This semester has been an adventure for Brent and I. Brent is still working for the Migrant Education Program, which he loves! He is really focusing on classes this semester and is doing very well in his Chemistry, Biology and Spanish classes. Brent has also been doing a lot of things to prepare for medical school. He has joined some clubs on campus and is now volunteering as a translator at the hospital. Needless to say, he is very very busy.

I started my Master's this semester. So far I am loving my education classes! I take most of my classes online, so I can work on them in the mornings. I work as the site director for an elementary after school program. I love the job, I love working with the kids and the hours are great! I have two night classes (Wednesdays and Thursdays), but other than that I enjoy quiet nights at home with Brent.

Life is busy for both of us, but this semester we have enjoyed having dinners together every night. I have been trying new things every day. Tonight we made Cafe Rio food at home! I am waiting for Brent to get back from his lab so we can eat it, it smells delicious :)

I am going to leave you with a picture of Brent and I on Halloween. Brent bought a 12 pack of HIDEOUS mustaches and I promised he could wear one for Halloween. We decided to be a couple from the 1950's. I dressed up like a housewife with apron, pearls and heels. We had a blast at our friends' Brady and Mal's Halloween party.

we're still here

So we are awful at keeping up a blog. We have lots of pictures and stories to post, but no time right now.

Because tonight we are having a...

HARRY POTTER MARATHON

Summer Goals

Every summer I make a list of ridiculous goals which never quite get accomplished. This summer is a different story though. With Brent's help I have accomplished several big goals! I thought I'd share some of our summer victories.

Goal 1 - Secure reliable transportation which allows for trips to Utah County

With a lot of hard work and help from our families we were able to locate the perfect car for us to buy. It's a 2008 Nissan Versa black (Brent's requirement) hatchback (my requirement) It gets great gas mileage and most importantly it's freeway safe!

Goal 2 - Make our new apartment feel like home

Our new apartment has been such a blessing. See previous posts for details on the hectic move. We are so glad to be in an apartment that is drug-free, relatively inexpensive and more spacious. With great landlords on top of everything else Brent and I feel like we are going to stay in this apartment for our remaining 3 years in Logan.

Since we are staying I really wanted to make this place feel like home. Brent has been great about us spending a little money to paint and decorate and has helped with all of my projects. The projects are almost done and the place is looking good. I'll post pictures of our home makeover soon!

Goal 3 - Healthy Living

One of our goals for this summer was to get fit, which meant more working out and eating much better. Our summer camp job was a good start to getting back into shape. I wore a pedometer to work a few times and found I was walking between 6 and 9 miles a day just at work!

Since summer camp has ended we are back to our regular fitness routines. Brent prefers basketball, pushups and skipping rope while I tend to go for low-impact workouts like yoga and ballet. (I have hip problems and so running and biking are no-go's for me).

Our biggest change for getting fit was how we ate. The rush of school and work left us eating a lot of junk food and fast food. This summer we are back on track with lots of whole grains, leaner meats and TONS of veggies and fruits. While Brent was hesitant at first with some of the food, he's grown to like it a lot more. He even told me that last's nights meal was the best I'd ever made. We had turkey burgers, corn on the cob, potato wedges and cantaloupe. And low-cal sorbet for dessert!

We are both feeling great and Brent has lost almost 20 pounds this month!

Goal 4 - Get grad school finances and health insurance figured out

This last goal was tough, but Brent and I feel incredibly blessed with our jobs, raises and government money that is helping us. Brent has been receiving pell grants for school and this semester was awarded an additional $2000 for a SMART grant. I've taken out some loans for grad school and if I work in Title 1 schools the government will repay those loans!

