2009 in review

January

--Went on my third date with Stephan, and that's when I decided I was going to keep him

--Stephan invited me to a mission farewell for his brother Brent. This was the day we made our relationship official. This was also when I met his entire family. No, seriously.

--During this month, I was also trying to distance myself from my ex "boyfriend" Andrew (now I give you his name, and if you recognize it, yes this is *the* Andrew...long story). 

February

--When I cut Andrew off for good, after receiving word from a very reliable source that he had been dishonest with me about a lot of things. I will not go into detail.

--I introduced Stephan to members of my extended family. 

--The first Valentine's day I ever had a boyfriend. 

--Stephan said "I love you" for the first time on Valentine's Day :)

--Draper Temple open house

March

--Stephan proposed to me with a wooden ring he made himself

--Stephan and I kiss for the first time (right after he proposed, yes he held out that long)

--One of my roommates eloped

--I get the most beautiful diamond ring ever :D

April

--Went to General Conference with Stephan and my brother

--My cousins threw me a bridal shower.

--Wedding planning truly begins

--I finished my last full semester as a college student

--Bought my wedding dress and veil

May

--Spring term

--Apartment hunting

--Continue wedding planning

--My brother Scott got his mission call, and we were glad that he would be able to come to the wedding.

June

--We found an apartment!

--We saw "Beauty and the Beast" at the SCERA

--I finished the editing minor

--Summer term started, and I only had one class to take (my final class in college)

--I got my first job interview at Close to My Heart, but unfortunately I didn't get the job.

--We went up to Logan to look at our honeymoon cabin, and to select a quilt made by Stephan's grandmother

July

--I was loving my "Language and Literature" class. Best class ever!

--My mom finally finished altering my wedding dress at the end of July and I finally got it! 

--Stephan's birthday :)

--We were working on wedding invites at this point. FUN!

August

--Kathy threw me a food storage/kitchen shower.

--I had my bridals taken

--My mom and brother came up before the rest of my family.

--I received my endowments.

--At the very last minute, my brother Paul was able to come to the wedding!

---I graduated :)

--THE WEDDING!!!!

--Moved into our apartment officially

--School started back up for Stephan.

September

--Still settling in.

--Job hunting.

--Bought a washer/dryer off craigslist.

--Car accident.

October

--I got a rental car a week after the accident

--The body shop called me at least twice a week to update me on the repairs.

--Had two job interviews. One of them never contacted me after the interview...grrr.

--We house-sitted for Stephan's parents while the family went to Disney Land.

--Midterms. Enough said.

--Stephan's work schedule changed so he had to work until eight p.m. on Mondays. I was not happy about this.

November

--FINALLY got the car back!!!!

--Spent Thanksgiving with Stephan's mother's side of the family in Grace, ID.

December

--Drove in snow for the first time

--I somehow survived Stephan taking finals. So did he.

--Traveled to Houston for Christmas

--Here we are :)

Happy New Year!

My first Christmas as a wife

We flew to Houston last Saturday and we will be flying back to Utah on Monday.

Monday and Tuesday were spent changing my name on my Social Security card and my Driver's License. We were going to do both in one day, but when we saw the lines at DPS, we changed our minds. After a long debate in my head, I decided to drop my middle name and keep my maiden name as a middle name. I did this purely for genealogical reasons. Some people have wondered why I didn't just get a Utah driver's license. Here are my reasons: (a) I do not know how long we'll be living in Utah, so why get a Utah license if I'm only living there temporarily? (b) I have Texas license plates on my car. (c) I do not want to take a test. Texas already knows I can drive. (d) I have Texas pride.

Wednesday, we did some Christmas shopping. Thursday, my mom cooked all day and then we went to Yia Yia Mary's for dinner. Friday was Christmas/my birthday. It was good. I got some nice presents: some perfume called "Haiku"; a new camera (from my hubby, who got a good deal on it); some prints from London (my parents went to London a few months ago); socks; more Mary Kay cleanser; various books and DVDs; a "shirt dress", etc. We had some elders over for dinner, as well as a few friends from church. After dinner, I slept, and then later on we had my birthday. I had cherry pie for my birthday cake (mmm!!!). For presents, I got a necklace, a pair of purple shoes (unfortunately too large, but my mom will get a size smaller for me); and a new mineral foundation brush. Oh, and my mother-in-law gave me part of my birthday present: a gift card to Seagull books. Oh dear, do I really need more books? Stephan is already complaining about my immense book collection.

