Tribute to Christy (Part III)

Last night, Christy was feeling "sick" (that's the best I can come up to describe the pains she was having). I tried my best to help and comfort, but I felt pretty useless (other than to giver her a Priesthood blessing). Anyway, the only other good thing that came from my concern was my idea for today's post.

I don't get sick very often (and when I do, I bring it on myself usually). But since I've known Christy, I've been "sick" twice and Christy (my personal CNA) has been there blessing me with her compassion.

Almost a year and a half ago, I got pretty sick from eating a frozen pizza that had expired 4 months previously (yeah, I'm an idiot). Christy and I hadn't been together a terribly long time, but she went out of her way to be there for me even though I had been stupid and brought it on myself. In fact, she was more concerned about me than I was (in particular trying to get me to not be stubborn and see a doctor). I got better after a few days and will always be grateful for her kind text messages and personal attention in my time of need.

Just a month or so ago, Christy and I were spending the night at my parents' house. We had recently become addicted to Mushroom Farm Revolution (a tower defense game we found on addictinggames.com). We stayed up late playing the game and by the time we went to sleep, I had a headache from staring at the computer screen too long (once again, I brought it upon myself). I woke up at 3:00 A.M. with one of the worst headaches I've ever had. My attempts to get rid of it with sleep, pills, and an ice pack proved futile. I tried not to wake Christy up, but even that didn't work. I'm sure she was exhausted, but she took such good care of me. I got a blessing from my dad and eventually fell asleep. But what touched me the most was when I found out that Christy had stayed up worrying about me for a whole hour after I had fallen back asleep.

So, are you convinced yet that I have the best wife ever? I know I am!

Tribute to Christy (Part II)

One of the things I love so much about Christy is her dedication to family.

When I was first dating Christy, one of the things that stood out most to me at the time was how connected she was to her family. I used to tease her for how often she made it home to Salt Lake - especially because it wasn't homesickness that drove her to do it. And at the time, I wasn't sure how I felt about it because it seemed so foreign to me (not that I didn't love my family... I just had other things I could be doing).

I'm not quite sure what changed my perspective, but as I started to spend more time with both of our families I realized I was seeing things more as she must have seen them. And I now truly love being with family - just as Christy always has. Give both of us an open weekend and that's probably where we'll be. Sappy or not, that's just the way it is.

I guess you could consider this a dual tribute: to Christy's dedication to what really matters in life and to how she opened my eyes to it. And the best part about Christy's dedication to her family is that I'm now a part of it :)

Tribute to Christy (Part I)

As of this Friday, Christy and I will have been married for a whole year. It's been a great year too with Christy getting into the El Ed program at BYU, me getting into law school, and both of us being happy in our new life together. And so to commemorate our anniversary, I thought I'd start a tribute series through Friday: a daily post highlighting some of the qualities that I love most about Christy.

The first thing that comes to mind is how amazingly supportive Christy is. I can be a bit odd in my habits, interests, desires, etc. (and odd is probably putting it nicely), but I can't think of one time I haven't felt like Christy was behind me all the way. And what surprises me more is that sometimes she even enjoys whatever it is I put her through. Let me illustrate:

Exhibit A: I have always had a small passion for personal finance and my desire to explore the system had created a complex, but effective (at least I think) system - that I brought into the marriage. I can't say Christy hasn't made fun of me for it, but she has never nagged me to clean it up and simplify. She accepts it because she knows it's part of who I am and that it makes me happy. And I don't know many people who would be willing to deal with having 2 checking accounts, 7 savings accounts, and 3 credit cards spread across 5 institutions. What a girl!

Exhibit B: I don't have to look farther back than last Thursday to get a perfect example of this. Christy had willingly accompanied me to a going away party for one of my friends, Dave Pruitt. We had been there for a while when I got a phone call from my best friend, Robert Bucker, letting me know he was going to the Nickelcade with some of his family members. I had dismissed the idea, not wanting to subject Christy to hours of boys and their video games. But Christy saw the light in my eyes when I first got the phone call and she encouraged the idea. We went and the crowning part of the evening was that Christy played Ninja Turtles (the whole game, mind you) with Robert, Rich, and I. And she liked it (somehow).

Exhibit C: Law school. Enough said.

And the list could go on and on. Not only is Christy incredibly supportive, but look at what she has to put up with. I love you Christy!

Stress Free!

After a month of diligent searching we signed an application for a new apartment. Yay!! We can move in anytime. AND it is closer to the law school, the big reason we wanted to move. AND it is bigger AND I don't have to stress and worry anymore :) ok well maybe stress a little about the actual moving process, but it is so worth it, I am just super excited!!!

Wish me luck...

So today is the day that I have to give my two weeks' notice for my job and I'm dreading it. Not only are they expecting me to be here long-term, but I'm the only data analyst they have. I've never had to quit a job where I'm not purely expendable (which is a nice place to be).

And I can only imagine how bizarre it will sound that I'm quitting to go to law school.

Anyway, wish me luck...

***Update***
Well, the deed is done. And I didn't do it in person. I chickened out and sent an e-mail. Oh well, at least it's done.

Summer project

Yay, I finally finished my summer project!

Brandon and I went to a ward activity in June where they taught us how to refinish furniture. It was a very inspiring activity and provided me the tools to refinish my hope chest that was once my grandmother's.

With no time to delay, we went to Lowe's to pick up the needed supplies.

I wish I had taken a before picture, but unfortunately I didn't think to. So, just imagine this chest with black paint peeling off, and very dirty.

Step 1: Use paint remover to remove unwanted paint- basically strip it!

Step 2: Sand the rest of the paint off and make it smooth.


Brandon had to help me with this one :)

Step 3: Put on the primer and then paint it light purple!

This is just after I finished painting it!

Wow, who knew the inside was so beautiful. Before, you didn't even notice because the outside was so ugly :)

The final product!!!!!

I love it!

Pioneer Day!!

I love Pioneer Day!! We started off the day by waking up in a tent (because we had slept over for my sister's birthday:) and then going to the downtown Salt Lake Parade- a tradition :)

Later we went boating/rafting in the Jordan River with Brandon's fam and had a family dinner get together


Following which we went to watch fireworks and play with cool glow sticks with my family

Here are some of the cool fireworks we watched. I thought it would be cool to make it a video, so that I can enjoy watching fireworks all year long :)

We had a wonderful full day and are very grateful to have been able to spend it with all our family. We are also very thankful for the Pioneers and all that they suffered and endured to make Utah great!!