Summer Fun

The last blog post seemed kind of like a drag, but we did do some fun things this summer that I want to remember.

Right after graduation, I undertook a little remolding project. I inherited yellow dressers from my grandparents (bless their souls) that looked atrocious with anything we owned, so I spent almost a week spray painting them to better match our home decor style. Jonathon had the car at work, so I made quite a few walking trips to Lowe's about a mile away from our house. It was good exercise. Below are before & after pictures. I still would like to put a shiny gloss on the dressers, but that is project for another time.

Before

After

To really kick off the summer, Jonathon and I celebrated our 2nd anniversary at a medieval themed bed & breakfast called Castle Creek Inn near SLC. We stayed in the room "Canterbury," reminiscent of one of our favorite places we visited in England last year. Of course, a fake English room in the middle of Utah can't make up for the real deal, but we had a nice time.

The middle of May, my first college roommate, Whitney Carrizales, invited me to go to the Tulip Festival with her at Thanksgiving Point.

I had a nice time catching up with her and really need to do better at catching up with all of my college friends. I didn't even get a picture of Whitney...

The end of May I went home to help my mom, and I planted the flower beds and flower pots for her. I was very proud of my work!

I knew I didn't like gardening before, but I remembered just how much I did not like gardening then. It was good for me to learn and practice though.

I forgot to include pictures in the last post of us moving into our new apartment, but below is a picture of everything I took out of boxes to put in the kitchen. We hadn't unpacked any of the gifts we received from our wedding because Tyler and Carrie had everything we needed. I was surprised by how much kitchen stuff we had, and needless to say, this mess took many trips to the dumpster.

Also, here are some pictures from our family reunion. I really should invade Jonathon's pictures next time before writing a post.

The Alpine Coaster

My parents' anniversary party

The Heber Creeper

Grahm stealing all the balloons

 

The awesome view from the back of the cabin

The 3rd of July went to the balloon festival and Kneader's for breakfast with Tyler, Carrie, and Parker, and then had a nice BBQ with them that evening. 

 

Jonathon totally geeked out at the Star Wars balloons and being able to take a picture with Star Wars characters (especially Chewy).

The 4th of July we went to Centerville to spend time with Jonathon's family. We watched the parade in the incredibly hot sun and then went to "Inside Out," which was super cute. I ashamedly fell asleep for about 10 minutes in the middle of it, which made me really sad, but I just couldn't keep my eyes open. Then that evening we went back to Provo and played games and watched the fireworks, as well as did a few our our own, with my cousin and her fiancee, Heather and Robert. Again, I don't have pictures of Heather or Robert...

Happy 4th of July!

In the middle of July, we went to Blackfoot to attend an extended Wheelwright family reunion, to which Jacob (Jonathon's brother), Jonathon, and I were the only attendees apart from Jonathon's other immediate family already in Blackfoot. It turned from an extended reunion to an immediate one, but it was fun spending time with Jonathon's family on a more intimate level. I just feel bad for Jonathon's parents and all the planning they did.

On the 24th of July--Pioneer Day (or if you're not Mormon, Pie & Beer day, hehe)--we went to Seven Peaks in SLC for the first time. It was fun, but definitely not as good as the Provo Seven Peaks. We then had dinner at The Cheesecake Factory, which was fab-u-lous. Around that time, we also received callings for our new ward. Jonathon is the assistant executive secretary (again) and I am the choir director. Say what? I'm all for playing the organ and piano, but leading a choir is a new beast. It's been a challenge so far, but I've picked out some beautiful arrangements that have been fun to sing. Now I just need to learn how to lead better . . . .

Jonathon made fun of me one Sunday. My heels were killing my feet, so after church I put on my running shoes because they were much more comfortable.

On July 31st, we celebrated Harry Potter's birthday on campus. We ordered butterbeer and a chocolate frog sundae (which really wasn't that good). Jonathon also played Muggle Quidditch!

Butterbeer!

