2 years of marriage and a happy new year!

Hi everyone!

It's Ashley again, just updating you about post-Christmas festivities!

First of all, Adam and I celebrated our second anniversary on the 29th! We decided to celebrate it on the 28th because our anniversary landed on a Sunday this year. We had the whole day planned out and...everything went wrong! We wanted to go to the Mt. Timpanogas temple (the Provo temple is closed for renovations) but it was SUPER busy! There were brides everywhere and they said that they were only doing certain ordinances and those that they were doing were really full. So we decided that we would have to delay our temple trip. We also had planned to go up to Salt Lake City to go around downtown and then eat at the Melting Pot. When we got there, traffic and parking were terrible but we finally found a spot. Then we walked four blocks to the restaurant but they said that the next table they could get us was at 9:30 pm!! So we tried another restaurant nearby and it had a line out the door. So we gave up and went back to Provo. We called Olive Garden but they were pretty busy, so we decided to go to Brick Oven which actually turned out well! Too bad we had to waste the gas to travel to SLC but at least we were able to have dinner together at a place a bit nicer than Taco Bell haha :) On our actual anniversary, we spent the evening looking at videos and slideshows from our wedding and then skyping with Adam's sister Sharon and her family which was great :) Although our anniversary had a very rough start, at least it ended well :)

So for New Year's, we had a sleepover and Harry Potter marathon with our friends Steven and Kayla. It has been awesome living right by them which allows for more fun stuff like this. We got lots of junk food and played games and watched Harry Potter all night! A few of us dropped off to sleep (I was the first...) but then we continued watching the rest during New Year's Day :) We made it through all but Deathly Hallows Part 2 which we watched last night. So close! But we just got too tired. It was fun though :)

Yesterday we decided to take some pictures with Steven and Kayla at a park just for fun :) Here are some of the results:

Also, today was Adam's last day working as a teaching assistant for BYU Online :( It is too bad that he won't be able to stay on but hopefully he'll be able to find another job soon. He has already applied to quite a few places and plans to apply to more until he finds something. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers so that he may find a job soon! I will be starting school next week and taking only two classes. I will be taking Clinical Psychology and Stress Psychobiology. Then, I graduate! Hooray!!!

We love you all and hope you all have a wonderful beginning to 2014!

<3 Ashley

Finally Christmas

Hello everyone! It is Adam this time here to give you an update about our crazy lives.  Well, to be fair, it was crazy.  Thanks to the holidays, we are now able to enjoy some spare time, even enough time to get a little bored!

Finals

As always, reporting on finals week is always so much easier after it is over with.  Overall, it was not too bad, but still stressful as always.  Ashley had five finals, plus two take home finals to complete.  She managed to get about one final done a day so that her workload was pretty balanced.  She did pretty well on all her finals and is expecting to get 3 As and 2 A-s which would be tied for her best full semester grade-wise.  She was also kept busy working in the secretary job and in the testing lab.

I also spent a lot of time in the testing lab, but I did not do too much with my other job as I was kept very busy with my own finals.  Overall my finals load was not too bad, I only had two finals and one final presentation, but what kept me really busy was trying to finish my final project in my programming class.  After spending nearly all day Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I still could not get it completely finished by the time it was due.  Unfortunately, that meant I ended up getting a B in that class when I know it could have easily been an A if I had more time to give.  However, I am okay with that as I really did not have much more time to give.  After finishing my last final the morning of Friday, December 20, I was officially done with undergraduate classes!  I am thinking I will be getting 2 As and 2 Bs this semester which will be enough to keep my GPA at a 3.8.

 Finishing Up

Although Ashley will be continuing to attend BYU, she will only be taking two classes so she will be working on campus and she hopes to be able to also work at a residential treatment center as well.  This means that right now she is enjoying her Christmas Break without worrying too much about other matters.

I, on the other hand, am still working on finalizing my ORCA project.  I have to write a final report by New Year's Eve and will need to submit my paper to the journal I would like it published in.  I am also finishing up with my graduate school applications.  Most of what I have left to do is wait for my letters of recommendation to go through but I still need to finish up my University of Utah application.  It, along with continuing to work on the transition for the new BYU Online class, will be keeping me busy this upcoming week.  Of course, I am also looking for a job for the next few months while I am out of school.  I am not terribly picky, but I am hoping to get good pay and maybe have something related to teaching.

Christmas

Christmas this year was a fairly quiet affair for Ashley and I since we decided to remain in Utah over the break.  I wanted to finish up working and training my replacement and I also needed to wrap up my project as expressed above.  We did still get to spend time with Ashley's sister and her family both on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  The whole week was a lot of fun as Ashley got to spend her first official day of break making Christmas goodies with her close friends Kayla and Casey.

The fruits of the day: Caramel, Chex Mix, Scotchies, and Peppermint Oreo Truffles

 I was at work at the time, but there were plenty of treats when I got home.  My favorites were Ashley's Peppermint Oreo Truffles.  They were delicious!  On Christmas Eve, we took it kind of slow during the day until we left with Stephanie, Matt and Anders to visit the lights at Temple Square in Salt Lake City.  It was a little cold but a lot of fun and we got some fun pictures as well.

After that, we headed home for a late dinner of homemade chicken noodle soup and to skype with Ashley's parents for a while.

For Christmas, we started the day early as Ashley and I were both too excited to sleep.  Unlike times as a kid when I was so excited to see what I got, I was so excited to see Ashley open the presents I got her!

Us in front of our little Christmas tree on Christmas Eve

My family has a tradition of always taking a picture of each person with their presents they got at Christmas.  It has been very helpful to remember when I have gotten what gifts and to remind me of every Christmas.  I wanted to keep the tradition going, so we also took pictures of us with our gifts.

We then had an enjoyable evening Skyping family and then hosting Christmas Dinner with Stephanie, Matt, Anders, and Ashley's friend Casey.  It was a delicious meal and we enjoyed watching movies together.

Our Christmas fare

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas season!