'll see though... I'll keep you posted.

In short, despite all the stress about my knee and our future, we are happy and loving life more than ever. Life just keeps getting better and better, and I can't wait for the new adventures that are to come!