Big Ol' Update

Well it has been way too long since I have posted. 

We have been so busy between school and work. Right now I am working two, yes two jobs,

 and taking 14 credits online. One of my jobs is at Chad's beloved sandwich place called Togos. So just call me the sandwich specialist. 

Chad is currently working and going to school too. He is working at Kay Jewelers, and is loving it. So, if any of you love birds need a pretty ring call Chad!

We have loved being back in Rexburg, and are really glad to have our awesome group of friends back together. It is so fun to have couples our same age, going through the same things (being poor), and going to school together. All of the husbands served their missions together, and us girls just married into their crazy, super fun friendship. We do a lot of fun things together, for example we throw some pretty great parties. For example, on Halloween we had a costume contest. 

Here is a group picture of all of us.

One of just us. 

I'm sorry Chad, but you don't make a very pretty girl. 

It was really hard for me to keep a straight face,

 and my mustache kept falling off.

And here is the winner of the contest.

 Kudos to Colin for wearing that all night!

This was such a great party! We ate too much candy, watched a weird scary movie, and played Halloween games like, who can wrap a person with toilet paper to look like a mummy the fastest. 

My team won by the way. 

But we have some awesome friends,

 and I think we should all just buy a house and live in together so we don't get separated.

 

Sadly we weren't able to be with Carl on Halloween,

 but we still got him a costume. 

 

 

By the look on his face you can clearly tell he loves it. 

I miss Carl more than I think I should. Our apartment here in Rexburg won't allow us to have pets, so we had to leave him in Utah with my awesome in laws.

 Seriously they are the best. They are taking care of the grumpiest cat on earth,

 and call him their grandchild.

 

I mean they love dressing him up as much as we do.

 

 

 I think they are going to have a hard time giving him up when we move back :). 

 

Since my last post we have both celebrated our birthdays. Chad is 24 and I am 21.

 Why am I getting so old. 

The best present I got for my birthday, besides all the sweet birthday messages from friends and family was this shirt that Chad got me.

If you haven't noticed I kind of like cats, and I am slowly converting Chad into a cat lover too. 

Twenty years from now we will probably have a cat farm or something. 

Anyways, things are going really great. We are almost done with the semester, just to start a new one in January. Right now it feels like school will never end, but I am definitely so very grateful for the opportunity to go to school, and especially here is Rexburg. Although it is freeeeezing here and you never want to leave the house, I love the small town feel, and being surrounded by some really amazing people. It is going to be bitter sweet leaving Rexburg in April. 

Here are a few pictures just for fun! 

 

When we spent way to much money on candy. 

My beautiful sisters, who I miss a lot!

 Swiss Days for Dayz. 

Another Halloween picture because I hate corn mazes.

 Yeah, his pumpkin weighed 38 pounds.

And finally the most handsome guy I've ever met,

 and our many dates to Barnes and Noble.

Ohh the Grown Up Life.

This summer has been one to remember.

 From traveling to Pittsburgh, Texas, and back to Utah and the multiple car problems, and finally getting a car that we can depend on,let's just say we have had our excitement. I can't help but be thankful for the help and support from our families. Who knows where we would be without them. 

Probably living in our car somewhere in New Mexico. I mean that wouldn't be all that bad, we wouldn't have rent to pay, but not sure the kitty would be okay with that. He is kind of high maintenance, but we love that crazy.

Who knew growing up would be so expensive though.

Sometimes as much as you try to be good with your money things always happen,

 and you have to make sacrifices.

 But right now I am thankful for being married and poor.

 At times it can be oh so stressful and you are wondering how on earth you are going to make it. 

But somehow things always work out. Somehow you are always able to have some extra money at the end of the month to go on a date.

 It makes things fun, trying to save, budget, and put your heads together to make the things you want to do, happen. Like this dream I have of going backpacking through Europe, who knows if it will actually happen, but we still keep it in our plans to do before we have kids. 

 Right now it seems like a lifetime before we will be able to afford "grown up" stuff.

 Like a house, holy cow they are so expensive. It stresses me out, why can't everything just be free and we can all just be beach bums and travel the world. Wouldn't that be nice.

