Where on earth (or elsewhere) did Katie and Austin go....?

Wow, has it really almost been 7 months since Katie and I last updated our blog? Lamentably, yes. Katie and I have even mentioned several times in the last few months that we should update our blog, but then we just never get around to it. We would always mis-remember who was the last one to update the blog so neither one of us got around to it. So with all the turn-taking aside, I am going to update our blog while Katie is at a ballet showcase with her sister Sarah.

So what eventful events have transpired in the recent 7-month time span? Well, in a bombshell, Katie graduated, I got a job, quit a job, Katie found a job, I started my senior year of school, and then I found another much more enjoyable (and less morally apprehensible) form of employment. Let me expound slightly on these.....

Katie graduated from Brigham Young University in April 2010 with a degree in Marriage, Family, and Human Development. I am proud of her. Education is indeed important for this world and the next.

Mid-May, still finding myself jobless, I was offered a position at American Income. To be honest, I don't even recall applying for the job; I think I was getting desperate and was responding to job postings on Craig's List. I was given the position as Insurance Agent. To make a long, grueling, deceptive story shorter, I will give you the conclusion: I was unhappy there. I gave it my all for 3 months but not only was I not succeeding financially (as promised) I was not happy. The company endorsed selling life insurance to EVERYone, including people without jobs, poor college students, and even seniors who already have several life insurance policies in place! Short line: they wanted money. This is was only one of many problems so I quit. Money is important but it is not worth the stress and the lack of ethical behavior.

However, I am now working as a Research Assistant in the Career and Counseling Center of Brigham Young University; this is a nice, flexible job that I can feel good about. I am helping a professor develop a reading test for college students, seeing as many are ill-prepared for the heavy reading loads.

Katie is now working with iInstructor. It is an online schooling system. Katie performs all sorts of tasks there in the office on the second floor of the University Mall, including writing curriculum, grading papers, creating tutorials, handling live chats to answer questions, and entering transcripts.

That is basically the most exciting events of our summer/fall. That is not to say that we haven't done other fun things in between....for example, yesterday Katie and I went mini-golfing at Trafalga's because they have $3 Thursdays and today we ordered a $5.99 large pizza from Domino's (delicious).

We have curtains now (with the help of Katie's mom). It makes our humble apartment look pretty classy, I have to say.

We have also entertained ourselves with an exercise DVD we received for free (the best price) in the mail from Special K cereal after we sent in 5 UPC's.

Oh, Katie and I won our Halloween costume contest, thanks to the costumes from Katie's mom. If you can't guess, we were Captain James Hook and Tinkerbell. There were about 3 other little kids dressed as Tinkerbell but Katie was still the cutest.

We are extremely anticipatory of the Christmas season. It will be a blast! See you all next time (which hopefully isn't in 7 months...).

Babies and Birthdays

Katie and my life has been held pretty constant at the same degree of awesomeness and fun as it always has. Where to start? This coming Sunday, the 18th of April, marks the nine-month anniversary of our wedding! I can't believe that it has already been 9 months, and yet, at the same time, it seems like we have been together forever (in a good way). It just feels right to be with Katie, like I have known her my whole life (when clearly I have not).

April the 2nd was my birthday; I turned 23. You will notice that my "Red Velvet Cake" is not red nor round. But hey, it still tasted amazing! Alas, I am further embracing adulthood, and Katie likes to remind me that now we are both 23 (she is 3 months older than I am). Growing old is a funny thing. However, I do not fear or mourn the oncoming of old age as many do. I think America needs to revere old age and the accompanying wisdom, as do many other cultures. For example, in China and India, the elderly are well-respected; their wisdom is implemented by all. Not to mention, I can't wait to have star-light hair like President Dieter F. Uchtdorf! He has such healthy, shiny hair. My birthday was a wonderful day. I had to go to an event for one of my classes but I ended up winning a raffle there for a backpack and soccer ball. Then right afterward, my dad called me. I thought I was going to get chewed out for something but he wished me a happy birthday and told me to pick up a $50 gift certificate at Pizza Factory. That place has amazing food! My mom sent me the Kingdom and the Crown trilogy by Gerald Lund, the man who wrote the Work and the Glory series. She also sent me his most recent book, "The Undaunted". It is about a specific group of pioneers; it is terrific thus far. Katie's parents showed me the present they got me over video camera: a new solar-powered watch! It was so nice of them. It is the same kind of watch that my Book of Mormon professor, Brother Whipple, gave me 4 years ago. I no longer have that watch, however, because I gave it to an investigator on my mission in Chile. My older brother Brandon got me a year-long subscription to Netflix and Darrik, my younger brother, got me some Red Vine candy with pixie sticks. Good childhood memories. What you do is pour the Pixie Stick down inside the red vine. It is potent so be warned. My precious wife is all the gift I ever need but she went the extra mile and got me some presents with sentimental value: a Batman kite and a fort! She built a fort in our living room so we could watch General Conference from inside of it. She also bought the materials necessary to make smores, and she rented out some fun children's books from the library. Let it be a testament that a good gift does not have to cost a lot money. In fact, the best presents come from the heart.

