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Lately...

So, let's face it-I don't even know if very many people read this blog but it is our family's journal. I am working on being better about taking pictures and updating more often so that we can have all of our memories recorded. So for those of you who do follow our blog-if you haven't seen a post in a while bug me about it! :) Here are some images of life lately:

Shelby made me a candy gram for Valentine's Day. It was so cute and all the candy is eaten! We love our sugar around here! I also gave Shelby some candy and treats. We are all sugared out for the next little while...or we should be at least. :) I worked on Valentine's Day and Shelby was crazy busy with school and preparing for multiple exams for that next week so we didn't get to do much on actual Valentine's Day. I made some Valentine's muddy buddies which we gave to some friends and our family members-even though some of the treats were delivered as a late Valentine's gift. This past weekend we finally had some time to go on a date to Hands On, a local pottery shop. We picked out some pottery and painted it together-we did the same thing last Valentine's Day and we are planning on making it a tradition!

President's Day weekend we made a quick trip to Middleton to visit my family. It was a quick trip but we were able to spend some much needed time with my parent's and Cameron and Lila. Shelby also got an early birthday present. Almost everyone in the Despain and Price families have owned a pair of these crocheted slippers. Shelby's were specially made with Utah Jazz colors since the Jazz are his favorite team!

We sold our sectional this past weekend...kind of. It is a ridiculous story of how we got rid of it-ask one of us if you're interested...anyways, we got rid of it and found a sectional that we liked. We didn't realize that the particular sectional we wanted had a 2-3 week delivery time. So needless to say, this is what our living room looks like right now:

We do still have our chair to lounge in but the floor is also getting lots of love! Can't wait for our new sectional to arrive!!!

And last but not least, I painted some letters for our room. They didn't turn out quite like I had envisioned-spray paint is not my friend. I'm working on getting them rearranged so they can look a little cuter. For now though it adds bright happy colors to our bedroom. Shelby is in the thick of school and I start my RN to BSN(Bachelor's) on March 1st. The thought of full time work plus full time school makes me a little nervous but I am confident that the sacrifices that we are making now will be worth it in the long run. We are so blessed with the opportunities we have been given! Until next time-be good out there!

Family Motto

The first few months after we got married we threw around ideas for a family motto. I love the idea of having some type of saying or scripture that describes what your family is all about and I wanted our family to have one! Shelby and I dug up scriptures and quotes. During one of our discussions about a family motto this scripture came up: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Matthew 6:33. We decided that this would be our family motto. I have always loved this scripture and have found it to be so true throughout my life. It perfectly describes how we want out family to be. We want to always seek God first because as we put God first all other things will fall into their proper place or drop out of our lives. Seeking God includes loving, serving, working, respecting, obeying commandments, etc... It includes everything that we want our family to do and become. We finally have our family motto hanging on our wall to remind us each day of the kind of people that we are trying to be. I'm so glad we finally have our motto hanging on our wall!

Christmas Break

Shelby's Christmas Break is officially over since school started this past week. It went fast but I think that we were both ready to get back to our normal schedule. For our first Christmas as a married couple, I ended up having to work...such is life as a nurse. Thank goodness Shelby's parents live close by so he didn't have to spend the day alone and we were still able to do some fun things since I had Christmas Eve off!

As soon as we got back from our Thanksgiving trip to San Diego we unpacked and immediately pulled out the Christmas decorations and got our apartment all decked out for the holidays!

As we were decorating we realized that we didn't really have any stockings that we could use for Santa to fill. A few weeks later we made it to the store and picked out some stockings and decorated them...they turned out pretty good if we say so ourselves!

We had a fun double date with Amy and Jesse and the little baby that will hopefully come out to meet us next month! :) We went to our favorite Panda Express and then decorated gingerbread houses together. It was super fun and we ate enough sugar to last us for a while...although Shelby says that he could have eaten a lot more sugar and still have room for more. :)

Here is our completed gingerbread house!

On Christmas Eve we had breakfast casserole since we wouldn't be able to have a nice breakfast together on Christmas. I experimented with my crockpot and cooked breakfast casserole in it overnight. Our house smelled yummy when we woke up and I think it is definitely a tradition we will continue! We were going to go to the Planetarium that afternoon but we decided the prices weren't the best so we ended up picking a random movie to go to. We picked Frozen, which neither of us had really heard about-we loved it and decided to buy it when it comes out. Turns out a week or so after we saw it, it has become this huge trend...whatever though we still like it even though we hate feeling like we're following the crowd... Christmas Eve night we went to Wayne and Christie's for dinner along with Grandma Ricks. It was fun to spend some time with them. We also opened our presents from them. Among the gifts were our favorites Studio C and Nutella. We've spent at least three hours over the break watching Studio C while I worked on craft projects!