But with the stress and all, how much fun it is going to be looking back when we are boring adults with stable jobs to joke about how we only ate top roman because real food is too expensive, and for date nights we built forts and watched Band of Brothers, or mooching off of our parents Netflix account because cable is just not going to fit in the budget?

 I will definitely cherish these moments, like when we talk until wee hours of the morning about what we would do if we won the lottery, what it is going to be like to be parents to little Chads and Michelles, and what the heck the future holds for us.

Chad makes being married so easy, and he always makes things better

 or at least always tries his best to. 

 I  just really appreciate the challenges we have had and how 

I am able to have my Chad next to me the whole.

Still Rollin' With the Punches

Okay, let me first start off this post by saying,

 I have never been more relieved in my life than when we finally made in back to Utah.

We definitely have had a crazy summer and 

I put about 10,000 miles on my car in just a 2 short months. 

It is a very long story so I will give the short and sweet one.

So as you know Chad and I were working with a security company, installing alarms. 

We originally were suppose to be sent to Chicago, but got put in Pittsburgh, PA. Which to us wasn't a big deal, we were kind of bummed we weren't going to Chicago, 

but still going somewhere neither of us had gone. 

The summer in Pittsburgh started out a little rough, with our housing not being in the nicest area, come to find out that Pittsburgh is just an old town all together and is pretty rough around the edges. Our office started out great but slowly started to decline in how many jobs all of the techs were getting. So as a team we decided that it would be best that Chad and I move to another office. 

That is when we got transferred to Abilene, Texas. 

So we packed up our cars and drove the 30 plus hours to Texas. 

Poor Carl was not loving the long drive. 

This office in Texas stayed in hotel rooms because the team moved around to many different areas that aren't exactly close. So, when we arrived to Texas we were suppose to have a room ready for us but there was some miscommunication and it wasn't ready. 

We had to bunk with another guy in his room. 

It made for a very awkward night.

 After that our car broke down, which hasn't been first time
so we were about ready to just drive it off a bridge.
 We luckily have the best insurance in the world and they towed it to the mechanics for free and we were able to fix it. 

A few other things happened as well, and after a week of being fed up, 

and not really making anymore money than we did in Pittsburgh, we both decided it would be best for us to go back to Utah.  

I think I cried because I was so happy to see mountains again. 

We packed up our cars again and hit the road again. 

This drive was only a short 16 hours that we were hoping to just bust out in one day. 

But of course that didn't happen. 

We were in the middle of Santa Rosa, New Mexico. If you have been there you know there is NOTHING there. Literally nothing. Well just our luck the Honda's clutch goes out. 

Once again I will tell you we have the best insurance in the world and

 they towed our car for free to a mechanics. Sadly we didn't want to spend any money fixing that car because well we only spent $900 on it and it had over 250,000 miles.

 So we called the mechanic and he bought the car from us for $100. 

It was definitely a deal on his end. 

Anyway so we put everything that was in the Honda into the Hyundai and kept trucking along, on our way back to Utah.

It was a preeetty cozy!

We of course didn't make it in one day and spent the night in a small town in New Mexico. 

But that next day we finally made it back to Utah.

 I seriously could not stop smiling and I think I told Chad that 

I was so happy to be in Utah like 50 times. 

No joke. 

We are currently the biggest mooches in the world right now living with Chad's parents.

 But they are so sweet and so willing to help us out. I don't know how Chad and I got so lucky with such awesome families that would seriously do anything for us.

 It makes me tear up just thinking about it. 

The next few days were filled with job hunting and interviews. We luckily both got a job, at the same place if you can believe that.

We don't mind it, it makes the days more fun.

We are both happy, and so grateful.

  

Because how else would we have been able to see so

 much of the country without these kinda of jobs. 

We just get roped in every time.

But all in all we definitely had an adventure, and here are a few pictures to prove it.
 

I am in love with all the old buildings in Pittsburgh.

This right here my friends, is the best pizza that was ever made. 

 We saw a lot of really crazy things, but this by far the the scariest.
This cat belonged to an old lady we installed an alarm for.
 I screamed a little when I saw it.

 We watched the world cup at Costco

Carl was so tired after having to pack everything up to head out to Texas. 

