Count Your Many Blessings

So I thought I would just record some of the thoughts and discussions that Elizabeth and I have had in the past few days about our blessings and the inspiration that we had received regarding my job and ask the blessings we're seeing.

We talked about how possibly the decision to work for Anglepoint has to do with the ability to get out of debt sooner even though that seems somewhat counterintuitive since the starting pay is not quite as good as Goldman Sachs. However, we will be able to live in our great basement apartment with better rent prices for a nice apartment for longer. We are also able to stay there longer because we feel like for some reason we have been given a lot more privacy since returning.

There is no way we could have predicted this but it's really nice that we won't have to spend a lot of money to live in a nice place and can actually stay there until we're completely out if debt in a year or so and then even longer than that possibly.

Likewise I love how close I work to home and Elizabeth. I'm excited that we might be able to do a weekly lunch when I graduate!

Additionally, I'm not the kind of person to want a huge house but would rather do fun things and go on great vacations. You can't take your possessions with you but you can take your memories and relationships.

I'm really excited that we're planning or ten year anniversary to Europe! Only give years to Italy and France. Louvre and Colosseum here we come!!

Additionally - I'm really enjoying our extended newlywed phase! I love Elizabeth. She is the perfect woman and I couldn't imagine my life without her.

Summer 2013 (so far)

Wow it's been more than a year since we've posted! I guess I got a little lazy about it! Well summer this year has been good so far. Wil got an internship at Goldman Sachs and so he is driving down to Salt Lake every day which is sad but he really enjoys his internship and he's learning a ton about finance and investments! I am very proud of him.

We also finally managed to repair our apartment from the flood last summer because Ryan's parents and Tyler and Aimee came to stay with us for a couple of days which gave us some motivation! They came in May over Memorial Day Weekend and we all had a ton of fun! Wil's Uncle Keith loaned us some four wheelers and motorcycles and we went four wheeling for two days. It was a lot of fun and I think Talli and Danny even liked it!

Mom and Dad Craig brought their little dog Nina with them and the day we went up the canyon Tyler brought his gun so that we could shoot and apparently that freaked her out a little so she ran away. We were pretty sure that she would probably get eaten by animals but thankfully a family found her. Unfortunately we only found out about it a day after they left so we became adoptive dog parents for a while. Considering my general dislike of pets I never thought I'd be an object of affection for a dog but I guess I was wrong! Since our lawn happens to consist of mostly thorns though I didn't actually do much of the taking care of her. My sister Christie offered to take her as a sort of trial run to see if they would want to get a dog. The kids loved her and I'm pretty sure she was terrified of them at first but she came around by the end and pretty much thought that was where she lived now! Last weekend some friends from Mom and Dad's ward came through though and we got her back where she belongs. I'm sure Josh will be happy to see her! Lets just say he was not very happy when she ran away and we couldn't find her.

In other random news we just went to the Utah Valley Parade of Homes these last couple weekends. We love going to these things, we are such nerds. It's basically a hobby of ours. I know, kind of a weird hobby. Last year we didn't get to the St. George one but we're hoping to go this year. They're a good place to get ideas I think though cause people do some cool stuff. My mom says by the time we build a house we'll know exactly what we want just like she did when she finally got married. I think that's probably true.

In a couple of weeks we are going to be traveling to Washington for Ryan's Grandma Craig's funeral. She had Alzheimers, her health was not good and she wasn't very happy so she was ready to go home to her husband. I think she's probably happier now. Regardless of everything I just said I still feel a sense of sadness and I will probably cry like a baby at the funeral. I wasn't ever able to meet her in person but I talked to her on the phone a couple of times and skyped with her once. She didn't ever remember me of course. I haven't met many of Wil's cousins or aunts and uncles from that side of the family so I am excited to meet them even though it's kind of a sad time to do it.

Anyways, I think that is all of our news for now.

First Married Apartment

The other night when we started packing I was feeling a little bit wistful about our first married apartment and all of the good times that we have had here for the last two years, so we decided to take some pictures to remember it by, before it got covered in boxes!

Our  Bedroom
This was after we packed the books which is why the bookshelf
is empty.

The other side of our room. As you can see this is where I usually get ready
due to lack of space in the bathroom. :)

The Bathroom view from the doorway

Bathroom from the other side. See what I mean about lack of space!
I usually have to stick my hair dryer in the sink while I'm drying my
hair cause there's not enough counter for it to fit on!

The kitchen. We decided gas stoves are good but gas ovens
are not so good. Everything gets unevenly, overcooked!

The family room. It's big so we like that but the carpet is very
old so we didn't like that so much.

Other side of the family room. We had to replace our big
TV with a little one after Darren took the big one.

Picture wall! We only have pictures of ourselves and a
few my mom gave us for decoration.

