The last frontier

We had a studious start to our week as Chris studied and tested, studied and tested, studied and tested, studied and tested, and did great on all his finals. He had a great semester both in school and with his additional EMT and CNA courses and we are super grateful for his education. We still aren't sure where we will be for nursing school next year, but it's nice to know we are on the right path.

As Chris was spending time with his education I got really good at cleaning, labeling boxes, and packing up our life. We've always been such mobile and adventurous people that it was quite surprising to both of us when we realized how much stuff we've accumulated since we've become a "we". No longer can we throw things into a couple of suitcases and backpacks and call it good, now we need a storage unit - and not even the tiniest storage unit, but we needed to go one up in size! We are glad we have furniture and a fully furnished kitchen, but it sure was eye opening on how "adult-like" that seemed to make us now. Luckily with some help from friends we were able to have some extra muscles and trucks that made moving all our belongings a lot easier.

We did take a mid-week-stress-break-date as we used Chris's 50% Olive Garden discount for the last time, and with the gift card he won from having good sales we enjoyed a nice free lunch in the park.

Right before we left Logan we stopped by the Duersch's for dinner and good-byes. Austin was a little concerned that we were going so far away and wanted to know if phones still worked in Alaska. We assured him they did and he plans on testing it out on Monday. Feel free to get in touch with him if you want to know whether or not it is possible to contact those in a different countr....oh wait, Alaska IS in the United States. Yes. Our phones work.

Our parting shot of Cache Valley

After the testing and moving nonsense we headed down to Pleasant Grove for a nice visit with the Hall Grandparents. We loved staying at their house and are glad we had the opportunity to help get their Christmas lights down, clean out the rain gutters, and help take Charlotte's green waste to the dump. We also had an opportunity to meet up with Dad Andrew in his Springville office to do some swapping of items and use Ondamed. Thanks to him we should be nice and healthy up in Alaska! If not, he also gave us supplements to fight off whatever might try and get us. Alongside the errands we had some quality time just being with Grandma and Grandpa. They were worried their fridge was getting too full but by the time we left there was plenty of space. We were stuffed to the breaking point. As a matter of fact, Chris borrowed their bathroom scale to weigh our suitcases before we took off - we did some on Friday night and some Saturday morning. Chris said that in that time he gained 5 pounds!  Maybe it's a good thing we are flying away from such loving family for a while...we're not ready for the kind of weight gain staying at grandparents houses brings upon grandkids as cute as us.

Although he finished his CNA class over a month ago, the state has been incredibly slow in getting testing vouchers to Chris. Finally, early this week the panic set in and he began calling to try to figure out who could test him THIS WEEK. The state UNAR office broke down and finally emailed him his vouchers instead of snail-mailing (c'mon, aren't we in the 21st century?)(and to the wrong address might I add) so Chris got busy calling all the testing centers within driving distance of us. The good people of Tooele took pity on him and scheduled a testing time right away, so Friday afternoon we were driving out there for his exams. Chris feels they went well, but once again we won't hear back for another week or so for them to use the pony express to get his results back.

Finnnnnnnaly, what you've all been waiting for, we moved to Alaska! We left SLC at 5pm mountain time and after many hours of flights we landed in Juneau at 9:15pm Alaska time (3 hours behind Wisconsin, 2 hours behind Utah). When we were on our second plane I noticed that I recognized the girl sitting in the row across from me, and she noticed me too - it was a friend that I had in the Juneau Singles Branch 4 and 5 years ago when I lived here! Chantilli and I remained friends on facebook, but we haven't spoken in years. It was so fun to connect with her and it turns out that her and her husband decided to move back for the year to make some more money before finishing school. Chris and I realized it was a tender mercy running into her as she was able to tell us that Sunday was Stake Conference. Without that tidbit of information we would have been showing up at the wrong time and would have missed church completely!

Stake conference was a really neat experience. There is some amazing strength in this stake, and the spirit was very strong. Chris was utterly amazed when he noticed which wards some of the stake members were from and put together how large the stake was. For example, both Ketchikan and Sitka Alaska are in the same stake as Juneau - Sitka is 165 miles southeast of Juneau and Ketchikan is 286 miles south. Needless to say, we were being put up in a hotel here because our apartment was not ready, and we were not the only church members staying at the hotel. Many people had taken the ferry and plane to Juneau for stake conference, and those who were not able to do so were able to watch it at their local church buildings thanks to satellite transmitting.

