Back to School!

It feels so good to be back at school! Our first day was yesterday and even though it was tiring it was fun to be back in a classroom. Ike and I are both taking a full load of classes. I can tell my favorite class is going to be floral design and Ike loves his geology class. We are both enjoying BYU and it is wierd to see all the freshman around because they look so young! We had my aunt Becky and my cousin Chloe stay with us for a few days last week while Chloe was getting ready to start BYU for the first time. It made me remember what it was like when I started BYU. I lived in Deseret Towers that no longer exist. My dad drove me out and it was an awesome experience. We ate at the Subway right across from DT my first night here and went to K-Mart to get some things for my dorm. It was really a great experience. I remember there was also a snow storm coming in the night we showed up! The bakery is doing well but it is getting more and more stressfull as we get closer to the busy holiday season. Even though it is only the second day of school, Ike and I have been running into people non-stop from the past few years! It has been so exciting. The book store is absolutly crammed with people and the lines are insane. Ike will be starting intermural flag football in a few weeks and that is somthing he will have a lot of fun doing. We have made new plans for Christmas. We are going to go to Ohio and New Hampshire! We will start out in Ohio and visit my family then spend the second half of the break in New Hampshire with Ike's family. It will be so much fun. Jessica and Regan are moving to Germany this very soon and it is sad but exciting. I think it will be an awesome adventure. Oh, my dad got to come visit us for the weekend this past Saturday and Sunday and it was Awesome!!! It was so good to see him. I am so glad that he came to visit. My mom will be visiting him in Colorado this Thursday and then they are going back to Ohio by next Tuesday. It should be fun for them. Love you All!

April

Two weeks to school and a driving lesson!

So school starts in two weeks and Ike and I are really excited. We are both taking a full load of credits but I am excited because I am taking some classes that I have been wanting to take since my freshman year! I am super excited about floral design. It has always filled up or not worked with my schedule in the past. Ike gave me my first stick shift driving lesson today. I won't lie, it wasn't very pretty. I think I did better than I thought I would. I can reverse the car OK but having it move forward to begin with was a little harder. Clutches are hard. By the end of the lesson I wasn't stalling it every time which was good. Ike was very nice and didn't hassle me about ruining the gears( At one point I tried to shift to second but I forgot to push in the clutch and it wasn't pretty.) and I kept myself from becoming extremely frustrated and leaving the car. So overall it was a success. I think it will definitely be a while before I am road ready. Right now I feel more comfortable just dealing with flat parking lots. I will keep working at it though and hopefully I will get the hang of it at some point. I am excited that we have a car to begin with. Life for us has been pretty much work lately. This Thursday I am helping the Young Women sew school bags for the Church's humanitarian program and that should be fun. Ike is still ward clerk and doing a wonderful job. We miss you all!!! Love ya!

1 Year Anniversary just around the bend.

Well Ike and I have almost made it to our 1 year anniversary. We have less than 48 hours now and I am excited. On Sunday night the girls in our stake got their girls camp certificates and it made me think that they should give out certificates for marriage. I would be receiving my first year certificate. Instead of learning to tie a square knot or light a fire without matches I learned how to balance work, school, family, and marriage all at once. I learned how not to think so much about myself and more about how to think about us. I learned how to make sacrifices that I never realized I would make and I learned how to be thankful for blessing beyond belief. I think I have earned my first year's certificate. Ike and I made it through last week which was probably one of the busiest weeks of my summer. It was just a lot of errands and work mixed all together with hardly any sleep. On Friday night I went up to Girl's Camp for Bishop's night to see the girls and it was really fun. The Bishopric got us pizza and we had root beer floats. I had a really great time with the Young Women in the ward. They are all really awesome. I can't wait for school to start. I will be happy when Ike and I finally move from Provo. We both are really hoping to go somewhere in the east coast. I am really sad/excited that Jessica and Regan are leaving so soon. I have a hard time when I see pictures of my whole family together on facebook and they are all together without me. I wish we lived closer. I am really excited for Ben and Katie though. They told us today that they were selected by a birth mother and will be adopting a baby in October. I am so excited for them. Anyway this was a really all over there post. I hope everyone is enjoying their summers and I can't wait for the next time Ike and I get to visit you all.

NEW CAR FOR THE CARRS!

WE DID IT! WE FINALLY BOUGHT OUR FIRST CAR!
Well Ike and I are pretty proud of ourselves! We have been working like crazy all summer and this is the first big thing we can show for it. We bought our first car today. We actually started looking at this car over a month ago. At first I actually didn't like it but I absolutely love it now! I think we should name it Hans because it originally came from Germany. I am so excited. It is a 1999 Volkswagen Golf. Not the most fancy car but I am in love with it. Now we are really going to have to watch what we eat because I think walking everywhere was the only thing keeping us thin! This has been the biggest purchase we have made as a couple and it was exciting. Now I just have to learn to drive a stick! I think I will be OK. Love to you all!!!

Oregon Trip!

Oregon was AWESOME!!! Ike and I had an amazing time in Oregon. We got to got to tons of cool places. We went to the coast and saw some beautiful waterfalls. Ike got to go to Idaho and Oregon for the first time and that was fun. We stayed with Grandma Judy and Grandpa Rich in their house for some of the trip and the other part we stayed in an awesome cabin near diamond lake. It was really fun to see all the cousins and relatives that we hadn't seen in a while. The trip was over too soon really and it was sad because Jess and Regan leave for Germany in less than a month. Jared is gone from Provo for now so it is just Ike and I holding down the BYU fort. It is weird to have Abe, Ashley and Jared gone but we are working to keep ourselves busy so its not so bad. It has been HOT HOT HOT here and we don't have air-conditioning. we have been using less and less blankets which is good because it saves on laundry. Ike and I are both looking forward to school starting. I am especially excited because this is my last year!!! Overall we are working hard and staying happy. We miss all you guys and can't wait for the next time we get to see some family. Our one year anniversary is coming up soon and we are both going to get work off so we can spend the entire day together. We think we might see the movie Up. It sounds good and everyone we have talked to has loved it. It would be fun to go see a movie in the theater. It is sooo expensive here to see a movie in the normal theater. Overall we are doing awesome and loving life. We love you all!!! Here are some highlights from the vacation!

Work Work Work

So Ike and I have busy work schedules. Usually I leave for work just as Ike is getting home and then I get home around the time he has left for his second job. Since we both work two jobs and the hours go from early in the morning to very late at night most of the time we spend together is spent sleeping. I have a new job doing custodial in the Wilkinson Center from 10pm to 2am. It is a little tiring but my body is adjusting. We are glad we are working this way now though. It helps us stay out of debt and save for the future. I can see us telling our kids about this time in our lives when they are our age now.

This is our home!

For those of you who have not seen where we live, here are a few pictures to give you and idea of what our apartment is like. We moved in a few days before school started last august. It has one bedroom and is a good size for the two of us.



We were originally looking for a studio apartment in the complex we are in but when the one we wanted was sold, we saw our apartment and decided to go for it. We have the only one in the complex with the wood paneled walls. All the other apartments have white cinder block walls.



We will probably be living here until Ike graduates so it will be about another two years. We are happy with it though. We are really close to campus and work and we love our ward.