Summer of '69

Actually, it was the summer of '11, but '69 is a much cooler title.

I figured I would snag this moment to write since my worn out husband is sleeping and I literally have nothing to do except for the big list of things to do on the fridge! (ha!)

Yes, I haven't written since April. It's been a crazy summer!

My first summer married!

It's been really nice actually. Jeff and I have spent tons of time together because we both worked full time at the same time during the day so we had all afternoons, nights, and weekends available to do wonderful things!

I've learned a lot this summer it seems like. I've learned about myself and Jeff and others.....I don't think I'll ever stop observing people....they fascinate me too much.

Through all of this observing I've concluded that I don't understand people. Ha ha ha ha ha! Like flat out....Jeff and I have had many conversations trying to figure people out and flat out, man, I got nothin'.

It's just interesting that you (yes, you) live your life in your little sphere called 'yourself' and you think your thoughts....you dream your dreams....you judge the judged....and YOU think it's totally cool.

Then you look at how other people are judging, dreaming, thinking....and it's like..."say what?" How could those judgements, dreams, and thoughts possibly be normal? How could they possibly be what another human being would be doing?

(I don't feel this way about ALL people.....just some specific people who have boggled my mind... :) )

My best guess answer to these questions is....agency.

I had a friend ask me about agency one time. He's not LDS and wanted to know how we could be free agents and still be lead by God or still have God's influence in our lives. I think agency is such a beautiful thing and you can really only understand it when you are close to the spirit. The beauty and simplicity of it is explained through the Holy Ghost.

I've learned a lot about agency this summer. I've learned that you can't make people think what you think no matter how hard you believe it. It's kind of like Heavenly Father's plan for us. He gave us agency because He loves us so much and didn't want to say...'here, this is what you should believe because I think it's the best'. It's like I said with the dreaming, thinking, and judging thing....God does all those things in His perfect way and then you look at His children (all of us) and we are TOTALLY not the normal ones when it comes to dreaming, thinking, and judging.

But that's how it's supposed to be isn't it? We are all supposed to be different. If we weren't there wouldn't be a need for forgiveness....there wouldn't need to be a Savior....or the Atonement.

I'm grateful that Heavenly Father made us different just so I could learn to be patient with other people.

Another thing I have learned this summer is that I'm extremely grateful for my family.

My family: Jeff.

I KNOW Heavenly Father wanted me to marry Jeff, because in this world of people who are SO different from me....he is the least different of any guy that I could have ever dreamed of meeting. He and I think so much alike that it makes making decisions easy, it makes living together easy, it makes so many things easy.

Anyways, enough of my babbling....

(I love Jeff)

This summer has had lots of fun things going on!

We were previously living in the basement of this 4-plex, but now we live in the upstairs which has a lot more space and will be good so we can stay here till we both graduate from Weber. (which, since Jeff is getting a Masters won't be for like....4 years, probably!)

I played my harp at my first wedding this summer! I had played for lots of smaller events/parties before, but never a wedding so that was fun. I also played at church and everyone was all impressed (psh...little do they know...ha ha :) )

Jeff and I both got callings this summer. Jeff is the Gospel Doctrine instructor. There are actually two Gospel Doctrine classes in our ward (it's a big ward). Mostly newlyweds go to one....and mostly nearly deads go to the one that Jeff teaches! Ha ha ha! Bless him.....

There is this blind family in our ward that are really cool. Actually, only the dad and one daughter are blind, but they are neat. The dad is one of the stake patriarchs and as one of the bishopbric members said to us "it's neat, because it's like he has a different kind of vision!" Ha ha ha! We love our bishopbric....they are kind of corny, and it's hilarious.

I was called as one of the primary choristers! I trade off with this young married guy every other week. It's been really fun so far....there are tons of kids in our ward. We have about 15 four year olds and 10 three year olds, so it's kind of crazy! I always tell them to sing LOUD, but not SCREAM...and they still have a hard time with that one....

It's amazing though how kids can learn hard songs like Praise to the Man. Those little 4 year olds belt that song out like they are in Motab or something.

Jeff's sister got married last week and her and Alex are moving into the basement apartment where we lived! It'll be fun having them live here, especially since they are family and we don't have to deal with strangers (our old upstairs neighbors were not very friendly, ha ha).

We've had some weird drama with the apartment situation in the past month or so, ha ha ha. It's mostly just funny. Jeff and I have been the only ones living in the 4-plex for the past month and a half, so we were given the job by our landlord (who says "Jeff is the boss of the 4-plex now") to find new people to live here.

So one day we had a couple coming over to look at the two apartments that were empty and about an hour before they came over the lady that used to live in the other upstairs apartment was over there cleaning. Jeff went over and asked if we could show the apartment to some friends of ours and she kind of freaked out, ha ha. I guess the apartment that they moved to had black mold and was making her deathly ill and when our friends came over to see the apartment she met them before we could and told them that they were moving back in and they couldn't see the apartment, ha ha!

Jeff and I were like.....whoa...?

So even though her husband works in Provo now, and their new apartment does NOT have black mold, they are moving back in because they love this place so much. Good luck on that commute!

It's kind of awkward though cause we haven't really been watering their garden that they gave to us.......and after that whole "you can't see our apartment" episode....it's just gonna be a little weird. Ha ha ha!

Jeff took me to Bear Lake as a surprise one weekend this summer! It was super fun! We just went up and stayed overnight and got yummy raspberry shakes! (that's like the only reason to go to Bear Lake...) It was a fun little trip!

Jeff's family shares a cabin with his extended family and we have gone up to it twice this summer....once in May and once at the end of July. We love going up to the cabin! It's up in Midway which is right by Heber City. It's beautiful up there! This last time we took four wheelers and drove around the mountains a bunch.

Other than working and having fun little trips we've mostly just been hanging out with family a bunch this summer. Jeff's family constantly has things going on it seems.....softball games every week, birthday parties, bridal showers, our new nephew being born, Jeff's brother, wife, and three kids from Virginia visited, my sister-in-law's wedding....etc. It's been a pretty full summer!

School starts on Monday and I'm actually really excited! It's exciting because this semester I'm taking almost all education classes.

I start a new job on Wednesday! I'm working at the special ed. preschool for Ogden School District. I'm going to be in a class of mostly autistic kids. The instructor said there is usually about 15 kids per class. It's going to be the teacher, me, and two other staff assistants....and when you look at it that way it's going to be a pretty hectic class! I'm super excited though. I've never really worked with kids this age before (3-5 year olds). And I've definitely never worked with autistic kids this age either. I was a special ed. tutor at an elementary school and high school...and I love kids with disabilities, but these little preschoolers are going to basically be babies still! It'll be a cool experience, I think.

Well, that's really all I have to say for now. I guess I'll probably write again by Christmas, ha ha! Life is good. Life is excellent.

"Face trouble with courage, disappointment with cheerfulness, and triumph with humility."
-President Thomas S. Monson