2011 so far...

  This year... I feel like so much has happened already in the short 3 months we've had.  To start, Angel and I started taking classes again after taking the previous fall semester off to work and GET MARRIED!! He is going part time and I am full time finishing my upper division psychology classes.  Let me just say that I absolutely love these classes.  I have never wanted to read my text books and would usually just skim the chapters.  Now I read them through and through! I am learning so much and it is so interesting and exciting to me.  I have even picked up "The Female Brain" and "The Male Brain" so I can learn more about our brains and why we do things we do.  I definitely think I have found the right field of study I should be in.  I will graduate in Fall of 2011.  After I hope to apply and get accepted into a graduate program for clinical psychology; I'm leaning towards family and marriage counseling.  Angel is taking an advanced sports medicine class and some computer graphics and web design classes, one of which I am taking with him.  He really enjoys both fields and just needs to decide which one he likes more.
   As most of you have read I'm sure we went to Hawaii with my family at the end of January.  This was an awesome trip to be able to just get away and spend some needed time with family.  We both have amazing families and we like to spend as much time with both of them as we can.  With our school and work schedules it's been tough.  Angel works for Skywest Airlines where he was promoted to the lead of his department recently.  I am currently working at Costco and loving all the people there.  I couldn't ask for a better group of people to work with.  We are very lucky to have these job because with them we receive amazing benefits.  One of the best is flying for free! We plan to travel as much as we can this year! We want to take a weekend trip somewhere once finals are over but, we haven't decided where yet.  We are also planning a trip to Australia before fall semester.  We are going to use it for both our birthday presents.  I cannot wait! I have been once and I've always wanted to go back!
   This year my younger sister Kori left for her mission to NYC! She is loving it as I'm sure most of you know! Angels younger sister Alex was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis just recently and that has been very hard for her and the family.  While we were in Hawaii Angel called his mom and she told him that Alex woke up one morning with pain in her left leg and within a few hours she lost all feeling in it.  She cannot move it or feel it at all.  They went and had a series of tests done and none of us ever expected it to be anything like MS.  When we found out we went straight over to Angels house.  That was one emotional night for all of us.  Alex is so brave and so strong I know she can fight this.  We had some guys from our ward come over and give her a blessing and it was such an amazing experience.  Angels family is LDS but no longer active but the strength of the spirit during that time was so strong I couldn't believe it myself. One thing that stood out to me was the dogs.  They have 4 pugs which are very hyperactive and love the sound of their own bark I'm convinced.  They were put in separate bedrooms in the house and barked and whined the whole time we were talking before the blessing but when the blessing was being given it was completely silent! The dogs didn't make a sound! That in itself was a miracle haha.  The whole experience was just awesome for me and Angel and I'm sure his family too!  Since then my mom sent me a bunch of juice plus for Alex to take to hopefully help her feel a little better.  I sent her my first two seasons on One Tree Hill and told her that watching them always make me feel better and i hope it does the same for her haha.
   As for what is happening with us currently, my dad is staring a new business in flipping houses.  We are all pretty excited about that and ready to get started.  Me and Angel just stared P90X and are trying really hard to eat healthier and get in better shape for the summer.  Neither one of us want to let marriage get the best of our bodies haha.  Angel's mom asks us every time we see her when we are going to give her her first grand baby.  She is too cute and we tell her as soon as we are ready haha.  I cannot wait for that day when we tell her we have one on the way.  She will be so excited.  Me and Angel are pretty baby hungry but, I definitely want to finish school first and Kori told me I had to wait for her to be home so who knows! But that is our update for the year so far, I'm sure a lot more will happen so stay tuned!

 this is from a date we went on together to just relax and enjoy each other. it was needed!

      us with our baby for now!

Goodbye for Now!

So today me and Angel broke the rules! We flew up to SLC to see Kori off at the airport (and it was worth it).  They recently asked families not to see their children off at the airport, but I brought the idea up to Kori and she was all for it so I didn't hesitate.  Her flight was at 8:30 this morning so we met her at the airport at 6:30.  It was crazy, when we pulled up with my friend Mark there were two charter buses full of missionaries! It was crazy.  I just stood in between the two of them until I saw her.  As soon as I saw her we both starting running for each other and then hugged for about 3 minutes! You would think we had went through some kind of trauma and one of us was on our death bed, but no it had just been two months of not seeing or hearing each other.  We have done really well writing, I dear elder her everyday and she writes emails when she gets the chance and several letters 80% of which bring me to tears.  It was an amazing feeling to just be able to see her again one last time before she leaves and be able to see how happy she looks.  I know she is doing the right thing and she is going where she is needed.  It doesn't stop me form being selfish and wishing she would just come home though.  I even asked her if she wanted to just fly back with us.  She told me that she met an Elder from the Dominican and he was serving in St. George and she asked him to trade haha! If only! I was able to meet her Elders that she has grown to be very close with and it made me feel a lot better knowing that they are all in the same mission together... I know they will take care of her!  While we were there she was able to call my dad, mom, brother, and sister to say goodbye and had some good conversations! I felt like there was so much i wanted to tell her and ask her but once I was with her I couldn't think of anything and I just enjoyed the few hours we had before she took off.  I cannot wait to hear about her first experiences in the mission field.  She will do great things!

We have roughly 16 more months until she comes home.. I am told it will fly by and it has yet to happen! This past two months feels like it has been 2 years and 2 weeks all at the same time.  I still haven't gotten used to her being gone.  I still go to call her on my way home from work at night, or to go and do something small with me, then I remember "oh she's not here"..... I feel real dumb after then get a little sad about it.  The hardest is when I really need someone to talk to about things that I know inly she would understand... I have had a few breakdowns and it makes it worse not having her to cry to.... My poor husband has to listen to my sob stories and try to pretend to understand what it feels like (because there are just some things women/sisters are more in tune with than men).  He is an amazing man and has helped me so much through all of this I am so grateful to have him with me now and forever.  I need to just remember that Kori isn't gone forever and it will go by faster than I think.  I will keep everyone updated on her progress and stories from the mission! She is an excellent pen pal and would love to hear form everyone email or mail! Her info in on her facebook or just get ahold of me and I will gladly get it to you! Thanks for all of the Love and Support!!