The Manner of Happiness

We have a house!

Adam — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 02:54:26 +0000

So we’ve been looking for a more permanent place to live here in Austin. Currently we’re renting from a great couple that we met last summer when we were doing our internship, but we’ve been wanting to find our own place where we can start “putting down some roots.” (Are we really old enough to put down roots?) When we got here earlier this year, we started working with our Realtor John Mick who has done a superb job of educating us on how buying homes work in Texas. We’ve been looking around for quite a while. We’ve seen lots of resales and lots of new homes and we finally decided on this one!

We’re so excited to be moving to this awesome home! We’re hoping to move sometime in December and start our new life in Pflugerville, Texas!!! We have a walk-through video tour that we can send you if you email us for the link!

A Garden Update

Adam — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 03:59:17 +0000

Our garden is growing! We have harvested a lot of asparagus so far (some of it was a bit woody at first, but it’s getting better). Our tomatoes are blooming and hopefully getting pollinated. Our zucchini is growing as expected . . . like a weed. And our yellow squash turned out to have two varieties. Our pepper starts survived the onslaught of aphids and fire ants and are growing again now, and our peppers from seed are growing! This is a grand adventure!

Exercising Our “Green Thumb”

Adam — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 14:29:45 +0000

I’ve been told that one of my ancestors was the gardener for the King of Norway. I have absolutely no idea if this is actually true, but there must have been someone in my family who at least enjoyed working with dirt because I’ve always loved gardening and working with plants. Even my high school science fair project had to do with gardening! When we found out that the place we’re renting would have four “square foot gardens,” I was excited! Ever since we moved in, I’ve been wanting to start working in them. The people we’re renting from told us about this website that told us what we could plant when. I was grateful for this because we’ve obviously never gardened in Texas before! We found out that this was a good time to start some of the plants that we wanted to do so this week we finally started our garden!

Last week we looked at WalMart and Home Depot for some tomato and pepper plants but didn’t find any. The other day I found out about the Shoal Creek Nursery close to downtown that we decided to check out to see if they had what we needed. They had a ton of stuff!

We decided to plant four things (didn’t want to be too ambitious our first time around!). We bought four tomato starts from the nursery and two yellow pepper starts. We wanted to get some green pepper starts, but they didn’t have any, so we decided to try to do green peppers from seed. I’ve never done that before, but the guy at the nursery told us that it shouldn’t be too hard. We’ll see.

We also decided to do some squash. Squash isn’t usually my favorite thing to eat, but I’m learning! We planted some zucchini and some yellow squash. (I really hope the zucchini doesn’t take over our house!)

I hope that the drought that we’re having right now in Texas doesn’t kill our little garden. We’ll definitely be praying for rain. I’m excited to have this garden and to start eating some real home-grown food!

Grateful?

Sarah — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 23:11:34 +0000

Since Adam’s job is the reason for our move to Texas, we had our things moved “professionally.” Everything got packed up on June 23, loaded onto the moving truck and taken to a warehouse on June 24, and was supposed to arrive at our new house by July 7 at the very latest. (We were warned that since this is the busiest time of the year, our delivery window was twelve days–from June 26 to July 7.)

That so didn’t happen.

We still don’t have our things. Apparently they’re supposed to come by this Tuesday, July 19 (fingers crossed!), but we’re trying to not get our hopes up too much. The moving coordinator that we’ve worked with has been less than helpful, but she worked it out so that we’ll be paid $125 for each day our household goods are late. (That’s nice and all–by July 19 it will be $1500–but we’d kind of rather have our belongings…)

There’s a lot to complain about it. Waa waa waaaaaaaaaaaaa.

. . . so I decided that we need to make a list of some of the positive things and things we’re grateful for concerning our move. Ready?