Chocolate Frog Sundae

Jonathon throwing a Bludger at someone

He was a Beater

The middle of August, we drove with Tyler, Carrie, and Parker to Parker, Colorado (close to Denver) to attend Heather and Robert's wedding. The food was delicious, hanging out with family was a blast, and we were glad we could be there to celebrate Heather and Robert's special day. In spite of watching "Horton Hear's a Who" 3 times during the car ride, it was a fun trip and a very nice getaway for Jonathon and me. 

I'm sure there was other fun stuff we did during the summer, but this has been the gist of it. Hopefully it will hold us through until our next little vacation or getaway. 

New Apartment, New Jobs, New School Year

At one point during the summer, I thought it would never end, and now here we are already two weeks into the semester. Where did the time go?

This summer was pretty tough, to say the least. We found out some difficult news (which I don't want to share publicly over the net), and finding a job after graduation was a beast. In the three months I searched for a job, I was plagiarized, lied to, ignored (after several interviews, mind you, from multiple companies), offered a job only to have it rescinded, and even criticized by one grumpy HR lady. The process was awful.

May came and went. I was promised to start working at a company by June 1, but they changed their mind last minute. I wasted 2 weeks of job hunting on that job because I thought I had it in the bag already.

June came and we had a wonderful family reunion by Heber. We spent a day in Park City and rode the alpine slides. We also went on the Heber Creeper and celebrated my parents' 40th wedding anniversary. It was fun talking, relaxing, playing, and eating.

We moved to our new apartment just before the reunion. We spent the whole week prior to the reunion deep cleaning our apartment. It was disgusting! We even stayed there until 2 in the morning one night working on things trying to get it ready before we moved everything over. After the reunion, I spent the next week putting things away and cleaning. It took a couple weeks to get used to the new place, but finally it started to feel like home. Now, whenever we go over to Tyler and Carrie's, it's not the same; it's not our home anymore. But we love our new apartment, especially after we were finally able to get rid of all the bugs that invaded every night.

After the reunion, I hit job hunting hard again. Somewhere in the middle or end of June (I can't remember anymore, it's all blurred together) I hit a really low point. I was a finalist in every job I interviewed for, but I just wasn't getting any of the jobs. I felt so discouraged and frustrated, it got to the point where I didn't even want to get up in the morning. I finally asked Jonathon for a blessing. Let me tell you, priesthood blessings are amazing! I did not find a job the next day or anything, but I felt so much peace and comfort that everything would work out. I was promised God had a special place he wanted me to be, so I held onto that whenever things got tough.

The beginning of July I received an email from the Writing department at BYU asking if I'd be able to teach 3 sections in the Fall. I had applied to teach as an adjunct halfheartedly; it was my back up plan. Don't get me wrong, I love teaching. I just wanted a more stable career. You know, one that comes with benefits and such. But I told the Writing department that if I were hired, I could do it. The next 2-3 weeks I interviewed with a LOT of places. I wanted to keep my options open and see if anything better came along. The end of July came and I was offered 2 different positions--one at an insurance company and another at a loan management software company. FINALLY, after more than 100 applications and 40 interviews, I was offered jobs; real jobs! They both came with benefits, but the pay was not great...

After weighing all the pros and cons a million and one times, I decided not to accept either position and instead work adjunct at BYU in the Fall. I was assigned to teach Monday, Wednesday, and Fridays, so with Tuesdays and Thursdays open, I decided to find another part time job to keep me busy while Jonathon worked through his busiest semester. I had started looking for a part time job the middle of July and by the first week in August, I started my new job at Murphy Business and Financial as an Administrative Assistant.

Life definitely didn't go as planned. By this point, I wanted to be working full-time as an executive assistant. But things worked out and God knows what he's doing. We've been incredibly blessed. Teaching has already had its challenges, but its also been very rewarding. And I've learned so much working at Murphy already, which has also been a challenge at times, but in a good way. It's pushed me to do things I didn't know I could do and help me refine some useful skills.

I'm still not as busy as Jonathon at this point, but let's see if that changes once the big papers hit and need to be graded :P