REALLY?

A Snow Day For This?!?
I'm loving it...

It's Christmas!!

I am so excited we put up our Christmas tree finally! We left our lights and star for the top at home but it still turned out way cute! I decided we would start a tradition of having donuts and hot chocolate when we decorated our trees. West Virigina doesn't sell yummy donuts so we tried a new recipe that was supposed to taste like Krispy Kremes. Jake was skeptical and kept saying he would rather have popcorn but I was determined to eat a donut... it has been so long! So the recipe said to heat the oil to 350 degrees but niether of us knew how hot that would be on the stove so we just turned it on high. After a few minutes I dropped the first donut in and it instantly turned black. It started smoking and suddenly there was a fire!! The smoke detectors were going crazy and all we could see was smoke! It was pretty intense but luckily the fire went out when I turned the stove down and then we had to open all the windows (even though we were already freezing cold!) and fan the smoke out. The funniest part was Jake had mentioned to our nieghbor that I was making donuts so we would bring him over some and I guess he was getting ansy because right when the smoke detectors stopped he rang our bell and starting asking how the donuts went but just starting laughing when he saw all the smoke. Luckily once the oil cooled down I totally redeemed myself and made the most delicous donuts we have eaten in a LONG time! Our nieghbor was a bit hesitant to try them but after the first bite he stuffed the rest of the donut in his mouth and said he was very surprised at how good they were!

Thankful for Family!

Checking out Cincinnati's campus. It is so cool because it is all right there way compacted! It was raining so we were freezing and took a running tour but what we saw of it was cool!

So we accidentally left our turkey out all day and night so Thanksgiving morning we were pretty nervous about using it but we called the turkey expert aka my dad and he said we should be fine? So we took a gamble and cooked it and it was delicous and luckily no one got sick!!

The FEAST!!

I am so grateful for family especially around the holidays. We didn't get to go home for Thanksgiving but we did get to go to Cincinnati to stay with my cousins and it was so much fun!! We have such funny cousins and we loved being able to hang out with them and their dang cute kids for the whole week! We got there late Tuesday night and when we pulled up to their house Jake started pounding the candy because he felt like his sugar was low and he kept saying he did not want my cousins to see him with his sugar low. We go inside and start to chat and I realize Jake's sugar is low so my cousin starts making some juice and I give Jake his tester. Jake of course denies it and will not drink anything he just keeps insisting that he is fine. Luckily he drank a capri sun but it did not seem to work and Jake kept getting more crazy. He was wrapping his arms around my cousin and winking at him telling him his sugar was not low- in a slow way with a weird accent. He then tried to chase the two year old. He was making everyone nervous because he was acting so wierd and I could not control him. He was jumping and snapping randomly then he would run over to my cousin and wink at him. Their girls were getting nervous and we could not get him to drink anything. Suddenly Jake hands me his wedding ring, shoes and socks and takes off running out the front door into the pitch black. I tried to hold on to him but he was too fast and he was around the corner before I knew what was happening! My cousin was ready to call an ambulance because we could not control Jake but luckily when we went running outside there was Jake walking back WAY embarrassed yelling that this was more embarrassing then being a BYU fan and then he admitted his darkest secret... he is now a Utah fan! Haha obviously he was still out of it but he did drink another juice and then he was fine! It was so funny!! We had a delicous Thanksgiving dinner and loved just relaxing and playing games with family! We are so grateful they invited us to share Thanksgiving with them!

Two Tickets to Pittsburgh

We had so much fun this weekend partying it up! Friday night we went to the WVU basketball game. It was only an exhibition game so they totally killed the team it was fun!

Then Saturday we woke up and drove to Pittsburgh. We went site seeing and then of course hit the mall. It was so much fun to be able to go shopping again it feels like its been FOREVER!! After the mall we went to look around the university and we saw some really pretty cathedrals.

But the very best part of the entire weekend was always coming home to this fun piano that I got for my birthday!! I absolutely love it and I always want to play it. One of our favorite features on the piano is the different sounds we can set it to. Our very favorite is the laughing because each note has a different laugh and it is so entertaining!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!

BEFORE....
AFTER!!!

