I'm Mormon, I know it, I live it, I love it!

I was raised in an LDS family, and growing up the whole family attended church regularly. However, over time the majority of my immediate family no longer would consider themselves "Mormon". Because of this, I often found myself in situations agreeing with them or not standing up for what I believe. Not because I was ashamed, but because I didn't want to have to defend myself against anything they might say. I bet that if you ask my family or some of my friends to describe me they might use the words "goody-goody", "safe", or "churchy".  I'm okay with that, there are much worse words that people could use to describe me.

I go to church every Sunday, and I enjoy it. I like learning about the gospel, and I like the principles that are taught. As mormons, we are expected to keep high standards, and I like keeping these standards. I'm not saying that I haven't ever broken a rule or two, but nobody is perfect. When I do something that isn't within church standards I don't feel guilty because I was taught not to do it. I feel guilty because it isn't aligned with who I am and who I want to be. 

I wake up every day and make a conscious decision to live my life the way that I want to live it. I don't live this way because I think I am better than anyone else or because I want people to think that I am just a really great person. I choose to live this way because this is who I am. I wouldn't feel comfortable living the way some of my family members are. I don't look down on the decisions my family has made and the way they conduct there life. It just isn't who I am. I know who I am and what I stand for. I think that is more than a lot of people can say. 

I am grateful for the influence that the church has had in my life. I have a testimony of the gospel and I am grateful for the understanding that it has given me. I know that Families can be together forever. I know that the Book of Mormon is true. I know that by following the standards outlined for members of the church I am becoming the person that I want to be. 

I'm Mormon, I know it, I live it, I love it.  

School... a thing of the past.

I graduated on August 10th, 2012. It's crazy to think that I don't have to straight from work to school every day. I have enjoyed the past couple of months being able to hang out and not have to worry about tests coming up or homework that is due.

Almost my whole family came to my graduation. It was great having everyone together in one place. I am so blessed to have both my husband's family and my family be so supportive of me. I love you all!

Jason, Me, Jocelynn(baby Rayne in her belly)

Mom and Me

Connor, Bella, Anna, Me Chase, Dad, Cat

Steve, Heidi, Dean, Lori, Me, Scott

One year down (plus 2 months), forever to go

So what if this blog post is a little late. Scott and I celebrated our one year anniversary back at the beginning of August. I still can't believe that it has already been a year and we are a couple months past the one year mark.

When we got married everyone said that it would be a big adjustment getting used to being married. For me and Scott it was pretty easy because we NEVER saw each other. You think I'm kidding, but there were weeks that we didn't see each other outside of me saying bye in the morning when I left for work and him waking me up to say he was home from work. I worked from 2am - 10am 5 days a week, and then went straight to school. He went to school and then he worked 2pm - 10pm. Which meant that I was in bed before he got home, and he was asleep when I left for work. Occasionally we got to study in the library together or one of us would have the day off. It all worked out though, we're as happy as can be.

What did we do to celebrate the fact that we reached the 1 year mark?

First we went to dinner at Red Lobster. Normally we go to PF Changs, but not this time. I had lobster for the first time, and it wasn't really what it's all cracked up to be. It was good, but I wouldn't say it was amazing or anything. 

Then we went to Fat Cats for a couple rounds of bowling. (Are they rounds when you are referring to bowling?) 

We even got matching shoes

He creamed me the first game so I didn't feel like it was a picture worthy score. I didn't do so bad the second time... 

Yeah, I got three strikes in the last frame, no big deal. 

Then we went home to enjoy a wonderful bit of this...

Frost bitten wedding cake.

 It didn't look as bad once it was cut. 

Scott kept asking if I was serious that we were each going to eat a bite of a year old cake. It was just one bite, and it actually kept pretty well in the freezer. 

August 6th also just so happened to be my last day of classes at BYU, as well as the first day of my normal 8-5 job. No more waking up at 1 in the morning!

Scott is amazing, and I am so happy to be married to him. He is the most patient person ever (he had to be when I was only getting a few hours of sleep at night). He is thoughtful, funny, always willing to help, smart, motivated, attractive, honest, hardworking, respectful, silly, confident, sexy, understanding, considerate, selfless, kissable, and best of all he is MINE. I love him so much and it has been great being married to him. I look forward to spending forever with him. 

We moved...

So this is probably old news to anybody who knows me, but Scott and I moved.

After Scott and I got married we moved into my mom's basement. It was great, we had our own space, I got to do all of the decorating and we didn't have to pay very much rent. My mom had told me that she was planning to go through and get the house ready so we could put a sign out front to see if we could sell it in three or four months. About a month after she started this project we were told that we had a buyer and a month to move out.

It couldn't have come at a worse time. I was trying to get all of my classes finished so I could graduate, and Scott was trying to get all of his stuff together for his dental school applications. We were just busy... and clock was ticking. This may or may not surprise you, but I put of getting all of my stuff packed up until the last minute possible. What I didn't realize was how much stuff someone could collect up until college. I had my room upstairs which contained all of my per-college life, and then the things I had collected since starting college that I kept in the basement.

