We will be moving sometime this week!
The couple who's apartment we are moving into are waiting for their loan to fund, which will be sometime between Monday and Thursday. Hooray!
Our living room is currently housing many flattened boxes, and some that are already packed. We are looking forward to our new place and our new beginnings.
At the same time however, we are still on the job search. We are seriously grateful for good parents who taught us how to save our pennies! We are going to pay 6 months rent as soon as we move in, so that we can still have enough savings to get by, but we do not need to worry. What a blessing!
We are sooo excited that mom and dad Van Wickle are coming in a few weeks for Jon's birthday! We are hoping this spring weather will continue, so that they can see more than just snow.
Today was my last Sunday teaching the 7-12 year old primary kids music. It was the perfect day to end on. They were sooo excited about memorizing the books of the Book of Mormon, and were really reverent when they sang their songs about Jesus and the ressurection. I am glad I got to teach for a short time, even though it was out of my comfort zone. I am sure I will get a chance again someday! Who knows where we will be asked to serve in our new ward.
Other than that... there is no news. But no news is good news around these parts. God bless and happy Sunday!
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
3 day weekend
We were soo happy to get a 3-day break!
Valentine's day was simple and sweet. We ate chocolate and watched our favorite shows. We took a trip to Sandy to get some of the things that were still in the Griffith's garage. I came across the 60 page book of emails I made Jon after 3 months of dating. I read some of them out loud on our car ride home, and it ended up being very romantic. We were so in love so soon! And we knew it was different, right from the start. It was fun to remember our freshman year.
On Sunday our friends Ruth and Devin invited us over for dinner, we had yummy fajitas! Afterwards Devin brought his guitar over and him and Jon played in the music room. We are sad that we are moving right when we are creating a great friendship with them, but I am sure we will keep it up.
On Monday we decided to go snowboarding at Sundance! It is only about 20 minutes away and it a very beautiful drive.
I thought I had been snowboarding before. Sundance was an entirely different experience. It was HUGE, the snow was great, and was a lot more challenging than my day on the bunny hill. Jon was a patient teacher and we ended up having a great time!
It was soo beautiful up there! Completely breath-taking.
Hanging out on the mountain.. this is probably how I spent the majority of my time haha
Snow Kiss
hooray, our photoshoot on the mountain to prove that we did it!
Valentine's day was simple and sweet. We ate chocolate and watched our favorite shows. We took a trip to Sandy to get some of the things that were still in the Griffith's garage. I came across the 60 page book of emails I made Jon after 3 months of dating. I read some of them out loud on our car ride home, and it ended up being very romantic. We were so in love so soon! And we knew it was different, right from the start. It was fun to remember our freshman year.
On Sunday our friends Ruth and Devin invited us over for dinner, we had yummy fajitas! Afterwards Devin brought his guitar over and him and Jon played in the music room. We are sad that we are moving right when we are creating a great friendship with them, but I am sure we will keep it up.
On Monday we decided to go snowboarding at Sundance! It is only about 20 minutes away and it a very beautiful drive.
I thought I had been snowboarding before. Sundance was an entirely different experience. It was HUGE, the snow was great, and was a lot more challenging than my day on the bunny hill. Jon was a patient teacher and we ended up having a great time!
It was soo beautiful up there! Completely breath-taking. 
Hanging out on the mountain.. this is probably how I spent the majority of my time haha
Snow Kiss
hooray, our photoshoot on the mountain to prove that we did it!
Cute Boarder
Well.. today we are sore and back into our schooling. Life is good. We are waiting to hear when we can move into our new place. We are excited to start anew, and are on the job hunt. We will post more updates when we have more news!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Change is Life
I had written out quite a long post about what has been going on in the past week.. but it got deleted. This is my second attempt.
First, we has such a good time in Las Vegas at my friend Brittany's wedding a couple weekends ago! It was warm, it was great to see our friends, we got to go to Brittany and Brannon's sealing, we went to in-n-out, the wedding reception and then to the Las Vegas strip! I am very glad that we made the trip.
In other news, we will be moving and finding new jobs! asap!
Long story short.. Summerwood hired a professional management company to help improve some of our systems. Since they are now paying these people, giving them all of our responsibilities, and changing around the entire system.. they reduced our income to.. well.. $0. They wanted us to work the same amount of hours we are now, to pay off the rent. Therefore, we have no choice but to leave.