Since stake conference was a distance from the hotel we took advantage of having a few miles under our belt and spent the afternoon walking and exploring the area around Auke Bay and Auke Lake. We had absolutely beautiful weather and it really was fun to have a picnic lunch on the ocean docks. We saw two bald eagles and a sea lion! But we were too slow to get any pictures so you all just have to come up here and visit us to see the wildlife for yourself.

Our training started on Monday and the apartment should be ready for us on Tuesday - we'll cover all of that in next weeks post.

Until then, happy adventuring!

Remember to pray and remember to play,

Mr. & Mrs. Eskimo Andrew

A Slew of "See Ya Later"s

We started off the week by taking off and going on a camping trip in Blacksmith Fork Canyon. Our friends Todd and Jame met up with us and we had a great time with them. On Tuesday the four of us took to the rock and spent the day climbing. The weather was perfect and we were able to get some great routes in.

The middle of the week we got in a little bit of studying, work, and class - nothing too exciting.

Come Friday we headed down south to spend some time with family and friends and get in a few "see ya later"s. First we had a chance to meet up with Aunt Naomi in Salt Lake. She took us to an authentic italian pizza place that she swears is the best pizza you can get in the area, and tastes just like the pizza that she enjoyed in Italy. It sure was delicious! We had a great time laughing and talking with her, but eventually had to leave for the night and head down to the Andrew Grandparents. We stayed up pretty late talking to them, but it is always so fun to catch up and hear their stories.

Saturday was a busy day for us. We had a great breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa, and they even let us use their laundry room free of charge! We headed down to Provo at 11:30 and met up with some of my old roomies and their significant others for a picnic lunch in the park. It was a riot! I have sure been blessed in the roommate and friend department and these ladies top the chart. After hours of laughter, memories, and chatter we finally split ways. It's so fun that we are still close after 4 years of not living together. I know I may be jumping the gun and making us sound older than we are, but it's fun to watch how we are all growing up. Most of us have graduated college, three of us are married, two have served missions, one has a baby with another on the way, and all of us have gone through the temple since we lived together. It makes me excited for the friends and memories that Anna and Jacob are about to make as they start school this fall.

The rest of the day Chris and I ran some errands to finish getting ready for Juneau, stopped by the Hansen's to drop off some computers to the computer genius Big Chris, enjoyed some more grandparent time, and went to the temple. We thought it would be fun to go back to the temple we got married in while we were down there and we are so glad we did. All temples are wonderful, but there is just something extra special about being in the one where you got sealed together with your best friend and other half for time and all eternity. I may have gotten more visibly emotional- I'm a crier - but Christopher is more sentimental than he lets off. It was truly a beautiful experience.

On Sunday we went to church with Grandma and Grandpa Andrew. I really do admire them so much. They are such a wonderful example of true love and service. After church we had another amazing meal and talked for a few hours. What a life they have lived! All weekend long Christopher and I were learning more about the life they've had together, and we are continually more and more impressed with the things they have done. It was a lovely visit and we are so grateful for the time we had to spend with them before taking off to Alaska. We got spoiled silly and probably gained 10 pounds each from all the tasty food they kept feeding us. If you're reading this Grandparents Andrew - We love you! Thanks again!

We then headed over to the Hansens to pick up the computers and we got stuck behind a driver that Chris could not believe was driving as slow as a snail. It didn't take us long to realize it was Grandma and Grandpa Hall! We followed them home and saw the renovations to the house. We had a short visit, but are really looking forward to the time we will spend with them next week right before we take off. We made it to the Hansens and had a blast playing with the kids. I don't know why Charlotte thinks Elijah is so shy - he kept calling me "mama" and was more than willing to share blankets, pillows, stuffed animals, and toys with me! He sure is the host with the most. We're so grateful for the help Big Chris gave us in setting our old computers back to their store settings so we can sell them. It was great seeing the whole family, and we are sure we will be back to visit next week as we will be staying just down the street.

Well, this is getting ridiculously long so I should probably start wrapping up! We are back safe in Logan and are looking forward for the week ahead of us to just be over! As much fun as taking final exams alongside packing, cleaning, and moving out of an apartment can be we really just can't wait to get on the airplane and start our new adventure together.

