Blessings and Trials

I've been meaning to write this blog for awhile and now that we are all unpacked and settled in I think I have the time. We have had quite a few trials in since we have moved up here (the flat on the way up just to name one) but even so Michael and I have noticed that we are extremely blessed. So we are going to do a list of blessings and trials!

Blessing: My uncle was off on his honey moon and let us stay in his house until we found a place of our own!

Trial: Michael broke his toe while we where there.

Blessing: Micheal was able to get into school

Trial: We had a huge battle with the finical aid department

Blessing: Michael has a cousin who is an accountant who told us what to do to get finical aid. Our papers are now being processed and we should be able to see what we qualify for any day now. Thank you so much Cameron!

Trial: Pima lost some of Michael's papers so they did not give him his associates degree.

Blessing: After many hours on the phone Micheal was finally able to talk to some one who knew what they where talking about and they are sending us a copy of the degree in the mail. (They found the lost papers in the Dead File...)

Trial: I still don't have a job

Blessing: Michael was able to find a job with no problems at all! He saw a sign at school that was asking for Math and Science tutors. Walked up got an interview. Went back to same day for a second interview and received a call the next day saying he got the job. I'm just a little jealous. ;)

Blessing: We were able to find a house without to much difficulty. And for an amazing price!

Trial: In the month that we have lived in our house our fridge and our furnace have broke down.

Blessing: We have absolutely amazing land lords and they had both of them fixed within hours of each discovery.

Blessing: We have enough saved up that even without me having a job and Micheal's job not bringing in much we have not been for want.

Blessing: Thanks to Michael's amazing aunt we have been able to start our food storage! She gave us our starter and a food storage cook book for our wedding. So when the local market had a 50 pound bag of wheat on sale for $12 we picked it up! And thanks to another one of Micheal's aunts, who gave us her old a wheat grinder, we where able to make really cheep whole wheat flour! Thank you Aunt Sabrina and Aunt Dawn!

Blessing: Our land lords, our neighbors, and my parents have been giving us tons of fresh produce! Apples, grapes, potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, pears, peaches, etc... They have been so yummy and have helped us stay healthy!

Blessing: I have been able to spend more time with my family these past 6 weeks then I have been able to spend with them in the past 2 years!

Trial: We have a lack of friends our age. Particularly guy friends for Michael.

Blessing: we still have each other <3

The Blessings have it!

RS Conference

My new ward received tickets to go to the Relief Society Conference! And was able to take my mom and sister with me! We had a blast. We had to be in our seats by 5:30. So we took dinner with us and ate it right in front of the conference center. It was so fun to watch all these beautiful women come to listen to the word of God. The conference was amazing! The spirit was so strong with every speaker and with every song. If you haven't listened to it yet, DO! It is so worth it!

http://lds.org/general-conference/sessions/2011/10?lang=eng

Banana Bread any one?

Mike wanted Banana Bread. I thought sure why not I've never made Banana Bread before it will be fun! And it was! The recipe was easy to fallow and out of my favorite cook book (The ward cook book from the ward I grew up in). So, the timer beeped, I pulled it out of the oven, and went to dump it on a cooling rack and it wouldn't come out. I then took one of those plastic scrappy things and ran it along the edge. Then tried again. Here are the results.

The pan is sapouse to be non stick. I think I will butter and flour it next time any ways :P

Utah: Our New Adventure

Well we have been in Utah for a week and half now. I thought it was about time I give everyone an update. But let me tell you it has been a really long week and a half. We have accomplished so much and been so busy, that it feels like we have already been here a month.

So first let me tell you about our trip up to here.

My mom and brother Michael flew down to Arizona from Utah to help us move. They arrived in Phoenix at 9pm on the 15 of August. Michael and I didn’t pick them up until 9:30 due to a computer malfunction. You see when we went to go pick them up at the Phoenix airport we accidently went into the parking garage instead of the pick up area. Simple mistake if you have ever been to the Phoenix air port I’m sure you understand. You know when you go into a parking garage they have the bars that block your way and you pull a ticket and the bar will go up. Well, there was a bar already up so we just kind of slipped through there. Well that was a mistake. When you found our way out of the garage and down to place where you hand your ticket in we didn’t have one. So we explained our situation to the guy in the booth and he ended up having to call his manager down who asked us a million questions and checked our license plates and the whole 9 yards. It was crazy we were stuck there for 15 min or more. But they ended up letting us go and not charging us anything so it worked out in the end.

