I am so horrible at this blog stuff

I have to admit that I get on here more often to look at everyone else's blogs and I spend so much time reading other blogs that once I think about what I should write then I realize I have homework to do.

This semester we have actually has Fall weather instead of it going from Summer right to Winter.  I have loved the Fall weather.

I took this while at the park with our dogs.  This is Eagle Park and it is our new favorite spot.

We have been really luck this semester by being able to take Organic Chemistry together.  I don't think I would have survived it thus far without having my husband there.  It is always great to be able to bounce ideas off each other of what we learned in lecture and lab.

It is time for me to be off to do homework and make something for dinner.  Till next time.

Memories I want to keep/share

This summer has been quite the summer to remember.  These are just a couple pictures I wanted to put up because they are so adorable and capture the personalities of each of our pups.  Olivia is such a wonderful dog.  She is 100% daddy's girl and a true princess to him.  Belle loves her ball and holds nothing more dear to her little puppy heart.  Indie is a total mama's boy and loves his snuggles (In this particular picture of him I caught him snuggle tight between the pillows after a few long hours of a thunder and lightening storm.  His poor little anxiety attack during the storm just made him so tired that night.). These are our pictures and our memories.

Our Dogs doing what they do best!

A little note to self...

We are so in need of a break from school.  This semester has been one that we will gladly leave behind and start anew.

The Lord gives us trials and blessings, we all know this.  Most of the time I like to "endure" the blessings, but most of the time I do not endure the trials as well as I do the blessings.  Today a thought came to my head that I had heard before but never really applied to myself personally.  The thought was: when trials come in to my life I should pray to have the strength to get through them and to be able to have patience and faith through it because it will happen anyways.  What I have done in the past with trials, is probably typical of most people, and that was to ask why trials were happening and to have an attitude of "whining" while in prayer.  Instead of asking to become a better person through the trial experience I would ask to just let it pass so I wouldn't have to suffer.  I realized a long time ago that trials are going to come no matter what, so now my goal is to pray to be able to have strength to endure what may come my way.

On a little lighter note, the past three or four weeks I have had tests literally every week and sometimes twice a week like this past week.  Well, today I am feeling like I have a little bit of a breath between tests.  I just finished one big one and now will start study for the next big one for next weekend.  In my little bit of a breath I am on one of my favorite website, Shabby Apple, and found these two cute dresses.  I am day dreaming of a day when I can afford these... and by that time I bet there will be something new that I will desire to have.  Click here and here to see what I am day dreaming about right now (before I start back in with my chemistry studying... Redox reactions... oh how I do not love thee.)

Well I hope all is well out in the world for you!

Have a wonderful day!

Opinion time...

I want to start out by saying, starting a family is such a personal thing and should be discussed between a couple as to the details of when to start having kids and all that it entails.  So with that being said here is a perspective from a young Latter-Day Saint married woman who lives in a town full of Mormons (actively reproducing).

There are so many people up here in Rexburg who are having babies or planning on it.  I can't even count how many young married people (maybe even some who have just been married a week) are in this time of life where raising kids or desiring to have a family is so prominent.  I have learned to be happy for those people and to wish them luck on their journey of being parents.  I have also learned that I can support them by doing different things since I do not have kids yet.  I am totally fine with holding someone's kid for a minute while they fill out paperwork or need to deal with their other child's tantrum.  I can help them (well the moms in this specific case) by organizing a girls' night so that they can give themselves a little break from being a mom and refill their own cup so that they feel good about themselves.  The list goes on and on .

On the other hand, there are women up here, like me, who have (and I don't want this to sound mean at all, but it may come out that way so sorry if you feel offended) a different goal.  Not that we don't want to become a mom some day, but we would rather focus on our education so that we can be a better person for ourselves and later on for our children.  I, right now, am taking 14 credits of hard classes.  I have a goal in mind of getting in to dental school.  I want to do this for myself and for my future family.  I love that someday I will be able to be a good example to my kids of hard work and dedication.  I feel like becoming the best that I know I can be will make me a better mom in the end.  (Getting off soap box now).

You know how they say that your actions speak louder than your words.  Well it applies to your facial expressions as well.  When I tell some people up here that I want to get in to dental school (side note: I am one out of two girls in my pre-dental society up here on campus) their face just drops and after they pick their chin up they try to hide that it happened.  Or something even better they do is give a fake smile and node their head... like I don't see the under tone of that expression.  I can see that the immediate question in mind is, "but what about kids?".  I just want to tell them that it is non of their dang business and walk away.  But I, instead, go on to tell them all the wonderful goals and dreams that I can do with a career in dentistry and how my husband and I can later serve a mission with what we learn from our careers.  I think it is wonderful, and I am ok with them having their own opinion about how they think I should be living my life... they can keep it to themselves.