(sorry if this is long and boring. Your patience will pay off).

To complement my birthday in making my feel older, my older brother, Brandon, and his wife, Rachel, just had a healthy baby boy: Chase Michael Miller. I am now an uncle. Being a parent someday is daunting and yet exciting. It would have been totally fun to have a child today when Katie and I went to the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City. We both love animals so it was a blast. If you haven't noticed by now, Katie got a new hair style. Her hair is now much shorter that it used to be. Katie and I have noticed that married women tend to have short hair styles where single ladies tend to have long hair. Is it because single ladies want long hair to style for their wedding and then chop it off so babies cannot pull on it? Perhaps...(f.y.i., the Giraffe says 'hi', Amy. Thanks for directing us to the zoo!) Aren't the ducklings so adorable? We also purchased a cute stuffed owl, which we named Sophie, for Katie and a Butterfly which I named Bri.

Katie is graduating this next week! We are all pretty excited for her. I used to bewail that Katie and I would have much less time to spend together once we both find some summer jobs and are employed full-time. However, Katie wittily replied that perhaps we would be spending much more time together than originally anticipated: neither one of us have jobs yet so we can both go job hunting together! Yay for quality couple bonding.

Well, the time for me to stop speaking is over. Until next time kiddos!

Yummy Treats, Homework, and Dancing

Happy March, everyone! We keep forgetting to add to our blog, because we are so busy, but we know there's at least one person (possibly) who is interested in what we've been doing, so here I am. A few weeks ago was our first Valentine's Day together as a married couple, so I was quite excited. Our ward (where we go to church) decided to have a catered dinner and a dance the day before, so we decided to go. They did the seating arrangements by what month people were married in. As we are all busy students, most of the couples were married in december or the summer months.

That first picture is at our apartment. I didn't realize that Austin was taking a picture of me. I'm happier looking in some of the other couple pictures of us, but this is the only one where you can see my V-day gift to Austin-a tie to match my dress, of course!

This was my gift:

Isn't it beautiful? I have a sweet husband.

My favorite part of valentine's Day? THE CUPCAKES!

Think of it: chocolate souffle cupcakes with a white chocolate cream on top. It is absolutely heavenly, particularly fresh out of the oven. We took heart-shaped cookies to the kids in our primary class, but we kept these ourselves.

I'm not going to say how many of them I ate myself. For the recipe, check out http://smittenkitchen.com/

So, basically, we spend most of our time making yummy desserts and studying for classes (I'm in my last semester at BYU, and Austin's studying for the LSAT) so we're busy but we love life. We tend to act like silly little kids in our free time, but we love it. It is so fun spending most of your time with someone that you get along so well with (most of the time). I hope you all are doing great!

Wedding Anniversary + Key Lime Pie = Yay!

School is back in session (as I am sure many of you are fully aware of). On the 18 January, Katie and celebrated our 6-month wedding anniversary! It already feels like I have known Katie all my life; it is getting hard to recall what my single life was like. So on the 18th of January, Katie and I both dressed up and baked key lime pie together! It was incredible! Yes, our lime pie looks more like banana cream pie but do not let its yellow hue beguile you: it had an amazingly refreshing lime flavor. So the gorgeous princess in the icy blue gown is Katie dressed up for our anniversary pie baking. The picture of Pac-Man is our pie with a raisin (I just put the raisin there for the photo).

The picture of the couch is our lovely new home accessory, compliment of Katie's parents. As a Christmas gift, they told us to buy ourselves a sofa so we did. R.C. Willey was having a sale for Martin Luther King weekend so we browsed for about an hour or two, sitting on couch after couch, comparing the soft-index of each one, until we decided upon that one: a nice chocolate brown. It is a great sofa to nap on.

The picture of the snow is for those outside of Utah. Isn't snow such a beautiful thing? I admit that it is no fun driving in snow because you have to scrape the ice off of your car and have the air conditioning blowing so you don't fog up your windows but it is lovely nonetheless.

This will, perhaps, reveal some of my nerdom, but I enjoy preparing for the LSAT. I am excited to take a standardized test. There, I said it. To me, it is just fun to challenge your mind in new and innovative ways and to learn and apply knowledge.

