Greetings of the Seasons!

Dear Friends and Family,                                                                                                      

Because this is our first Christmas together, and because I don’t have finals and studying to worry about, it is incumbent upon me to write the Christmas letter. This also means Preston has no input, and I get to put my own spin on everything. And since we have no money, it's not going out in the mail. So there. Huzzah!

For my part, I can easily say this has been the most eventful and meaningful year of my life. By far. At the beginning of the year, I found myself, a newly returned missionary, waiting for an elder that I was pretty sure I really liked. My family and I spent a week down in California, visiting the San Diego Zoo, Sea World, and Disneyland. We had a blast, and I began making plans with my best friend Sandy to move down there, in order to be closer to the aforementioned elder, once he got home. Miracles happened, and I ended up in an apartment in SoCal for an unheard of $250 a month. Still waiting for that elder. By generosity of that certain elder’s father, he flew home from the Philippines, on March 31^st, and I happened to be on the same flight that flew from LA to his hometown of Fresno. Sitting right next to Elder Preston Trebas. (To see his reaction to such a surprise, visit youtube.)

The whole next week I got to stay with him and his fantastic family, and had a blast the entire time. We dated a little less than two months, in which there were a few trips back and forth between Fresno and Long Beach. In the second weekend in May, we had flown to my parents’ house in Boise so they could meet him, and unbeknownst to me, so he could ask my dad for my hand in marriage, and so that he could propose in my home town. On May 15^th during a break in a rainstorm, Preston got down on one knee on top of Table Rock, and asked me to marry him. I actually didn’t really answer at first, but I just kept giggling. He had to ask if that was a yes, to which I replied in the affirmative. The wedding planning began.

In June, I moved in with Preston’s family, and from there, we both went to Utah. We helped his brother and sister-in-law move, and then I moved back up to Boise. He stayed to work in Utah and find us a place to live. He visited me about 5 or 6 weekends between that time and August, and we hated the distance. But it ended up being really good for us and time flew.

August 12 arrived, and, surrounded by treasured family and friends, we were sealed for time and all eternity in the temple of the Lord. San Diego was gorgeous, and it was the perfect wedding. After wild dancing at the Fresno reception, a beautiful honeymoon traveling the coast, and another FAIRYTALE reception in Boise, we were ready to go to our new home in Springville, Utah, and just be a married couple. Preston started school, and after 3 interviews, became a teacher, mentor, and friend to missionaries leaving for the Philippines. It is a dream job, and he thoroughly enjoys it. I love the added spirit to our home when he shares experiences with me. I wasn’t blessed with a job until the beginning of October, but what a blessing it is! I work for excellent people, and am privileged to have such a perfect job.

We miss and talk about the Philippines on a daily basis. We want to return as soon as possible, which means probably not for a while. But at this time of year, we can’t help but be grateful for each other, our ridiculously supportive and awesome families, and friends that highlight the best times of our lives. We are so grateful for all of you, and are especially grateful for our Savior, whose birth we commemorate at this time of year. May you all be blessed and feel of His love as well as ours, and may you be surrounded by loved ones while having a very merry Christmas.

Love,

Preston and Becky Trebas 
December 22, 2011

Hello December!

IT STARTS. The month of beautiful lights, delicious sweets, thoughtful gifts, and hopefully not last OR least, remembrance of the Savior. I have a secret love/hate relationship with December. I LOVE the decorations; the lights, the trees, the ornaments, the red and green, ALL OF IT! I'm not a fan of the shorter days where the sun goes down around 4:30. It feels like bedtime around 7. Ew. But to make up for it, we are provided beautiful, sometimes ridiculous, often humorous songs of the season. I die over Christmas music. This year my favorite song is, "The Christmas Song." Yes, that's the title. I prefer it to be sung by Nat King Cole, but I enjoy Celine Dion's rendition as well.

Anyway, on the drive home earlier today I was suddenly singing along to a lively version of "Let It Snow" by Frank Sinatra, when the sky decided it was time to let go of the frozen tears it had been holding in for sometime. It was beautiful. And the best part was that it didn't last long or stick, so the roads stayed fine. Thank you. Let's talk about the snow for a second, shall we? I love it. I think it's beautiful. And if it's going to be cold outside, it might as well make itself useful by snowing. Otherwise it's just cold for no reason. And ever since the Philippines, I hate hate hate hate hate the cold. My only stipulation is that the roads stay safe, and no one gets in an accident from it. I wish.