Today, we didn't do much at all. The biggest thing we did was go to our favorite Mexican restaurant (Don Carlos, mmm). Stephan had never been there before, and he really enjoyed it.

Stephan has pretty much been sick this entire trip. Finals basically destroyed his immune system--it was a rough semester. He's better now, I guess, but he's coughing up a storm. I want him to get better :(

Basically, all of us were home for Christmas except Scott, who's in Brazil. We got to talk to Scott on Christmas day, and he wished me a happy birthday in Portuguese.

Oh yeah, we also saw "The Blind Side" earlier this week. Very good movie!!! It's touching without being overly sentimental. And Sandra Bullock's character is my new role model....lol.

Sorry if this has seemed scattered at all. I've been writing as things have come to mind.

Why I love Houston...

(1) There is no snow.

(2) I hardly ever have to wear a jacket (or long sleeves for that matter).

(3) The sheer variety of food you can get here. Not to mention the tasty Tex-Mex. I'm sorry to say that Utah hasn't quite gotten it yet; say Cafe Rio and I will smite you. Okay okay, it's not bad, but it shouldn't advertise itself as Tex-Mex. It's as Tex-Mex as Pizza Hut is Italian.



But I am not liking the construction workers tearing up the street in front of my parents' house.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I'm getting so bad at updating, and seriously, who reads this?

Thanksgiving was fine. We went to the middle of nowhere, also known as Grace, ID. It's a really tiny town in southeastern Idaho, and basically if you blink, you miss it. I felt really out of my zone--I am from the big city after all. Stephan's grandparents were um, really excited to see me again. Two people thought I was Stephan's sister Heather. Hah! It was all interesting because Kathy's family is very similar to my mom's. Both families have three adopted children and a foster daughter. Kathy and my mom are the oldest in their families and both had to take on a lot of responsibility at a young age for various reasons. Stephan has an Aunt Karen and I have an Aunt Karyn (both were adopted too). There are differences of course, but it is all quite freaky when you think about it.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I drove through Napoleon Dynamite's hometown of Preston, ID. A very tiny place.

We stayed in Grace for a total of a day and drove back after Thanksgiving dinner was finished. The day after Thanksgiving was spent sleeping in, going to the temple, eating Subway, and getting a sweet Christmas tree (pre-lit too) for $25 at Target (you almost never hear me say this, but hooray for Black Friday!).

Stephan already has purchased TWO of my Christmas presents and I have yet to get him one...whoops. I'm really having a hard time deciding what to get him (he never knows what to ask for), so if anyone has ideas, let me know.

Officially, we are spending Christmas in HOUSTON! I'm pretty excited about this. Now to convince my parents to take Stephan to our all-time favorite Mexican restaurant while we're down there. But I have converted my darling husband to spicy food.

It has snowed here and now I'm learning how to drive in snow. It's not my favorite thing to do, needless to say. But the only really scary part is our parking lot, ironically. Yeah, I'm pretty sure some people are making fun of the little Texan who didn't learn how to drive in snow. Um, blame Mother Nature for that. On that note, it snowed in Houston on Friday...two days before it snowed here!!! And it was substantial snow too. When I told Stephan, he called the Houstonians a bunch of wimps. Then I had to tell him that Houston getting a substantial snowfall is like Arizona getting a torrential rainstorm. It just doesn't happen! Kathy was much more sympathetic, but that's because she served her mission in Dallas.

Not much else to share. Here's to hoping Stephan survives finals and that I survive having him study for and taking them.

Greener grass

You know the saying, "The grass is always greener on the other side."

I've been thinking that a little bit lately. Sometimes I wish I hadn't been in such a hurry to graduate from college. You see, Stephan comes home from school/work and he has to study and do homework. Me, I have no homework and I don't have to study for any tests. And yet, when I was getting closer to graduating, I was looking forward to having time to pursue hobbies, read books for FUN, and not have to worry about homework. I have to say, it's been an adjustment going from being in school for a good part of my life to having no school whatsoever. I have so much time on my hands that I don't know what to do with it! If you know me, I don't deal with boredom very well. I have to do something productive or else I will beat myself up for it at the end of the day. Another indicator that I am my parents' kid.

