comings and goings

first off, i am now all done with classes. i still have one more clinic shift tomorrow morning, but i am all done with massage school. i passed all of my classes with mostly A's. my graduation is on August 6, 2010. i am totally excited! it was actually a bit harder to say goodbye to some of my classmates last night than i thought it would be. i really will miss quite a few of them, not all, but more than i had expected. they are good people and it was an experience going through this past year with them.
married life is still good. zach & i are learning more of each other's quirks. i think i need to have more patience though. he is so wonderful to me and i get tired and cranky more than he deserves. hopefully the tired part will be at more of an end now that i'll be home before midnight most, if not all, nights. today i slept until 11am. i took work off since i still have a few vacation hours that i needed to use before next week. originally i was supposed to use those vacation hours for a honeymoon, but that didn't work out. now i am just hoping to get a honeymoon. zach knows that he will have to work on black friday, so we aren't sure if we'll be able to honeymoon for thanksgiving after all. maybe christmas?
i've really enjoyed taking a few days off work, mostly for finals and just a few random ones here and there to use my vacation hours up. i was able to make dinner twice and i also made banana bread. the banana bread was quite an adventure. our fridge leaks and as a result, our eggs froze. i had to improvise. i peeled the shells from the eggs and ran a bit of hot water over them. i ended up just beating them into the mix. i also added vanilla extract, cream cheese, cinnamon, and a bit of milk to the recipe. it turned out really well. zach ate almost the whole loaf.
zach & i have been in our newly wed/nearly dead ward for a grand total of 3 weeks now. we have 2 callings. we are ward missionaries and the sunday school teachers for the 11-13/14 year olds. last sunday was our first time teaching them. we had 5 boys show up. zach did really well teaching. this week is my turn and i am scared to death. i've never taught. i don't like to be in front of people. and now, we get to teach the youth and the new members. wish us luck.
i still don't have pictures yet. i am not sure when i'll actually get them. but i promise i will post them. zach took the jeep to work, so i don't have my camera to take pictures of our apartment. i'll take some and post them sometime soon too. i should have a fair amount more free time now, but i still need to continue studying. nationals exam will be coming hopefully sooner rather than later. i got registered, but i still have to wait for the process and then get my email with the phone number & a password to call so i can schedule when i take the nationals exam.
on an exciting note, i may have a massage job lined up here in ogden at a day spa for women. i just need my career service person to send me the information so i can send my resume in and hopefully all will go well. i know that starting out it is only an 18 hr a week job, but it has the potential to increase. i'll keep you all posted as i find out what the future will unfold. for now i will continue to work at macey's and have somewhat of that financial security. and that is all i have to post now. until next blog....

a whole month flew past

I is a married woman!!! Zach and I were sealed for time and all eternity on June 26, 2010 in the St. George Temple. I have the greatest husband in all the world. We got all moved in to our apartment, and got all the boxes put away, and all the pictures hung, and we have a home together!

i suppose i should let you all know the comings and goings of the past month of june. well, to be honest, it flew past. i'll write what i remember, but most of it is just wedding and such. i'll get pictures posted when i get pictures.

on june 19th, i was able to go to the temple and do my endowment. it was such an incredible experience. not at all what i was thinking it would be, but looking back, i'm not really sure what it was that i did expect. all i know is this; it was absolutely amazing and i was so happy to have all of my family there. (es, we will all be there when you go through so it really will be ALL of us)

i know that i am excited to go back again and again. the peace, joy, and love i felt in the temple is none like i've ever remembered having so strong. i knew that this is where i am supposed to be in life, and that things will always work out. life is hard, but it is also worth it.

i do have a lot of questions about the temple, but i know that as i go back often, i'll always learn. zach has been really good to help me with the simpler questions that can be answered outside the holy temple. and we are making plans to go do sessions in ogden as soon as our schedules will work with each other.

june 19th was also zach & my as well as adam & cedar's open house in blackfoot. i can't believe my little brother is now a grown married man. actually, i can believe it, i just am so proud of him. chris came up with the decorations design and it looked absolutely amazing! it was a perfect blend of adam & cedar's western theme meets zach & my asain theme. the epitome of my mom & dad, western cowboy meets chinese woman and make a family.

i did wear my dress, and it was the first time zach actually saw me in my dress...yes i know it is supposed bad luck for the groom to see the bride in her dress before they are married. anyway,

i spent a fair amount of money on that dress, and i'll wear it if i want to! ha ha!

i'll never forget zach's face when he saw me all dressed in my fabulous wedding dress and my hair & makeup all done pretty (thanks mo!) he couldn't take his eyes off me :) and it actually reminded me of that morning in the temple when i finally found him in the men's section. he looked so handsome and happy and then when he was all sharp in his tux he also looked very handsome and happy. i love my husband! :)

adam & cedar's canopy zach & my canopy my husband & me (although at this point we weren't actually married yet...)

i'll post more pictures of the actual wedding and some of my bridals when i get them. i am going to side track for a second here and just thank everyone for being so supportive and helpful and for all that you have done for zach & me :)

our wedding ceremony was incredible. the spirit was so strong and i know that zach & i are sealed together for eternity! i've only seen zach cry once while we were dating. it wasn't a happy day. but when i saw him tearing up in the temple, i lost it and tears came streaming down my face too. this was a very happy day!

i am so thankful that my family and my new family had such a great turn out. families are wonderful! i was shocked to see my aunt trina & uncle steve in the temple. i have to laugh because i saw this tiny black haired woman sneak in and i thought, "who in zach's family has black hair?! no one!! so who is.....my aunt, and my uncle!" they drove from L.A. the night before and were able to be there for my wedding. sadly they had to leave right after the ceremony, but i was so thankful to have them there!

i also had to chuckle because the sealer called zach "john" and it caught my family off guard. they told me later that they were thinking, "who is john and why isn't she reacting to zach being called the wrong name. are we in the right temple?"

for those of you who might be scratching your head at this, zach is actually john zacharius.

i also had to chuckle because when the sealer did call zach "zacharius" he pronounced it za cha rius. instead of zach a rius. it was funny. more so even because he was practicing with us a few minutes before we actually went into the sealing room. ah, what a great day it all was!!

and married life is good! i have really enjoyed not kicking zach out before i go to sleep at night. i also really enjoy waking up and having his arms around me. i really do have the greatest husband in the whole world. and from here on out, i'll record our adventures together :)