August 30, 2010

Monday

Today is the first day of school, and it feels incredibly weird that I’m not going to school. Daniel and Brian went off to their first day of the semester, and I’m the tiniest bit sad … and jealous. I loved being a student, even though it was hard at times. I loved learning from such smart people and getting to walk around campus and meeting new people.

Daniel and I had quite an exciting few weeks, just before coming back to Utah. Our last week in Virginia was a busy one. Daniel was working his last week, and even though my internship was officially over, I worked a couple of days that week as well. Drew needed some extra help because he felt so swamped. So, it was really good that I got to work a little bit extra, keep myself busy and out of trouble. My co-workers were really sweet. They got me a card and a gift card and a delicious ice cream cake as a kind of goodbye. It was kind of sad to leave! I loved working there this summer, and I loved the people I worked with, they were so fun and nice! Plus, I loved being paid for working out!

The Saturday before our last week of work, Daniel and I went to a party for one of my coworkers; a kind of house-warming/engagement party for Jennifer Hawkins. She warned me that there would be a bunch of rednecks there, and she kind of apologized in advance for it. I just told her that that was no big deal, it would be fun! But she really wasn’t kidding about it! There were a TON of rednecks, people missing teeth and wearing kind of funny clothes, smoking. And I’m pretty sure that Daniel and I were the only people there that didn’t have beers in our hands! And Mom and Dad always taught me not to be at parties where we knew there would be alcohol! J Dan and I brought our own Sprites! They had a ton of food there. They cooked bucket loads of crabs and just dumped them on a table for people to eat. I tore into one, with the help of another more experienced guest there. He taught me how to break them open to get the best meat. It was really fun. 

 During my days off, I cleaned up the house and started packing up. I also took a trip to Hershey, Pennsylvania on Thursday the 20^th with Stephanie and Rayna. It was a 3 hour trip up there, and we went to Hershey’s Chocolate World, got a free tour (which was more like an informational Disneyland ride, complete with singing mechanical cows), went to a café for some chocolate cake, and … that was about all there was to see. We left Hershey and went down about half an hour to Amish Country in Lancaster County. That was fun. We just drove around, went to a farmer’s market and then drove home. I had a good time, but I’m not so sure that Stephanie did. We got to talk a lot, kind of bond a little bit.

Our last Saturday there, Daniel and I made plans to go see the last bit of DC that we could. It was our last real day to go see stuff before we were leaving. Before going into DC, we volunteered at a booth at the Arlington County Fair for the church to introduce people to Family Search and encourage people to get to know their ancestry. It was kind of interesting. It was nice to talk to people about it. We definitely were not there to proselyte, so it wasn’t like we were pushing the church on people (like I sometimes feel). After our shift was done, we bought some cheap tickets off of someone at the fair and went on a few rides there. Daniel really felt the need to go on some rides; but then after we did, we both felt a little queasy!

We went to the Library of Congress and the Museum of American History on the mall after the fair. We decided it would be easier to just drive in, since the fair was really close to the city, and it would have been a pain finding parking and then taking the metro. We were surprised, though, to find the traffic wasn’t as bad as it has been in the past. And we even found fairly cheap parking on the street. The library of Congress was very cool to see. We took ourselves on a sefl-guided tour, using a pamphlet provided by the library. A very beautiful building! And so many exhibits to see. The museum was cool, too. But we didn’t even get to see half of it! It was so big, and we had limited time to see it. But, it had the ruby slippers! I mean, the real ruby slippers, the originals, from the movie! There was a huge line to see them, so Dan and I only got to see them in passing. We learned a lot in that museum about the presidents of the US, especially George Washington and Abe Lincoln.

On our way out of DC, we stopped at a few kiosks to get some souvenirs. We bought a sweatshirt for Daniel’s mother ( she lost the one she bought in DC), and then some Tshirt souvenirs for ourselves. I had to get an “I (heart) DC” shirt, you know. And then Daniel and I also got some matching DC shirts. It was a fun day, our last in DC. We finished it up by going out to dinner at a little diner (The Stray Cat), and then heading to the temple.

After church on Sunday, Martina hosted a little goodbye party for us. Michael and Michelle and their family came for dinner, and then Bowman, Stephanie, Rayna and Brother Zerkel came over for dessert and to visit. It was very fun! We were glad to have most of the people we really cared about altogether to see them one last time before we go.

