So long, 2011.

I feel like I should do a post about 2011, but I have no clue how to even write about it. It was probably the craziest, most stressful, most random, and absolutely the best year of my life to date.

I left California for good and moved out on my own for the first time after applying to the University of Idaho on a whim because I met Sterling in Moscow the fall before and spent probably close to every hour of the previous four months talking to him in some form.

Wait, four months and I moved to a different state for this guy? When I was 17, I got homesick while I was a summer camp counselor in Tahoe for a week. I was never big on leaving my comfort zone. So how did I manage to just pick up and move my entire life all of a sudden like that? Without ever even thinking twice about it and never regretting it even a teeny bit?

No clue. I don't know what I was thinking. But something made me do it. I don't remember being scared even, really. I guess that all just proves that it really was the right thing to do.

So thank you, 2011, for giving me, um, for a lack of a better word...balls. Thank you for getting me out of my comfort zone, for getting me out of the trashy black hole that is Placerville, thank you for making me come to the wonderful state of Idaho, thank you for my lovely, wonderful husband, and thank you for teaching me oh so very very much.

2012, you've got a lot of work to do.

recap.

I think I've put off blogging now for so long that I don't even know where to start.

We made the 800 mile drive to California and spent Christmas with my family. The weather was so nice the entire time! It didn't really feel like Christmas though, since we usually have at least some rain or cold weather, if not snow. We went into Sacramento with my sister one day and had sushi at Arigato, my favorite place. It was amazingly delicious, as always. Sterling even loved it. Then we finished up last-minute shopping at the mall, which was incredibly crowded and crazy. After being in Idaho for the past year, California overwhelms me a bit at times. And it's weird how diverse it is!

Christmas was good, we got lots of good stuff. I'm excited to put our new fitted sheets on our bed, Sterling tore off our old ones every night in his sleep. So we spent a week in California in all. It was sad leaving. What made it so hard this time is the fact that I have no idea when the next time I'll see my family is.

Then we made our way to Grace to see the Stoddard side. Have I mentioned how much I love Southeast Idaho? We took a new way to Grace this time, and we definitely liked it better. We also stopped in Ogden on our way back to use a giftcard at a restaurant that we got for the wedding. It was for $100, so we went a little crazy. Hellllo lobster, prime rib, and bacon-wrapped tenderloins! Pretty delicious.

We had our Stoddard Christmas party on Thursday night. Sterling got a Dallas Cowboys knit hat and argyle socks that he just loves, and I got a good new cookbook. And I pretty much owned the Candy Bar Game, I must say. In the very last second of the game, I won back the much-desired Idaho Spud Bar. Oh yes :)

We went over to Sander's Furniture in Soda Springs the other day to use the money that people gave us there for the wedding. We had over $1000 in credit there! So we picked out a nice new bed and a dresser. We still have a couple hundred dollars left to spend sometime down the road when we want to buy a nice dining room table or something. We're leaving the bed and dresser down here for now though, since we're only going to be in Moscow for another 5 months or so. I can't wait to use it! 

Last night, we went down to Dayton to view the pictures from our wedding. We're really happy with them! We picked out over 100 that our photographer will make prints of for us. I'm excited to see them and put together a nice photo album. 

So here we are now, we'll stay in Grace until Tuesday, then we'll head back up to Moscow in time for my birthday on Thursday. We'll be coming back to Grace again at the end of January because Sterling's sister is leaving for her mission. 

Tonight is New Year's, but we're just going to be an old married couple and hang out at home. I will make sure we stay up until midnight though, at least!

another P.S.

Our friend posted pictures from the White Elephant party I mentioned a few posts back, and I have to share one. I just absolutely love it. Too funny :)

all the foods of Christmas.

Every year, my family hosts Christmas Eve at my parents' house with most of my mom's side. And every Christmas Eve for the last, oh, probably 8 years or so, I've been in charge of the desserts. That is my forte.  Usually cookies, some fudge, and either a cheesecake or layer cake of some new flavor I decide to experiment with.

I'm pretty excited this year, mostly because I've barely baked at all this semester. All I've made really are my favorite cookie recipe that I made all the time. So I'm looking forward to experimenting with new recipes. Red velvet cheesecake, homemade almond roca, and some sort of cookies are on the list this year. So, of course, I've spent the last hour browsing Tastespotting. It's nice not having school to worry about anymore, because I don't feel guilty about spending so much dang time drooling over recipes online!

Tomorrow I'm starting the holiday baking storm. Gonna make some cookies and test out that almond roca recipe and give them to our friends. Our friends, the Bowles', brought over some (amazing) gingersnaps and cheesecake bites the other night, so now we need to return the favor with Christmas goodies too! Great excuse to bake, right?