Recently, Katie and I have both been reading from the book she gave me for Christmas: "With Love" by Kaitlin Miller. To be more precise, it is an anthology of most of the e-mail Katie and I sent to one another in our history of knowing one another. So it all the way back to 2005 when Katie and I were only good friends our freshman year together at BYU. The anthology then continues our exchange of e-mails through my mission in Chile, into our brief post-mission experience, on into our dating period, and then on into our engagement. We do not e-mail one another quite so frequently now that we are married but we talk everyday. But nowadays, even if the e-mails just simply say "I love you", it is just as sweet.

Post-Christmas Happiness

Merry Christmas, everyone! Yes, that was a few days ago, I know. I can't believe that Austin and I have been married five months! It seems both like we just got married and that we've been together for a long time. We have so much fun together-I love it.

Right now we are in the land of Katy, Texas, where Austin's family lives. They actually lived here for several years, then moved to Oklahoma (at the same time as my family, actually) and moved back to Katy just this summer. We were here for a week right before school starts, and let me say, the temperatures are much better in December. While everyone else is having blizzards, we barely need jackets.

I am having a lot of fun with the Miller family during this holiday break. We have watched a lot of movies together in the media room, played video games and board games, gone shopping, and had lots of fun. Right when we got into town, we went to Cici's Pizza. Austin's family has been eating there for every Saturday for more than ten years; it has a lot of meaning for them. My favorite pizza there is the one the family special orders-alfredo with pepperoni and pineapple. It sounds gross, but it is really really good. It is fun to be included in this family tradition of eating too much pizza and then looking at all the video games there.

After that was my new brother Darrik's birthday. We got him a book on Zombies (brothers are so fun). Can you guess what his other presents were?

Christmas week a lot of the other family members went shopping, though Austin and I had already gotten our presents for everyone so we spent a lot of time at home. With original mario and DDR, anime, no school and lots of yummy food here, I can't say that I minded at all.

One of the Miller family traditions (aside from watching tons of Christmas movies) is filming the opening of Christmas presents that morning, and also watching the highlights of all the previous' years' videos on Christmas eve. It is really funny watching the four miller boys opening presents each year, and watching them grow up. Austin asked what is was like for Christmas morning with girls, and I said it was basically the same but with less bodily function humor and more Barbies.

On Christmas, Santa gave me a sweet new laptop, which I am writing this blog post on. This was way nice as my old computer died at the beginning of last semester, and while I was using an old computer of the Millers, it is nice to actually be able to open documents from my professors (and have a bigger screen for watching Rurouni Kenshin). It was a very fun and enjoyable. Growing up, my family drove around a lot on Christmas (visiting three different families) and even though I loved it and miss my extended family, having a slower pace is rather fun.

For the last few weeks I have been working like crazy to finish Austin's surprise Christmas gift-BYU recently acquired a machine that prints and binds your own books, so I compiled all of mine and Austin's emails, all the way from freshman year until right before we got married. We emailed a lot, so it took a lot of time, but it was worth it. I hope we will enjoy reading it for many years to come.

My birthday is tomorrow, and Austin has some kind of surprise for me. I can't wait to find out what it is!!!

This is me wearing my new flannel shirt from Austin (yes, I really wanted a flannel shirt for Christmas) and my new headband from accessories shopping with my mother-in-law and Rachel. I know they don't exactly go together, but I love them both. Austin is just there to look cute :)

Everyone has trials, but my life is better for this wonderful person that I am married to. I am excited for this new year to share with him!

-Katie

For those of you who have been to BYU, this is Austin's interpretation of the Karl G. Maeser statue :)

Feliz Dia de Halloween

As you can tell, Katie and I carved a pumpkin. It was our activity for Family Home Evening on Monday night. We had forgotten to buy any carving knives but we made it through anyway with kitchen knives. Katie delighted herself in the de-boweling of the pumpkin and scraping its inards. In case you have a hard time reading the pumpkin, it has the letter 'A', the letter 'K', and a little heart. Pumpkin: 9 cents a pound. Carving love messages into a pumpkin: I charge $10 (that's a joke).

On Wednesday night, the 28th, Katie and I went to the Social Dance lab because I am in Social Dance 180 and thus was required to go. And since Katie loves dancing and I would much rather dance with her than any other woman, she came, too. We had such a fun time dancing the waltz, foxtrot, and cha-cha.