We packed a lot of things (12 days worth of clothing (we didn’t know how long it’d be before we got our washer and dryer), our computer and printer, a desk and chair, four place settings of dishes, our medicine box, and an air mattress, to name a few) that keep us fairly occupied and more comfortable than if we didn’t have all those things. Thankfully, when we were packing up all those things before we moved, Adam had the foresight to realize that we should bring a lot of stuff to keep us occupied (just in case). We’ve still been kinda bored, but not as bored as we could have been! It has also been nice for Adam to have more than one tie and for me to have more than one dress to wear to church every week.
We have internet. A connection to the outside world. Hallelujah!
We met our nice neighbor, a man in his seventies, who offered to let us borrow his ironing board, sleeve board, and clothes steamer…and anything else we might possibly need.
I’ve learned a lot of creative ways to cook when your dishes are limited.
Someone had vision to create microwaveable food. As gross as it can be, it has kept us fed several times these past few weeks!
We do have an oven and stove.
We’re better than camping. Our air mattress is on carpet, AND we have easy-access indoor plumbing.
We have ipods. That means hours of entertainment.
Facetime.
Music! To sing and listen to.
We’ve had a lot of time to think.
We have cell phones, which means we can call our family, friends, and doctors. (I’m soooo glad we don’t have to communicate only through snail mail and horse-riding messengers.)
We have a car! That works!
We live five miles from the nearest Family History Center, and they already have some good German resources. Hooray!
I’ve only had to kill one spider and one cockroach so far. (Adam killed a spider too.)
We’ve discovered some fun restaurants, donut shops (Round Rock Donuts!), movie theaters, and furniture stores. Good to remember for later on.
We brought our violins with us (we didn’t want them packed…not so good for the instruments…), and Adam printed out the Bach Double Concerto in d minor so we could play it. I had a copy of Mozart’s Tabletop music too. We had fun sight-reading, and we got to remember how rusty we are. It was fun though! We hadn’t played together before ever.
The people in our ward are really friendly. Some friends had us over for dinner last Sunday, and it was great.
We’ve lived here before, so we know where the grocery store and Wal-Mart are located.
Netflix.
We are now Texas citizens basically. We have Texas drivers’ licenses and license plates.
Our AC works now!
Popsicles and ice cream and root beer floats.
We live close to the pharmacy, which was a big blessing earlier this week.
Five Crowns (a great card game).
The Texas sky is SO BIG and has BEAUTIFUL sunsets.
I now have all but one of my textbooks for my last three undergraduate classes!
Our new air mattress stays inflated the entire night. (That’s twice as good as our previous air mattress…)
The extra $1500 is going straight into savings for a house. That’ll be nice.
Adam has a real job, for goodness sake! That means a real salary, real benefits, and real life. And security. That is so nice.
We live only about seventy miles/two hours from the nearest temple, and I already got to attend it with a few ladies from the ward last week.
We have the gospel! We’re members of the Church!
We’re a family! Aaah! Isn’t that the best?!

Life Just Got Cleaner

Sarah — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 23:04:15 +0000

Tuesday was a great day.

We have a washer and dryer! Hooray!

(I really like doing laundry, actually, so this is a cause for celebration.)

We actually got our washer and dryer delivered last week, but because of some sort of mix-up, Sears delivered a silver washer and a white dryer. We wanted our appliances to match, so Sears agreed to deliver a silver dryer. Thankfully the Sears people said we could use both the washer and dryer until our silver dryer got delivered. After a whole fiasco about prices, we finally got our silver dryer today!

And they must be good–I even saw a commercial for them yesterday.

Yay for clean laundry!

Our Last Weekend in Utah

Sarah — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 22:52:18 +0000

Here’s a little breakdown of what we did during our last weekend in Utah:

Thursday

Finished packing up things we needed to bring with us to Austin.
Watched the packers pack all of our things.
Ate Del Taco for lunch.
Went to Adam’s eye appointment.
Both got our hair cut by our friend, Nicole.
Went to the Manti Pageant with my family in their big blue van. Ate delicious, homemade 9-inch corn dogs.
Rode with my family back from Manti.
Picked up things from our apartment and drove to my family’s house to spend the night (since our bed was inaccessible).
Slept