I also give the Bowles' full credit for us finally having a clean apartment.

The other evening, Sterling and I were taking a nice nap. A text from Justin asking if we were home woke me up. I told him we were, and he asked if he and Annie, his wife, could stop by our place with goodies. I woke Sterling up and frantically told him we needed to tidy up our apartment quickly so they could stop by. Sterling said he bet they were already on their way. Turns out he knows Justin pretty well!

Now, when I say our place was a mess, I mean it was seriously a mess. Like, a full-on hazardous waste filled disaster zone. I don't even know how it got so bad. Our living room had random articles of clothing all over the floor (for some reason I moved the full-length mirror into there a few weeks ago, accidentally turning the living room into the "dressing room"), and wedding presents and wrapping paper everywhere. Our kitchen had Sterling's attempt at making cookie bars (poor guy...I had to race to work, leaving him to finish the recipe....he accidentally left out a couple crucial ingredients :)) sitting, and staling, on the stove. Our bedroom was awful, with quilts and clothes and study notes and textbooks all over the place.

So anyway, the Bowles' showed up, and I resorted to closing as many doors as I could and then apologizing for our apartment being disgusting.

And then doing a serious deep-cleaning of the entire apartment the next day.

I want to be comfortable with people stopping by whenever! We love having visitors, so we need to make it possible for friends to make a surprise visit without us being embarrassed of our piggyness.

So now, I'm happy to announce, our apartment is just lovely. It's cute and clean and organized, and we love it. And we're now getting ourselves into the habit of keeping it clean. And we're doing pretty good. Clothes are in the hamper, dishes are washed everyday, trash is taken out often, bed is made everyday. It feels great. And Sterling is doing so good, I must say! He's the resident bed-maker.

On Wednesday we're heading to California for a week with my family, then going to Grace to see the Stoddard side for a little less than a week probably. Then we'll get back and it'll be my birthday! This is my favorite time of the year. Can I also mention how excited I am to have sushi while we're in CA? I already talked my sister into taking a trip to Sacramento with us just to get sushi. Oh, yum.

yuck.

Oh, and P.S.: Whyyy does THIS have to happen?!

It's cold. And I slip a lot. No, really. A LOT. And I hate driving in it.

I know, I don't know why I choose to live in Idaho, either, if I hate snow so much.

final season.

I'm 2 hours away from taking my last final of the semester. I was one of those unlucky people that had the majority of their finals on the last two days of finals week. Moscow lost about 60% of its population by Wednesday. We realized this when we went to Winco last night and it was practically empty. Funny how college towns work.

Anyway, I should pass all of my classes. Anatomy will likely be a D, which is bad, yes, but it counts for credit, which is all that matters to me right now. Chemistry should be a C, which again, is nice, because I've been stressing over that class as well. Sports Nutrition is an A, and my other two classes should be B's.

College is funny sometimes. See, I slaved over anatomy. I studied a ton, I went to class religiously, I was truly interested in it, and I learned more in that class than in any other class I've taken throughout my college career. Yet, I'm practically failing it. And Chemistry? I hardly ever went to the lecture section of this class. I kept up with the homework and got A's on every assignment in the lab section of the course. But the lecture? Nah. I can't really honestly say I've learned a thing in that class. Yet I'm getting a better grade in there than in anatomy? It doesn't make sense.

Same with my two nutrition classes. Sports Nutrition is a very upper level class. Intro to Foods is not. It's the lowest nutrition class UI offers. But I have almost 100% in sports nutrition. Actually, every single one of my nutrition classes I've ever taken are a higher level than Into to Foods, yet in Intro I have the lowest grade, and I had the hardest time with.

What the heck, college?

tuesday tuesday

I got my wedding band yesterday. I'm pretty overjoyed about it.

 

(excuse the crappy cell phone picture)

 Helllllllloooo more bling! And I feel married for real now, I told Sterling. You know, cause it was for fake before ;)

In other news, I have a love/hate relationship with finals week. I hate it for obvious reasons. Um, hardcore exams? Stress? Studying? No thank you. But not having actual classes all week? Yes please. I like freedom and doing whatever I please all day. And, you know, squeezing in a bunch of studying, I suppose. I think I'll like next week better. Or the next 3 weeks, is more like it.

Next week we just have to drive to California (that's 15 hours, by the way) on whichever day we decide. Next Friday was our original plan, but I don't think I'll get any work at all next week, so if we get too bored of just hanging out at our cable-less, internet-less apartment, we'll make the trip to my parents fully equipped [with cable, internet (that's a new development, by the way! They're in the sticks, remember?), and food-stocked kitchen] house. We'll just see. I like having our options.