After spending time with Shelby's parents we came home and read Luke 2 and sang a few Christmas songs around our little keyboard.

The next morning bright and early, I headed to work. I was determined to have a good attitude about working on Christmas and tried my best to remember that I was doing what Jesus Christ spent his life doing-serving others and healing the sick. Hopefully I was able to make a difference in the lives of my patients-especially since they didn't necessarily want to spend Christmas Day at the hospital either. While I was at work Shelby made Christmas dinner so we were able to have a nice Christmas dinner that evening. Since we hadn't opened our gifts to each other yet, we ran upstairs, change into our pajamas, and went back downstairs and opened presents-so it kind of seemed like Christmas morning since we were in our pajamas. :)

These are the bloomers our Christmas tree got for Christmas!

Thanks to Santa, we have lots of nerf gun wars at our house now. :)

I had a few days off in a row shortly after Christmas so we were able to go spend some time with my family. We went to Pine Top for a few days for some sledding and snow mobiling. It was fun to see cousins that we don't get to see very often. That Sunday also was conveniently Curtis's long awaited homecoming! He was supposed to be home at the beginning of December but due to government issues in the Philippines he didn't make it home until a few days before Christmas. We were so glad to see him healthy and safe at home...with a cute accent! We also spent lots of time that weekend with the Price's looking at Christmas lights and visiting. We were really sad that we couldn't stay for the New Year's celebrations also, but we I had to return to work on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

For those of you who watch Studio C-we found Lobster Bisque at Jakers! Shelby was so excited to try it and it didn't taste bad-very similar to Clam Chowder.

You can tell that school is in full swing now as evidenced by ice cream being in our freezer now-it's Shelby's coping mechanism. We're grateful for breaks and getting to spend time with each other! Here's to another semester full of lots of ice cream and good grades!

Thanksgiving in San Diego

For Thanksgiving this year we went to sunny California! We are so grateful to Shelby's parent's for taking us along! It was nice to get out of cold Idaho for a the week. Our first stop in California was Palm Springs at Wendell's house. We soaked in the hot tubs and ate lots at a few buffets there. We had an adventure getting ID'd at a breakfast buffet! After stopping in Palm Springs we drove on to San Diego where we spent lots of time with Shana and Rowdy and Travis and Katy and their kiddos. We ventured to Coronado Island on Monday and got our toes wet in the water and played on the beach for a while before going to Travis and Katy's for dinner. We thought that the water would be cold but it wasn't too bad!

On Tuesday we went to SeaWorld. It was so pretty with Christmas trees and lights since it was the beginning of the holiday season. The shows were so fun to watch and we even got soaked watching the Shamu show since the nieces and nephews decided the splash zone would be a great place to sit! :) This picture shows how close we were.

Wednesday was an adventure with squeezing in Knott's Berry Farms and The Lion King on broadway. I loved the Lion King and wish we had the chance to go to musicals like this more often. It was super fun!

On Thanksgiving we ate dinner at Travis and Katy's then went to Coronado Island where Shana and Rowdy had rented a beach house. We played in the ocean, roasted smores, and hung out on the beach.

Here we are after sitting in the soak zone at SeaWorld. Who knew we would get that wet!

We loved California and the fun we had there! It was nice to spend time with family that we don't get to see very often!

Catch Up...again.