We finished packing on Sunday and Monday morning, and did some last minute cleaning of the basement before leaving for our trip. Saying goodbye to Martina was really sad. She was so happy to have us for the summer, and we really loved staying with her too. She actually cried when we were leaving. We love her! She’s so fun and quirky, she has so many funny oddities, but that’s what makes her so endearing! I am going to miss her. I sure hope we can keep in touch.

Our trip here to Utah was fun. We drove Monday to Kirtland, went on a tour of the Kirtland restoration and then stayed close to Kirtland that night. The tour was a lot shorter and Kirtland a lot smaller than I saw (or at least the old buildings). Old Nauvoo was so huge, and I was expecting Kirtland to be smaller but somewhat similar. We saw the Newel K. Whitney store and house, the ashery, and saw mill. On Tuesday, we paid a few dollars to get a tour of the Temple. The Community of Christ owns that building, and it was very interesting to get a tour, but it really missed the spirit of the Temple. It was also interesting to learn about the Community of Christ church. I don’t understand how a church can have so many of the same beliefs, even believe in the Book of Mormon, but be so off! It just says a lot about how important it is to have the correct authority and a true prophet! Also, it’s interesting that they don’t believe that there is one true church; they simply believe that we are all trying to be good and do right and get back to God. But not that there is one right way to get there. There use of the temple is also really different; they don’t have the ordinances we do, it’s just another place to worship and pray. Interesting.

We drove to Chicago on Tuesday, stopped in Chicago and had dinner at Applebee’s with Adam. It was good to see him and catch up a little bit. Especially since we never see him, and he never makes the effort. He’s a good guy, kind of sad what he’s doing with his life, though. We stayed in a hotel in Joliet with Adam and Liz McMurtrey. He was there for a work conference, and they were just able to get a room with 2 beds, which was really nice for us. We had a lot of fun spending the night with them! We just talked all night, looked at pictures, etc. The next day, Daniel and I drove into Chicago, paid a bit for parking and walked around Chicago. It was fun! We stopped to see a set for the making of the movie “Transformers 3”, we walked down to Navy Pier, and we had lunch at a pizza place, for some famous Chicago Stuffed Pizza. Adam also took a little break from work to come down and see us. It’s always good to visit a big city, but I wouldn’t like to live there for a long time.

We drove during the evening of that day and stayed in a pretty nice hotel room in Des Moines, Iowa for cheap (Dan’s Mom booked us a room online, and found it at a great price). Then the next day, we drove all day and landed here in Provo at about midnight … about the same time that Mom, Diane, Brian and Mary did; which meant that we stayed up even later talking. We were very sleep deprived last week!

The last couple of days, Mom has spent getting Brian set up for school. We went to Costco with them, just to get some things that we needed for cheaper. Yesterday was Brian’s birthday, and we had a nice picnic up Provo Canyon; had some sandwiches, watermelon, salsa and chips, and various salads and juice. We spent some time taking silly pictures, and it was so fun! We laughed a lot! And then we took a walk up the canyon before coming back down for delicious Costco chocolate cake. Some of Brian’s friends came over for cake and we played some games and had a lot of fun. I gave Brian the scrapbook I made for him of his mission, and I think he really liked it. I hope, at least.

It’s been so fun having my family around. I love seeing them! But Daniel is a little bit anti-social right now. He hasn’t been so into it, hasn’t been visiting with us as much, and kind of withdraws himself a ltitle bit when they come around sometimes. I feel bad, and nervous about it, I don’t want him to feel left out. But I also want to have fun with my family. They are kind of in your face, though, so I understand his position. He does tell me he’s fine; so I guess I won’t worry about it so much.

 August 12, 2010

Wednesday

So, let’s see…. Not much exciting has happened in the last week or so. Daniel and I have both been working. I’ve been working on looking for a job. I haven’t had a full-time schedule the last couple of weeks, so I’ve had some days off to do other things, which is nice. I’m almost finished with Brian’s Mission Scrapbook. It’s really simple, but I think it’s cute, and I think he’ll like it. I just want to add some quotes and sayings and stuff to some of the pages, and then it’ll be basically done. I have a scrapbooking magazine that mom gave to me a few years ago and lately I’ve been going through it and looking at some of the techniques other people use. Some of them I really want to try. Others of them are too extravagant for me. I’m going to have to buy some new supplies to try some of them. Hopefully Daniel doesn’t mind. I mean, they will be partially for him: his mission scrapbook, our honeymoon, our summer here, etc.

It’s weird to think this summer is almost over. Bitter-sweet really. We’ve had so much fun living here, and we haven’t been able to do everything that we’ve wanted to do. We love Martina, I love my work and the people I work with, and it’s just so exciting to be here. We love our ward a lot. We’ve had people inviting us to their houses for dinner or dessert, and we’re still fairly new. I just think that’s so nice.