Sometimes I also think having a job will be better. But I'm afraid of not having enough time to cook delicious meals (Stephan loves my cooking) or to keep the house as clean as I have come to. I hate to say it, but I don't know if I trust Stephan to keep the apartment as clean as I do, ha ha.

On the plus side, we have discovered that Stephan's income is helping us more than we ever thought it would! Honestly, I think that's a tender mercy right there! It must be a blessing for paying our tithing and living within our means. So folks, live within your means, you'll be blessed for it. The only debt that we have is Stephan's scooter, and technically the car we have to pay my parents back for overtime.

I am learning to enjoy life as I am living it now, instead of focusing on what I don't have (which can be hard). Doing housework does wonders for boredom, though it can get tedious so I have to discover ways to make it more interesting. I have taken more pleasure in reading. I have gotten started on researching for my future novel, and have received a lot of inspiration for it. Stephan loves the food I make, so apparently I have underestimated my abilities as a cook. Baking has also become a talent of mine. More hobbies are being pondered, and yes I am still looking for a job.

Sorry if this post has seemed scattered. It was just how I was thinking. Maybe I'm tired. Good night.

Oh wait, we are most likely spending part of Christmas break in Houston. I'm looking forward to a snow-free Christmas!

The car, has returned

I substituted a line from The Lion King for the title. I am so original.

Six weeks after the accident, we finally have our car back! I know a lot of people are wondering how in the world it took that long. I know some cynics who think that I got cheated or something.

The reason it took so long is because there was A LOT more damage than what was initially thought. At first we thought there was just some bumper damage and that was that. Well, as the mechanics started working on it further, they discovered that the transfer case was cracked. They had to take the car to the dealership at that point, and the dealership found out that the transfer case my car needed was on national back order. What was worse was that there was no release date for said back order. Wonderful. Thankfully (we think it was prayer that made this happen) they got the part in a matter of days. Hallelujah! But they still had to keep repairing, they had to put the air bags back in, etc. And then there was taking it to the painters and taking it back to the dealership so *they* could evaluate the repairs they did.

I know that the mechanics were repairing my car during this entire time because they called me at least twice a week to update me on what they had done. So you cynics can stop telling me that I should have bothered them every single day. It wouldn't have helped one bit.

The only annoying part was that it took them longer than I had the rental car for to finish the car. We finally ended up borrowing a car from Stephan's parents for the last few days so we wouldn't have to pay out of pocket for the extra few days with the rental (we saved a couple hundred bucks doing this). We picked up the car in Draper (yes, Draper) and we almost didn't get to because I didn't have the first estimate check with me. Since the car is still under my parents' insurance (until I am employed), the check was sent to my parents. I made an urgent call to my mom right then, which was a good thing because she was on her way to the temple (my parents are ordinance workers). She was able to give them her information over the phone, and all was well in Zion. We got our car back, although we are still trying to figure out how to get the clock and radio to work. I'll probably have to ask my dad, since it used to be his car.

Other than the car, I should probably talk a little more about what's going on with the Andersons. I still don't have a job. I actually interviewed with a company two weeks ago, but they *never* contacted me, so I have moved on. I've gotten more rejections. We're financially fine right now--Stephan's job is helping us more than we thought it would. My mother-in-law was relieved to hear that because she's been worrying. I guess she gets flashbacks of what her newlywed life was like, which was apparently a whole lot worse than ours is. I have placed an ad at UVU for my editing services, but no response yet. Anyone want me to look over their papers?

I've been getting brilliant ideas to save money. I'm starting to think about making our own laundry soap. I think my sister-in-law already does it and it saves them money. We've also been making our restaurant decisions based on what coupons we have for them. Oh the joys of being poor.

Stephan is doing well in school. He says that being married has improved his grades, mainly because I help motivate him. If I go up and randomly hug him while he's studying, he becomes more motivated and his productivity improves. Who would have thought?

Oh, and tomorrow marks one year since we met. We're celebrating today, however, since tomorrow is Sunday. We'll probably go to dinner at Mimi's Cafe (we have a 2 for 1 coupon), do a session at the Provo Temple, and then go to Maestro's for some gelato. Maestro's was where we concluded our first date, though I know for sure that this trip will be much more enjoyable than our first date's was. Ha!

Pictures!

Here are some wedding pictures. Blogger is a little weird about pictures, so I'll only upload these for now. Maybe I'll put up some more later. Enjoy!