November already?

Whew, the past couple of months have just been a whirl wind!! We've been so busy with work and school. Bill is preparing for his recital which is November 22. He is so amazing at playing the tuba. I'm very proud of him and the fact that he will have a degree in music this December. He has worked so hard for it! The recital is the last big show music students do before they graduate. After the recital we're having a going away party for him, the last big get together before he ships out for basic training. I am so stinking excited about the party...I LOVE playing hostess, it's the best thing ever! :) I ordered a cake, and there will be smoky links, a chocolate fountain...mmmm doesn't that sound Delicious??!!! Along with fruit and other things to dip in the yummy chocolate! I just hope people come.

On a more serious note, last month the Dr. found a mass in my kidney...yikes!! At first they weren't sure whether it was cancer or not, but after a CT they determined that it most likely is not. Let's just say I was on an emotional roller coaster for a few weeks. Thankfully, it's nothing major. I will have to have routine check ups just to make sure it doesn't do anything for a while though.

I am grateful for the knowledge I have through the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that my life is determined by the plan my Heavenly Father has set for me, and I desire to follow that plan! I also know that families are FOREVER and I am so grateful for that. I know that through faith and trust I will be able to handle anything life throws at me!

Here's a picture of Bill and me right before my first tailgating experience at the University of Tennessee.

I followed these guys around visiting all the drunk tailgaters. I heard Rocky Top probably 100 times...seriously!

What's up

I have had an uneventful past month. School started again last month... I have 5 classes this semester. They're kind of boring, my favorite class has nothing to do with my field of study. It's called Musicology. I'm learning about the History of music in the Western Culture. The teacher is really great and the material is just interesting to me! Bill was suprised how much I like it, he's getting a degree in music and slept through that class. I don't know what it is about the class, but I really like it.
Bill started hosting a tuba quartet in our house. So every Sunday we have a group of guys come over and play their tuba/euphonium. I enjoy it for the most part; while they play I cook. Then we all eat together. I do enjoy cooking. Yesterday we had biscuits and gravy..Did you know that I make the best biscuits and gravy ever? Yeah, I know I'm bragging; but seriously it's heavenly...even better than my parents'. ;) Last Sunday we had pizza, and it was the best pizza I've made!! I am very proud of it. I've never had bacon on a pizza before, let's just say bacon on pizza is a new found love for me! What should I do next Sunday??
Next week is our fall break, my family is renting a cabin in the mountains. I'm really looking forward to visisting with them and relaxing.

This past Saturday my church had the General Relief Society Meeting broadcast. It was pretty good, mostly it talked about visiting sisters in the church. However, one talk focused on something that has been on my mind lately. Let me preface this, last week I was able to spend some time with a good friend of mine. We got into a discussion about judging others... which leads to the broadcast reference; I wish she could have heard the broadcast, especially what President Monson had to say. Basically we need to love one another and not make judgements. I like what he said when he referenced Mother Teresa:
Mother Teresa, a Catholic nun who worked among the poor in India most of her life, spoke this profound truth: “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” The Savior has admonished, “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.” I ask: Can we love one another, as the Savior has commanded, if we judge each other? And I answer—with Mother Teresa—“No; we cannot.”
-Thomas S. Monson, President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
I want my friend to know that I love her and that she is a daughter of God and He loves and knows her too. No judgement from someone should ever make you feel less of a child of God; because those who judge do not know how to truly love one another.

I hope everyone is enjoying the beginning of fall; it's rainy here but it is also cooling down!!! The high for today was 66. :)

OH and in a year, we will be living in Tacoma, Washington.

It's official!!

