Disabilities

Here is an update of the last month or so...
I did absolutely nothing for the whole month of January, it was awesome
I made banana bread, sugar cookies, and brownies all in one night
We discovered our favorite game, its called dominion
Jordan learned 4 new songs on the guitar
We've developed an addiction for pickles

Jordan continues to work hard at school

We had Indian food on Valentine's day

I got a job at a disability law firm
I can no longer button my jeans
The baby now can kick
I sewed some pillows
Yeah, I know, life hasn't been very eventful.  Don't get me wrong I've been loving every minute of being out of school and having time to spend with Jordan, but there just hasn't been anything exciting enough to blog about.  However, I thought I would share a little bit about my new job.  I spend all day talking to people who need help applying for social security disability.  Man have I talked to some strange people.  There are definitely those people who really need help and have legitimate disabilities, but then there are those who I just have to laugh at.  For example, the moms who call in wanting to get money from the government because their child has ADD. Or there are the ones who haven't had a job in 20 years and now want to go on disability because they are missing a finger or a toe.  I think the best one was the guy who claimed his disability was that he had been in jail for 20 years and also that he was a minority.  Being at this job has made me realize how hard people will try to get out of work.  Nonetheless, it  has also made me grateful for everything that I have...
supportive parents. an education. a loving husband.  a healthy mind.  and the gospel....these are all things that most of the people I talk to don't have.  I have most importantly realized how lucky I am to have completed high school and also been able to receive a bachelor's degree.  Education is really the gift that keeps on giving.   I've talked to many people who never completed high school, in fact I would say that 95% of the people I talk to haven't completed high school.  It is evident how their lack of education has negatively affected their lives.  My thought is that the government should take the chunks of money they are contributing to welfare and disability and put it towards programs to allow everyone to receive a proper education.

Christmas!

Well Jordan and I had an absolutely amazing Christmas break!  We started out with a 10 hour drive to ABQ.  The drive was awful for the first 3 hours, we had to drive to soldiers summit with roads that had not been plowed.  We drove about 10 mph for the whole stretch of the canyon.  At one point we even did a 180 in the car, it scared the crap out of me but luckily there weren't other cars on the road and we were ok!  We also didn't mind that the drive took longer than normal because we were listening to Harry Potter #7, and enjoying it very much.  We spent a week in ABQ at my parents and on Christmas day we all flew to San Francisco were we met up with my sister and my brother.  San Francisco was awesome, it was my first time.  We did a lot of fun stuff and just enjoyed spending time with each other.  I also got to meet my new niece, Matea, who was still in the hospital because she was born about 3 months early.  She was darling and such a little trooper.  We flew back to ABQ on New Years day.  And then the next day we made our trip back to Provo.  We once again hit icy conditions, but this time in Colorado.  At one point we slid across the opposite lane and right into a snow bank, where we got stuck.   Jordan and I got out of the car to use out shoes to dig our tires out of the snow, and about a 5 minutes later a saint came.  Some lady who lived really close by offered us help and had her husband get a tractor to pull us out.  We just kept think how lucky we were!  We finally made it safely to provo and finished listening to Harry Potter! It was an awesome vacation.

This is what ABQ looks like on Christmas Eve.  Theres a whole neighborhood who lines their streets with thousands of luminaries. 

Christmas morning opening our stockings (my favorite part)

The Fam (minus Jeremiah, Camella, Mike, Anodyne, Hagan, and Sonora) sitting on a pier in San Fran

Getting ready to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge

Me my dad and my sister

This is  how windy it was! 

Matea with here little feeding tube.  So Cute!

Trying to push a stroller with two toddlers up the steep hills of San Fran, it took three people!

At the Cable car Museum.  Jordan is wearing a chinese shirt because we were going to China Town next and he wanted to make conversation with people, it didn't work.

Jordan wen surfing in the freezing weather!

12 weeks down 28 to go!

Well Jordan and I have some pretty exciting and big news, for those of you who don't know already....We're pregnant!! I'm 12 weeks along and so so happy to be past the morning sickness stage.  Our wonderful bundle of joy is scheduled to arrive here sometime at the end of July.  Jordan and I couldn't be more excited to be entering this new stage in our lives and we just feel so blessed.  We combined our pictures and here is what our baby is supposed to look like....

Halloween, Senior Project, and Christmas!

