Darren's New Job

For the past few months Darren has been working as a recruiter for hospitals and he has hated it. It was nice that he could work from home and work whenever he wanted but that was also hard because he never wanted to work. I also watch Jack and Maddie at our house and we were pretty distracting for him. A couple weeks ago we started looking on craigslist for a job for him. He didn't want to have another dumb job especially since he has a bachelor's degree. We were lucky enough to find a job in Rexburg that he qualifies for and that requires a bachelor's degree. Darren applied for the job and had an interview. We were really nervous that he wouldn't get the job because a lot of other people applied for it and we are only going to be living here for 8 more months. Before his interview Darren told me he has never not gotten a job that he interviewed for. I practiced interviewing him with some hard questions and he had such good answers. He's so good he thinks he could teach a class about how to interview for a job! And apparently he is really good at interviewing because he got the job even though we thought he probably wouldn't!

Darren's new job is a psycho social rehabilitation specialist. He works with troubled kids and helps them learn whatever skills they are working on. Each kid has a treatment plan with different things to work on and he goes to their home and works with them. It is a pretty interesting job and he is learning skills that will definitely help him be a good parent. The best thing about his new job is that he makes more than minimum wage! Woot woot! I am also still nannying and so our two incomes combined will help us save some money for graduate school, which is really nice. 

We have felt really blessed lately with all of the good things that have been happening in our lives. Everything in our lives has fallen into line, and things have been working out perfectly. We are very grateful for all of our blessings!

Left: Darren before he left for his interview

Righ: Darren with his new business cards! 

The End of My Internship

Last week I finished up my internship at the Teton Flood Museum/ Rexburg Children's Museum. Overall, it was a good internship and I actually had fun doing it. Darren and I toured the museum ourselves quite a few times since we had nothing better to do. There are a lot of cool facts about Rexburg and it made me appreciate this little city that I live in a little more. It was fun to see all the old pictures and old things in the museum and I gained appreciation for the pioneers that settled this area. The Tabernacle is a beautiful, historic building and I am glad I got to work there for a little while. On our last night Darren and I took pictures with some of our favorite things in the museum to remember our time there.

The first picture is me holding the Latter Day Saint Psalmody. I forgot when it was published but it was really old!
The second picture is Darren sitting in an old scary looking dentist chair. The old dentist tools don't look like too much fun.
The third picture is me with a set of drawers that was used in an old department store. I wish I could take this home and put it in my house. It reminds me of a card catalog.
The fourth picture is Darren playing an old organ.
In the fifth picture I am holding a big book of jail records. I loved to look and see why people went to jail 100 years ago in Rexbug. A lot of people went to jail for adultery and drunkenness.
The last picture is Darren sitting under the basketball championship banner for Madison High School in 1925.

The Children's Museum

I am doing my child development internship this semester. For my internship I am in charge of the Rexburg Children's Museum. The Children's Museum is just a large room that is located in the basement of the Rexburg Tabernacle and it is part of the Teton Flood Museum. For my internship I have to set up a new theme each month with at least 8 coordinating activities. I also work the front desk 12 hours a week at night. Darren is able to come hang out with me, so it isn't that bad. We have actually made some pretty big life decisions chatting in the basement of the tabernacle, since not that many people come in, we have a lot of time to talk. I enjoy setting up the theme for each month, and even though it is a ton of work, I have a great little pre school curriculum started! I think I will actually miss it when I am done!

Beaver

A few weeks ago Darren and I drove down to Beaver, Utah where we met my family to go snow boarding. At the ski resort in Beaver it is free for California residents so my whole family could go snowboarding for free except Darren. We had a lot of fun just visiting and spending time with my family. I spent a lot of time on the ground and Darren was a lot better than I thought he would be. I was really impressed! Beaver is just a tiny little town but they had the greatest little Mexican restaurant. We went there two nights in a row because we all loved it so much! The funny thing is, we went there to eat and when we walked in it was this tiny one room log cabin and we thought it was kind of weird so we almost left, but we talked to people who were leaving the restaurant and they were raving about it. We ended up staying to eat and it was a good thing we did! Overall, it was a really fun weekend trip and I loved the time I got to spend with my family!