It was weird to think that I no longer had a home. The place that I lived for half of my life wouldn't be a  place I would ever visit again. I think that half of everything I owned ended up going down to the nearest DI. Yet I still had plenty of boxes to take with me, and Scott still thinks I have too much stuff.

Well, we moved into Scott's parent's basement which has been great. It has been nice having a kitchen in the basement (although we still haven't used it much), their basement has a lot more space and we have a bigger bedroom. Rent is even cheaper here too. Moving was a pain, but now that it's all said and done it was definitely worth it.

The last day of the move we were packing up our bed and frame and we found this behind our bed.

We painted it on the wall when we painted the trim in our bedroom. I totally forgot that it was there until our bed was moved out of our room. I love Scott, and he was so excited when I told him I didn't care if he painted on the wall.

A Gift

Has it already been a month since my last post? I am happy to say that I am almost half way done with my  Spring term at BYU. After this term I will only have the few independent study classes and a 1 credit lab before I graduate. I am excited that I can finally start to see the end of the tunnel.

On mothers day Scott surprised me with a gift. You may be thinking to yourself, "I didn't know that Amber was a mom." I'm not.  But Scott's dad told him that Mother's Day is for your wife too, even if they aren't a mother. I have wanted one of these for a LONG time... now I just need to learn how to use it!

Light at the End of the Tunnel

In two weeks from today I will be done with finals for Winter 2012. I know that there is only one week of  classes, but I am so ready for for these 17 credits to be done and over with. Once this semester is over I am one step closer to graduation. I finally feel like there is a light at the end of this tunnel.

Even though I am extremely excited that graduation is only a few months away, I am also a little scared. Almost my entire life one of the words that has been used to describe me is "student." In a few months that will no longer be something that defines my life. What's next? What happens when you get into the real world? In classes my teachers always say things like,"Being in college isn't like being in the real world." Am I an exception to this comment? Am I already living in the "real world"? The way I see it I will be doing the same 40 hours of work every week, but it isn't going to be followed by hours of school and homework. I know that I don't have an amazing job, and I know that I hardly make more than someone working straight out of high school, but I feel like I know what is required in life.

In high school I was always told that you won't earn very much money unless you have a college degree. Now that I am getting closer to having a degree I don't know if it will really change anything other than my resume. I chose exercise science because that is what I love, but I can't really think of a career that I could go into with just by bachelor degree. Which means, even after I graduate in August I will still be working my job at Ancestry making the same thing I would if I didn't have a degree. I will probably look to see what options are available, but by the time I graduate I will only be in Utah for another year, and then Scott and I will be off to dental school (At least that's the plan). So is it worth even looking for a new job if I only have a year left in Utah?

Life only gets busier...

Do you ever just sit and think about all of the things that you need to get done? This past 2 weeks that is all I pretty much all I can think about. Since working the graveyard shift, and adjusting to only four or so hours of sleep a night I learned to fall asleep and stay asleep like a champ. The last couple weeks have been different for me. I lie in bed creating mental lists of all the things that I would like to accomplish the next day. By the time I am finished with work and school the next day I am so exhausted from only the two or three hours of sleep I got that the only thing I ever have enough energy to do is sleep. Then when I wake up from my little nap I feel overwhelmed by the list of things I wanted to do, which I wouldn’t have had time to complete even if I hadn’t wasted my time taking a nap. When does this feeling ever go away? Will it? Time and time again people tell me that life only gets busier. I hope for sanity that my life and my stresses only become different, not busier. If my life gets any busier it might actually kill me.

I am pretty busy with the 17 credits I am taking this semester. Physiology and Anatomy are some of my favorite classes that I have taken so far at BYU. This semester the classes I am taking have a lot to do with the body, and how it functions. It’s these classes that I feel like I am actually getting information that is applicable to my life. It makes such a huge difference taking classes that I enjoy, even if I do struggle to keep up with all of the homework.

Work is… a little frustrating sometimes. I really like what I do right now, but any time someone new comes in as manager things change. The flow of how things work gets disrupted and a new way of doing things has to be learned. I did get some added responsibility when things got switched up, but this adjusting period has been difficult for me. Somehow work feels more tiring then it ever used to be, it might have something to do with getting further into my semester and my lack of sleep, but it has just been hard.

Scott is doing great, although we hardly get to spend time together. He has started to prepare for the DAT (Dental Admissions Test), which he is scheduled to take in May. A couple days a week he goes to an actual prep class and he studies on his own other nights. Then in June we will be going through the application process. I feel like I have been in school for longer than I can handle, he still has a year at BYU followed by four more for dental school. He’s a trooper, that’s for sure.

Life is really good right now, tiring maybe, but I have no real complaints. I'm hoping to blog a little more regularly again. The fun day to day stuff is more interesting than the "update on the last 6 months" stuff is.