We love you all!

Remember to pray and remember to play,

Mr. & Mrs. Andrew

Cotopaxi Questival and this thing called Pneumonia

First things first let me apologize for our lack of an update last week. The truth is last week was awesome and we have a lot to say about it - it was this week that got us down and out and caused us to miss the post. So we will work backwards and end with the good stuff of last week.

This week I was sick as a dog, we think it was pneumonia, but still aren't 100% positive. The good news is I am feeling WAY better now, and I learned a lot from this experience. Here's a few things this experience made me grateful for:

1. I'm grateful for a husband who faithfully holds the priesthood. Christopher was a wonderful support to me this week and alongside doting on me hand and foot and making me food he gave me a wonderful priesthood blessing. I truly believe this is the only reason I didn't get bad enough to need to go to a doctor (which I really didn't want to do based off our current health insurance status), and also know this is the reason I am feeling back to normal already.
2. I'm grateful for a father-in-law who is in tune with the Spirit. Dad Andrew randomly sent us some immune system-boosting supplements in a package about a month ago "just in case we ever needed them". At the time we had no use for the medicine, but they seemed to contribute greatly to my health this week and seemed to be exactly what I needed to launch myself to the road of recovery. I guess this also means I'm grateful for a father-in-law who's a doctor!
3. I'm grateful for the family prayers that were sent in my direction. I just loved knowing that I was being thought of by those I love here on earth as well as up in heaven.
4. I'm grateful for the health I normally have! I can't wait to get back outside and start exploring again with Chris. I'm done being cooped up! 

Needless to stay I spent pretty much the whole week in bed or on the couch. Christopher continued to study hard, go to class and work, and took care of me. And that wraps up this week. 

Now for the fun stuff.....

LAST week was a blast! Our week started off as normal - work - school - studying - etc., but the end of the week was where the real fun came in. 

On Thursday Chris and I went to the Logan Temple to perform initiatories. The Duersch kids have done some amazing family history work and we were so grateful to be asked to be a part of it. We took the family names that they found and started and were able to continue to help our ancestors progress in their covenants.  It was also my first time doing initiatories since I went for myself and it sure was a beautiful reminder of my own covenants. (Also, for those keeping record, it was my first time in a while going to the temple and not fainting! Let's be grateful for those simple things in life.)

Now the crazy adventures for us started on Friday. Chris and I entered a competition called the Cotopaxi Questival. To set the record straight - yes, it was my idea. *Side note: Chris and I were talking a couple weeks back and he said something along the lines of, "Dani, if I ever have some crazy ideas it's ok for you to tell me we can't or shouldn't do them. Sometimes my dad has some nutty ideas and my mom has to be the level-headed one and nicely shut him down." Well this is great for mom and dad Andrew, unfortunately when it comes to Christopher and I we both have a little too much spontaneity and a little too much of a drive for adventure that it seems sometimes we don't have a level-headed part to our relationship and we do some crazy things because neither of us seem to say "no" and shut the other down in time..........* The Questival was a spontaneous adventure we randomly signed up for a few weeks back and Chris got a friend from work to join, who then brought in two more team members for us. On Friday night we went to a giant festival to start off a crazy 24 hour adventure scavenger hunt. It'd almost just be easier to tell you what we didn't do in the next 24 hours - such as sleep - but instead I will show some pictures (not all of them, that would take FOREVER!) in an attempt to give you a glimpse of the madness we somehow willingly signed up to do.......

Donating food to the Utah Food Bank

Eating food from a food truck

Watch a sunset

Share a dutch oven meal with another team

Visiting a museum

Drove all night....... to get to Canyonlands 

Watching the sunrise from False Kiva - we made the hike harder than it should be by bouldering instead of following the nice trail...typical...

Visiting Arches!

Bouldering

Eating fry sauce at a Diner

Take a picture of someone with a beard, flannel, and a dog

You can see the whole story (including some funny videos) at our team's website: http://questivalteams.cotopaxi.com/category/2015/salt-lake-city/24h-the-original-salt-lake-city/stoke-level-rad 
Warning if you choose to watch the videos: we make the cat food sound WAY better than it is - I definitely spit mine out the minute the camera stopped filming and we highly suggest to never eat wet cat food, it's disgusting.

