We're going to Hawaii!!

Chad and I have officially decided that we're going to Hawaii this summer!

Because we had kind of a short honeymoon, and we weren't able to plan anything extravagant, we decided that for our one-year anniversary we are going to treat ourselves to a Hawaiian vacation. Here are the plans thus far:
We will be going to the island of Oahu during the week of August 22- August 28. On Friday, August 21, I'm going to pick up Chad from work and then we're going to drive all night to make our flight out of LAX at 7:00 a.m. on August 22. Thanks to my wonderful Dad who let us use his frequent flyer miles for the flight, we will be flying first to Dallas and then catch a connecting flight to Honolulu (it was the only flight we could get for that day). We've already found a place to stay while we're there and it's absolutely perfect; we will be staying in a studio apartment behind a house that is located right on the beach in Laie. We plan to spend the following week completely enjoying the beautiful beach and all the fun things there are to do on Oahu. I can't wait!!! We'll fly back to LAX on Friday, August 28 and then head back up to Utah to start fall semester on August 31st.

I seriously can't wait to go! This is going to be our first real vacation together, just the two of us (excluding our honeymoon) and we get to go to such a beautiful place. Probably what makes me most excited is that Chad has never been to Hawaii before so he will be experiencing everything for the first time! I know that August seems like forever away at this point (seeing as it's only April), but we're counting down the days!

Elder L. Tom Perry

Last weekend was stake conference and we had the unique opportunity to have the oldest living general authority come and speak for both the Saturday and Sunday sessions! I couldn't believe it when they announced a couple of weeks ago that we were having an apostle come and speak at our stake conference. What a blessing.

I can now tell everyone that I absolutely love Elder L. Tom Perry. It was an amazing experience to listen to his insights and get to know him more as just a normal person. During the Saturday night session he got up and said, "Alright brothers and sisters, I just want to update all of you on the current score... we've had 9 brothers get up with crying babies so far and only 7 sisters. This is exactly the way it should be." All throughout his talk, he cracked jokes and had the entire congregation laughing. Sunday morning was much the same, and I was really impressed by the message he had come to share with our married student stake.

He talked all about the importance being united as one in our marriage and not being afraid to take chances, to actually live our lives. He told stories about his own marriage and how important it is to do the little things every day to show your spouse how much you love them. It's important to establish traditions and quirky little routines because that defines our relationship and gives it life. Now is the time for us to live our lives, we can't always be planning for the next big thing because we will miss out on what is happening now.

I am grateful for the opportunity we had to listen to one of the apostles of the Lord and I know that what he had to say was true. He knows where we are now because he's been here himself, and he only says those things the Lord wants us to know.

Why I love my Husband.

I was thinking the other day how much I love Chad and all of the things I've learned about him since we've been married, so I decided to make a list. Here they are:

• he ALWAYS has chapstick with him, no matter what, so I never have to bring my own anywhere!
• there is nothing he loves more than clean, fresh sheets out of the dryer.
  
• He's a receipt-crumpler. As soon as we get in the car and he has purchased something, he crumples the receipt into a tiny little ball and puts it in his cup holder. Sometimes I think he has a competition with himself to see how small he can make it.
• He hates the feeling of hair on his face... absolutely loathes it.
• If the sheets aren't just right before we get in bed, we both have to get out so they can be straightened and he can "finally get some sleep".
• he knows how to dress nicely, I never have to worry that he's not presentable. In fact, he even helps me figure out what to wear. (for anyone who knows me, this is a BIG DEAL, I hate picking out clothes, and can never make a decision).
• he knows when I just need him to listen as opposed to help me fix a problem.
• he's just so darn cute!
• he's secretly started to like being a non-movie finisher. We just watch parts of movies, because that's all we have time for. It used to drive him crazy, but now he does it all the time!
• he does the dishes quite often, and he doesn't even mind doing it.
  
• he likes to surprise me with a beautifully clean house because he knows how happy it makes me.
• he's a wicked awesome hockey player which explains the sexy body.
• one of his talents is teaching, he's one of the most awesome Sunday School teachers I've ever had.

My husband is pretty much awesome, what else can I say?

The Rex Lee Run

Saturday March 14, 2009 was the annual Rex Lee Run at BYU. Spur of the moment on Wednesday, I decided that I really wanted to run in the 10k. I was really nervous, I've never run a 10k before in an actual race, but I wanted to do it. There were a couple of girls from my semester in the nursing program who were running it too (pictured below), so I was glad for a little bit of moral support. The morning started out freezing (I couldn't feel my fingers and toes for the first two miles), but then it became a beautiful day. Good news: I finished my first 10k in 49:50!!! I was all sorts of excited, and I feel like I was really able to accomplish something significant on Saturday.

Nicole, Marissa, and I

Chad came at the end of the race to cheer me on. I'm glad he did, it was nice to have someone cheering me on at the finish line.
This was my epic finish (I'm the one in the black jacket, not the girl waving her arms like a crazy person)

By the end of the race, I decided that I want to run a half marathon now. It would basically be like running the 10k twice, and I really think I could do it. I'm trying to talk Chad into training with me this summer and then running it with me in August. We'll have to see how persuasive I am....

The thing I love most about the snow...

This is my favorite thing about the snow... I love the way it looks when the freshly fallen snow appears to "frost" the trees. Absolutely gorgeous. So, when it snowed last week, I had to take a couple pictures. If it's going to snow, and it's going to be cold, well then I want to remember that it looked pretty.

Playing Nurse with my friends!

So it turns out that even when you grow up a little and go to college, you still get to play dolls with your friends! For my nursing essentials class last week, we were learning wound care and had to change the dressing for an abdominal wound on our mannequins. It was great. I took a few pictures of all of my lab friends playing with the oversized dolls because I thought it was so entertaining. It's just like playing doctor or nurse when you're little, except this time we actually get to use real equipment and supplies!

Helping bandage up "Chuck Norris"

Packing the Wound

Look at that gaping wound!
Kenzie and Erin... they were pretty excited.
Erica and Rose, equally as excited.

This is one of my favorite parts of the nursing program, it's just so much fun to pretend that we know what we're doing when we're practicing on mannequins!

Free T-Shirt Day

It is the first week of March and the official week of BYUSA elections. You know what that means. Everytime this week I've walked accross the square outside the JFSB or accross Brigham Square, I've been verbally assaulted by election candidates and their cronies. Its become borderline ridiculous. Fortunately, I've figured out the key to making it through the craziness (by the advice of friends): all you have to do is pretend you're talking on the phone every time you walk through one of the said battle zones. It works like a charm!

Let's all be honest now... The only reason I vote anyway is for the free T-shirt you get when you vote in the Terrace. Yay for free t-shirt day!