Tonight, Friday the 30th, our ward had a Halloween Party. Originally it was going to be a trunk-or-treat: classic LDS family ward tradition so that parents can take their kids trick-or-treating in a safe environment without having to walk very far. So that is like a win-win-win situation, right? Well, unfortunately, Utah weather disagreed with out idea so the ward moved the activity inside since it was too cold (particularly for the children). Katie was a Newsie although she looks like she could be the Newsies' attorney. I am wearing a homemade costume that was made 7 years or so ago by my mother; isn't she amazing? I was Legolas from Lord of the Rings. I have been wearing my cloak to school everyday since Wednesday. I get the ugliest looks, like I were a child rapist or something. Someone actually yelled to me, "Go back to Azkaban, freak." Don't worry, it isn't as bad as it sounds; I know who yelled it, he was just kidding....I hope. Anyway, back to the Halloween party: so as we walked in, I was asked to help with the children games. Little did they (or I) know, I was soon to be labeled as villain and I would also soon have 7 knee-height midget superheroes attacking me, ranging from Wolverine to Spiderman to Indian Jones. Even Ariel the Mermaid had her fair shot at me. I love playing with children. There were several really cute kids in costumes.

Katie and I are both really tired and need to get some sleep. But first, we are going to watch some Cardcaptor Sakura and Rurouni Kenshin. Yay anime ^_^.

We're so happy on our little piece of bread...

Today is our three-month marriage anniversary. Yes, we are aware that it's not very long, though time has passed quickly for us. In less than a month is the 1-year anniversary of when we offically started dating, which will be way exciting. Here are some pictures of what we've been doing lately...

These are of us using the chopsticks that we got as a wedding present from our friend Amy. There's an inside joke about chopsticks from our freshman days, but I won't tell it now...

Austin and I love to cook together,

and try out new recipes. One night we made barbeque chicken pizza- it was really really good. Just shredded cooked chicken, cheddar cheese, bbq sauce and apple slices on homemade pizza crust. One of my new favorite foods to eat!

In an attempt to be more crafty, I decided to make the ruffle headband featured on http://heart-of-light.blogspot.com/ My mom and I worked on it together during General Conference this year. I was happy to have my parents come out to visit us in Utah this year; as we'll be spending our first Christmas together with Austin's family in Katy, Texas.

My sister, who also likes the headbands on the aforementioned website, decided to make some as well. We had a marvellous time the other day going to Joann's Fabric store to pick out fabric and other crafty things together. I haven't put time into making my headband yet, but Sarah already made a belt version of the Rosebud headband for me. It looks awesome, and she is so cool she decided to give it to me! I can't wait to make my own version of the headband.

Other than that, Austin and I keep busy with school and church out here. We just were called to be primary teachers for the seven-year-old class. It's going to be an interesting experience. Some of the things we have done lately:

-go to the temple with my old roommate Aubrey and her husband Russell

-attend BYU's Lost and Found Sale (where Austin and I each spent nine dollars on new clothes...we're awesome like that.)

-make amazing desserts from scratch

-introducing Austin to classic musicals, such as Seven Brides for Seven Brothers

-take lots of tests

-an afternoon of me playing Boggle with my sister in law Rachel and Austin and his brother playing Halo/Batman games

-General/Stake Conference

Yeah, we don't get out much, but hopefully we'll do more when we don't have so many finals. I had two midterms this week and big presentation, and Austin also had two tests. Hopefully things slow down soon!

Other than that, we are very happy.

-Katie

Corn is no place for a mighty warrior....but Corn Bread is!

I think laughing has serious medicinal and verifiably pharmaceutical effects. Friday night (11 Sept 2009) was the BYU Fall Fest. I have gone every year but I never remembered so many people attending! Then again, what else do you expect when free pizza is offered on a college campus? None other than full-fledged stampeding. I think some people even wore their soccer cleats just to get better traction and get to the food faster. So Katie and I decided it was not worth waiting in line after hundreds of people for a slice of pizza. However, we did go to the Laugh Out Loud (LOL) show. LOL is an improvisational comedy club; for those unfamiliar with it, imagine "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" but much cleaner and yet still spleen-splittingly hilarious. Katie and I both thoroughly enjoyed it.

Today (12/9/09) was the Opening Social in Wymount Appartments. Katie and I volunteered to run the Kids Prize section for an hour. It was fun handing out balloons and the such; little children are really cute, or even older, less-young children are still fun. After we were released from duty, we ate some hot dogs that were delicious.

Katie and I had leftover ground beef for dinner today; it was delicious. We have lots because yesterday, Friday, we made spaghetti for dinner. We had cooked 1 pound of ground beef for some reason....I think we are just both bad judges of quantity of food. So we had lots of leftover. But then Katie also made some corn bread for dinner that was absoultely amazing! By far, the best corn bread I have ever had; no ordinary, mundane corn bread is worthy of its presence. Furthermore, it is so good Katie's corn bread is INDEED a place for a might warrior. It has transcended the heed for honey-butter. You get the picture: it was good. ^_^ Cooking together has always been fun. It is quite the experience to cook together.