In the last week and a half, we've had our ups and downs. Like most people. As Preston had mentioned in the previous post, we wanted sushi for Thanksgiving. We'd had our fill of turkey the weekend before with my parents, and even now, the thought of turkey does nothing for me. Nothing. But we both LOVE sushi! I picked up the love from my best friend Sandy down in California (thanks girl!), and Preston has a broader spectrum of food tastes than many. We looked up sushi places here in Provo, and found quite a few to my surprise, and proceeded to call and ask if any were open on Thanksgiving. This was the day before. To my not surprise, none would be open on the day of giving thanks, so we decided to just get our fill that very night. And it was sooooooooo worth it. I don't remember what the place was called, but if you come visit us and want some sushi, we know where to send you. It was delicious, reasonably priced, and we had a ball getting stuffed!

Looooooove those California Rolls! MMMMMMMM!!!!!

His favorite are Shrimp Tempura rolls. I love them too.





We went to bed full and happy. I looked forward to eating the leftovers the next day. Thanksgiving Day was basically uneventful for us. We enjoyed each others' company, and played the Wii. Preston made Chicken Adobo for dinner, and I finished off the sushi. It was awesome.
Earlier in the day, we decided to peruse the Black Friday ads, since we had nothing better to do, and Thanksgiving was pretty much over for us anyway. We ended up checking out the ones for Wal-Mart, and without having any previous plans... this is what we looked like on Thursday night:

There was a sweet deal on a 40' HDtv, and we decided we'd probably never get a better deal than that. The deal didn't start until midnight, so we went and saw this:

Which was a big mistake. Totally lame movie. I have small hopes for part 2. We'll see. Maybe. Anyway, so Preston took a book and his phone and ended up 7th in line for the TV. I didn't go keep him company until 9, which meant I didn't get to park in the parking lot. Luckily for us, we live in sleepy little Springville, and there were no tramplings or shootings. There was screaming when the sales began, but we were basically oblivious in our corner by the drinks. It was kinda fun, and went really quickly. Plus, totally worth it. Because then we brought home this baby:

And we love it. Video games have never been so vivid for us. :) We went to bed late after saying goodbye to old Trusty:

And relished the late morning the next day. We played around the house, got nothing done, and were excited to go play with Jordon, Noel, and Olivia the next day for a round 2 of celebration for our niece's 2nd birthday. And we had a blast! It's always so fun to play with Olivia, and whenever we get to hang out with Jordon and Noel, it makes me wish SO BAD that they lived closer! I have the greatest sister-in-laws in the world, and I wish I could see them both more often!!!! We got to enjoy a traditional Swiss Christmas dinner with Noel's family (her mom is native Swiss), and it was sooooo good. It made me excited to start our own traditions.
Afterward, us four marrieds got to go check out the lights on Temple Square. We had a ridiculous time finding a parking since it was soooooo crowded with holiday weekend light viewers, but ended up with a good spot, and had a fun time freezing our buns off and taking pictures.

And yes. Even after THREE WHOLE MONTHS I still get a kick out of kissing this guy. We are very very very much in love, and are having withdrawals from spending so much time with each other this past weekend. We wish every weekend could be the same. Now it's time to go and see how far he's gotten in Zelda. He's waiting. And until next time, remember the Reason for the Season. No, not my birthday (but don't forget that either. I get one year older and wiser this month), but our Savior, who is actually the reason for everything. We LOVE you ALLL!!!!!!!

If you build it....DRAGONS WILL ATTACK!!!

So ...I know what you're all saying...."Preston..is updating the blog!?" YES! I will get right into then!


So Halloween has come and gone. It came a little too fast I should say. But Becky and I enjoyed a fun Halloween weekend filled with movies, food, and costumes! On Saturday, two days before Halloween, we rented a movie called "Insidious." Anyone every watch it?? SO TERRIFYING! But really stupid ending. I wont spoil it. Then on the actual day of Halloween, we started our search for awesome Halloween dances to go to. But this is Utah. And Halloween was on a Monday. What else happens on Monday? Family Home Evening. So nobody was doing a dance on the actual day! Lame! So we decided to go see "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" Which was pretty darn fantastic! Oh...and we dressed up of course! I decided to be a future version of myself, aka, I was the 1%. Becky decided to pick one of the best benefits she could have received if she had a time machine and a sex change. She was a boy scout!

