Thanksgiving Weekend

This last week was a lot of fun. Manuel and I were both weighed down with tests the week before so it was nice to have a good break from school and work. Wednesday was my birthday and I was so happy I didn't have any obligations with homework, etc. Manuel worked a few hours that morning and then came home and took me to Kneader's for my favorite French toast. We were a little lazy after we got home and fell asleep for like 3 hours! When we finally woke up, we decided to do a little shopping which is always fun for me. (Manuel is so patient.) So we went to the mall and managed to spend a little money, (I mean how hard is that really), and then got a movie rental on our way home. Although we didn't end up doing anything too exciting, it was so nice to just have a break from it all. The next day was Thanksgiving and was pretty busy. Manuel's mom made the turkey and I wanted to make the rest. I ended up preparing two batches of funeral potatoes, creamed spinach, basil cloverleaf rolls, pecan pie, apple pie, cranberry sauce, and everything was served with a cran-raspberry lemon-lime punch and some olives. It was a lot of work but also a lot of fun for me. Since we finished earlier than planned, Manuel and I decided we'd go see Fred Claus but once we got to the theater, we realized we should have gone earlier since it was sold out. So we drove to the dollar theater which we found out wasn't supposed to open for another hour or two. So back home it was. We had a great time that night, Manuel's aunt, uncle, cousins, and grandma came from Springville to enjoy the big feast. Friday, we celebrated our 3-month anniversary by yet again, shopping. We found some great deals on some things and even managed to get a Christmas present or two. Then on Saturday, Manuel and I went ice skating. It was Manuel's first time ever which made it all the more fun! I must say he did pretty good for a beginner and he only fell twice! Although he was a little embarrassed, we still had a great time. Oh and get this, we tried going to the library twice this week to check out some movies and both times it was closed. Just my luck--I thought it was quite fitting that the library would be closed just when, of all people, I would want to go. (Okay, I know it's not like I read or anything, I mean we were planning on checking out movies!)

Getting Settled

The last few weeks have been absolutely crazy for us with both school and our jobs keeping us very busy. In the middle of it all, we still try to find time to get more situated at home and I've been getting pretty excited about decorating in our first place together. Although money's tight and space is small, my new little obsession with decorating has made me more creative than ever with ideas. I decided since we have such limited space, we could put a little table in the hallway downstairs, just outside our bedroom, where I can display our decorative items and holiday pieces. When it comes to me and crafts, things don't usually turn out well, in fact don't usually turn out at all. I can be too much of a perfectionist which will frustrate me to the point where I give up. There have been far too many projects that have been left uncompleted than I could even count. However lately, I’ve come up with ways where I can create something and feel satisfied. (These projects usually don’t take too much time or effort which is probably why I finish them.) Another exciting piece of news is that just the other day as I was looking over my map to graduation, I realized I don’t have too many credits remaining. For some reason, I thought that if I condensed my classes as much as possible, I might be able to graduate by April 2009. I began to divide up the number of credits I have left and discovered that if I only took 12 credits winter semester, 3 during the summer, and the last 12 next fall, I would be able to graduate by December 2008. Manuel recently started working part-time with a study abroad program in Mérida, México which is scheduled for this coming spring. If everything works out the way we hope, there is a good chance we will be able to go as facilitators at no cost. This would be a great opportunity for me to obtain the foreign residency requirement for my major and it would be a fun vacation for us to take as newlyweds. Then, after I graduate in December, Manuel will most likely do the same just 1 semester later. This means that he could likely start his first semester of chiropractic school in the fall of 2009. The two of us were getting pretty excited about the future--so much that yesterday morning, instead of working on my homework, I spent my time online looking at all of the chiropractic schools in the country and thinking about how fun it would be to live in a new place. The feeling sort of hit me that once we graduate from BYU and leave Utah, we will really be on our own, and that wherever we go may be where we end up building our life together and raising our children. It’s an exciting yet nervous feeling. I just have to remember that we still need to focus on the here-and-now and not lose motivation in our studies. Over the past couple of weeks, Manuel and I have been watching all of the Harry Potter movies starting with the first. We are in the middle of the 4th which we hope to finish tonight so we can go see the newest edition in the dollar theater tomorrow. It’s getting us into the Halloween spirit! In the next couple of weeks, we want to go to a haunted house and a corn maze. We’re also getting excited about pumpkin carving since last year it was one of our first dates together, as well as Manuel’s first time experiencing the American tradition. With everything going on, we’re having fun, but I have to admit that I’m already looking forward to the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday breaks!

More Wedding Pictures

Our Wedding Day

Newlywed Life

Well, we have been married for 15 days now and it's all been a crazy couple of weeks! We had a beautiful wedding on August 23rd where we were sealed for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake Temple. The wedding reception was held at the Lion House (formerly known as the home of Brigham Young). It was a beautiful event and it was nice to see so many familiar faces as well as meet new people. We flew to Oregon the following day and spent some time at the beach in Lincoln City. It was nice to see the beach again and to have some time away from everything that was going on. Although we would have loved to stay longer, we drove back to Hillsboro the next day for our open house at my parent's home. Was it beautiful or what! My parents had spent the summer getting the yard ready for our open house and it turned out wonderful. The day after that, we packed up a U-haul with my things from back home and drove to Utah. September 1 was the wedding of Manuel's aunt Ada and we started school this past Tuesday, just after the Labor Day holiday. It's been a whirlwind of busyness and we had to jump back into school and the daily grind, but married life has been great. We went to our new ward for the first time on Sunday and will be attending our services in Spanish. It will be a good experience for me since I still need some practice with my speaking. Although it's been a crazy couple of weeks, it has been so nice for us to spend the moments together.

Our Story

Manuel was studying at the University of San Marcos in Lima, Perú at the same time I was working with a humanitarian group in the University of San Marcos' dental school. Despite the fact that we were in the same place at the same time, Manuel and I never met. It wasn't until September 2006 that we had lunch together on BYU campus one day after getting in contact through some mutual friends from Perú. After meeting, Manuel and I became study buddies--Manuel would help me with my Spanish homework and I would help him with his English homework. October 19, 2006 was our first official date and we continued spending time with each other every day. During this last winter semester, I applied for an internship to teach English in Chile for the spring and summer semesters. Less than a week and a half before I was scheduled to take off, I realized that I didn't want to leave Manuel behind and decided to stay. Soon after, we talked more seriously about marriage and were engaged about a month later. Here we are now, anxiously awaiting our wedding day which is set for August 23, 2007. We are so excited to start our life together!