Health insurance was quite the beast. After several calls, e-mails, faxes and internet forms Brent and I were told that Brent is uninsurable because of his health problems. Brent only has one kidney, he has sleep apnea and last fall he had a couple of bulging discs in his back. The insurance companies told me that his health problems were unfitting for a 23 year old and so he would not be insured. We were both really worried, but Brent's mom called me last week with the best news in the world. Brent can go back on his parent's insurance until he is 26! It is such a miracle for us. I know a lot of people are anti-"Obama-care" but we are so grateful that it passed and allows us to get insurance.

All in all I declare this summer to be a success! We're enjoying our last few weeks of summer by fishing every minute we can and staying up late watching movies together. I love life :)

Summer Days

This summer has been AMAZING. When we first got married between jobs, school and basketball season Brent and I only saw each other for about 2 hours a day. This summer Brent and I got to work together at an elementary school. That meant spending pretty much all day together. It was a blast. We fell in love last summer working this job together and this summer we enjoyed returning to fun days filled with 4-square, snack time and coloring.



We finished our last day on July 22 (the program was originally scheduled to run through the 23rd- my birthday- but I wanted to be camping with my family so we cut the program a day early). Above is a picture of the staff on the last day. (can't post pics of the kids for legal reasons)

As soon as we finished our final day - WATER DAY - Brent and I hit the road. We drove to Yellowstone and set up camp with my fam. We enjoyed an incredible week of fishing, hiking, eating delicious dutch oven food, playing with nephews, swimming, storytelling, roasting marshmallows, playing ridiculous games and star gazing.

Marshmallow Kisses

Dinner Time with Larkin -- Last hangouts before they moved to Iowa :(

Enjoying the campfire with cousins

It was a fantastic vacation-- so great in fact that Brent couldn't wait to go back, we're heading up for another fishing trip this Saturday :)

So.... Katie and I have this thing in our marriage where we really like to share everything. Being in love kind of entails wanting to be together, which carries with it the implicit need to share. However, there are a few limits that I am going to extend to my beautiful little ray of sunshine as to things that we CANNOT AND WILL NEVER share. Ever.

1) Katie has this amazingly cute habit of sneaking bites of my sandwiches after I have made them but before I have had a chance to take a bite myself. However, instead of taking a bite from the outside like a normal person, she chooses to take a bite by folding the sandwich in half and taking a bite from the middle, effectively leaving me an inverse donut and robbing me of my sandwich-eating-pleasure. This is why I love her. Always so creative. However, it must stop.

2) Dessert. Period. That is my man-bliss time, and yet a bite is always reserved for her. I am happy to do it, but again: it must stop!

3) Katie came home with aches and a headache Tuesday night, so she went and laid down for a bit while I tried to keep the house in some semblance of order. Wednesday she woke up feeling worse and started in with the chills while we were at work. Worried? You bet I was. We were supposed to go bowling, but upon seeing the 103 degree readout on the thermometer, that was immediately cancelled. I woke up Thursday, happy to see my bride staying home from work for some well-deserved rest. However, as I came home Thursday from work, guess who has two thumbs and was sick too? This guy!!! I came home and crashed with her and haven't been up out of bed since. We are now on antibiotics and the road to recovery, but strep throat is not something that needs to be shared. Period.

I look back at our two previous posts and realize that this may sound like a complaint forum, but I really don't mean it to be so. Katie and I really enjoyed our weekend home together, even though we missed my family's big Park City weekend that we do ever year. I am really sad that we missed it, but really happy that Katie and I were able to have an AWESOME weekend together. My amazing wife found this stupendous website that streams every episode of BOY MEETS WORLD ever. Not so bummed about being sick anymore? You bet I wasn't. All in all, it was a great weekend that showed both of us how in love we really are and how perfect Katie is for me. Even though she was sick and in pain, she still served me like the lovingly perfect wife that she is. I LOVE YOU, WEIRDO!!!! You are the absolute most amazing, beautiful, perfect woman that I've ever known, and I'm blessed to have you.

