Christmas Break 2012

I cannot believe that Christmas break is already over!!!  Well, to give you a little update on how our Christmas break went, here was our schedule.  We left Southbend on dec 15 and went to Detroit where we caught a plane to Vegas where we met my family who took us to Toquerville.  We were there for a few days, then we drove up to Cedar and then we were up to Kaysville, where we spent a few more days, and then we went back down to Cedar City for a few days, then back down to Toquerville, then back up to Kaysville, then back down to Toquerville, then Vegas, then Minneapolis, then Ft. Myer, then to Miami, then to Ft. Lauterdale, then back to Miami, then back to Ft. Lauterdale, then to Detroit, and FINALLY, back to South Bend.  So "whirlwind" might be an understatement.

As a said before, we started our trip in Toquerville with my family. I guess technically we flew into Vegas, which was so amazingly fun!  I could hardly contain my excitement as we were walking out to see my family for the first time in 7 whole months!  We were so excited to see that my om's big car was filled with all the family members that were not working.  I couldn't believe how much everyone was the same and yet at the same time.  It also made us feel so loved to have so many there to greet us and welcome us home.  We went and saw my grandparents, ate dinner with them and enjoyed some talking time, and then we headed back to Toquerville. There we enjoyed some really great relaxing time with my family accompanied with quite a bit of shopping.  We also built a family "Christmas tree" with our bodies.  We also spent a lot of time playing pranks on Grandee and really just enjoying the time we had together.  It was wonderful to go to church as a whole family again, and of course then to enjoy the temple for Quincy's first time.  It is so crazy that she is old enough to go through the temple and that shortly she will be heading off to Korea to serve the Lord and bring the gospel to the homes and hearts of many.

After being there for a few days, we were on our way up to Kaysville. But on our way through, we couldn't forget to stop in Cedar and say hello to the Benson family where we gave the kids their presents. Let me just tell you, giving presents to kids is just the best thing in the world.  They are so excitable and fun and their eyes just light up when they get new gifts.  We always enjoy our time with the Bensons.

Later that day we went up to Kaysville where we spent a wonderful evening with the Sexy Six friends to celebrate a birthday.  Hanging out with them was so much fun!  It is so crazy how we don't hang out more than maybe a couple of times a year, but every time we do, it is such a blast and we always miss them so much when we leave.

Once we FINALLY made it up to the Olsen house, it was so incredibly wonderful to finally see all of the in-laws.  We spent that first night just hanging out together, and then early the next morning we had the pleasure of going through the temple with Jace. Again, an absolutely beautiful experience, and it is SO crazy for me to believe that he is headed out to Paris in just over a month.  After the temple we went out to breakfast and then out to do family pictures with the whole extended Olsen family.  It was really nice to be able to go to Kaysville and get all the things for Zack done, like going to the doctors and dentist offices, but most importantly, spending time with family.  We had a wonderful time with the Olsens.  After Kaysville, we went back down and spent a day with the Bensons again!  All I can really say about being with the Bensons is that it is just like being with family.  We cannot express the gratitude we have towards them and their amazing family.

After the Besons, we returned back to Toquerville where we had yet, more fun times with the family going paint-balling and playing pickle ball and just enjoying our time together.  Then we were back up to Kaysville where we attended the wedding of one of Zack's closest high school buddies.  It was a wonderful time, and really great to go to the temple 3 times over our break.

The last leg of our trip was just back to Toquerville to stay over night and then head back to Vegas first thing in the morning to head out to Miami.  I will do that in a different post as this one is getting very long.

The very best part this break was to see family and get to spend good quality time with our siblings before they leave on their missions.  We are freaking out a little bit that we will only see them one more time before they leave, but we are so happy for their righteous choices and the great examples they are setting for the rest of us.  Here are some pictures,


To learn more about LDS missions and what the missionaries teach, feel free to visit www.mormon.org

 Til next time!

Miami Baby!!

Wahoo!! What a fun time we had in Miami!!  After going to Utah and bouncing back and forth between family, Zack and I were able to get a little get away, just the two of us.  We left Vegas on my birthday, and headed out for a 5 night stay in Miami to watch Notre Dame get our butts handed to us in the game.  While the game was a big fat bummer, if you look at the score, we had such a fun time!!  We met up with our amazing friends the Bensons, and we went out for an AMAZING dinner.  And guess what, I ate seafood! And even better... I liked it!!!  I had lobster Mac n cheese, an boy oh boy it was good!   Zack had a really yummy salmon!  I have had salmon before, but it was definitely not as good as it was at this awesome place.

We had so much fun checking out the stadium the day before the game, and getting a few little trinkets to bring home. We spent time on the beach, enjoying the amazing weather out there! And we even had an absolute blast scalping a ticket for me.  Zack did have to physically pull me away from some ghetto scam artist with no teeth who was a big jerk because I was letting him know how I felt about how dirty he was playing.  We also saw another fight break out over a guy selling counterfeit tickets.  So it was pretty fun!  In the end we found a very trustworthy businessman that sold us a ticket for a very reasonable price.  He even gave us quite a deal compared to other scalpers out there that day because we were students and his son is a student.  It was very nice, and we were lucky to get in there!!

