Frank

Let me be frank with you.

Marriage is one of the hardest things I have ever done.

It is also the most rewarding.

I can't see my life without my husband in it.

But with that being said there are times when things are rough 

and I just have to cry.

It's hard being married at 21. It was even harder being married at 19.

There are times when I mourn for the days of being single and carefree with my friends.

There are times when I just want to be back in New York living with my family.

But then I realize there was no Sam in those moments. 

There was no man that loved me to the deepest levels of my soul.

And whom I love just the same.

Sometimes I think people, especially younger married people in the Mormon community, make marriage out to be a walk in the park.

And honestly sometimes it is. But sometimes there are moments when I just want to scream at my husband.

Sometimes there are moments when I wonder was I truly ready for this. 

Sometimes I am one of those people that make marriage out to be a walk in the park. 

My go to response when people ask me how married life is treating me is to tell them that it is fun.

Sometimes it's so fun to get to spend every day with Sam.

But sometimes it's not so fun.

Some days I just need my own friends and time away from Sam.

I think the biggest difficulty that Sam and I have had in our marriage, apart from living with his parents the first four months (which I would not recommend to anyone), is not having our own friends.

Our own things to do and time away from each other.

Sometimes all I need is just time away from Sam. 

Since we have moved schools and came to ISU, 

we have both had difficulty coming into our own.

It's great to have Sam to go through all of this with, 

but to be frank, I just need some girlfriends! to chat about anything and everything with.

Sometimes I get that with my friends that are at BYU-I. 

And I thirst for more of those moments.

And sometimes I need my family.

The ones that have seen me at my weakest moments and been there for me always.

It is a very hard thing to be the one in a marriage where it's your family that lives far away.

It's incredibly difficult for me at times to only see my family once a year.

I grew up with my ENTIRE family a thirty drive from me.

Now they are all 2000+ miles away.

I'm not saying that I don't like/love my in-laws.

I couldn't have married into a better family.

I constantly laugh because of them and they bring serious joy to my life.

But since I am being frank, Alan is not my dad.

And I love my dad more than words could describe. 

I miss him more than I could ever write.

Alan is an amazing father-in-law and I get to do things with him that I would never do with my own father, which is just awesome.

And Sydney is seriously the best mother-in-law ever.

She is my Momma Syd.

I love her.

I don't have a relationship with my own mother, so she is my mom.

She fills a void in my life. as cheesy as that sounds.

But back to this marriage thing.

It is hard.

It requires a lot of work.

I have cried more times than I would like to admit.

But my marriage is the best thing that I ever happened to me.

Sam was the best decision I ever made.

I love him more than anything in the entire world.

I wouldn't trade this life for anything.

It isn't always an easy life, but sometimes it is the best life ever.

Until next time!

Pizza Pizza

Remember yesterday when I complained all about my life here in Idaho?

Well I still don't have anything nice to say about Pocatello, but kind of okay city is Idaho Falls. It's the FOURTH largest city in Idaho. 

Can I get a what what?

Thanks.

Anyways, so I heard this ad on the radio about a New York style pizza joint.

And while the New York accent that was attempted really sounded like a Jersey accent, I figured I would try this pizza out.

So Sam and I went there, me being the New Yorker a little skeptic, that anyone in Idaho could replicate my beautiful New York pizza. 

Let me tell you I was converted. 

The pizza was so good. It tasted just like the pizza from my home town.

I was in love. And pretty much want to go here ALL. THE. TIME.

You may be wondering what this fancy dancy place is called.

Well I was getting to that.

Lucy's Pizzeria.

So delicious and not make you want to cry expensive.

If you are ever in Idaho Falls, you HAVE to check it you. 

I promise you won't be disappointed. 

Just plain cheese is my favorite, but they do have a dang good Buffalo Chicken pizza.

Let me know if you ever go and what you thought.

Until next time!

Pocatello

Pocatello is the worst place to live a boisterous city. 

Don't believe me? Check out this photo, taken by yours truly.

Yes folks that is the whole dang place. 

With a whopping population of 54,000, this is the FIFTH largest city in all of Idaho. You have got to be kidding me!

The fifth largest state in New York has three times that many people. 

It's a rough life I am living here in Idaho.

So when you complain about your life and that there is nothing to do where you live, just remember that you could be me, stuck in Pocatello, Idaho for the next FOUR years.

Until next time!

My Day.

Today was one of those lazy days that was beautiful. 

Sam and I originally planned on going skiing.

But we woke up at 8:00, checked the weather and the high was going to be like 25 degrees, which isn't bad, but the wind

was going to be around 29 MPH up to 44 MPH. 

