Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Year in Review 2013-2014

For a recap, last anniversary we went to Salt Lake City and spent the weekend. We went mini golfing, to an RSL soccer game and saw Star Trek: Into Darkness, stayed in a hotel near Temple Square, went shopping, and had a great time! Since our last anniversary we’ve had another great year! We’ve changed jobs, had school, and haven’t had to move, but I’ll get into all of that. Don't have as many pictures as I would like but there are some (and some random ones).

Last summer one of the things we did was have a mission reunion. Our mission president and his wife knew they couldn't come to Utah for the October general conference, so they decided to have an early mission reunion. We went down to a park in Lehi, had pizza, and saw a lot of our mission buddies.

Not long after the mission reunion we went on a road trip to San Diego! Trevor’s favorite mission companion, Elder Jacobsen, was getting married so we drove down with another mission buddy (Nitta) to be at it. We spent a lot of time with their families, went to the sealing at the San Diego Temple, went to the beach and got really sunburned, and went to the San Diego Zoo. We also found a restaurant called The Kebab Shop and had kebab before driving back to Utah – kebab was a favorite in Croatia and we were so psyched to have it (it was a little different, but still pretty good).



(At the zoo we saw this cheetah super up-close because it was on a walk with its dog buddy.)


For Independence Day we went up to Idaho Falls. We both had the day off so we wanted to go to see family and enjoy the barbecue, but Trevor had work early the next morning so we had to leave before the fireworks started. On our drive home there were fireworks in all of the cities that we passed and we saw the finale in Malad which was actually really fun! It was an evening of fireworks!

In July Trevor started a new job at the Space Dynamics Lab here in Logan, it’s a research center related to Trevor’s old major electrical engineering. This job plus some classes in the fall helped Trevor realize he didn’t want to be in electrical engineering and in January switched his major to Technology and Engineering Education. But he still works at the space lab and we were really grateful that he got a job there! He’s getting paid decently and is able to work full-time in the summer.

July was also the Laws Family Reunion! It was so much fun to see everyone and spend time chatting, playing games, and having a blast! The only pictures that we took were at the zoo and this one that I took of our family craft project.

We went to another wedding at the beginning of August, this time for Trevor’s best friend from high school in the Brigham City Temple. Not as long of a trip this time! At the end of August we went to Salt Lake for an NF Walk with Kelsey and family. Also in August I quit my job at Conservice, where I worked for over a year and a half, so that I could go to school full-time! Luckily I was able to get a part-time work study job on campus. I enjoyed the fall semester – had three political science classes and two history classes and ended with a 3.93 GPA. Trevor didn’t have as good a time (hence partly why he changed majors) but he still did well in his classes. We took a Teachings of John institute class together on Wednesday nights and I also took a family history class during the day. My family history class was really wonderful, lots of fun, and I got lots of family names to do temple work for. We’ve been once to do baptisms for the dead and will be going back soon to do more.

Halloween was a bit of a bummer. Trevor had a flight at work down in Tooele so he was gone all day long. I stayed at home to man the candy for the trick-or-treaters but unfortunately nobody came to our house! So all-in-all it was a boring day, but here are my decorations for it (sorry it's sideways).

Trevor had work and class on his birthday plus he missed the shuttle from campus back to his car so he got home a little late. It was voting day so we went to City Hall to vote, we had seen a mayoral debate the week before and wanted to be good citizens, I guess. Trevor’s candidate won. Since we were busy all that day we actually had birthday dinner the Saturday before at Panda Express. Plus the presents I had ordered weren’t in yet, so that was a bummer but we got them later!

For Thanksgiving we went to Idaho Falls again and had a great time! Lots of family, food, and shopping. We went Black Friday shopping mid-morning and got some great deals on our Christmas presents.

In December one of my adventures was helping with the Relief Society Christmas activity. I can’t remember exactly when I got called to the activities committee but this was the first big activity that I helped plan and execute. Somehow I ended up in charge of the ham! It all worked out, but I was super worried about it to begin with. At Thanksgiving Mom took me to check out hams so that I could get an idea of what I should buy and then I shopped around a little bit, got a glaze recipe online, and I think everything tasted good! I probably should have cut it in half because the slices were pretty big but otherwise I think it was okay.
The break from school was really great and because my job is on-campus I didn’t have to work at all during the break. For Christmas we went to the Browns and spent a couple of days there. We had missionary calls, one Christmas Eve and one on Christmas, so there was a lot of skyping. We made gingerbread houses and hung out with everyone there.