I guess my point is that I am tired of people around here being so fake about supporting women who have goals other than just being a mom.  Don't get me wrong, I love that some women are so good at being a mom and that they find such pride and joy in it.  (I follow Stephanie Neilson's blog at: http://nieniedialogues.blogspot.com/ and love that she can find such joy in being a mom.  I am so proud of her for accomplishing all that she has in her life)  I have a small group of friends up here for this reason, they support me, lift me up, and keep me going.  They are my honest cheerleaders who really do want me to succeed at my goals.  I wish more people could understand that not everyone can be the best parent they can by just defining themselves as a mom or dad.  I know that when I become a parent that that calling will become one of the best ones and a top priority... until then I am going to focus on making myself a better me so that in the future my kids will thank both me and my husband for doing just that.

Being happy...

Being happy with where you are in life is a tough thing to do.  I am such a sunshine loving California girl who loves the beach and laying out in the sun.  Don't get me wrong, I am learning a lot during our stay here in Idaho as students, but I think we are both very ready to move on.  We want to feel the warm sunshine and not have to worry about bringing the snow clothes out when the seasons change.  I found a quote while searching the internet, it says, "Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."  The website I found it on gives credit to Abraham Lincoln for saying that.  So, I am trying to make up my mind to do the best I can with the circumstances I find myself in (ie attending school with freezing temperatures going on outside).

My husband is a wonderful support to me during this time and I can't give him enough credit for everything he has done so that I can focus on school to get good grades so that I can get in to dental school.  We still have lots of planning ahead, but I am confident that we can to it together as a team.  

Love him!

Oh what the new year brings

Well, mother nature is up to her normal things here in Idaho.  We are living in weather that seems to be barely livable in.  It is a new normal for us to not even have it reach 20 degrees F.  Usually we don't even hit 0 degrees F to be more realistic.  There is more snow this winter so far than last winter and it is definitely colder.  We have had it get as cold as -18 degrees F... and the other day when I took our dogs out to play a little my boogers froze for the first time ever... that hurts!!!

This year we are hoping to get out of this igloo and go to somewhere warmer.  We are hoping to be leaving Idaho sometime this year... cross our fingers.  We watch the Travel channel on TV and just dream of warmth and oceans and tanning on the beach.  We have seen, on that same channel, some beautiful hotels that we feel as though one should be worthy of staying in (for free) if they live in Idaho weather for a certain amount of time.

Another random thought, here at school they started using something different to melt the ice all over.  Well, that stuff was being tracked in by everyone and creating a greasy/slippery floor for everyone to slip-n-slide on... or just fall not-so-gracefully.  I did the later and just about broke my arm/elbow.  It was just horrible.  I have never had to wear a sling before and it was just horrible getting around campus with one working arm.  Taking notes wasn't even the hard part(since it was my right arm that I write with that got hurt), it was the lack of understanding from people around campus.  I would push the automatic door opener so that I could walk through and then everyone and their brother would walk right through it not allowing me, the one whole really needed it to be open for, to get through.  What in the world!?  Sorry, stepping off the stool.  Anyways, I thankfully don't have to wear the sling anymore, but have to be super careful how I place it on tables and such since there is really bad bruising and sensitivity to it still.  By the way, they didn't get the picture to change their ice melting stuff till three days later after more than 15 people had fallen where I fell... smart university (can you hear the sarcasm)

This past December I had my first white Christmas... and the snow hasn't left.  I am done with it, but apparently it is not done with us because we have over a foot of it now just sitting all over the place.

Speaking of Christmas we had a wonderful one down in Salt Lake.  We were able to spend lots of time with  family.  We went to Temple Square and saw the lights there, that was the first time I had seen them and so that was fun for me.  Christmas is my favorite season, not because of the presents, but the extra love that I feel from people.  I have some across some really nice people and some not so nice, but during Christmas I seem to meet a lot more nice people than grumpy people.  It is a nice thing.  To me it isn't about the amount of gifts, but celebrating the gift given to us and that is our Savior, Jesus Christ.

Well, I hope the new year is treating everyone well and that you are still reaching for your goals that you set. I know I am!

Thanksgiving 2012

I am grateful for many things in my life.  I am thankful for the big and little things that happen in our lives to guide us and inspire us to be better people.  I am thankful for answers to prayers and I am thankful for a loving Father in Heaven who blesses us with so much.  I am grateful to be working on my education at this point in my life.  Being able to go to school has helped my realize what really is important in my life and has helped me to set goals so that me and my family can grow and become stronger and more loving.  I am thankful for my wonderful husband who is always so supportive of me and I don't think I could get through life without him.  I am thankful for family and friends who are supportive to us.  Without their love and support I don't know where we would be.  I am thankful for my dogs and them being apart of our family.  They help us and support us through all the stress of school and whatever life throws at us.  They are a source of unconditional love for us and when we have had a hard day at school we are so lucky to have them to come home to.

Have a wonderful thanksgiving!!

Quick update...

We have been so busy since school has started back up.  Our days are filled with school, homework, and studying.  We so look forward to our weekends when we can just relax and get some sleep and do things around the house that we didn't get to earlier in the week.  

School is going well and we are surviving.  We are also counting down the days till we get done with the semester!