 

Goodbye Halloween...until next year!

My job at the MTC has been amazing! It is still hard to think sometimes that I get paid to do what I do! Speak Tagalog everyday and work the most amazing people in the world! It is so crazy how time has flown these past couple of months. So fast that my first district I picked up almost 9 weeks ago leaves next week for the Philippines! It has been so amazing to see them grow and it has been awesome and humbling to be used in the hands of the Lord, again, to help others. During the process, one sister got moved to another district because she couldn't communicate with her companion, one went home, two have become District Leaders and Zone Leaders, and they have all learned what it really means to be a missionary. Well, at least in the MTC. haha Here is a pick with me and one of the elders. Next time, Ill post a picture of the whole district.

While we are talking about the MTC....I had a little incident while on the job. It was a normal day, and I finished my shift and headed towards my car. But when I arrived, I was greeted with a shattered window! The back left window was completely gone and glass was everywhere! So many thoughts rushed through my mind: Did somebody steal anything? Why would they pick MY car? What do I do? So I got in touch with the security at the MTC to see if they have security cameras or something. They didn't, but a man came to look at my poor car and soon after that a police officer showed up to file a report. But we started noticing strange  things about the whole incident. Nothing was stolen, there is no evidence of anything used to break the window, there were tons of leaves that were blown into a pile right next to my car, and we found a rock. We then looked more closely at my car and noticed tons of little scratches and dings. We pick the rock up we found, and place it next to a huge dent that would result in the window shattering, and it is a perfect fit! So we came to the conclusion that the groundskeepers were using some sort of leaf blower from hell that thrusted the rock at my window, shattering it! Luckily, I was able to fill out a report and they will take care of it!

This past weekend, Becky and I had an awesome opportunity to take some time off of work to go visit family in Boise. The reasons we left the week before Thanksgiving was so that we could see Rex be super studly and awesome in his leading role in their High School Play, and we had an early Thanksgiving meal with the whole family! But the real fun was on the drive there when our windshield wiper broke while it was pouring rain, almost snowing! But we Macgyvered it with a fruit snack wrapper and a hair tie! We made it safely and spent the weekend watching plays, eating sooo much food, playing games, and hot tub! It was a much needed weekend and a good reminder of the important things in life. (Because this was the longest break away I had from my favorite new video game Skyrim..and I survived!) I love my new family and I always love visiting them!


With Halloween over, and a belly full of Turkey, signs of Christmas are sowing up! Not only around Springville, but around our home! We got to set up our tree last night and it was so much fun starting the traditions in our new family, traditions that we will continue to do for years to come.

So it seems we are just doing hunky dorey right? Well...yes! haha but what would life be without challenges? Our challenges since we have been married have not been relationship problems, or communication problems, or problems with testimony, but really financial problems! But that doesn't separate us from any other newly weds. If anything, having financial problems qualifies you to really be newly weds! But luckily for us, we have the gospel and tithing! Tithing has never been a problem in my life, and it almost seemed like it was going to start to be when I wanted to buy my new xbox 360, but the decision became easy. Even though the amount could have easily bought many things we needed and wanted, we did the right thing anyways, and placed our trust in the Lord. It still isn't easy, but this is such a crucial time to not give up the blessings of tithing.

And so, life goes on! And dragons continue to be murdered, and the Trebas family continues to live life to the fullest and love every second of it! Merry Christmas!!!

This Thanksgiving, we are eating Sushi. Yum. :)

If only I could breathe underwater...

I told Preston that I would let him write the next post, but he's going to wait until Sunday, and while I'm not going to report on anything he will expound upon, I feel like I have things worth writing. Or maybe just things that would feel better on here than inside.

Let's not make this a pity party. I'll start with some good news. Or great news. I FINALLY got a job! I say "finally" because I feel like I've been waiting forever, when really, it's only been about 2 months since Preston and I moved down here to Springville. After sending out about a million resumes, going to 5 interviews, and receiving 2 job offers... I found the one that fits. And I'm grateful. I get to answer phones, and wear professional type clothes 5 days a week. The pay isn't great, but I'm out of the house, an income is an income, and my life has started moving again. Or so I thought.