On the other hand, we love our apartment in Provo, and we miss our bed. Provo is less fast-paced and is more familiar to us. Plus, we love BYU, and we’ll back with our family and we’ll have our stuff. We’ll be back in our old ward (which to be honest, isn’t quite as friendly as this one is). So, it’s going to be a very bitter-sweet move.

The other day, daniel came home in kind of a mood because Ethan (his counselor for the internship) told him that E&Y is thinking about not giving him an offer because Daniel mentioned his interest in San Jose and they don’t think he’s very “committed to this office”. So, basically, they want him to decide now what he wants to do and show them he’s more “committed” before they extend an offer. Kind of backwards, right? Kind of retarded, is what I say! Part of Family Home Evening was making a Pros/Cons list for the decision to come back to this area after graduation. I think we both feel more comfortable going to San Jose. I feel a little bit anxious coming back here after graduation, probably because it’s much more long term, especially we’d be away from most of our family for a long time. I don’t like that. We prayed together after we’d made the decision, to see how we felt about it. Neither of us had a truly strong feeling either way, but I think we both still feel just a bit better about California. It’s the smallest difference in feeling; that may be enough.

But, in all honesty, now that we’ve decided that, if kind of makes me sad that we won’t be back here. I’ve really had a great experience here, despite the few little crappy things (traffic, humidity … small price to pay). Now Daniel has to deal with how he’s going to tell the people at E&Y that he doesn’t want to stay here. And once he does, they may immediately terminate his internship early, and there are all the consequences of that (he’s not working for money, we have extra time if we want it, etc). Plus, that means we have to go through the recruiting process again for San Jose, and there is always that small chance that he won’t get an offer from any of the firms. Heck, he didn’t get one for an internship and we know how stressful that was. I can’t imagine how it would be for a full-time offer. We don’t know what the future holds for us. We are just trying to do what the Lord wants us to do. Maybe we are supposed to be in California for some reason, maybe it would just be better for us not to be here, in this fast-paced environment. I don’t know.

I’ve stopped stressing about what I’m going to do with my life, and let me tell you: I feel so much happier, so much more at ease. I’m happy just to be where I am, knowing that I can do whatever I want, but I don’t have to do it right now. Last weekend I went to the AFAA certification workshop and took the test. I am pretty sure I passed the written part and FAILED the practical portion. We’ll just have to see in a few weeks. But I just felt like I should get certified because I want to and I may be working in the field, if I can find some good jobs. I feel like it’s a way to continue my education about the body, and I’ll be better for it because I know better now how to take better care of the body. I can always apply it to my life and help others as well.

Well, I better get on with my day. I just woke up about half an hour and wanted to do this right off before I forget to do it. We’re happy and well. 

 August 2, 2010

Monday

My last entry was very confused. I don’t know what I’m doing with my life. But I had a very inspirational weekend.

Daniel and I went to Gettysburg on Saturday and it was pretty cool. But we were both so tired that we didn’t fully enjoy it, I’m sure. It was cool, though, because we had an auto tour, a CD with a narrative about the battle of Gettysburg and we drove around the town to see all the sites. On the way driving home, we stopped at Jerry’s Cheesesteak and pizza for dinner. And then we went to the temple. We did iniciatories at the temple; it wasn’t anything spectacular or different. But I really felt the spirit, and I really felt the truthfulness of the gospel. I always feel so good and peaceful in the temple, so the ordinances we perform there must be true, so the church is true, so the Book of Mormon is true … and so on. It just hit me more than it has in a while. I thought to myself that that is the most important thing. To know God and His Son, Jesus Christ; to do their work; to do my best and to come closer to Them. After that, I felt an increased measure of love and compassion for those around me and I felt so much joy. It was wonderful.

Then in church yesterday, we had an awesome lesson in Relief Society about God’s promises, and how they are sure and He fulfills all of His promises. Sister Yeates talked about how sometimes we have to be patient in God’s promises; it’s all on His timetable. It was such a comforting message to me, especially since I’ve been having a hard time knowing my plan and the directions I should take. I think God wants me to do what I want to do, what I think will make me happy.  I need to just make decisions and be patient. God does have a plan for me, but I just need to be patient with how He guides me. I don’t need to stress about it; just take things a little bit at a time. And I can find value in other areas of my life; not just feeling like I have a career. That didn’t make any sense, all of that, but I do feel better about life!