Bill is officially a member of the United States Army Band. He will be playing his tuba for a living...and LOVING every second of it! He auditioned Tuesday, August 17 and it went fairly well. They told him he wouldn't hear anything about the position for another few weeks; we went on our way to lunch and not even thirty minutes later the recruiter called and asked when Bill wanted to come and sign and swear in. Let's just say we were ECSTATIC!!!! Bill is just that awesome!! It happened so quickly, but is an answer to prayers. He has been preparing for this for the past year, so we are very grateful for this amazing opportunity Bill has!!!!! Here are some pictures of his swearing in:

New House

Well, in the past two months Bill and I have had quite the experience. We moved to a new apartment in May...in June our utility trailer was stolen so we decided we should move to a different place, this complex wasn't providing the safety we wanted. Then the apartment manager said he would move us to a different apartment away from the road. We thought, ok, maybe being away from the road will be better. So we moved again two weeks ago. Well, this past Saturday our truck was broken in to. AHH!!! We prayed and felt that it was time to leave for real... We told our friends about our problem Sunday evening and by 5 p.m. Monday evening they had set us up with a contact who we could rent a house from and wala... we will be living in a house by Saturday evening!!! I am so stoked! It is the cutest house EVER!! It's also in a nice neighborhood so we don't have to worry about our safety. I hate what we've been through, you never know what you're moving in to; I'm just grateful that Bill and I are ok and I know we are so blessed to have wonderful friends. Anyway, once I get pictures I will post again..maybe if I remember!! :)

A Time of Relaxation-and- A Tasty Adventure

The past two weeks have been AWESOME...sometimes boring, but overall just fantastic. You wanna know why?!?! I only work 4 hours a day and then go home and do whatever I WANT!!!!! At first I didn't know what to do with myself. So for the first few days I watched at least 2 movies a day!! I also started cooking ALOT. I went through my cookbooks found meals that looked good and started cooking a new meal every night...or almost every night. I have really enjoyed the new meals. We're used to eating spaghetti or beef and noodles... or salmon. I didn't have much of a selection and I was getting bored with the same stuff every week. So, to expand our horizons I'm bustin' out the cookbook and going crazy!! So far we have loved everything!! Here are a few pictures of my adventure!

I made this salmon two nights ago and did not like it!!!! We did eat it though..no wasting food in my house (especially when Bill is around, he eats anything!)

Tonight I'm going to make lasagna. I have never made lasagna before, hopefully it will turn out nicely!!!

So far my tasty adventure has been a success, I'm looking forward to the next few recipes awaiting the tasty test!:)

Bill and I moved this week. Not out of Knoxville, just to another apartment. It is much bigger!! We really like it. The only issue is that we have to drive to school now, it's about 5 miles from the campus. But for the price of it and the price of the closer apartmenst it comes out the same (only difference is the SIZE!!). We also have a washer and drier now, no more paying 10 dollars a week to do laundry. We have had some issues with our washer and drier, though. We purchased them from a local person that we found on craigslist...what a mistake!! The drier was in bad shape when we turned it on (first lesson learned, don't pay the people without testing the merchandise). So we searched for a used appliance store where we could trade the drier we had with a "new" one. We did just that, thought we were set, then the drier stayed on all night...the timer didn't work. We have a 90 day warranty so we took it back, and instead of fixing it they just gave us a different one. huh...wierd. Then we find out that used appliance stores are the worst place to buy stuff..WHAT??? (second lesson learned, don't buy from used appliance stores) Who can we trust, especially when all we can afford is used???? I am so upset right now. The "newest" drier that we have smells really weird. Our clothes don't even smell clean when we take them out. I'm not sure if this is the washer or drier. The WASHER had issues the first time we used it too, the aggitator didn't even turn..so our clothes just soaked in the water while NOTHING MOVED. So, Bill fixed it; now it works..hopefullly it won't break. Now, I'm just wondering how to make our drier smell better. Tonight Bill is going to take it apart and clean it. Maybe that will help. Do you have any suggestions?
In other news, we are officially finished with school for this semester. I actually did much better than I expected at the beginning of the semester. This was a pretty tough semester, however, I was still able to manage to be on the Dean's List. Bill also did really well this semester. Of all his classes, his favorite was his Shakespeare class...who'd-a-thought!!! He really enjoyed disecting Shakespeares plays. I also really enjoy Shakespeare, so I was glad Bill found it interesting...Maybe if there is ever a play in town we will go!! Bill has one semester left. I have two semesters left! We are looking forward to graduating, however, I will be continuing my education at the graduate level!! I have really enjoyed my classes in this degree, so I would like to continue getting as much education as I can.