We can definitely tell that Fall is here.  We wake up in the morning and find that it is maybe around 20 degrees and the high for the day is around 45-50 degrees.  Yeah, a new definition of Fall for us.  I do have to say that I am enjoying the colors that the trees are turning and how crisp the air is.

Well, that is our life in a nut shell for now!

Hope all is well with everyone out there!

Lovin' the Summer

We have been down in Salt Lake spending time with some of our extended family. We love it here because there is so much to do for both us and our dogs. We love the parks that we can take walks in with our dogs. We love being close to down town and all that lively atmosphere it brings. We love being able to make new memories together as a family.  Jon and I were able to celebrate our anniversary here as well (we went and got a couples massage and boy was that amazing!) We are having such a wonderful summer and I can now say that I like the hot summer way better than a cold winter!

Belle waiting to go out on a walk to play with her ball at the park :)

Olivia soaking up some of the summer time sunshine :)

Indie trying to stay cool in the shade (it has been in the high 90s here)

Summer 2012

This summer has been full of firsts.  I haven't had such an active summer in a long time, but I think it is safe to say that we are having a blast!  We don't miss homework or being in the classroom one bit... well, I don't miss Jon having hours upon hours of homework.  I love being able to go out with him and explore and do fun things together.  When we moved here to Idaho, I made myself promise that I would try everything at least once (good things that make me better, of course!).  I am proud to say that there have been many firsts this summer and I hope that there are many more to come!!

One of the firsts that I had was floating down the river in an inner tube!  Who knew that it would take me 24 years to accomplish this goal!?  Let's just say that I am not one for river water and the fact that there are fish in it... makes me feel yucky, but I overcame that!  We decided that it would be a fun family trip so we ended up taking our dogs with us...let's just say that it wasn't as peaceful as we were hoping, but a fun memory nonetheless!  (all photos in this post are random from the internet since we forgot our camera on all our adventures... I know, bad us!)

This is what we thought it would be like relaxing down the slow peaceful river:

And this is what it was like actually going down the river (except with our two small dogs on my inner tube and our one big dog on my husband's inner tube):

We laughed our way down the river and had lots of fun soaking up the sun and enjoying the cool water.  We did have a minor set back when Indie got "sea sick" and threw up in my lap while going down the river.  Boy, that was fun, but I can be grateful that we were in water and that we could just go to the shore and use the river to wash off.  It took us around three hours to go down this river just a short distance (maybe close to two miles, yes it was a slow moving river.  I had to start with something I knew I could handle and since my husband knows me so well I thank him for starting me off with a gentle push down the river)  I never thought I would like anything more than the beaches of California, but floating down the river was fun and definitely something I would do again!

After that adventure we knew that our dogs didn't like the "motion of the ocean" and so we chose to leave them at home when we ventured out to try paddle boarding!

Here is a picture of what it looks like: 

If only we were in that good of shape ;)

We happened to choose the same calm stretch of river for this adventure since we were both new at this paddle boarding thing. He got the hang of it right away (or so it seemed), but it was so difficult at first for me because I hadn't been formally taught about how to paddle a floating device by myself.  I am so grateful for my husband's patience in teaching me the correct way to do this so that I could get down the river instead of the winds pushing me back up stream (note from husband: I think I was more confused than she was when the wind pushed her up stream at the same rate she floated downstream, there was like no wind that day).  We had so much fun doing this!  I would totally recommend this for a fun activity!  We took a cooler with some water and snacks and had a picnic with both our boards put together.  Funnest picnic ever!  What made this ride down the river an even cooler first for us what that we saw a real moose!!  With it's scoops for antlers and all!! (note from hubby again: Michelle didn't know how to tell a moose from elk, and the "scoopines" of the antlers was the only way I could help her recognize the difference).  It was my first ever moose sighting and I was so so so excited to see it... I know some people would be scared, but I thought it was cool.  We also had three cows come down to the river bank and drink some water just a few feet from us.  Let's just say our next adventure had big shoes to fill, what will we see in the wild next... a lion?  tiger?  probably a bear! (They are indigenous to South East Idaho after all). 

Jon found a cool place to explore while browsing the internet, and it was free! so we decided to make our way out there.  It is known as the Civil Defense Caves (although we only went in one big long cave).  

Here is the opening to the cave:

We decided that our dogs our probably prefer this trip over the last two since this one was on solid ground.  We were right, to a certain extent.  The big rocks that you see right in the opening to the cave are solid, but our dogs are not rock climbing dogs... they are big wusses.  Once we were over that part and the land became flat then we were able to enjoy the exploring of the cave more.  I had never been cave exploring in  a long dark cave, but it was fun.  It made me a little uneasy in some areas because of how low the cave ceiling became at some points, but we made it a good ways in and decided that we had better come back with coats and a little more than just water so that we could go further in.  

All in all we have had a wonderful summer and are up for many more adventures before school starts.  They all don't have to be outdoors, but they can be filled with fun and excitement for us.