The Readerist

Back in the day, like when I was in 6th grade, I decided I wanted to be a readerist when I grew up. I remember deciding this with my friend Rachael. We both loved to read, and thought it would be swell to get to read all the time.

As we all know, I didn't grow up to be a readerist. But I still love to read. Since getting out of school at the end of July I've devoted most of my free time to reading. From then until the end of 2010 I read 27 books! I think all of them were fiction, so I didn't necessarily learn much, but I still consider it quite an accomplishment! After all, there are plenty of much more useless ways I could have spent my time.

The cover of this book caused Joshua to do a few double-takes.
It was possibly more entertaining than reading
the book actually was.

The Cheap Theater

We love Rexburg's cheap movie theater! It's only $3 to see a movie, except on $2 Tuesdays. Can't get much better than that!

Joshua and I both agreed that if not this summer, then at least while we've lived in Rexburg, we've seen more movies at the cheap theater together than either of us had seen at a theater in our entire lives!

Lots of conversations went something like this:
"What are we gonna do tonight?"
"I don't know. We could go watch a movie."

So that's what we did. Without a working computer, we went over to use the clubhouse computer to find out what was playing. Once we'd seen all the movies we knew about we had to start picking movies we hadn't heard of. At that point we'd watch a couple movies trailers (without sound because their computer has no speakers) and we'd pick the best looking one. Kinda funny. But it never led us astray! We had a fun-filled summer of movies at the good ol' cheap theater!

Rebirth of a Computer

My computer decided to grace us with the "blue screen of death" last December. The week before finals. The day before Joshua's huge English research paper was due. Talk about stress! He'd been working on that paper for weeks and was doing his final paper revisions when it crashed. After a few trips to the school's computer help desk we found someone who said he could take our computer home and retrieve the documents for Joshua's paper. But since he was so busy too that was all he'd have time for. We figured that was just fine, and were so grateful he could help us at all!

Over Christmas Break we took my computer to Best Buy in Idaho falls since it was still under warranty. Since it was a software problem they said it would take $300 to fix! That was outrageous. So we took it back to the school's help desk. They said our operating system needed reinstalled, which they could do, but they needed the disk. I had no disk. They kept insisting it should have come with my computer. I still had no disk, and my parents didn't have it either. Best Buy was useless. They were no help. A friend took a look at our computer, and said he could fix it. That was great, but nothing ever happened with that either.

We solved this no-computer dilemma by practically living at the school library! And using our clubhouse computer. A lot.

Finally, when we were visiting Las Vegas in August I stopped by the Best Buy where we bought my computer. I talked to one person, and in less than 5 minutes, found out that they stopped giving the operating disks right before I bought my computer, but I could still call Sony to purchase a disk. I left with Sony's phone number, called them, and for less than $30 ordered the disk to reinstall my operating system. Problem solved!

I can't help but think that the people at the Best Buy in Idaho Falls are incompetent. And needless to say, my computer works again! 8 months of no computer fixed so easily. We're happy to have this modern convenience back in our home!!

One year older!

I had a great birthday this year!! It was a fun, relaxed day. In the early afternoon Joshua and I went shopping (to the fabulous Walmart) and wandered around for a while. After that Joshua needed to run a couple errands so he dropped me off at Porter's so I could browse and talk on the phone while I waited for him to be done. We stopped at Taco Time for lunch. We don't eat there often, but I love it! Their sweet pork burritos and fresh salsa are heavenly!! Plus, they have Mexi-Fries (aka: tater tots). I was a happy camper.

When we got home my presents were sitting out wrapped and with a balloon! Joshua had been sneaky. The only thing I'd really wanted for my birthday was a new shower head. When we first moved in I hated ours, but I guess I got used to it. After going on vacation and using a nice one though, I'd been reminded again how terrible ours was. So Joshua picked out a super nice one for me (or should I say, us) for my birthday. I told him it had to be part of my birthday present to actually install it as well. Pretty much I love it. I also got The Great Mouse Detective. Scandalous movie when you're older and really understand what's happening in some parts. Just watch it...you'll see.

We had some friends from our ward, the Seagraves, over for dinner. Joshua made us delicious hamburgers, tater tots, and rainbow chip cake. Of course we had ice cream too!

Blowing out my candles. I think I got them all. :)

We played a few games, then went to see The Sorcerer's Apprentice at the cheap theater with the Seagraves and our cool neighbors, the Ortons. And since it was Wednesday, we got free popcorn! (For some crazy reason I'd been craving popcorn recently so I was thrilled.) I hadn't even heard of the movie before so I had no expectations for it and really enjoyed it. It was kind of cute. And intense, or funny, or whatever it was supposed to be. It was good.


Overall, it was an awesome day! Joshua was wonderful and did lots of stuff for me. I think it helped that when I asked for anything I also added "but it's my birthday". How could he refuse that? I'll have to remember that one again for next year.

And a random fun fact... I found a friend who shares my birthday!! Jordon (my birthday buddy) and Sunshine had thought about going to the movie that night too (they'd actually originally invited us to go with them), but ended up going to the drive-in. We just had to celebrate together later in the week. It was exciting for me because I have friends with birthdays the day before and after mine, but I've never met anyone with my birthday!

Vegas Visit

After graduation, Joshua and I piled into my parents car with them and took a trip to Las Vegas!! We got to stop and see my grandparents along the way. It was so good to see them and listen to them tell stories of the olden days. Grandpa talked about places they lived, his early jobs, and how much money they made back in the day. I think my dad took some notes — I hope so because it was pretty neat.