And the best part is Jake's costume was $2.11!!

I LOVE HALLOWEEN!

The BEST part about living away from home....

My dad came to visit us for the weekend! It was so much fun to be able to have my dad all to ourselves and just hang out! This is definitely a benefit to living out of state because usually my dad is very busy with work or chuch stuff that we never get to just hang out for the entire weekend back in Utah. But since we were in West Virginia there were no meetings or appointments my dad had to go to so we could really party it up! I loved not having to share him with anybody! On Friday we rode the PRT (a wierd car with no driver) downtown for dinner and an art walk. I was so excited for the art walk but it turned out it was a bit of a bust. Most people were just there to get free wine and so it was over crowded and not very good art pieces. So we went home and played the Wii and watched BYU get killed... GO AGGIES! It turns out my dad is quite the gamer- which we never knew- and killed us in Wii basketball! Saturday we woke up early and went to the student rec center and played racketball- which again he killed me in! Then we went on a hike to a lookout where Jake became adventurous and tried to climb in between rocks only to get stuck becuase he couldn't move his hump in his back. I could tell his sugar was going low and he could not move. I was pretty panicked especially when the rock he moved to broke off and tumbled down the cliff but luckily he made it out eventually. It was so much fun to have my dad in West Virginia and show him our stomping grounds!

Weekend Getaway

One good thing about living back east is that we are so close to so many cool attractions. Every third week after Jake's test we love to plan a weekend getaway to relieve some of the stress.

This weekend we went to DC to stay with my old roommate Megan. Friday afternoon right after Jake finished his test we headed for DC. We picked up Megan and Matt and headed to Georgetown to eat dinner. It was a really cute area with tons of shops and good places to eat. Unfortunately it was late so all of the shops were closed and we were too hungry to wait for a table at the restaurants so we ended up eating at Johnny Rockets, but it was really good!

Then we went to the Pentagon Memorial. I didn't even know there was a memorial there but it was a really neat garden. It had these water fountains categorized by the age of the person that died on 9/11. They went from youngest to oldest and had the names of the people on the concrete design. They were facing opposite directions depending on if the person was on the plane or in the Pentagon. I was amazed at how creative and detailed the garden was set up.

Saturday morning we woke up early and headed for the DC temple. I LOVE the DC temple!

It is so huge!! It is totally hidden in the hills and trees until you are literally there. After the temple we went to the holocaust museum. It was something we really wanted to do on our honeymoon but they always ran out of tickets before we got there. It was really interesting but a little bit too depressing. It literally made us sick. Near the end I just wanted to leave but luckily they had ended on a postive by showing all of the people that helped the Jews and how many people they saved. After that we went to lunch and then headed to the Eastern Market. I loved being able to hang out with my old roommate Megan again! We had so much fun and I am glad we live kinda close so we can hang out again soon!

Labor Day Fun!

We had such a fun Labor Day weekend in Pennsylvania! We went to visit my cousin Shannon and her dang cute family for the weekend. They werwe so much fun to hang out with! We played games and ate amazing food all weekend long! On Saturday we went to Philadelphia to see all of the historical sites. Everything is so old there it is amazing! We saw the Liberty Bell, City Council building, the oldest church, Benjamin Franklin's house and oldest post office, and a museum with portraits of presidents and George Washington carved out of wood. We then ate a Philly Cheese Steak in Philadelphia! What are the chances right? I was too nervous to try a philly cheese but since we were in Philly I decided to get a chicken cheese steak so I could still say I ate a philly cheese! We were so hungry and they were so good that I forgot to get a picture before everyone was almost done but I wanted to prove that we really ate Philly Cheese Steaks in Philly ha! On Sunday we hung out and played with the girls it was so much fun! It totally reminded me of my family growing up because they have four girls too and they all love playing together in the playroom exactly like my family used to do. Monday morning we woke up and went boating in the Susquehanna River. The water was so nice and warm. We had a ton of fun tubing crazily behind the boat.

Jake was always bugging Sammi on the tube!

We then went and hung out in the Burrow by their house before we had to head home. It was such a fun weekend and we are so grateful to have such a fun family living so close to us!

