Since my last post, so much in our lives has happened. Steven got a new job as a school teaching spring of 2018 and began full time that fall. He is now coming up on completing his 2nd full year of teaching at American Heritage Charter School and loves it. Currently, due to Covid-19 aka the Coronavirus, he is now teaching full time virtually until school will resume after spring break (assuming the state doesn't shut down schools to extend that leave away, which as of today could be a possibility). Steven currently teaches all grades K-8 for P.E. as well as 11th grade and 7th grade English. Today he's working on putting together some Youtube videos to give direct instruction to his students (even the PE kids!) so that it will still seem more personal and to create a discussion board atmosphere in the comment section.
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| First day of school 2019-2020 |
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| First day of teaching ever! - Spring 2018 |
I'm still working at Fin Fun. I received a kind of promotion at the end of last year. I am now the "Technical Designer" at my company. I've been doing mostly the same things I did before but now I have a new boss, Seth Aaron Henderson (who was a returning winner on Project: Runway) so I get to do a variety of new things as well which includes more mainstream fashion projects than mermaid tails.
We still live in the house we purchased in my last post. We have loved living here and have been slowly making upgrades to our home as we can. We have given the kitchen a facelift--including painting all the cabinetry white and upgrading some of the appliances. We have purchased over the last few years a fridge, a dishwasher, and microwave. We have also purchased a new washer and dryer which has been SO nice! I didn't realize how much better having new appliances are!
We have also adopted another dog since my last post! Obi desperately needed a brother/friend to keep him company while Steven and I are at work. Enter: Scooter! We brought him home June 1, 2017 when he was about 3-4 months old. He was found on the side of a country road in Twin Falls. The people who found him believe he was dumped and left there to fend for himself. Poor little guy. He was just a baby! Anyways, Steven saw a friend of a friend on Facebook post about him looking for a new good home for him to go. We drove all the way to Twin Falls that night to pick him up. At first I was really nervous to bring him home because Obi seemed disinterested in him while we were visiting at the good Samaritan's home who found him. But that all changed when we got home--Obi was playful and excited to have a friend here at home. Scooter was nervous and so unsure of himself and he didn't know how to play. So Obi taught him. He taught him to play bow, to chase, and to play like a dog. Scooter warmed up to Obi quickly and I think Obi was grateful to have a buddy. We had struggled with Obi being destructive when we weren't home. He HATED when we were leaving. It broke my heart. The first night of Scooter being home he went right into the kennel with him and snuggled him all night--no contest to be in the kennel ever again! Who knew my social little puppy just hated being alone!?!
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| Scooter |
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| Helping us do some spring yard cleanup |
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| Just sitting... on the hammock |
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| Obi loves Steven |
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| Family summer 2018 |
I have also been called as the new YW president in our ward last year. I've officially been serving now for almost 1 1/2 years. The girls in our ward are amazing. I don't think I would enjoy my calling at all if it weren't for the bright, happy, friendly, strong testimonies of these girls!
My parents have since moved from my childhood home in Washington and now live just a couple hours away from us! It's been so nice to have them close so we can go visit more often.
In the summer of 2019 we also put a new roof on our house! Steven (with help from his family and a few members of our ward) did all the work of scraping off the old and replacing boards and reinforcing some joists and then putting new shingles back on. It was a huge job and we are so glad we will probably never have to do that again (at least for this house for a long time).
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| The crew working on the house |
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| Steven and his dad getting the last of the shingles up |
This year we will celebrate our 7th anniversary (wow!). It feels like it's been forever since we've been married and just like it was yesterday at the same time. For our 5th anniversary we went to Logan, UT (where we were married) and stayed at the same bed and breakfast we stayed at for our wedding. It was wonderful to have a weekend away. I'm hoping we can do something similar again this year as well.
Steven was also diagnosed with sleep apnea last fall. Now he gets the pleasure of wearing a very attractive mask to bed every night. But in all seriousness, we are so glad that we found a solution to his chronic fatigue. It was getting in the way of both of our lives so it's been better since he started treatment back in October. He's not 100% yet, but he is much more functional now than he was 6 months ago!
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| Steven's CPAP mask |
Today we got to experience home church. A few General Conferences ago, President Nelson adjusted the Sunday church schedule and implemented a new "Come Follow Me" program which was home centered--church supported. Thanks to the Coronavirus/COVID-19 all church meetings, ward councils, youth activities, etc. are temporarily cancelled. This means that our bishops were instructed to give priesthood holders authorization to bless and pass the sacrament in our homes. This was a unique experience to be able to renew our covenants within the walls of our own home. Steven and I tried to follow the structure of a regular sacrament meeting as we could. We sang an opening hymn, said an opening prayer, sang a sacrament hymn (mostly me while Steven prepared the sacrament--he joined in when he was finished), then Steven knelt in our living room and blessed the sacrament for us to partake. I feel so blessed to still have the opportunity to renew my covenants with my Heavenly Father despite church being cancelled for the next month or so.
After we took the sacrament we spent the next hour or so going through this week's Come Follow Me lesson. It was on Jacob 1-4 in the Book of Mormon. Steven and I had lots of good discussions about magnifying our callings (especially how we can do so with the social distancing the virus has brought on) as well as how to better our relationship as husband and wife. Overall it was a good spiritual experience and it strengthened the spirit in our home to be able to have the sacrament.
It's been a good 4 years. I really need to try better to keep up with this online journal of our lives. I'm so grateful for what I have posted in the past as it has reminded me of stories or things I wouldn't have thought of on my own.
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