So we nixed that plan and fell back asleep.

We woke up for the second time at 11. Sam went downstairs, while I stayed in bed and watched Sex and the City. 

Then Momma Syd did a little knock knock knock at the door and said that

we were going on a little pony ride. 

I got up took a quick shower and then hopped on my pony. 

I just about had a heart attack. Now folks I have ridden horses before, but sometimes the fact that there is a half ton animal between my legs and it could kill me or seriously harm me, gets to me and I get a bit more

freaked out. Now the horses that Sam's parents own aren't the typical horse that you are imagining. They are called Norwegian Fjords. (These are my in-laws actual horses. The link is to the actual horse I rode today. Pronounce like echo)

They are cute little buggers and generally very calm. 

But like I said I still get scared. The one I ride is pretty chunky. She is on a strict  diet and in what we call "The Fat Girl" pen. 

Ekko wouldn't exert anymore energy than required.

Anyways. After said pony ride. We loaded, more like I watched, a bunch of 

stuff in the truck to take to the D.I. 

Then we went out to eat. Were planning on going bowling, but it was league night, so here I am at home, with no other plans that to watch some more Sex and the City. 

Do you guys have any fun New Years plans??

I'm going to party with some friends from New York that are in Rexburg for school. I can't even wait!!

Until next time!

Looky What I found!

A bunch of random pictures from my phone that I found when I uploaded the pictures from yesterday. 

Enjoy!

A massive folding chair that we found at Sam's Club in Provo. Taken Fall 2010

This is the family "cabin" farm in Driggs, Idaho. Taken December 2010

Utah State Fair. Taken Fall 2010

A random picture of us at our old apartment in Provo, Utah

Taken sometime in 2010 : )

Right after I chopped my hair real short. The dumbest thing I ever did, by the way. Taken March 2011, Provo, Utah.

These were on the Snake River by the Idaho Falls Temple. We took these right before I went to NY. Taken July 2011, Idaho Falls, Idaho.

My hair is slightly longer. Just a random picture from school.

Taken Fall 2011, Pocatello, Idaho.

Until next time!

A Little Trip Back East

So as promised here are some pictures from my trip home to New York.



Me and my nephew Nathaniel on his 7th birthday. He is getting so big!



This is a sweet little "waterfall" that we hiked up to. It was really cool.




One of the things that I really wanted to do while in New York was go to Darien Lake, it is this amusement park that I grew up going to. It is 100x better than anything in Utah or Idaho. They have this ride called the Sky Coaster. Essentially you are harnessed up, and they pull you up 180 feet and pull a cord and then basically swing. It is a super adrenaline rush. I have done it twice before. This time I did it with my brother Nick. Here we are going. And the picture below is of us flying after we pulled the cord.



I didn't get a lot of pictures with my camera, most of them are of my nephew on his birthday. But my sister has some that I'll post. It was so nice to be in New York and get to spend time with family and friends. It was really nice to have longer than 3 days there, which was how long my last two trips home were.

Until Next Time!

Hmmmmm

Well I know that I said I would be posting some pictures and stuff about my trip to New York, but my camera cord is at Sam's parents (I think/hope, cause it sure isn't here). We are going up there today for a reception so I will try and remember it.

School started on Monday. ISU isn't too bad, it seems like this will be a fairly easy semester. The only tough class that I have is anatomy. And Sam is in that class with me, so we can study together and make sure we know the concepts. I didn't go to class today, I know what you are all thinking, the first week of school and already sluffing, but in my defense, I have had a seriously bad sore throat. And last night I woke up at 1 and couldnt fall back asleep until 4ish. My first class is at 8 so that wasn't really going to work for me. I am glad I didn't go though, because I have been DEAD tired all day. I have literally been in bed all day freezing, even though it's 95 out. The upstairs people run their AC like it's going out of style. We aren't technically supposed to have AC but, there is a vent from upstairs that goes to our bedroom. So only the bedroom gets ridiculously cold.

Well I can hear Sam bringing the garbage can back, so that means he is home.

Until next time!