First Week of Medical School

Jake’s first week of medical school was a piece of cake…literally! He took a cake decorating class where he learned how to make gorgeous flowers out of icing. So gorgeous in fact that he would not let us eat it right away I had to admire it and when I accidentally knocked it over in the container I thought he was going to cry because his beautiful flowers were ruined! But luckily then we got to eat them and it was way yummy! He also went fly fishing and got to know the people in his class better. The best part of the week was when he finally agreed to let me give him a hair cut!! I have been begging him since we got married to let me cut his hair but he has never trusted me. Now that we are out here and there is no hair schools he has decided to let me become his barber. I was really nervous because he was glaring the entire time lecturing me on things I had no idea about- I had never cut someone’s hair before besides freshman year and both of those hair cuts were HORRIBLE so pretty much I was clueless. But luckily it turned out amazing! I found a hidden talent that may turn into my side job ha! Here is the new hair cut!!On Friday they had the oath ceremony. Jake was really nervous it was going to fill up quickly so we walked up there about an hour early only to find out the doors weren’t even opened yet. By the time they opened the doors it was me and one other family so I had my pick of seats- good thing we went so early! It was a really cool ceremony awarding each student with a new stethoscope symbolizing the weight they now will be carrying as a med student. Then each student signed their name in the oath book promising to be the best physician they can be. I was so proud of Jake this ceremony pointed out again just how cool it is to be accepted to medical school! When they announced Jake’s name they also said the university he graduated from and when they said Utah State the whole crowd gasped! They couldn’t believe how far he came to go to WVU. Most students were locals or from neighboring states so it was pretty cool to be the student from the farthest state.

Here are his new friends...On Saturday our neighbor invited us to his lake house in Maryland. It was only a forty five minute drive and we were up in a beautiful mountain with a ski resort and a huge lake. We went on a really fun hike by a river and we were able to try some natural water slides on the rocks and jump off some high rocks.

Yes we climbed up on that stable rock!

It was crazy how warm the river water was compared to Utah river water. It was like swimming in bath water -we loved it! We then went to the “cottage” (I got in trouble because I kept calling it a cabin but I was always corrected that it’s not a cabin! ha) and had hot dogs and corn on the cob. It was such a fun night! I think we are really going to like it out here!

On the Road...

So I was absolutely dreading the 1900 mile car drive across the country but it actually wasn’t that bad! It started out rocky in Parley’s Canyon where our truck over heated and we literally were going 15 mph up the hill. That lasted about forty five minutes and we were really worried for the long trip we had ahead of us but it never overheated that bad again so that was good! A few hours later in Wyoming we blew out two tires on the trailer!! It was in the middle of nowhere and it was really really hot. The people said it would be about an hour until they could get to us to help us. It was really hot and miserable and we were starving because we hadn’t stopped for lunch yet but luckily they fixed it really fast and we were good to go again! So the first day was pretty long… Jake wanted to drive 900 miles that day and I think we only did about 500. The next day I begged Jake to take a detour so we could go to Nauvoo… I know crazy that I wanted to add more time but I wanted to do one thing fun on our road trip! So we take the huge detour and pull into Nauvoo at about 9. We met a couple missionary from Cache County and they were so excited we were from Logan that they told us to get in their car and they would drive us around. They drove us to all 7 hotels in Nauvoo to find a place to stay for the night but there was nothing available. They wanted us to stay on their couch but we felt awkward so we said we would be find but they kept insisting on helping us so finally we agreed to park our huge budget truck there and then drove our car across the river to find a hotel there. We were striking out everywhere we called except one place that was only $30 a night. Obviously it had to be ghetto but we didn’t have a choice so we drove out to it. It was totally DISGUSTING! It reeked of smoke and had holes in the mattress, stains on the sheets, crap all over the walls and shower, and no light bulbs! Jake went to get a refund we were thinking the couples’ couch looked pretty good about now but the man would not give him a refund. He showed him 5 other rooms that were all about the same - some worse. Finally he showed us one that at least didn’t smell like smoke so we stayed there because we were exhausted. It was totally disgusting and we didn’t touch anything. I got our beach towels and blankets out of the trunk to wrap around the bed so we didn’t have to touch it. Luckily we survived the night and got out of there as fast as we could!