One of my Christmas presents was a sewing machine and I really wanted to make something cute so we went to Jo-Anns and I picked out some patterns and fabric. Unfortunately I had no idea how to do any of it! So we made a trip to Idaho Falls so that Mom could help me out, I blogged a little bit about it in January. I have not finished the dress yet, but happily I made some baby blankets since then which has been a ton of fun! Mostly I made them during Spring Break, which I mention later as well.

For New Year’s Eve we went to Jesse and Justin’s again for games and had a lot of fun. Annie and Jake were there, too. We played a couple of different games and had snacks of course. Then watched the ball drop on TV.

School started back up much too soon. Trevor started classes in his new major which were really hands-on and he did really well in them. I had four political science classes and one history class this time and ended up the semester with a 4.0!

The weekend before my birthday we went up to Idaho Falls because we had a three-day weekend and wanted to celebrate with Michael and Laura, too. On my birthday I got a long-debated haircut, just meaning that I had gone back and forth on whether I should get one, Trevor didn’t care what I decided either way. Trevor gave me Legend of Korra so we had a marathon and enjoyed our day. Also at the end of January we got a new phone, which has been fun to have a smart phone. Most often we use it when we’re watching movies and can’t remember what else an actor has been in.

February had a few random and fun activities. Obviously we had Valentine’s Day. Trevor and I both had work and school so our Valentine’s Day wasn’t anything over-the-top. We went grocery shopping because we didn’t have any food at home, but then made a nice meal and Trevor got me roses and chocolates that were waiting at home. We also went to a high school robot competition in February, for one of Trevor’s classes. It was really cool, but I only stayed for about half of it because I wasn’t as interested. There were teams that had to program their robots to move around of course, pick up and throw balls, and some robots could lift themselves up on a bar. Lastly in February we went to Jesse and Justin’s for their annual Academy Awards party and had a blast! We were disappointed because we weren’t able to guess as well on the games as we had the year before, but it was still fun.

For Spring Break Trevor worked and I had it off again, since I can’t work during student breaks for my work study job. We loaded up on movie rentals from the library, I had homework goals that I set for myself so that I could get some things done, and I made baby blankets! One of my mission companions is expecting a baby boy, so I made a blanket for her and then I had so much fun with that I made two blankets for us while watching some Doctor Who! April was busy with school work and finals at the end of it. There were some classes that I was very happy to say goodbye to!

May was kind of a crazy month because I was doing 8 credits during the “Maymester” and Trevor was working full-time and doing an online class. Luckily the classes I signed up for were mostly easy so the work load was manageable. I had a Dress and Humanity class which fulfilled a depth requirement, a first aid class, and a history class for my history minor. Surprisingly the history class, which was the lowest level class, was the hardest. I griped and griped about it but it ended on a good note. Trevor’s online class is still going and is actually pretty hard, there are a lot of videos and readings, so we spent a lot of time on campus working on homework. Only a few weeks left of it though.
(This is a project from my dress class, we had to make something out of unconventional materials, a guy in my group had a bunch of movie posters, so that's what we used.)

And finally about our two-year anniversary! About a couple months before it we were like, whoa our anniversary is coming up we should plan something for it. And then it was like, whoa our anniversary is in a month we should plan something for it. Ultimately we’ve been so busy with ending spring semester and doing summer classes that our plans stayed simple. We decided to stay in Logan so we could relax.

(Before we started the hike)
(During the hike)

We went on a hike in the morning to the Wind Caves, which was not at all restful! I about died on the way up just because of the incline. It was beautiful and wonderful to be able to be outdoors and of course on the way down it was much easier! It was so much fun to get outside and be in the sun. It was Memorial Day so we wanted to get an early start, which was a great idea because on our way down we passed tons and tons of people that were going up.
(At the top)
(The wind caves from a distance, we explored once we got to the top, so this is from a trail we followed.)
(At the bottom! Trevor collected a wand and a gun, he got the idea from Jude and Ciaran I think.)

That afternoon we ate a quick lunch at McDonald’s and then went to the movie Divergent. We haven’t read the books but we thought it was a good movie. There were a few parts that we didn’t fully understand but we got the gist of the story and I thought it was a well-made movie. We wanted to go get some Aggie ice-cream but the line was out the door to the parking lot, so right when we pulled in we said no way are we waiting in line and went home and ate our own ice-cream. Then we hung out that evening, I cleaned up my pots and planted the flowers that were my anniversary gift, watched a movie we got from the library and played games.

Two years have come and gone which is crazy, but it has been wonderful! Last fall a boy in my class asked me about being married and said “Done with the first year, that’s the worst right?” And I was like, No way! It has been so great to be married to Trevor and we get along so well, we never fight even though we disagree on some things, and it has been a fantastic two years!