Also, we fly out to Alaska in just 13 days! If any of our family in Utah (Sorry Brading family out in WI and Roylances in WA) wants to see us before we go and we haven't arranged a time to meet up let us know. We are planning on being down in the Salt Lake-Highland-Pleasant Grove area next weekend and the end of the following week for a bit and would love to hug everybody goodbye.

Remember to pray and remember to play but not eat cat food,

Mr. & Mrs. Andrew

Our First Easter and Conference Weekend

Christopher and I started the week by having an Easter themed FHE complete with dying eggs and watching some awesome Easter Mormon Messages put out by the church.

We forced our way through school and work and then headed down to Moab Wednesday night to spend the weekend with our Andrew Family!

Took Anna and Jacob climbing for their first time

From the top of "Tender to the Touch," 5.11a

Dani overlooking the Colorado River

Chris and his best buddy Jed hadn't hung out since before Chris started his mission, so we got together to go jeeping in Jed's new jeep with his girlfriend Julia. The trail we went on is a popular one in Moab, but it was the evening after Jeep Safari so it was relatively uncrowded.

At the top of Hell's Revenge

We had a good time between Saturday conference sessions going out near Ken's Lake and shooting with the family. Anna might be the best shot of us all!

It was great having time to just be with the family. We loved celebrating Easter with the kids, and are sorry if we ruined Easter by taking Jacob and Matthew too seriously when they asked us to hide their eggs HARD. Really it's their own fault that some eggs went missing. But honestly, we hope this doesn't detour the family from inviting us to celebrate this holiday with them in the future.

We also loved the opportunity we had to watch General Conference. We both favored Elder Holland's talk - how could we not when he used a parable that hit us both so close to home. Another favorite talk was given by Sister Burton. Maybe that is the newlyweds in us talking, but can we all take a second to look at what wonderful examples of true love many of the leaders in the church have given us. She eloquently spoke of love and tenderness as well as the divine roles and responsibilities that we have as man and woman, husband and wife, mother and father.

Remember to pray and remember to play,

Brother & Sister Andrew ('cause we're feeling particularly church-y lately)

Jardine Juniper

We had an awesome start to our week with a camping-date-hike extravaganza!

Chris made sure he designated our trip of the week as our official date ahead of time - yah I'm that lucky, I have a husband who really listens to all my nonsense - and it was one heck of a date. Monday after I got off work around 10pm we tossed all our camping gear into the truck and headed up Logan canyon. We spent the night at Wood Camp and it was a gorgeous little camp. It was right next to Logan River and as two washed up river guides we couldn't have asked for a more peaceful night than being able to fall asleep and wake up to the sound of moving water. (But words of the wise, try not to mention rivers around us. We've both come down with a bad case of whitewater-fever and as excited as we are for Alaska we can't stop dreaming - literally, we both have dreams - of the river.)

Tuesday morning we woke up to a light snowfall and had a nice little breakfast in our tent. We then packed up and started our hike up Jardine Juniper.

And it continued to snow. And we kept hiking. And it snowed harder. And we fell down past our knees in the snow. And we went 6 miles. Then we stopped and had lunch under the platform - the only dry place on the mountain - and enjoyed the view of a spectacular 1,500 year old Juniper tree, the oldest living juniper tree.

Annnnnd, we went back in the snow with another 6 miles back to the truck. And it snowed harder. And it snowed so much our footprints from the way up had already disappeared. And it snowed until you could no longer see the trail. And we lost the trail. But luckily we found it again. And we kept hiking. And it kept snowing. Have I mentioned yet that it snowed on this 12 mile hike? Anyways, all-in-all, it was an awesome hike and we were the only two people on the trail all day (probably because of all the snow).

We couldn't have asked for a better start to our week, and we are so glad that we had the opportunity to camp and hike on the only two cold and snowy days that Logan has had in weeks. But hey, when you both have a day off you do what you gotta do to spend time together and enjoy God's creations.

The rest of the week was busy with school and work. Chris did his clinicals for his CNA class. He particularly enjoyed the old woman who muttered "I don't like you" under her breath when helped feed her. And contrary to what he may say I'm sure he also enjoyed all the bowel movements he helped clean up.