I did it! I blogged for the FIRST TIME!!!!!! That was from Shelby. He wrote one whole sentence. :) I have been horrible at blogging. There always seems to be something going on and blogging gets pushed to the back, but such is life. Here is a quick look at what we've been up to. We went home for General Conference weekend since we knew that we wouldn't be able to see my family again until December. It also happened to be Cameron's birthday so we were able to celebrate with him. One weekend in October we decided to make haunted houses. It was super fun and a great excuse to eat candy! This was the end result of our house after the roof caved in and we did a quick rebuild. We carved a pumpkin together for Family Home Evening the Monday before Halloween. We took turns drawing the face on and cutting out different pieces. (I am the best artist EVER! ~Shelby) I also painted a pumpkin to use as a Thanksgiving decoration-we failed to take a picture of it. :) We also invested in Library Cards at the beginning of the school year. It's been nice to get different reading material than textbooks! This is Lila and her cats-just a random picture from one of her visits home. She just loves those cats and I'm pretty sure they have been adopted into the family according to Lila. I started my own tradidion the year after I got home from my mission of making soup in a pumpkin every fall. It is now our family tradition to have soup in a pumpkin on Halloween. I experimented with a different recipe this year and it didn't turn out awful but I'm thinking we'll try something else next year. The finished product! This is what I have had to spend a majority of my time at home doing-Statistics. Most Bachelor's and Master's program require this class so I wanted to get it out of the way before I jump into a BSN/MSN program. It's proving to be a monster but I am determined to successfully beat statistics! I should also include a picture of me in my lovely blue scrubs since a lot of time is spent in those beauties also. :) And this is what we can find Shelby doing a lot of the time also. Studying away. He is such a hard worker and all of his hard work in school has definitely paid off so far. I am so grateful for him! Also, I just wanted to throw in here that we have been spending lots of Sunday nights working on Thank You cards for the gifts that we received for our wedding. Those are going to be hitting the mail box soon once we finish addressing all of them. Sorry we are so late at getting them sent out!!!