Once in Vegas, we got to spend time with lots of family! Of course Elisabeth and her kids came over. And Melissa and her family came in town! It was tons of fun.

Mainly we spent time with family, but we did get to see a few friends. I just love Kelli and her cute little family. The Malone's treated us to Yogurtland, and it's always fun and barbecue at the Cheney's house. Uhh just to name a few. And naturally we enjoyed getting to eat In-N-Out. :)

We had a blast at the Natural History Museum with Melissa's and Elisabeth's families!

Shavonne and an extinct thing.

Another extinct thing.

Joshua and yet another extinct thing.

Kent with that same E.T.

A whorl-tooth shark!! I think they're so cool looking. 
Did you guess that they're also extinct?

How many eels can you find?

Baby shark. (Now sing the Jaws theme.)

 Can you spot the stingray in both pictures?

A really big whale vertebrate. Plus Joshua and Thayne holding up a beluga whale.

Lacey making friends with a camel.

We hung out with King Tut.

And his friends.

We enjoyed our dinosaur rides with Lacey!

Playing dress up! 

I don't want to be a paleontologist when I grow up.

Ethan as a paleontologist and scuba diver. Cute kid, huh?

Us + Melissa + the Warnick and Krzymowski kiddos

While in Vegas we also got to be there for the last day of Cedar Creek Ward. That was kind of cool. Also a little bit weird. We were probably the only people there that weren't super sad about it being the end of the ward.

Thanks for letting us hitch a ride, Dad and Mom!! We had fun! (Although we are beyond thrilled to get to sleep on our own mattress again.) Our trip back to Idaho was the first plane ride we've gone on together. It was a bumpy ride, but a nice new experience to be at the airport to actually travel together!

Skyla

Our life story of this past year would not be complete without mentioning dear Skyla.

Joshua once explained it like this: Skyla's one of those people that walks into your life and says, "Hi, we're going to be friends." And then you are.

We met Skyla toward the beginning of winter semester 2010. As Joshua and I were walking into the Taylor Quad holding hands, some girl caught up to us and very excitedly asked, "You two are married to each other??" I recognized her from my practicum class, but had never talked to her. So I assumed Joshua knew her. At the same time, Joshua recognized her from his Phil 110 class, but he also had never talked to her. And he assumed that I knew her. So the three of us ended up eating lunch together. Joshua and this girl, who turned out to be Skyla, discussed Phil 110. Her tutor had recently quit so they started studying together. I studied some other stuff. And it wasn't until way later that night that Joshua and I realized neither of us really knew her. We thought it was a little funny and weird, but she seemed like a cool/normal girl.

After that, we both spent lots of time with Skyla. Joshua studied philosophy with her. She and I chatted during practicum, and we complained about lesson plans together. Sometimes she came over to our apartment to study with us. Other times she came over to hang out. Yep. Basically, we were now friends. Skyla introduced us to white chocolate chip pancakes. And she gave me my recipe for the most delicious brownies from scratch. She even had a sleepover with me when Joshua went on a trip and left me home alone for the first time since we got married.

She's incredibly hard working and busy (and popular. . .she knows everyone), so we don't see her too often now. But I'm pretty sure she's one of our favorite friends. She tries to be positive all the time, gives good advice, and laughs a lot.

When I was thinking about this past year and Skyla, I was amazed that I don't have a single picture of her. She gave me permission to steal one from her facebook, so now we can't forget her lovely face.

Tessa's Wedding

That's right. . .Tessa and Tyler finally tied the knot!! And I got to be there!

And now here's my side story. (Really, it's the only story in this post.) I knew Tessa was getting married the Saturday before my finals/graduation week. Obviously I wanted to go, but that would be really stressful. And we're poor. But my sweet mother who loves me (but really it's probably more because she also loves Tessa) offered to fly me to Vegas for the weekend! I was thrilled, but still a little conflicted because that same weekend I had the opportunity to participate in a once-in-a-lifetime trip. Brother Kerr had planned a trip to Salt Lake for all the organ students, and the part I didn't want to miss — everybody was going to play the Conference Center and Tabernacle organs. When I was little I dreamed of being the Tabernacle organist. (That was before I took lessons and realized how hard that would be.) So I told my mom about this and again, because she loves me, she asked if I'd go on that trip if she paid for it. Honestly, I wanted to be in both places!! I was telling Skyla about it, and she asked if I'd really pick an organ over one of my best friends. Well, I think I'd already known where I was going to be that weekend, but leave it to Skyla to make it really obvious. So thanks to my parents, I was able to be there for Tessa's wedding!

It was so neat to be there for Tessa and Tyler's sealing! I hadn't attended one since my own.

Naturally, Tessa was a beautiful bride! I couldn't be happier for her and Tyler!! They're pretty much perfect for each other. I loved getting to see other friends and having some time to catch up while we were at the reception that night. Thanks to those people who took pictures and put them on facebook for me to steal!

Rebekah, Lizzie, me, Tessa, Kelli, Olivia, and Carli
I love these ladies!!

Jonathan, Kelli, Olivia, Carli, me, Kyla, Rebekah and Lizzie

Even if I smile funny for pictures, I still think we're a good looking group!

Olivia is just too cute.

It was nice to have a little break from reality (finals!). I loved getting to see friends and spending a little bit of time with my parents!