So the next morning we woke up at 7am. (We didn’t get to sleep until 12am) Michael and I went and picked up the truck. And my mother, and two brothers Michael and Leon came and helped us load it up. So we left our clean apartment and some family, friends, and Tucson AZ behind us at about 11am on the 16th.

Our drive started out perfectly fine. We stopped for lunch at Culver’s in Casa Grand. Were the to Mike’s thought it would be funny to hide from me and my mother make us look all over the place for them and the pretend nothing happened. After a good laugh we continued our drive.

My mom owns a pair of small blue walky-talky’s which we used to communicate in-between the moving truck and the Honda civic (my car was being towed behind the moving van). This turned out to be a great idea because, for starters, after going up and down many hills and my mom and brother both being speed devils and pushing the van to the max we where afraid the van was about to over heat. So we pulled off at a K-mart in Kingmen. We looked around for a bit and Mom and Mike (my brother) decided to purchases an aux cord so they could listen to the I-pod in the moving truck. After this we were on the road once again.

But only a half hour out of Kingmen disaster really strikes. We get a flat. On the trailer that is pulling my car. Luckily Michael decided to buy the insurance for the moving van so it was covered, and we were able to call the 24 hour road side assistance. But we were delayed an hour and a half. Yep an hour and half stranded in the middle of no where. Really take a look! No where!

There are blessings among all trials.

this is Michael #1 being hot in both meanings of the word :)

This is mom attacking Michael #1 for teasing her!

This is the middle of No Where

This is our flat tire

These are the cones we set up.

This is Michael #2 playing on his smart phone.

Sorry the pictures didn't come out in the order I wanted. All well!

So we sat and talked and read books listened to music. Mom was bitten by an ant and I was attacked by a 3 inch long black betel. Mom and I where looking at stars, they were fantastic in the middle of no where when Mom looks over at me and screams and yells at me not to move. When of course I start to stream and yell “What?! What?!” at the top my lungs. The betel falls off while I’m dancing around trying to see why I’m not supposed to be moving. And the Mike’s are over across the way just laughing at us!

But our handy dandy fix-it man shows up and we are out on the road again once more!

We cross over the hover dame and stop for dinner at the casino at about 10pm. After a really yummy much deserved dinner we headed out for saint gorge and bed. We arrived there at about 1:45 and we were in bed if plans to sleep in by 2am.

My husband is great! But there is one thing I wish he was capable of. And that’s sleeping in. He just can’t sleep past 6 or 7. So, that’s when we were up. Mom and brother Mike where still asleep. So I gave him his game boy and tired to sleep a bit more but that didn’t work out so well. So we hung out in the room for a bit then we were off to the pool! It was so nice!!! We were able to swim around stretch out our muscles and relax in the hot tub. (Ahhhh…. I wish I could be there now!) After that we got some breakfast at a local restaurant. And where back on the road by 11.

We arrived in Pleasant Grove, where we are now located for about one more week, at about 4 o’clock. We unloaded the truck at my Uncle Dean’s house, where he letting us stay why he is on his honey moon. Then we crashed while mom went and bought food for us at a really yummy place called the Purple Turtle. Where apparently President Obama stopped to eat. Got figure…

And that my friends was our move up here. I believe that is long enough for blog for now. I will fill you in on the rest here shortly.

LOVES!!!

Two Funny Stories

One Sunday Mike and I where visiting Mike's Aunt Sabrina and his cousins when funny stories started to be shared (this always happens when we go visit this part of the family). Cameron and Michelle where more specifically sharing newly wed stories. Mike was laughing up a storm. And after wards Mike asked if we would ever have stories like those. I replied I was sure some day we would have some.

Well to Mike's chagrin we now do.