It was totally worth it because Nauvoo was amazing! I wished we could have spent more days there because there were so many cool things to see but we went around a few tours in the houses then headed over to Carthage. It had such a strong spirit and we felt very close to the trials the saints had to go through.

When Jake and I were dating this is the only picture he had of him on facebook and I always made fun of his hands so I had to do the same thing! We were supposed to stay in Greencastle that night with a couple from Jake’s mission but they called us when we were on the road and told us they had the flu so we just kept driving. When we got to Ohio there were no rooms available again because they were having the State Fair. We had to drive another half hour and find another dump. But it really was a fun road trip with good songs and a great book on tape! Plus we were never hungry thanks to the great treats provided by the moms!! And now we are officially West Virginians!!

Newport Beach!

One of my favorite family traditions is the week my grandma takes all of us to Newport Beach. It really is a week in paradise where we get to hang out on the beach, play in the ocean, ride bikes, and hang out with the entire fam. It was a bit cooler this year making the water even more freezing cold. It felt colder than the ice water we were drinking! We all made it a goal to get in at least once a day even if we were freezing. It was always worth it when we got in because we had so much fun- but we didn’t last long!

The famous Wahoo Fish Tacos-we can't go to California without Jake wanting a smelly taco!We had a ton of fun riding our bikes to Huntington Beach and shopping the sidewalk sales so much fun in fact that when the boys went to the Angels vs. Boston game the girls headed back to Huntington. At night we would go to Balboa Island to ride the ferris wheel and hang out. On Wednesday we headed to DISNEYLAND- the happiest place on earth!! We had a blast going on all the rides. It was especially fun because it was Alexa’s first time to the best place ever. She loved the tea cups and It’s a Small World. She would dance to the music and point to the different dolls especially her favorite - Ariel. She loved it so much that when it was over Christian asked if we could go through again for her and they let us! It was an awesome week and we are already on count down for next summer!!

HAWAII!!

So a few months ago Jake found a killer deal to Hawaii and somehow I convinced him we should book it! We were hoping it was going to be a celebrating trip that Jake got into med school and as it got closer Jake began to wonder if it was smart to go or if we should just cancel. Luckily we decided we needed to celebrate anyways since it was our second year anniversary so we went and had a total blast!! We went to Oahu first and headed straight for the beach! We went to a Hanaumu Bay which was a national park for snorkeling. Jake found four turtles in about fifteen minutes it was awesome! The turtles were definitely our favorite thing to find while we were snorkeling. The next day we went to Pearl Harbor. We got there before it opened but we still had to wait 4 hours to take the ferry ride! It was a very somber experience.

Hanging out with the sailors while we waited for our turn.We then drove to the North Shore and stopped at a random beach to snorkel that had so many fish it was a great beach!

This is us showing off our tats in Fiji!On Friday we went to the Polynesian Culture Center which was actually way fun! I was getting a little grumpy because I wanted to be at the beach 24/7 so I was nervous for the PCC but we had a blast. We got to make fish out of leaves and take a canoe ride and see a luau.

Here is the beautiful Hawaii temple. It was closed so we just stopped by on our way to the PCC. This is when we hiked the crater in Oahu! Then it was time to head to the best island MAUI! Jake was a little skeptical because this was his first time to Hawaii and he was expecting it to look more tropical but he still loved it with me! We went snorkeling a ton in Maui and then spent our nights shopping in Lahaina and walking through the art galleries. One of our favorite places to snorkel was when we took the boat ride out to Molokini and Turtle Town. The water was so clear and we saw so many fish and turtles and huge things that looked like sting ray that were pretty scary! We also saw a bunch of eels and coral snakes that seriously looked like they were going to attack me! One of Jake’s favorite day was the road to Hana. It was a way windy road that was pretty scary but we stopped and cliff jumped at the seven pools and hiked to different water falls and played at the black sand beach. I was so mad because this was by far the prettiest part of Maui and of course we forgot to charge our camera so we only got three pictures of this road trip before our camera died it was a major bummer! Here is our only picture from Black Sand Beach!

We loved Hawaii and can’t wait until we get to go back!