Today we had the unique opportunity to go home teaching together. Chris's companion wasn't able to meet up with him this month so I stepped in to fill those shoes. It really is a miracle and a wonder every time I see my husband teach the gospel. He truly has a special spirit and I am constantly working to be even half as good as him. He's a great example to all those we live around, but is the greatest example to me.

That about sums up this week. We were bummed to miss out on Jorgen's baptism and all the fun family times this weekend, but we sure can't wait until next weekend when we have the chance to go down and visit our family in Moab!

Oh! And one more thing! We finalllllllly got our plane tickets for Alaska! We will be flying out the evening of May 2nd. Juneau here we come!

Remember to pray and remember to play,

Mr. & Mrs. Andrew

Eating Green, Superheros, and "Dating"

Hey, I'm back! I unfortunately had to work last Sunday causing us to decide Chris should do the blog update so we could spend the time that I had at home together. And unfortunately now that I'm back there won't be a full post about candied bacon complete with sentences of heart-felt devotion, pictures, and a recipe. As my husband would say, "sorry 'bout it!".

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. 

Update

Well, Dani delegated the blog update to me this week. Tuesday was the last day for my EMT course, and we did patient assessments in preparation for our upcoming state test on Friday. We also got to practice delivery/neonate skills with a slightly disturbing OB/GYN dummy. Yep, complete with male and female dolls, umbilical cord, and placenta. The lower torso of the mother is on the table to the right of me. Weird.

On Friday we all traveled down to SLC for our state practical exams. We were told from the state Bureau of EMS that it was going to be at 8am so we left Logan bright and early to get down there in time. When we got to the campus there was nobody there and the people we asked had no idea what we were talking about. So we called the Bureau and they told us it had been rescheduled for 5:30 that evening. There was no way all of us were going to drive back to Logan and then drive back down that evening, so my buddy/classmate Payton and I spent the day visiting outdoor retail stores, Naomi at the Olive Garden, the Masonic lodge, and touring the State Capitol in SLC. It was a good time, despite being tired and frustrated that no one had told us about the time change. 

For the state test that evening we were tested individually -- we had two patient assessments to do. One trauma (fall, motor vehicle accident, etc) and one medical (allergic reaction, heart attack, difficulty breathing, etc) with nine minutes to complete each of them. I finished each of mine with confidence. I should hear back this week with my final grade, but I think I did pretty well.

Dani has been busy with work, she's worked almost every day this week with it being USU's spring break and every college student is out of town. She's feeling pretty burnt out and looking forward to a couple days off starting tomorrow. Next week I have the last written part of my EMT exams, I start my CNA class (certified nursing assistant, we do all the dirty work), and continue with my regular USU classes after spring break.

This morning for breakfast I made candied bacon. It's incredible. If you haven't tried it, you've got to.

1lb thick-cut bacon
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
4 tbs rice vinegar
4 tbs maple syrup
Crushed black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix brown sugar, vinegar, syrup, and pepper in a small bowl. Place bacon slices on a metal cooling rack over a cookie sheet (you can put tin foil over cookie sheet to make clean-up easier).

Bake for 10 minutes, then flip over and bake for another 5 min. Remove bacon, brush with mixture, and bake for 5 minutes. Pull them out, flip them, brush with more mixture, and bake for another 5 min. Repeat until brown and crisp, about 30 minutes.

And the Productive Streak Continues!

Sorry we missed getting our update out on Sunday...again. We have been crazy busy as of late and sometimes it feels like it takes all we have just to keep each other updated! We were looking at a calendar this week and decided that once we hit the second week of April things will start to settle down and we will be able to breathe again and do fun things. Until then, I guess we have to pretend to be the adults we are expected to be for a while and get things done.

Chris is continuing to do awesome in all his classes. This week was especially exciting for him because he spent all day Friday with the EMT's from Roy, UT and rode along in the ambulance for emergency calls. His most exciting call was for an elderly woman with a femur fracture, and his least exciting calls were dialysis transfers for elderly, immobile tracheostomy patients from a nursing home to the dialysis center. He loved being a part of the action and was even asked to be the one to take vitals for the patients. He really loves what he is studying and the opportunities that it brings, so we are definitely looking forward to his future in medicine.

Learning how to remove helmets

Chris's seat in the back of the ambulance

Pediatric day in class

I worked nearly every shift at the restaurant this week and we were both a little surprised this weekend when we counted up the tips from this week and realized how much we had actually made! Being a server definitely isn't a long-term goal for either of us, but it is giving us all that we need right now and we are grateful for the jobs that we both have.