Besides all that, things have been relatively quiet around here. We have been doing a lot of homework and watching anime. We are introducing one another to our own favorite anime: Katie is having us watch Card Captor Sakura and I have introducing Katie to Rurouni Kenshin. For now, we are both just settling into the flow of school. Isn't life grand? We are truly blessed to be alive, as I am blessed to be with her.

Wedding Pictures..on facebook

Since I'm rather exhausted from updating wedding photos everywhere, here are the links to my facebook albums. Don't worry, you don't have to own a facebook account to view them.

Pictures from the Temple:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2286173&id=17809652&l=0261ae87ff

Pictures from Forest Park:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2286403&id=17809652&l=4738b521df

Pictures from the reception:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2286407&id=17809652&l=09b74ac344

Give me a few days, and then I'll update everyone to what we've been doing in the nearly two months since our wedding. Ciao!

So, Austin and I are back in Oklahoma. We have been married almost four weeks (tomorrow) and we still like each other :) So I figure things are going well. We will be driving out to utah in just a few days to start school, but for now we're just relaxing with my parents. It is really exciting that in about a week, we will have our very own apartment all to ourselves! Tonight, we cooked our very first meal together as a married couple. We made a Pasta Chicken Lemon Toss that was pretty good.

For the listening pleasure of those who were not able to attend the wedding, and to get an idea of our thoughts, Austin and I thought we'd blog about our actual wedding day. It may take me a blog or two, and I don't have the professional pictures on my computer so Austin will have to post those, but hopefully it will be of interest to some of you.

July 18th, 2009

7:30ish am Though I start my day here, I should point out that my dear friends, Amy, Ali, and Jen were all staying at my mom's aunt sharon's house (who is really cool) having a last girl's night together, and we didn't go to bed until around 2am. Then I laid awake for the next several hours. I'm not sure how much I slept...it didn't seem like at all. I wasn't nervous exactly; the anticipation simply kept my mind too busy for sleep. Despite my brain buzzing, at seven thirty I was still a bit sluggish and had trouble finding clothes in my suitcase and getting ready. Soon enough, though, I was wide awake and was ready to head over to the hairdresser. My hair turned out really cute. My sister was with me, getting her hair done. After lots of racing around, going back and forth, getting my wedding dress, temple clothes, and other necessary items for the day, Dad, Jen and I drove to the temple. Austin and those few people attending the Temple ceremony would meet us there.

10:40am Despite often running late in my life, I want to point out that I was early to getting to the temple, and meeting Austin there. The people who work at the temple are so nice and so excited for you. Austin arrived, and then we were whisked away to change for the wedding. In the temple you don't do the whole not-seeing each other thing before the ceremony. Which is good because it was nice to be waiting with Austin. There we were sitting in this little waiting room for everyone else to arrive, and my stomach is doing a bit of gurgling which I'm sure was just nerves over this huge step that we were about to take. I was thinking, "okay, one minute I'm not going to be married, and then I will be married. WEIRD." There were two older ladies in the room who talked with us for a bit and then chatted to each other. Austin and I talked some, but really, what was there to talk about? Then someone came in and asked if we minded starting early, since everyone was already there. It was like wait, now? Go get married right this second? I think my heart started pounding then (and continued to for the next 15 minutes) but I knew it would be okay.

12:00 noon (or a little earlier) People probably wonder a lot about what goes on in the temple. While I can't relate certain details because the temple deals with very sacred things, I will say that not a lot actually happens. We were given marriage advice by the temple sealer, though honestly Austin and I don't remember a lot of what he said...the day was very overwhelming. We shall have to try and remember what advice he gave us. Then we very simply made covenants with God in our marriage and made promises to each other as husband and wife. Then Austin and I kissed, and Austin jokingly said, "Ew..." He was kidding (I think). Then we spent some quiet time together in the temple, simply being married. It was wonderful, but very strange. We were married? Then we ran into my old college roommate Rachel and her fiance Felipe in the temple (they were married a week later)! It was wonderful to see her there, particularly on such a special day.
Then Austin and I went to change into our clothes that we would take pictures in and wear to the reception. For the temple I needed a simple white dress, but the dress I wore to the temple was a bit fancier. It had beautiful crystal and embroidery on it. Standing in the bride's room in the temple, putting my dress on, getting ready, was rather surreal, something I had been waiting my whole life to do. I was excited to get out there and see all my friends and family who were waiting to congratulate us, but I also wanted Austin to see me. We had been joking for months about the dress I had bought back in March that he had never seen a glimpse of, and how I was afraid it would be anti-climatic after all those months. When I came down from the dressing room, however, Austin looked at me and smiled and it was perfect. He held bobby pins for my mom while she put my veil in, and we got ready for our grand exit from the Temple!