End of Semester Craziness

Well, it looks like the next two weeks are going to be a little bit crazier than I anticipated! It's kind of a weird finals week because they start on Saturday and then basically end next Wednesday. Ryan says that there is a half day on Thursday scheduled but a lot of the finals end before that. His two religion finals both end on Tuesday. Usually we get a solid five full days for finals so that is going to be a little crazy! On top of that we have a new apartment that we will be moving into which will probably be finished the first week of May. We're hoping for sooner but we think it's good to expect the later date so that we don't get disappointed. Anyways, we put our contract up for sale two days ago and we think it might have already sold! The only problem is that the people want to move in next Saturday and so that means we have to be out probably by Thursday and then we have to deep clean the whole apartment, and we'll have to live in my sister's spare room for a couple of weeks while our apartment is getting finished!

 So, needless to say our life just got a whole lot crazier. I've started packing a little bit. I think that when you start packing you realize how much more you have to do. It's a little discouraging, and moving is more bittersweet than I anticipated, but we are excited for all these new developments in our lives. Hopefully, after next week it will be a little less stressful! 

Fitness Goals

Ryan and I decided it was high time we shed our winter coats (i.e. a couple extra pounds mostly brought on by ice cream sandwiches) and get into swimsuit shape! We have season tickets to seven peaks and a family Lake Powell trip so lets just say we have motivation, and just to give us some extra I'm writing them down. They say it's always better to write down your goals.

Goals
 Ryan wants to lose five pounds of cushion and then put on ten pounds of muscle.  At least I think that's what they are feel free to correct me babe!
My goal is to lose 5-10 pounds and get toned focusing on my legs, booty, and stomach, and look good in a swimsuit by the previously aforementioned Lake Powell trip.

Plan of Action
Gym 3 times a week for about an hour
Weight training/toning exercise circuits
20 Minutes Cardio minimum

Anyways, Ryan designed some exercises for me, mostly squats, lunges etc. that he found on bodybuilding.com which will hopefully tone up my legs, and butt, and in between I do planks, and various stomach exercises for my abs. Then I do cardio. I heard somewhere it's better to do weights before cardio so that's what I've been doing and my legs are extremely sore so I think it's working so far! Ryan does a bunch of upper body stuff mostly I don't really know what he does but he says he's pretty sore so it's probably good stuff. Wish us luck!

St. George Parade of Homes/Spring Break/Pic dump

Split Rock one of the coolest houses we saw!

Back view of split rock

Glass wall

We saw tons of houses with flat roofs like this one

The three windows. Always three little windows in the master.

The "Cave Shower" no door just your own little shower cave.

Hidden Pantry. Objects may be larger than they appear

Seemingly overflowing pools

Can't decide wood or tile? Put them together and Voila!

Little candle nooks to create some great bath time ambiance!

What Curtis calls a Frank Lloyd Wright esq entertainment center.

Nooks with lights in them!

This year we decided to take our life into our own hands and created our own Spring Break. Every year my sister and her husband go to the Parade of Homes in St. George, and this year they invited us to come with them. We decided we would go with them and it would be our own personal spring break. It was great! We looked at really cool homes all day, and went swimming and hot tubbing in the hotel pool at night. It was just the break we needed and it's also a great place to get ideas of some of the things you might want to do in your own house and figure out what you both like. These pics are just a few of the hundred and fifty that I took so be grateful there aren't more!

January Craziness

So you know how after Christmas there is always a little bit of a let down because you have spent so much time preparing for it and now it's just over? Well in our family there's not much of that, and if there is it only lasts for about a day. We're just too busy! You see, late December and January is probably the craziest time of the year for us. My mom and dad's anniversary which they always insist is a family event (Don't ask me I know it's weird but we've pretty much given up trying to convince them otherwise.) is right after Christmas followed by our niece Sabrina's birthday. January starts out with Brielle's birthday, then my Dad's, then his Dad's, then mine, and a week later Ryan and Jeffrey's on the same day. It's a little crazy and it makes us a lot broke.

This year we decided that we'd just have a family dinner on our actual birthdays and then combine our birthday celebrations with each other. We signed up for their birthday thing at The Roof, the restaurant in Salt Lake City where we got engaged so it kind of has special meaning for us especially around the winter time of year, and got a buy one get one free card. It just so happened that by a funny coincidence Rachael and Nick had two of those, also. They gave one to Rebecca and Blaine because they couldn't use both at once and we all went out together. We got to get all dressed up because it's kind of a nicer restaurant, which is fun to do once in a while. We were kind of running late and it was a blizzard on the way up so we were booking it down the freeway at high speeds and we couldn't see a thing! It was a little nerve wracking. When we got there we had to run through all the snow and slush, and get all soaked, only to find out that there's a convenient little underground tunnel that leads from the parking to the restaurant. It was quite the experience but once we got there it was all worth it! Pics will be added once Wil get's home and figures out what the heck is going on with this computer.

Right outside the Roof

Rebecca and Blaine

Us again!

Rachael and Nick