Spring Forward to 23!

Happy 1st anniversary of my blog (plus a few weeks)!! To be honest, a year ago I had a feeling I was going to get engaged soon and wanted to be able to share our story when it happened, as opposed to starting the blog after we were married. So I figured that creating a blog around my birthday was a good ploy. The unfortunate part was that I couldn't make my URL thestones@blogspot.com. That would've been quite a surprise to a lot of people. Oh well. And although this blog includes things about me and Loren, it's written by me so that's whose name is in the URL. 

Anywho...

My Birthday was March 10th and I turned the big 2-3. Nothing real special about that birthday except that it was the first of my married life so therefore, it was cause for celebration :) My big, not-going-to-happen wish was to go to Southern California and spend it on the beach. But that would mean having to take off work and shirk other responsibilities. It's a good thing I have Loren to keep me grounded and disciplined or I'd be in trouble, ha. We'll make it to CA eventually but for my bday adventure, we went to Park City, UT! Neither of us have been and I've heard good things about it so I thought that would be a good way to travel but not go crazy.

We enjoyed about an hour of beautiful snow covered mountain scenery as we drove up to Park City. 

Once we got there, we went up and down Main Street, looked at art galleries, shops and then got some grub. 

After our tummies were full, we didn't feel like walking anymore. So we drove up a little farther and went on the Alpine Coaster. It's a baby roller coaster that whips around surprisingly fast. I'm trying to work Loren up to going on a massive, tumbling, twirling roller coaster at a Six Flags or something ^_^ hehe. I rode it full throttle without touching the brakes once! Here's the video I took of the ride, if you'd like to see. Enjoy!

When my little cart stopped, Loren laughed at how all my hair was windblown and practically glued to the chair but then took a second look and said "your look like a model." That always makes a girl feel good ^_^  I don't think so but I like the look of my hair.

 After the coaster, we ventured over to the Olympic Park! Remember how Salt Lake City was the host to the 2002 Winter Olympics? Anyways, I've always wanted to see it. We didn't do too much but go through the museum. We could've paid $$$ to go on a sled or luge ride where the Olympians competed but our wallet wanted to hold on to our money. We still enjoyed going around looking at a few videos, the pictures, playing with a few of the hands-on activities, etc.

That's the great speed skater Apollo Aton Ono. He's Japanese-American from Washington--my mom and I love him!!

There's part of the race course

After that we just did a little more window shopping then made the trek back to Provo and saw more beautiful scenery. You'll see some nice sun reflections off my window because there was no way I was going to open the window to have 55 degree, 60mph wind freeze my hand to make me drop my phone :)

In Provo, I did a little clothes shopping at Target (thank you parentals!) while Loren played games on my phone--thank goodness for smart phones and their apps! Then we finally headed home after picking up some pizza and ice cream cake! I don't remember the last time I had one of those for a birthday. It was absolutely delicious. Loren even had a special message written on it :D  Too bad Cold Stone messed it up... There's not supposed to be two I's next to each other. Oh well, I knew what he meant.

Au Domoni Iko is Fijian for "I love you"

Of course I opened presents, too!!

For those of you who don't know what a Whirley Pop is, it's a big pot with a crank and spinning "blade" on the bottom to pop your own popcorn and then add yummy flavors to it!! Loren always wants to make popcorn but I don't like it plain. This way we can eat it all the time, in more than one scrumptious way! Thank you mom & dad in-law!!!  They also wrote a sweet note saying I'm their favorite daughter-in-law. YES!! But when Danny gets married, I'll have some competition...

This is a cute jewelry box because all my jewelry is stashed in a drawer. That's no way to keep your stuff nice for very long.  The first picture is me trying to figure out how to open the sides, ha. And Loren said he'd even paint something cool on it--I'm excited for that! This next picture depicts what my dad likes to say as "making out like a bandit!" Btw, that color blue would have been one of my wedding colors last year except that it was no where to be found! This year it's seriously all over Target!! Oh well.

Thank you family for making my not special numbered birthday great!! I was one happy birthday girl ;)

P.S. The "Spring Forward" part of the title is because the day after my bday was Daylight Savings...but we didn't know that. Thank goodness for iPhones that change the time automatically!! We woke up on Sunday feeling exhausted and making it to church on time, which is more than we can say for 3/4 of our ward...ha.

Still Surviving.

I miss blogging. Deja vu... I'm pretty sure I've said that in a recent post. I haven't done it in a while because I've been super busy lately. I made it a goal to blog more but that was a bust. So I'll just try to blog enough so people will know we're alive and not completely boring :)

Our lives so far are: stressful, scheduled yet still somewhat procrastinated (mainly on my part), include lots of late nights, yearning for the future to come quicker, and trying to see the silver lining in everything. 