Okay, tune in next time for some pictures and the rest of the day! I will be much briefer in the next portion; in fact, I think parts of it I will simply tell in picture.

3 Week Anniversary!

This is Austin, reporting live from the Miller household in Katy, Texas. I can't believe that we have been married for three weeks already. It still seems as if we were married yesterday. My life is completely different and yet it still feels the same. Now that I am with Katie forever, I can't imagine my life any other way. We have so much fun together! And a wonderful part of being married is that I don't have to say goodbye at night and wait until the next day to see her. So in short, being married is amazing. You probably all think that I am just in that "honeymoon phase" that will wear out after a year or so. I think love that waxes cold is the saddest thing; perhaps mine and Katie's love with evolve or change, but I hope with all my heart that it will never grow dim. I'll do all I can so my love for her doesn't :)

Hopefully Katie hasn't been too bored here in Texas. I am pretty bored of the weather. I know you guys probably will not believe me, but I am excited to be back in Utah. Here in Texas, it is 97 degrees farenheit, but the 95% humidity, the heat index is up to 105 degrees, in the SHADE. In sunlight, the heat index is upward of 123 degrees Farenheit. Katie and I thought it would be a fun activity to try and bake muffins by leaving them in my car during the day, sort of like a slow cook oven.

I received my pell grant today. To be honest, I still feel slightly bad for taking government money. Does anybody else know what I am talking about? I feel almost...guilty for just getting $5,350 for doing nothing. If we look at it technically, I guess it is Uncle Sam's wedding gift for us. That money is not coming from nowhere; in fact, if we are extremely technical, it is like all of you paid us that money because pell grants come from tax dollars. So I thank all of you for paying your taxes so that we can afford school without goig into 7 years of servitude. I feel indebted and I want to pay back; I want to be rich so I can give lots of money to poor couples and people who need money. That would be so fulfilling.

Anywho, I am going to go get some lunch. Cheerio (and Frosted Flakes, for good measure).

Post-Wedding Life

Welcome to the new blog of Katie and Austin Miller. So that we still maintain our inviduality (For you, Muscle Mike), we will be doing indivdual postings, but this way our friends don't have to hear the same stories twice. I'd like to think we are more entertaining together than we are apart, but for now, we'll see.

We have been married about two and a half weeks, and I suppose we're not acting too sickly-sweet newlywed like, because someone asked us how long we had been married and they were surprised. On the other hand, the people at the bank thought we were really young to be married (though it wasn't so bad when they found out we were older than we looked).

It's interesting, because Austin and I have talked about it and we both feel like we've been together longer than just a couple weeks. Time has gone by fast. In the last few weeks we have been in Missouri, Oklahoma, California, and Texas. After the wedding in St.Louis, we drove to Stillwater, Oklahoma, then had our honeymoon in Newport Beach, California, then helped Austin's family move from Oklahoma to Texas. It has been a lot of fun getting to know Austin's family. We've been bowling twice and we play video games and are all anxious to get access to the neighborhood pool.

We will be in Texas for another few days, then we will be heading up to Oklahoma to spend a few days with my parents before making the long drive out to Utah to start another year at BYU.

Sometime soon we will post more details/pictures about the wedding and California, but this is good enough for now, I think.

-Katie

Kind of Like Salvador Dali...(he's a surrealist, get it?)

So...I know pretty much everyone already knows, but...I'm getting married! I'm really excited, if you can't tell. I figured I might as well tell the story in my own words here, since most people are hearing it secondhand.

Austin and I have been officially dating four months! Or as he calls it, our 1/3 anniversary :)

Despite that short amount of time, we've actually known each other for quite a bit longer. We were in the same ward our freshman year at BYU, and then at the end of the year he went off to Chile to serve as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I was kinda bummed that one of my best friends was going to be gone for two years, but I was so proud of him. This last summer, he came back to the United States and adjusted to non-missionary life. Despite the fact that I'd liked him for the past few years, and we went on lots of dates, we still took awhile to finally get together. Things have been fantastic and we couldn't be happier.

About a week ago, we decided to go to the Draper Temple Open House, where the public can tour the temple before it is dedicated, after which only worthy members can enter. It is one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen; the rooms are white, and this temple had wooden benches and paneling, and tons of gorgeous lighting fixtures and chandeliers. Every single room I would stare at the ceiling and say, "oooh, pretty." During the tour, we stopped in one of the sealing rooms, a room in the temple where couples are married. We sat down in a row of chairs while listening to someone talk to us about the sacredness of temple marriages; it was a very spiritual moment for everyone and also a very personal moment for Austin and I; apparently we were thinking the same thing, only I didn't realize it at the time.