Maybe I should back up. Preston is in school. A good school. A school that I wanted to go to and was, I'm now comfortable saying, totally rejected from. Preston is learning new things, meeting new people, and making friends left and right. On top of that, he gets to teach at the greatest place in the world; the MTC. I realize for some that the MTC doesn't hold pleasant memories. That's a shame. The MTC was life-changing for me, and I will never forget the things I learned, felt, heard, and experienced while I was there. So yes, the memories for me of the MTC are good. The best. And my husband works there. I vicariously take part in his joys and sorrows for his missionaries as they learn the language, the Gospel, and the love that it takes to be a servant of the Lord. And I miss it. I dearly miss missionary work, my people, and the Philippines. Anyway, the point is, Preston is literally living the dream. And for the two months that I didn't have a job, I felt completely useless, at times hopeless, and often worthless.

For someone who has no degree, no skills to speak of, and no ridiculous talent for convincing people to buy things they don't need, finding a job that doesn't involve the words,"Can I take your order?" seems to be exceedingly difficult. Which means my self worth was being totally attacked. Mostly by myself.

Which means that instead of seeing these around town, I started feeling it on the inside:

It's wrong of me to put a price or achievements on my self worth. Shouldn't it just be there? And yet somehow, we all, without even realizing it, feel small, inadequate, and completely worthless. Especially in comparison to others. Which is one of my biggest faults. I like to compare my weaknesses to others' strengths. Which, logically, is completely unfair, but who doesn't do it? And it seems that ever since I've been home from my mission, it's been this constant battle to feel good about myself, because for the previous 18 months, I was practically flying. More happy than I've ever been in my life. I was in the service of the Lord, doing something I loved, and I was not ashamed.

How can you not have a blast with people like these????

So, what happened?

I came home and forgot what loving myself felt like. It wasn't until Preston came home that I started to remember. The people you love can do that for you. They can make you feel important and amazing. But it's not the constant high I felt on my mission. Let me get to the point.

Lately, I've been feeling small again. Where is my life even going?? I don't have a degree, don't have kids, don't even have a calling, so how can I feel worthwhile? I've compared myself to my friends who have graduated with masters degrees already and have a CAREER. I have friends with kids, friends with their own businesses, friends that are in shape, friends that seem to have so much more going on for them than I do.

Here's what I have to say about that: So what?

I've lived an amazing life. I've never done anything stupid that I have to regret for a million years. I've been to college, I've played sports, I've made friends, and I've loved the Church. I've sung my heart out, had it trampled on, and gotten back up. I've had goals and dreams, and I've seen my fair share totally fall apart. But I've seen more miracles than many people ever hope to see in their lifetime. I served the Lord with everything that I am for 18 incredible months, and was tried, challenged, and stretched until I believed I could handle no more. And then I was tried again. I found the man that everyone dreams about, and to my luck and astonishment, he loves me with a beautifully pure love. I get to be with him forever, and you know what? If that was all there was, I could be happy.

What I'm trying to say is, even the most mediocre life is full of the most extraordinary things. Find those things and pull them out on rainy days. Days when you say to yourself, "I really could use a little help," but know one knows? Yeah. Those are the days when you remind yourself how great you really are.

In conclusion, it's all about love. You can be loved by the most amazing people in the world, and that's good. It goes a long way. But until you learn to love yourself, you'll be stuck in the rut you've been trying to get out of your entire life long.

This whole tangent was brought on by one of my good friends, pouring her heart out to tell the world that she's human. I'm grateful for her.