Meth Den no more

It's a long complicated story, one which involves a lot of frustration and tears-- but thanks to prayer and many tender mercies we are out of our first apartment. While we loved our little place, we were scared when we found out the people sharing our duplex had been using meth. Especially scary when we considered our shared vents. We talked to a lot of people and got LOTS of opinions. Our landlord assured us there was no danger and dragged his feet for about a month. On Saturday he told us if we wanted a meth test done we'd need to pay the $150 for it. That was it for us. We spent Saturday night apartment looking and Sunday we were blessed to find a great deal on an AMAZING place. We packed up Sunday night and finished the cleaning Monday. The greatest miracle in our minds is that we had only signed a 6 month lease, which ends this Thursday.

Brent has been hard at work unpacking the new place while Katie has been painting. The new place had some cute colors on the walls, but the front room had a DARK PURPLE on it. We decided that we wanted something more cheerful, so we've opted for a skyish blue. and we LOVE it!

We are tired, dusty, paint-covered and not even close to done, but we are also incredibly happy to be in a safe place.

The Church is true.

Sorry 'bout that....

So yeah, we haven't written ANYTHING on here for a while... our bad. We've been ridiculously busy with, well, life in general. I would like to apologize to any potential stalkers out there that were hoping to leech more general information from our lives: let the weirdness begin.

A lot of crazy things have happened to us lately; let's see if we can catch you up.

1) We committed to moving into a new apartment that seemed to be exactly what we wanted: more space, no utilities, washer/dryer hookups, full bath..... PERFECT. However, we were told last week that it is actually a meth den (yes, you read that correctly: a meth den, as in methamphetamine), so we're a little leery on that.

2) Katie is pregnant*

3)Baby Greyson was born and Katie is now officially baby hungry. She cannot WAIT to have one. As I write this, she is leaning her head on my shoulder saying "but he's so little and cute, and I want one." Yeah, let's work on the health insurance first, ok? Ok.
This is Brent and Corgan when we babysat the young whippersnapper whilst his parents were at the hospital.

4) We are searching for a new car (new to us, not to anybody else, aka: used). If you know of a good deal, please let us know.

5) We are starting our new summer school job tomorrow at Canyon Elementary School and are PSYCHED out of our minds!!!!! The kids are awesome, the environment is great, the pay is good, our co-workers rock, and it's where we fell in love, so we're looking forward to reliving that this summer!

6) My brother Brian got home after his mission and is so cool! I hadn't seen him for 4 years and Katie not for the previous 21, so needless to say it was a happy reunion. I'm having a ton of fun re-building our relationship over the summer.

7) Over memorial day weekend we survived food poisoning, sinusitis, and a high school graduation. Where's our medal? We be gettin' no love. Haters unite!

I'm sure there's more, but I can't think of it now and can't seem to find the energy to care. If you are interested in the details, please let us know. They will be happily shared for a nominal fee.

*PSYCH!!!! Katie is not pregnant. How you like them apples?

Our life is awesome. We are sickeningly in love with each other and life is so good right now. Come what may, we know that we are being sustained by our Father in Heaven. We know that the church is true, we know that we are on our path back home, and we couldn't be happier about it.

Lucky I'm in love with my Best Friend

Today I (Katie) write from the basement corner of the USU library. I sit next to my charming husband Brent who is studying for finals. Life has been quite the whirlwind the past few weeks-- we have tons of pictures, all on Brent's computer, that I will upload sometime soon. Tonight I just wanted to post a quick note about my amazing husband.

Brent has been an absolute rockstar this semester. He worked two demanding jobs, one as a migrant education recruiter and the other coaching high school sophomore basketball. On top of these jobs Brent had a full class schedule including a very difficult anatomy class. While working hard at all of those things Brent was sweet enough to take a little time off for our wedding in January. He missed some classes and he missed a basketball game (the only region game that Varsity lost all year. The team blames me....)