There are mixed feelings here. We have been planning to leave around June, so we are not entirely dissapointed. However, this is definitely not they way we wanted to go about it, nor the time. Moving in the middle of the semester is such a pain. We feel this was all a little "sleezy" as well since there was no warning. But, in better news, we get to have new jobs! And we get to move closer to campus! This is all working out for the best.
In fact, on Saturday, we found an adorable little apartment. It is in a house that has been made into a 4-plex. It is 1 bedroom 1 bathroom, but I think the living room is bigger than the one we have right now. It is old, but it has a lot of character. We really think it will be ideal. It is walking distance from campus, and one of the cheapest apartments we could find. We have been told that we will move in sometime around March 1-15th.
In the midst of all this madness with work and finding a place to live- we had a tenant over-dose on a perscription drug street-named "oxy cotton" to get high. He is currently on life-support, and the latest we heard is that he wrote a word. This is a huge improvement from the first news we got when 5 police cars, a fire truck and ambulance were outside the complex- they said he was dead or would probably die that night. This was very tragic, and though we have no responsibility in this situation, I still feel sad for his roommates, his girlfriend, family and friends. Jon and I really didn't know anything about him other than his name.. but our prayers are with his family.
(I try to keep this blog positive, but I felt the need to write this for my own sake, when we look back at these years from now.)
So all of this has been going on within the past week. I don't think we have ever felt as though our lives have been so crazy. But.. we have been doing better than ever on our exams! I think Heavenly Father is blessing us in the midst of all these trials. I think I'll ask them to keep coming if I keep up these grades.. it feels great!
On Saturday Jon got a 94% on his extreemely difficult accounting class. Way to go Jon! He also got an 85% in physiology, and is taking a bio-mechanics test today.
I am happy with my 90% I got on my "intro to family processes" test today! (apparently the average on that exam is usually a 74%)
And remember the biology tests Jon has been helping me with? WE got a 74/75 and a 71/75!
Thingsare really looking sunny-side up. We have been blessed with health, savings!, time to take our exams, a new place to live, and new opportunities.
Thank you family and friends for your care, and your prayers. We know that they have directly influenced our lives.
First, we has such a good time in Las Vegas at my friend Brittany's wedding a couple weekends ago! It was warm, it was great to see our friends, we got to go to Brittany and Brannon's sealing, we went to in-n-out, the wedding reception and then to the Las Vegas strip! I am very glad that we made the trip.
In other news, we will be moving and finding new jobs! asap!
Long story short.. Summerwood hired a professional management company to help improve some of our systems. Since they are now paying these people, giving them all of our responsibilities, and changing around the entire system.. they reduced our income to.. well.. $0. They wanted us to work the same amount of hours we are now, to pay off the rent. Therefore, we have no choice but to leave.
There are mixed feelings here. We have been planning to leave around June, so we are not entirely dissapointed. However, this is definitely not they way we wanted to go about it, nor the time. Moving in the middle of the semester is such a pain. We feel this was all a little "sleezy" as well since there was no warning. But, in better news, we get to have new jobs! And we get to move closer to campus! This is all working out for the best.
In fact, on Saturday, we found an adorable little apartment. It is in a house that has been made into a 4-plex. It is 1 bedroom 1 bathroom, but I think the living room is bigger than the one we have right now. It is old, but it has a lot of character. We really think it will be ideal. It is walking distance from campus, and one of the cheapest apartments we could find. We have been told that we will move in sometime around March 1-15th.
In the midst of all this madness with work and finding a place to live- we had a tenant over-dose on a perscription drug street-named "oxy cotton" to get high. He is currently on life-support, and the latest we heard is that he wrote a word. This is a huge improvement from the first news we got when 5 police cars, a fire truck and ambulance were outside the complex- they said he was dead or would probably die that night. This was very tragic, and though we have no responsibility in this situation, I still feel sad for his roommates, his girlfriend, family and friends. Jon and I really didn't know anything about him other than his name.. but our prayers are with his family.
(I try to keep this blog positive, but I felt the need to write this for my own sake, when we look back at these years from now.)