Yet more exciting news: Sterling is all signed up to graduate in the spring! I filled out his application and paid the fee yesterday. That's right, I did. I also filled out his extensive "Graduating Senior Survey" that's required. It must be nice having a wife, right?

the married people.

Being in a married student ward is much nicer than our old singles ward. Those people started getting a little weird. Sterling says this is because all of the normal Mormons get married off quickly then only the...uh...eccentric ones are left. That's how it is in Moscow at least.

So we were pretty excited to join the married ward. And it's great. The people are nice, it's great having other married couples around who are more on the same page as us, and there are cute babies EVERYWHERE. Seriously, I spend the majority of my church time watching babies. During all of Sacrament meeting today, Sterling and I were watching 3 adorable little boys play together. Babywatching-- It's my new favorite pastime.

The only bad thing about the married ward is that I feel young. Very, very young. Nearly everyone has been married for years and has multiple kids! The thing is though, they aren't even that much older than me. I know there are plenty of other people who are my age in our ward! But I feel like the baby of the ward because I'm new to this whole married life thing and I don't have a baby on my hip. Sterling feels uneducated in our new ward. It seems like every guy we talk to is working on his masters or doctorate.

It's a weird world we just entered into, I tell ya.

mormons and keggers.

I feel like I've been dead this past week. And I feel like that'll continue for awhile. Is it because it's the end of the semester? Or perhaps I have Mononucleosis and just don't realize it? Or am I not filling my days with enough exciting and fun things? I have no idea, but I'm ready to be a living, normal person again.

I want to sleep my days away, and sometimes I do. I had a full night's sleep Thursday night, woke up and Sterling drove me to my nutrition class at 8am Friday morning, it lasted half an hour, he picked me up, we went home and napped until I had to work and he had to meet a friend for racquetball at 1pm. One! And I was still dead tired all day. And today is a lovely Saturday that I should spend doing something fun and worthwhile, but all I can think about is going home to squeeze in a nap before we go to a pizza party with our ward at 6.

I was able to drag my lazy self out to our friends Christmas party last night. It was a good time, with White Elephant shenanigans and all. It was with our non-member friends, who we love dearly. I'm sure most Mormons don't go to your typical college party complete with dozens of drunk people and loud music and girls wearing basically nothing, and it's probably a frowned-upon thing, but we still go. This set of friends who we go with are really great people, and they accept that we're Mormon, and we have fun with them.

And it is pretty interesting being the only sober people at a party. You see a lot of things that most people don't notice, I think. And you learn a lot about people. There are, of course, really annoying moments as well, though. Like the very-intoxicated girl from our old ward who decided to stumble over to us and loudly proclaim, "We're the worst Mormons EVERRRrrrR!!!" Uh, no sweetie, leave us out of this. We can still stand up straight.

Anyway, it's interesting stuff. And though we do have fun, it makes me really really want to move to Southeast Idaho even more. Moscow is fun, but I'm pretty ready to have more Friday night options than either staying home and renting a RedBox, or going to a kegger. Just sayin'.

possibilities are washing over me

I've been going a little crazy lately applying Sterling for jobs for after he graduates this May. The other day, I probably applied to at least 20. I've decided to get a little adventurous and apply him for jobs outside of Idaho in places that I'd be interested in living for a little while.

I figure we're at a place in our lives where we're able to pick up and move to a different place for a little while, so why not do it if the opportunity arises? We could do it for a year or so until he gets a job he wants in Southeast Idaho, then we'll make our home there permanently. It would be fun. He knows I'm doing this, don't worry. I'd have to delay my last year of school for a bit (or pay a ton of out-of-state tuition again), but I'm okay with that. I'm going to get my degree. I'm not going to drop out of college with only 2 semesters away from a degree. It will happen, I promise. But if we have the opportunity to go experience something new and I have to take a year off, I'm doing it.

I went a little too crazy the other day and was applying him for jobs in Australia even. Yeah, that probably won't happen. Today though, I applied him for a bunch of positions at Con Agra, which is where he had an internship, so he probably has a decent chance getting hired through them. I applied to positions in Washington (Tri-Cities), Colorado (outside of Denver), Omaha, Nebraska, Tennessee, and good old Twin Falls, Idaho. Honestly, I'd love to live in Tennessee for a little while. It's in Memphis!!!

I'm probably getting myself a little over-excited right now. But it's fun to consider all the possibilities! Even if we end up just moving to SE Idaho in May, I'd still love that. I'm ready for this to start happening!