This is really how I spent most of the day! Ha!

Because my mom and I weren't doing so good, and the boys were way better than us, we wanted to try skiing. Everyone told us that we were already good at snowboarding so it would be harder to learn how to ski, but sometime I want to try it. It looks fun and I like the fact that you are always facing forward!

SNOW!

We got a ton of snow the last few days! I have never seen so much snow in Rexburg. It is a lot of fun to play in, but not a lot of fun to drive in!

Surprise!

This Christmas was the first Christmas that I hadn't spent with my family. I was a little sad that I couldn't be with them, but I was also happy to be with Darren's family. I just really wish that both of our parents lived closer together! Darren and I were planning on flying into Salt Lake and staying there for one or two days because we were going to go to the temple with my Grandma so she could be sealed to her parents. I have been doing a lot of family history lately, and I had a couple other sealings ready that we could do with my grandma. I was talking with my mom about it and she was talking with my Aunt Valerie about it. My mom called me one day and told me that my Aunt Valerie had made an appointment at the temple and she told me all the details. The day before we left to fly to Salt Lake, my Aunt Valerie texted me and said that she was going to pick me up from the airport instead of my Grandpa because she was going to be up that way. I never thought twice about it because my Grandpa had also been really sick. I gave my Aunt our flight details and that was that. When we were going to bed that night I told Darren that I thought my mom might be in Utah. He asked why I thought that and I said because she had been asking a lot of questions lately. Darren told me that mom's just ask a lot of questions and I shouldn't expect her because I would be really upset when she wasn't there. After he said that to me, I started to cry. I cried mostly because I missed my family and because I knew they wouldn't actually be there. When we landed and were waiting for our luggage I did quickly glance around for my family, but knew I was being crazy and that I shouldn't be so hopeful. I thought that if they were going to surprise me then they would have been waiting in the airport, so at that point I completely got over the idea of them being there. When we were waiting for our luggage I called my Aunt and told her where we would be. At the Salt Lake Airport there are numbers outside marking where you can pick up passengers. I told her we were at number 6. When we got out there I realized we were actually at number 2. I called her and told her and she said she would have to drive back around to get us or we could just walk up a few numbers. I told her we would walk and meet her at number 6. We got there and waited for her for about 5 minutes. I was looking for her white SUV the whole time and I was starting to wonder where she was, when all of the sudden I heard a voice saying, "Hey, don't I know you guys?!" and it was Gage! Even though I had previous thoughts about my family being there, I had totally lost hope and I was really shocked when I saw Gage! And then I started crying... not too soon after my mom came running up to me on the other side. I was so excited to see them both! My Dad wasn't able to come and neither was Josh and I missed them but I was so glad to see my Mom and Gage! Who knew that my whole family was such good liars? My Aunt wasn't even at the airport and my Mom had driven up to Utah that day.

There is a video of the surprise, but it isn't very good. You can fast forward most of it because it is mostly of Gage's feet.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qib1i9ilx86gych/20130102_210952.mp4

The surprises didn't end there. My Aunt Lisa had also driven up to Utah with my mom and my grandparents had no idea that either of them were there. On our way to my grandparents house from the airport we came up with a plan to surprise them. I was supposed to go in first and act like nothing was abnormal and get them in the same room. Darren, me, and my grandparents were all sitting on their bed when I texted my mom and told her to come in. Gage and my mom came through the door a few seconds later and my grandparents were so surprised!

The last surprise happened in the temple. My grandma had no idea that my Aunt Lisa was in Utah, but while we were waiting in the waiting room of the temple my Aunt Lisa walked in and surprised my grandma making her cry. My grandpa wasn't around at the time so Lisa surprised him in the celestial room right before we went in to do sealings.