So all of this has been going on within the past week. I don't think we have ever felt as though our lives have been so crazy. But.. we have been doing better than ever on our exams! I think Heavenly Father is blessing us in the midst of all these trials. I think I'll ask them to keep coming if I keep up these grades.. it feels great!
On Saturday Jon got a 94% on his extreemely difficult accounting class. Way to go Jon! He also got an 85% in physiology, and is taking a bio-mechanics test today.
I am happy with my 90% I got on my "intro to family processes" test today! (apparently the average on that exam is usually a 74%)
And remember the biology tests Jon has been helping me with? WE got a 74/75 and a 71/75!
Thingsare really looking sunny-side up. We have been blessed with health, savings!, time to take our exams, a new place to live, and new opportunities.
Thank you family and friends for your care, and your prayers. We know that they have directly influenced our lives.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
hooray!
I think this picture is cute.. we are fixing Jon's tie
Aunt Susan, Auntie Ruthie, Jon and I, Mom, Dad, Aunt Kristy and Uncle Larry
Bruce and Kim Carr, Larry and Debbie Snarr, Us, and Jamie Pratt
My parents and us.. cuteJon and I went through the temple and got sealed to one another on Saturday, January 24th 2009 in the LA temple. What an awesome experience! This means that Jon and I are no longer married "till death do you part" but for time and all eternity. This is a fundamental part of our faith, and we are happy that we will be together forever.
If any of you are curious about LDS temples, or want more info, you can always ask. The subject of the temple is not secret- meaning it cannot be known- it is sacred. I don't think there was anything that was shocking, or that we hadn't heard at some point during church. Anyway, you can go to this website if you would like to see what the church has to say about temples: http://www.lds.org/temples/purpose/0,11298,1897-1,00.html.
As a Christian, the temple serves as the ultimate place of worship. Have you ever felt like it is sometimes difficult to feel God near you in a crowd or a rock concert? This doesn't happen all the time, God is always there, but when you are in peaceful sorroundings it is much easier to communicate and feel of God. That is why I consider the temple to be such a spiritual place.
We were soooo happy our family and friends were able to make the last minute trip. Thank you JOY for coming! And Auntie Ruthie, Aunt Kristy, Uncle Larry, Mom and Dad, Aunt Susan, and all of our friends! You made that day extra special.
Well now that we made the quick trip back, we are happy to be settled.. at least for a week. If Jon feels up to date on his studies, then he is going to come with me, Natalie, and her boyfriend Mark, to Las Vegas this weekend. My good friend Brittany, from BYU Idaho, is getting married on the 31st. My other friends Rachelle, Katie and Emilie will also be there. I am definitely looking forward to the trip and am hoping Jon can get enough done to come along!! At the same time, I am trying to get my assignments done early as well. However, it is easy to finish take-home biology tests quickly when you have Jon as a bio-dictionary! Today he answered 60 of my 75 questions off the top of his head, without wikipedia-ing anything. Don't worry, he is teaching me as he goes!! And our teacher said we could ask anyone, haha.
At the end of today I think I can speak for both of us when I say that we are happy and healthy, and very much in love. We miss our family, but are so grateful for their love. We feel it every day. This is an exciting time of life. The other day it hit me for the first time, that I might look back and think that it was difficult to be a full time student, while working, newlywed, living in a place without privacy, and be short in the $money$ department. But it does not feel difficult right now. I hope thats how life continues to be! That I think the situation I am currently in is the greatest, with no idea that even better times are coming.. with a whole new set of challenges.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Blog Friends
Recently I have started to discover friends and family members who have blogs of their own. I have been feeling really creepy reading their info and not letting them know it! So I finally figured out how to have a "blogs I am following" list. I am hoping this will help lower the creepy-ness factor.
I hope our blog will not bore you friends, but I love keeping in touch with all of you!
also- I have made it so anyone can comment on our blog. Mom, that means you can stop facebooking me or calling me 30 seconds after I post :)
thanks everyone!
I hope our blog will not bore you friends, but I love keeping in touch with all of you!
also- I have made it so anyone can comment on our blog. Mom, that means you can stop facebooking me or calling me 30 seconds after I post :)
thanks everyone!
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Home Sweet Home
Upon coming home from a relaxing and fabulous vacation, the reality of where we work immediately set in. I suppose we were gone for too long, so the Summerwood Condos decided to put 3 weeks of work into a few days.
