Lots of catching up to do!

Wow, it's been a long time since I've posted! Well unfortunately I don't have pictures of our new apartment or of our Christmas decorations because we haven't been able to go out and get a tree yet! It's very sad, but I hope in the next few days we might have time to. I was busy the past few days getting the last of my assignments and projects done, but now that's all over (whew)! Though Kurtis has been incredibly busy with finals and projects for the past two nights and that will all be over tomorrow--and then it's on to finals week--yay! Haha
Anyways, here are a few things that we've been up to:

1. In mid-October, I got a new job! I now work for BYU in the Office of IT in the call center where I answer people's questions, book orders for multimedia equipment, or help people with any technology issues they're experiencing. Little known fact, I'm a tech nerd! Not nearly as much as my co-workers, but I sure am increasing my nerdy-ness! Lol. I'm really enjoying it so far.
   
   
2. Tis the wintry Utah season! We now have wonderful sets of thick red draperies on our single-paned windows to block out the cold! (It has snowed quite a few times in the past month, but now the snow is all melted and it actually felt like a nice October day today, I was amazed!) Anyways, it still gets pretty cold in our apartment so we decided to invest in some draperies that would help decrease our gas (heating) bill. To our amazement, when we took the trip over to Bed Bath & Beyond, there were draperies on clearance for $15 each! It must have been fate! Haha
   
   
3. The car brake drum got torn up by a loose part, so brave and valiant Kurtis ventured out into the frigid cold (it was SUPER cold/windy that day) and replaced them! As of now, everything is still working in ship shape! We made it all the way up to Idaho and back for Thanksgiving and it's still good, so hopefully it'll stay that way for a while. It's quite nice that Kurtis knows how to fix a lot of the things with the car! (Thanks Dad!) :)
    
4. Ok this one isn't as exciting, but we finally went to Costco again and bought quite a few things because we were pretty low on food. We were pretty much done and about to go check out when I eyed a 25 lb bag of rice! We really did need rice, we just ran out of the #10 can of rice the Kreys gave us as part of their wedding gift they gave us, so I was like why not? Kurtis was quite opposed to the idea of storing a 25 lb bag of rice mainly because there wasn't really any room for it in our apartment. In short, we bought it anyway (Me: "Babe! Not only is this an amazing price, but it'll last us at least 5 years! We need more food storage anyway!  Kurtis: "Fine...")--actually I don't think he gave up that easily but I wasn't going to take no for an answer. I mean, a 25 lb bag of rice for $8! Can it get any better than that? No my friend, I tell you it cannot!
   
   
5. I finally framed our wedding picture!! It's one that Cindy took (the same one that's on the right side of this page under the heading that says, "Our Greatest Day") and it's been deserving a nice frame, so finally, as I was perusing around Bed Bath and Beyond I came across a really nice frame and it compliments the portrait very well. I'm excited to hang it up!
   
   I'm really going to try to post more often, I promise! We have been really busy, but at the same time I haven't really felt like posting because nothing that interesting has been happening with us lately; just work and classes. Though Teresa reminded me that we need to treasure the experiences we're having no matter how mundane they may seem. We need to find meaning and make the most of every day. I was also reminded of this little nugget of truth today in my family finance class (of all places), my professor's last message to us was that we need to "live well". Living well doesn't mean to have a lot of material things, nor does it have much to do with physical possessions. Living well has to do with consecrating our time and efforts for building up others and the Kingdom of God. Living well has to do with finding meaning in the seemingly mundane and repetitious things in our lives--and when we are able to change our perspective to finding meaning and joy in such things, we will have a greater capability to endure well with joy and to learn and grow as we prepare ourselves for being in the presence of our Heavenly Father once again. That is now my hope and goal--to always find joy in the journey!