It was such a cool experience to be with my grandma when she got sealed to her parents. We were also able to do some other sealings like sealing my grandmas grandma to her husband and parents. I was so happy that so many people got to be there and I know it made my grandma really happy to have 3 of her daughters there.

 I know my Grandma's eyes are closed but they were closed in all 3 pictures we took.

Darren and I partied the next few days with my Mom and Gage. It really wasn't long enough, but I am glad for the time I got to spend with them. I wish that we lived closer to them so that we could see them more! I never got to see my Dad though, so hopefully we will be visiting soon :)

Minute to Win It Christmas Style

 The day after Christmas we played some minute to win it games. A few weeks before Christmas we got together with some of our friends and played some Christmas minute to win it games. It was so much fun that I thought we should do it again with Darren's family. Darren's family invited some family friends over, and we all had a good time together playing fun and silly games.

A Flu Filled Christmas

A few days before Christmas Darren got the flu and was throwing up all day. It lasted for about 2 days and by the time Christmas came he was feeling better. But on Christmas eve a few others came down with the flu and half of the family was throwing up on Christmas. Ocassionaly we had to take a break from opening presents for someone to go puke. Even though half of the family was sick, we all still had a wonderful Christmas and it was a lot of fun!

Darren got a lot of tools for Christmas and a basketball which he was pretty excited about. I got a set of cutco knives which I was really excited about! I have been using them all week and they are so great! I am only a little bit afraid that I am going to chop my finger off! After everyone was done opening their presents there was one Christmas gift left. It was from Amy and Troy to Randy and Linda. When they opened it, they immediately started to cry. The rest of us were a little bit confused and as soon as Amy started crying, I thought, she's pregnant! I was right, she is pregnant and she kept it a secret for almost 4 months! It was a joy filled Christmas for all! The day after Christmas we all went with Amy to her ultrasound to find out the gender of her baby! Some of us placed bets, most of us thought it would be a girl, but it is actually a boy! After we knew the gender the girls got to crafting making baby boy things! Babies are so fun and I am so excited for Amy and Troy and I am excited that I am going to have a nephew!

A picture of all of us at the ultrasound

Kylee Feet

For Christmas my mother-in-law wanted me to take a picture of Kylee dancing on Jareds feet so Kylee could give it to her mom, Kathy. I thought that the picture turned out super cute. I love her little chubby feet. We decided that they should take a new picture every 5 years and then take one on her wedding day. Anyway, Kathy loved it and I thought it was such a cute idea.

Cutting Down the Tree

The first day that we got to Oregon we went out to cut down our Christmas tree. Darren's family was nice enough to wait for me to get there before they got their tree. We went to a Christmas tree farm and picked out the very best tree. It was pretty cold and rainy but it was still fun. There were so many trees and they all smelled so good! It is funny how the trees don't look very big until you cut them down and bring them inside. I took my turn trying to saw down the tree, but I could barely get the saw to budge. Who knew cutting down a tree was so hard? Anyway, it was a fun new experience and we got a beautiful tree.

Early Christmas

This Christmas we spent up in Oregon with Darren's family. Before we left, my mom mailed us our presents so we could open them at our house and not have to haul them home from Oregon. We skyped my family so they could watch us open our presents. It was a fun little night and we were excited that we got to open our presents before Christmas. My mom and dad made us our own set of chimes and a chimes song book that we were pretty excited about. We also got a Chipotle gift card to use in Oregon. We went there 3 days in a row! I love Chipotle. Darren got some new razor heads, and a new shower head for our shower. I got some facial stuff and a frosting thing that I had been wanting. My mom also sent a few presents for us to open in Oregon. One of the presents was all of our old family videos that had been put onto DVD's, edited and organized. It was seriously one of the best presents of my life. I am so glad that I can watch our old family videos now and I know that they will be able to be preserved. It was a great Christmas present!