Of Zombies, Prophets, Gluttony, and Rain Beasts

Preston and I just had a fantastically crazy fun weekend, which kind of spilled over into this week. And I am so excited to post about it! Let's start off with Friday night. Date night. For a few weeks now, Preston and I had been talking about going to a scary haunted place for date night, and we had been weighing our options. Utah is literally filled with these money-making screamfests and we had a lot to choose from. We also kept getting busy (or Preston did. I don't actually have busyness in my life right now. Tragic), and ended up waiting until the last Friday in September. Maybe we jumped the gun a little on the Halloween festivities, but when your husband's favorite holiday is Halloween, you can tell me how to make him wait to go to one of his favorite places. Anyway, I digress. We ended up choosing "Nightmare On Thirteenth" in Salt Lake City. It's supposed to be the scariest in the country. We were stoked. When we got there we both decided that we'd use the restrooms ahead of time (a wise decision I feel), and made good use of the most disgusting port-a-potties I'd ever experienced. That was scary enough! But when I came out, this hulking, 10 foot, creature-from-a-nightmare was waiting for me just outside the door. Yeah. You get your money's worth of scaring before ever even paying. I screamed and ran while Preston laughed. Don't worry. He gets his comeuppance.

We paid, got our wristbands, and got in line. The first thing you see in line is this guy.

He talks in a creepy voice with an accent, and in VERSE. He was rhymin all over the place! He moves, his wings expand, he is SCARY. And that's before you even get inside... We were getting super excited.

Once you get inside, they check your wristband and send you to certain doors. You're thinking the scaring is already beginning, but you're not even ready. Good thing they only send you to a picture booth to get some of these:

That guy was creepy. So then they send you into this theater room where you wait in line. But while you're waiting, Freddy Krueger comes out to show you this crazy girl in a psych ward trying to get out with an ax. We're talking amazing animatronics. I don't want to blow the whole thing in case people are planning on going, but suffice it to say, just while you're waiting in line you're going to scream. Finally, they send you through a door and you're in. And you thought haunted houses were for little kids. This is where Preston got his comeuppance. I made him go first. I wouldn't want to ruin his manly reputation by telling you he screamed like a girl and grabbed me every 3 seconds. I wouldn't do that. But I WILL tell you that there was this one part where we were walking holding on to each other. I was on Preston's left side, and some creature jumped out at us from the right. Preston jumped into me, smashing me into the wall, and leaving me with a small gash on my forehead. I was laughing so hard, I almost couldn't breathe. It went like that until we caught up with another group, and then Preston was able to hold it together a little more since he wasn't first in line. I still screamed at the top of my lungs. I won't tell you everything that was in there, but anything that you've ever had a nightmare about, seen in a movie, or heard stories of was in that place. And it was HUGE! We were walking around for a good 45 minutes! Once you get out, you're almost relieved it's over so you can stop screaming. At the end of the night, we took aspirin for our screaming headaches, and went to sleep.

All this was great preparation for the next day's General Conference. We woke up on time, got the computer set up (we don't have cable), and enjoyed a spiritual feast. One of the things that makes the Church so true is it's living prophet and apostles. This makes it a living church, and one that receives revelation. How blessed are we to live in the dispensation of the fulness of times when we get to receive counsel from the prophets who know what the Lord would have us hear?! The Church is true. 

After the morning session, my mother and father in law, Julie and Channing, arrived at our house. It was so awesome to have them here! They "oohed" and "ahhhed" over the house during the tour, and brought us our favorite candies! YES! Haha. We went to Deseret Book and the Distribution Center, and ogled over the things that we'll have "when we're rich." Julie and Channing took us out to lunch at this adorably delicious sandwich place called Kneaders. SOOOO GOOOD!!!! If you get a chance, go. We bought some awesome desserts there too, and took it all home to watch the afternoon session. We ate as we watched and thoroughly enjoyed stuffing ourselves (which was the theme of the weekend). Afterwards, we made Julie and Channing play MariKart Wii, and... let me tell you... there are few things in life that are more awesomely hilarious than watching "grownups" play videogames. Oh the entertainment! And the cool part was, they actually enjoyed themselves as well. :) The men left for the Priesthood session, and Julie and I went to Target to get picnic food for the next day's lunch. We laughed our way through shopping when we met her sister Janet at Target. Janet is a member of MoTab and gave us amazing tickets to the afternoon session of conference. She's also hilarious, and I couldn't get enough of her! We finished our shopping barely in time to rush home, get the boys, and make our reservations at..... TUCANOS!!!! My first time. Now you realize why "Gluttony" is part of the title of this post. That's exactly what happens at that restaurant. Pure gluttony. And it hurts so good afterward. When we walked in, it was hilarious to see all the white-shirted men who had clearly just come from the Priesthood session. Good tradition if you ask me. We ate until we couldn't move, and made it to the car. After skyping with my brother and sister in law, Jarod and Mariko (for their daughter Joi's birthday) in Japan, we called it a night and gratefully laid down to let our bodies adjust.