We were sad to say goodbye to the Bensons for the trip, but it was nice to be able to spend our last couple nights just the two of us with no cares in the world!  We really just enjoyed the company and lounge around at the pool and the beach until we had to leave.

I am so lucky to be married to my husband.  I cannot express how wonderful he is to me and how strong he is for the both of us.  He is the best husband, and he will be the best father when the time comes for us to have children.  He cares for me and dotes over me and works hard and is family oriented and even can be a little spontaneous every once in a while. (don't tell him I told you!)

Well I hope you enjoy our pictures, til next time!!

A Thanksgiving to remember!

Well, now that it is a few months later, I guess I should write a little post about the wonderful Thanksgiving that we had here at ND.  Flights back home are CRAZY expensive, ao we could only afford to go back once this year, obviously we chose Christmas.  We were bummed about spending a fun holiday away from family, but it actually turned out to be a wonderful time!!

There were two guys from Zack's program who decided to put together a dinner and invite all of the "orphans" over.  We were the only ones who don't drink,  which I thought might be slightly awkward, but it wasn't at all!  Zack and I debated on bringing a non-alcoholic drink for us, but then we decided we would probably just drink water anyways, so we just took our dishes that we had signed up for.  When we got there, someone asked us if we wanted something to drink (meaning alcohol).  Of course we explained that we didn't drink, and that is when on of the hosts pulled out three bottles of Sparkling Apple Cider that he had bought just for us.  I honestly was so blown away by his thoughtfulness and willingness to go out of his way to make us feel welcomed.

The other pretty cool thing that happened was that before we ate, we were all sitting around the table when they saidm, hey, I guess someone should probably say grace before we eat.  Lets see... who is the most spiritual?  Well it was then decided that Zack should say the prayer, or "Grace" over the food.  I guess that I always thought that the way that we pray, as Latter-Day Saints, is the way that everyone else prays as well.  Well after the prayer, it was very cool to me to see how everyone went off about how beautiful of a prayer that was that he offered.  Most of them are used to recited prayers, so hearing someone pray for the specific situation that they were in was pretty cool to them.  After dinner, we went around and said all of the things that we were grateful for, and honestly it made me so grateful that we are out here and that we have the friends and connetions that we do.

Now, of course, our night ended with dinner and clean up while everyone else went out to bars and had what I am sure was a very fun night together.  However, the whole experience, even without going out afterwards was just a really amazing experience, and a holiday that I will forever hold dear in my heart.  Now I just wish that I would have taken some pictures.  Oh well, I will still hold those memories in my heart.

If you would like to learn more about my beliefs on prayer, or anything else to do with the Mormon faith, please visit www.mormon.org

Til next time!

Our Last ND Home Game as Students

Well, its the end of a certain era for us.  We have been there through every single home game for football.  We have endured the heat, the cold, and the rain.  Every single game has been completely worth it.  Here are some pictures that we took from the day.  There are more this game than any other!!  Please forgive me that they are not in order, the computer just loads them that way, nothing I can do about it.

Excited on our way!!

Waiting for the Trumpets for the last time!!

Catching a pass on the field!

Waiting for the big game to begin! Supporting Manti with the flowers!

Sad its all coming to an end

Throwing a pass on the field!

Sealing the season with a kiss!

Blimp... because Zack loves Blimps.  He says you know its big time when there is a blimp

Game faces! In front of the famous tunnel!

Zack Martin with us! 

Zack IN the famous tunnel

Just after the game! 

Waiting for Trumpets again!

Starting the season off right!

Four years ago today, I kissed the lips of the last man I would ever kiss.  As a celebration, I am posting about our first kiss.  Warning: it will be sappy.

Well, to start off, I should make sure that it is known that Zack and I had very different views on our relationship at this point.  Over Thanksgiving break, I told my whole family that I had a man in Utah and that we were pretty serious.  In the mean time, Zack was up in Kaysville going out to his friends weddings.  We had never even kissed, so I don't blame him for taking dates.  In fact, it was my plot to have him go home and go to all those weddings and realize that he loved me and he wanted to be next.

This being said, we hung out pretty much every day just the two of us at his place, and we never even got close enough to kiss. Believe me, I tried.  I didn't lean in and get denied or anything, but I was plenty flirtacious and hinted to him all the time that it was ok.  However, it was to no prevail.  He held strong and didn't kiss me. It killed me.