People start leaving the room at this point, but we're not leaving! On the drive up to Draper, I had asked Austin, "So, where are you planning on living next year?" "Oh, I'm still figuring that out..." So while everyone else is leaving the sealing room, Austin leans over to me and says, "Actually, I lied earlier. I know where I want to live next year; with you." And I think he's just going to say that and that would be it, but then he gets down on one knee in the sealing room and asks me to marry him right then and there! It was the most romantic of my life. I was so surprised/excited/freaking out that I didn't respond automatically, but then when I realized that, I said, "oh, of course."

And...we're getting married sometime this summer. We can hardly wait :)

Aren't we cute? We are so excited to have our own (tiny) apartment in the fall and to start our new life together.

Thank you to everyone and their loving support!

love Katie

By the way, do people think Austin and I should start our own blog together, or would no one read it?

Our song is the way he laughs...

I've been told that I need to blog, and really, I haven't properly blogged in ages. I've been very busy since school started up again this semester. One major change in my own life is that I've decided to not only complete my bachelor's degree in Marriage, Family, and Human Development, but I also want to do the Family Life Education Certification. BYU's program is so cool that I don't even have to take an exam to qualify, just get a C or better in all the required courses. I've taken a lot of the classes already, but I need to take a few more, so instead of finishing classes next fall, I will finish next winter and graduate next April. It's a little unfortunate because it is different than my original plans, but I think it's for the best. After all, I love BYU and I really think it's a scary thought to not be a student anymore, so I will just put that off for a little while....

I love my life and all the wonderful opportunties it brings. I am taking a cooking class this semester and I am learning all kinds of cool things. I am gaining a new appreciation for things I didn't really like before, like vegetables and fish. Who knew they could be so good???? Today our group make macademia encrusted tilapia and also chocolate pudding cake, and I have to say, I think our group had some of the best recipes. There certainly wasn't any cake left at the end of the day!

School can be very trying and hard, but I don't want to give up; I want to do well. Sometimes all you need is the right motivation...so thank you :) I hope all of you don't give up on dreary winter-spring is on the way!
*Blog title from "Our Song" by Taylor Swift

All those other girls, well they're beautiful but would they write a song for you?

I haven't written in awhile, because I have been very busy. Finals are this week, and I am determined to do well so all my hard work this semester isn't wasted. Some of my finals have gone well, some...not so much. It's frustrating, because so much rides on that one test. My advanced writing class has gone surprisingly well this semester; even though writing is one of my talents, I am happy and sad to have my last writing class behind me. Papers take so much time and energy to write, and this particular semester has been very stressful because of it. I am glad that I was able to do well though, and give my gpa a nice grade boost.


Recently I read an article about a woman named Betty James. Her husband invented the Slinky, but she was the one who wrote the jingle for it, and she wrapped up the first slinky's on her kitchen table. Seventeen years after it was invented, her husband left her, their six children, and the company (that wasn't doing so hot) to join what she called a religious cult in bolivia. Now while I think he's a major loser for abandoning his family, I think she is so cool! She took over the company and ran it for a long time while raising her family. If that's not inspirational, I don't know what is. I think we can all learn from her example on how to deal with adversity; finals are nothing compared to that.
*Lyrics from Hey Stephen by Taylor Swift

It's that time of year...

I love Christmas! I love that we have a whole month of lights and decorations and Christmas songs and service and everything. I wish that people wouldn't complain about how people only help others at Christmas. Yes, we should help people year-round, but this should be a time of gratitude, not of griping. Someone helps at Christmas? How dare they only help once a year! It should be all the time or none at all!!! Think how silly that sounds.

I recently saw (again) The Muppet Christmas Carol. I love that movie! Think of the message there, "wherever you find love, it feels like Christmas." That's because it reminds of Jesus Christ! So Let's try and remember our Savior this season. Some of the people I've met at school have family traditions where they always have some sort of "gift" to the Savior-usually service or something they give to others. I always thought this was a cool idea; something maybe I'd use in my own family someday.

I feel I've suddenly become a huge fan of Kristinen Chenoweth overnight. I mean, I always loved her as Glinda in Wicked (the musical), but I love her in the movie version of The Music Man, and I've listened to her version of the Christmas Waltz about 50 times in the last few days. Her voice is sometimes annoying, but she can sing very well. I also love her song "Taylor the Latte Boy"; look it up on youtube if you haven't seen it, because her facial expressions are hysterical.

According to my adolescent development class, the stage of my life that I'm in right now (emerging adulthood) is wonderful in some ways because you feel like you have so many opportunities, that you can do anything.

I've been told lately I seem very happy. I wonder why? :)
*Title from the Christmas Waltz (I prefer the Kristen Chenoweth version)

Laughing on a park bench, thinking to myself, "hey, isn't this easy?"