The next morning as we drove to SLC, we listened to the Sunday morning session of conference. We arrived around 11:30, and walked around Temple Square. It's so beautiful. The weather was perfect, and even the protesters with their ludicrous signs couldn't taint the joy we were feeling.

We ate our picnic lunch, and 1:00 rolled around. We went to our seats in the Conference Center for my first time EVER watching conference live. A million thank yous to Janet for mine and Preston's awesome seats. You can kinda see how good they were here:

Let's just say we saw the Prophet and Apostles and were in awe the whole time. Anyway, Conference ended, we headed home and said goodbye the the parentals. We had an awesome time with them here. As soon as they left, we went to bed, exhausted.

The next day, we made last-minute plans to go on our first camping trip after Preston got home from school. Our awesome friends, the Wells, had given us a tent and air mattress as wedding gifts and we were dying to try them out, and with the weather during the weekend supposed to be around 46, we decided not to wait. So we drove for about 20 minutes up the canyon from our house, and found the perfect spot. The woods are GORGEOUS right now with the leaves turning colors, and we couldn't have asked for more beautiful weather to set up camp. Our spot was right next to a creek and we were the only campers for a ways. It was perfect. As you can see:

Preston quickly set to work to make a sweet campfire and we roasted hot dogs for dinner. Aside from tin foil dinners, is there any better camp dinner than hot dogs???

That night, after the sun had gone down, and the fire was still going, we had Family Home Evening. Some people might wonder how that goes when our family consists of two people. I can tell you it's amazing and we learn so much from each other. We ALWAYS have a game to play, and ALWAYS have treats. That night it was smores, so it doesn't really get better than that. After Preston told a scary story, we hit the mattress and fell asleep. Well, Preston fell asleep. About 20 minutes after we stopped talking, I was hearing noises right outside our tent. It wasn't just the usual raccoon rustling noises either. No, it sounded like much heavier footfalls. And I had already seen a sign for bears, so I was on the alert. I woke Preston up, and told him what I was hearing. Since I was sleeping closer to the door, I could hear it easily, but he had trouble hearing it. I was literally shaking with fear from all the imagined monsters running through my mind. Preston opened the screen on the tent door to check and couldn't see anything. It was quiet after that for awhile. Then the rain came. In torrents, and with thunder and lightning, which would have been cool except that whatever beast was out there came around when it was raining. I was dying not sleeping. Preston seemed to just put it out of his mind and fall asleep, but every time I heard something, I was sure it was going to come charging into our tent at any moment. Finally, I just got mad and decided that I needed to see what it was so I could get some peace of mind and fall asleep too. I put my glasses on, and right as I popped up to look out the screen, something brushed against the tent! I instantly lost my nerve and fell back into bed, shaking. And that was how I spend the night. The next morning, the rain had thankfully stopped, and we quickly took down our camp so Preston could make it to school on time. We looked around for signs of the "Rain Beast" and found scratchings in the ground. We may never know what it was. Preston didn't tell me this until he got home, but he had actually seen the tent move during the night when whatever it was brushed against it so hard that the poles bent a little. Good thing he didn't tell me at the time. I was glad I didn't have to go to school and got some great nap time in before Preston got home. All in all, it was a great first camping trip, and probably the only one of this year. We had a blast and are excited to be able to go more next summer!!!

Trebas Tide: Replacing stains of lameness and boredom with stains of...AWESOME!

So, you may be asking yourself multiple questions: Wow, Preston is really writing a post on the blog? What are Becky and Preston doing, trying to be intense blues clues? Did I get enough vitamins today? Don't worry. I have an answer to all three questions. Yes, YES, and YES!!! Now that we both know you have had your daily amount of vitamins and your eyes are functioning perfectly to view, read, and comprehend this blog post.....LET US BEGIN!!!