On Sunday we had the pleasure of being able to be the speakers in sacrament meeting. There was one other speaker that day who was a missionary giving his homecoming talk. He was the first speaker which we were happy about because we figured he would want to take up a lot of the time. He got up there with no notes, and we started to doubt the longevity of his thoughts. He only spoke for four minutes!!! That made me super nervous because I then realized that Chris and I had a lot of time to fill. Normally, I probably would have just given my talk without a thought to the time and had a selfish instinct that went, "sorry, buddy, but you're the last speaker" to the guy going after me, but I like Chris more than that so I felt the responsibility to take up half of the remaining time. I did alright but the real star of the show was Christopher. He had the whole congregation laughing at his jokes, and I swear even less babies were chattering when that man got behind the pulpit. After we spoke people came and shook our hands, though the majority of the compliments were directed at Chris. He had one woman tell him that he "spoke just like Elder Bednar", and how impressed she was by him. The elders quorum president came up to us and told Chris he gave "the best talk on families he can remember hearing in a long time", and then asked for a copy so he could read it again and share with his family at FHE. I left church that day in awe that I somehow tricked a man of God like Chris to marry me. I sure am the lucky one.

Remember to pray and remember to play,

Mr. & Mrs. Andrew

A Productive Week

After last week's shenanigans of being sick and down we kicked it up this week by having a super productive week.

We were both able to return to work, and I especially got a lot of hours in. It was fun when we would work at the same time and then come home and make bets on who made more money that day.

Chris went to all his classes and studied super hard. Last week it was rough to get a lot of studying in, so he really took to the books and made sure he was back where he needed to be for all his classes. I'm so grateful that he understands the importance of education and really puts all he has into it so he can get a good job in the future to provide for our family.

Another big part of our week was researching nursing schools. Though Chris loves Utah State they don't have their own nursing program. Rather than just apply to schools in Logan we've decided to research different nursing schools throughout Utah and prepare to apply to a few different schools. We aren't yet sure what the future holds for us, but we are trying to prepare for it. We now know the requirements for getting in, and Chris is really applying himself to get into the best program for our family. We wouldn't mind a few extra prayers headed our direction as we continue this process of trying to get into the right program for us.

Now you're probably all wondering what I did with all my spare time why Chris was studying his brains out. And, as any good wife would reply, the answer is I got all homemaker-y. I deep cleaned our house (you know how it is after being sick - you feel like everything is dirty so you just tackle it all with full force), went grocery shopping, and started restocking some of our "food staples". Chris and I try to eat mostly healthy (or as healthy as we can on a student budget), and a big part of that for us is making food from scratch instead of buying processed, sugary food with labels full of words I don't know.

I made a batch of hummus, a staple for our fridge, but unfortunately there's no picture.

I made more granola: Chris's favorite and a must have for our pantry at all times.

I used Mom Andrew's awesome bread recipe! (And even remembered to cut it down since there's only two of us!)

And made a homemade spinach quiche. This is a Brading family recipe, but I had fun making adjustments to make it even healthier. Every week I try to make at least one good meal, and then we munch on those leftovers throughout the week since our schedules don't lend to nightly family dinners.

Luckily this weekend we were able to sneak some fun into our productive week.  Chris's good friend Clint Young came up from Morgan, UT with his new lady Sadie and we all drove up Logan Canyon and had a fire. We roasted hot dogs for dinner and had a great time laughing with each other and getting to know Sadie. Chris and I gave our stamp of approval and are excited to see where things go for our friend!

On Sunday we had a beautiful sabbath day. We went to church early and had a great meeting with the bishopric. It was fun to have some time to get to know them on a more personal level and was just another reminder of what a wonderful ward we are a part of. Sunday evening we went over to our friend Andrew's house and had a chance to catch up with him. Have we told you yet that we are doing a no sugar month? Well we told Andrew and he was still making cookies when we showed up! That sure tested us, but we held strong and just nibbled on the chips and hummus we had brought.

Oh! And Sunday marked six months since Christopher asked me to marry him!!! So here's just a little reminder of how perfect that day was:

                       

Remember to pray and remember to play,
Mr. & Mrs. Andrew