One Year Down, Eternity to Go!

December was probably the busiest month of my whole life. Hence, no blog post.
So now I've got the awesome task of catching up.

In case you missed our Halloween costumes, here they are again.

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Also, in case you missed it, my mom wrote a book! Check it out here:

And So It Begins...

And her first picture book, 10 Little Nephite Missionaries, available for pre-order here:

10 Little Nephite Missionaries

I'm so proud of her!
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November was an eventful and busy month. On November 17, Christopher got into a car accident. He was hit from behind and it pushed him into the car in front of him, crushing our car. There were 5-6 cars total involved. I received a text message from him while I was in class that simply said, "I was in an accident." After some prodding and a phone call, I got a little more information out of him and rushed to the scene with the help of Ashleigh who drove me. Poor Christopher was really out of it and had me worried all day so I skipped my classes and got my work shift covered so I could stay home and watch him. The paramedics on the scene said he had a concussion but the doctor at Urgent Care said it was just whiplash. I wasn't taking any chances. He had bit a big chunk out of his tongue and had a huge bruise on his hip where the seat belt buckle was. The collision was enough that the air bags went off and our car was totaled.

 The fun part about this whole story is that for the two weeks between the accident and when we got back from our trip to VA, our car was in the tow lot. They charged us $40 for Every. Single. Day. Plus tow costs. We paid a ton of money to get the car out and tow it to our driveway so the insurance company of the guy who hit us could look at it. They barely called us yesterday to set up a time to see it. Sheesh.
However, we have been truly blessed despite this situation. Our friends have been so extremely helpful in driving us to places we need to go and family members have lent us money. My parents have even let us use their Honda Civic for this next school semester. And so very thankfully, we had our $1000 emergency fund to pay for all the towing costs. Thank goodness we had those savings in addition to our school savings!
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Things have been looking up since then.

We decorated our house for Christmas and really got into the Christmas spirit.

And we got to take our long anticipated trip to Virginia to see Christopher's family!

Much fun was had and McKell got her baby fix.... for now. I love these people to pieces and they never cease to make me laugh. I am so extremely lucky to have married into such a great family!

While in Virginia, the sister missionaries shared the "He Is The Gift" video with us (see it here: https://www.youtube.com/) After that, I really got into the Christmas Spirit. It was a lot easier to feel happy even though I was stressed out about work and school and all of our trials. I set aside time to make Christmas goody plates for the people around me. We also went to the "Tree of Life" in Draper and made Gingerbread Houses :)

More good news, I went to my court hearing for my small claims case at the beginning of December and it was dismissed, meaning I don't have to pay for all the damages to that kids car who crashed into my yard (not even into me!). Just as well, it wasn't even my fault. Even better, my insurance rates didn't go up either.

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For Christmas, we decided to surprise my mom and drove down to Arizona for two days. A short amount of time, but it was SO worth it. She screamed. Ha ha. It was also fun to see the whole family and all the changes they made to the house since I hadn't been home since last Christmas.

My dog is getting old...

Unfortunately, when we drove back to Utah it started to snow and made the 10 hour trip more like a 12 hour trip. Poor Christopher got home around 4am and had work a few hours later at 8:45am. He's a trooper though, and I definitely know he got some major mom points by driving me down for Christmas!

(P.S. we stopped at the Hoover Dam on the way

home because Christopher had never been.

Look how excited he is!)

For New Years we went to a Van Lady Love concert and had a blast. We got caricature drawings of our faces and then went back to my apartment for some dancing and Martinelli's. It was a great way to ring in the New Year, surrounded by great friends, making unforgettable memories.

Steele, the base player from Van Lady Love.

Finally, Christopher and I just got back from our 1st Year Anniversary trip to SLC. We had are awesome time pretending we were rich snobs in Salt Lake and spending lots of money (Christmas gift cards) on all our fancy mealtimes. I am so lucky to have married such a fantastic guy. He is hilarious and I have to say, we're pretty much the perfect couple! I love you Christopher!!

Freaking Fancy breakfast at $23/plate. NBD.

Anyways, that's all for now.
School starts tomorrow and
I am NOT excited.
Woop woop.

(Continued.)

Alright, now to finish off the events of September and catch up on what's been going on in October...
Here goes nothing.

Some fun things we did in September include seeing Mindy Gledhill at the Velour and (almost) participating in the World's Largest Scavenger Hunt.