One of my favorite things that Brent does for me are his"I love you days" where he surprises me for fun. One "I Love You Tuesday" I came home to find a clean apartment, dinner started and a new set of scriptures on my bed. A few weeks later I got some new black converse shoes for "I Love You Thursday." Brent often complains that I never ask him for any presents, so he finds creative ways of sneaking them... (I'll post a picture later) He hid one gift in a gift bag at Wal-Mart, I didn't see it til we were checking out.

Another favorite thing about Brent is that he enjoys arguing about politics. He is very open minded (he's becoming more liberal every day, LOVE IT). We've spent a lot of time the past few weeks arguing with relatives and friends about the Arizona Immigration Law-- it's been fun to be on the same side of the debate.

I feel very lucky and grateful to be married to my best friend. We can, and do, talk about everything. My favorite nights are spent at home making dinner together. We are quite the chefs (if I do say so myself). We are working on perfecting our Monte Cristo's :)

Brent keeps trying to catch a peek at what I am writing, so I'm going to hurry and post this.

te amo papi :)

Monday Night Milkshakes

We recently discovered the infinite treasure that is the Logan Library (you win this round, Reading Rainbow). In addition to books fit for any interest they also have an extensive movie library with FREE rentals. For a poor couple this is like Cortez and the new world. So far we have had the pleasure of viewing such treasures as:

1. Freaks and Geeks- the full series

2. Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure

3. Bride and Prejudice (Brent hated it)

4. Muppet Treasure Island

5. Eerie Indiana- Season 1

6. The Fox and the Hound

7. The Music Man

8. Pete and Pete- Season 1

Suffice it to say that with our entertainment budget at zilch this has been a quite welcome happening in our life.

Sidebar: is it sad that the only thing that we have to blog about is our weekly perusing of the library for childhood memories in DVD form? Your input is appreciated.

Today Brent and I are both sickly. We took a long afternoon nap. Tonight we enjoyed some simple sandwiches and strawberry milkshake for dessert.

Brent drinking his milkshake.

Our happy milkshake faces.

Our little life here on the corner of 5th and center is gloriously, amazingly happy:)

After much pressure from siblings and friends we've decided to jump into the world of blogging. So here is a little bit about us:

We live happily in the tiniest (and cheapest) apartment in all of Logan. Our favorite activities include renting movies from the library, cooking big meals and bringing surprise gifts home for each other. We managed to survive a stressful couple of months filled with finals, graduation, new jobs, basketball season, herniated discs, wedding plans and moving.

BRENT:

Coached the sophomore basketball team at Mountain Crest High School and assisted with the Varsity (he claims all he did was keep stats, but I saw him work with Troy on his 3 pointers so I'm not buying it). After many old man health problems (herniated disc, ulcers, sleep apnea), Brent is looking forward to a summer of being 23 and feeling healthy. He has recently decided to become a doctor and is working hard in school to prepare for medical school. We hate snow very much and have decided when the time comes we are going somewhere much warmer for medical school. Katie is hoping for San Diego. Brent enjoys dabbling in photography and has gotten some GREAT shots. He has also developed an unhealthy and nerdy (his word) obsession for turtles. He realizes that this increases the nerd index score (NIS) in his life. Brent really enjoys watching and playing with our turtle, Samson.

KATIE:

Katie graduated in December from USU with a triple (that's right. Three times the normal) major in Gender Studies, Political Science, and Journalism. Unfortunately, the job market for this field in Cache Valley isn't quite so broad, so she had to accept a position as an administrative assistant at a residential treatment center. Though she learned a lot, they had to part ways for our collective sanity. She is now waiting to hear about graduate school in the fall and is also organizing a summer school for elementary school kids. That is where we worked together and fell for each other last summer, so we're excited to head back this summer!

So that is our life in an extended nutshell. Here are some pics of our recent happenings/adventures.

This is Brent with Samson. Brent is sporting a saucy faux-hawk that Katie loves and Brent "hates."
Here is Katie with her research poster at the opening for the new Women's Center at USU.

And this is LOVE

So ya, that's our life :)