These past couple of weeks have been a mixture of all types of shenanigans, hootenannies, and shindigs. ( let me just add really fast that I feel like I am back on the mission writing my weekly e-mail. I apologize for no talk about investigators. but more missionary info a little later!) As you can see above, Becky and I are pretty decked out in blue. This was done not only to support BYU (Apparently we didn't do a good enough job supporting them against the UTES,) but this was done in order to participate in the Worlds largest Dodgeball Game! No fo reals, there was over 4,000 players and 372 broken noses. We made it in the Guinness Book of World Records. One of my life goals: check! But not every day has been as easy as throwin on some awesome clothes and dodging 400 rubber balls. These last few weeks have actually been very trying ones. And our latest trial has been: JOBS!

Sometimes it feels like God has a great sense of humor and likes to watch us struggle. Now I KNOW that isn't true! I know he gives us trials to make us grow. But I bet he gets a kick out of watching us struggle for air when He knows the big picture and knows we will be taken care of. And of course we were! after a LOT of struggling And both Becky and I were extremely blessed because I got a job at the MTC!!!! After 3 months, 1 evaluation, and 2 interviews, I have been hired to help the Lord's Army! It will be a great blessing for me to work closely with the Elders and Sisters. And it has given me an excuse to get new shirts!

 

School is going great. I am especially loving Econ while Becky is starting to hate how I compare EVERYTHING to econ. "Hey babe, if we choose this ice cream, it is a lower opportunity cost and because the marginal benefit will be more equal to the marginal cost, we will be optimizing our choices!" not her favorite thing to hear So other than school, jobs, dodgeball games of death, we are enjoying every second of married life! We are LOVING life in Springville, away from all those crazy freshman that find every reason to not be responsible and crazy annoying (like I was once). The best thing we have found lately is the Springville Art Museum! Today we went and enjoyed a free art exhibit complete with free art-making supplies! So we utilized our resources to create awesome works of art! Don't worry, each piece is conveniently for sale. 

That's all for now! I hope stains of Awesomeness have replaced all your stains of boredom and lameness in your lives! continue to be awesome. And to whoever read this....I will give you a very sincere hug next time we meet.

Nagmamahal Preston!

The First Post: Hey It's Us!

Having become an old married woman within the past few days (definition of an old married woman: married more than a month), it came to my mind that there are a few (and I mean a very few) people, namely family members, who are wondering how in the world married life is going for Preston and I. They have good reason to wonder this, because as I'm about to illustrate, it's been very interesting! The place where I reside is no longer full of flowers and sunshine - oh no. It's filled with knives and swords from the Lord of the Rings era, as well as video game figurines and mismatched socks. Anyone who knows my husband knows that these items are an intrinsic part of his life, and in no way could he part with them. Luckily, we live in a 2 bedroom house, and the second bedroom has been taken over by his things. Otherwise, I have a say as to what can and cannot be displayed in view of the general public. For instance, the wrestling mask from Nacho Libre stays in his "office." Let me elucidate with some pictures...

Let's notice that in this picture alone there is a knife, video game figurine set, the aforementioned mask, and the corner of the flag of the Philippines. Not to mention the mask from his recently-attended Blink-182 concert. I really only come in here to use the computer... Now, let's talk about the actual video gaming world that he is trying to introduce me to. Firstly, he is on this website called www.kotaku.com which is basically a blog about everything video games. Literally everything. Those of us who did not grow up with them didn't even have an idea the website existed.  I was one of "those." I am, however, VERY aware of it's existence now, and appreciate the constant updates on video games that are coming out soon, i.e., Skyrim, Call of Duty Modern Warfare III, oh, and of course, the new Xbox 360 in the Modern Warfare Bundle. Thank goodness for this website, or we'd never know anything. (Please sense the sarcasm, please!) For now, we live with a recently-inherited Nintendo Wii from my mother-in-law, Julie. Which is a good thing or I'd never have gotten to know Zelda: Ocarina of Time!

There it is. The entertainment center of newlyweds. And we really do love it. Be sure to notice the Master Chief carving. In reality, the Wii has provided hours of entertainment and we are so grateful for it.

Truly, marriage is a whole different breed of awesome. People ask us how it is all the time, and we usually answer something like this: "It's the greatest thing in the entire world. No exaggeration." And it is. You live with your best friend. You get to cuddle far into the night (a thing previously prohibited), and this is the best part: Whatever problems or challenges you encounter as newlyweds (i.e., money. Yeah. Mostly money), you have someone else to rely on and help you through those challenges. You're never alone when you're trying to face the world. And that is a beautiful thing.