Then, I knew that he was coming back from break, so I was eagerly watching outside my window for his car to pull up and go into his apartment.  When I saw it, I ran outside and gave him a big hug! (If I could give myself some advice at that point, I would have told myself not to seem so desperate!)  He invited me over to watch the movie Elf, and I gladly accepted!  We got a blanket and watched it with his roommate and his girl at the time.  Under the blanket... wait for it... we held hands.  Yes, I know.  It was a big step.  Well after the movie, we found ourselves all alone on the couch in the front room.  Before I knew it, our lips were locked in a beautiful kiss.  When he pulled away, we both looked at eachother, and I knew it was love.  I cannot tell you how badly I wanted to tell him I loved him right in that moment, but I held it back.  He held my gaze for quite a while, as if he knew what I was thinking, and he was thinking it too.  It is probably in my head, but it felt as though we had made an unspoken promise that we both knew this secret and yet neither of us wanted to tell.  I mean, we hadn't even had our "DTR"  yet, we couldn't love eachother, could we?

Well later on in our relationship, when we were talking about our first kidd, he revealed to me that he did indeed feel that he wanted to say he loved me,  but thought it was just too crazy to be in love so fast.  In deed, it is crazy.  And who knows, maybe it wasn't love just yet.  Maybe it was hormones mixed with hope of a new relationship filled with lots of really great kissing.  That being said, I choose to believe that it was just a little bit of inspiration from our Father in Heaven that we were indeed meant to be.  It still took us a month and a half after this kiss to officially declare our relationship status, but four years ago today, I knew it was the start of something beautiful.  How right I was.  I am on lucky lady!

To celebrate this special anniversary, we will watch Elf tonight and I will hope and pray that I will get a kiss as beautiful as I did four years ago!  And maybe if I'm lucky I might get two kisses.. or maybe even......... three!

It is wonderful and weird and amazing to think about how far our love has come and how dependent we are on eachother. I could not be more grateful for the man that he has become and the love that we share.  Here are some old pictures from those early days of our relationship!

Our first official date! In December

Our first Christmas!  Yes, those are Batman boxers. He loved them. Inside joke.

So in love!

My Birthday dinner 2009!

Our first Valentines Day date. 2009

I had to do it... Politics

Well, with the upcoming election tomorrow, I just had to write a little bit down about my thoughts about politics. I named my post so that anyone who doesn't want to read it doesn't have to.  But here are my thoughts.

This will be my first time voting.  I was only 19 during the last election and honestly care less.  Now I see the problem with that, but then, I honestly just did not care at all.  But with this being my first election, and with a Mormon and a black man running for President, I guess you could say I got curious.  The funny thing is, I REALLY hesitated to give any support to Mitt Romney BECAUSE he is Mormon.  I didn't know anything about Mitt and I just got very nervous that having a Mormon man in the lime light could potentially be really bad for us, especially if he were to pull some idiot moves, which by the way, every President has done.  I just was nervous of what the effects would be for me religiously if he were elected.  This whole mind set of mine did not make my husband too happy.  He is happy that I think for myself, but he is just better, I think at knowing more about what he wants and who each of these men are.  To make a long story short, through much much research and in talking to current Obama fans, people who used to be Obama supporters and now are not, and people who know a lot about Romney, I will cast my vote tomorrow supporting Romney.  Not because he is Mormon, but because, in my humble opinion, he is the man for the job.

That being said, I think it is important for me to say that I think that Obama is a great man who is doing the best with his current knowledge to push our country in the right direction.  I believe that he truly does want the best for our country and is constantly fighting for our good.  I think both men, whether elected or not,will definitely do their best to help our country.  I just happen to agree more with the way Romney is going about it.  I wish that people could disagree more without being so mean or ugly.  And I am saying that about BOTH sides of the ballot.  I have been impressed as well as disappointed by both candidates. 

In the end, I trust God.  It says that on our money, just in case you are wondering.  "In God We Trust".  No matter who gets elected, it is part of a plan made by a loving Heavenly Father who loves us and is molding us for something so much greater than we can imagine now.  We need to do our part to make this country and world to be a better place, and in the end, we just need to trust Him and know that he is taking care of us.

Marriage.

Marriage is a delicate thing. A delicate thing at which, most days, I fail miserably.  A delicate thing at which my husband keeps together for us.  I do not deserve him.  I am moody and get tired rather easily and get headaches and want all of his attention when his attention needs to be elsewhere.  I do my very best to keep up with him,  but by the time I get around to starting laundry or loading or unloading the dishwasher or anything like that, he has beat me to it.  I try to make dinners and the cleanest, neatest wife around, but then I get a little behind, and I feel so overwhelmed.  Who is ALWAYS there to pick up the slack? Zack.  No matter how much he has on his plate, he is there for me and working to make my life better.

I don't want to paint a picture that I am some bad wife or something, because I really do try my very best.  I know that Zack needs me and is grateful for me and everything, I just am so overly grateful for him today that it makes me want to shout it from the roof tops!  I know that I have a TON of work to do in order to be the wife that he deserves, and I definitely try hard, but I am just so grateful for the atonement that makes it possible for me to work up to his level.  I know that he has his own things to work on, but he does too! He works on himself constantly and I am so grateful to have him as a husband.  That is all.