From honeymoon, to homeless to hedgehog parents

Not from the internet, we actually took this while scuba diving!

We left from Tennessee to Belize for our Honeymoon.  It was all so incredible and beautiful.  We started the trip out at San Pedro, an island where they had some beautiful scuba diving.  We both were certified before we met, so we wanted that to be a part of our honeymoon.  Nate actually chose Belize because of this particularly famous dive, the Blue Hole, a very deep underwater cave.  We dove as far as is legal, 130 ft. down and saw several sharks.  We also did several reef dives and saw a bunch of beautiful things. The streets there aren't made for cars, but for golf carts, so we rented one and drove around town.  We ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant two nights in a row because it was so amazing. Nate ordered the exact same dish, the Snapper, both nights.  He is still raving about it.  We left San Pedro and rented a car in Belize City to drive down to Placencia, a peninsula on the other side of the country.  The driving there is a little crazy, they have random speed bumps everywhere instead of coppers in speedtraps, I think the bumps are even more annoying, which is hard to do. We stayed right next to the beach in our own separate house, we saw a baby crocodile, some howler monkeys, and ziplined.  We did a dive specifically to see whale sharks, which would have been more awesome if we had seen any.  We also visited this incredible Mayan ruin called Xunantunich.  Nate got some great pictures of the intricate designs on the wall because he was risking his life on a tiny ledge. [Note from Nate: I'm innocent until proven guilty in this alleged incident]. I wasn't too happy a few weeks after marriage he was already trying to kill himself.

Proving Nate guilty

UNBELIZABLE!!

Biltmore Mansion

On the way back to Utah, we stopped in Ashville, NC, a popular tourist city with lots of art and the Biltmore mansion-the largest estate in the USA.

After our amazing honeymoon we returned home to deal with life again, which at the time was quite directionless-  I had quit my job before the trip, we had moved out of Y-mount, and Nate was waiting for summer classes to start.  So, we had no place to live, and no income to pay for an apartment.  As is every newlywed couple's dream, we crashed at my parents house.  Luckily they were out of town, and within a week I had found my new job, working as an inorganic chemist at ALS environmental.  Not really related to my background in Neuroscience, but enjoyable enough.  It has been nice to have my first real job, where you need a BS to get it, and have a name tag and desk with a computer and everything.  As soon as I was notified I got the job, we found an apartment near where I work in Salt Lake City.  

Moving in was a long process, we didn't receive our furniture for a month so we ate on the love sac and the tv stand we bought at Ikea.  The first week at church, I volunteered to feed the missionaries because I was so excited we no longer lived in a Provo student ward. But I completely forgot our living room was full of boxes, and we had no table or chairs to seat them at. Luckily, they were just amused. Nate started classes in June at the BYU Salt Lake center, and we got settled into our new ward.

The ward is rather unique here, it is made up only of apartment complexes so it is constantly changing. We told the bishop we would be here for a year and a half and they said, wow, that's a long time.  We like it a lot but it has it's challenges.  This part of town has lots of non-members and returning members so there is always plenty of work to be done.  Nate said he would love to be called as a ward missionary, and received his wish.  I thought maybe I would be one too, but instead they called me into the Young Womans. My first response was, we have young woman in this ward? Since I had only seen young children, but yes, there are three active Young Woman who I have enjoyed working with a lot so far.  I even got to attend girl's camp this summer. 

I've also loved all of the wedding gifts we got, and in order to use all the kitchen appliances, we have been cooking more than ever and quite enjoying it.  In small doses of course, not everyday by any means. 

Our summer was mostly filled with work and school and Netflix (we got hooked on the TV series Breaking Bad, and Nate relived his teenage obsession with Law and Order).  But we did get some vacation time.  For the 4th of July Weekend we went to Victor, ID to the family cabin with my family.  It was Nate's first time in the area so we visited Teton National Park, Jenny's Lake, Jackson Lake Lodge, String Lakes, Jackson,Victor, and most importantly, the Spud drive in movie theater.

In August, we took a trip with the Hixson's to Seabrook Island, South Carolina, a resort town close by Charleston and had a lot of fun relaxing with the family at the pool, beach and in the hot tub.  I even convinced Nate to go on a bike ride.  Some of the most entertaining moments were when Clair fell into the water from inside the canoe, and playing hide'n'go seek with the nieces.  Nate hid in the dryer, setting a great example for the little girls.  I also really liked it when Aelish said,"Grandma and Grandpa always get me presents, so how come you guys don't?" to Nate and I.  She then listed the things she would like, and gave us permission to write them down if we wanted.

After returning home, Nate started Fall semester in Provo and has had to commute daily, which is hard, but gives me the opportunity to bike home each day on the Jordan River Parkway, which is fun.  For Nate's birthday I surprised him with a hedgehog.  I had Laura buy her while we were in South  Carolina, and keep her at her house.  For labor day weekend we all went down to southern Utah for the Shakespeare festival and Zion National Park.  We had to take her, so Nate got an early birthday surprise.  We named her Llizi, after a city in Algeria, the country hedgehogs originate from.  We have already taught her to swim and are attempting to potty train her.  Last night I luckily awoke when she had gotten into our room and was able to see her climbing under the dresser, otherwise we would have never found her and I don't know how she could have gotten out from under there.

Anyway, that is pretty much a novel but now we are back home and getting back into the swing of normal life again....