Friday

Got up early and drove back to our apartment.
Adam got our car checked out and new brake … put on.
Watched the packers load everything into a truck. …and break one of our dinner table chairs.
Cleaned our apartment with Adam’s sweet mother, who brought some cleaning supplies for us to use.
Went to Adam’s family’s house and cleaned up ourselves.
Watched How to Train Your Dragon with Adam’s family.
Slept

Saturday

Slept in a titch…ahhhh.
…did something….
Went to the Provo Temple. It was wonderful!!
Said “see ya later” to my dear friend, Becca.
Ran to Macey’s grocery store.
Went to a family reunion for my dad’s side. It was so sweet.
Went to my friend’s wedding reception in American Fork and then to Adam’s friend’s wedding reception in Provo.
Went back to my family’s house and did laundry at 10:30pm.
Slept

Sunday

Got up early.
Went to the dear old American Fork 1st ward (my old ward) to see my longest-time friend speak in church after returning from her mission in Manila, Philippines. (That is where Adam served too, so he really enjoyed her talk.)
Hastily said hello and goodbye to many friends.
Sped down to the BYU Family History Center to teach our Sunday School class about the resources there…but no one showed up, so we did some of our own research because we didn’t have anything else to do until our church started.
Went to our ward and taught our last family history Sunday School class.
Went to my dear friend, Jenny’s, apartment and said “see ya later.”
Went to my family’s house. We had a sweet experience together, but it was really hard too. You see, Adam and I are the first in both of our families to move away from our families permanently. My family has lots of girls, and we’re all kind of emotional softies, so it was a bittersweet experience.
Said “see ya later” to part of my family.
Went to Adam’s family’s house.
Ate dinner.
Gave a wedding gift to Adam’s old roommate, Peter, who stopped by the Arnesen’s house.
Said “see ya later” to our good friends Brian and Devri and their son, who also stopped by the Arnesen’s house.
Spent time with Adam’s family.
Slept.

Monday

Got up before the crack of dawn.
Packed up our car.
Ate breakfast.
Said “see ya later” to my dad, who came by the Arnesen’s house.
Said “see ya later” to Adam’s family.
Swung by my family’s house to get the atlas.
Said “see ya later” to my family.
Drove…all day.

Spring Term

Sarah — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 14:25:07 +0000

Spring term was an adventure. I’ve never done a spring term before. The term ran from April 26 to June 16. I enrolled for two classes: an internship and an advanced writing history class.

I interned with a company located in downtown Salt Lake City called ProGenealogists. They are a professional family history research firm. I was able to do some Germanic family history research as well as a lot of U.S. research. Overall, it was a good experience. I learned a lot about what I do want to do when I take on clients….and some things that I don’t want to do. Like I said, it was a good experience, and I learned a lot.

I completed 120 hours for my internship. I usually ~~slept on and~~ rode the bus to and from SLC three times a week.

The other class I took–the advanced history writing class–was…an experience. In six weeks, the four students in the class were asked to each write a 25-35 page history paper that dealt with U.S. foreign relations and was worthy of publication. While it was an interesting class, I struggled to write my paper. (My topic: why Great Britain didn’t interfere in the American Civil war. Interesting, right? I thought so–and it was interesting, but I had far too little time to do all of the research I needed to do.) Somehow I squeaked out a C-grade in the class, for which I will be eternally grateful. However, I do not recommend taking that class during spring term if you 1) are taking other classes, 2) are burned out, 3) are getting ready to move across the country, or 4) want to do anything besides school during spring term.

Anyway, spring term was a good experience, and I’m grateful that I could be stretched so much. I learned so much. And my sweet husband, Adam, worked long-distance (at home) during all that time so that I could take my classes and earn a degree. Poor guy. He got kind of bored being alone at home all day. He even turned in two of my papers for me because they were due at times when I needed to be at my internship. What a wonderful man.

BYU Graduation

Sarah — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 23:49:10 +0000

Adam and I graduated! (Well, I sort of did…read on.) Adam got a master’s degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering. Adam and I walked together in the College of Engineering convocation ceremony. (I will technically be done by Thanksgiving. I took two classes during spring term and have three online classes to finish before Thanksgiving. Then I’ll have a BA in Family History and Genealogy. I’m almost there! Hooray!)