We celebrated our last day in Pittsburgh with Pirmantis...

 Chocolate....

the best milkshakes ever...

and a Pirates baseball game!

It is such a cool stadium.

This picture was after we picked our car up from the mechanics and had one of the more stressful days I have ever had. Don't be fooled, that smile was forced.

 This picture makes me cringe.
 Chad sent it to me when we was installing an alarm at someones house.
 Yes that is a pile of stuff.

 From the 4th of July. I am SO! happy to be here in Utah with family.
 I don't think I can say it enough!

We hiked Mt. Olympus, for the first and last time.

We were kind of tired.

My beautiful best friend Majerle got married a couple weeks ago,
 and I had the opportunity to be a bridesmaid. 

 

And now we can go on double dates all the time! 

Woo yay for marriage!! 

The Real Burgh.

Well, we made it to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. 

The only word I can think of to describe this place is old. 

I really don't think this town has been boomin' since the steel production days.

This last Sunday we took a stroll around downtown Pittsburgh. 

We met the nicest people. They come off a little rough around the edges, but once we get them talking it's like we have known them for years.

On a side note...

Mother's day Chad surprised me with this little monster. 

We named him Carl, but I think he thinks his name is kitty.

He falls asleep when Chad holds him in a ball.

Chad said he never wanted to own a cat because he doesn't like them. 

Now I don't ever get to hold Carl because Chad wants to cuddle him.

He sleeps under our head, or really close to our body so if we move at all we roll over on him.

Back to talking about Pittsburgh. 

We have really enjoyed this job so far. Mainly because we are able to spend all day together, talking with, and meeting all sorts of new people. And exploring a new place neither of us have been to. 

We have really developed a talent for rapping, and makinng up our own songs. Because well our radio doesn't work all that well. 

We have come up with some pretty great songs about cream of corn chowder, and how full we are from dinner.  

I tell Chad I have a big forehead, so in this picture he covered it for me. Thanks babe.

 

Just look at the background in this picture ^.

Pittsburgh is a beautiful place.

This right here is our apartment building. Its very old and has a lot of spiders in it. 

Story time: So a few weeks after we moved in there was drug bust, and kids held hostage in our complex but a couple buildings down. It was on the news and everything. Whenever people ask where we are from we just say,

 "did you hear about that drug bust in Baldwin? Yeah well we live in those apartments."

Don't worry though, I am with Chad all day long and don't ever really go anywhere by myself, especially at night.

One of the many spiders I was talking about. I know they are HUGE!

We found this one on our car. Yikes!

So one thing about Pittsburgh we have noticed is there is pizza EVERYWHERE! 

This pizza however, we were standing in line at the dollar store and a delivery guy walked in with about 4 pizzas and said, 

"Hey uh we made too many pizzas and we are about to close does anyone want one?" 

Chad was the first to raise his hand, and there you have it free pizza. 

We had to take a picture, and isn't he just such a hunk?

So the saying in Pittsburgh is

"You can't get there from here."

Meaning, it takes forever to get anywhere here. The roads here are CRAZY! 

Seriously I don't know who designed the roads here, but they definitely wanted to make it like a maze, and make sure you weren't able to make it to your destination.

That road in the picture, for example has 9 stop lights just within about a mile.

Another fun fact about Pittsburgh is there are more hills here than San Fransisco. 

And yes we have 2 manual cars, it makes for a fun drive.

This little house right here in this picture is home to the best pizza on the planet. 

Seriously I have never had better. I could eat here every single day of my life.

It's probably a good thing its about 40 minutes away or I would be chubs!

This is a new place full of all sort of new adventures for us. We have already made so many fun memories, and grown closer just from problem solving and figuring out tough decisions. Being out here has taught me a lot about me as a person, and also more about my Chad. 

He is always the first person to say something nice about someone, and is always very uncomfortable when others are talking bad about someone he knows. He is the most genuine, sweet, simple, and kind hearted person I know. I am very grateful for an example and husband like him. 

I also would just like to say, I love being LDS.

 You can travel anywhere in the world, but the church stays the same.When I walk into the church building every Sunday I feel like I am at home.