Sunday, December 7, 2008

Thankful

As most of you know, Jon and I were sick for a few weeks (off and on) starting right before Thanksgiving. First, I got sick and then Jon got sick. Then I got better first. However, after Jon started to get better I got sick again. It has been quite a cycle.

Last Saturday, I woke up and didn't feel good at all- but I was determined to not be sick anymore. I needed to go grocery shopping and we had tickets for a BYU basketball game up that was in SLC for later in the evening. I set up an appointment to get my hair cut and we were off. As the day progressed I started to go down hill, fast.

Later on that evening, I was all set up in the living room our our pull out bed watching Gilmore Girls (I know, I know... really lame). I started to pray because I didn't want to feel sick anymore. I had too many things that I needed to be doing and I didn't want to miss any days at work. I had a high fever, I was dizzy... I just felt so out of it. I received a prompting to ask for a blessing. I'm usually pretty chicken to ask for one. I feel sheepish when I ask. Anyways, after about an hour, my fever was starting to get higher and I was still being prompted to ask for a blessing. I finally asked Jon. It was during a ward activity- so not many people were home at the time. We were able to get a hold of our good friend, Seabass (Jon's freshman roommate) and he was able to come over.

This was a good spiritual experience for me. It brought us (me and Jon) closer together. I'm am so thankful to have a husband who lives worthily so he can give blessings. I am thankful that we are sealed together for time and eternity. Our 2 year anniversary is coming up and this was just another great reminder of why it is so important to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ- so that we can be a forever family.

During the blessing, my fever broke and I was sweating like crazy (sorry if that last part was too much info...). I was so thankful that I had been prompted by the Spirit to ask for a blessing and that I was given the courage to ask and the faith to be healed. By Tuesday I was 100%.

This may be a little off topic, but, earlier I was reading Elder Wirthlin's talk from October's Conference, "Come What May, and Love it". I wanted to quote a part of his talk here. He was referring to his mother and what she taught him about life here and how we all have to face adversities but it's how we face them that makes all the difference- in my case, this time around it was being sick for about 3+ weeks straight!

"How can we love days that are filled with sorrow? We can’t—at least not in the moment. I don’t think my mother was suggesting that we suppress discouragement or deny the reality of pain. I don’t think she was suggesting that we smother unpleasant truths beneath a cloak of pretended happiness. But I do believe that the way we react to adversity can be a major factor in how happy and successful we can be in life.

If we approach adversities wisely, our hardest times can be times of greatest growth, which in turn can lead toward times of greatest happiness."

I love this Gospel and all the joy and happiness that it has brought to my life. I am thankful that I made the decision to come to BYU when I had many Universities in New England open to me. It was one of the best decisions that I have ever made. I know Jesus Christ is our Savior and that He lives. I have a testimony of tithing and the blessings from that. Even if it was just having a car that didn't break down when it should have been completely dead (the KIA) or finding more money in our bank accounts after finishing our budget than we should have had. Life isn't always easy, but I love knowing that I'm never alone and that I never have to question that.

We are excited for this Christmas season and for the opportunity we have to reflect on the birth of Christ.


PS: we had our first snowfall this weekend!


Friday, November 21, 2008

Because we have been so busy...

Won't lie.. we've been extremely busy for the past month and a half. We apologize for the lack of "cool" blogs. However, tonight we sat down and did this- we used words that have summed up our fall so far. Love you all.


Image courtesy of http://www.wordle.net/

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Our kids are real... ATTRACTIVE.......

What can I say... It was Saturday morning. I was bored... I saw this on a friend's blog.. and I wanted to try it out. Realistic? Maybe... I guess we'll find out in a few years, right?

Create Your OwnMake a Routan Baby

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Jon's Marketing Class

Dear family and friends,

For a marketing class we're making a new website for the finance society and working on some marketing for it. There isn't much yet, but if you would like to see it (and give a few visit hits), my group would very much appreciate it.

If y'all are actually interested in following it, we will be moving posting rights over to the finance society members where they will maintain posting on the current financial situations (because they know more about this stuff than we do). The website is:

http://byufinance.com/

More (real) updates to come about the family.

Tuesday, November 4, 2008

We voted!

Today was an exciting day for us. Neither of us have ever voted before so it was a new experience for the both of us. That being said- we both have both been involved in previous elections and following candidates- we just were not able to vote- or an absentee ballot had some problems (mine did last election).

I'll let Jon write his thoughts on this one- he wanted to write the blog about the election. That will be in another blog- but I just wanted to write something quick about it.

I was really impressed with McCain's remarks at the end of the election. I side with McCain and agree with what he stands for. However, the most we can do is pray for our country and pray for President Obama that he will be guided by our Heavenly Father. I'm not happy with the outcome- but I voted and did my part and that's all I can do.


PS: I'm so excited... my friend, Jess and I signed up for a pottery class and it starts this Thursday. Wish me luck! The closest I've come to pottery class was molding clay into mugs and painting them in 5th grade.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Locked out

Yesterday was just like any other. The only thing different was that I left before Jon, which is a rarity. I walked to work. 1pm came around and it was time to go to lunch. I walked home and got to the door and opened up my bag and.. no keys. I looked again. Still not there. I didn't leave last and thus, never checked for my keys to lock the door. Awesome. The office here is never open and if you get locked out- good luck. So, I tried getting a hold of Jon because he is usually free during my lunch hour- his phone was on silent.

I walked back to work and found my boss there- he looked a little disgruntled and I'm not sure if he believed me when I told him that I was locked out of my apartment. A few minutes after I got back he said (while pointing to our back room that I try to stay away from) "You can have a junk food lunch if you want." Nice. Later, I got a hold of Jon and told him that I would meet him on campus after work. So, I walked to campus, had a really nice chat with my dad and met Jon in the "TA Lounge" and met some of his students. We were there until about 8pm.

Later, we found my keys in Jon's jacket. I'm not really sure how they got there- but I'm just glad that I didn't lose them. Well, at least I got a lot of walking in!! :-) I hope I never leave my keys at home again.

PS: Jon is in Houston today for an office visit and will be back tomorrow night (yay!). Heh, this morning- Jon got to see what my old daily commute to Sandy was like. OH man, can you imagine what that drive would be like with gas being so expensive? No thank you! We at least were able to take the HOV lane and pass by all the traffic while going to the airport.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Round One

Jon has been interviewing with companies as stated in an earlier post and he has just started hearing from them today. Here are the results so far (sounds like a game show...):

  • PWC: passed round one- flying to Houston for round 2 (more info later.. but c'mon he so has it if they're flying him out!!)
  • Deloitte: passed round one- will hear about round 2 this week
  • E&Y: round 2- will be flying to Dallas
  • USAA: Flying out in Nov.
  • ExxonMobil: will be wishing that they had jon's mad skills- but alas, not meant to be.

We'll keep you updated- but we're super excited!! I'm really proud of Jon and all that he has accomplished!