-A midnight door-knocking with crying girls who thought the maintenance managers had drunkenly thrown trash at their door. They were mistaken.
-A 3 AM fire-alarm that sent 2 fire trucks and policemen to our complex. There was a water pipe broken that lead to the sprinkler system. The alarm went through the entire complex, there were strobe lights outside, and lots of curious tenants. It kind of felt like we were in a movie, as we sleepily tried to figure out what was going on and disable the alarm.
-And a week long outage of internet during all of our tenants first week of school. *We have noticed that having internet while you're a student is the most crucial time of all. Teachers don't even pass out syllabi anymore, everything is online.
Nevertheless, we are looking forward to this semester and all of our classes. We are happy to be back in our familiar place, with lots of time with each other.
This is how our schedules ended up...
Jon is taking:
Physiology with a lab
Accounting
Bio-mechanics
New Testament, the 4 gospels
Rachel (who managed to get all of her classes aligned Mon, Wed, Fri- hooray!)
Intro to Family Processes
Personal and Family Finance (for my own interest)
Family History / Geneology
Biology
Critical Inquiry and Research Methods
We will no doubt be busy this semester, but it is so fun to learn things we actually care about, in our specific majors. I can't imagine not being a student, I hope we can always be life long learners.
On a more amusing note, we got some interesting news today. Mom Tate called to let us know that Dad had taken a trip to the emergency room. Anyone who knows my dad, knows that this is a pretty regular occurence. This particular accident, however, was a little more theatrical than some other the other slips and falls dad has participated in.
Apparently, dad was running down the stairs (everyone knows he always runs up or down, never walks) and missed the last step. This caused him to go flying all the way through the hallway, head first, and run into the island in the kitchen. This is pretty impressive since it is no small distance from the stairs to the kitchen.. but dad is long and I have no doubt, incredibly forceful in his run down the stairs.
Anyway, he ended up with 12 stitches in his head and 3 staples. Luckily mom was home to cry, be anxious, give him ice.. and of course drive him to the hospital.
No matter how dramatic this instance was, I am confident that mom and dad have a great routine as to how to deal with this emergency room trips, since they are fairly frequent. And since tomorrow is dad's 61st birthday, I think he just had to live up his last day as a youngin'.
We love you dad, happy birthday, we are glad you are safe.
We love our family, we love being together, we love school, and we love who ever takes the time to read this blog and have interest in our simple life!!
-A midnight door-knocking with crying girls who thought the maintenance managers had drunkenly thrown trash at their door. They were mistaken.
-A 3 AM fire-alarm that sent 2 fire trucks and policemen to our complex. There was a water pipe broken that lead to the sprinkler system. The alarm went through the entire complex, there were strobe lights outside, and lots of curious tenants. It kind of felt like we were in a movie, as we sleepily tried to figure out what was going on and disable the alarm.
-And a week long outage of internet during all of our tenants first week of school. *We have noticed that having internet while you're a student is the most crucial time of all. Teachers don't even pass out syllabi anymore, everything is online.
Nevertheless, we are looking forward to this semester and all of our classes. We are happy to be back in our familiar place, with lots of time with each other.
This is how our schedules ended up...
Jon is taking:
Physiology with a lab
Accounting
Bio-mechanics
New Testament, the 4 gospels
Rachel (who managed to get all of her classes aligned Mon, Wed, Fri- hooray!)
Intro to Family Processes
Personal and Family Finance (for my own interest)
Family History / Geneology
Biology
Critical Inquiry and Research Methods
We will no doubt be busy this semester, but it is so fun to learn things we actually care about, in our specific majors. I can't imagine not being a student, I hope we can always be life long learners.
On a more amusing note, we got some interesting news today. Mom Tate called to let us know that Dad had taken a trip to the emergency room. Anyone who knows my dad, knows that this is a pretty regular occurence. This particular accident, however, was a little more theatrical than some other the other slips and falls dad has participated in.
Apparently, dad was running down the stairs (everyone knows he always runs up or down, never walks) and missed the last step. This caused him to go flying all the way through the hallway, head first, and run into the island in the kitchen. This is pretty impressive since it is no small distance from the stairs to the kitchen.. but dad is long and I have no doubt, incredibly forceful in his run down the stairs.