Update

Sometimes, it's hard to find time to post what's been going on in our lives, we are so busy!!! But, guess what...we have only two weeks left of school and then we have a break (for a few weeks). Right now Bill is working hard on learning his songs (on the tuba of course). In August he is going to audition for the Army band. I am so looking forward to that! He has worked very hard on his music, and I'm ready for it to pay off. He'll audition in August, and if everything goes well he'll join the Army next January. I am staying busy as well, I have had to write so many papers this semester and it's almost over; I only have 4 papers left! One of which seems really fun, it's a research proposal. I have to create a study and write about how I would conduct it. I'm studying the effects of after school programs on children through adulthood. I know, not the most interesting topic, but it's interesting to me and it pertains to my future profession! I guess that's about it. Enjoy the pictures
When we leave Maggie usually watches us walk away. It's really cute and sad at the same time!

Bill about to ride his bike through the snow. This was taken in January, I just haven't been able to upload it! I have a white mask that I wore everyday! People said we looked freaky...I don't care, at least we were warm!!

Sometimes I find Maggie asleep in the oddest positions. Weird cat.

During spring break Bill built this for Maggie. Can you say AWESOME!! Yeah, I know, Bill's pretty amazing. He had a dream about a "tree house" for the cat and just went to work. It is over 6 ft tall and barely fits in the door. Maggie loves it, she runs/climbs/jumps all over it!

My Aunt Pam

Well, my Aunt is finally pain free. She passed away on February 23, 2010. The night before her passing my mom told me Aunt Pam kept trying to get out of bed and go find Jesus; I thought that was really sweet..she knew who she was meeting and she was ready to go. Her funeral was a very nice service. I was able to keep myself together; knowing where she is helped me a lot. I have no doubt in my mind that we will be reunited one day. I played the piano for her in the middle of the service; it was an arrangement of Be Still My Soul by Jeff Bjorck. Wow, what a peaceful song! I felt the Holy Ghost surround me when my fingers hit the piano. That particular hymn has special meaning to me and I felt that everyone attending the funeral needed to feel how I felt. Heavenly Father has a plan, a plan for each and everyone of us; our job is to be still and know that God is in control. "Be still my soul, the Lord is on thy side. Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain; Leave to thy God to order and provide; In every change He faithful will remain." What beautiful words to hold in our hearts.

Anyway, this song meant so much to me, so I wanted to dedicate it to my beautiful Aunt Pam and my family (her parents and sisters). They had no control over what happened, but what they do have is the promise that God will always be with them to provide comfort and peace.

What I want..

I guess this happens when most of your friends are married...they start having babies. I've been thinking about this a lot lately. BABIES. HA, is there something wrong with me? I think my husband thinks so... It just seems like the season for babies..ha ha. I really want to be a mommy, but this little thing called COLLEGE (YOU MUST GET YOUR DEGREE FIRST!!!) keeps ringing in the back of my head... If I would have had everything figured out in the beginning of my college career, I would be graduating in less than three months. But INSTEAD I had to be lost in translation and unsure about what I wanted to do with my life.

Funny thing happened in church today, (amongst all of these baby thoughts) a lady came up to me and asked me when I was due...I was thinking to myself, man do I look that fat (and wait, can she read my mind)?!?!?!?!?!?! I sure hope not!!! She's the 2nd person from her family to congratulate Bill and me, so we think they were miss informed by someone!!!!