Darren and I also exchanged gifts and he got me a Sea Glass book that I have been wanting and I got him some cologne. 

It's Christmas at the Smith House

We decorated for Christmas about two weeks ago. We actually had our tree up before Thanksgiving but we didn't decorate it until the Monday after. We both love Christmas and I love how homey our house feels with all of our Christmas decorations up. We won't be having Christmas in Rexburg this year but it is still fun to decorate and have our own tree. We are going to be spending this year in Oregon and we leave on the 15th. All we have to do is get through finals first!

We even put up a mistletoe! :)

Our Refinished Chair

We bought a chair quite a while ago at DI and we wanted to refinish it. It took us such a long time to do because there was so much sanding! Darren worked so hard and spent so much time on our tiny balcony sanding our chair. He also took off the big hunks of wood that were on the sides of the chair and on the bottom. I think the chair looks MUCH better now. I didn't really help with the sanding, even though I wanted to. The chair was just too stubborn and no matter how hard I pushed I couldn't sand any of it. Darren just must be really strong. My job was to work on the cushions. I took the old cushions apart and used them as a pattern to make the new pieces. I learned how to sew piping in the process and I think they turned out pretty good. Just don't come over and inspect them!

The actual chair was I think 25 dollars but I can't remember exactly. It was definitely near there. We also didn't spend much on fabric at all since we found this great place in Idaho Falls that sells upholstery fabric for cheap! Serioiusly cheap, I am talking as low as 3 dollars a yard, and it is on the wide bolt. Our fabric was 5 dollars a yard but that is not bad at all considering the upholstery fabric is 40 dollars a yard at Michaels and that is what we initially looked at. I was so glad we found the cheap fabric store or else it wouldn't have been worth it to refinish the chair. We could have just bought a new one if we had to spend a lot of money on fabric. 

Here is the before and after:

 We still haven't put the little things back in the holes on the left picture (I have no idea what they are called). We are working on sanding and staining all of the little plugs to put back in the holes, so don't mind the little holes in the picture.

Overall, we are very happy with the chair, and it is very comfy to sit in. Here is Darren relaxing from all of his hard work!

Darren's 25th Birthday

Darren turned 25 a few weeks ago! His birthday was on the same day as the election, so we were pretty depressed when Romney lost. I think I have mostly gotten over it, but it was very sad for a few days around here. Since we were too busy on his actual birthday watching the election coverage we decided to celebrate his birthday all week, we actually ended up celebrating it for two weeks. Me and Darren always say, "In this house..." and then we make a statement about what we believe in our house. So during his birthday we decided that in this house, we celebrate birthdays all week long. On his actual birthday, November 6, he opened a few presents and we got some barbeque from his favorite place around. It is actually a little restaraunt in a gas staion, so it is a little bit ghetto but those are the best places. Then, on the Friday after his birthday we went out to Applebees with a few friends, and with a giftcard that he got from his sister. After dinner, we came back to our house to have dessert. Darren requested "Darren's Delight" which is really called Cherry Delight, but has been nicknamed Darren's Delight in his family because he loves it so much. For Darren's birthday he also wanted to see the new James Bond movie, Skyfall. We didn't go until last weekend because he asked for movie tickets for his birthday and they didn't get here in time to go during his birthday week. So this past Friday we went down to Idaho Falls and did some fun Christmas shopping, went out to dinner, and then went to see Skyfall. I have been known for not liking "boy" movies very much so I was not that excited to see the movie. I don't know what it is that I don't like about them. I mean I like boy movies like Adam Sandler movies, and I love shows like 24, but I guess I never really got into superheros and movies like that. However, I was really surprised that I loved the James Bond movie. We even watched another James Bond movie with our friends the next day. I know Darren is pretty happy that I like James Bond movies now.

