Jake's Amazing Skillz

So immediately after we bought our house, we gutted out the downstairs bathroom because it was UGLY! Jake wanted something to work on and keep him busy. So he started working on it, but then we left for the summer to live in Boise. When we got back, Jake worked on sporadically, but then we rented out our house for six months and we had to get it finished or else we would lose $300 dollars a month on rent. That was a big incentive. We worked like crazy. Several of Jake's family members and my family members came and helped sheet rock and tile (Thanks again to everyone who helped!). We finished it the day our renters moved in. There are a few things we'll need to fix when we get back in our house, but all in all, I think we (mostly Jake) did a great job.

Easter With the Chandler's

On Sunday we had an Easter egg hunt and Jake's parent's house. Two of Jake's brothers came. We had a lot of fun coloring Easter eggs, although we didn't have any white vinegar, so we had to use apple cider vinegar which changed our red to orange. I helped Caleb hide Easter eggs and everyone else had to find them. Jake found the most eggs (I may have helped him, but he would have found them anyway!) We had dinner and had a good time visiting with family we hadn't seen in a while.

Easter Egg Hunt In Layton

On Saturday we headed down to Layton to have a Easter egg hunt with my family. I was the Easter bunny and went around and hid the eggs for the kids to find. We had a lot of fun. We had lunch and also played kickball, where Jake kicked a home run!

Second Anniversary

Yesterday was our second anniversary. I can't believe it's been two years since we've been married! We were talking yesterday and realized how blessed we have been in our two years of marriage. We have been a lot of places, have good jobs, have a house and cars, and best of all we have each other forever.
We had a great time for our anniversary. We movie hopped and saw Vantage Point (don't recommend very highly-see movie reviews at the bottom of our page) and 10,000 B.C. (good movie). Then we went out to eat at Buddy's, which is where we went on our first date. I'm so glad I married Jake and I'm glad that he chose me to be his wife. We've had a great two years, and I look forward to having many great years together in the future.

Lava Hot Springs

On Saturday our friend, Renton, was coming up from southern Utah, so we decided to go to Lava Hot Springs with him. Jake's parents came along too. I'd never been there before. When I was little I remember going to the swimming pool part, but we never went to the hot springs. It felt really good, but one of the pools was really hot. It kind of reminded me of how ancient Rome would be with the baths and everyone sitting around talking. Only difference: we had clothes on. We had a lot of fun relaxing and eating ice cream after.

Our Home For The Next 3-4 Months

Our house is still rented out and will be for another 3 or 4 months. So we had to rent an apartment, and we are renting in the ghetto of Pocatello. You probably didn't know Pocatello had a ghetto, but it does. Our apartment building is probably 75 or 100 years old, and right next to the train tracks. So we get to hear the trains at all hours of the day and night. Our apartment rattles when the trains go by. We rented our house with all our furniture, including our T.V. and sound system, so we are without a T.V. and a radio to listen to anything. We did get internet from a place that Jake sold an alarm, so we at least have some form of entertainment. The apartment is mostly furnished, but with very ghetto furnishings, but we didn't care because we didn't have anything to bring over. We've never really had to live in ghetto college housing, so I guess this is our chance!

My 26th Birthday

Jake is the best husband. He woke my up at 5:40 this morning to wish me happy birthday (okay, I woke him up to go to basketball, but he remembered to wish me a happy birthday and let me go back to bed.) My sister called be bright and early to sing to me too. I had to work all day (I really think our birthdays should be a paid holiday), but a lady at my work made me a really good cake, so I was able to survive working on my birthday. When I got home, my wonderful husband took me out to eat and then he sat through the cheesiest chick flick I've ever seen, Enchanted. I knew the only way he'd see that movie is if it was my birthday or I tricked him into seeing it. We came home and had cake and I blew out candles, blowing powdered sugar everywhere.

Stop Wiggling Your Leg!

So early this morning, I was sleeping peacefully and the bed started shaking. I thought Jake was shaking the bed, but I looked over and he was sleeping. He rolled over and told me to stop wiggling my legs. I wasn't doing anything. I heard the house shaking a little too. We thought that it might be an earthquake, but how often is there an earthquake in Idaho? When I got up later I turned on the T.V. and there it was. There was a fairly large earthquake in Wells, Nevada that was felt in Utah, Idaho, and parts of California. That was the second time Jake and I had felt an earthquake. I felt a little one while on my mission in Fresno and Jake a small one when he lived in Oregon. Hope there's not another big one close by anytime soon!

WE'RE BACK!!

So we had more adventures coming back into the states. Before we crossed the border, we stopped at a pharmacy to buy Jake some medicine for when he gets sinus infections. We were coming across the border and the border guard said we had to have our car checked. We pulled over to where we were to get our car checked and the guard started giving us instructions, but we could hardly understand him. He didn't speak English very well. Jake spoke to him in Spanish, but he wouldn't reply in Spanish. We had to take every little thing out of the car, down to our i-pod, sunflower seeds and maps. We were a little nervous that they would find the medicine, but they didn't. They looked right at the bag the medication was in, but didn't look in it. I was glad about that. Jake asked the guard if he could talk to his supervisor, and another guard came over and started yelling at Jake and telling him he could talk to him when he was done inspecting the car. He was being a jerk to Jake. Afterward Jake went into the building to complain about the two border guards. Their supervisor got mad at Jake for wanting to make a complaint. He wouldn't let Jake make a complaint. Jake told him that the guards should be able to speak english to work there and he was saying to Jake that Jake was racist because of that comment. Can you be racist for wanting someone to speak English in a country where everything is conducted in English? The supervisor stormed out of the building mad just because Jake wanted to make a complaint, so we got out of there fast. We had a long drive home but we finally got home this morning at 2am. We had a great time on our trip, but like always, it's great to be home.

What? It's Valentine's Day?

On Valentine's day we made it to Monterrey, MX around two in the afternoon. We stopped at the temple, because we were going to go, but we found out it was closed until 4pm. So Jake called his old mission companion that was from Monterrey to see how to get to his house. When he was talking to him, his companion said he was going on a date up a canyon in Monterrey for Valentine's Day. What? It was Valentine's Day? We totally forgot. Being in Mexico all our days run together, half the time we don't even know the day of the week. We went with his companion up the canyon in Monterrey. It was beautiful up the canyon. We then went to a movie. We left in the middle of the movie, because Mexico doesn't have any ratings on their movies, so we didn't realize it was rated R, so we went and watched a different movie.