Water, Water, and More Water

Heck! It's been a long few weeks. Let's see where to begin. The weekend of June 25, Sam and I ventured down to Utah to visit his sister and her beautiful children. We went to Lagoon with them. It was so much fun. It was my first time going. The only amusement parks I have ever gone to are ones back home like Six Flags and Enchanted Forest Water Safari. These parks are pretty huge, so Lagoon was a little on the lame side compared to what I am used to. Although we did manage to have a lot of. For the beginning part of the morning Sam and I went with Dave and Cameron on the rides. Cameron is 8 and he went on all the same rides we did. He is a pretty brave boy. Then we met up with every one for lunch. After lunch we went on the Rattlesnakle Rapids with the whole family, except for Dave and Abbie, because Abbie is too small. They went home after that to let the kids rest and to eat dinner. Sam and I stayed. We went on this ride called the Sky Coaster. It was so much fun. I had previously ridden something exactly the same as it back home so I knew what to expect. It is basically a ride where you are in a harness and you are attached to all of these cables. Your belly is facing the ground and they pull you up really high and you pull a cord that makes you fall. For the first 20 feet or so it feels like you are free falling because the harness doesn't catch yet. It is so much fun and it's only $15 per person, which is fairly cheap. We stayed at Lagoon until about 10:45 pm and we got there at like 10 in the morning. So it was a really long day. We were exhausted by the time we finally made it home. The next day we went to church with Mindy and her family. Then we ate some food and made our way home.

For the 4th of July weekend Sam and I didn't have too many plans. Or at least we thought. Sam's brother, Jake, and his wife Ashley came up for the weekend. Originally, we had planned on just hanging around the house and playing in the river with the kayaks, but Sam's parents invited us to be in a parade with them in a tiny town called Victor, which is like an hour and a half away. We agreed even though it meant we would have to wake up at seven in the morning. Sam's dad really likes horses and so our contribution to the parade was a horse drawn wagon. It was kind of fun to sit in the wagon and wave to all the people. However, this parade was honestly the worst parade I have ever been to. There was no regulation. It was basically like having three horses and a wagon go through a crowd of people. There were kids EVERYWHERE! Parents weren't watching their children at all. My father-in-laws friend, Clyde, came along with us and had his ponies pull a small wagon. When we were just about to the end of the parade, this little girl who was about 5 or 6 decided to go up and touch one of the ponies. When the horses or ponies are pulling anything, they have blinders on, which are basically things that prevent them from seeing to the side of them. So the pony could not see the crowd. When the little girl touched the pony, it went crazy! It reared up and started dragging the wagon. Eventually the got the pony to calm down and got her out of the parade with the help of about ten men. It was a pretty scary experience.

After the parade Sam, Jake, Ashley and I decided we were going to drive to Wyoming to get some fireworks that aren't sold in Idaho. It's only about a 40 minute drive from Victor, Idaho to Jackson, Wyoming. However, when we got into Jackson there was a nice big sign that said, "There are no fireworks in Teton County." So we went all that way for nothing. We did end up going to eat after much persuading to Jake. We were all pretty hungry and tempers were running low, especially mine. First off, Jake is a pretty terrible driver, he doesn't keep his eyes on the road enough. And second, Jake is kind of annoying. He definitely tries to get a rise out of people.

Finally we arrived back to the house at around 5 pm after having left at 7:30 am. It was one long day. We basically just hung out and went and returned a movie. Also almost every time we go into Idaho Falls we stop and get a horchata. So of course we got one. There is this little Mexican restuarant scattered all through out Idaho Falls that we just love. It has such good food for a really good price. Hopefully soon I will make some horchata of my own and share the recipe.

On the same weekend, we had a toilet overflow. The toilet in the upstairs bathroom that Jake and Ashley use was broken and we didn't know it. They flushed the toilet before they went to bed and it kept running. Everyone else was in bed so the water just kept pouring out. The only was that we knew some thing was wrong, was by the water was dripping down into the kitchen into the light cover and evenutally it filled the light cover and it burst. That woke up Alan. There was about 4 inches of water upstairs in the bathroom. It leaked all the way diown into the kitchen and then went through the heat duct and went into the basement. It soaked the carpet outside of the bathroom, seaped through the wall into Sam's old bedroom and ruined the carpert in the dining room. So currently we have huge pieces of the ceiling missing in order to dry everything out. We just barely got rid of the huge fans and dehumidifiers that only heated the whole place up. It's been one heck of a mess.