Success story for the Stones: Loren didn't have a job for the first half of the semester which was really stressful for him. He wouldn't even look at our bank account, thinking our money was depleting. Super fortunately for us, the Lord was looking out for us! Loren's sister Jessica said her work was hiring so he sent in his application and her manager called Loren and told him that because she trusts Jessica, she won't interview Loren but just give him the job! At first I wasn't too excited for it because he would be working until 10pm (the reason we didn't want him to continue working at his last job for this semester) and he would be a delivery boy using our car, hardly getting compensated for the miles. He was ok with it all, he was just excited to add money to our bank account. After his first pay check, he decided to investigate the damage to our savings only to discover we hadn't lost any money! We were blessed with a chunk of money left over from his grant for school and money from my tuition since I'm not taking a full load of classes. PLUS, he delivered food to a lot of generous people who all tipped him a few bucks every time. Loren said he'd get back to the restaurant and listen to the other drivers who'd complain that no one tipped them. We were doing what we could to say our prayers and read our scriptures at night and pay our tithing every month and it definitely paid off, more than we were hoping! This definitely gives me a testimony in paying your tithing :) Other than that, Loren is good! He's got some fun but demanding classes with lots of homework assignments. But he's a smart kid and does a good job planning ahead to get his homework done on time, if not early every time. I should learn from him.

As for me, I'm doing all right. Humanities isn't as demanding as I thought but sewing is worse than expected! Who knew sewing was so time consuming, particular and hard?! Goodness, my back kills all the time from hunching over the sewing machine making sure my seam line is straight! I have a 3 hour lab twice a week but I stay in the sewing lab on campus until 10pm at least one night a week. Yet I still don't finish whatever I'm working on. Crazy.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T. That's what I have for my mother-in-law Patty. She's a seamstress and a darn good one!! She made her daughters these dresses for my wedding.

Nice, huh? I can't even imagine making a dress! I was complaining about how hard it was to make PJ but that was nothing compared to a SHIRT. And a dress is basically a very long shirt. Gag. Go you, Patty! I hope to be somewhat as good as you! (Pictures of what I've made soon to come, k everybody?)

As for where I'm going for grad school--stay tuned. I still have a couple of schools to hear back from and if/when I get accepted, I'll be shouting for joy and posting ALL about it! Other than working, school, sewing, and waiting to hear back from a terribly nice school, we've got nothing big going on. But just you wait, something big will come around! ;)

Our First Christmas Part 2 & New Years

Ok here's the second part of our Christmas adventure! Told more through pictures this time:

We went to Tortilla Flats...a Ghost Town!

A pretty extensive vacinity

Check out this HUGE cactus!

 

Beautiful scenery! ...and us ;)

We're caged Love Birds! In front of what I think is a whore house...

See the heart we're making?

I caught Mary smiling!

Beautiful Canyon Lake pit stop

POLYGAMIST FAMILY!!! (to the right) Click on the picture to zoom in.

Why do the men look normal and the women so obvious?

Another pit stop in Superstition. Cool tree w/Indian and buffalo with houses underneath

Fun family activity, like a "Secret Santa"! We went to Goodwill (thrift store), all got $5 to spend on a present for another family member and this is what Papa Stone got. So great! 

This is a steam burn I got from opening the pot to our Christmas Curry :( It hurt for days!

This is Elder Cava (pronounced "Thava"). Loren helped prepare him for his mission while in Fiji and now he's in Phoenix! We were fortunate enough to take him and his companion out for lunch--thanks Jon and Amelia for letting us borrow your car!

Full, happy, Fijian boys :)

After Christmas, we returned to St. George and the two of us soon left for Kanab, UT. A cute town also known as "Little Hollywood" for its many Western film productions, including films with Ronald Reagan and John Wayne. 

Gorgeous desert sunset

The darling vacation home my in-laws let us use for New Years weekend! It's a historic home once owned by G. Franklin Swapp in 1912. The Stones did an incredible job fixing it up!! The before and after pictures are amazing!

A fireplace in our room--sweet!

AND nice kitchen!

We hiked to a nice spot and had delicious sandwiches

Nice view!

Loren likes to climb things and freak me out. There was a very long fall if he fell backward!

We saw an honest to goodness American Bald Eagle! But of course when we put our car in reverse to check it out again/take pictures it flew away. And dropped its dinner (a rather large and mangled bunny/jack rabbit)! This picture was taken as we were hiding in the bushes waiting for him to come back. He didn't and the crows claimed his prey.

New Years Eve with our sparkling cider--Apple Mango flavor! Mmm mm mmmm!

 

Pretty scenery as we drove back to St. George and then to Provo.

Now Loren and I are just doing school in chilly and now snowy Provo. More holiday back tracking updates to come! Love you all for reading my blog! :D

Take a Seat: Our First Christmas (part 1)

I'm currently having a lie-in. Is that what British people say? Anyways, I'm sick with a sinus infection and decided that it's time that I catch up a little on blogging. This is the first blog post of the year...and in months. Whoops. I'll make a New Year's resolution to blog more often.