My friend Jen recently asked me if I had made any observations about life recently. Unfortunately at the time I drew a blank, but having come up with one later, I decided to mention it here. I've noticed recently through conversations with my friends that everyone I know has parents who have mellowed out with age, or perhaps experience. I wonder why? Could it be they no longer have the energy to act the way they used to? Have they learned better ways to be parents? Or perhaps it's something else. My dad says that his temper has mellowed out quite a bit due to my mom's influence. I heard one of my professors say once that after several years in marriage, a couple is a lot more alike than they were at the beginning. Perhaps relationships make us into better people, or perhaps we want to be better for the other person.

I think some people who accept you for who you are encourage you to not change at all, and some people who accept you for who you are encourage you to be better, and to do better. Maybe some people would like the first, but in my expereince it's the second that really brings happiness.
I am a very happy girl.
*title from the song "You belong with me" by Taylor Swift

Help me Leave Behind some Reasons to be Missed

The election is coming up; I feel terrible, of course, because I didn't realize the dates so I missed the chance to register in Oklahoma and get my absentee ballot.

But the issue I'd like to vote for the most is, unfortunately, in another state. Proposition 8 in California states that Marriage is defined between a man and a woman. It would not take away the rights of same gender couples, but they could not be called "married". My major in school is Marriage, Family, and Human Development, and though some may want you to believe that children turn out just the same if they have a mother and father happily married as divorced, homosexual parents, parents who cohabit, or only one parent, it's not true. I admire those who are in these situations and there are real heroes out there who have done a fanastic job rasing a child by themselves or in one of these other situations, but it takes tremendous work on their part. More than that, I believe that children deserve a mother and father who are committed to each other.

Are we thinking of the children? What opinions and beliefs do we want them to have when they're adults? Of course we should all make our own opinions, but if we do not teach them what we think is right, they will pick it up from their friends, their school, and the media. My parents and I do not agree on all political issues, but I'm glad that they told me what their beliefs were-and are. So please, talk to your children about important issues. And most of all, remember them. How will these laws affect them? Is it about "tolerance"? Or is it about standing up for something you believe is right?

I hope I haven't tremendously offended anyone, and if I have, I apologize. These are just my personal opinions.
*Title from the song "Leave out All the Rest" by Linkin Park

With you I'd dance in a storm in my best dress...

Those of my friends who like to write (like me) know how difficult it is to force yourself to do so. I think that's why I don't blog very often, I think; I only write when something big happens or I get in a writing mood.

Though chilly today, Provo has been absolutely beautiful lately. The leaves are falling, and though there aren't as many deciduous trees out here, BYU does a fantastic job of landscaping campus, so there are lots of bright red and yellow leaves right now. So the trees are beautiful, the sky is gorgeous, and we have the lovely mountains in the background to complete the perfect picture.

What have I been doing lately? Taking midterms, of course! This has been a good semester for me-all good scores! I even got an A on my last midterm, so things are obviously going well.

And yes, I do other things too. Friday night my roommates and I went on a shopping adventure at DI (local thrift store) and the mall. Not only did we get some great items for our Halloween costumes, but I also got some cute things to add to my fall wardrobe! Then we all stayed up late watching a girl movie. It was a lot of fun; I hope we have more adventures in the future!

I've never been that much of a Fig Newton fan before, but today, they are AWESOME! Why? Well, let's just say the testing center isn't such a bad place after all.

*Title from Fearless by Taylor Swift

We were both young when I first saw you...

Hey everyone! Happy October! I would like to make an official request to all Missourians-please send me fall photos! I can't believe this is my fourth fall in Provo-I love BYU and the mountains have grown on me-but I still miss the Missouri autumns, with the beautiful changing leaves.

Today in my Forming Marital Relationships class, we talked about how technology changes the relationships we have with people. Far fewer families have dinner together than they used to, and of those that do, how many of those times are there no phones answered, no texting, and no TV on? I think a lot of great conversations happen at the dinner table, and that's one of the things I miss about living at home, is eating dinner and talking with my family. More than once this summer I got out four plates while setting the table-even though if Sarah were there, Kevin would be too and I would need five. It's just one of those habits, I guess.

I feel so fortunate to attend BYU for many reasons, but one thing I love about going to an amazing school is that there are so many opportunities for performances and plays and concerts and comedy shows and art exhibits and pretty much anything you can think of! It's hard to find time-and money-to attend them all, but I try to see as much as I can. In the last month I have done a lot! I have been to an Indian musical performance (Indian as in India), World of Dance (which exhibits many different types of dance at BYU such as ballet, modern, ballroom international folk dance, and others), a Japanese Art exhibit opening reception, and BYU's band/orchestra showcase. I just love it!

I like being happy.

*the title is from Taylor Swift's song Love Story.