This past weekend Sam and I decided we would take a trip to the Salmon River High Adventure Base Camp. He used to be a kayak and raft guide there. So we got to go white water kayaking and rafting for free, when it would usually be about $200 per person for 2 1/2 days. IT was a lot of fun, but also pretty scary. There were so many misquitos. That was the most annoying part, because we forgot to bring bug spray. We kayak the easier part of the river on Friday. I fell over twice. The second part was the scariest because we were going down rapids and I couldn't swim to the side and Sam was having a hard time getting my boat. Also I had to hold onto my paddle and it kept dragging me under. I feel like I went down a fourth of the river without a boat. The next day we rafted the lower section of the river. This part is a bit harder, which is why SAm and I decided to raft it. After going down it I am so glad that we didn't kayak it. It was pretty scary even in the raft. On Saturday afternoon is wehn all the boy scouts go home, so it's like a half day off for everyone. We decided that we would go to these hot springs with one of Sam's friends from the camp. Her name is Sophie and her husband is Morgan. They are really nice and a lot of fun. We planned that the ride to the hot springs would take us about an hour and a half, but little did we know it would really take us about two and a half hours. We had to drive up a mountain, so we got to see some pretty spectacular views. It was really nice. The hot springs were disappointing. And by the time we got back to the camp it was two in the morning so everyone was exhausted. In order to get to the other side of the river where the camp is you either kayak, raft or take this cart that is on a zip line. The cart was on the other side, so we had to take a canoe and Sam kayaked across. That certainly woke us up. Originally we were going to stay until Monday night, but Sam decided that he didn't want me to get burned out on our first trip there, so we came home Sunday. Also another huge deciding factor was that we were basically sleeping on wood.

Overall, we have had a pretty exciting couple of weeks. We are enjoying life and each other. Only 5 and a half weeks until we move back to Provo! I am beyond excited!!

Until next time!

Living the life??

Sam and I have been married for almost two months. And it already seems like forever. Well not forever. At least not forever in a bad way. I mean it as, it feels like I've always been married to him. And that is probably one of the best feelings int the world.

So a quick little back ground information on us, and how we became us. Samuel, he likes to go by Sam, was born on June 21, 1988. He grew up in the air force, so he moved around as a child, but likes to call Idaho home. I, Jennifer, like to go by Jenn. I was born on July 24, 1990. I grew up in a small town in Upstate New York and will always call it home. We met at Brigham Young University in the Fall of 2009. We were engaged on January 18, 2010. Sam proposed to me at the Idaho/Utah state border, on the Idaho side because he knows how I feel about Utah. Secretly though I am beginning to like it a lot better than Idaho. We were sealed for all time and eternity in the Draper, Utah LDS temple on April 23, 2010. While some may think we are too young to be married, we are loving every minute of our time together as husband and wife.

Maybe some of you curious people are wondering why I chose to title this living the life. I'll explain. I'm not living the life I thought I ever would. Currently, Sam and I are living with his parents in Idaho. We have been here since we were married. We did get to spend three lovely days in Driggs, Id by ourselves for our honeymoon. However, since then our life has been very full of his parents. He doesn't seem to mind, because they are his parents. But I won't lie, it has been very hard for me to not get to spend this first part of our marriage alone. But then again it has been very nice to get to know my in-laws. I have grown very fond of them. We will be living the life in Idaho until the end of August. Which is still a little daunting to me. Another reason why I'm not living the life I ever thought I would has to due with the fact that we live on a little farm. The farm is not his parents lively hood, however it's more like a hobby farm. They have about 16 horses, three dogs, and a cat. And a vicious goose. And that is the extent of their "farm." But they do have about 60 acres of land that they grow hay on in order to feed all of the horses. I have never lived in such a place in my entire life. Living here I can honestly say that I have done the most manual labor I've ever done in my whole life. Sam works for his dad, doing all the things his dad doesn't have time for because he is a full time psychologist. Some of the things Sam does requires two people, so he drags me outside to help him. I have helped him build a fence for the horses, paint a circle pen, get hay, and even put up a barn door. While these tasks may not seem to awful or hard to anyone else, they were to me. They weren't exactly awful, but they were in no way fun. I guess in some ways it was nice to do that with my husband, but that's about as far as the fun goes.

I guess in my little brain I am treating this like a journal or something along those lines. So here is something that I would tell a journal type thing. I miss New York. I miss home and my family and the beautiful green that is everywhere there. I miss all the lakes and creeks. All the natural places to swim and that add to the beauty of New York. I miss the thunder storms and all of my friends. I even miss Provo, Utah, which is something I never thought would happen. I miss the metropolis of Provo. There is a lot more to do there than here. And I have friends there. I don't really know anyone here except Sam and my in-laws. And it gets pretty depressing for me at times. Even though I miss all of these things, I would miss Sam a billion times more than them all put together if I wasn't with him. And so he is worth missing it all.

Anyways, this is my life as of now. Not too much has been going on. I work at this place called Idaho Pacific. They make all sorts of products with, you guessed it, potatoes. I weigh the trucks as they come in and leave. Also I do a little secretarial work. It's actually a pretty good job. I like it. When I am not working, I'm either helping Sam or hanging around the house. It's been pretty rough at times, and I've cried a plenty of tears from it all. But this is my life, even if it's not the life that I expected.