Mindy was a super energetic performer with some goofy dance moves, but she has an amazing voice and Christopher has loved her since like forever.

The rabbit is supposedly Ryan Innes.

On September 13th, Provo put on this HUGE scavenger hunt event called the Passport to Provo. The scavenger hunt tasks were everything from snapping a photo with a local landmark to sampling a product at a local restaurant. It sounded like a blast! We wanted to do it, but we all ended up working on Saturday and all members of your team had to be present at the start of the event. Bummer. But, surprise, surprise! I was actually working the after party event at the Convention Center. So, between my connections and Christopher's connections to the Google Fiber people running the after party, we were able to get our friends in for the free food and music as well as snag some pretty cool shirts!

This is the official-looking
Guinness World Record lady.
She's a party animal.

The Guinness World Record people were at the after party, counting the number of Provo "passports" (scavenger hunt lists) to determine if the number of people in attendance broke the previous record. As it turns out, Provo more than doubled that number, completely destroying the old record. The previous record was 924 people and they had 2,079 people participate. Google Fiber put on a crazy cool party with a DJ and then Ryan Innes (a local singer who was on The Voice) performing and the Convention Center provided some awesome food munchies. (btw, preparing all those sodas was a pain in the butt.)




The best part though, was that I got to cut this EPIC cake!






The end of September ended up being the most exciting for us. Although I had many tests and Christopher had a lot of homework, we made sure we still got to hang out with friends so we wouldn't go stir crazy.
Monday September 22^nd was the start of Kolby’s Birthweek. We wanted to make sure this year's birthday was awesome for him, so we started the week off by getting Virgin Drinks at Los Hermanos. That, and chips and queso. Best sort of snack ever.
Tuesday September 23^rd We went to our favorite sushi place, Kyoto. They always have buy one get one deals on sushi rolls so it's really just the best.

Wednesday September 24^th I worked until 10pm at the Info Desk, so Ash and Kolbs grabbed Sodalicious and were going to meet us here. My mom actually surprised me by coming to the Wilk too! She decided to visit the same time my dad would be at BYU recruiting. I don't know if Kolby's Birthweek was good for him, but it was good for me! I love when my parents come visit!!

Thursday September 25^th we rented not one, but TWO puppies from the rent-a-puppy organization. I LOVE PUPPIES!! (This was also the day of the epic Costco trip I took with my mom. I love her.)

Surprise from the Parents :)

Friday September 26^th my dad promised us dinner, so we went to Tucanos. This is starting to become a tradition and I don't know if my belly can handle it! It was so dang good though, and the first time mom and Cody had been there. The rest of the family was pretty much out of commission for the rest of the night after that, so Christopher and I went to hang out with our friends in the woods and play Slenderman. It was terrifying, especially because it was drizzly and dark. We gave ourselves a good scare and sang to Kolby at midnight because it marked the start of his actual birthday :)

Saturday September 27^th – Kolby’s Birthday – Once Kolby got back to Provo, we had cake and presents at his apartment.
After that we went to Barb and Larry’s and hang out and play games and use their projector for movies and Mario Kart.

Sunday September 28th my parents went to church with Christopher and I. That was interesting because it was the first time since we moved into the new apartment that we actually went to our new ward. It was also funny because it was a Married Student Ward, so my parents might have felt a little out of place. Christopher and I are still trying to get used to the new ward.

Monday September 29^th My parents left, so that was sad for me. L

WOO!!! I FINALLY CAUGHT UP ON SEPTEMBER!!
Now for a quick synopsis of what's been going on in October and I'll let you all be on your way.

Friday October 3^rd we saw Neon Trees in Downtown Provo for the Free Rooftop Concert Series. So fun! I only know all their old music, but the new stuff was pretty catchy too! I didn't get any good pictures because we were pretty far back, but Cody got pretty close when he was swept away by the randoms who started off next to us.

Tradition!!

Saturday October 4^th was General Conference. I had to take a test, but after that I watched what was left of conference with Ashleigh (I don't have internet or cable at my house). I had to deal with some microbiology lab results for class between sessions, then we (me, Ash, and Cody) watched the afternoon session at Ashleigh's apartment too. We all went to SLC so the boys could go to priesthood session. Ash and I went shopping at City Creek Mall (like every other woman in SLC). Christopher had a mission reunion after that, so Kolby, Ashleigh, Cody and I went to get dinner at Chipotle (A tradition for Cody after Priesthood session). I always love any excuse to go to Salt Lake City. It's where I got engaged after all :)

Sunday October 5^th We watched the morning session at Kolby's apartment and ate Coffee Cake (tradition!). For the Afternoon Session we played our usual version of Conference Bingo ;)
Fun times had all around. We got pretty sugar high too.


