We started off our week by celebrating St. Patricks Day Monday morning. It was a very green start to our week.
After breakfast Chris went to his first day of CNA class. He's not too thrilled about learning how to wipe people's butts and clean up vomit, and gets bummed out (no pun intended) when he compares it to his EMT class that he loved. - Side note: Chris passed both the written and practical EMT exams, aka He's now a real certified EMT! - However, he needs to have his CNA certification in order to get into the nursing programs we are looking at and he recognizes how it's a necessary step on his way to becoming a Nurse Anesthetist. As the week went on he started appreciating his class more as he began connecting everything he was learning to the help he was given when he was in the hospital with p-ANCA vasculitis a few years back. Though he admits he doesn't want to ever work as a CNA, he says that if he has to he will just continually remind himself how others did that work for him and find comfort in those memories.
Tuesday I had a day off work and it was perfect. I had been asked to help with a Relief Society dinner that night and I had a lot of fun helping to get everything in order. I spent the morning at the church decorating (man, I don't know if I'm crafty enough for these women!) and then spent most of the night at church helping with food, enjoying the activity, and cleaning up. We had a fun superhero theme, and had a great guest speaker who talked about how women, especially mothers, can be seen as superheros to many. He did an awesome job. And it was extra fun because everybody dressed up!
This week felt long as Chris had class everyday from 8:30-6:00 and then I went to work while he was still in class and didn't get off until 10 or 11 most nights. It made us even more excited for Alaska where we will have the same work schedule and extra grateful for the time that we did have to spend together.
When I was working on Friday afternoon I served a super sweet elderly couple. As I was chatting with them I told them about Chris and how we were newlyweds. They looked at me and told me quite firmly to never let schooling, work, or anything else get in the way of dating your spouse. They reminded me how important it was to date every week, and how even though times get hectic and hard if you make it a priority in your life it will happen. Well, poor Christopher, I had Friday night off work and when he got home from class I went all emotional girl on him. I was telling him how I was worried we stopped prioritizing dates in the last few weeks and how necessary I thought it was. Chris thought we had been going on dates the whole time - and it's partially true. We have consistently made time for each other and to do things together, but we haven't been using the word "date" or designating one activity from another as "date" lately. At the end of the week we would just look back on what we had done and consider some of the one-on-one time as a date. We had a good conversation about the importance in using that word and having an official date every week, so that we never find ourselves getting into a habit of not dating. We don't want to be real grown-ups with kids and start justifying our grocery shopping trips as dates, so we can't get in the habit now of looking back on a week and picking a specific activity we did and then passing it off as a date as an after thought. Anyways, I should probably jump off my soap box so here are some pictures from our date Friday night...
We went through wedding gift cards and Christmas gifts to find ourselves a free date!
We drove down to Longhorn Steakhouse for a delicious dinner.
We saw Insurgent in the movie theater and realized only after showing up that it would be in 3-D!
You can tell we aren't in Moab because the theater has super comfortable reclining leather chairs.
Needless to say it was a great date night, especially because it was mostly free!
On Sunday we were blessed with the opportunity to teach the CTR 7 class. (Since we are only in this ward for a short period of time and both have to miss occasional Sundays due to work we have been asked to be primary subs as our callings.) Our lesson was on the Holy Ghost, and we actually were able to feel a great spirit in the room amidst the talkative and misbehaving youngsters. One girl there was visiting with her cousin and told us "my mom and dad say that this church isn't true and the Book of Mormon isn't true", I think Chris and I were both a bit in shock at that comment and before either of us could figure out the right way to respond the other kids had started responding. How great it was to hear those little ones bare their own testimonies. The best part of the day was when later during that class the same girl raises her hand and says "I feel all warm inside. The Holy Ghost is here". How I hope she can remember that feeling!
After church we were able to stop by the Duersch's for a quick visit. Julie is looking fabulous! And we are so excited for Hannah and her mission call. Following our visit we headed out to the park for a great night of hammocking and grilling burgers. We are loving this beautiful weather.
Remember to pray and remember to play,
Mr. & Mrs. Andrew
PS Chris's blogpost of candied bacon last week gave away our secret that we caved and ate sugar again! We're restarting no sugar, only this time are more motivated and dedicated. We aren't going Dad Andrew strict, but for sure are stopping all desserts, candies, and ice creams. So if anyone has some great sugar-free recipes, or tips for avoiding sugar send them our way! We're determined to stick to it.