Welcome!...With a lot of updates

Welcome to our little family's blog! Big things have been happening over here. I blogged on my old blog (netterspaghetter.blogspot.com) in January and ever since then life has been crazy. So here is a huge update! On a cold Wednesday evening in mid-January, Shelby and I went to Panda Express to get some dinner. Panda Express is one of our favorite places to eat so this was a usual ocurrance. Shelby decided that we should go eat in the canyon. My first thought was ok, we'll sit in the warm car and eat so it won't be too cold. Well, we got down to the canyon and Shelby parked and reparked his car multiple times so that we could get a good view of the canyon...well when he finished parking we weren't really facing any view, except for the canyon wall which I thought was weird, but Shelby is known to do some crazy things occasionally so I just went along with it. :) He then proceeded to decide that we should get out of the car and eat...so we did in the freezing cold of an Idaho January. At this point I was on the verge of getting a little grumpy because I was freezing-those of you who know me well know that I get cold when I eat, no matter what, so eating surrounded by snow and ice in addition to already having the tendency to get cold isn't the best combination for me. But, once again, I decided to not complain and just go along with it-I figured there must be a reason why Shelby was making us do this. After eating, we walked back to the car to get our fortune cookies. We walked up the canyon a little ways to eat our fortune cookies. We ate our cookies and then Shelby read his fortune to me first. It said, "A great proposal is in your near future." I just laughed and thought, "What a coincidence!" (We'd been talking about marriage for the last few months,went ring shopping, he asked my dad, etc...so I was expecting a proposal any day now.) I then proceeded to read my fortune. It said, "Keep man on side close forever, yes?" (This fortune has another story that goes along with it but that is for another time.) I looked to Shelby to ask him what the heck was going on and he was down on one knee. I freaked out because I wasn't sure if he was joking or being serious. So I proceeded to ask Shelby three times...Are you kidding?, Is this serious? When I realized that it was serious and there was a real ring in the box-the exact one I wanted-I started crying and said yes once I gained my composure. The week after that, we started Spring semester and it got crazy from there. Since it was my last semester of Nursing school, I had three five week rotations-Precepting, which is similar to an internship, OB-mothers and babys, and Advanced Medical/Surgical (Critical Care, etc...) Nursing school is stressful and as my stress in school went up, it exacerbated the stress of all the other big things going on in our lives. I am so grateful that we went through the stress of Nursing school during our courtship and engagement. I can truly say that Shelby and I have seen each other at our worst. We learned to pull through and communicate better than we ever had before. There was a light at the end of the tunnel and I graduated from Nursing school on May 17. The Sunday before my last nursing exam and graduation, I wasn't feeling well and my temperature sky rocketed in the 100s. I went to urgent care and they told me that I had Strep Throat. They put me on antibiotics and sent me home. I walked into my last nursing exam all drugged up and groggy...I thought that I would for sure fail it and knew that I would need a lot of help to pass it. I took the test and it took forever because of my low energy level and fatigue...I was the last student in the testing room but I continued to take my time because I knew I needed to get a good grade. My teacher graded the exam in front of me and I ended up getting a really good grade-so high that I was able to pull off an A in the rotation! Total miracle right there. But sadly, I was so sick that I went home and slept. I couldn't even get excited that I was done with Nursing school. The week after graduation I left Shelby for a week so that I could go to an NCLEX prep class close to my parent's house. While at my parent's my sore throat was getting worse. One morning I woke up with a rash all over my upper body and face. I went straight to the doctor where they ran some blood tests and told me that I had Mono. All I could think was, I'm getting married in less than three weeks, I have to take my nursing boards within the next month, and I'm sick! I don't know if I can do this! The only treatment for Mono is to rest so I did my best to rest and relax once my NCLEX prep class was over for the week. Shelby came to my parent's for Memorial Day weekend and then we headed home to pack up my apartment and move my things into his Grandma's basement since we couldn't move into our apartment until we got back from our honeymoon. I went back to my parent's house a few days before our wedding and tried to study for the NCLEX in my free time, but let's face it, I was getting married in a few short days so basically I didn't do any studying! Our wedding day was beautiful and I felt so much peace and love. I am so grateful for Shelby and our relationship. He is my best friend and I'm so glad that we have eternity to spend together. I'm also grateful for all of the work both our families put in to our receptions and for all of our friends and family that came to both of our receptions. Two weeks after our wedding I drove to Boise and stayed at my parent's house for a night then went to a testing center early in the morning to take my NCLEX. I was terrified. I did my best to study, but I felt like I could have done more. The NCLEX has a total of 265 questions. It is computer adapted and if you are passing, the computer could shut off at 75 questions...basically you have to keep answering questions until either the computer decides that you're a safe nurse or you reach 265 questions. So, when the computer didn't shut off at 75 questions I figured that I was in for the long haul. I stopped paying attention to what number I was on and just kept pushing ahead figuring that I was going to be there for at least two more hours. Much to my surprise, the computer shut off somewhere between questions 85 and 90. I decided that I either failed miserably or passed. A few long days later I got the quick results which told me that I passed. I had to have Shelby look at my results because I was too scared to look. At the beginning of July I started working as an RN on the Surgical floor at the local hospital. I have learned a lot already and I'm grateful that I was able to get a job before I even graduated from school. That was definitely a tender mercy and I know that I am working in the right place right now although I have no idea why I'm supposed to be working there. The rest of the summer has been crazy busy with both Shelby and I working. School starts today though and I am excited to get on a somewhat normal schedule...except for my work schedule which is a little crazy and random... Here are some pictures from our summer. I lost my camera cord so we only have the ones on the phone right now. Sorry they are jumbled-my computer is being weird when it comes to uploading pictures-oh well! On our honeymoon we found a gelato place in the Gateway Mall in SLC. We both had gelato on our missions and love it so we had to grab some since we don't have that luxury in Twin Falls. Don't mind our hair in this pic we'd just spent the whole day at Lagoon. Proof that I passed the NCLEX! We were so happy to see those four letters on the screen. Shelby's mission president came home in July and since we were already just two hours from Rexburg that weekend we decided to go to their homecoming talks. It was fun to see some of the people that Shelby served with and made me miss my mission. I am really, really hoping that we'll be able to go to my mission reunion in October...hopefully our school and work schedules work out so we can make the drive to Utah! We love Chick-Fil-A! We heard about Cow Appreciation Day, swallowed our pride, and dressed up like cows in order to get FREE meals at Chick-Fil-A. It was well worth it and we will definitely make it a tradition as long as there is a Chick-Fil-A where we are living. :) My parents so graciously loaned me one of their cars when I started Nursing school since I did not have the means to buy my own. So, last weekend we returned their car since we were able to purchase our first car as a couple. We love this car and hope that it runs well for at least the next six years while we are poor college students! I can't figure out how to rotate this picture but here's a little art work that was created while we were enjoying one of many weekly Twin Falls City Band concerts. We went to the Drive In this summer-my first and maybe my last-hopefully they can save the drive in! Last but not least, I just have to brag about how great my husband is. He always has dinner ready when I get home from work. I can always trust that I'll leave the recipe and he'll make it. Due to my longs shifts I sometimes don't get home until way past the normal dinner time so I'm especially grateful that he is so willing to help out around the house.