Again at Aunt Sabrina's, this time on Memorial day, Mike asked if I could give him a hair cut. I've given him hair cuts before so I was fairly confident I knew what I was doing. And so Aunt Sabrina lent us her hair cutting supplies. There was a bit of confusion with the sheers but I was sure I would be able to figure it out so I plunged them in and away I went. After the first stroke Mike's head... Well Aunt Sabrina Shouted "Stop! It doesn't have any guards on it!" At this point I had turned off shears and wrapped my arms around Mike's head and said "I noticed..." Aunt Sabrina got up and said "Let me see."
"No! It's bad..."
After she persuaded me to let go, she started to work her magic.
I felt so bad! I had no idea how it was going to look any better.
All of Mike's cousins where laughing and poking fun. Mike just kind of sat there not saying anything. I was laughing along with every buddy else. But mostly just to keep from crying.
At one point I told Mike "You know I once heard the difference between a bad hair cut and a good one is only a week." If he was aloud to move at that point I have no doubt that he would have been glaring at me.
But Aunt Sabrina worked her magic and now about 2 week later you really can't tell! So yes Mike will let me cut his hair again. And all is well. :)Mike is now looking for a funny newly wed story at my expense. Please pray for me!!! JK


Story #2




When is the last time you fell off the bed? When you where what 5 maybe 6 years old? Well mine was about a week ago. I must have been so tired. Because I don't even remember falling I just remember waking up in pain and crawling back in bed. While doing this Mike asked me what was going on. I replied that I fell out of bed.
"Oh... Come cuddle with me."
"I can't my whole right side hurts."
"Oh... Well you should come cuddle with me."
"I can't. To do that I would have to lay on my right side and my shoulder hurts and my butt hurts."
"Ok"
And we fall back asleep
Next morning
"Honey I have a bruise on my right arm. And my whole right side hurts."
"Really?"
"Yeah, I think I vaguely remember falling out of bed."
"Oh yeah! How did you manage that?"
"I don't know. But I do remember all you cared about was wanting to cuddle."
"Really?"
Note: Husbands can be insensitive asleep or awake.
Note: Have bed stand pushed further away from bed to avoid nasty bruises.

Michael has been dying to see this movie forever. Like since Christmas. No joke. He has been counting down the days. So the week before it came out he asked yet again if we could go see it. I said yes. The week it came out Mike received $20 in tips. The second Saturday it is out, first thing in the morning, Mike asks if we can go see it. I tell him I don't know if we can see it that day. We already have a fairly full day. I leave for work. And I come home and Mike is on the computer and says. "Mariah! Thor is playing at 2 o'clock can we go?! Please!" I just had to smile. He was just like a little kid. Mom says maybe and so they have to take it as a yes or they'll die! So we took his 20 bucks and went and saw it. In 3D. And...

IT WAS AMAZING!!!!!

I loved it. I really did. I mean most Marvel movies are just so cool! And this one was no different. Acting was superb. Costumes awesome. And CG was also great! I really don't have complaints. There were some corny parts but what movie doesn't have a few corny secens and these ones made me laugh. Were some of Michael's movies just make me roll my eyes. *couch*GIJoe*cough*

There was one scene where Mike rolled his eyes at me however. So Thor was just discovered and by the Mortals and taken to get some normal cloths. And it shows him topless with some cowboy jeans on. And... well...

I gasped! I mean that's just hot right!? What girl wouldn't gasp? Girls don't tell me you didn't you know you did. And Mike leans over and says "Thanks hon, that makes me feel really sexy." But lucky for me I have a husband with a great sense of humor and he said it with a smile on his face. So good movie people! Go and see it! just know that you might wan't to make this one a girls night ;)

PS: Thor is in Star Trek. He plays Jim Kirk's dad. You know the one that dies at the very beginning. Fun note. Who knew he was this buff right?

The Home Stead

As many of you will never be able to see our sweet little place, I've decided to document it in photographs and put it here for all to see!

(note: I took these pictures after a spent a few hours cleaning the place. Its only ever this clean about twice a month... if that... ;)

This is the front door to our apartment. We are at ground level with no one above us! And since that is the case we actually live in a very quite complex :) Please notice the rose bushes to either side of our door. I think they add a nice homey feel to the place.

This is a picture right inside our front door. 90% of those books belong to Mike. I can add a few more to the collection. But most of my books are still up in Utah. And if your wondering what the big circle on the wall is, that's my genealogy chart. And yes I have finally started to fill it in!

This is our little dinning area. Mike's sister Brandalyn gave us this table when she moved to New York. AND WE LOVE IT!!!

This is our tinny kitchen. I barley have enough room to make anything. But according to Mike miracles happen and good meals do emerge from here. ;)

This is our bed room. And for all those who knew me before, yes the white bored and cork bored have fallowed me into married life :) (I've had these since I was in jr. high)

And last but not least our itsy bittsy bathroom... Well at least it's fairly easy to clean :D

And that is our apartment! Pleas still try and come visit!