Funny side note: I just found out that my great grandma used to love the James Bond theme songs. She   played the organ and after each new James Bond movie came out she would ask my aunt to go buy the sheet music for the theme song and then she would play it on the organ. I think it is so funny to picture a little old lady playing a James Bond theme song on the organ. I never met my great grandma but I was thinking of her while watching the movie.

Family History, I am Doing It

This semester I am taking a family history class. I took a family history class a few years ago in my ward, and since then I have really learned a lot more about doing family history work and I love it. I am obsessed actually. I always used to think people who were obsessed with family history were weird. But now I get how they felt about it. There is something so fulfilling and satisfying about finding your ancestors, learning about them and doing their temple work. I get so excited to see birth certificates, death certificates, marriage certificates, and census records with my ancestors on them. There is just something so fascinating about learning who your ancestors were, what they did for a living and where they lived. It's addictive to me. A lot of people think that their family history work has all been done, but that is never true. There is always more work to be done. People also think that they don't have time to do family history and they will work on it when they are old and retired. That's not true. There will never be a time when you are not busy and you can always find an excuse to avoid doing family history work. Family history work is very time consuming, but it is one of the most worthwhile things that I can think of doing.

This past conference, Elder Scott gave a great talk about doing family history. He said, "Do you young people want a sure way to eliminate the influence of the adversary in your life? Immerse yourself in searching for your ancestors, prepare their names for the sacred vicarious ordinances available in the temple, and then go to the temple to stand as proxy for them to receive the ordinances of baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost. As you grow older, you will be able to participate in receiving the other ordinances as well. I can think of no greater protection from the influence of the adversary in your life."

I love how he said that he can not think of a greater protection from the adversary. That is amazing, really if you think about it. When people are having hard times they often turn to the scriptures, they might pray more or read uplifting books. All of those things are great, and we should do all of those things, but how about trying family history. When we are researching our ancestors we are more protected from the adversary's influence. I love that. I think that all of Elder Scott's talk was so great and I know the church is really pushing family history. A few weeks ago, we had a letter from the first presidency read over the pulpit. It was also about family history, and it was encouraging members to take their own family names to the temple, or to do ward members family names. There is such an emphasis placed on family history, yet no one in the church seems to heed the council to get started. In my family history class today, I learned that only 3 percent of each ward is working on family history. My teacher said family history is the most failed thing in the whole church, and I can really see why he said that.

There is so much people can be doing to work on their family history. One of the greatest services you can give is doing indexing. Indexing takes records from all over the world and transcribes them so people can find their ancestors more readily. No one gets anything out of indexing for themselves, but you are offering such a service to others.

I love the work of family history, and I have already learned so much from my ancestors. My ancestors have sacrificed so much to allow me to be where I am today. I am thankful for them, and I know that there are so many souls who are waiting for their temple work to be done. Doing family history work has made the spirit stronger in my life, I know that it is the Lord's work. I am also thankful for all of the knowledgeable volunteers and missionaries who are working in family history centers ready to help people with their family history.

So, in the words of Elder Scott, "This work is a spiritual work, a monumental effort of cooperation on both sides of the veil, where help is given in both directions. Anywhere you are in the world, with prayer, faith, determination, diligence, and some sacrifice, you can make a powerful contribution. Begin now. I promise you that the Lord will help you find a way. And it will make you feel wonderful."

Do your family history, and give the great service of indexing. It will change your life.

October

October flew by! Darren and I have been so busy with school and work and I haven't had much time for anything else! Okay, we have done a few things, but there has been no time for blogging! We went to the hay maze a few weeks ago with some friends and it was really scary! It took us about 45 minutes to get through and I screamed a whole lot! 3 years ago, Darren and I first held hands in the hay maze. I can't believe we have been together for over 3 years! We also carved pumpkins this month. Darren tried to carve a Mitt Romney pumpkin but it did not turn out so well, so we don't have an "after" picture. We ate quite a few pumpkin desserts this month, and on Halloween we made mummy pizzas, ate lots of candy and popcorn, and watched one of my favorite movies, Hocus Pocus. Holidays seem so boring now that we are married and lame. I guess they will become more exciting when we have kids. 