Well I have some catching up to do.....
First, a Halloween update.  Jordan and I decided to go as Astrid and Hiccup from How to Train Your Dragon.  It was a blast! We of course couldn't find the costumes anywhere, so I ended up making them.  I was quite impressed with how Jordan's turned out, my needed a little more time and work.  We also decided that long hair isn't Jordan's best look.  But we still had a blast! halloween is always a fun time for us.  2 years ago on October 25th Jordan and I had our first date, and 1 year ago on October 25th Jordan proposed, October holds a lot of memories for us :)

On November 5th and 6th I performed my senior project.  It was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do, and I'm so relieved I made it through.  My performance consisted of me dancing at high energy by myself for 5 minutes and 30 seconds, which is a really long time for a solo! A reasonable length for a solo is probably 2-2 1/2 minutes.  On top of this extremely physically demanding dance, I also got sick the week of the performance. I had lots of doubt and I came so close to just giving up. The last thing I wanted to do was make a fool of myself on stage for my senior project.  But Jordan being the wonderful supportive husband he is agreed to give me a blessing, this made all the difference.  By performance day I was able to do the dance, not even close to perfect, but good enough to accept.  I'm so grateful for priesthood blessings.  I've learned to never give up on something until you've put it completely into the Lord's hands. The weekend of the performance was also very fun because my family came into town! I love them and I had a blast with them!

My mom, my sister, and me after the performance

flowers from family and friends, the best part about performing!

My cute nephew Gabriel!

Our apartment is officially decked out for Christmas! Jordan and I bought our first Christmas tree and Christmas decorations.  It was so much fun! and we can't wait for Christmas.

Though Deepening Trials

This song keeps popping into my head lately, 

Though deepening trials throng your way,

Press on, press on, ye Saints of God!

Ere long the resurrection day

Will spread its life and truth abroad.

Though outward ills await us here, 

The time, at longest, is not long,

Ere Jesus Christ will reappear 

Surrounded by a glorious throng. 

Lift up your hearts in praise to God, 

Let your rejoicings never cease.

Though tribulations rage abroad

Christ says, "In me, ye shall have peace." 

These lyrics are just amazing and so true!  There's been a lot of really crummy stuff happening lately, and sometimes its hard to not let it get me down.  But this song tells me exactly what I need to hear when I'm having a tough time! Life is beautiful and there is so much reason to rejoice because of Christ, his resurrection  and his atonement.  Its really hard to stay down on yourself when you remember that you have a personal Savior, someone who knows you and is always there for you.  I find Joy in the gospel, and I find joy in my husband.  Its been such an amazing blessing to be married to Jordan and we are happy everyday just thinking about our future together.  I hope that when the storm hits that everyone has a safe shelter to go to, that everyone can find those special things that bring them joy.

Good Bye Facebook!

Jordan and I have officially deleted our facebooks, and we are very proud.  Why? you may ask, for a number of reasons, but in the end its just because we felt it would be a good thing.  So now we are going to start blogging more, or at least that is the plan :)

I LOVE US!!!

Life has been so busy and quite stressful for me and Jordan lately, but I'm learning to appreciate everything that comes my way and I just want Jordan to know how much I love him.

Dear Jordan,

I love us!  You make my life more wonderful than I could ever imagine and marrying you is my favorite decision I ever made! I love our late night pillow talks and I love that you try so hard to humor me and listen to me even when you are so tired and just want to sleep.  I love listening to the funny things you say in your sleep like "that reminds me of doctor suess" and "I'm giving patrick my insides for his birthday."  I love waking up next to you and spending all that time cuddling in bed even though we should be getting ready for school, because in the end you matter more than being on time to class.  I love that I can call you or text you anytime during the day to complain about something that has ruined or made my day, and you'll step out of class just to answer my phone call and listen to my every word or complaint.  I love how much you sacrifice for me and how hard you try to make me happy, from doing the dishes to acing your tests.  I love that we love cracker barrel, heroes, movies, popcorn, brownies, spoon it up, naps, arrested development, youtube, radio lab, NPR, Regina Spektor, Yann Tierson, California, Hotels, breakfast in bed, guitar, sun flower seeds, the temple, the gospel, frisbee golf, hot tubing, and oh so many other things.  I love how much you love me and how interested you are in my hobbies, especially dance.  I love that you are the greatest ping pong player on this earth!! I love our past, and I love that we have such a long future ahead of us.  I just love you!