I always think of things to comment on or talk about for a post but I never bring myself to blog about it. Like how I want a seat in my shower. I was dying to have one as I bathed this morning and my head was pounding. I wouldn't have cared to shower but I already felt I was disgusting and sick people don't need to look more gross than they already do. So yeah, I propose that more showers include a small seat for such times. I also want to make a little shout-out to my husband Loren who has been so great at taking care of me! He fills up my water bottle often, holds me when I'm hurting and even made my favorite "sick soup" when he got home from class today! He's so wonderful! Marriage is great--single people are fooled when they think they're living "the life."

So let's catch up on our lives real quick. Most recent news, I'm applying to graduate school. I'm applying to 4 different places and am willing to go to any of them because I'm just desperate to get in. My GPA is average but our program is becoming increasingly more competitive. So we'll see where I get in :) And because I'm a 5th year senior *cough cough* I'm taking it easy my final semester--7 credits! I'm taking Humanities 202 (my last GE), swimming, racquetball and beginning sewing! I've never really touched a sewing machine or know anything about the subject so this will be an adventure. I'll post my projects so you can see what an amateur I am, ha. But don't worry, I'm not completely wasting my time. I'm also working for BYU still and volunteering with a former professor in her clinic involving Palatometry. You can check out her blog or google it if you would like to know more.

While I'm finishing up my undergrad career, Loren is only starting his. He just started his 2nd semester as a freshman at Utah Valley University (UVU) and his first he did excellent in! All A's/A-'s!! He's enjoying his current classes as well but it's hard to get in the right ones because it seems like there's a waiting list for a lot of them. Loren was working as a custodian for his school but it was the night shift and his classes started around 7 or 8:30am so I hardly saw him at all during the day. Needless to say, we arranged our schedules so we could see more of each other. After all, we still are/act like newlyweds :)

I'll work my way back through the months I never blogged about. So first comes Christmas! After a tortuously stressful finals week, Loren, his sister Jessica and I whisked off to St. George for a 2 week blissful, school-free break! We spent the first 5 days Christmas shopping, wrapping presents, preparing for our trip to Phoenix and having fun. Part of that fun was seeing Sherlock Holmes 2. I don't want to excite your expectations too much but...it was freaking AWESOME!! Better than the first, I'd say. We even went to see it twice :) Ok, I'll stop. But go see it. Now.

After we hung around Southern Utah, we made the long trek to Phoenix. The reason we went there for Christmas is because the oldest child in the family, Danny, is doing his residency there and can't get time off for a visit. So we decided to go to him! We had to split up the party of people since there were 10 of us total. Basically the married children (Me, Loren, his sister Amelia and her husband Jon) stayed with Danny at his house while the other 3 kids and mom & dad stayed at a house they rented...which was unfortunately located about 40 mins away from Danny's. But we made it work! The view from the back porch was nice

Here's the close up of that fountain

It was once the world's largest fountain for 10 years. Pretty cool

We did other fun activities, like gingerbread man/woman making (a Stone family tradition)

Loren's creation. Possibly an alien

My creation. Can you guess that it's a zombie? :)

We hung out with some family cousins, the McCowns, at a frisbee golf park. Played some of that. Mary LOVED the swing!

Check out that smile!

Then we went to the Mesa temple to see its Christmas lights. Really fun but cold.

 

And we also hiked Squaw Peak on Christmas Eve.

We thought we were half-way. Pssh! Not even close!

We thought THAT was the top. Just the beginning.

Still not the top. Good enough for us though!

We didn't make it to the top. Old ladies and toddlers did and they assured me I was almost there. But I saw people literally climbing to the top. Yeah, I'm ok here. Thanks, though! The hike was fun and pretty but a little frightening for me. I can probably count the number of hikes I've done on one but definitely not 2 full hands, so to see people just hopping down this sloping mountain would about stop my heart, particularly when they were close to the edge. Also, I thought wearing Chacos was a good idea. They're meant for hiking, right? Apparently not. I got a few comments on them like: "you're wearing sandals?!" or "wow, you're brave to wear those on this hike!" And those people were right because I got blisters. Wonderful. Then we had Christmas that night because Danny had that day off. There were so many presents and lots of smiles on people's faces.

Then came Christmas day. We went to church where Jon's little brother is serving a mission--the elder was completely surprised! There were 2 happy brothers that day. And I was surprised by my former Young Women's leader Linda Abbeg, we happened to go to her ward as well! It was so fun to see her and her adorable 4 month old son :) This was also the day we saw the famous fountain. The kids didn't feel like going for a walk around the park but returned home to play games. But we didn't have a key. So we made due by having Rachel (the youngest and most petite) sneak in through the cat door!

For dinner we had "Christmas Curry," as I like to call it :) And we delivered some to Dr. Daniel Stone while he was working late that night.

I'll stop there. It's taken me like 3 hours to write this post because I keep sneezing, peeing (sorry, TMI. It's all the fluids) and taking a step back from a throbbing head. But I hope you'll return for the next half of our trip! :)