If your name is Amy Smith or Linda Smith, well actually any of the girl Smiths don't read anymore because your Christmas present is on here!!

Also, during the month of October we have been working on refinishing a chair. We are sort of obsessed with refinishing furniture and we want to buy so much furniture we see at DI we just have no room for it in our house. We have been really wanting a chair though, and we found the perfect one a few weeks ago. It is quite a large piece of furniture, but it rocks, literally it's a rocking chair, and I love it. Here is a picture of the before...

It's pretty ugly and it looks like it belongs in a hunting lodge. We have done SO much work on this chair, well Darren has done so much work, especially sanding! I have sewn one of the cushions, and I am working on the other one. We have stained it twice but we are going to give it one more coat. Because we don't have anywhere to stain it except a little balcony, we thought that we would stain it inside. We tried to put it in our extra room, but the chair is too wide and it could not fit down our narrow hallway, so we stained it in the kitchen. We thought we were going to die from the smell, and we were both getting really bad headaches so we slept with our sliding glass door open when it was snowing outside. We just kept the heater on in our room, and it was fine. It did take a day to reheat our whole house again but at least we didn't pass out from the fumes! It seems like we have been working on this project forever, but it is almost done!

Really, Amy or Linda don't read anymore!

Lastly, this month, I have been working on making hand stamped jewelry. I have been in love with hand stamped jewelry for a while. Darren bought me a necklace 2 years ago for my birthday and I love it. I decided that I could make it, and so I asked for an early Christmas present and my mom got me all of the supplies to make hand stamped jewelry. I wanted it as an early Christmas present so I could make Christmas presents for my family. I have really enjoyed doing it so far, and with a little practice I think I have gotten pretty good. Here are two of the pieces I made so far.

So, that is what we have been up to lately. We are also super into politics so you can find us listening to talk radio or watching the news. We have turned into our parents. Darren's birthday is November 6th, and guess what we will be doing? I hope Romney wins, it will be a good birthday present for Darren!

There's a Mouse in Our House!

So 2 nights ago I decided I wanted to work out. Darren and I were on the floor doing push ups and when Darren looked up all he said was "Oh. My. Gosh." I thought that he was going to be looking at a huge spider because that was a regular occurrence at our old house and that was his usual reaction. I immediately got tense at the prospect of a huge spider and hurried over to get on the couch. I kept asking "What? What? What do you see?" He finally said there was a mouse running across our kitchen. I could not believe it! A mouse?! So we sat on the couch for a while not knowing what to do and then Darren saw it again run back across the kitchen! We went to walmart and bought some mouse traps but so far there has been no action. It is the weirdest thing because there has been no evidence of a mouse getting into our food and I haven't seen any droppings. We think he just got lost on his way home and wandered through our apartment, and hopefully he is gone now :) It is weird to be so scared of a mouse because they are so small and kind of cute but it is just startling when they scurry around so fast. I don't want to kill him, so hopefully there are no more mouse sightings! We will see!

Alan's Visit

Alan came to visit us last weekend. It was fun to see him and he came bearing gifts. He brought us a beautiful end table and a beautiful orchid from Darren's parents. I love, love the orchid. It is so pretty I just hope I don't kill it! Kaitlin came over to hang out with us a few times and we ate lots of food and played some games. Overall, it was a fun weekend and when we came home from church and Alan was gone, there was a little something framed in our kitchen to remember him by.

A Real Man

Alan, Darren's brother, came to visit for the weekend and he brought an early birthday present for Darren from his parents. Darren has been wanting some power tools because he is sick of putting together furniture and hanging things with dinky screwdrivers. He now feels like he is a real man...and he has already put his new toy to work!

Our First Day of School