Bill and I had a wonderful Valentine's this weekend!!! I'll add pictures soon....Now, I must get back to studying for the two exams that I have tomorrow. :)

OUCH

So, the roads/sidewalks were pretty bad in some areas of my bike ride this morning. I fell TWICE. First I rode over a thick patch of frozen snow...I couldn't get around it, it was everywhere. So, I fell and I landed on my poor little knee, and yes I cried. Luckily Bill was there to help me up. The second time I hit a sheet of ice and the bike seriously slid right out from under me and I just stood up...Bill said it looked awesome. I'll take his word for it, I was terrified!!! The snow is pretty and all, but I'm ready for it to leave...it's getting in my way, it made me 4 minutes late to work. GRRR!!!
In other news, Bill went away this weekend to D.C. for a Tuba Conference. He had a blast and told me there are two tubas he MUST buy. We'll see... I'm so glad that he made it home safely, I guess Virginia got a lot of snow and the roads were pretty bad.

Rough morning

This morning I rode my bike to work, which isn't anything new...I did it all last year. But it was a little different this time because I went a lot further!!! I have a new job now, I'm working at the Tennessee 4-H office and I am VERY VERY excited!!! I love 4-H, so this is basically where I should be right now, working with the kiddies in the TN 4-H program!!! Anyway, back to the rough morning. I rode my bike, it was probably close to 2 miles in the freezing cold weather (it's about 27 degrees) I know it could be colder, but I lived in the south most of my life so it's REALLY cold to me! I huffed and puffed up the hills and managed to make it to work with 5 minutes to spare. Then I realized I lost my lock....AHH!!!!! Their are thieves on this campus, so I can't just leave my bike outside not locked up!!! So I walked back down the BIG hill and back up the BIG hill and found nothing. So I just took my bike up to the office. Then my really nice coworker took me in her car to go looking for it, and guess what!!!! I found it!! It was on the side of the road....somewhere between home and work...what a relief!!!! I was very excited, it would have thrown off my entire day. I would have had to go home drop off my bike and then walk back to campus to go to class... :)

Christmas time

Well this Christmas has been quite the adventure, in one week we traveled from Knoxville to Nashville stayed for a few days. Then drove down to south of Atlanta and stayed for a few days, then drove to south Georgia. Whew, oh but it doesn't end. After Christmas I went with my parents to Indiana. THAT'S A LOT OF DRIVING!!!!!! But, let me tell you..it was worth every second of it! I really enjoyed the time we had with our families.

Bill's family is so calm and easy going. I really just enjoyed the time of relaxation. At Bill's parents we got to see a really awesome Christmas light display. I cannot imagine sleeping at night with those lights...they were pretty though!

My family is always on the go. GO GO GO!!!! Not as relaxing, but I still enjoyed every minute with them. We enjoyed the feirce game of catch phrase...which I still clame the boys cheat. Seriously if you want to hear some people get crazy with a "screaming fest" over a game, just come to my house. I guess I could say we are slightly competative. (well, mostly just my dad and me) Mom just watches and laughs...Bill gets in on the fun too, mainly to irritate me...

In Indiana I got to spend some quality time with my Aunt Emily. She is a very strong woman. To have the ability to raise four chilren basically by yourself takes courage. She has so much love for her children, I hope they realize that! I also got to spend time with my Aunt Pam, she is also a very strong woman. Everyone can learn so much from her, she is fighting cancer right now and isn't garuanteed much more time. She has been my best friend since I can remember. Growing up we had tea parties, stayed up till who knows when, and took many trips. Wow, what a life she made! She has been an inspiration for me to always live life to the fullest. I am grateful for her love and involvement in my life.

My Aunt Pam and me.

Well, anyway, that's how Christmas was for us. Bill stayed home while I went to Indiana, so I really missed him! When I got home he suprised me with a dozen roses (my birthday was Dec 31st). What a sweetie!!! I love roses!!! Now, we're just getting ready for school to start (next week). Here are some pictures of our adventures!

I cut my hair.

My parents got a new puppy. Her name is Mona.

She fell asleep like this...so CUTE!!!