Saturday October 12^th I got a couple inches cut off my hair - about time! - and we decorated our house for Halloween! I am literally beyond excited that we have a porch!!

Before our bike got stolen....

We installed a black light on our porch too.
Looks creepy, doesn't it?

(Tuesday October 21st I got sued, but that's not exciting.)
Wednesday October 23rd we carved pumpkins, so now our house is officially festive! We made pumpkin seeds of course. All about those traditions.

This is how the pumpkins looked the first day.

Mine.

Christopher's.

This is how they looked after a couple days...

Doesn’t seem that busy, but school projects and tests all the time…. Ugh.

BUT, now we're caught up! Hopefully I'll be better about this when we FINALLY get internet on October 30th. SO. EXCITED.

ta-ta for now.

It's Funny How Things Work...

I have now successfully fallen behind on two months of blogging. Give me a break though, it’s been a crazy ride.

Here's what's been going on:

Tuesday August 12^th we went to the Monumentour concert.

We waited in line hours early and weren't even the first people there.

It was an amazing concert though!

Hayley Williams is quite the performer, and Fall Out Boy had a ton of pyrotechnics and lights to enhance their show.

So mind-blowing! 

Christopher loved it :)

Christopher was all tuckered out the day after.

Monday August 25th we started the day off by checking Cody into his apartment at Glenwood. I took a "proud mom" photo to make up for my mom not actually being there. It's okay, Cody's a big boy. 

Cody is so ready to live like a freshman!

After this, we went to Lagoon because America First has some pretty sweet hook-ups and rented out the whole park for a day just for employees. Completely free for us which was awesome because tickets are like $60 per person. Lagoon is Utah's tribute to theme parks. It was super fun. We managed to go on all the rides once and the awesome ones twice (or more). Here's a photo of Ashleigh and Kolby on a ride that shot you up tons and tons of feet into the air suspended in this ball-type thing. I think it was called the Slingshot. People like this one because there's a camera on that ball contraption that films people's faces the entire time they're being shot into the air and bouncing around. It's pretty hilarious. 

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The next weekend was pretty eventful for us. Right before school was about to start, we found out our apartment complex was raising our rent if we wanted to resign. Between the $720 per month they were going to charge us and the awkward timing of our contract ending in October, we decided to bail and sell our contract which meant we had to try to find something else before school started. We didn't have much time...

Saturday August 30th was devoted completely to checking out potential apartments. The first couple we looked at were horrible. One was a teeny basement apartment that was barely taller than my head. Also it smelled like cat pee. Definitely no. Luckily, we found a quirky yellow house that the Asian landlord was desperately trying to fill. We put our apartment up on KSL on Sunday night, determined to move before school started. 30 minutes after posting the contract, a couple called us to check out our apartment that night. They ended up buying our contract (we had a handful of other interested people call about it too).

We went back to the yellow house on Monday (Labor Day). The landlord told us that he had people coming to look at the apartment right after us, so we jumped on the opportunity, and signed the contract. We went to get a check for the deposit and when we returned, the landlord told us he had turned the other couple away, so we barely beat them out for the apartment.

Empty Cambridge Court Apartment. Sad Day.

Tuesday we moved everything out of our apartment at Cambridge Court. The sooner we moved out of there, the more likely it was that we would get our September rent refunded completely (which we did!) This was a little stressful, because this was actually the first day of school. We managed to move everything completely out of the Cambridge Court Apartment and into the yellow house all in one evening.

The yellow house is a little quirky. It's definitely old and the previous tenants decided to use oil based paints on all the door frames and window moldings. Dark forest green in the living room and the bedroom and dark blue in the kitchen. Because of this, the apartment looks even darker and creepier inside. But hey! rent is $150 cheaper per month, so we're going with it. Plus, the landlord seems to be pretty easygoing and has worked with to fix the bathroom - he replaced the flooring. Additionally, he says we can repaint as long as he provides the proper painting equipment. Fine by me.

Here are some photos of the new place:

 

   

Kitchen. Look at that blue!

Bedroom. It's kinda teeny.

It's a work in progress, but the yellow house is growing on us.

I'll catch up more blog writing tomorrow.