Anyway, he ended up with 12 stitches in his head and 3 staples. Luckily mom was home to cry, be anxious, give him ice.. and of course drive him to the hospital.
No matter how dramatic this instance was, I am confident that mom and dad have a great routine as to how to deal with this emergency room trips, since they are fairly frequent. And since tomorrow is dad's 61st birthday, I think he just had to live up his last day as a youngin'.
We love you dad, happy birthday, we are glad you are safe.
We love our family, we love being together, we love school, and we love who ever takes the time to read this blog and have interest in our simple life!!
Sunday, January 4, 2009
2008-2009
What a wonderful Christmas Break 2008!
Jon and I finished up finals and flew home for 12 days of Santa Barbara bliss. It was so wonderful to spend time with our families, relax, and celebrate such a wonderful holiday.
I stole Joy's pictures, so here are some of our happy memories:
Jon on Christmas morning
PJs + Christmas + family = the perfect morning
This is a picture from visiting the Roess family! It was great to meet everyone. I realize I probably met all of these lovely family members at the wedding, but it was so different to get a chance to sit down and talk and get to know them. Thank you for being so welcoming!
A beautiful sunset on the beach!
I think these guys missed each other. And I know we miss Hobbs, the cat!
Jon and I really did have the perfect break. Despite a change from air mattress, to firm (haha), and a couple scrapes from the skateboard, I don't think we could have asked for more. Our hearts are over-whelmed by the love we felt from our families. Just thinking of us on Christmas meant so much and was such a blessing! This is a major thank you to all of you!
I've been thinking recently about how much has changed in the last year. Here is a quick summary of 2008:
Jon and I finished up finals and flew home for 12 days of Santa Barbara bliss. It was so wonderful to spend time with our families, relax, and celebrate such a wonderful holiday.
I stole Joy's pictures, so here are some of our happy memories:
Jon on Christmas morning
PJs + Christmas + family = the perfect morning
This is a picture from visiting the Roess family! It was great to meet everyone. I realize I probably met all of these lovely family members at the wedding, but it was so different to get a chance to sit down and talk and get to know them. Thank you for being so welcoming!
A beautiful sunset on the beach!
I think these guys missed each other. And I know we miss Hobbs, the cat!Jon and I really did have the perfect break. Despite a change from air mattress, to firm (haha), and a couple scrapes from the skateboard, I don't think we could have asked for more. Our hearts are over-whelmed by the love we felt from our families. Just thinking of us on Christmas meant so much and was such a blessing! This is a major thank you to all of you!
I've been thinking recently about how much has changed in the last year. Here is a quick summary of 2008:
newly engaged
first semester at BYU
Jon took O-chem, a brutal class!
I worked at risk management and planned a wedding..
summer!
we were home for one week
then- wedding!!
amazing honeymoon to El Capitain and Cambria (thank you Aunties!!)
traveling back to Utah to move in to our 1 bedroom apartment
sleeping on the floor the first night since they couldn't deliver our bed that day
being thrilled to have purchased 1 couch
I worked, Jon job searched
we applied as property managers and prayed for the opportunity
we got the job!
1 month of training
moved in to our new place!
learned through our mistakes
moved in all of the students and tenants
fall semester
I choose my major- marriage and family studies
worked hard
new owners for Summerwood
positive changes- but I quit
work, study, love, etc.
Jon and I got church callings- sacrament meeting coordinator, primary (kids) music conductor
more work, study, and love
more work, study, and love
took FINALS
amazing Christmas break in SB!
Got great grades this semester- hooray
celebrated New Years alone and it couldn't have been better!!!
*whew* I think this also is a list of all of our blessings. I think it would be difficult for anyone to look at our newly-wed life and just tell us were "lucky". Truly, we are blessed, and we know it!
We are looking forward to the year ahead of us, and are hoping for the best.
We are not huge fans of new years resolutions, but...
-we are brushing our teeth and flossing more often, partly because we don't have dental insurance (I know this sounds like a silly one, but it can't hurt right?)
-continue doing well in our schooling and look into future endeavors, such as: chiropractic school, masters degrees
-GYM... of course, this goes along with healthier eating, who doesn't put it on their list?
Happy New Year to our friends and family!!
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