Winter semester was crazy. Adam wrote and defended his master’s thesis. He worked so hard on his thesis! That was about all he did for three weeks straight. He really had enough information to make it a doctoral dissertation, but we felt like he should just finish his master’s degree for right now. Adam’s angel mother is an excellent editor, and she edited Adam’s thesis several times. I am so proud of Adam for working so hard and for finishing that 148-page work!

I did oodles of research during winter semester. (It’s what family historians do!) I was in a seminar in professional family history research class (like a practicum for family history majors involving four 25-hour research projects), an advanced German research class (where I got to learn some awesome things about my own immigrant ancestor), and a beginning Hispanic research class. (I have no Hispanic ancestors. Germanic and U.S. Midwest family history are my emphases, but since I knew we were going to move to Texas, I figured it would be helpful to know at least a little bit about Hispanic family history research.) On top of these classes, I also had a German language class and Concert Choir. I traveled to the Family History Library usually once or twice a week. By the end of the semester, I logged over 200 hours of research. Honestly, it was a miracle that I survived and somehow got it all done. Adam supported me in everything that I did, and I am so grateful for his patience with me while I was running around all the time.

Anyway, the graduation ceremony was wonderful. Elder Richard G. Scott spoke to the graduates. He gave some wonderful advice. I love how sensitive and sweet Elder Scott is.

After the ceremony, Adam and I rang the BYU victory bell together! It was so cool (and loud)! I got a picture with Dr. Minert. He mentored me through most of my undergraduate work and is the only professor who teaches Germanic Family History in the United States. I was also able to work for him for two years. I feel so blessed to have gone to the same university where he teaches! (What are the chances of that?? I had no idea that I would focus so much on Germanic family history when I declared my major.)

After all our picture-taking, Adam and I were starving. We didn’t want to try to find a restaurant that didn’t have a long wait, so we went to the Wendy’s drive-through and got dinner. Then we went to the Malt Shop drive-through for delicious shakes. Mmmm. We went home and ate dinner while watching a movie.

Studying at BYU has been a great blessing in our lives. The time passed so quickly! We’re grateful that we were able to spend so much time learning and improving ourselves there. We know that the things we learned and the experiences we had will bless us for the rest of our lives and that they have prepared us for the mission we have ahead of us.

Daily Affirmation

Adam — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 17:50:38 +0000

This morning I heard this video playing in the back room. I think this little girl has a great attitude and outlook on life! Sometimes its important to have a positive outlook on life and on our ability to weather the storms that come into our lives. Sometimes we just need to decide that we can do anything good.

Going to the (Y) Ball

Sarah — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 04:00:55 +0000

Tonight we went on an awesome date.

Some background though.

Today was not-so fun. I got up really early and drove an hour to Salt Lake City to the Family History Library. One of my classes was meeting there. In addition, I had a project to finish up there that was due at 3pm. It stunk being away from Adam all day (poor guy–he stayed at home without a car and cleaned and did homework), and I ended up staying longer than I had originally planned. Blah. I learned some good things though, so that was good.

Then we had leftovers for dinner. I ate this incredibly-2-jalapeño-spicy soup. Oh man. I’ve been trying to finish it off. I really don’t like throwing out food, however untasty it is. Anyway.

The evening was much better though. First Adam and I went to the adult session of stake conference. Elder Richard G. Hinckley from the Quorum of the Seventy came. The talks were all really good. I was touched by the testimonies and inspired to be a better Sarah.

After stake conference, Adam and I whisked away to the Hinckley Alumni Center for the Y-Ball! The Y-Ball is a free dance for married couples at BYU. Adam got the second-to-last ticket. It was sooooooo exciting. Adam and I haven’t really been to a dance together before…unless you count dancing at someone’s wedding, but that doesn’t really count because it was only part of one song.

Adam was so patient with me. I’m not really a very good dancer, but he’s amazing (to say the least). He taught me all sorts of good steps, and he’s really good at leading. It was a blast. I fell in love with him all over again.

Isn’t he handsome?