2009 Highlights

Not all of these happenings are going to be that interesting to read about, but here are some of the things that Dave and I experienced during 2009:

January: Dave and I met on January 3rd at Jason (a mutual friend)'s party. We were both smitten pretty quickly with each other. Dave had 1 extra week of vacation before he started school, a lot of which he spent hanging out with me. Then he kept commuting down to Provo to see me during the next two weeks. We started dating exclusively at the end of the month. Dave was starting his 2nd semester of law school. I was still working for an office on BYU campus where I had worked as a student, but I started new responsibilities because I was no longer in school and could take on extra work.

February: Dave and I went on a road trip to Preston, Idaho. We saw some of the places where the movie "Napoleon Dynamite" was filmed. And we discovered that we liked to spend even long amounts of time with each other! Dave started living at his parents' house in Provo during the weekends, and I bought a car from my grandma so that I could drive up and see Dave in Salt Lake during the week.

March: Dave and I experienced our first real trauma. My mother had a heart attack and I drove to Arizona to see her. I was there for a week, waiting to see how she would recover. Dave called and texted me every day, and we came out of the experience much more attached to each other. I found out that I was admitted into the TESOL certificate program at BYU.

April: Dave and I talked a lot about marriage this month. We discussed what it would mean for us to be attending different schools 40 miles apart. And we continued our courtship. I moved into a house in Provo and continued to enjoy work. And I replaced the alternator in my car.

May: Dave took his finals. Then he proposed! And he had appendicitis. This was a busy month for him. I took care of him, had to replace the fuel pump on my car, and continued working.

June: Dave and I kept preparing for our marriage. Dave took classes during the summer time and worked. And I drove to New York with my friend Emily. Also, Dave and I floated the Provo River and did all kinds of summery things. I'm looking forward to doing that again next year!

July: Dave and I celebrated the 4th of July, hiked, swam, and generally had fun. We sent out our wedding invitations. We read a lot of "Dandelion Wine" together (I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for an easy, pleasant read). And we started moving some of our belongings into our new home.

August: Dave and I got married! We spent about 4 days in Arizona before we got married, then spent our honeymoon in the White Mountains in eastern Arizona. The last night of our honeymoon we camped at Goblin Valley in Utah (I can't believe that no one commented on my post about Goblin Valley, since Dave and I were trying to trick people into thinking that we'd spent our whole honeymoon there). And then at the end of the month I started school!

September: Dave and I started our commuting life style, Dave taking the train to school and me taking the bus to school. And we started to get more settled into married life.

October: I set some goals for the school year. Dave and I babysat my niece and nephews, and decided that it's going to be several years before we have any kids. We fell more in love!

November: Dave and I continued on with school and work. Dave got hired to work at the attorney general's office. And we went to Arizona for our first Thanksgiving together. It was a fun trip.

December: I finished my first semester of grad school! I have one semester left in my certificate program, and I am applying in January to BYU's MA program. Dave and I celebrated our first Christmas together! And we are excited to celebrate our first year of knowing each other on January 3rd, 2010!

Thanksgiving

We had a WONDERFUL time in Arizona for Thanksgiving. There was lots of food, lots of playing games, and lots of kids! All of my siblings were there, with their spouses and kids. At one point we were all there, except for one of my brothers-in-law. I think that's the first time we've all been together like that in a LONG time.

I loved eating all of the Thanksgiving food! Dave and I both felt like we ate too much, but it was so good! Especially the green olives! :D

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving with family or friends, and that you're getting into the Christmas spirit!

I'm Thankful for Road Trips!

Dave and I are going on a road trip to AZ for Thanksgiving. And it's going to ROCK!! We've decided that we're going to get a book on tape to listen to, probably an Agatha Christie mystery. We love reading to each other, and this way we'll both get the chance to listen and drive/do homework/do work during the drive.


Can I just say how much I love spending time with this man? Our first road trip was to Preston, ID, on Valentine's Day when we'd only been dating for a few weeks. Dave was worried that we might hate spending that much time in the car together and that that would be the end of the relationship. Needless to say, we enjoyed our time together and didn't have to break up!


And I still anticipate loving my time in the car with him. I don't think that I could ever get tired of being around Dave.

I'm thankful for family.

Instance #1: Dave's sister Anita and her husband Dean came over to our basement last night. We ate dinner and played games. It was so much fun. They got married 6 months before Dave and I did, so they're newly weds like us.

Instance #2: Dave and I went to eat dinner at Jenny and Craig's house on Sunday night. When we were done eating, we just sat for a while and chatted. We laughed and had fun. Their kids are constantly saying, "Dave!" and trying to show him something or do something with him. He's definitely been adopted into the family by them!

Instance #3: Dave and I are driving down to Arizona in about a week for Thanksgiving!! All of my family are going to be there! I'm going to get a break from school! And I can't wait!

And also

I'm thankful for a warm house to live and good food to eat! This is such a blessing that Dave and I enjoy. We aren't literally starving college students, and that is mostly because my aunt has been kind enough to let us rent her basement very cheaply. With the rent that we save, Dave and I are able to live comfortably. We don't have to worry about making ends meet every month, although we are frugal. And there aren't a whole lot of things that we are pining away to have. We are content to just be comfortable, poor college students. We're not getting ourselves into debt so that we can go on crazy expensive vacations or go out to eat every night. And we're happy!

So, take home point: I'm glad that we are so happy with our lives that sometimes we don't realize how poor we are!

I am thankful for buses!

I was able to get so much work done this morning on the bus ride to BYU campus. I didn't have to pay attention to the road. I didn't have to think about merging into lanes to get around a huge accident on the freeway (there was a car on fire, and everyone had to exit the freeway). I didn't have to find a parking spot for my car. And I didn't have to pay for gas! Granted, the bus ride took me about 1.5 hours instead of .5 hours. But I was working that whole time. I am becoming a bus lover!

I am thankful for

my job. I like it, and I am gaining a lot of professional experience. I feel very blessed to be involved in teaching English!

The Spirit of Thanksgiving!!

For you faithful blog followers (Hi Mom!), you'll remember that last year I tried to make all of my November posts about things that I'm thankful for. And I'm going to do that again this November! Feel free to play along!

I'm thankful for the upcoming winter. Several weeks ago, I told Dave that I thought winter had arrived. There was snow on the mountains and a chill in the air. And of course Dave made fun of me, because it was only the beginning of October. We've joked about that frequently since then, when it's been especially warm. One of us (usually Dave) will say, "It must be winter!"

Well, this last week we did get our first snow down in South Jordan, and it was lovely! Dave and I were snug in our home and watched it fall past the windows. Then, when we were ready for a break from homework, we went for a barefoot run in the new snow. It's a family tradition of mine. It was so fun, and it was even funner to go back inside and snuggle up to get warm again.

So, I'm thankful for winter, because it is a new season in the never-ending cycle of seasons. And I'm thankful for the opportunities it gives me to snuggle up with my honey!