Start of Winter semester

Hey everyone,
I thought I should get this post out before things get too hectic. The new semester has begun! We are excited to keep school going but I can't say I won't be looking forward to springtime. It has been FREEZING here!!! I hear people back in Washington complain about 30 degree whether and right now, that would be downright balmy here in Utah. It has lately been having highs in the teens and has been getting to negatives for the lows. Doesn't make it very fun to walk to campus from the Marriot center parking lot. I am looking forward to having blue skies and not wearing five layers. But that will come later.

Anyways, school will definitely be just as stressful as last semester. I am taking TMA 201 (the second half of theatre history because I took the first half fall semester), Personality, Psychology of Gender, Intro to Social Work, and a beginning piano class. TMA is still not exactly my favorite class but at least it is the same teacher and class structure as last semester so that should make it better. Personality will be...enlightening? I'm not sure of word for it (or maybe just a positive one). It is basically an intense theory course (with bits of philosophy thrown in there). The readings are long and difficult and the whole time I wonder how someone could think so much about something. We'll have to see how that one goes. Psychology of gender has so far been quite interesting and fun. The professor is quite entertaining having grown up in Japan and giving her thoughts on American gender stereotypes. I will have to do (yet again) a group research project for that class. I'm getting pretty sick of those. As for Intro to Social Work, I am excited for because it will help prepare me for the field and getting my Master's in Social Work. For this class, I will be needing to volunteer again. I am thinking of continuing to work in the Children's Unit at the Utah State Hospital since I enjoyed it so much. Hopefully this time I can work a little more with the social workers there. And lastly, my piano class has been pretty easy since they are learning how to read music which I already know how to do. I'm sure it will get more difficult but I look forward to eventually being able to play some hymns :) I will be continuing to work in both the Lab and as a secretary. All in all, a very busy semester.

Adam will also be very busy this semester. He is taking the online D&C course that I took last semester which is giving him a great scripture study guide. He is also taking two history courses, England since 1689 and US history 1890-1945. Both are challenging but he loves history so it makes it good. He is also continuing Spanish which he absolutely hates but on the bright side, he only has one more class after this one! His last class is a capstone class about European Gothicism which I am excited about because he gets to read Northanger Abbey! He is still working as a TA for the online course of Humanities 202 and he actually gets to work in the lab as well which he is very happy about. He will probably give more of his thoughts on this semester in further posts.

Well that's all for now!
<3 Ashley
P.S. We are still working in the temple for this semester :)

One Year

Last post was about the first half of our Christmas break.  This post is about the main event of the second half, our anniversary celebration.  On the twenty-seventh, Ashley, my family and I all went down to the Denver Temple to do a session.  It happened to be the one year anniversary of when Ashley went through the temple for her own endowments.  It was a wonderful experience and it brought back a lot of memories.  It also happened to be the first time that Ashley had been in the Denver Temple.

Ashley and I outside the Denver Temple

The rest of our festivities took place on the 28th and the 29th.  We booked a hotel in downtown Denver for the night of the 28th since we had decided that staying over into Sunday morning would be challenging to get to church.  Because of that, we decided to do more of our celebrations on Friday, even though it was not the actual day of our anniversary.

We went into downtown Denver in the early afternoon and immediately visited the Molly Brown House.  We had already taken the tour, but Ashley really likes visiting the house and I wanted to go again in preparation for a paper I am planning to write (more on the paper in a later blog post, probably in a few months).  It was another wonderful experience and I learned a lot more than I did the first time. 

Us at the Molly Brown House

 Ashley in front of the Molly Brown House

Afterwards, we decided to drop off our stuff at the hotel before going exploring the 16th Street Mall, a outdoor mall (that spans the length of the street).  We had selected a hotel that was right on 16th Street and in an older building that had been turned into the hotel.

 

 We got into the hotel and checked in and got our keys.  When we entered our room, we were surprised at how nice it looked.  Later on, we were looking at the website, when we realized that the hotel had upgraded us to their Presidential Suite (the best room in the hotel) for free!  We were so excited.  It was spacious, on the top floor, and had a balcony where we were able to enjoy the mountains, the skyline, and the buildings lit up for Christmas.

We had a great night.  It was quite cold out that day, so we didn't explore as much as we originally had planned, but we still had fun wandering down 16th Street, eating at the Hard Rock Cafe, getting hot chocolate together.  It was a wonderful night!

The next morning, we went out again to have breakfast at a bakery, which was really delicious, then packed up and left our hotel.  Instead of heading home, though, we went back to the Denver Temple to do sealings as a way to commemorate our own sealing exactly one year before.  It was a wonderful experience.

We are so grateful for our marriage.  I know that for myself, it has been the best year in my life.  I have grown so much and had so much joy in my life.

Ashley's notes: Incredible weekend!! This anniversary celebration was more amazing than I could have imagined. The hotel was so cool and Denver was so beautiful. The best part was being in the temple (albeit different temple) and remembering looking at Adam and promising forever (I know this sounds cheesy but I'm just being honest). This past year, and almost two years has been amazing because of Adam. He is seriously a better husband than I could've imagined existed outside of romantic comedies. I am looking forward to many more years :)

Love,

Us